For instance, the KC Chiefs will likely have a West Coast offense with lots of short passing with some jitterbug runs from Jamaal Charles or him catching swing passes from Alex Smith. The Miami Dolphins look to be a more wide-open offense with young gun Ryan Tannehill now surrounded by some powerful weapons at the WR and TE positions – not to mention their defensive overhaul.

The 2013 iteration of the Carolina Panthers looks a lot like many teams from the 1970′s. Speaking of the Miami Dolphins, recall a young Don Shula taking the expansion Miami Dolphins to relevance with an unselfish team-first, “no-name” defense, a slick and thus aptly-named QB in Bob Griese, and a 3-headed hydra backfield with Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris. Don’t forget one of my all-time favorite players, Hall of Fame wideout Paul Warfield. One year, he had only 29 receptions for the heavily-grounded offense, but 11 of those went the distance.

Not to bad when 1 catch out of 3 means 6 (points)!

In their 1972 perfect season, what’s usually lost in the hype was that they were #1 in offense AND defense in the NFL. OUCH.

Dec 30, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams (34) carries the ball up the field against the New Orleans Saints during first quarter of their game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

While I make no such grandiose predictions of the same for this year’s Carolina Panthers, I DO see some similarities.

Mainly, I see a team with one dangerous WR, Steve Smith, and a lot of role-players otherwise on the offense.

The Dolphins had a TE named Marlin Briscoe. The Panthers have a similar-type player in TE Greg Olson.

The offensive backfield is similar. Shula had Csonka; Rivera has Jonathan Stewart. Shula had Jim Kiick – sort of a jack-of-all-trades – and the Panthers have Mike Tolbert. Shula’s most electrifying player was a speedster with a great nickname….Eugene “Mercury” Morris. Rivera now has 2 of those – DeAngelo Williams and 6th-round draft pick, the rookie from Oregon, Kenjon Barner.

Neither of them have cool nicknames, but hey, it’s the play on the field I’m comparing.

With limited help in the passing game, the Panthers have another threat that the Dolphins really didn’t have – a true dual-threat QB. Bob Griese was slippery and could scramble but was a physically small man, even for the times, and wasn’t about to take many hits. Cam Newton is much, much more dynamic.

When Ron Rivera took the team over, the Panthers were already built very much like a power running team. They just lacked the defense against the run to fully exploit it.

Now, with two strong young and talented defensive tackles, the Panthers’ 2012 “soft, gushy center” of the defense won’t be so soft in 2013. Luke Kuechly led the NFL in tackles and has already made his presence known, but now he’s got some help in front of him so he might not make quite as many tackles, frankly….the hopes are the defense won’t be on the field so much this year.

That’s exactly where a power running game helps – it keeps opposing QBs like, oh, say…Drew Brees and Matt Ryan on the bench where they can’t hurt you. If the Panthers can dictate the pace of a ball game, they are going to have a very good shot to win.

If everyone on the offensive line is healthy, it should be one of the better overall units in the NFL – Byron Bell or not. Bell’s a better run-blocker than he is a pass protector so a running offense would benefit him as well.

Also if you’ll recall the first two games last year – the Panthers ran 2-to-1 vs. passing and won that game against the Saints. The other? They passed 2-to-1 vs. running (season opener @ Tampa Bay) and lost. Those first two games should have set the tone for the offensive play-calling the rest of the season, but Chud wasn’t always on top of the running game.

Jan 23, 2013; Mobile AL, USA; Senior Bowl north squad running back Kenjon Barner of Oregon (24) carries against defensive back Jordan Poyer of Oregon State (14) during the Senior Bowl north squad practice at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

If the Panthers decide to go the “ground and pound” route, they could be a force to reckon with. Today’s NFL defenses are built around the pass rush and pass defense, team speed and smaller, faster defenders. These things go in cycles, and we’re at one extreme now more or less because of the liberal rules in the passing game. Fine.

The advantage can go to Carolina when pounding the rock with any of 4 different ball carriers when you include Cam Newton…possibly 5 if Barner is tossed into the mix for a few plays a game early on as he learns the ropes.

The personnel should dictate what you do, not the other way around. You play to your strengths, and I’d say Carolina’s backfield is much stronger than the receiving corps is. They’re also taking up the lion’s share of salary cap space.

USE THEM!

A powerful running game does a number of good things. It runs the clock, shortening the game. It really does make opposing defenses a step slower as the game wears on as the physicality wears them out. It’s no secret it takes twice as much energy to play defense than offense, and when an offense can put together long, slogging drives, the defense gets tired.

