November 25, 2025 • 45 mins
In the show's opening hour, Kyle reacts to the Panthers poor showing in primetime against the 49ers and what in the world was the plan on offense, and if we chalk up a loss already for Sunday against the Rams?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well that was a bummer last night.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
That was a really big bummer on Monday Night football because,
with a chance to take over first place in the
NFC South on the biggest stage that the Panthers have
had in years, Carolina walked into Levi Stadium with the
whole league watching, and walked out reminding everyone that they're
still not ready for primetime.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
This thing was set up perfectly.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Tampa Bay loses to the Rams on Sunday night, the
doors swing wide open for the division line of six
and five primetime stage, one chance to grab the division
lead and tell the rest of the National Football League, Hey,
we're here now. And instead they limp out of San
Francisco with a twenty to nine loss, three injured starters,
(01:15):
a banged up defense, and an offense that completely fell
flat one week after lighting the world on fire. And
that's where we got to start. I guess the offense.
Last week in Atlanta, Bryce Young threw for a franchise
record four forty eight in an overtime win, three touchdowns.
As well, Carolina did not win that game by pounding
the rock, as we know, they won it by airing
(01:36):
it out. Explosive play after explosive play, nine passes of
twenty plus yards, Bryce dealing wide receivers, eating, everything was
in sync. That was the version of this offense that
had people buzzing, That had folks wondering, if you know, maybe,
just maybe this team was turning a corner. The proverbial
corner was being turned. Well, you fast forward seven days
(01:59):
under the lights with the division on the line, and
all of that vanished. Bryce goes eighteen of twenty nine
for a bucks sixty nine, a sixty point eight passer rating,
two interceptions and just one explosive completion, ted Ron McMillan's
twenty nine yard touchdown catch.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That's it. That's the list.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
For the ninth time in eleven starts, Bryce doesn't crack
two hundred yards passing. And look, Bryce said all the
right things after he always does. He took ownership with
the mistakes. He said, he can't put the ball in peril,
especially down at the goal line. But this is year three,
this is supposed to be the step forward season, the
I've Arrived season, and on a night where he desperately
(02:39):
needed to stack a big performance on top of the
Atlanta game, he instead handed his critics a fresh box
of ammunition. Let's talk about the sequence that defined the night.
If we can, you pick off brock Purty three straight
drives in the first half. It was ridiculous JC Mike
jack Jason two by J. C. Horn, won by Mike Jackson.
(03:02):
Your defense is bawling out, flipping the field, giving you
chance after chance to take control of the game. Horn's
first interception sets you up with the San Francisco sixteen.
You move it to first and goal at the one
perfect script. This is how you take the crowd out
of the game. This is how you seize control on
the road. It's how you show you're ready for the moment.
(03:24):
And then Dave Canalys dials up play action gives Bryce
the option to throw a run. Looks like he's got
a path to the pylon, but instead he tries to
jam it into Mitchell Evans probably could have floated one
over the top and been more successful, but tries to
rifle one in between about four sets of hands and
gy r. Brown picks it off in the end zone.
Drive over, momentum gone, opportunity wasted. I mean, that's a
(03:48):
fourteen point swing in a game that was ten to
three late into the third quarter. And let's be clear,
Bryce owns it, he said so, but this is also
where you put a chunk of it I think on
Dave Canalis, because I'm of the mindset that two things
can be true. Bryce absolutely, you know, had a chance
to run that ball into the end zone. But I
(04:09):
don't know why you're not running the ball there on
first and goal with the one with a highly paid
offensive line with Rico Daddle even Scheba Hubbard. I didn't
get that personally, And I thought as the night went on,
you saw one of Dave Canalis's worst performances as Carolina's
head coach, Like not just that call, but the overall approach,
the endgame management, the way he chased points and you know,
(04:31):
abandoned the running game, and a contest that never got
out of hand. I mean, this was a one possession
game with two forty one left to go in the
fourth quarter. Never felt like they were going to win it.
But that's literally factually what it was. I mean again,
I'll say it out loud. In a game that ended
twenty to nine, with the score ten to three deep
into the third quarter, your running backs Rico Daddle and
(04:54):
Cheba Hubbard combined for nine carries nine Dawdell had six
carries for thirty eight yards at six point three yards
per carry. For you math majors out there, Chewba Hubbard
gets three attempts, both average six yards a touch. San
Francisco had been averaging giving up one hundred and eleven
yards per game at home on the ground this year,
(05:16):
and in a one score game for most of the night,
you almost never went back to them. I don't know
if that's coaching malpractice, but it is very confusing.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You say you want to be a run first football team,
and in a situation like that, where the game is
still very much in reach, where your defense is giving
you a chance after chance, you abandon the run game.
It's been a strength of this team. There are folks
out there that still think that Dave doesn't trust his quarterback. Well,
I'm not sure that that's true after last night. I
think that was actually largely debunked after last night, Because
(05:44):
if you don't trust a guy. Why on a road
in that spot, in a difficult atmosphere to play in
with first place on the line, are you ignoring your
rushing attack to put it in his hands over and
over and over again.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's a very weird thing.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Last night, the way this offense was called, the way
it operated, it was it was very frustrating. Like this
was not some thirty one to three blowout where you're
forced to drop back every snap. This was a you know,
a slugfest, the grind er, a turnover fest. The game
where San Francisco showed you exactly how to win on
a night like that, long drives, physicality, leaning on Christian
(06:21):
McCaffrey in their case, controlling the clock, time of possession.
Three of their four scoring drives for San Francisco were
ten plus plays and chewed up more than six minutes
of game time and is Boa constrictor football from Kyle
Shanahan last night. Meanwhile, in Carolina, on Carolina sideline, you've
got a defense getting takeaways on the field way too much.
(06:43):
They're keeping you alive, though, and an offense that's doing
everything in its power to make those turnovers meaningless. You
got poor execution, mental errors, bad situational calls, no rhythm,
no balance, And this is where the roller coaster nature
of the season really shows up. Because again, if you've
been paying attention, and we all have, like, none of
(07:05):
this should shock you. I was hopeful going into last night,
like I could talk myself into a win. Almost everybody
could at least see a world in which Carolina could
win the game, even if you didn't think it would happen.
First place on the line. You're there for a reason.
There's a world in which you win that game. But
it's who the Panthers have been. One week they look dangerous,
(07:26):
explosive fun, you know, like a team that you don't
want to run into in a wild card game, in
a one off, one game situation.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Some weeks they look like that.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
The next week they look like a group that is
still learning how to win, still figuring out situational football,
still missing simple assignments right, still trying to handle the
big moments. Last week was the high. Last night was
that snap back to reality. And on top of that,
now you add the injuries to j. C. Horn and
(07:57):
Claude Cherlis with concussions, Corey Thornton's ankle, and suddenly you're
down to your fourth corner and your fourth and fifth linebackers.
You had the post to whistle nonsense with Trayvon Merrick
and Juwan Jennings, and now you're staring at potential fines
or a suspension ahead of a short week with Matt
Stafford and the best team in the NFC coming to
(08:18):
your building. So yeah, there's a lot to be frustrated
about today, Like I was frustrated with that last night too.
Should have gone differently, could well could have gone differently,
and I think probably should have. But let me stop
here and make sure we do keep the big picture
in focus.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
All right.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
This is not a funeral. It's this is not season over.
This is not a reason to lose your mind. They're
six and six, Tampa Bay six and five. You're still
only a half game back in the NFC South, and
you play the Bucks twice in the final three weeks,
and their quarterbacks hurt and they have serious injuries all
over their roster. They've lost some key dudes over there.
(08:55):
This case, this division is going to come down to
the final three weeks of the season, y'all. Like, there's
a way I guess that it doesn't. But I'd bet
you a lot of money. I bet you a lot
of money that in three weeks Carolina is seven and
seven with three to go. I really would can't prove it.
We'll find out if I'm wrong. You'll make fun of me,
and I'm okay with that, But I'd bet you a
lot of money Carolina is three and three or seven
and seven in three weeks with three games to go,
(09:15):
and two of those against Tampa. Somebody's got to win
the division. So it's not a funeral, it's not game over,
season over, none of that. You got to say it
out loud. The division title is probably gonna come down
to those two games against Tampa. If you want a
home playoff game, if you want to validate a growth season,
surprisingly successful, whatever you want to call it, if you want,
you know, Bryce and Dave to prove they can navigate adversity, well,
(09:38):
it's all going to come down to what happens from
right now through those Tampa games. Last night was a
blown chance, There's no question about that. It was bad coaching,
bad execution, bad look on the big stage, but the
division's very much in front of them. You're frustrated today
because you care and you should care. Okay, the Panthers
have been way more fun this year than they've been
in any recent season, even if it has been you know,
(10:00):
pull your hair out maddening at times, They've been more
fun and interesting than they've been in years.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
So you care.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
You should, and sometime it hurts the care as a
sports fan. The question now is will they learn anything
from last night? Will Dave Canalis be able to fix
the offensive imbalance? Will Bryce respond again and show that
Atlanta wasn't a fluke? Maybe just a preview. We're gonna
talk about it all. We got phone lines open seven
oh four, five, seven oh ninety six ten, Bryce Young,
Dave Canalis, the abandoned run game, the injuries, the chasing points,
(10:28):
whether or not you still believe this team, can you know,
have some good moments down the stretch? Seven oh four, five,
seven oh ninety six, ten, Let's get into it on
the FanDuel text line and the phone lines.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Good afternoon, smoke, Ludwig. What's going on, buddy? Nothing much, Kyle.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
It's frustrating for a couple of reasons, and I think
that was one of them is just this team is
so inconsistent. You get the highs highs, and then you
get the lowest of lows. It's like to sign, you know,
riding high in April, knockdown in May, except ride and
high on one Sunday, knock down on the next Monday.
