December 18, 2025 • 13 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
As we get set for Tampa on Sunday, and we
check in with the voice of the Panthers, a Niche Shroff,
who is down there. I can only imagine doing some
some scouting.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
He's got the Gasparilla Bowl tomorrow between n C State
and Memphis, and then he's back on Sunday to call
Panthers and Bucks at the bank, and let's welcome him
in a niche. It's good to have you. What have
you found out so far? What are you learning from
the Tampa natives since you've been down there.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, what's funny is when I was getting ready to
board my flight from Charlotte, I had my Panthers backpack
and I always forget it's got my name on it,
and so a Panther fan comes up to me and
he goes, hey, you're going on the flight to Tampa.
I go yep. He goes, you know, you know that
game's in Charlotte this week, and I go, no, I'm
aware I'm going there for a bowl game. I'm not
(00:44):
that confused, not yet. It's late in the season, but
you know, I just got here. So we got the
bowl game tomorrow Anti State Memphis, and then I'll get
back tomorrow night and then as big of a home
game as the Panthers have had in a while on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yep, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Before we actually get to that game, though, let me
ask you less about the game itself. We talked about
that with Corey Smith of pac Pride a little while ago.
But all this talk recently from guys like Rick Neuheisel
about reorganizing, I guess, getting rid of the ball season
and moving the balls from the end of the college
football season to the beginning of the college football season.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
What are your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I think it's inevitable. I really do. The playoffs should
dominate the conversation in December, and we've now seen it
for a few years. Right. How vested are the players?
How vested are the coaches? You have a situation like Memphis,
for example, they're interim head coach is former Panther Reggie Howard,
who had the interception in Super Bowl thirty eight against
(01:44):
Tom Brady, played with Jake the Lohman those guys, so
he's the interim coach. He got a new head coach
and Charles Huff who's coming in. All those guys will
get the cursory interviews with the new staff, but they're
looking for jobs too, So what's the focus level. And
with the transfer portal and with player movement. I think
we're lucky that this is in early bowl game and
(02:06):
there's not really many opt outs. But the later you
get in bowl season, guys are looking elsewhere. They're being distracted.
They're getting texts and calls and dms from other coaches. Hey,
hit the portal, come here, come here, we'll give you
this money. I really think at the end of the season,
I think it'd be cool if you cement the ball
matchups for the following August and maybe you know, the
(02:30):
last couple of weeks of August that was your bowl season.
Fans now have time to kind of plan out where
they want to go, and you can make a week
out of it. It's still in the summer, school hasn't started.
I think it could be an economic boom to those
full cities as well. In those areas, you get more
fans in the seats, and as a college football fan,
you get some really riveting non conference games to open
(02:53):
the season.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I like that, and listen, I think these title sponsorships
for balls are becoming increasingly harder to come by. I've
talked to a lot of ball executive I think that
would spruce things up on that front as well. So
I like the idea. I'm certainly open to it. But
let's talk about what happened on Sunday. Let's talk about
the Panthers. I told the folks on Monday that I
was working all weekend, and so I listened to you
guys on the broadcast driving home for most of the
(03:14):
fourth quarter, and it was really disappointing the way that
game finished out for you, sitting there in the booth
in New Orleans calling it what was the most I
guess disappointing aspect of them blowing that opportunity and the
Saints getting away.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
With the win seventeen to seven. You got a two
score lead in the second half against the three win team,
and you just kind of felt like, Okay, can they
take that next step and put this away? And that
really did feel deflating. You know, we're in on it.
We're around the players, you're around the coaches, you're on
the team plane. You get to know these guys at
(03:47):
a human level, and you feel it, certainly, Jake and
Luke feel it, but you know, Zoke and I we
feel it too, And it was all there. It was
all there for the taking. And had you won that
game as big of a game as Sunday is, could
you imagine with a chance to clinch the division at
home against Tampa Bay knock off the team, all that
(04:07):
was in play and you kind of felt like you
were right there on the doorstep. You were right there.
All you have to do is bust the door open.
And they couldn't finish. Yeah, they got hosed by a
couple of questionable call There were a lot of penalties
in that game, but there were also things that they
could have done. I think where you know, as Dave
canalislakes to say finish and things that they've shown they
(04:28):
can do in the past. It just didn't come through.
