CHARLOTTE — The NFL is a cyclical business; every team is full of people with connections to that week's opponent.

But the Panthers and Bills take it to another level.

The Bills are stocked from the top with former Panthers, from GM Brandon Beane (a former PR intern who rose into operations and scouting roles here) to head coach Sean McDermott (defensive coordinator) to offensive coordinator Joe Brady (same job) to special teams coordinator Chris Tabor (same job, plus interim coach in 2023), to assistant coaches Al Holcomb and DJ Mangas. In terms of players, they're full to the gills. From linebacker Shaq Thompson (whom Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero lovingly referred to by his full name "Shaquille") to Curtis Samuel to Sam Franklin to DaQuan Jones to Dane Jackson. NFL players and coaches, it seems, are the only ones who move from Charlotte to Buffalo and not vice versa.

Of course, this is not a unique phenomenon, as Panthers GM Dan Morgan and vice president of player health and performance Denny Kellington came from Buffalo, where they worked for Beane, and the Panthers picked up practice squad quarterback Mike White this week to go along with punter Sam Martin.

(And neither is it new, since original Panthers GM Bill Polian came straight from Buffalo and brought a lot of old friends with him for the expansion team in 1995, from Frank Reich to Pete Metzelaars to Don Beebe to Carlton Bailey and more. This was Buffalo South before the Bills were Carolina North.)

With so much cross-pollination, it creates an interesting atmosphere for coaches and players alike.

Special teams coordinator Tracy Smith is used to this life, since his area is full of guys who go from team to team, so he's got a binder full of information, but he's always looking for more.

"I love it," Smith said. "Familiarity saves me some time. You already know what's going on. The better you know your opponent, the more you can have that information already going into it without all the research, so I appreciate that.

And then just kind of being around, you kind of develop a catalog on as many guys as possible in these situations, so coaching against the same people, coaching against or with the same players, it helps when they come to our team also. If you've played against them in the past, you know kind of what their style is. We've had a lot of that on bounce back players to the Panthers, and of course, from here as well."

As Smith noted, Martin was working with a different coordinator and a different kicker, so there are limits to how much can be gleaned.

"But any information we can get from any source, we we're going after that," Smith said. "The more familiarity we can gain every week, I see it as a five-day race to learn as much about them as you possibly can so that we can be prepared for the test that's showing up on the weekend.

"So yeah, Mike (White), I met him yesterday. It's a good point. I got to go to question No. 2, what do you remember about the punt team at Buffalo? I'll be on that immediately."

Evero said coaches will look for any scrap of information, whether it's schematic stuff, or physical or personality things, as they prepare for a game against so many old friends.

"I would say first of all, schematically, certainly a guy like Shaquille is in a good position and has a great vantage point to give good insight on what we've done here," Evero said. "And it's no different than the new quarterback we just picked up here, who's got that insight as well on what Buffalo does. And so it's just that's a big part of it, and then obviously it's just the physical part of it too.

"He's going to have insight on the players and the things they do well, what they don't do well, and back and forth, and so it's no different for the coaches as well. So it's always good to have, I guess, a little bit more of that inside information."

And when it comes to the Panthers and the Bills, each team has plenty of both.

A measured but excited approach continues with running backs

Brad Idzik couldn't help but smile at the possibility. Rico Dowdle wants to run the triple option with Chuba Hubbard and Trevor Etienne? Sure, it's not out of the realm of possibility, even if it might be a little too much to ask.

"Put it in," Idzik exclaims at the idea, before pointing to the back of the room where special teams coordinator Tracy Smith was waiting for his turn at the Thursday coordinator mic.

"Tracy is saying, put it in!"

For now, though, Idzik, Dave Canales, and crew are just focused on getting their two 1,000-yard backs (Hubbard and Dowdle) enough touches, as well as the ascending rookie, Etienne.

"You want to continue to get them touches in different ways," Idzik said Thursday. "You want them to get a rhythm, so getting enough touches is a big thing.

"And, unfortunately, when you're a third back, you kind of lose some of that and you get spot plays to make sure that you're continuing to stay engaged in the game, but then also get to showcase your talent and keep the other guys fresh."

The Panthers, while measuring what most teams would consider a great problem to have, had Dowdle and Hubbard trade off drives against the Jets, while running two-back sets on their respective drives with Etienne. There was one play on Sunday with both Hubbard and Dowdle on the field together, resulting in a fake handoff and a short pass to Hubbard.

