CHARLOTTE — Make no mistake, Panthers head coach Dave Canales wants to close out games the way they did Saturday night.

In an ideal world, they wouldn't be down by more than a touchdown in the final minutes while they did it, but this is the preseason.

That's why Canales was all smiles after the 15-12 loss to the Jets because they ran seven straight times and ended up in the end zone, with rookie running back lying flat on his face, so tired that he forgot his planned touchdown celebration.

"Just the finish of it just felt good, running the ball the way we want to, that tough style, pushing the pile," Canales said. "Dillon did a great job for us just finishing off the game right there. . . .

"Just giving our guys an opportunity to feel what it feels like late in the game, we've got to be able to run the ball. And in my mind, I'm imagining we're in this four-minute world. Can we finish with the ball? Can we finish all the way through?"

It was not the ideal scenario to try to run out a real game, for a few reasons. The Panthers were playing with just two running backs Saturday night, Mike Boone and Johnson. And of the dwindling number of available linemen, four of them arrived on the roster this week and two in the last 48 hours, with Canales singling out Mason Brooks and Ike Boettger, and the coaches who got them ready in a hurry.

But out there behind a mixed bag of linemen and in a unique game situation, Canales saw what he wanted to see, and they were able to run the way he's been talking about for months.

Even if that left those left on the field so winded they couldn't react.

"I ain't going to lie to you. I don't know how to feel," Johnson said with a huge grin. "I was too tired to do anything. We ran it about six times in a row, so I had to put my big boy pants on, for sure.

"You always want, if you're a big time player, you always want the ball when the game's on the line. And, you know, I did my job. . . . I don't think anybody expected it, but the run game started picking up, so he kept feeding me."

The problem for Johnson is that he was too tired to enjoy it.

The undrafted rookie from Washington said he had planned out a cool celebration, but after he got the final seven plays of the game and went from his own 34-yard line to the other end zone, he was out.

"I've been practicing on all day and all this week. So I wanted to spin the football and do a little campfire thing (rubbing his hands over the ball), but I didn't get to; I was too tired. So I just laid on the ground to try to catch my breath."

In ordinary times, the role Johnson was playing would likely be filled by starter Chuba Hubbard.

He wasn't playing Saturday night, not after a knee scare in Thursday's joint practice when he slipped as being lit up by Jets safety Chuck Clark. Hubbard said he was fine and could have even returned to that practice after a couple of breath-holding moments.

"God blessed me, watching over me," he said.

So from his vantage point, seeing Johnson run the way they want him running late was encouraging.

"Yeah, I mean, that's how you want to finish," Hubbard said. "Coach preaches, finish, finish, finish, and I was glad to finally see us do that and get in the box, especially running the ball."

Hubbard perhaps undersold it. His BFF Tommy Tremble, who spends more time with him catching passes after practice than anyone, knows exactly how Hubbard would react to being in a similar situation.

"Oh, my gosh, he would enjoy that 100 percent," Tremble said. "I think really for us, we want to make sure we have the mentality to finish regardless, and seeing that at the end, seeing how bad these boys wanted to get in the end zone after having a long game like that. I respect it, man. I respect the hell of it. That's the culture we're trying to build around here.

"Don't quit, don't quit. There's no point. Like, if there's two minutes left in the game, we're about 40 yards out. That doesn't mean we'll just run to kill the clock. No, we're running to win the game, try to get a touchdown, and do everything we can. I think that's what they tried to do today, and I love it."

Tremble said that was Canales' message both in the locker room and on the sidelines in real time.

"Just finish," he said, echoing his coach's words. "If you don't know what you're doing, hit something, if you don't know how to hit something, finish down the field regardless. We want you guys to be moving forward. That's how we want to be as a team.

And just as Hubbard will likely be getting that work down the stretch in the regular season, the regular offensive line also took note.

Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, whose strength is in the run game anyway, acknowledged that the end-game scenario was something he enjoyed.

"It was really cool to see the mindset," Ekwonu said. "It also goes to show you the resilience of some of these guys who play the whole game and have that strength and have that stamina; that is really impressive.

"I mean, it's definitely, definitely cool. I feel like playing to our strengths will do us well, I feel like we can run the ball on anybody. I feel like when you're running the ball well, and you kind of just, you know, wearing out the defense a little bit obviously makes it harder for them to rush as well. So that ties it all together."

And the hope is, the next time they need to run that way, they're actually leading the game, and it matters.