PHILADELPHIA — Brad Idzik couldn't help but laugh the moment the topic arose. Frankly, there weren't many moments this week when it ever died down.

The Panthers defeated the Lions 32-26 in Week 4, much of it on the heels of Bryce Young going 29-of-41 for 329 yards and two touchdowns (no interceptions), and much of that on the heels of an RPO (run-pass option) attack that confounded Detroit most of the night.

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"It's funny we talked to a couple of guys about it yesterday," smiled Idzik on Thursday. "I think the RPOs, just them being featured with some explosive plays against Detroit, is like the eureka moment. 'Oh my gosh, look at what Panthers did with RPOs!'"

Much of the conversation was sparked by a comment Lions head coach Dan Campbell had after that Sunday Night Football game, telling reporters, "To start the game, we didn't do well enough in the coverage aspect. They had a couple of things in there, the RPOs that got us. They put your run-pass-hook defender in conflict there a little bit, and he's got such a quick release. That got us a little bit early."

The natural assumption is to think, if the RPOs caught the Lions off guard, they must be a new wrinkle for the Panthers' offense, right? That "eureka" moment for the outside world (helped by a prime time showing) provided fodder inside the Panthers building all through the bye week, and the following, as the 2-2 club prepared for the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Yeah, we've been running them for, I mean, really for two-and-a-half years," said coach Dave Canales on Tuesday, with a bewildered chuckle echoed by Idzik and Young when they were asked as well.

"(The Lions) were presenting opportunities so they really came to life, where you can keep going back to them based on the space that was available, so it wasn't really an emphasis that we said 'Hey this week guys we're really going to.' It's always been a part of what we've done,

"But, you know, told Brad to stomp the puddle out till there's no water left. And it's just, it's a fun part when those things kind of come alive."

As Canales pointed out, these RPO concepts have been part of his offense since he arrived in Charlotte in 2024. They were just put on a bigger stage in Week 4.

But really, they've been a part of his offense even longer than that, even longer than his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or when he and Idzik began building this offense together in Seattle. To find the origin, you have to go back 22 years to Carson High, when Canales was coaching the freshman and sophomore team (his first head-coaching gig).

He wasn't happy with the Colts' run game that first season, so he and his offensive coordinator started looking around, seeking tips from teams that were running the ball well.

In 2004, few teams married the pass and run as well as Utah under Urban Meyer. The eventual No. 1 overall pick, Alex Smith, was top five in passing yards per attempt, completion percentage, efficiency rating, and passing touchdowns. On top of that, the Utes were in the Top 12 of all FBS teams, averaging 237 rushing yards per game. It all started with a 2003 decision by that Utah coaching staff to revamp their offense into what the football world now recognizes as the patented Meyer RPO spread scheme.

Canales and his OC would spend hours pouring over that Utah tape.

The next offseason, the two Carson coaches traveled to a Glazier coaching clinic and learned how to teach the intricacies of Xs and Os. Armed with these lessons and their book of Utah notes, Canales and his staff overhauled their playbook to bring the Colts' run game to life.

More than 20 years later, he's watching it come alive again with Chuba Hubbard and the Panthers' run game. It was done to great effect in that Lions win, as Hubbard and Young utilized the concepts en route to Carolina's best rushing performance of the season to date.

"One of the things I learned way back, way back when I was studying Urban Meyer when he was at Utah, it was like they would tell the backs replace the space and if the backer plays the route concept, the running back, go get the void that they left," explained Canales. "So, those principles fit with how Chuba runs; he's aggressive, he's downhill, decisive, so it's a good combo."

Filling the open space is key to these RPO concepts, both on the run and pass options, and it feeds off Young's high football IQ.

Young ran these concepts in college to a Heisman Trophy. But it's not a simple copy-paste situation in terms of "he did this well at Alabama, let's do it here." That's possible with other parts of a scheme, but not RPOs.