And I think the last obstacle Kyle, for this team
is how do you win consistently? Because I think if
you zoom out, you do look at it and say, okay,
like this win one lose one element that they're in now,
that's part of the trajectory, that's part of the growth curve.
Right two years ago, they were consistent, not in the
(04:48):
way you want them to be consistent. But they were consistent,
so progress has been made. But now you want to
get to a point where you can consistently win these games,
consistently finish off your opponents, and kind of get on
that good side. And that's kind of the last box
this team needs to check. And I think the question
is going to be do they do it this year
or does it wait till the offseason the next year.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I think you kind of hit on some of this,
but we asked the question earlier on the show, so
I'll stay on it. That lack of consistency, you know,
week to week. Do you attribute that mostly to youth
or is it something else where you look at them
and say, this is the reason why week to week
they're having a hard time essentially being the same football team, Kyle.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I think it probably goes back to your two and
fifteen two years ago. You win five games next year,
and that jump from two to five now to being
a playoff team, that's a significant jump. I see an
example in my own backyard. My daughter has been playing
lacrosse for a couple of years. So in the beginning
when she started and she didn't know what she was doing,
(05:47):
and she got a stick. She couldn't throw, she couldn't catch,
You couldn't do any of the things you're supposed to.
And now she's kind of at the point where she's inconsistent.
She has days where she can throw and catch and
she's pretty good, some days not so good. But that's
sort of a plot point right on the growth chart,
and then the goal is to kind of move beyond
(06:08):
that and get to a point where now you can
consistently throw and catch, and then you kind of work
on the finer details. So I think the Panthers, if
you look at the plot lines, right, and if you
look at where they are on the growth chart, they're
trending up. But Kyle, I think both things can be true.
Right you can say, hey, you may progress and all this.
(06:28):
I really think you gotta beat the Saints. And that's
not speaking out of turn. I think we all looked
at the two games against the Saints going into the
season and thought, yeah, those are the two games that
you have to win, and it's things to have lost
them both.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, you're right, Hey, by the way, one dad to another,
you'll appreciate this. Throwing football with the boy in the
living room the other day he takes a football off
the bridge of the nose. Instead of panicking, he looks
at me, holds his nose and yells funky butt Lovin
as he takes it.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Off the face.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So I haven't been that proud of him maybe ever,
And I thought you'd appreciate that because I thought it
was great.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I do appreciate that he gets it.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
He gets it, he gets it all right. Has Bryce
Young been good enough this year?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It's tough. I think he's been good enough at times.
I think he sort of mirrors the season, doesn't he
It's been an ad and a flow and it's been
a little bit of up and down. And he's got
three games now. I think to see if he can
lock in that consistency. The Atlanta game great, we saw
what happened in San Francisco the Rams game, highest passer
(07:32):
rating of his career. I didn't think he was bad
last week. I thought he was okay last week. But
you know, I think with Bryce these next three games, like,
do we see that that leap? And I thought he
took that leap at the end of last year. But
it's been inconsistent, and I think, again, when you have
quarterback play that's been a little up and down that
(07:55):
can be reflected in the arc of your season, which
has been again progress but also up and down.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And East row voys of the Panthers hanging out with
us here defensively, well, actually know, let me go here
the injury situation. It feels like this team is, you know,
getting healthier again this week. But the icky situation is
obviously concerning Turk Wharton appears that well. First of all,
I didn't practice today, not sure what his status is
for Sunday. Overall, going into a pivotal game, how do
(08:23):
you feel about the health of this football team?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
You know, everybody's beat up, and I know that's a cliche,
but at this point of the year, this team has
been through it. You look at what their situation was
against the Rams and they won that game and the
Rams if they win tonight, I mean, they're in position
to be the potential number one seed in the NFC.
So I think with the offensive line, obviously you want
(08:48):
Ikey in there, but they've been able to withstand a
lot on the offensive line, and Yoshneimen a couple of
times has come in and stepped up and played pretty well.
