How Bryce Young integrated 2.7 seconds into his game

For the second play to be successful, the receiver must master both factors: He must know how Young is moving and where to go in response.

“It's all about field shifting and where a player is,” offensive coordinator Brad Idzik said. “You see him running either left or right. Where is he? Where is the open space? We have to fill that open space.”

The Panthers have developed concepts to help receivers occupy that open space, according to Idzik. But none of them work if the receiver isn't closely connected to his quarterback. That's why there's no choice but to trust him when receiver Johnson said he knew where to go during Young's scramble drills because he could “feel” him.

“You can tell when someone breaks away from the distance. You see how everyone's dynamic changes and you just react to it,” Johnson explained.

The trick, Idzik continued, is to use that momentum to direct power toward defense, in the style of a black panther suit, so to speak.

“The ball finds energy,” Idzik said, echoing a Canales mantra. “For guys running routes and there's a scramble or, you know, the second play, it's that first initial movement that matters. Like a cornerback can feel a concept developing, a safety can feel a concept clinging to it and then a violent movement in a different direction, it just blows all their rules. It destroys their whole sense of what's going on.”

“I'm not saying it's not regular football anymore, because it is. It's still the second play, but that first initial movement, no matter where you are on the field, is now dissolving and putting them in kind of chaos on defense where now they're just trying to, oh God, it's like fight or flight. And we have to initiate that with our first violent movement to scramble.”