It didn’t take long for Jeff Nixon to realize that the Carolina Panthers were going to have a strong day on the ground against the Detroit Lions last week.
In fact, Carolina’s assistant head coach figured it out after the very first play from scrimmage, as a misdirection run by Chuba Hubbard led to a 30-yard gain.
“It was picture perfect,” Nixon said. “Exactly the way we kind of ran it in practice, and that was just a good sign that we were going to have a good day.”
After the Panthers were held to just 21 total rushing yards in an embarrassing loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15, Hubbard surpassed that total after just one run against the Lions. From there, Hubbard and fellow running back D’Onta Foreman went off to the races, producing 109 and 104 yards, respectively, in the first half alone.
That duo — along with rookie Raheem Blackshear and quarterback Sam Darnold — helped the Panthers set a franchise record with 320 rushing yards in the 37-23 win against the Lions. Foreman was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after finishing with 165 yards and a touchdown against Detroit.
Nixon, who oversees the running backs and collaborates on the coordination of the run game, was on the sideline to witness and coach history.
“After the disappointing loss to Pittsburgh, it was good to see that we got the running game going right away — right from the start,” Nixon said. “For Chuba to have three runs of over 30 yards in the first half is pretty unique. And that just goes to show you how well the guys upfront were coming off the ball and blocking and getting us to the second and third level.”
The success in the run game has been a staple of the team’s miraculous turnaround under interim head coach Steve Wilks.
Nixon — who arrived in Charlotte with former Panthers head coach Matt Rhule in 2020 — has been through a whirlwind season, like most of the players and staff in Carolina. But his work with Foreman, Hubbard and Blackshear has helped pay off a gamble that the team made in October, when it traded franchise superstar Christian McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers for four draft picks.
If anything, the Panthers’ offense has improved since McCaffrey’s departure, and that’s partially due to Nixon’s ability to manage and develop the running back rotation that was left behind.
Constant adjustments
Nixon — who started his coaching career at Penn State as a graduate assistant in 1997 — has been around the business for more than half of his life. The 48-year-old coach has seen the highs and lows of NFL and college football, as he has spent ample time in both sectors of the sport.
Last season, Nixon, a Rochester, Pennsylvania, native, was thrust into the Panthers’ interim offensive coordinator role during the final five games of the campaign. With no time to craft his own attack in the wake of a December firing of former play-caller Joe Brady, Nixon ran a unit that averaged just 13.6 points per game down the home stretch of a disappointing 5-12 season.
The Panthers lost their final seven games of the season, including the five games that Nixon served as a play-caller.
This offseason, Rhule — who was clearly on the hot seat — decided to promote Nixon to assistant head coach of the offense instead of letting him retain the offensive coordinator title. Rhule hired former New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo as his new offensive coordinator due his experience as an NFL play-caller.
Despite some early struggles with the offense this season, Nixon says he has learned a lot from working with McAdoo.
“He just has a wealth of knowledge,” Nixon said about McAdoo. “I’ve learned from just seeing him coordinate the offense this year, some things I could have done better when I was the interim coordinator, and some things I would do differently when I get my next opportunity.”
Nixon previously served as an offensive play-caller under Rhule during their shared three-year stint at Baylor.
After a 10-year run as an NFL assistant, Nixon was hired by Rhule — his former high school teammate and Penn State roommate — to co-design and call his Baylor offense in 2017. When Rhule was hired by the Panthers, he brought Nixon along as the running backs coach.
After spending seven seasons working together, Rhule was fired on Oct. 10, which left the Panthers in a state of flux. But Nixon didn’t have much time to dwell on Rhule’s departure, as Wilks quickly took charge ahead of a Week 6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
“The initial shock was tough,” Nixon said. “Obviously, I’ve known Coach Rhule for a long time … But that’s just the business we decided to go in. I think myself, along with the rest of the coaching staff, had to make a quick transition and be here for the players, and continue to put the players in the best situation to win football games and that’s what we did right away.”
Replacing CMC
Ten days after Rhule was fired, Nixon had to deal with another major breakup.
The Panthers sent McCaffrey to San Francisco in a blockbuster trade before the Week 7 home matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Nixon had to prepare Foreman and Hubbard — who at that point had combined for just 18 carries for 71 yards — to anchor a ground-and-pound offense led by backup quarterback PJ Walker in just a couple of days.
“It’s a coaching cliche, but it’s always next man up,” Nixon said. “And, fortunately, I think our scouting department and our coaching staff, when we did our running back evaluations, (was) excited about the entire group of running backs that we had.”