And played well enough, so the injury thing can be
an excuse for everybody. Listen, the Bucks are beat up too, right,
Their starting guards have been banged up, Mike Evans missed
a big chunk of the season. They just put one
(09:09):
of their top corners on IR. So you can't just
say that's an excuse for the Panthers because anybody in
the NFL at this point the season can use that.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So, yeah, absolutely right, I've got it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
As soon as you came on the air, I had
two people reference the tech McMillan, Tenro mcbill in, pardon me, catch,
no catch overturned?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Call you and I spoke off the air about that.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Give the future perspective on what happened, what you saw
on the replay, and your reaction to the NFL saying, hey,
we got that wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So I'll tell you kind of what I'll tell the
listeners what I told you. So when we watched it live, right,
it's a catch. Then you kind of watched the replay
and you see Tet's Tterroe, McMillan's hand kind of turns right.
And here's the thing about the ball hitting the ground.
The ball is allowed to hit the ground as long
as you don't use the ground to essentially support the catch,
(10:02):
you can't use it as a third hand. Right, the
ground cannot aid in the catch. The ball can hit
the ground as long as you have control of it.
And the ball hits the ground, it's still a catch.
And when you kind of watch the replay, right, Jake
and Luke both said, hey, look like the ball might
have moved a little bit because he was only holding
it with one hand, right, and the ball hits the ground,
(10:23):
And I think that's what led the officials to overturn
the call. But Teteroa McMillan has huge hands, and there
was a very real chance in that situation even though
he's holding the ball with his palm facing down with
one hand and the ball hits the ground, he very
well could have had control. And I think where the
angst stems from is not so much did they get
(10:45):
the call right, but the replay process. So if there's
any doubt on what the call of the field is,
the call has to stand. So if that was called
incomplete initially, yeah, probably you're not gonna find enough evidence
to overturn it if it was called complete. And there's
that little bit of doubt, which I think you could
certainly make a case for. And you know, we're kind
(11:07):
of looking at it like, yeah, it might have been incomplete,
not sure he had full control, But again, if you're
in that gray area and it's not clear and obvious,
you then cannot overturn the call on the field. So
watching it back kind of after the game, I'm going,
you know, he may have had control there, and again,
if you're in that gray area he may have, you
can't overturn that call. So I think that was probably
(11:30):
the piece that the Panthers got, which was the replay
review process, not so much the actual call. If that
makes sense, Oh it.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Does, it does. And last thing, I'll let you get
back to work.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You got a really busy weekend coming up, and you've
touched on some of this already as it relates to Tampa.
But just as you've done your prep work, this is
going to be the first time you've seen them this season,
though you're familiar. What informs you about how you think
this game plays out, and maybe more specifically, what about
Tampa right now lead you to believe the Carolina can
win this game?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Well, one, listen, I go back to what Todd Bowle
said after that loss against the Falcons that sounded like
a broken team and there was some body language issues
coming off the field. Baker Mayfield, who I think is
gutting it out right now. He looks beat up. He's
not getting a lot of help from his offensive line,
especially on the interior. This is a game where Derek
(12:23):
Brown could go off. I think Derek Brown's got a
chance to go off. They're very weak inside right now.
You got Tristan Wurk's coming off an injury. Now, Mike Evans,
my god, I mean he just burns the Panthers. It
seems every time they play him. He guy misses six weeks,
six to seven games and comes back and looks like
Mike Evans against Atlanta. You almost have to say, Okay,
(12:43):
he's going to get his but can you slow down
the run? And I think, really the biggest thing for
me in this game, I think if the Panthers can
jump on Tampa early, you got a chance to break them.
This to me is kind of a wobbly fighter. And
I look at Tampa's team where if you draw this
thing into the middle rounds, maybe that confidence could come back.
(13:06):
But you have a chance to deliver the knockout punch early.
One area where Carolina has been great Kyle has been
the opening script. They've scored nine times on their opening
drive this year, six touchdowns. They did it again last week.
I think if you go score on your opening drive,
field goal, touchdown, maybe go up ten to nothing, fourteen
to nothing. You do that, you can sow a lot
(13:27):
of doubt on Tampa. Given where they are right now,
given the state of the franchise, given that they are
in free fall, I almost think you got to go
in with the mentality of knock him out early. This
doesn't need to be a four quarter game. And I
know that's a big ask, but I think this is
a wobbly team that you're getting. They don't scare me
the same way some of the Tampa teams in the
(13:48):
past scared you.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
All Right, my man, have a great call tomorrow, Safe
travels home, and I will see you in the press
box on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Sounds good, Kyle, Be good, my friends,
As we get set for Tampa on Sunday, and we
check in with the voice of the Panthers, a Niche Shroff,
who is down there. I can only imagine doing some
some scouting.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
He's got the Gasparilla Bowl tomorrow between n C State
and Memphis, and then he's back on Sunday to call
Panthers and Bucks at the bank, and let's welcome him
in a niche. It's good to have you. What have
you found out so far? What are you learning from
the Tampa natives since you've been down there.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, what's funny is when I was getting ready to
board my flight from Charlotte, I had my Panthers backpack
and I always forget it's got my name on it,
and so a Panther fan comes up to me and
he goes, hey, you're going on the flight to Tampa.
