CHARLOTTE — When Bernie Parmalee was playing running back in the NFL from 1992 to 2000, he dreamed of one day having his own unit to run. Of becoming a coach, and shaping a room in the way he knew could work best, inspiring quality work from top to bottom.

"When I was a player, I said, if I ever had my room, I can envision the way I want my room to be," Parmalee admitted. And this current iteration of his room? "This is what I wanted it to look like.

"I want people to, I want them to come in and say this is our sanctuary. Whereas I've been where you probably like, I don't wanna go in that room because it's so serious and it's this and that. So I try to make it a fun place for them."

Parmalee is in his second year with the Panthers, but in no time at all last spring, he set the foundation and expectation for a culture in the running back room. That culture in turn set the foundation for what the Panthers became last year, and are building this offseason: fun, energized, wholly committed to both the work and the extra work to ensure ultimate preparedness.

"That's kind of been our foundation from Day 1," said Jonathon Brooks. "We working, you know, it ain't hard to see, you know, Chuba stays out at practice every day. It's just proof is in the pudding, you know, we going to work hard, that's our foundation. So no matter how the rest of the team is, our job is to be our best self every day."

There is another thing that has come to define Parmalee's coaching style: Bernie-isms, the quips and one-liners he delivers to keep players moving and honest during practice. They are derived from pop culture, his years playing, and his own sense of humor. Some change day-to-day, or pop up given the moment.

"It happens spontaneous in the meeting room when they do something crazy," Parmalee explained. "But yeah, I got a couple."

Three phrases though are pillars of Bernie-isms and help paint the unique picture of how the Carolina Panthers running backs are working to prepare for the season.

Don't fall for the banana in the tailpipe

So what is Parmalee's favorite Bernie-ism, the one he uses the most?

"Number one is don't fall for the banana in the tailpipe," answered Chuba Hubbard without a second thought.

"The banana in the tailpipe, that's probably his favorite one," echoed Brooks.

Given the reference relative to the ages of those in the running back unit ( Rico Dowdle and Raheem Blackshear are the oldest, and they turned 27 last month) it's not surprising many don't know the origin of the phrase.

"Don't know," Blackshear said as he shook his head, "and don't want to know!"

In the 1984 classic, "Beverly Hills Cop," (14 years before Blackshear was born) Eddie Murphy outsmarted two detectives tailing him by stuffing three bananas in their tailpipe. He was able to get away with ease in a different car while theirs stalled, and they could only stare as he escaped. Numerous online myth-busters have proved sticking a banana in a car's tailpipe wouldn't be enough to stop up the car's exhaust and stall the vehicle. But the lesson is still there on the football field.

"It's like when you see something, they trying to trick you. If it looks so easy and it's like, oh you know what, there's no way—this can't be this way. It can't be this. And then all of a sudden your preparation, says, you know what? I know when I see this, it's supposed to actually be this," Parmalee explained. "Say if it's a blitz pickup, you think you've got this guy and you go out and then he comes, you get stuck with a banana in the tailpipe. He tricked you.

"That's basically, trust your training, trust your training. That's what I tell them. Don't fall for the banana in the tail pipe."

We don't have a contract with him

When teams line up across from each other on game day, there is an understanding that each side is committed to stoping the other at all cost. When the same team splits into groups and lines up across from each other at practice, there is an understanding that things won't necessarily be at full speed or intent.

Still, Parmalee doesn't ever want his guys depending on someone else's plan. They need to be fully focused on theirs, in games, and even in practice. If the offense and defense are truly going to make each other better, there has to be some form of iron sharpening iron and teaching going on. So the running back unit dials in on their objectives.

Which is why the running backs constantly hear, "Remember, we don't have a contract with him."

The "we" in this situation being a rusher, and the "him" being anyone who dares to stop them.

"You can't expect, pretty much, one thing doesn't mean they won't do another," explained Hubbard. "Like just because we game plan something in a certain way thinking they will react a certain way, but they don't have to, there's no contract to make them do it."

Linda Blair it

While "don't fall for the banana in the tailpipe" might be Parmalee's favorite "Bernie-ism," his Linda Blair quip is his most nuanced.

When Parmalee was playing for the Miami Dolphins back in the 1990's, he learned under the tutelage of one of the game's greats, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. There are plenty of those lessons that still show up in Parmalee's instructions now, but there is one that Parmalee's players hear every day.

"Linda Blair it," which Hubbard can deliver in an eerily dead-on impersonation of his coach.

"Make sure you get your eyes back, Linda Blair," shouts Blackshear as backup.

"Well, I learned this from Dan Marino," explained Parmalee. "So when I was in Miami and I was a running back there, he said, 'You better, Linda Blair it.' So I said, 'What is Linda Blair?'

"He said, 'You ever see the Exorcist?' He said 'When you out there, you better get your head around because I'm gonna throw you the ball.'"

"The Exorcist," a pillar in the horror film genre, came out in 1973. It starred a relatively unknown Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil, a young girl who becomes possessed by demons and is the subject of an exorcism by Catholic priests. In the film, there is a scene when Blair's head spins all the way around.

The scene has haunted audiences for decades. Now, it's Parmalee's shorthand for when he wants guys to be looking for the check down pass.

"So that's Linda Blair in the movie. She turned her head around real quick," Parmalee continued. "So that's more of a Dan Marino original than a Bernie. So I had to take that one and use that one. I'll give him that one."

And for the guys now under Parmalee's tutelage, they don't need to know the reference, only the action.

Joked the 27-year-old Blackshear, who nis barely older than the movie the year when he was born: "No, I think I'm a little too young for that."