When Rob Chudzinski left the Carolina Panthers to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns, the franchise decided to promote Mike Shula in order to give Cam Newton continuity.

"He's my favorite guy to coach. My favorite guy I've ever coached," Shula said Wednesday morning from his office. "He's so fun. He's full of life, full of energy. He's got a great personality, and yet, you can coach him. He has no ego about that. You can get on him, and he understands you're trying to make him better."

Newton's numbers have improved, but it is the win-loss record that is most impressive.

"I love this offense, love the way Chud presented it, but it's a ton of stuff," Shula said. "Our No. 1 goal was to get Cam to play fast, to think fast, make good decisions and feel good about what he's doing. So we'd take one thing, say we're keeping this, and we're gonna work hard on it, and then something else, and you don't throw anything out, but say, 'Let's not focus on this as much.' "