I go yep. He goes, you know, you know that
game's in Charlotte this week, and I go, no, I'm
aware I'm going there for a bowl game. I'm not
(00:44):
that confused, not yet. It's late in the season, but
you know, I just got here. So we got the
bowl game tomorrow Anti State Memphis, and then I'll get
back tomorrow night and then as big of a home
game as the Panthers have had in a while on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Yep, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Before we actually get to that game, though, let me
ask you less about the game itself. We talked about
that with Corey Smith of pac Pride a little while ago.
But all this talk recently from guys like Rick Neuheisel
about reorganizing, I guess, getting rid of the ball season
and moving the balls from the end of the college
football season to the beginning of the college football season.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
What are your thoughts on that.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I think it's inevitable. I really do. The playoffs should
dominate the conversation in December, and we've now seen it
for a few years. Right. How vested are the players?
How vested are the coaches? You have a situation like Memphis,
for example, they're interim head coach is former Panther Reggie Howard,
who had the interception in Super Bowl thirty eight against
(01:44):
Tom Brady, played with Jake the Lohman those guys, so
he's the interim coach. He got a new head coach
and Charles Huff who's coming in. All those guys will
get the cursory interviews with the new staff, but they're
looking for jobs too, So what's the focus level. And
with the transfer portal and with player movement. I think
we're lucky that this is in early bowl game and
(02:06):
there's not really many opt outs. But the later you
get in bowl season, guys are looking elsewhere. They're being distracted.
They're getting texts and calls and dms from other coaches. Hey,
hit the portal, come here, come here, we'll give you
this money. I really think at the end of the season,
I think it'd be cool if you cement the ball
matchups for the following August and maybe you know, the
(02:30):
last couple of weeks of August that was your bowl season.
Fans now have time to kind of plan out where
they want to go, and you can make a week
out of it. It's still in the summer, school hasn't started.
I think it could be an economic boom to those
full cities as well. In those areas, you get more
fans in the seats, and as a college football fan,
you get some really riveting non conference games to open
(02:53):
the season.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
I like that, and listen, I think these title sponsorships
for balls are becoming increasingly harder to come by. I've
talked to a lot of ball executive I think that
would spruce things up on that front as well. So
I like the idea. I'm certainly open to it. But
let's talk about what happened on Sunday. Let's talk about
the Panthers. I told the folks on Monday that I
was working all weekend, and so I listened to you
guys on the broadcast driving home for most of the
(03:14):
fourth quarter, and it was really disappointing the way that
game finished out for you, sitting there in the booth
in New Orleans calling it what was the most I
guess disappointing aspect of them blowing that opportunity and the
Saints getting away.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
With the win seventeen to seven. You got a two
score lead in the second half against the three win team,
and you just kind of felt like, Okay, can they
take that next step and put this away? And that
really did feel deflating. You know, we're in on it.
We're around the players, you're around the coaches, you're on
the team plane. You get to know these guys at
(03:47):
a human level, and you feel it, certainly, Jake and
Luke feel it, but you know, Zoke and I we
feel it too, And it was all there. It was
all there for the taking. And had you won that
game as big of a game as Sunday is, could
you imagine with a chance to clinch the division at
home against Tampa Bay knock off the team, all that
(04:07):
was in play and you kind of felt like you
were right there on the doorstep. You were right there.
All you have to do is bust the door open.
And they couldn't finish. Yeah, they got hosed by a
couple of questionable call There were a lot of penalties
in that game, but there were also things that they
could have done. I think where you know, as Dave
canalislakes to say finish and things that they've shown they
(04:28):
can do in the past. It just didn't come through.
