CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- You have to give it to Carolina Panthers coach John Fox. His neck was on the chopping block heading into this season, but if he was going down he was going down his way.
That meant a return to the power roots, which meant run it, run it and run it some more.
Forget the fancy passing attacks that have overtaken this league, Fox believes in a power offense to compliment good defense.
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| John Fox has gone back to the basics this season and it has the Panthers in first place. (Getty Images) |
The Panthers ran for a team-record 299 yards in a 38-23 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium.
One drive said it all: Four plays, 90 yards, touchdown.
Sounds like something you would get from a Peyton Manning-led offense or maybe Kurt Warner or Drew Brees, or any of those other quick-strike passing quarterbacks. Only this was the Panthers doing it at a critical time in the fourth quarter.
Amazingly it was four runs that did it. Here they are:
DeAngelo Williams for 41, Jonathan Stewart for 3, Stewart for 30 and then Williams for 16 and a touchdown.
Four plays, 90 yards to a 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter.
"That's John Fox football," Panthers tackle Jordan Gross said.
Big play runs are just an added bonus. Going for 300 -- would have had it were it not for two kneel downs -- is a dream game. That might be every coach's dream football, especially since manhandling the opposition without having to take chances in the passing game is the so-called December formula for winning games. Fox takes the love for the running game to an extreme.
I can remember talking to him this summer about his team and his big lament was that the Panthers played too soft last season, getting away from their power ideals.