A tired defense helps the opposing offense down the stretch as they’re less able to make plays and just get worn down. Also, a lot of defensive backs these days are used to covering and not tackling; tackling is almost a lost art these days, and bringing down a Mike Tolbert is NOT something a 190-lb DB wants to do – or even CAN do in some cases.

As running teams keep running and the game goes on, the gains on the ground tend to get a little bigger. When you have a mix of power sledgehammers and lightning bugs, those fast guys seem to get a little bit faster in the 2nd half…and the Panthers have been known the past 2 years for giving up leads (when they get them) late in the game.

I say it’s worth attempting. A strong running game would make the vertical passing game MORE effective – even if pass attempts are going to be down – as safeties start sneaking towards the line of scrimmage or defensive coordinators start calling “8 in the box” defenses to try and stop/slow down the run. That’s where the play-action deep pass comes in.

With nobody (yet) stepping up in the WR corps, signs point more and more to a 1970′s-style extremely physical offensive style being the direction to go. Smitty has lost at least a step in speed and nobody so far has stepped up to claim the WR2 spot, so they may go with what’s proven.

The Panthers have so much money and talent in the offensive backfield – it’s time they started earning those big paychecks.

DeAngelo Williams ran for 69 yards, giving him 68 for the season. Yes, that’s how bad it was last week.

Jonathan Stewart, injured and on the sidelines last week, got 51 on 11 carries this week to go with his 17 yard scoring catch.

What a difference 1-1 is from 0-2.

The two Carolina games thus far were night and day in nearly every respect. I think that the main difference wound up being that the Panthers’ Offenisive Coordinator, Rob Chudzinski, remembered what he’d forgotten in week one.

Aug 17, 2012; Charlotte, NC, USA Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams (34) runs the ball against the Miami Dolphins during the first quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-US PRESSWIRE

All those highly-compensated running backs they have. He actually used them.

And guess what? All those highly-compensated running backs delivered.

All 4 backs scored a touchdown (with Stewart on the reception) as the Panthers rolled up over 200 yards on the ground.

It’s something I almost envisioned last week when I wrote about the balance the Panthers needed to bring back to the offense. While you never can fully feel safe against Drew Brees, I just got the feeling after the interception/TD by Charles Godfrey that it was our day.

One other thing I had noticed during the game was each series seemed to feature a different RB, with Tolber being featured once or twice for part of a drive. Everyone was contributing, and that’s reflected in the statistics. It used to be rare indeed when a team ran for over 200 yards without a hundred-yard rusher, but get used to it on this team.

After two games and a split result from two gameplans, it’s quite obvious the Panthers need to keep on with the ground attack each week. While the running game doesn’t always pay off in the beginning, it takes more of a cumulative toll on a defense than passing does. Defenses just seem a step slower in the fourth quarter if you’ve been running the ball. It does wear them down.

Passing is largely a game of hot potato/keep away. Keep away from the ball, keep the defenders away from the QB. Push, roll, slide.

Running is largely a game of a streetfight. Maul, haul, push, shove. Large men moving other large men out of the way by force. No “incompletions” to just stop the action. You beat the ball down the field with brute force, angles, tricks…it’s ugly. That’s why it works.

Sep 16, 2012; Chaflotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Mike Tolbert (35) scores a touchdown in the second quarter and celebrates with guard Geoff Hangartner (63) and tackle Byron Bell (77) at Bank of America Stadium . Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USPresswire

When you’ve got, well, four highly-compensated backs, in Newton’s case, it’s “his style” to run a little. Use that, but be smart and pick your fights when you do use him that way.

With 3 guys having 10-15 carries a game with a “dash” of the large Mike Tolbert thrown in, you keep your guys fresher and less beaten-up at the end of the game…and the season. I’m thinking a “perfect” rest of the season offensively would have the Panthers pushing over 2,000 yards rushing as a team without anyone having a thousand-yard season…but several in the 600-900 range including Cam Newton.

The one lingering concern I had during the game never materialized; regarding depth and fatigue on the Panthers’ defensive line due to the illness that has been going around. The pass rush was pressuring Brees even more in the 4th quarter than they were in the first. By the end, it almost seemed like Brees gave up and threw it to Beason out of a day’s full of frustration.

Of course, he didn’t mean to throw it to him. He probably just never saw him.

It just wasn’t Drew Brees’ day.