And what also hurts too is I think this all
(11:02):
but eliminates any chance of you getting in via wild card.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Oh yeah, that's done.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
I think that's what kind of stinks the most is
you did this on primetime.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
If this is a Sunday at one game, there's a.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Lot of you know, anger and frustration, But I think
it's more because you did it in front of the
whole nation where all these people have not seen Carolina play,
because they only play at one o'clock this year outside
of the Arizona game. And then you lay an egg
like that on national TV, which is why Carolina, even
though they still I think have a winning record on
Monday at football all time, has always hated primetime games.
(11:33):
The fan base has because like, oh, we're gonna lay
an egg here, and there's been games like that in
the past where that's happened.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So I get the frustration.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I get the inconsistencies are frustrating, but it's one of
those things where maybe did the frustrations not guided in
the right spot. And we'll talk about it a little
bit more, but people can say, all Dave Canalis doesn't
trust Bryance, that's why he's going. And I'm glad you
pointed out the inconsistencies and that I d in that notion,
because I think Dave Canals doesn't trust people in offense.
(12:05):
But it's not the guys that you not the guy
that you're thinking of. I texted you last night. I
think last night was proof that he doesn't trust Austin
Corbett and Chandler Zavala. That's what do you think considering
how many rollouts he had early on in the game.
There's a lot of rollouts. How many times have we
seen Brice been rolled out like that this year? Not
that much because guess what, you've had Kade Mason there
(12:25):
and now you're on Chandler's vllas of all is now
hurts he it's probably Kerrhan, And honestly, I believe it.
I believe that Kerrhan's a better guy at guard than
Chandler's of Alla, no offenses of all. But the problem
with Zavala is he's ever been hurt or he sucked
this year. Yeah, so you go to that and now
you're gonna have a different offense combination and you're pointing
(12:45):
out the lack of run game. Well, the fans will
probably say, all right, we let's run it down the
throat this weekend. Here's a big problem. The Rams defense
is not the forty nine Ers defense.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
No, it's not. It's not.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
So you want to run right into the beast with
your four string goal hopefully you get Kid May's back.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Even if you get Kate May's back.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
You want to run down the middle with guys like
Jared Verse, Kobe Turner, Poona Ford, the other guy from
Florida State who named always escapes me, jeez, Breighton Fisk.
You want to run down the gut with those guys.
Those guys are brahemos and locknest monsters. Good luck with that. No,
(13:27):
not the same game plan.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So you can't just.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
Say all right, let's run it down the road, not
with that defensive front.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
No, I'm with you on this, and listen, let me
back out for a second. If you're really upset with
this team today, that's okay. You can I would love
it if you called me and told me about it.
Let me be your therapist. Do you take the proverbial couch?
You feel free to yell? I was very frustrated last
night too. My wife went upstairs because she didn't want
to be around me because I was. You know, I
(13:52):
was really frustrated with the fact that they could not
take advantage of three first half interceptions.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It was excruciating. I love that for J. C.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Horns so much. I love JC Horn. I think he's
a great player. I think he's a great teammate. Think
he's a great leader. I think he's grown into a
great leader. Okay, I loved his two first half interceptions.
Mike Jack's interception was spectacular in the end zone, so
I but I was just inconsolable that they turned three
first half turnovers into three points. All right, So I
(14:21):
had a bad time too. But I also thought that
when they scored to make it seventeen to nine and
then they kicked the pat I was like, I don't
think they're done yet, I really don't. And then Dave
did the thing where he took the points off the board,
and because they got the penalty, he decided, you know what,
screw it, We're going for it, and hey, instead of
you know, again leading on this offensive line, this running game,
(14:42):
let's get in the shotgun.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I hated that so much.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I hated everything about that, and I'd tell Dave that,
not that he cares what I think, but I hated it,
so I was. I was in a salty mood too,
But I'm okay today. I can live with this one
a little bit. It was frustrating. The offense left a
lot of opportunities on the field. I thought it again,
some of those and I heard Dan Orlovsky really harping
on this earlier today.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
They got beat up on the outside.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
As a matter of fact, right on q TFP just
said Dan Orlovsky butchered Excel. On the Pat McAfee show today,
I saw a little bit of that. Xcel didn't have
a great night last night. Lack of situational awareness. Yet again,
that's what I think. That the second or third illegal
touching this year. Yeah, that goes on top of three
or four fall starts. T Mack had a horrendous drop.
I mean he had two drops. One of them though,
was particularly awful down the third down that would have
(15:29):
kept the drive alive, and who knows, maybe they squandered
that opportunity. To the rest of the evidence last night
suggests that they would have that would have.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Helped the defense if you would have kept him out
a little bit more, because they were getting more and
more worn down.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I was exhausting.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
I also think Dave is eventually going to have to
go to the same route at least that you did
with brysle FAXL.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, oh, Benjamin, but didn't they do that already with
a fake injury.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
No, I don't think that was a fake injury.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
People want to believe that, you know, because they say
that with the JJ McCarthy thing. Yeah, but no, they're
I thinking, how right, Benjamin. There's a similar situation going
on the Buffalo Kiyon Coleman right now, guy that was
taken right after XL. They're mentioning him right now, different circumstances. Yeah,
But the lack of situational awareness is it's it's nauseating
and it's getting tiresome. And I also think it's hurting
(16:15):
potential big plays from Jalen Cocher. You go look at
some of the situations Jalen Coker was in. He feels open. Yeah,
you give him a bigger role. I think your offense
gets better in the passing game.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Listen, I'm opening up the phone lines right now, seven
oh four five, seven ninety six to ten. I want
to hear from you. Rough loss last night in San Francisco,
a lot on the line. The Panthers revealed that they
are not ready for the moment yet doesn't mean they
never will be. With five games left to go, I
would bet a lot of money that after the Saints
game following the bye week, that this team is seven
and seven with three to go, and with two out
(16:45):
of those three against Tampa and a ding up Baker
Mayfield and a bunch of injuries over there, anything could happen.
That's where my head's at today. I'm bummed. I hate
the way the offense played last night, but I'm not
coming in here today just roasting everybody and declaring gets
season over.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't think that's true at all.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
But take your phone calls seven four five, seven ninety
six ten, I would love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Call me right now. Sports Radio ninety two seven WF
and Z.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Of a full group execution and just making sure we're
on the same page with the calls that are coming
in and out, you know, the timing and rhythm, making
sure he's getting his throws off the right way, making
sure guys are running the right routes at the right depth.
Those are all the things that you know, we're just
hammering on as a group, and we have to continue
to regroup quickly, you know, this weekend and get to
the bottom of the execution part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
That was Dave Canalis last night after the game. I'm
sorry earlier today in the uh no, I'm sorry. I
take that back. I'm all thrown off by the call
sheet today. I'm so used to seeing Monday and thinking
it was the day after press conference. I apologize for
scaring you, Smoke, I was gonna say today. I know,
it's my bad. It's one of those things where I
just you get used to locked in and seeing the
same thing all the time. Sunday means that was right
(17:55):
after the game, Monday means the day after. But in
this case it's different because last night was Monday Night football.
I apologize to Smoke you bear over there.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
To be fair, it's been twenty seven or yea twenty
six to twenty seven months since there's been a Monday
night game in charl involved into Carolina.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's been a long time. It's been a long time.
