There are two different ballcarriers on those four plays – McCaffrey and Newton.

McCaffrey is naturally instinctive between the tackles, just like he was at Stanford, and his ability to "pick his way through the briar patch" to find extra yardage still stands out at the NFL level. Don't let his size fool you either. He will try to stiff-arm guys and he runs through more arm tackles now than he did as a collegian. He's also an outstanding receiving threat who can impact the game in space. His versatility is a big part of what makes Carolina go.

Then you have Newton, who is such a mismatch in space with his combination of size and speed. He's tough to bring down and when the Panthers are in short-yardage situations they are not afraid to put him in position to run the football as a primary ballcarrier – not just on option looks but on direct quarterback runs as well. Even under Turner, the Panthers love running "naked bootlegs," where the entire offense sells out for an inside run between the tackles before Newton pulls the ball and sprints the opposite way with no blockers out in front – which is why they call it a "naked" run – for him to run for the first down. The plays above show how the Panthers marry their staple inside runs from under center with those carries by Newton.

That's one of my takeaways with this Carolina offense. The Panthers are very good at running a multitude of concepts out of the same looks. This may not seem like a lot, but with all of the things they do in the backfield – the actions, the shifts, the option looks, the play fakes – those are all things that add up. Opposing defenses have a lot to study during the week of preparation. When you make things look the same pre-snap, defenders have to go through mental checklists. Take these plays for example. If Carolina lines up in a heavy set with Newton under center, it could be one of those inside runs, it could be a deep play-action pass – which is in Norv Turner's DNA, or it could be one of these naked runs with the quarterback. That may not seem like a lot, but keep this in mind as we continue peeling back all of the layers of this offense, and you'll appreciate how lucky the Eagles are to get the Panthers on a long week of preparation leading up to the game.