CHARLOTTE – Rhys Lloyd will workout Tuesday for the Carolina Panthers and if all goes well he could re-sign to be their kickoff specialist for the remainder of the season.
   Lloyd traveled from Minneapolis to Charlotte on Monday, one day after current kickoff specialist Todd Carter had to pull himself from a game against the New York Giants because of back spasms. Lloyd’s agent Frank Murtha confirmed Lloyd was in Charlotte for a workout, but said the team had not made a contract offer.

   If signed Lloyd would make the league minimum or about half of the $1.01 million he would have made had the Panthers signed him to an offer sheet as a restricted free agent.
  
   JANSEN SAYS IT SLIPPED: J.J. Jansen said “the ball slipped out of my hand” on his botched punt snap against the Giants on Sunday. The mistake led to a momentum-turning touchdown in the third quarter.
   With Carolina trailing 17-16 with 4:34 left in the third quarter, Jansen went to snap the ball to punter Jason Baker on fourth down but the ball came out of his hands funny and bounced around in the backfield until the Giants recovered at the Carolina 38-yard line.
   "It's not something you ever want to have happen, but it did,” Jansen said.
   Jansen said it's never happened to him before.
   He said a wet ball and field might have contributed to the problem, but refused to blame it on conditions.
   "That's my responsibility to make sure I get the ball back to Bake and I'm not blaming it on a wet ball or the wet turf. The conditions were good for a new stadium,” Jansen said.
   Jansen had a mistake-free rookie season with the Panthers in 2009 and almost no reporters talked to him after games. He liked it that way.
   "I'll let John Kasay and Jason put up the big numbers and score the points," Jansen said. "I'm just going to try to fly under the radar. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Hopefully there won't be too much to write about me from here on forward."

   CONNOR’S BIG DAY: Despite Sunday’s loss, the Panthers got a solid effort out of MLB Dan Connor, who had 13 tackles and a sack in his first start at his new position.
   “We came out strong in the first half and in the second half we came out a little flat and that was what determined the game,” Connor said. “We’re a young defense and we have to learn from it, learn from our mistakes, and come out next week and get better.”
   When asked why the Panthers came out flat, Connor responded, “You can never tell. You couldn’t say one way or the other, but we definitely need to have that spark we had in the first half to come out in the second half.

   THE GAME PLAN: C Ryan Kalil said he wasn’t surprised the Panthers threw the ball as much as they did.
   “I think that’s part of the game plan, and I think that’s why we did it,” Kalil said. “Maybe we were kind of expecting them to think the same thing.
   “Obviously there are plays to be made and they made more than us. It’s Week 1, it’s not the end of the season, but there’s definitely a lot of things we need to get better at and work on. I think we’re close, I really do, and hopefully we can clean these things up moving on.”

   No. 89 IS No. 1: Steve Smith's 19-yard touchdown reception Sunday was the 51st of his career for the Panthers, moving him past Muhsin Muhammad and into sole possession of first place in franchise history in that category.

   INJURY UPDATE: Along with QB Matt Moore, WR Charly Martin (concussion) is also listed as day-to-day.