The Carolina Panthers’ defense is among the league’s best after three games and is hiking along a historically good path. Defensive coordinator Phil Snow, the brains behind the success, is honing his defense day and night – literally.

Munich – The bluff is one of the oldest tricks in the world of card games. By deliberately deceiving the opponent, the player gains an advantage. Phil Snow, defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers makes use of the bluff and leads the currently best defense in the NFL thanks to his innovative scheme.

A scheme based on deception, confusion and irritation for the opponent, in this case the offensive line and the quarterback. After three days of play, the Panthers are at the top of the NFC South standings with an unblemished record. Phil Snow and his defense have played a big part in that.

Historically good

In league comparisons, the Panthers finish second with 30 points allowed, first with 3.8 yards per play and 14 sacks. No opposing team has managed to accumulate over 50 rushing yards. Carolina is allowing an average of just 45 rushing yards, an all-time high.

Snow, the architect behind the defensive colossus, is paving the way for success with his scheme, tweaking the smallest details day and night. When the Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints on game two, Snow disappeared into his office after the game, working for a few more hours before sleeping on the sofa bed.

The next morning, head coach Matt Rhule had to remind him to leave the building and re-enter for the weekly Corona tryout. Maybe it’s those extra hours that give Snow the upper hand and make his defense look so good.

College Influence

The 65-year-old may come across as an old-school coach with his work methods and fairly unemotional press conferences, but he relies on innovation instead of “old school” in his defense.

Snow designs his defensive scheme for variability. The 3-3-5 formation, a formation that is popular in college but rarely used in the NFL, serves as the foundation. However, Snow doesn’t cling to a “base defense,” sometimes having four defensive linemen defend from a 4-3 defense, other times having 3 defensive linemen defend from a 3-4 or 3-3-5 defense. On nearly 60 percent of the snaps, the Panthers play a nickel defense, meaning they use another cornerback for a linebacker.

From that scheme, Snow blitzes a lot on just under 40 percent of the snaps, one of the highest numbers in the league. He creates confusion with a lot of pre-snap and post-snap movement; quarterbacks have a hard time immediately identifying which defensive players are chasing quarterbacks and which are dropping into coverage. 14 different players were already putting pressure on the quarterback.

Exclamation point against the Saints

After the Saints-Panthers game, a visibly upset Sean Payton appeared before the press. Payton has a reputation as one of the best offensive play-callers in the league and is known for his smart plays, but he was checkmated against the Panthers.

“Our main problem was pass protection. Our communication and handling of the exotic defensive schemes we faced has to improve,” he acknowledged after the game.

“Love him as a coach “

The exotic defensive designs make the star players of the Panthers defense flourish. Linebacker Shaq Thompson is emerging as a tackle machine under Snow and is taking a big step forward in pass coverage.

Jeremy Chinn offers the position flexibility needed to get creative. Last year’s rookie already saw snaps as a pass rusher, linebacker, slot cornerback, strong safety and free safety.

Edge rushers Brian Burns and Hasson Reddick contributed a combined 24 pressures and seven and a half sacks. “I love him as a coach. We play a variable defense, but he makes it very simple for us. He puts us in positions where we can flourish,” praised Burns.

Rotation players like Morgan Fox and Frankie Luvu are finding their roles as important pieces of the defensive puzzle, contributing to team success with pressures and, most importantly, very good run defense.

Rhule and Snow: Pretty best friends

Head Coach Matt Rhule also praised his Defensive Coordinator after the Saints game, “Phil had a great gameplan and in the game itself he had the right answers. It was a great game by our defensive coaching staff, but also by the players.”

Rhule and Snow have worked together for years, Rhule has yet to officiate a game as head coach where Snow was not his defensive coordinator. He first brought Snow to Temple University, then took him to Baylor University and finally to Carolina.

Although the roles were once reversed. Rhule started as an intern on the coaching staff at UCLA in 2001, at which time Snow was the defensive coordinator. “He always asks me if the coffee machine was broken, which meant something like ‘bring me a coffee,'” Rhule said.

The two formed a friendship and Rhule speaks highly of his former mentor, “Everything I do or everything I learned had to do with him directly or indirectly,” he said in an interview with “ESPN.”

Great test against the Cowboys

With all the justified euphoria, however, it must be noted that the Panthers got a thankful opening program with the New York Jets, an injury-plagued Saints team and the Houston Texans.

That will change next Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys welcome the Panthers. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott has been convincing in the first three games, throwing for 878 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions so far.

Prescott is getting rid of the ball just under 2.5 seconds after the snap this season, scanning defenses quickly and consistently finding his dynamic pass receivers.

“Dak is playing impressive, doing a lot of work at the line of scrimmage, recognizing well what defenses want to do,” Rhule praised at a press conference a few days ago.

It will be a stern test for Snow and the Panthers defense against the highly touted Cowboys offense. But it’s also clear that Snow can not only bluff, but is sure to have an ace or two up his sleeve.