That was Dave last night on what was behind the
offensive struggles against San Francisco. It was a really tough
game last night. It just wasn't pretty. And on a
night where you intercept the opposing quarterback three times in
the first half, three times in general, but three times
in the first half, that's a game you should be
winning at least at some point, but Carolina never was
(18:30):
because Bryce threw two of his own. Dave Canal has
completely abandoned the run game, and the defenders in the
second half started dropping like flies.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
J C.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Horn with a concussion, Claude and Cheryliss with a concussion,
Corey Thornton with an ankle. Right, I mean, these are
really really bad turns of events, especially with the La Rams,
who I believe to be the best team in football
on the horizon coming up to Sunday. Not great for
Carolina last night. And Dave also said last night, Hey,
the defense gave us a chance, but we just missed
a whole lot of opportunities.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Just a game of missed opportunities.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Our defense was was, you know, putting us in some
great situations, you know, with the interceptions and not coming
away with points. Having an interception on one of those
things really hurt us. Some basic things, you know, A
couple of penalties put us in long drives, a drop
on third down, really just comes down to fundamental execution
and things that, you know. I felt like we're moving
in the right direction, but we didn't take that step
(19:23):
today that I was looking for, you know, collectively as
a group. And the defense battled and they and they
you know, kept us Senate gave us some opportunities there,
and then we turned it over again at the end
with an opportunity to make the game close there at
the end.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
All right, there you go.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So there's Dave Canalis talking about the defense. We had
missed opportunities the defense. Listen, mane the defense absolutely gave
them an opportunity to win this game. I said repeatedly
yesterday and on the pregame show last night, if you
hold them to under twenty four points, you're gonna have
a chance to win this game. You hold that offense
to twenty four or few er, you should have a
chance to win this game. What I did I didn't expect, though,
(20:01):
was that it was that from both the head coach
and the quarterback. And more on that in just a second,
because a few people are upset with the way that
I'm framing this, and I'm more than happy to defend
the position. But first, lack of consistency has been a
really big problem. Okay, lack of consistency for this team
has been a really big problem.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Dave was asked why last night.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
It's just fundamentals, fundamental execution.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's it's the little things. It's it's making the completions.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
It's you know, the right throw, catching the ball, doing
all the little things right. You know that that I
can count on these guys to do and making sure
that that shows up weekly.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
There you go, fundamentals. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I know it's a boring answer, but you have to
be able to execute repeatedly, over and over again, do
the right things, and sometimes that can That's tough for
young guys to get. That's tough for young players to do,
and it takes reps. I heard a caller earlier today
on Finzi. I think his name was KT, and I
thought it was just a great call where he said, listen,
San Francisco's battle tested. They've been here before, Carolin hasn't.
(21:00):
We were hoping last night that given all the defensive
injuries for San Francisco, that the Panthers offense would have
a chance to score points, you know, would take advantage
of things and keep pace. But yeah, didn't happen. And
you saw last night a much more battle tested team
was ready for primetime and Carolina just couldn't meet the moment. Now,
as far as the designed runs go, I'm still in
(21:21):
disbelief that the combined carries for the running backs last
night was single digits. I cannot believe that. If you
had told us that before the game, we all would
have assumed the score would have been thirty eight to three.
Right if you had told us last night or before
the game, you're only getting nine combined carries out of
your running backs tonight. Either Bryce is lighting the world
on fire, or you're down by twenty one twenty eight
(21:43):
points and you're playing from behind and throwing the football
the whole. Rico Daddle had six carries last night, averaging
six yards of carry. I mean Tuba had three, averaging
nearly the same. I don't understand it. I don't think
many people understand it. Here's Dave Canalis on why that
happened Somber nineteen smoking.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I thought I told you that, my bad buddy. You know.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
I just felt like building off of, you know, what
happened last week and just taking a step forward with
the past game. I saw some opportunities we were protecting
pretty well as far as pass protection goes, and it
just felt like we just didn't come away with our
opportunities consistently enough early on. And then in the second half.
You know, at a certain point when when the score
becomes what it is, it's like, okay, we're in a
two score game. We got to move it a little
(22:25):
bit here and throw the ball around, and you know,
had some measure of success that way. But and the
run game seemed to be hitting pretty good, you know,
but I was trying to take advantage of it. They
were playing some loaded boxes that did a good job
with their disguise in some of those areas too.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
What do you think he said right there? Did you listen?
What did he say right there?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Like I don't want to play it again, but I
almost want to play it again. What did he say
right there? I heard you know, loaded boxes, and they
did a pretty good job with disguising this. It was
a one possession game. Even at seventeen to three, you
don't have to abandon the run. But it was a
one possession game. Your backs weren't getting stuffed on, you
were having some success on the run game. He just
said it there a second and go why completely abandoned
(23:05):
the run? How does that happen?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
I just think this is a situation where it's happened
a couple of times. But I feel like there's gonna
be a situation when the Rubber meets the road where
if Dave Canalis wants to take that next step as
a head coach, I think he's gonna have to give
up play calling duties. I think the Rubber is gonna
have to meet the road this offseason because there's been
so many times in the losses, specifically where he gets
(23:31):
either a little too cute or just overthinks it and
is trying to do too many things at once, and
you know, it kind of falls down all at once,
and I think yesterday was a prime example of it.
I go back to the Arizona game, and look, we
haven't mentioned it yet, but the tempo man the tempo,
not the last offensive drive, but the drive before that
when the interception happened, which, by the way, misholding call.
(23:53):
And if it wasn't for that holding, Kyle, if you
look at the play, team att could have gone for six.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
And I just think it's one of those situations where
he kind of overthinks himself and puts himself into a pretzel.
And I think part of that has to do with
the fact that he's trying to be an head coach
while also being an offensive play caller, and yesterday was
a prime example of that getting into way. Not everyone
could be a Kyle Shanahan where you can call plays
and be head coats at the same time. And even
(24:19):
then people will argue, well, yeah, it bites Kyle Shanahan
at the worst possible time in crunch time in playoff games. Okay,
I just think at this point this offseason, you can't
do both. Let's see how you are as a full
own head coach and give Brad Idzick the reins.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Let's take a phone call Rob and DC up in
our nation's capital, was at the game last night in
the Bay and he promised to call us back.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
What's going on, Buddy? I appreciate you keeping your word.
What's on your mind?
Speaker 7 (24:47):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Do we lose? Rob? Oh?
Speaker 8 (24:51):
No?
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I think we lost Rob. Rob.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Give us a call back seven oh four, five, seven
ninety six to ten, hit us up. I got a
text here from a seven oh three number saying I
think a lot of the blame is being placed at
the wrong place on Bryce in canalis go line interception
is on Tremble. Hate the play call and the decision
not to run it in, but it would have worked
had Tremble done his job. Look at the moment when
Bryce throws the ball, he's wide open. I believe Tremble
(25:13):
forgets the play and goes for the pass, leading his
man right to the ball. Hubbard third down screen in
the red zone is a great call if JT. Sanders
doesn't miss a block.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
J T.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Sanders was not supposed to block that play. That was
not his assignment. That was a hot pass to Chewba Hubbard.
I understand that was my first instinct too, But if
you watch it, j T. Sanders is running a route.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
J T.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Sanders per the call on the field, in my opinion,
believes clearly he's supposed to be in a route that's
a hot pass.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
To Chewba Hubbard. So I'm gonna disagree with you right there.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I saw the same thing, and maybe that's an overall
offensive communication that belongs to everybody, But in watching it
again and talking to folks over there, I don't think
that was a JT.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Sanders thing.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I don't think that that was the right not even
sure that was the right place for Bryce to go
with the.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Football at that moment.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
But that's not what happened there in my opinion, based
on the folks that I've talked to. Anyway, DK goes
on to say Xcel is killing them, he can't be trusted.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Time to move on down the stretch. Smoke is correct.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
So two out of the three I think you're on,
I do Xcel has ability. He cannot be trusted to
be where he's supposed to be and do the right things.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
He just can't.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You can't lose track that often of where you're supposed
to be on the football field, and Xcel does it
far too often by NFL standards. Also, we got some
breaking news. Adam Schefter just tweeting ninety seconds ago the
NFL is suspending Panther safety Trayvon Merrick one game for
striking forty nine ers wide receivers Juwan Jennings in the
(26:38):
Groin area on Monday night. As Adam Schefter writs, Trayvon
Merrick has been suspended for the Rams game on Sunday.
And let's be clear, he earned that one. There's no
doubt about it. Pow right and a kisser. I mean, no,
you can't that the kiss that's your mouth. No, no, no, no, no.
I mean I'll just say I told Wes Wes he
walked in here. I'm not bashful. I got a three
year old son who had just got turned on to
(27:00):
the three Ninjas. Like the boy learned, he's learning how
to fight. And you know, he's knee and needs kneehigh
to a duck's butt, So he likes to run up
on me, swinging and punch it all the time. And
do you know how many times in the last three
or four weeks in the kitchen of the living room,
I've had to look at my own son and say, hey, buddy, listen,
we don't punch other boys in the waianer. I've said
that to him dozens of times. In the last several
(27:21):
weeks because he's learning Trayvon Merrick's grown, you don't you
don't punch other dudes there like, he just can't do that. Man,
I don't know. I'm teaching my three year old right now. Hey, buddy,
we don't punch other boys in the waianer, all right.
Trayvon Merrik did that last night on the football field.
So of course he's getting suspended. What other conclusion did
we think this would end in than Trayvon Merrik being suspended?
Speaker 4 (27:44):
And they got it pretty clear too. It was one
of the It wasn't one of those where you could
hide it. No, it was out in the open. So yeah,
and that that sucks because I know Trayvon didn't mean
it that way in terms of he didn't mean he
didn't think he was going to get caught. I think, oh,
I was gonna say you. I think he absolutely meant
to do what you want to punch a guy in
that area, you know what you're doing. But what I
(28:04):
mean by that is, now it hurts the team because I.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Don't think you're gonna have JC. You're not gonna have Trayvon.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Yeah, I don't even know if you're gonna have Corey
Forton and now you're going against the Rams.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Uh, Kyle.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
In the last eight.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Games, by the way, Matt Stafford has thrown twenty five
touchdowns to zero interceptions.