While the idea of having a run-and-pass option on the play is the same, there are fundamental differences in how a quarterback reads an RPO at the college level versus the pro level. In college, the hashmarks are spread out, narrowing the options for which way the run can go. It's also dependent on reading the crashing linebacker. The QB watches that guy (usually a hybrid linebacker in college schemes), and whether he's playing the run or the pass determines what the offense does after the snap.

That's why so many coaches teach RPOs at the high school and college level, coaches explained this week; it's simple because it's essentially one play with multiple options based on one guy, rather than a larger playbook with a multitude of different plays.

"That obviously is big in the college game, different rules," added Young. "But we want to be as multiple as possible here. We have some good stuff; Brad, the coaching staff, they do a great job designing different types of plays, so I love the stuff we're doing here, and it's on us to execute."

But football is cyclical, and every few years the idea makes its way up to the NFL thanks to coaches like Dave Canales, who started in the high school game and figured out how to mold and tweak their system for the NFL.

"The RPOs work best when you can put a linebacker or a nickel in conflict," explained Canales. "So they have to play space if they're a part of the run fit, but you have a route instead of blocking the guy; you can block him basically by running a route into his area and make them be conscious of it.

"The hope was (the Lions) weren't going to lean into a man-to-man type of situation — that's the best way to defend the RPOs, I don't mind saying that, that's pretty general knowledge.

"But the advantage, if people do go to man-to-man, is that you're going to get one-on-one opportunities down the field. So it's a give-and-take, but when a team does present you with different zone looks, you can take advantage of that space with different guys. And it puts a lot of strain on that defender."

The strain on the defender, be it the linebacker or the nickel, is what makes these concepts slightly more intelligent at the NFL level. The quarterback isn't reading one guy; he's reading spots on the field — ones that we won't dive into here, because some things still deserve to be proprietary information.

"Obviously a lot of things you have to account for and see, weigh risk, all things," said Young. "But really what makes it go is the people around you being able to trust both the running and the pass game."

At times, Idzik will run certain RPO looks at the beginning of each half simply to see whether the opponent has figured out which spot on the field Young is reading.

"I won't give away when we know those moments are, but we have the complements to those plays to say, 'OK, now we think they might have adjusted or here's a play that will give us a look at if they've adjusted to these RPOs or taken advantage of one thing or the other,'" explained Idzik. "So we build our whole plan based on complementary football, not only run and pass, but also what the defense is presenting."

The quarterback lines up in pistol for these plays to see the entire field without giving away which direction the running back will go if it's the run option. That requires the passer to have the arm to throw without a platform.

"Bryce's ability to really throw from different platforms without even moving his feet really makes those things come alive, and that happens in the RPO game," the coach bragged about his QB. "It happens all the time for him in the pocket when you're not able to regather your platform to be able to throw an accurate throw, really when things are out of whack."

Because of the hashmarks in the NFL, the RPO game has to be played in the middle of the field, raising inherent risk. According to Next Gen Stats, against the Lions, Young had 14 completions on in-breakers, tying his career high, and he totaled 160 yards and a touchdown on those throws.

You need a quarterback who's super accurate and decisive to make these concepts come alive at the NFL level, Idzik explained this week, before adding with a smile, "like our guy."

At its core, though, the RPO is still about putting the run game on display. That, in turn, helps the pass game, and then it feels like everything works.

"Obviously, using the RPO game just allows the defense; they got to trade places," explained receiver Tetairoa McMillan. "When we run the RPO, the defense has to respect the whole field and that gets the run game going, that gets the pass game to open up, so, it allowed everything to flow."

There is no guarantee the Panthers will turn into an RPO-heavy team and run through the rest of their schedule with this kind of offense. Instead, it will be a quiet but effective aspect, as it has been for the past two-and-a-half years, carried by Dave Canales over the last two decades and finding its way into each playbook, even if it's just a couple of pages in the back.

"So that's just a piece of every plan that we play," said Idzik. "We're trying to take in every bit of information that defense will give us."

And then, when an opportunity presents itself again, they'll "stomp the puddle out till there's no water left."