Why Panthers’ Chuba Hubbard, Rico Dowdle speaking up on play-calling preferences
Last season, the Panthers’ rushing attack was the offense’s bread and butter. But during an 0-2 start this season, the ground game has looked more like a stale dinner roll.
Against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, the Panthers averaged 4.5 yards per carry with quarterback Bryce Young adding 40 rushing yards on five scrambles (8.0 yards per run) to heavily boost that number. In Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals, the average dropped to 2.6 yards per tote, with running backs combining for 47 yards on 16 carries (2.9 yards per carry).
While the Panthers trailed throughout both games to begin the campaign, the rushing offense offered mediocre returns long before those matchups got out of hand and the Panthers were forced to lean heavily on their passing attack.
On Wednesday, head coach Dave Canales complimented the Cardinals’ run defense for stalling the Panthers’ plans out of the backfield. But Canales also said Carolina needs to execute better to have success with moving the ball on the ground.
So, Canales and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik are going back to the drawing board to find a way to put Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle in the best possible positions for success. In turn, according to Idzik, the veteran running backs have been offering feedback to streamline the process.
“I think with Chuba, he’s voicing the things that he likes, which I love,” Idzik said. “When players come back to you and give you feedback on, ‘Hey, this concept makes my vision a little blurry. Hey, this concept is something that I have a comfort level (with). I’d love to add this if it fits within what the defense is presenting to us.’ So, the communication from the backs has been awesome.”
Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle on the field
Hubbard averaged 4.8 yards per carry last season. He produced a career-high 1,195 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns in 15 games in 2024. Through two games this season, he’s averaging 3.7 yards per carry and is on pace for 808 rushing yards in a 17-game projection. The fifth-year playmaker has yet to hit pay dirt as a runner, but he has scored on a pair of late catches for touchdowns, with the two receiving scores setting a career-best mark with 15 games to go.
Hubbard has been the focal point of the offense over the past two seasons, pre-dating the arrivals of Canales and Idzik. He is off to a sluggish start, so getting his input is important in turning around his early performance.
Dowdle, who was added in free agency in March, was meant to complement Hubbard as his immediate backup. So far, the pair has basically had a 70-30 timeshare with rookie Trevor Etienne being sprinkled into the lineup on occasion.
While Canales initially billed Hubbard and Dowdle as having similar styles this offseason, Idzik has since learned the duo has different preferences in play-calling. Those preferences have come out of their previous scheme experiences.
“Rico and Chuba like different things,” Idzik said. “We were actually in the walkthrough yesterday, and we were talking about — I don’t want to tell everybody what they are — but we were talking about some of the schemes that they’ve done in the past. And it becomes apparent that these guys are all different, and they all feel different schemes a little bit in their own way.”
The Panthers have yet to hold a lead this season
The Panthers have yet to hold a lead this season. That outlook has made it hard to lean on the run and build momentum on the ground with Hubbard and Dowdle.
But with Atlanta — an NFC South rival whom the Panthers are very familiar with — coming to town, the opportunity for a close, hard-fought game is apparent.
If the Panthers can gain early ground with Hubbard, they’ll be able to prolong his effectiveness throughout the game. That’s when Canales and Idzik will likely test him in crunch time.
“For Chuba, it’s just continuing to lean into those things that he is comfortable with — that are in his wheelhouse, that he’s shown all last year and this season,” Idzik said. “But then also, adding some of those complements that protect those runs. We do have to continue to stress him and stress his eyes and stress his patience on some of those things that might not be like, ‘Hey, when you need it, and you’re in the fourth quarter, and you’re in four-minute (offense), I would love to hear this run come out of the quarterback’s play call.’
“But on the way there,” Idzik added, “we have to be disciplined in what we are asking them to do, to be able to set that stuff up.”
This story was originally published September 18, 2025 at 11:52 AM.
