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Dave Canales on why the Panthers expanded Tetairoa McMillan’s role

On Sunday, the Panthers’ first-round draft choice in April enjoyed the best day of his young NFL career in the team’s comeback win over the Falcons at Atlanta.
Russell Baxter|
Nov 16, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) celebrates a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Nov 16, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Carolina Panthers wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4) celebrates a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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Carolina Panthers

It started out well for Dave Canales’s team on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. On their first possession of the game, the Carolina Panthers would march 73 yards in 12 plays and eat up 7:30 of the clock. Bryce Young’s seven-yard touchdown toss to rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan gave Canales’s club the early advantage at Atlanta.

However, the advantage didn’t last long. The Falcons would score the next three touchdowns of the game to take a 21-7 lead. The Panthers would respond in a big way and after four quarters of play, the teams were knotted at 27-all. In overtime, Ryan Fitzgerald’s 28-yard field goal was the difference in Carolina’s 30-27 victory.

There were plenty of heroes. Young threw for a team-record 448 yards, with three touchdowns. McMillan had a big day as well. His 12 targets, eight catches, and 130 receiving yards were all personal bests. He scored a pair of touchdowns, as he did in the 30-27 home victory in Week 6 over the Dallas Cowboys.

After the game, Canales spoke about his talented rookie wideout, and how he was moved around vs. the Falcons.

McMillan is easily the team leader in receptions (54) and yards (748) this season, and his four TD grabs are one more than second-year wideout Xavier Legette (3). It will be interesting to see if Canales and the coaching employ this strategy for the remainder of the seasons. McMillan was one of five players with at least four catches on Sunday, and Young connected on 68.8 percent of his throws.

The 6-5 Panthers now find themselves just one-half game behind the first-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South. Carolina’s passing game could be on the verge of finally coming into its own, and that could make for an interesting stretch run by Canales’s inconsistent yet intriguing team.

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Russell Baxter
RUSSELL BAXTER

Russell S. Baxter has been writing and researching the game of football for more than 40 years, and on numerous platforms. That includes television, as he spent more than two decades at ESPN, and was part of shows that garnered five Emmy Awards. He also spent the 2015 NFL season with Thursday Night Football on CBS/NFLN.