CHARLOTTE — The Panthers have had this tendency this year to be a little reflexive.

The passing game was held in check by the Saints, Bryce Young turned around and threw for 448 yards the next week. So last week when Rico Dowdle and Chuba Hubbard combined for just nine carries, you could sense something like this was coming — even if you didn't see it quite like this.

In the rain, against the best team in the NFC (again), the Panthers ran their way to a win over the Los Angeles Rams Sunday. And after their lead backs (plural) had single-digit carries a week ago, they combined for 35 attempts for 142 yards on the ground.

"I'm so proud of this group, the resilience, the finish, the ability to, to really just go, you know, really blow for blow, with an amazing team," Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. "First and foremost, gotta give the Rams a ton of credit and, what they've been building and what they did and what they brought out in us, and that's what we needed.

"We needed that kind of challenge so that our guys could rise to the occasion, make plays, Have a more balanced attack and be able to play the type of offensive football we know we're capable of."

Capable of hasn't been a question, as Hubbard was the rhythm of last year's second-half resurgence, and Dowdle was one of the league's top rushers entering the game.

"I feel like our run game's been great all year," Hubbard said. "Rico's been amazing, the play calls, everything all around, even the, the blocking, of course, and, anytime you can, have that type of blocking those schemes, everyone kind of working working simultaneously, you're going to have success.

"So, yeah, it feels good to be able to do it, do it with my dog Rico."

Sunday, he did it with Rico, in a way they hadn't previously.

Hubbard's workload has gradually increased in recent weeks, after he recovered from a calf strain that cost him two games, and opened the door for Dowdle's 389 yards in those two games, which led to a changing of the guard.

Sunday, Hubbard had 17 carries for 83 yards (4.9 per carry), while Dowdle had 18 carries for 58 yards (3.2 per), closer to the early season split in workloads. And Sunday, Hubbard added two catches for 41 yards, showing his burst on the outside.

"It's just fresh legs when they go out there," Canales said. "Whether it's a run or a pass, just get the ball into Rico and Chuba's hands and let them affect the game because of who they are, because of the aggressive style that they play with.

"And so, it's a dream to be able to have two guys that you can count on, and I can call anything that I have on the call sheet and, and trust that it's gonna get executed."

That was the case against the Rams, with Hubbard answering the Rams opening score by taking a third-down pass to the flat for 35 yards down the sideline (with Ja'Tavion Sanders and Xavier Legette delivering blocks along the way). It was an eye-opener, and a sign of the guy who made so many explosive plays last year.

But Hubbard has always been a runner capable of grinding out the ugly runs, and his longest run was a 10-yarder. Getting 6 or 8 at a time was a solution to playing keep-away from the high-powered Rams offense, to the tune of a 10:32 time of possession advantage.

"To win it takes a lot of selflessness and winning teams across the league have shown it," Hubbard said. "Obviously that's what we've been trying to build here so success comes in many different ways and there's different ways to win this game and everyone on our team can contribute to that."

Dowdle's not accustomed to a complementary role lately, but he definitely thought they had this in them. He said it was "great" to run like this again, meaning in quantity.

"Especially coming off last week," Dowdle said. Feeling like we could have had a great game last week, but coming in against a great team and us being able to contribute to getting back out there, just making big plays and having that explosive touchdown, it definitely means a lot.

"I still don't think you've seen our best. Obviously there's room for improvement. Made a lot of mistakes, and, but, but we definitely had a great game and, definitely was one of our better games when it took down the top team in the NFC again. So yeah, just showing that we can do it and we can play with anybody."

And to Dowdle's point, after last week's lack of usage, that wasn't going to be a problem this week.

The Panthers called runs on 35 of their 62 plays (61.3 percent), their highest percentage under Canales.

"I just feel like we really just got back to our identity there in terms of being able to grind and pound and just impose our will on the line of scrimmage," left tackle Ikem Ekwonu said. "I mean it definitely feels good, all those runs that were called today. We take it to heart. As an offensive lineman, you know, we want the onus on us.

"We want the responsibility to win and lose games on our back, and, you know, I feel like as long as we keep establishing the run, we're going to like the outcome."

This is the kind of team they want to be.

And that's just fine with Hubbard, even if it means sharing the load — because the point remains to win.

"I said this, a few weeks ago that I prayed so many times for moments like this, been in Carolina five years now and the goal has been to bring wins to Carolina, bring good football to Carolina, no matter how that looks. So that's always been my goal.

"I know that's been the goal of other guys that have been here since way back as well, and to see it come to light now, it's just a blessing."