Speaker 9 (28:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
He hasn't thrown an interception since September twenty first, I
believe is the date. Yeah, Kyle, who's your wide receivers Pokinakul?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Uh huh, Davante Adams Yeah, uh huh yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Uh huh. So you're gonna have Shaw Smith Waite as
your second corner? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Uh, maybe Corey Forton can play.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
But if Corey Fortan camp playin and you have Shaw
Smith Waite as your second corner, who's your nickel?
Speaker 10 (28:48):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
You?
Speaker 7 (28:53):
You?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
I think you can find a better option than me.
But it kind of feels like that, doesn't it. It does,
And we're not even getting into the game of Karen Williams.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
It does. It does.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Let me take a phone call Aggie Pride is up next,
Aggie Pride.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
What's going on, buddy?
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Hey, how's it going? Yeah? Man, that de Americ news
is you can't have that, and I think you deserved that.
A couple of things regarding fundamentals with that that sound
that clip you play with canallas uh sort of a very.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
Very unnoticeable, but it was notice little bit to me.
On that second kiss Christian mccafrey fumble. Our guys are
just slelling at the ball and trying to dive on it.
Speaker 7 (29:32):
But if you.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Notice you run it back, if you notice how fundamentally
sound that offensive lineman was. When you're taught, when when
I was playing football, you're taught to go under control
to the football and incredibly look like a baby to
make sure that you get possession. Our guys are just
falling and diving on it. But if you look and
you see how that offensive lineman fell on it, it's
(29:54):
those little things that win win the ball game. But
the point I really wanted to make was I think
the game.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Was lost on that first red zone intersection interception.
Speaker 8 (30:04):
I think from there the win was out ourselves. I
know we had two other picks after that, but it did.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
The game just turned down.
Speaker 8 (30:11):
I know it was early and man and man, and
I feel like that for me, I think that's where
the game turned so fundamentals, small things like falling on
the fumble and then just that first and read zone
interception just really took took the sale out on wins
and I'll take it off for Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
No, I appreciate you, buddy. I think the textra a
minute ago. I went back and watched the game, or
the first half rather right before the show. Got to
get back to the second half again, probably later tonight,
but I like this point about Tommy Trimble. And I'm also,
by the way, getting text from people who are saying
the phone lines are busy. I think we're having an
issue with our phone lines today. I think only two
of those are working at the moment. I'm going to
try to reset them and figure out what's going on.
(30:47):
We have a couple of lines working, but I'm getting
people saying the lines are busy, even though I'm not
saying full phone lines. So just know that we'll cycle
through them. We I'll get our engineer working on that.
Topper is up next Topper. What's going on?
Speaker 9 (31:00):
Good?
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well? Not the Panthers last night?
Speaker 10 (31:03):
Yeah? So, uh, First of all, UH day canals does
not know how to call plays now has it knows
how to call good plays? And does not know how
to run the ball When we have a top tier
running back and an okay running back and we don't
(31:23):
and we just don't run the ball. We just avoid
the run and start doing it to Bryce Young. And
I don't trust Bryce Young throwing the ball down the
field and throwing picks.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Okay, all right, so you were a coach that can't
call plays and a quarterback that you don't trust.
Speaker 10 (31:39):
Yeah, I I I'm not sure why we're not running
the ball.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Well last night. It's a fair question, top er. I
appreciate you, buddy, great great phone call.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I hope you doing well. Seven oh four five seven
ninety six. Uh.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Bagel guy says, when does this show not have problems
with the phone lines? Oh, that's not fair most days.
And listen, it's not even our fault when we do
it's at and T. It's not our fault. We don't
control the phone lines. We just pay for the service.
Robin DC is up next, Rob real quick?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
What you got Hey?
Speaker 9 (32:09):
How you doing? We're sitting at the airport. Sorry for
the noise. All good, it was it was It wasn't
hard to watch, but it was hard to understand. I mean,
I can't understand those picks at all. We saw those picks,
We saw the touchdown right in front of us, is great,
great pass, so he'll make one dime the TM MAC
(32:29):
and then he just throws those terrible interceptions. And the
play calling I just didn't get. I mean to go
in for two when we're on two.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
The other just hated it.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
I hated the chasing the points, I really did. I
do think, though, if you go if you go back,
if you want to bang on Bryce for not running
the ball in in the goal line situation, I'm completely
fine with that. I do think if you go back
and rewatch it. Tommy Trimble owns some of that guys
were not exactly where they supposed they were supposed to be.
It goes back to the trust factor. This is not
to excuse Bryce because he could have done more last night,
(32:59):
but I I've talked to some folks over there in
the last ten hours or so, and uh, it's a
little bit more layered, in nuanced than just Bryce threw
a pick, probably should have run it in. But I mean,
and and Rob, how was the atmosphere last night?
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Real quick? But before you got I mean it was.
Speaker 9 (33:13):
Just a red with a couple of couple of blue
dots all over it. You know, the park was nice.
It's fine that people were great, but it just was
hard to watch. Yeah, every time you threw a pick,
they were saying, sweet Caroline, and you know watching us, uh,
you know, have have three interceptions which we were roaring
and come away with what three points?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (33:33):
You know, how could you understand that?
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I hear you, man, I hear you.
Speaker 9 (33:37):
Well, the bubble, the bubble with you know, I don't
know how far and people are flopping all over it.
We couldn't get it.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
It was excruciating. Oh god, it was awful to watch. Hey,
save save track and hit a break. Save travels. Enjoyed that.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I was gonna say, enjoy the airport. That would have
been stupid. Enjoy your flight back week. Yeah, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to rush you off. I got to
hit a break. Let's go to smoke on the headlines.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Who is smoked? Where is smoke? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Let's go what you got? All right?
Speaker 4 (34:05):
This report is a Bet three six five sports report.
When it comes to sports books, Bet three sixty five
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it's never ordinary at Bet three six five. Gambling Problem
call one eight seven to seven seven one eight five
five four to three, or visit more than agame in
dot NC dot gov. All right, I just want to
reiterate what you said earlier. Trey Von Merrick has officially
been suspended four Sunday's game against the Rams by the
(34:27):
NFL for the nutpunch Herd around the world. He is
the Nutcracker. And now also in some NFC South news,
the New Orleans Saints the next road game for the
Carolina Panthers after the bye, they have signed a new kicker,
Kay York has been signed to the practice squad. This
was a lot of controversy surrounding this kicking battle because
(34:50):
the Saints yesterday also brought in Justin Tucker. I think
the Saints got cold feet at the idea of signing
Justin Tucker and decided to go for the other kicker.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right right. We'll come back.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Nick Carboni, NBC Charlotte Next Sports Radio ninety two to seven,
WFNZ Sports Radio ninety two to seven, wufn Z. I've
(35:25):
got loaded phone lines. I'll get to you as soon
as I can. Kareem not abdul Jabbar, seven oh four, Tyler,
Greg Alex, everybody, hang tight. I'm gonna take a lot
of phone calls today as we get near Thanksgiving Street
turkeys tomorrow. More on that in just a bit, but
you can tell out there in the traffic area, both
in the city and up my way in the Lake
Norman area. My goodness, everybody is lighting out to travel
(35:46):
for Thanksgiving today, so be safe out there on the roads.
Right now, we go to the hotline and we check
in with Nick Carboni, NBC Charlotte Sports Director, Sports anchor,
back with us for a Tuesday conversation. Nick, how about
them Carolina Panthers last night?
Speaker 7 (36:00):
Well, well they answered one question. We were wondering if
they were ready for prime time and offensively, the answer
was a resounding no. You know, another disappointment after some success,
and it just seems like, you know, keep in mind,
there's still five hundred, there's still six and six, but
it seems like all six of the losses come with
(36:20):
an existential crisis, especially when it comes to the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Well, they bucked one trend last night. They won the
coin toss and lost the game, So I guess we've
lost that. But in all seriousness, the defense JC Horn,
Mike Jack, I mean, they were forcing turnovers last night.
They tried to give the Panthers offense every opportunity, but
the offense just would not take control of it. What
was your biggest problem with what happened offensively last night?
