EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J—All week, the Carolina Panthers' running backs had posed the possibility, teased it to the point that it might as well have been a flashing billboard on I-77. The message? This is a team perfectly capable of running a two-running back system with Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle.

On Sunday, the Panthers put it into play.

"It just came out like we thought. We just switched some series and let those guys go out there and play some football for us," said coach Dave Canales. "So I just thought it was a good day, both guys running physically, running aggressive, and it ended up paying off for us."

Hubbard was on the field for the first offensive possession, taking all the snaps at running back for that drive. From there, he and Dowdle switched off each offensive drive, with the back who was up taking all the snaps on the field for that possession. This was the plan all week, Dowdle shared after the game, adding that even though he, Hubbard, and Canales had been relatively mum on the subject, the coaches were transparent with the running back room the whole time.

"We knew we was going to rotate every series, we was going to switch out, going into the game," Dowdle shared. "The coach had told us early on in the week, and I think it worked out. We got the win, so it worked."

By the game's end, the carry numbers were relatively similar. Hubbard finished with 14 rushes and two receptions, with 55 combined yards; Dowdle had 17 rushes and one reception and 96 total yards. The offense stumbled for a couple of drives after quarterback Bryce Young left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. When they did get back into rhythm with Andy Dalton, the opportunities were in the air. That is where the Jets wanted the Panthers to play most of the day, actually. Young and Dalton threw a combined 32 passes.

"Got to give a lot of credit to the Jets," said Canales. "The way that they gave us great challenges in our run game to try to find positive yardage, and they were an aggressive group, and the guys challenged us in every way you could think of."

That sort of defense was to be expected, Dowdle said. Given how well the Panthers have run the ball in recent weeks, from Dowdle to Hubbard, and rookie Trevor Etienne, the man who put up back-to-back 200-plus yard games from scrimmage, assumed the Jets would load the box. And they did.

"When you go out there and you have, I don't know how many yards we had in the past two weeks," Dowdle mused (and it was 455 rushing yards over Weeks 5-6), "definitely they got to respect the run, and like I said the whole time, it's going to open up the rest of the offense play action and things like that when guys having to load the box and respect the run game because we was doing so well in it.

"So, yeah, I definitely expected them to come in and try and load the box, and they've always been that kind of defense anyway, going to try and make it an eight-man box and out-leverage you with numbers."

The result was less production on the ground than Canales and the running backs might have hoped, but when it's just 125 total rushing yards and you win, that's enough. But a performance that was still effective, the coach said, with each guy moving the ball in a way that helped the team, even if the numbers didn't pop. Hubbard finished with 31 yards on the ground and 24 yards through the air. Dowdle picked up 79 yards rushing and 17 yards receiving. But they found the areas of the game that did work—Dowdle moved the chains four times, Hubbard three—and that's what mattered.

"It felt great. It felt great for me to know whoever I was calling the run for, I expect great execution out of these guys," Canales bragged of his backs. "Chuba even had a couple of excellent runs on the perimeter with screens and bit out some pretty good yards in that regard too."

"We were able to find some yards in different ways, some screens, some different things like that, and then as they were trying to make things difficult, we were able to get the ball on the edge a couple of times with Rico in there."

This was the first time the two backs have split the drives 50/50—save the one play both were in the backfield on a fake pitch that ended up being a throw to Hubbard from Young. Hubbard took the lion's share in the first four weeks, before a calf injury sidelined him, and Dowdle became RB1 in the last two games. Now that Canales has seen it in action, he's looking forward to working out some of the kinks and employing this tactic again.

"Being able to be versatile with our play passes, our screens, and our run, it is critical for us to have success," Canales said as to the advantages of the system.

And as for the guys on the field, well, Dowdle is advocating for even more running backs in the backfield.

"We always want to be on the field, so we always joke about it like 'Hey, we need to go 3-0 (personnel). Three running backs, no tight ends," laughed Dowdle. "I've never seen that before, so hopefully— I know we all can go out there and play, so it'd be nice to do it.

"Or triple option! Put me at quarterback, Chuba right there, Trev over there on the side. Let's run triple. I think it'll work."