The Carolina Panthers return from their bye week still working toward their first victory of the 2023 NFL season. After getting Week 7 off, the Panthers play the Houston Texas on Sunday.

“We’ve had a rough start to it. Just got to keep the mindset positive,” Carolina defensive tackle Derrick Brown said during a appearance on ESPN’s “The Paul Finebaum Show.” “… What’s happened already has happened. Guys got to take that mindset and get ready to keep going forward. None of us are going to lay down and quit, man. The adversity we’ve faced along the way, nobody’s going to save us. That’s the attitude in the building. We’re going to figure this thing out. It’s taken time, but we’re going to figure it out.”

While the former Auburn All-American is building on his best NFL season in a new defensive scheme with the Panthers in 2023, the focus in Carolina has been on an All-American from the other side of the Iron Bowl rivalry. The Panthers traded to obtain the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and used the choice on Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.

“He’s learning the game, and I think people don’t truly understand what it’s like to be in those shoes,” Brown said. “And from the Day 1 you get drafted, you’re supposed to do your job, but the game is a completely different game from what we played in college. He’s been taking huge strides so far, so kudos to Bryce and the job he’s doing. He’s our team leader at the quarterback position, and we’re going to ride behind him.”

Brown has experienced the adaptations needed to go directly from an SEC star to a highly touted draft choice to an NFL starter.

“It’s just finding your level of comfortability with the game and being able to relax and play the game like you did when you were 6 years old,” Brown said. “People say there’s no pressure, but at the end of the day, ‘Do your job’ is a lot of pressure if you want to keep it. I think that’s the part – keeping your confidence high and battling every week. …

“You don’t go against a bad guy week in and week out. It’s one of those things that you got to put in the time and effort and watch the tape, man. You got to watch the tape. That’s the biggest thing from college to the pros for me was you got to actually sit down and learn how to watch the tape and be able to take those things and carry them out to the next week.”

A unanimous All-American selection for Auburn and the Lott IMPACT Trophy winner in 2019, Brown joined the Panthers as the seventh selection in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Brown built to his best season in 2022, when he reached career highs with 67 tackles and seven pass breakups to go with one sack and five tackles for loss.

In May, Carolina picked up its fifth-year option on Brown’s contract. Brown’s four-year rookie deal was worth $23.621 million, and the fifth-year option will pay him $11.665 million for the 2024 season and keep him from becoming a free agent after the 2023 campaign.

Carolina switched its base defense to a three-man front for the 2023 season. Six games in, Brown has 30 tackles and a sack, and with 17 solo tackles, he’s already more than halfway to his career high.

Only one NFL defensive interior lineman has more solo tackles than Brown and just two have more total tackles than Brown’s 30 in 2023.

Brown also has played a career-high 85 percent of the Panthers’ defensive snaps this season.

Brown and Carolina will return to action against the Texans at noon CDT Sunday at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. While the Panthers are 0-6, Houston has a 3-3 record.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.