Speaker 7 (36:44):
That there was a forty nine ers defense that you
know and this is this is not the norm there
in San Francisco, But this defense, this secondary and this
pass rush for them was ripe to be had. And
the Panthers were coming off a record breaking performance carrying
would think all the confidence in the world on at
the biggest stage in football, and we're not able to
(37:05):
attack a vulnerable defense. Listen, They're well coached, there's no
doubt about it. They do have some pieces, including the
kids from Charlotte, Malik Mustafa and the kid that obviously
made two interceptions. But this is an offense that should
have been able to dictate what it wanted to do
a little more. And nine design runs to your two
(37:27):
very good running backs with good running averages on the
night is just not going to cut it. I know
they were behind, but even Troy Aikman was begging Dave
Canalis late in the game. You're behind two scores, you
still should stick to the run. I thought there are
plenty of opportunities throughout the game and situationally where that
should have happened. So I think the most disappointing thing
(37:47):
is to not see that offensive attack mode, aggressiveness carry
over into a week it certainly should have. I don't
think they can have that game plan against everybody, but
I thought yesterday they should.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
So I mean what, I guess what changed in your
mind from last week? Last week against Atlanta, against the
number one ranked pass defense in the league, Dave clearly
trusted Bryce to throw the football down the field. I
can't imagine that trust just evaporated. Why do you think
there was only one real shot down the field last night?
Speaker 7 (38:17):
Well, I don't know if it's if it's a lack
of trust or confidence going into the game, but I
think when Bryce has that early turnover, it does change
the dynamic. It changes the mindset, and it changes the
confidence level in coach, quarterback and everything in between. So
when he drives down the field and he throws that
(38:38):
backbreaking interception in a situation you absolutely can't do it
in you know, it's just reverts back to that's what
we saw the first two weeks. That's what we see
in the losses, these early turnovers and things kind of
crumble from there. So I don't know, you know, the
the lack of ability to kind of rebound from that,
although they believe it or not, they've actually done better
(39:00):
and and Bryce has done better at rebounding from it
than in years past. It's still not good enough to
go out there and win you a game. I mean,
you can't shrink from that, especially when you're not going
to run the ball either. And listen, there were drafts
last night. There were clearly receivers in the wrong spots.
I don't think Bryce Young is that inaccurate. In fact,
I know he's not. So to have an incompletion that
(39:21):
was called an intentional grounding, yeah, sure, I've seen that before.
It was everybody, but you know you have to point
to coaching quarterback first.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Well, it clearly was a miscommunication and the ball was
tipped upon review, So I mean it was a very
very weird circumstance. I do want to pass along some
more breaking news. A lot of this is the Breaking
News show, after all. Trayvon Merrik has been suspended, of course,
for a game for the crotch punch to Juwan Jennings,
but also three minutes ago, Adam Schefter reporting the Panthers
(39:48):
have signed Isaiah Simmons. Veteran linebacker, former Clemson standout Isaiah
Simmons has finally made his way home to of course,
he was part of that Derek Brown draft all those
years ago, but they've signed him, and I'd love your
thoughts on that. But also the fact that they lost
JC and Claude and cherylistic concussions last night, Corey Thornton's hurt.
I mean, it kind of feels like they might have
(40:10):
lost the Rams game last night too with all these injuries.
Speaker 7 (40:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean absolutely brutal. And did see the
Isaiah Simons news right before I came on KB. Big name,
obviously local ties. Not sure how much it's going to
help you against the top team in the NFC on Sunday.
He's practice squad for now. Obviously we've seen guys kind
of shuttle between the two. But yeah, kind of takes
(40:32):
you back to that twenty twenty COVID draft. He was
all the rage. You know, what are the what do
you do with him? Linebacker? Safety? How do you utilize them?
How do you deploy him? Cardinals couldn't figure it out.
Other teams couldn't figure it out, and now he's just
kind of floating along here and getting to a practice squad.
Good for him for you know, continuing the battle and
his career and find a new spot. Yeah, we'll see
(40:56):
Listen looking at especially the second half last night. You
may see Isaiah Simmons out there on Sunday, because that's
kind of the the the way it's going for this
defense is just next man up and then the next
guy and then the next guy. And I credit them
for most of their performance last night.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
To be honest, I don't we.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Got Nick Carbone hanging out with us NBC Charlotte. I
hate the way last night went for the offense.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
I really do.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I despise it, but I'm not despondent today, and I
know that you know, we all have different perspectives on this.
I don't expect to beat reporters to look at this
the same way that you know a radio show talking
head does who openly roots for the team. But like I,
I'm frustrated by the way they played last night. I
think they left a lot of opportunities out there. But
I still think this division comes down to the final
three weeks of the season with two against Tampa.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Dick, what do you.
Speaker 7 (41:39):
Think, Yeah, I mean, once you kind of dig yourself
out of that hole you probably put yourself in last
night with that los and you look at the newspaper.
I don't nobody you know, love I love me me too.
You look at the standings and you're six and six
and you're a half game out first place still and
Baker may feel and you get to play the Bucks twice,
(42:02):
so you know, it's still right there in front of
this team. They don't control their own destiny certainly, but
they have they have a great shot still. But you know,
last night was a reminder to them that they they're
clearly just not ready, especially quarterback and offensively and maybe
play calling and head coach wise for that big stage,
(42:23):
for that you know, big challenge. You know, they they
may have a better game against a better team on
Sunday because it's in the comforts of Bank of America
Stadium and it's at one o'clock. You know, I would
not be surprised if that happened somehow. But yeah, last
night was just a glaring, you know admission basically in
the performance that we're not ready for this yet. And
(42:45):
and when it comes to quarterback, I wonder when they
will be at this point.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
That's a fair question to make. I mean, what what
what about this roster stink? Because if we are very
rapidly moving toward the end of the season, a lot
of football left. We don't have to talk about draft
or free agency yet. But you know, I do think
it's interesting now understanding that we all know this team
is not going to win a super Bowl, not going
to play for a super Bowl. But like next year,
I think is where we look at Dave Canalis and thing, buddy,
you better make the playoffs next season. I think we
(43:11):
also believe Dan Morgan's done a good job rebuilding this roster.
So like, how close do you think they are overall
with a couple of holes plugged here or there, to
being a playoff team next year?
Speaker 2 (43:20):
And what do they need?
Speaker 7 (43:22):
I mean, shoot, they're still close now, like we just
talked about. So yeah, I mean, listen, they need more
top line talent at key positions, pass rush stands out,
they need you know, listen, they've got a number one receiver,
you know, te Max still going through some growing pains,
but overall. I mean, what a hit on that draft pick.
But you need help outside of him. You know, xavierly
(43:45):
Get still showing fundamental issues last night. Jalen Coker is
a nice piece. I'm not sure he's going to live
up to the expectations those with a certain nickname for
him have, So I think you need those those other pieces.
Tight End, I just you know, it seems like a
position that disappears in this offense to more often than not.
And you look across the field against most teams and
(44:07):
they have that big move past catching tight end who
can really help you break things open. So, uh, those
positions to me and linebacker, obviously, they still need to
fill those spots.
Speaker 9 (44:21):
You know.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
Is not all going to happen overnight, not gonna happen
in one off season. But as you mentioned, Dan Morgan
has been building this inside out, and the offensive line
is banged up as it gets. Listen, We've seen with
our own eyes some horrid offensive lines around here, KP.
This is not one of them. Bryce Young was not
under just in an insane amount of pressure last night
or anything like that, you know. So they've done a
(44:44):
great job of building from the out, the inside out,
but you've got to fill those key positions with with
top found. You got to hit on those those acquisitions however.
Speaker 9 (44:52):
You get them.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Love it, Nick.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
We appreciate you as always, brother, Thank you for the time.
Have a great week, Happy Thanksgiving. We'll talk to you
next Tuesday.
Speaker 7 (44:59):
You too, sir. Thank you in you as well.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
There you go our three hour two. I can't count
our two. Next, we'll take your phone calls when we
return seven oh four. Tyler is up first, Kareem, Alex,
everybody hang tight. We're taking phone calls next. Sports Radio
ninety two seven wfn Z
You were listening to the Kyle Bailey Show powered by
Victory Chevy Charlotte. Want to drive a sweet Silverado Trail
Boss like KB go to Victory Chevy Charlotte dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well that was a bummer last night.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
That was a really big bummer on Monday Night football because,
with a chance to take over first place in the
NFC South on the biggest stage that the Panthers have
had in years, Carolina walked into Levi Stadium with the
whole league watching, and walked out reminding everyone that they're
still not ready for primetime.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
This thing was set up perfectly.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Tampa Bay loses to the Rams on Sunday night, the
doors swing wide open for the division line of six
and five primetime stage, one chance to grab the division
lead and tell the rest of the National Football League, Hey,
we're here now. And instead they limp out of San
Francisco with a twenty to nine loss, three injured starters,
(01:15):
a banged up defense, and an offense that completely fell
flat one week after lighting the world on fire. And
that's where we got to start. I guess the offense.
Last week in Atlanta, Bryce Young threw for a franchise
record four forty eight in an overtime win, three touchdowns.
