Mike Shula, Panthers' offense trying to make up for lost time

CHARLOTTE -- Most of the "Mike Shula has new toys" pieces written over the past few months (like this one, for example) mostly glossed over a key point.

Those toys need some on-field time before they can be as fun as they seem.

So those expecting the Panthers to unleash "the future of football" when they open the regular season Sept. 10 at San Francisco may need to pump the brakes a bit.

"I think the biggest thing is guys are just now getting back healthy," the Panthers’ offensive coordinator said Monday when asked for a progress report on his unit. "So the time on task among the guys – like Curtis (Samuel) and Cam (Newton) – we're still kind of at the early stages because we haven't been…