PHOTO | CURTIS WILSON

Carolina Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn (21) and defensive tackle DaQuan Jones celebrate Jones’ sack of New Orleans quarterback Jameis Winston in the Panthers’ 26-7 win Sunday at Bank of America Stadium. Carolina (2-0) play at Houston Sept. 23.

The Carolina Panthers are thriving on aggressive defense.

After two games, Carolina has allowed a combined 21 points, including a single touchdown by the usually efficient New Orleans Saints offense in a 26-7 win on Sunday. While most of the preseason attention went to the offense and new quarterback Sam Darnold, the Panthers are creating havoc on the other side of the ball.

“It says a lot,” said defensive end Brian Burns. “In all honesty, the defense had a very dominant performance for the second week in a row. I’m proud of them for real. I’m just liking the energy to be honest. We’re all playing together and for each other and that’s why we’re so dominant right now.”

While the season-opening 19-14 win against the rebuilding New York Jets wasn’t unexpected, Carolina’s mauling of the Saints was. The Panthers limited New Orleans to 128 yards on offense, including 111 passing, and held running back Alvin Kamara to 30 yards total (5 rushing). With Kamara under wraps, the Panthers turned their attention to harassing Jameis Winston.

“First, it comes with stopping the run,” linebacker Haason Reddick said. “I don’t know the exact stat, but I don’t think they had over 60 yards rushing (48 yards on 17 carries) at that time. If we could continue to stop the run and force teams to continue to have to throw the ball, then naturally it just allows us to go ahead and get after the quarterback.”

The Panthers frustrated Winston, who completed half of his 22 passes and was intercepted twice. He was sacked four times as Carolina turned New Orleans into a single-dimension offense that was forced to throw.

“It changes things and I think there are two parts to that,” Carolina coach Matt Rhule said. “I think it’s stopping the run because then on second [down] and 7 you are not sitting here playing a run defense now and … we trusted the players. We played a lot of Bear [alignment with] five up guys and played man to man defense. Keith Taylor was out there” as an extra defensive back. “Rashaan Melvin was out there. Those guys stepped up.”

Said cornerback Jaycee Horn, who tallied his first NFL interception: “Coach [Phil] Snow had a great game plan. Our coaches do a good job of attacking our opponent and coming up with a great scheme. Our pass rush was playing good all game and we were able to feed off of that in the back end. It was just a team effort, and we were able to go out there and slow them down a little bit.”

With the defense holding down its end over the first two weeks, Carolina’s re-worked offense has been good enough to provide a working margin. Playing in front is easier that catching up.

“When you are able to create three-and-outs and their defense doesn’t get really the breather that they might want, it’s easier for us to go out there and run the ball and have misdirection because they are a little bit more tired,” said Darnold, who completed 26-of-38 passes 305 yards and a pair of scores. “That’s the way the game works, so it was good.”

Reddick, who joined Carolina in the offseason as a free agent, said he expected the Panthers to be good on defense, but not necessarily as stout as quickly.

“I wouldn’t lie,” he said. “Right now, we are exceeding where I thought we could be and it’s surprising to me, but it’s just a testament to the work that we put in during training camp and OTAs. Getting here, gelling with each other, bonding, getting to know each other and everybody just committing to one goal out there playing as hard as possible.”

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