CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- To say Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Mike Shula had little experience in the no-huddle offense before arriving in Charlotte in 2011 might be understated.

Let me put it into perspective.

Shula said the Panthers probably ran more no huddle the past two games than he did his entire career as the offensive coordinator at Tampa Bay (1996-99), the quarterbacks coach with Miami Dolphins (2000-02), the head coach at Alabama (2003-06) and the quarterbacks coach at Jacksonville (2007-10).

Cam Newton completed 8 of 11 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown on no-huddle drives to end the first half and begin the second half. Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports

Quarterback Cam Newton, on the other hand, had plenty of experience with it before the Panthers made him the first pick of the 2011 draft.

He ran it his entire college career, exclusively in 2010 en route to leading Auburn to an undefeated season and the BCS National Championship.

Much of what Shula has learned about the no-huddle scheme that was instrumental in helping Carolina beat Chicago 31-24 on Sunday came from studying Newton at Auburn.

"They never huddled," Shula said on Monday. "He never called a play at the line of scrimmage. I don't know if he ever had a snap count. They had all those signs up. He just looked over and the rest of the team looked over, got the signal, then he lifted his leg and got the ball."

Shula has no plans to go to that extreme. He still believes Newton is an effective weapon under center even though his statistics on Sunday said he was better in the no huddle.

"I think he's good at both," Shula said.

But Shula likes what the no huddle offers in terms of getting Newton and his young offensive line into a rhythm. He said the way Carolina runs it is not contrary to his offensive philosophy built around a balanced mix of run and pass while taking time off the clock.

Despite an increase in no huddle this season, the Panthers still rank 27th in the NFL in "real time" between plays at 40.1 seconds. They ranked 32nd last season at 41.6 seconds and were 29th the previous two seasons at 41.4 and 41.3 seconds.

"The bottom line, you have to have a good mix," Shula said. "I don't think you want to go to it the whole game. If we weren't good at it we probably wouldn't be doing it at all."

The Panthers were very good at it on Sunday, running it the last series of the first half and the first series of the second half to wipe out a 21-7 deficit.

Newton completed 8 of 11 passes for 124 yards and a touchdown on those drives. He was 11-for-24 for 131 yards and a touchdown the rest of the game.

The first drive had six passes (one incompletion) and one run because the Panthers were rushing to score before halftime. The second half drive was more of what Shula wants to see out of the formation. Carolina threw five times and ran four times, scoring on a 1-yard run by Chris Ogbonnaya.

Newton wasn't sacked on any of those plays.

The week before, the Panthers opened against Baltimore in the no huddle. They were moving efficiently until a penalty and sack took them out of field goal range.

So why doesn't Shula run no huddle more?

"The question that comes to mind when you ask that is, OK, Cam was really good in the shotgun in college," Shula said. "That's all he did. He was really good. You drafted him No. 1. Well, why don't you do shotgun all the time?

"Well, looking at our first year, he actually performed better under the center in the NFL, [and] he never had any snaps there. Those are kind of tough questions to answer, but they're good questions because he's playing well there."