And I think the last obstacle Kyle, for this team
is how do you win consistently? Because I think if
you zoom out, you do look at it and say, okay,
like this win one lose one element that they're in now,
that's part of the trajectory, that's part of the growth curve.
Right two years ago, they were consistent, not in the
(04:48):
way you want them to be consistent. But they were consistent,
so progress has been made. But now you want to
get to a point where you can consistently win these games,
consistently finish off your opponents, and kind of get on
that good side. And that's kind of the last box
this team needs to check. And I think the question
is going to be do they do it this year
or does it wait till the offseason the next year.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
I think you kind of hit on some of this,
but we asked the question earlier on the show, so
I'll stay on it. That lack of consistency, you know,
week to week. Do you attribute that mostly to youth
or is it something else where you look at them
and say, this is the reason why week to week
they're having a hard time essentially being the same football team, Kyle.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I think it probably goes back to your two and
fifteen two years ago. You win five games next year,
and that jump from two to five now to being
a playoff team, that's a significant jump. I see an
example in my own backyard. My daughter has been playing
lacrosse for a couple of years. So in the beginning
when she started and she didn't know what she was doing,
(05:47):
and she got a stick. She couldn't throw, she couldn't catch,
You couldn't do any of the things you're supposed to.
And now she's kind of at the point where she's inconsistent.
She has days where she can throw and catch and
she's pretty good, some days not so good. But that's
sort of a plot point right on the growth chart,
and then the goal is to kind of move beyond
(06:08):
that and get to a point where now you can
consistently throw and catch, and then you kind of work
on the finer details. So I think the Panthers, if
you look at the plot lines, right, and if you
look at where they are on the growth chart, they're
trending up. But Kyle, I think both things can be true.
Right you can say, hey, you may progress and all this.
(06:28):
I really think you gotta beat the Saints. And that's
not speaking out of turn. I think we all looked
at the two games against the Saints going into the
season and thought, yeah, those are the two games that
you have to win, and it's things to have lost
them both.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, you're right, Hey, by the way, one dad to another,
you'll appreciate this. Throwing football with the boy in the
living room the other day he takes a football off
the bridge of the nose. Instead of panicking, he looks
at me, holds his nose and yells funky butt Lovin
as he takes it.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Off the face.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
So I haven't been that proud of him maybe ever,
And I thought you'd appreciate that because I thought it
was great.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I do appreciate that he gets it.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
He gets it, he gets it all right. Has Bryce
Young been good enough this year?
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It's tough. I think he's been good enough at times.
I think he sort of mirrors the season, doesn't he
It's been an ad and a flow and it's been
a little bit of up and down. And he's got
three games now. I think to see if he can
lock in that consistency. The Atlanta game great, we saw
what happened in San Francisco the Rams game, highest passer
(07:32):
rating of his career. I didn't think he was bad
last week. I thought he was okay last week. But
you know, I think with Bryce these next three games, like,
do we see that that leap? And I thought he
took that leap at the end of last year. But
it's been inconsistent, and I think, again, when you have
quarterback play that's been a little up and down that
(07:55):
can be reflected in the arc of your season, which
has been again progress but also up and down.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And East row voys of the Panthers hanging out with
us here defensively, well, actually know, let me go here
the injury situation. It feels like this team is, you know,
getting healthier again this week. But the icky situation is
obviously concerning Turk Wharton appears that well. First of all,
I didn't practice today, not sure what his status is
for Sunday. Overall, going into a pivotal game, how do
(08:23):
you feel about the health of this football team?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
You know, everybody's beat up, and I know that's a cliche,
but at this point of the year, this team has
been through it. You look at what their situation was
against the Rams and they won that game and the
Rams if they win tonight, I mean, they're in position
to be the potential number one seed in the NFC.
So I think with the offensive line, obviously you want
(08:48):
Ikey in there, but they've been able to withstand a
lot on the offensive line, and Yoshneimen a couple of
times has come in and stepped up and played pretty well.
