Panthers center Ryan Kalil defended "little" brother Matt Kalil, arguing that the Vikings' struggling left tackle is playing better than many suggest and then using humor to downplay Sunday's postgame altercation in which Matt flipped the hat off the head of a heckler outside of TCF Bank Stadium.

"I was a little disappointed," said Ryan, whose Panthers play the Vikings on Sunday. "I would have actually liked him to go with the, 'You spilled something on your shirt' and then throw the finger up into [the fan's] chin. I think that would have been a funnier move."

Ryan also jokingly took the blame for Matt's hat-flipping move.

"It's probably my fault for picking on him when he was little," Ryan said. "Flipping his hat off, I think, was the go-to move for me."

On a serious note, Ryan said his brother has never been more frustrated for several reasons, including a balky right knee that hasn't healed entirely since offseason surgery and an avalanche of criticism that he's never experienced.

"Confidence is everything in this league," he said. "The hardest thing is to sort of drown out the criticism. Some of the criticism is fair and a lot of it's not. Everybody goes through it. The quicker you can realize that, the more you can be mentally tough and drown all that out, the better off you'll be.

"The biggest thing I'll say about Matt is he works hard. I know he's very talented. I know the knee thing bothers him. I think he'll be fine though. I think he'll be good player for a long time. I think this is a learning experience."

Webb says he's ready

With right tackle Phil Loadholt going on season-ending injured reserve because of a torn pectoral muscle, J'Marcus Webb was re-signed and will be the swing tackle who backs up Mike Harris and Kalil in Sunday's game.

The Vikings used Webb in eight games last season and weren't impressed enough to bring him back. But desperate times led to Webb, who was home in Austin, Texas, convinced that his career wasn't over.

"Nah, I didn't think I was done," Webb said. "I just turned 26 years old [in August] and I'm still a big boy and ready to rock and roll. That thought never crossed my mind."

Meanwhile, Loadholt said he'll have his surgery Friday and should be 100 percent healthy before training camp next year. Loadholt said he'll stay in the Twin Cities to offer any help he can to Harris.

Asiata back, but five miss practice

Running back Matt Asiata passed his concussion protocol and returned to practice on Wednesday. But five players, including four starters, missed practice. They were TE Chase Ford (hamstring/foot), FS Harrison Smith (shoulder/ankle), WR Cordarrelle Patterson (knee), RB Jerick McKinnon (low back) and DT Sharrif Floyd (knee). Asiata, Kalil (knee) and LB Anthony Barr (knee) were limited in practice.

Bridgewater's No. 1 priority?

With the playoffs seemingly kaput, rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said the final five games can be used to "keep getting better along the way."

Asked to name the No. 1 thing he wants to get better at over the final five games, Bridgewater said: "Just take advantage of those easy completions when they present themselves. There are times in the game when there could be a 5-yard out route or just something that gives you consistency, something that gives you rhythm."

A consistent theme for Bridgewater has been slow starts followed by strong second halves, including fourth-quarter comebacks in each of his three wins. In Sunday's first half, Bridgewater missed several easy throws and finished with as many incompletions (11) as completions.

"Those are throws I make nine out of 10 times in practice," he said.

Coach Mike Zimmer said the team is working on ways to jump-start the QB early.

"Probably what I need to do is tell him we're behind every series when we go out there and we need to score this series," Zimmer said, "because he's pretty good when he needs to be."