As well, Carolina did not win that game by pounding
the rock, as we know, they won it by airing
(01:36):
it out. Explosive play after explosive play, nine passes of
twenty plus yards, Bryce dealing wide receivers, eating, everything was
in sync. That was the version of this offense that
had people buzzing, That had folks wondering, if you know, maybe,
just maybe this team was turning a corner. The proverbial
corner was being turned. Well, you fast forward seven days
(01:59):
under the lights with the division on the line, and
all of that vanished. Bryce goes eighteen of twenty nine
for a bucks sixty nine, a sixty point eight passer rating,
two interceptions and just one explosive completion, ted Ron McMillan's
twenty nine yard touchdown catch.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
That's it. That's the list.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
For the ninth time in eleven starts, Bryce doesn't crack
two hundred yards passing. And look, Bryce said all the
right things after he always does. He took ownership with
the mistakes. He said, he can't put the ball in peril,
especially down at the goal line. But this is year three,
this is supposed to be the step forward season, the
I've Arrived season, and on a night where he desperately
(02:39):
needed to stack a big performance on top of the
Atlanta game, he instead handed his critics a fresh box
of ammunition. Let's talk about the sequence that defined the night.
If we can, you pick off brock Purty three straight
drives in the first half. It was ridiculous JC Mike
jack Jason two by J. C. Horn, won by Mike Jackson.
(03:02):
Your defense is bawling out, flipping the field, giving you
chance after chance to take control of the game. Horn's
first interception sets you up with the San Francisco sixteen.
You move it to first and goal at the one
perfect script. This is how you take the crowd out
of the game. This is how you seize control on
the road. It's how you show you're ready for the moment.
(03:24):
And then Dave Canalys dials up play action gives Bryce
the option to throw a run. Looks like he's got
a path to the pylon, but instead he tries to
jam it into Mitchell Evans probably could have floated one
over the top and been more successful, but tries to
rifle one in between about four sets of hands and
gy r. Brown picks it off in the end zone.
Drive over, momentum gone, opportunity wasted. I mean, that's a
(03:48):
fourteen point swing in a game that was ten to
three late into the third quarter. And let's be clear,
Bryce owns it, he said so, but this is also
where you put a chunk of it I think on
Dave Canalis, because I'm of the mindset that two things
can be true. Bryce absolutely, you know, had a chance
to run that ball into the end zone. But I
(04:09):
don't know why you're not running the ball there on
first and goal with the one with a highly paid
offensive line with Rico Daddle even Scheba Hubbard. I didn't
get that personally, And I thought as the night went on,
you saw one of Dave Canalis's worst performances as Carolina's
head coach, Like not just that call, but the overall approach,
the endgame management, the way he chased points and you know,
(04:31):
abandoned the running game, and a contest that never got
out of hand. I mean, this was a one possession
game with two forty one left to go in the
fourth quarter. Never felt like they were going to win it.
But that's literally factually what it was. I mean again,
I'll say it out loud. In a game that ended
twenty to nine, with the score ten to three deep
into the third quarter, your running backs Rico Daddle and
(04:54):
Cheba Hubbard combined for nine carries nine Dawdell had six
carries for thirty eight yards at six point three yards
per carry. For you math majors out there, Chewba Hubbard
gets three attempts, both average six yards a touch. San
Francisco had been averaging giving up one hundred and eleven
yards per game at home on the ground this year,
(05:16):
and in a one score game for most of the night,
you almost never went back to them. I don't know
if that's coaching malpractice, but it is very confusing.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You say you want to be a run first football team,
and in a situation like that, where the game is
still very much in reach, where your defense is giving
you a chance after chance, you abandon the run game.
It's been a strength of this team. There are folks
out there that still think that Dave doesn't trust his quarterback. Well,
I'm not sure that that's true after last night. I
think that was actually largely debunked after last night, Because
(05:44):
if you don't trust a guy. Why on a road
in that spot, in a difficult atmosphere to play in
with first place on the line, are you ignoring your
rushing attack to put it in his hands over and
over and over again.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
It's a very weird thing.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Last night, the way this offense was called, the way
it operated, it was it was very frustrating. Like this
was not some thirty one to three blowout where you're
forced to drop back every snap. This was a you know,
a slugfest, the grind er, a turnover fest. The game
where San Francisco showed you exactly how to win on
a night like that, long drives, physicality, leaning on Christian
(06:21):
McCaffrey in their case, controlling the clock, time of possession.
Three of their four scoring drives for San Francisco were
ten plus plays and chewed up more than six minutes
of game time and is Boa constrictor football from Kyle
Shanahan last night. Meanwhile, in Carolina, on Carolina sideline, you've
got a defense getting takeaways on the field way too much.
(06:43):
They're keeping you alive, though, and an offense that's doing
everything in its power to make those turnovers meaningless. You
got poor execution, mental errors, bad situational calls, no rhythm,
no balance, And this is where the roller coaster nature
of the season really shows up. Because again, if you've
been paying attention, and we all have, like, none of
(07:05):
this should shock you. I was hopeful going into last night,
like I could talk myself into a win. Almost everybody
could at least see a world in which Carolina could
win the game, even if you didn't think it would happen.
First place on the line. You're there for a reason.
There's a world in which you win that game. But
it's who the Panthers have been. One week they look dangerous,
(07:26):
explosive fun, you know, like a team that you don't
want to run into in a wild card game, in
a one off, one game situation.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Some weeks they look like that.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
The next week they look like a group that is
still learning how to win, still figuring out situational football,
still missing simple assignments right, still trying to handle the
big moments. Last week was the high. Last night was
that snap back to reality. And on top of that,
now you add the injuries to j. C. Horn and
(07:57):
Claude Cherlis with concussions, Corey Thornton's ankle, and suddenly you're
down to your fourth corner and your fourth and fifth linebackers.
You had the post to whistle nonsense with Trayvon Merrick
and Juwan Jennings, and now you're staring at potential fines
or a suspension ahead of a short week with Matt
Stafford and the best team in the NFC coming to
(08:18):
your building. So yeah, there's a lot to be frustrated
about today, Like I was frustrated with that last night too.
Should have gone differently, could well could have gone differently,
and I think probably should have. But let me stop
here and make sure we do keep the big picture
in focus.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
All right.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
This is not a funeral. It's this is not season over.
This is not a reason to lose your mind. They're
six and six, Tampa Bay six and five. You're still
only a half game back in the NFC South, and
you play the Bucks twice in the final three weeks,
and their quarterbacks hurt and they have serious injuries all
over their roster. They've lost some key dudes over there.
(08:55):
This case, this division is going to come down to
the final three weeks of the season, y'all. Like, there's
a way I guess that it doesn't. But I'd bet
you a lot of money. I bet you a lot
of money that in three weeks Carolina is seven and
seven with three to go. I really would can't prove it.
We'll find out if I'm wrong. You'll make fun of me,
and I'm okay with that, But I'd bet you a
lot of money Carolina is three and three or seven
and seven in three weeks with three games to go,
(09:15):
and two of those against Tampa. Somebody's got to win
the division. So it's not a funeral, it's not game over,
season over, none of that. You got to say it
out loud. The division title is probably gonna come down
to those two games against Tampa. If you want a
home playoff game, if you want to validate a growth season,
surprisingly successful, whatever you want to call it, if you want,
you know, Bryce and Dave to prove they can navigate adversity, well,
(09:38):
it's all going to come down to what happens from
right now through those Tampa games. Last night was a
blown chance, There's no question about that. It was bad coaching,
bad execution, bad look on the big stage, but the
division's very much in front of them. You're frustrated today
because you care and you should care. Okay, the Panthers
have been way more fun this year than they've been
in any recent season, even if it has been you know,
(10:00):
pull your hair out maddening at times, They've been more
fun and interesting than they've been in years.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
So you care.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
You should, and sometime it hurts the care as a
sports fan. The question now is will they learn anything
from last night? Will Dave Canalis be able to fix
the offensive imbalance? Will Bryce respond again and show that
Atlanta wasn't a fluke? Maybe just a preview. We're gonna
talk about it all. We got phone lines open seven
oh four, five, seven oh ninety six ten, Bryce Young,
Dave Canalis, the abandoned run game, the injuries, the chasing points,
(10:28):
whether or not you still believe this team, can you know,
have some good moments down the stretch? Seven oh four, five,
seven oh ninety six, ten, Let's get into it on
the FanDuel text line and the phone lines.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Good afternoon, smoke, Ludwig. What's going on, buddy? Nothing much, Kyle.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
It's frustrating for a couple of reasons, and I think
that was one of them is just this team is
so inconsistent. You get the highs highs, and then you
get the lowest of lows. It's like to sign, you know,
riding high in April, knockdown in May, except ride and
high on one Sunday, knock down on the next Monday.
And what also hurts too is I think this all
(11:02):
but eliminates any chance of you getting in via wild card.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Oh yeah, that's done.
Speaker 4 (11:07):
I think that's what kind of stinks the most is
you did this on primetime.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
If this is a Sunday at one game, there's a.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
Lot of you know, anger and frustration, But I think
it's more because you did it in front of the
whole nation where all these people have not seen Carolina play,
because they only play at one o'clock this year outside
of the Arizona game. And then you lay an egg
like that on national TV, which is why Carolina, even
though they still I think have a winning record on
Monday at football all time, has always hated primetime games.
