Greg Cosell's SB 50 Preview: Carolina's fun, creative running game

When you watch the Carolina Panthers closely in Super Bowl 50, you'll see a run game that's unlike any other in the NFL.

They have a running game that, among NFL teams, is most like what you’d see in the college game. They built their running game around quarterback Cam Newton’s running skills. Newton doesn’t run that much, but defenses always have to account for him in the running game. That's huge. (We have discussed the Panthers' creative offense before, here and here.)

Carolina will feature multiple run concepts within the same play. There’s always a lot of backfield action, and that can slow down a defense. In the NFC championship game, the normally aggressive Arizona Cardinals defense was reactive, and not proactive. That was due to the backfield actions and multi-dimensional run game, as well as the Panthers’ emphasis on protection. The run game is designed to confuse a defense and slow them down.

And when you consider that the Broncos’ defense is coming off a game in which it hit New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady repeatedly, slowing down the front seven is a key.

Here’s a play that is vintage Panthers run game. It initially featured a zone look left to Mike Tolbert. Then it looked like a power run right by Newton. Finally Newton flipped the ball to Ginn on the reverse. It caused uncertainty and tentative reactions in both the second and third levels of the Cardinals defense.

It looks like a gimmick play, but it's not a gimmick for the Panthers. They often have many different looks like this within the same play in the run game. Few other teams have a quarterback who is such a factor in the run game.

The question is how do you play defense with so much backfield action like that? It’s really difficult. You hear terms like “assignment football,” but when all that is happening fast and you’re following the ball, it’s not that easy.

And Newton isn’t just a decoy in the running game, he’s more than capable of getting big plays on designed runs. On consecutive plays he had an 11-yard run on a third-and-10 and a 12-yard touchdown.

The 11-yard run was on a quarterback power out of the shotgun.

The touchdown run was a quarterback sweep behind the pulling center and right guard.

The Broncos face a much different challenge on defense than they did against the Patriots. A lot of that has to do with facing a very capable runner at quarterback, and all of the different things the Panthers do in the running game with that weapon.

PREVIOUS GREG COSELL SUPER BOWL 50 PREVIEW POSTS

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.