DAVE CANALES: Beautiful day out there. Great practice. Great focus by the guys. Guys are locked in, ready for if weekend.
Q. ... (No microphone.) May use him differently?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, just couldn't get Chuba around quickly enough to feel confident to put him out there. We thought this would be a good week to get him back to strength, back to health.
We will keep working him through the weekend and take a look back at him early next week.
Rico, just expecting him just like always, go in there, run the runs we call, and run with the type of intensity and energy I know that he can.
So we are counting on him, Trevor Etienne getting in there and get his share of the action as well.
Q. I know this is not -- you're not going to give away strategy, but from the nickel position Chau has been the fixture there when you guys haven't run big personnel. How much do you have to adjust there from a personnel standpoint?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, some minor adjustments. Really it's about what can our guys do well and how can we play to that are talents. So we look at a couple of different guys in some roles there.
Certainly with Chau he's been doing such a good job with communication, tied into the back half, talking to Nick Scott and making sure we get all our calls right. We just ask the next guys to get in there and execute.
Q. Would you characterize Chuba as week to week?
DAVE CANALES: I would say day-to-day. I would say knowing him. Knowing the way he works, attacks just getting back out there to full strength, I would expect him just to -- we'll evaluate him day-to-day next week.
Q. More opportunities for Trevor Etienne this week?
DAVE CANALES: Absolutely. With us, we want to make sure we're using guys that every time you touch ball it's 100 miles as hour, as much as you got. We will be able to get Rico in there and get Trevor in there as well.
Q. Should we expect a similar carry distribution between Trevor and Rico that we were seeing with Chuba and Rico?
DAVE CANALES: I think it would be something like that, yes.
Q. Vic Fangio came out and talked about the K balls and how they -- anybody can kind of handle the way they use those K balls throughout the week. Are you noticing any impact from the ability to kind of maneuver at your own accord with those K balls?
DAVE CANALES: I haven't really. I know that there are specifications set up by the league, so we all have to adhere to those within that small margin they give us. Everyone has a bit of a preference for that, but we're all subject to the same rules.
You know, so I think it's really just -- the advantage is really the way that you execute how you're getting your kicks done, and especially when you're in the return game, just knowing you're dealing with the K ball.
So I don't think there is anything glaring in that regard.
Q. How is X's week and do you envision Jimmy Horn being part of the rotation?
DAVE CANALES: Yes, Jimmy will definitely be a part of our rotation. We're asking him to go out there and play. We're counting on him to play his roles when he gets in there.
Xavier had a great week. Spirits are up. Body feels good.. another great day today. So I'm excited for him to get back in there and contribute the way that he was.
Q. Does it feel like a relief to be back at home?
DAVE CANALES: Honestly, the road games are great challenges, but we have to be able to have the ability to be focused, ability to execute, to communicate with crowd noise and all those things.
It's something that is going to happen. You play half your games home and away, and we have to be able to show that part. We love being at home. We love being in front of our fans, the Panthers fans here in Bank of America Stadium.
This is where we do all of our work, our practices, meetings, all these things. And it's a place that we love. So it feels good to be able to be at home for two weeks here.
Again, looking for the execution, communication, to continue to build or football the right way.
Q. The evaluation you guys did in the first month and the changes you made behind the scenes, how do you feel those changes have been in execution so far this week?
DAVE CANALES: I thought it was a great process by Ejiro, Brad, Tracy, to look at all the schemes the players were using, how we're using them, and just really fine tuning the things that we can count on.
And then see what is the small percentage of things we can look at that might be able to help us. So there will be some wrinkles but it was a really good job just to be able to reconnect after four games and just put our heads together and say, okay, this is how we're moving forward.
Q. Do you have a decent idea of what that Dolphin's offense is going to look like without Tyreek?
DAVE CANALES: I mean, I would assume the attack would be very similar. Mike McDaniels has done a great job for years now of stressing the defenses horizontally and vertically with different things. They still have some really fast players out there that they can use in different ways, versatile players.
They just got Darren Waller back. So I would assume that the attacks can be very similar with some pieces being moved around in different spots, and that's the way we just had to approach it. What they put on film what where are we preparing for.
Q. You like to establish the run game every week. Is it more vital against an explosive offense like that?
DAVE CANALES: I think run or pass it's just being efficient, sustaining drives. That's something that we have to really just keep our focus throughout the drives, getting past the 50 to the plus-40 and sustaining and just continue to hit our blocks, our passes, hit our runs the right way, and be efficient that way.
If we can get those first downs and maintain those drives, come away with points on five or six drives, you know, that's always the goal. How can we score any points? Can we get a field goal or touchdown? Let's get into the area we can attack and do those things. That allows us to play complementary football and that will balance out the game.
Q. How is JT Sanders done this week? I know he's still battling the ankle injury.
DAVE CANALES: He's progressing. But again, week to week right now just because of the nature of the ankle injury. Just bringing him, pushing him, seeing what he can handle on a daily basis and taking that information in. We did thought feel like he was ready to get back into the action this week so we'll reevaluate him early next week and hoping he can come back for Dallas.
Q. Jalen Coker?
DAVE CANALES: Coker is doing great. He's -- his rehab is going excellent. He's hitting some top speeds. Now it's about capacity. It's about conditioning. It's about playing football and how many plays in a row can we count on him out there.
So that's the part that we're going to be able to open up his window and test and see what he can do next week.
Q. You will open the window next week?
DAVE CANALES: Yes.
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