"We've flirted with the pony package," Idzik said. "Anytime you get both those backs on the field, it's a great threat to the defense just as it is with our other personnel. We start to highlight shots down the field and bigger personnels, but also our run game coming to life in general and just making sure that we talked about what the defense is presenting us when those opportunities come up, having a long line of great players at every skill position allows us to say, OK, this is a week where 10 personnel looks good.

"This is a week where putting both backs out there will do us some good, and then you want to continue to get those guys in a rhythm, so cycling them in and out in certain plays, giving them certain tags to make sure that Jimmy (Horn) gets in the game and Jalen Coker gets in the game, and Trevor gets some touches as well because he did some great things with the ball last week."

The Bills are coming in with a rush defense that is ranked 31st in the NFL, allowing an average of 156.3 yards per game on the ground. The Panthers are third in the league in rushing offense, averaging 140.1 yards per game in that facet.

Finding a way to continue that on Sunday, taking advantage of holes, will receive a lot of the coaches' attention this week, according to Idzik, as they continue to balance a multi-faceted rushing attack.

"That's imperative, and that's on us as coaches to make sure that we handle that the right way."

Can Panthers' special teams go 3-3 with a player of the week?

For two straight weeks now, the Panthers' special teams unit has earned player of the week honors from the NFL; first with kicker Ryan Fitzgerald, following the Cowboys' win, then with punter Sam Martin earning the title after the win against the Jets.

"Yeah, our imaginary trophy case is just growing by the day," joked Smith.

But could the unit go three-for-three and garner the title for long snapper JJ Jansen now as well? What would it even take for a long snapper to be named player of the week?

"JJ would have to recover a fumble in the end zone," posed Smith, before toying with a few other ideas. "I can't imagine the dominance that he would have to show in all phases. We may have to throw him a pass. It stretches the bounds of creativity to get JJ more acclaim."

That, of course, leads to an even bigger question.

"Now, does he need more acclaim?" asks Smith. "I'll leave that question to the masses."

A long snapper has won NFC player of the week before, and quite recently…well, actually, allow us to rephrase—a long snapper has kind of won NFC player of the week before. As Jansen reminded reporters in the locker room on Wednesday, Cole Kmet of the Chicago Bears won NFC special teams player of the week in October of last season.

Cole Kmet is a tight end. But he filled in as an emergency snapper for the Bears and earned the title. He also had two touchdowns that day on offense, possibly helping his case.

"Oh, what an uphill battle, but something to strive for," joked Smith.

And who knows, maybe it provided a little shot of motivation and creativity, and this time next week, we're talking about special teams player of the week, JJ Jansen.

Special teams constantly training backups

Speaking of emergency long snappers, Tracy Smith isn't giving away too much about who his might be in a game.

"Thank you for asking a top secret question that we'll keep close to the vest," deadpanned Smith.

As far as kickers and punters go, those emergency plans are more obvious.

"The kicker and punter, they back up each other if those circumstances arise. They're the best prepared at those two spots, especially for kickoff, (punter) Sam (Martin) has a ton of kickoff experience in his past, so we're amply prepared for that."

As for long snapper, that one is a little more difficult to prepare for. In the vein of Cole Kmet, in the past, the Panthers cross-trained tight end Feleipe Franks on Friday of last season to be the emergency snapper. Franks is now with the Falcons, and Smith has to consider other factors for whom he might have to turn to on Sunday if need be.

"It's actually—if you're just digging through the clues, if you want to get into it—it depends who's dressed for that week, but we have a couple of guys who have long snapped."

The key, Smith added, is making sure any possible emergency backups —whether punter, kicker, long snapper, returner, or even gunner and punt protector —are aware they are the emergency option.

"It starts with their availability for the game," Smith explained. "Who's the 48 guys that we have there? And then, generally, you have your lineups on each face, and mostly you have a substitute for two positions.

"You kind of have three guys for every two spots. So the front-line guys stay there, and then the next person has to be the backup, left tackle and right tackle, or left guard and right guard, that kind of thing. So you're looking for a guy who has some adaptability. And experience helps if they've done this stuff before. If not, we're trying to constantly train those guys, either through practice reps against the main team or with the main team, so you're ready for that.

"We always have a different backup punt team for the week because they're constantly training more positions. Same thing with field goals, same thing with the other phases where you're trying to get guys ready for any possible roles.

"It's really, I feel like it's not fair to tell a guy, 'Hey, you've got to go right now. Here's what you're doing, if they've never done it before. I don't think it's fair to that guy."