(11:33):
The fan base has because like, oh, we're gonna lay
an egg here, and there's been games like that in
the past where that's happened.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
So I get the frustration.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
I get the inconsistencies are frustrating, but it's one of
those things where maybe did the frustrations not guided in
the right spot. And we'll talk about it a little
bit more, but people can say, all Dave Canalis doesn't
trust Bryance, that's why he's going. And I'm glad you
pointed out the inconsistencies and that I d in that notion,
because I think Dave Canals doesn't trust people in offense.
(12:05):
But it's not the guys that you not the guy
that you're thinking of. I texted you last night. I
think last night was proof that he doesn't trust Austin
Corbett and Chandler Zavala. That's what do you think considering
how many rollouts he had early on in the game.
There's a lot of rollouts. How many times have we
seen Brice been rolled out like that this year? Not
that much because guess what, you've had Kade Mason there
(12:25):
and now you're on Chandler's vllas of all is now
hurts he it's probably Kerrhan, And honestly, I believe it.
I believe that Kerrhan's a better guy at guard than
Chandler's of Alla, no offenses of all. But the problem
with Zavala is he's ever been hurt or he sucked
this year. Yeah, so you go to that and now
you're gonna have a different offense combination and you're pointing
(12:45):
out the lack of run game. Well, the fans will
probably say, all right, we let's run it down the
throat this weekend. Here's a big problem. The Rams defense
is not the forty nine Ers defense.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
No, it's not. It's not.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
So you want to run right into the beast with
your four string goal hopefully you get Kid May's back.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Even if you get Kate May's back.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
You want to run down the middle with guys like
Jared Verse, Kobe Turner, Poona Ford, the other guy from
Florida State who named always escapes me, jeez, Breighton Fisk.
You want to run down the gut with those guys.
Those guys are brahemos and locknest monsters. Good luck with that. No,
(13:27):
not the same game plan.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
So you can't just.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
Say all right, let's run it down the road, not
with that defensive front.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
No, I'm with you on this, and listen, let me
back out for a second. If you're really upset with
this team today, that's okay. You can I would love
it if you called me and told me about it.
Let me be your therapist. Do you take the proverbial couch?
You feel free to yell? I was very frustrated last
night too. My wife went upstairs because she didn't want
to be around me because I was. You know, I
(13:52):
was really frustrated with the fact that they could not
take advantage of three first half interceptions.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
It was excruciating. I love that for J. C.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Horns so much. I love JC Horn. I think he's
a great player. I think he's a great teammate. Think
he's a great leader. I think he's grown into a
great leader. Okay, I loved his two first half interceptions.
Mike Jack's interception was spectacular in the end zone, so
I but I was just inconsolable that they turned three
first half turnovers into three points. All right, So I
(14:21):
had a bad time too. But I also thought that
when they scored to make it seventeen to nine and
then they kicked the pat I was like, I don't
think they're done yet, I really don't. And then Dave
did the thing where he took the points off the board,
and because they got the penalty, he decided, you know what,
screw it, We're going for it, and hey, instead of
you know, again leading on this offensive line, this running game,
(14:42):
let's get in the shotgun.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I hated that so much.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
I hated everything about that, and I'd tell Dave that,
not that he cares what I think, but I hated it,
so I was. I was in a salty mood too,
But I'm okay today. I can live with this one
a little bit. It was frustrating. The offense left a
lot of opportunities on the field. I thought it again,
some of those and I heard Dan Orlovsky really harping
on this earlier today.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
They got beat up on the outside.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
As a matter of fact, right on q TFP just
said Dan Orlovsky butchered Excel. On the Pat McAfee show today,
I saw a little bit of that. Xcel didn't have
a great night last night. Lack of situational awareness. Yet again,
that's what I think. That the second or third illegal
touching this year. Yeah, that goes on top of three
or four fall starts. T Mack had a horrendous drop.
I mean he had two drops. One of them though,
was particularly awful down the third down that would have
(15:29):
kept the drive alive, and who knows, maybe they squandered
that opportunity. To the rest of the evidence last night
suggests that they would have that would have.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Helped the defense if you would have kept him out
a little bit more, because they were getting more and
more worn down.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
I was exhausting.
Speaker 4 (15:40):
I also think Dave is eventually going to have to
go to the same route at least that you did
with brysle FAXL.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, oh, Benjamin, but didn't they do that already with
a fake injury.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
No, I don't think that was a fake injury.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
People want to believe that, you know, because they say
that with the JJ McCarthy thing. Yeah, but no, they're
I thinking, how right, Benjamin. There's a similar situation going
on the Buffalo Kiyon Coleman right now, guy that was
taken right after XL. They're mentioning him right now, different circumstances. Yeah,
But the lack of situational awareness is it's it's nauseating
and it's getting tiresome. And I also think it's hurting
(16:15):
potential big plays from Jalen Cocher. You go look at
some of the situations Jalen Coker was in. He feels open. Yeah,
you give him a bigger role. I think your offense
gets better in the passing game.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Listen, I'm opening up the phone lines right now, seven
oh four five, seven ninety six to ten. I want
to hear from you. Rough loss last night in San Francisco,
a lot on the line. The Panthers revealed that they
are not ready for the moment yet doesn't mean they
never will be. With five games left to go, I
would bet a lot of money that after the Saints
game following the bye week, that this team is seven
and seven with three to go, and with two out
(16:45):
of those three against Tampa and a ding up Baker
Mayfield and a bunch of injuries over there, anything could happen.
That's where my head's at today. I'm bummed. I hate
the way the offense played last night, but I'm not
coming in here today just roasting everybody and declaring gets
season over.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
I don't think that's true at all.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
But take your phone calls seven four five, seven ninety
six ten, I would love to hear from you.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Call me right now. Sports Radio ninety two seven WF
and Z.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
Of a full group execution and just making sure we're
on the same page with the calls that are coming
in and out, you know, the timing and rhythm, making
sure he's getting his throws off the right way, making
sure guys are running the right routes at the right depth.
Those are all the things that you know, we're just
hammering on as a group, and we have to continue
to regroup quickly, you know, this weekend and get to
the bottom of the execution part of it.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
That was Dave Canalis last night after the game. I'm
sorry earlier today in the uh no, I'm sorry. I
take that back. I'm all thrown off by the call
sheet today. I'm so used to seeing Monday and thinking
it was the day after press conference. I apologize for
scaring you, Smoke, I was gonna say today. I know,
it's my bad. It's one of those things where I
just you get used to locked in and seeing the
same thing all the time. Sunday means that was right
(17:55):
after the game, Monday means the day after. But in
this case it's different because last night was Monday Night football.
I apologize to Smoke you bear over there.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
To be fair, it's been twenty seven or yea twenty
six to twenty seven months since there's been a Monday
night game in charl involved into Carolina.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's been a long time. It's been a long time.
That was Dave last night on what was behind the
offensive struggles against San Francisco. It was a really tough
game last night. It just wasn't pretty. And on a
night where you intercept the opposing quarterback three times in
the first half, three times in general, but three times
in the first half, that's a game you should be
winning at least at some point, but Carolina never was
(18:30):
because Bryce threw two of his own. Dave Canal has
completely abandoned the run game, and the defenders in the
second half started dropping like flies.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
J C.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Horn with a concussion, Claude and Cheryliss with a concussion,
Corey Thornton with an ankle. Right, I mean, these are
really really bad turns of events, especially with the La Rams,
who I believe to be the best team in football
on the horizon coming up to Sunday. Not great for
Carolina last night. And Dave also said last night, Hey,
the defense gave us a chance, but we just missed
a whole lot of opportunities.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Just a game of missed opportunities.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Our defense was was, you know, putting us in some
great situations, you know, with the interceptions and not coming
away with points. Having an interception on one of those
things really hurt us. Some basic things, you know, A
couple of penalties put us in long drives, a drop
on third down, really just comes down to fundamental execution
and things that, you know. I felt like we're moving
in the right direction, but we didn't take that step
(19:23):
today that I was looking for, you know, collectively as
a group. And the defense battled and they and they
you know, kept us Senate gave us some opportunities there,
and then we turned it over again at the end
with an opportunity to make the game close there at
the end.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
All right, there you go.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
So there's Dave Canalis talking about the defense. We had
missed opportunities the defense. Listen, mane the defense absolutely gave
them an opportunity to win this game. I said repeatedly
yesterday and on the pregame show last night, if you
hold them to under twenty four points, you're gonna have
a chance to win this game. You hold that offense
to twenty four or few er, you should have a
chance to win this game. What I did I didn't expect, though,
(20:01):
was that it was that from both the head coach
and the quarterback. And more on that in just a second,
because a few people are upset with the way that
I'm framing this, and I'm more than happy to defend
the position. But first, lack of consistency has been a
really big problem. Okay, lack of consistency for this team
has been a really big problem.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Dave was asked why last night.
Speaker 5 (20:22):
It's just fundamentals, fundamental execution.