The Panthers made signing Foreman a priority in free agency this offseason after watching him make the most of his time with the Tennessee Titans last year as an injury replacement for Derrick Henry. With McCaffrey missing 23 games during the two previous seasons, signing a low-cost back with experience and starter upside was crucial.
But unfortunately for Foreman, the Panthers were forced to run their offense almost exclusively through McCaffrey during the first six weeks of the season due to their struggles at the quarterback position. Foreman, who is not known for his effectiveness in the passing game, became an afterthought.
“When you have a player of Christian’s caliber — because he’s such a complete, three-down back — sometimes it’s tough to get him off the field,” Nixon said. “But every week, we were like, ‘We’ve got to get D’Onta out there, man — he’s a talented guy. He can run the football, he can pass protect and he has really good hands.’”
Foreman ran for 118 yards in the 21-3 win against the Buccaneers, who the Panthers will play in a monumental rematch on Sunday.
Since his big, bruising debut as the focal point of the running game, Foreman has produced 774 rushing yards and five touchdowns over the past nine games.
“He’s a competitor, and he wants to do well,” Nixon said of Foreman. “Initially, when he first got here, any little mistake, he would really be hard on himself. We had to kind of get him out of that and relax . . . But he wants to be great.”
The Panthers selected Hubbard in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
While Hubbard played well in spurts as an injury fill-in for McCaffrey as a rookie, Nixon — who considers pass protection a must for all of his backs — has been pleased with Hubbard’s growth this season because of his significant improvement as a blocker.
Hubbard has also produced 209 rushing yards, 82 receiving yards and a touchdown during the past three weeks.
“He’s really becoming a complete player,” Nixon said. “He’s been a very valuable part of what we’re doing on offense.”
And while Foreman and Hubbard have led the charge, it’s hard to forget about Blackshear, who scored the opening touchdown in last week’s win.
Blackshear balked at the Panthers’ recruiting pitch in undrafted free agency in April and joined the Buffalo Bills this offseason. But the Panthers eventually plucked the rookie off the Bills’ practice squad in September.
“We really wanted to get (Blackshear) on the team initially through (undrafted) free agency when he first came out,” Nixon said. “I give our scouting department a lot of credit, they just kept bothering him, seeing how he was doing — we were fortunate to pick him up.”
Putting it all together
Nixon wants his players to work hard during the week of preparation and remain positive on the sideline on game days. Foreman, his top tailback, appreciates that approach, as the Panthers aim to push their way to an NFC South title.
“He just never gets too high, never gets too low,” Foreman said. “That’s one thing I really like about him — he never gets too high — if something goes wrong, he’s still trying to be as positive and motivated as possible.”
Foreman also likes that Nixon coaches from the sideline during games as opposed to sitting up in the box. For Foreman, communication is paramount, and Nixon’s availability as he walks back to the sideline for guidance is advantageous for the running back.
“We can look at the tablets together and really get a feel for what (the defense) is doing and what we see,” Foreman said.
Wilks — Nixon’s new boss — looks for three things in every coach: proven teaching prowess, strong communication skills and the ability to develop talent.
According to Wilks, Nixon checks all three boxes.
“Jeff has done a great job working with the running backs,” Wilks said. “And he’s really gotten those guys to play at a high level consistently.”
In his role as assistant head coach of the offense, Nixon doesn’t just coach running backs. He also helps with the weekly run game plan, working alongside McAdoo, offensive line coach James Campen and assistant offensive line coach Robert Kugler.
Campen and Kugler create the run plan and then McAdoo and Nixon add their respective touches to the attack.
“(Nixon) brings a lot of different ideas and they collaborate well together,” Wilks said.
While the Panthers have lost a couple of assistant coaches to Rhule since he was hired by Nebraska in November, Nixon is all in on Carolina’s push toward the playoffs.
“Coach (Rhule) and I are close,” Nixon said. “Right now, I’m just focused on helping the Carolina Panthers with this season. As a staff, we’re all about just being where our feet are right now — focused on the guys we have here.”
And that focus could lead to a long-term partnership with Wilks, who is 5-5 since taking over for Rhule.
With two games left and a division title still within the Panthers’ grasp, Wilks could earn the permanent head coach position this offseason. If that were to happen, Nixon could stick around in Carolina with his developing backfield for years to come.
“You can see by the performance of his position group,” Wilks said, “he’s doing a tremendous job.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 5:00 AM.
