AP

The second quarter of the season was supposed to be where the Panthers were tested, a clump of games against playoff-caliber opponents.

But even after coming through that section unscathed, they’re not taking their foot off the gas.

According to Bill Voth of Black and Blue Review, Panthers coach Ron Rivera didn’t give his players the normal day off following a win, emphasizing to them there was work to be done after hanging on to beat the Colts and Packers in a six-day span.

“We’ve had a couple of ‘Victory Mondays’ and one thing that you always miss is being able to detail certain things and after a couple of them I felt like we missed a couple of details,” Rivera said. “I wanted to make sure we came in and really were able to hammer the message across to our guys about the details. In fact, I opened my meeting to the guys talking about paying attention to the little things, to the details, about being careful that winning does mask some of your warts.

“We’re a good football team. I think we can get better.”

The Panthers have won 12 straight regular season games going back to last season, and are entering a portion of their schedule that isn’t as strenuous (starting at the Titans this week). While it might be tempting to give his guys a break before the bigger games in December and January, Rivera wanted to make sure to get their attention.