CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Ron Rivera didn’t think his Carolina Panthers practiced all that well on offense Wednesday morning.

And then he looked at the film.

“I was a little upset [Wednesday] with practice,” the Panthers head coach said after minicamp concluded Thursday. “I got a chance to watch the tape and realized it was a good practice.

“When you put it on tape and you look at things, sure, a couple of things happen. We made some plays on defense. The routes were run the way they were supposed to. The protection was what it was supposed to be done. The quarterback made the decisions. The coverage was what we wanted. The rush is getting there (without pads).”

Rivera saw plenty of things he liked in the three-day mandatory minicamp. Among them:

-- He saw players on both sides of the ball make plays. He saw players respond after getting beat.

“It was tit-for-tat type of day,” Rivera said. “We had success on both sides of the ball. When you’re doing that, that means something good is happening. ... The things we needed to do, we did the last three days.

“Offense. Defense. Special teams. We’re in a good place right now.”

-- He saw first-round draft pick Christian McCaffrey -- who wasn’t allowed to participate in the first day because of NFL rules requiring his college’s academic year to be completed -- pick up a blitz.

“It called for Christian to read for protection, which he did and did very well,” Rivera said. “I knew it was something that he had to have studied. He would have not known who to pick up.”

-- Team owner Jerry Richardson watched much of the final day. He didn’t address the team -- just said hello to players and watched.

“Mr. Richardson does what he does, and that’s observe and read people and it’s great,” Rivera said. “It was awesome to have him here.”

-- Virtually the full team is expected to be healthy for the start of training camp in late July. The only player (with the exception of the uncertainty about right tackle Michael Oher) who might not be ready is defensive end Ryan Delaire (knee).

Rivera had a few things to complain about. One of those was the stretching music Thursday. In fact, many of the players complained (although with Richardson attending, maybe that impacted the choice of tunes).

“The biggest disappointment I had today is it’s ‘Throwback Thursday,’ and they didn’t play my song, which really disappointed me,” Rivera said. “They’re going to play the music I want on Throwback Thursday.”

Now it’s time for Rivera to review the film and get prepared for training camp to start July 26.

“One thing you like to do is look at the beginning -- how did they look at the beginning and then you look at it now,” Rivera said. “Getting to look at these last three practices will be really good and then go back and watch our second and third practice [of OTAs]. ... One thing you’re looking for is if somebody is making the same mistake.”