In the Panthers Week 15 win, Cam Newton became the first player in NFL history with 5 passing TD and 100 rush yards in the same game. He gained 47 of these yards on one play with one of the Panthers favorite QB run concepts: the Inverted or Power Veer. Let’s take a further look at the concept.

The Panthers start with two receivers left and one receiver right along with Tight End Greg Olsen. The Giants are in a 4-3 defense, with the 1 and 7 technique to the left side, and a 3 and 7 technique to the right side. Even on 1st & 10, with 2 high safeties, the Giants are outnumbered 8 on 6 in the box:

When Greg Olsen motions over to make the Carolina formation into Trips left, the Giants defensive front doesn’t adjust. This creates a huge natural bubble and easier down block angles for Carolina to run Inverted/Power Veer against.

Inverted/Power Veer is blocked up front with a pulling guard like power, but one man is left unblocked and is the “read” man. The running back will run parallel to the line of scrimmage while the QB rides laterally to create a moving mesh point. If the read man steps out and angles toward the running back, the QB should keep it and run QB power. If the read man attacks downhill toward the mesh point, the QB should hand it off to the RB running outside.

Here, the Giants defensive front gives the Panthers great angles at down blocks and free releases to second level defenders. While the pulling guard hits the read man instead of going up to the second level, this is probably because the 8 on 6 caused everybody in the box to be accounted for. The run action and mesh make the Giants linebackers flow left, making Greg Olsen’s (#88) block easier. Cam gets a lane, makes a safety miss at 10 yards, leading to a huge gain:

Note that the Panthers also occasionally also run Power/Inverted Veer reading the linebacker while “logging” the play side defensive end with the pulling guard.