And played well enough, so the injury thing can be
an excuse for everybody. Listen, the Bucks are beat up too, right,
Their starting guards have been banged up, Mike Evans missed
a big chunk of the season. They just put one
(09:09):
of their top corners on IR. So you can't just
say that's an excuse for the Panthers because anybody in
the NFL at this point the season can use that.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
So, yeah, absolutely right, I've got it.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
As soon as you came on the air, I had
two people reference the tech McMillan, Tenro mcbill in, pardon me, catch,
no catch overturned?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Call you and I spoke off the air about that.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Give the future perspective on what happened, what you saw
on the replay, and your reaction to the NFL saying, hey,
we got that wrong.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
So I'll tell you kind of what I'll tell the
listeners what I told you. So when we watched it live, right,
it's a catch. Then you kind of watched the replay
and you see Tet's Tterroe, McMillan's hand kind of turns right.
And here's the thing about the ball hitting the ground.
The ball is allowed to hit the ground as long
as you don't use the ground to essentially support the catch,
(10:02):
you can't use it as a third hand. Right, the
ground cannot aid in the catch. The ball can hit
the ground as long as you have control of it.
And the ball hits the ground, it's still a catch.
And when you kind of watch the replay, right, Jake
and Luke both said, hey, look like the ball might
have moved a little bit because he was only holding
it with one hand, right, and the ball hits the ground,
(10:23):
And I think that's what led the officials to overturn
the call. But Teteroa McMillan has huge hands, and there
was a very real chance in that situation even though
he's holding the ball with his palm facing down with
one hand and the ball hits the ground, he very
well could have had control. And I think where the
angst stems from is not so much did they get
(10:45):
the call right, but the replay process. So if there's
any doubt on what the call of the field is,
the call has to stand. So if that was called
incomplete initially, yeah, probably you're not gonna find enough evidence
to overturn it if it was called complete. And there's
that little bit of doubt, which I think you could
certainly make a case for. And you know, we're kind
(11:07):
of looking at it like, yeah, it might have been incomplete,
not sure he had full control, But again, if you're
in that gray area and it's not clear and obvious,
you then cannot overturn the call on the field. So
watching it back kind of after the game, I'm going,
you know, he may have had control there, and again,
if you're in that gray area he may have, you
can't overturn that call. So I think that was probably
(11:30):
the piece that the Panthers got, which was the replay
review process, not so much the actual call. If that
makes sense, Oh it.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Does, it does. And last thing, I'll let you get
back to work.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You got a really busy weekend coming up, and you've
touched on some of this already as it relates to Tampa.
But just as you've done your prep work, this is
going to be the first time you've seen them this season,
though you're familiar. What informs you about how you think
this game plays out, and maybe more specifically, what about
Tampa right now lead you to believe the Carolina can
win this game?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Well, one, listen, I go back to what Todd Bowle
said after that loss against the Falcons that sounded like
a broken team and there was some body language issues
coming off the field. Baker Mayfield, who I think is
gutting it out right now. He looks beat up. He's
not getting a lot of help from his offensive line,
especially on the interior. This is a game where Derek
(12:23):
Brown could go off. I think Derek Brown's got a
chance to go off. They're very weak inside right now.
You got Tristan Wurk's coming off an injury. Now, Mike Evans,
my god, I mean he just burns the Panthers. It
seems every time they play him. He guy misses six weeks,
six to seven games and comes back and looks like
Mike Evans against Atlanta. You almost have to say, Okay,
(12:43):
he's going to get his but can you slow down
the run? And I think, really the biggest thing for
me in this game, I think if the Panthers can
jump on Tampa early, you got a chance to break them.
This to me is kind of a wobbly fighter. And
I look at Tampa's team where if you draw this
thing into the middle rounds, maybe that confidence could come back.
(13:06):
But you have a chance to deliver the knockout punch early.
One area where Carolina has been great Kyle has been
the opening script. They've scored nine times on their opening
drive this year, six touchdowns. They did it again last week.
I think if you go score on your opening drive,
field goal, touchdown, maybe go up ten to nothing, fourteen
to nothing. You do that, you can sow a lot
(13:27):
of doubt on Tampa. Given where they are right now,
given the state of the franchise, given that they are
in free fall, I almost think you got to go
in with the mentality of knock him out early. This
doesn't need to be a four quarter game. And I
know that's a big ask, but I think this is
a wobbly team that you're getting. They don't scare me
the same way some of the Tampa teams in the
(13:48):
past scared you.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
All Right, my man, have a great call tomorrow, Safe
travels home, and I will see you in the press
box on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Sounds good, Kyle, Be good, my friends,
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