Over the course of the year Panther fans grew accustomed to big passing days, and success through the air from Cam Newton. And the sense that emanates from many Panther fans is that the Panthers have transformed into a passing offense similar to the vestiges of Detroit, New Orleans, New England, and Green Bay. However, the numbers have shown that the Panthers are not becoming an Air it out offense; moreover, the Panthers have morphed into a hybrid Air Coryell offense with a smattering of the Option, that garners its prosperity from the success of the run game.

First off, we'll look at the stats. The Panthers finished the season with 2,408 rushing yards (3rd in the NFL). The Panther's achieved this numerical superlative behind the legs of Deangelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, and Cam Newton. This three headed monster became the first ever trio to rush for over 700 yards on the same team. Furthermore, the Panthers achieved this stat on only 445 attempts (13th in the NFL). This juxtaposition of attempts to rushing yards afforded the Panthers 5.4 Yards Per Rush, good enough for the best in the NFL. In comparison of wins and losses, the Panthers averaged 180 yards per game in winning efforts, while in losses the Panthers averaged 132 yards per game.

As a collation we'll take a look Cam Newton and the Passing numbers. Cam finished the year with 4,055 yards passing (10th in the NFL). The Panthers also finished with 519 passing attempts (23rd in the NFL) combining for 239 yards per game (13th in the NFL). In fact, over the last 6 games of the year, Cam only averaged 25 attempts a game for 194 YPG. In that stretch the Panthers rushed the ball 31 times per game for 188 YPG. During those 6 games, the Panthers finished 4-2.

As the season wore on, the Panthers became more balanced between the Pass Game and the Running Game, and the wins piled up for the Panthers. I attribute all of the preceding stats to NFL.com, and Panthers.com

Rushing Numbers

Panther's schedule