STEWART STILL ON PACE

When the Panthers kick off their Divisional Round game, it’ll be 35 days since their Week 14 rout of Atlanta. That means it’ll have been more than a month since running back Jonathan Stewart left early with a foot sprain.

The Panthers have been planning to get him back for the playoffs, and there shouldn’t be much concern that won’t happen. But Stewart still isn’t willing to go much further than calling himself day-to-day.

“That’s what I’m pressing for,” Stewart said, when asked if he had no doubt he’d be able to play in two weeks.

“The biggest thing we have to be smart about is his conditioning,” Rivera said. “He’s been doing a lot of that as far as that’s concerned. We expect to work him back into it this week, and hopefully by next week he’ll be ready to roll.”