Speaker 6 (20:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's it's the little things. It's it's making the completions.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
It's you know, the right throw, catching the ball, doing
all the little things right. You know that that I
can count on these guys to do and making sure
that that shows up weekly.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
There you go, fundamentals. Yeah, that's true.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I know it's a boring answer, but you have to
be able to execute repeatedly, over and over again, do
the right things, and sometimes that can That's tough for
young guys to get. That's tough for young players to do,
and it takes reps. I heard a caller earlier today
on Finzi. I think his name was KT, and I
thought it was just a great call where he said, listen,
San Francisco's battle tested. They've been here before, Carolin hasn't.
(21:00):
We were hoping last night that given all the defensive
injuries for San Francisco, that the Panthers offense would have
a chance to score points, you know, would take advantage
of things and keep pace. But yeah, didn't happen. And
you saw last night a much more battle tested team
was ready for primetime and Carolina just couldn't meet the moment. Now,
as far as the designed runs go, I'm still in
(21:21):
disbelief that the combined carries for the running backs last
night was single digits. I cannot believe that. If you
had told us that before the game, we all would
have assumed the score would have been thirty eight to three.
Right if you had told us last night or before
the game, you're only getting nine combined carries out of
your running backs tonight. Either Bryce is lighting the world
on fire, or you're down by twenty one twenty eight
(21:43):
points and you're playing from behind and throwing the football
the whole. Rico Daddle had six carries last night, averaging
six yards of carry. I mean Tuba had three, averaging
nearly the same. I don't understand it. I don't think
many people understand it. Here's Dave Canalis on why that
happened Somber nineteen smoking.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I thought I told you that, my bad buddy. You know.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
I just felt like building off of, you know, what
happened last week and just taking a step forward with
the past game. I saw some opportunities we were protecting
pretty well as far as pass protection goes, and it
just felt like we just didn't come away with our
opportunities consistently enough early on. And then in the second half.
You know, at a certain point when when the score
becomes what it is, it's like, okay, we're in a
two score game. We got to move it a little
(22:25):
bit here and throw the ball around, and you know,
had some measure of success that way. But and the
run game seemed to be hitting pretty good, you know,
but I was trying to take advantage of it. They
were playing some loaded boxes that did a good job
with their disguise in some of those areas too.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
What do you think he said right there? Did you listen?
What did he say right there?
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Like I don't want to play it again, but I
almost want to play it again. What did he say
right there? I heard you know, loaded boxes, and they
did a pretty good job with disguising this. It was
a one possession game. Even at seventeen to three, you
don't have to abandon the run. But it was a
one possession game. Your backs weren't getting stuffed on, you
were having some success on the run game. He just
said it there a second and go why completely abandoned
(23:05):
the run? How does that happen?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
I just think this is a situation where it's happened
a couple of times. But I feel like there's gonna
be a situation when the Rubber meets the road where
if Dave Canalis wants to take that next step as
a head coach, I think he's gonna have to give
up play calling duties. I think the Rubber is gonna
have to meet the road this offseason because there's been
so many times in the losses, specifically where he gets
(23:31):
either a little too cute or just overthinks it and
is trying to do too many things at once, and
you know, it kind of falls down all at once,
and I think yesterday was a prime example of it.
I go back to the Arizona game, and look, we
haven't mentioned it yet, but the tempo man the tempo,
not the last offensive drive, but the drive before that
when the interception happened, which, by the way, misholding call.
(23:53):
And if it wasn't for that holding, Kyle, if you
look at the play, team att could have gone for six.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
And I just think it's one of those situations where
he kind of overthinks himself and puts himself into a pretzel.
And I think part of that has to do with
the fact that he's trying to be an head coach
while also being an offensive play caller, and yesterday was
a prime example of that getting into way. Not everyone
could be a Kyle Shanahan where you can call plays
and be head coats at the same time. And even
(24:19):
then people will argue, well, yeah, it bites Kyle Shanahan
at the worst possible time in crunch time in playoff games. Okay,
I just think at this point this offseason, you can't
do both. Let's see how you are as a full
own head coach and give Brad Idzick the reins.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 3 (24:35):
Let's take a phone call Rob and DC up in
our nation's capital, was at the game last night in
the Bay and he promised to call us back.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Rob.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
What's going on, Buddy? I appreciate you keeping your word.
What's on your mind?
Speaker 7 (24:47):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Do we lose? Rob? Oh?
Speaker 8 (24:51):
No?
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I think we lost Rob. Rob.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Give us a call back seven oh four, five, seven
ninety six to ten, hit us up. I got a
text here from a seven oh three number saying I
think a lot of the blame is being placed at
the wrong place on Bryce in canalis go line interception
is on Tremble. Hate the play call and the decision
not to run it in, but it would have worked
had Tremble done his job. Look at the moment when
Bryce throws the ball, he's wide open. I believe Tremble
(25:13):
forgets the play and goes for the pass, leading his
man right to the ball. Hubbard third down screen in
the red zone is a great call if JT. Sanders
doesn't miss a block.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
J T.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
Sanders was not supposed to block that play. That was
not his assignment. That was a hot pass to Chewba Hubbard.
I understand that was my first instinct too, But if
you watch it, j T. Sanders is running a route.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
J T.
Speaker 3 (25:34):
Sanders per the call on the field, in my opinion,
believes clearly he's supposed to be in a route that's
a hot pass.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
To Chewba Hubbard. So I'm gonna disagree with you right there.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I saw the same thing, and maybe that's an overall
offensive communication that belongs to everybody, But in watching it
again and talking to folks over there, I don't think
that was a JT.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Sanders thing.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
I don't think that that was the right not even
sure that was the right place for Bryce to go
with the.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Football at that moment.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
But that's not what happened there in my opinion, based
on the folks that I've talked to. Anyway, DK goes
on to say Xcel is killing them, he can't be trusted.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Time to move on down the stretch. Smoke is correct.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
So two out of the three I think you're on,
I do Xcel has ability. He cannot be trusted to
be where he's supposed to be and do the right things.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
He just can't.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You can't lose track that often of where you're supposed
to be on the football field, and Xcel does it
far too often by NFL standards. Also, we got some
breaking news. Adam Schefter just tweeting ninety seconds ago the
NFL is suspending Panther safety Trayvon Merrick one game for
striking forty nine ers wide receivers Juwan Jennings in the
(26:38):
Groin area on Monday night. As Adam Schefter writs, Trayvon
Merrick has been suspended for the Rams game on Sunday.
And let's be clear, he earned that one. There's no
doubt about it. Pow right and a kisser. I mean, no,
you can't that the kiss that's your mouth. No, no, no, no, no.
I mean I'll just say I told Wes Wes he
walked in here. I'm not bashful. I got a three
year old son who had just got turned on to
(27:00):
the three Ninjas. Like the boy learned, he's learning how
to fight. And you know, he's knee and needs kneehigh
to a duck's butt, So he likes to run up
on me, swinging and punch it all the time. And
do you know how many times in the last three
or four weeks in the kitchen of the living room,
I've had to look at my own son and say, hey, buddy, listen,
we don't punch other boys in the waianer. I've said
that to him dozens of times. In the last several
(27:21):
weeks because he's learning Trayvon Merrick's grown, you don't you
don't punch other dudes there like, he just can't do that. Man,
I don't know. I'm teaching my three year old right now. Hey, buddy,
we don't punch other boys in the waianer, all right.
Trayvon Merrik did that last night on the football field.
So of course he's getting suspended. What other conclusion did
we think this would end in than Trayvon Merrik being suspended?
Speaker 4 (27:44):
And they got it pretty clear too. It was one
of the It wasn't one of those where you could
hide it. No, it was out in the open. So yeah,
and that that sucks because I know Trayvon didn't mean
it that way in terms of he didn't mean he
didn't think he was going to get caught. I think, oh,
I was gonna say you. I think he absolutely meant
to do what you want to punch a guy in
that area, you know what you're doing. But what I
(28:04):
mean by that is, now it hurts the team because I.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Don't think you're gonna have JC. You're not gonna have Trayvon.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
Yeah, I don't even know if you're gonna have Corey
Forton and now you're going against the Rams.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Uh, Kyle.
Speaker 7 (28:17):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
In the last eight.
Speaker 3 (28:18):
Games, by the way, Matt Stafford has thrown twenty five
touchdowns to zero interceptions.
Speaker 9 (28:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
He hasn't thrown an interception since September twenty first, I
believe is the date. Yeah, Kyle, who's your wide receivers Pokinakul?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Uh huh, Davante Adams Yeah, uh huh yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:34):
Uh huh. So you're gonna have Shaw Smith Waite as
your second corner? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Uh, maybe Corey Forton can play.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
But if Corey Fortan camp playin and you have Shaw
Smith Waite as your second corner, who's your nickel?
Speaker 10 (28:48):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (28:50):
You?
Speaker 7 (28:53):
You?
Speaker 2 (28:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
I think you can find a better option than me.
But it kind of feels like that, doesn't it. It does,
And we're not even getting into the game of Karen Williams.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
It does. It does.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Let me take a phone call Aggie Pride is up next,
Aggie Pride.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
What's going on, buddy?
Speaker 6 (29:06):
Hey, how's it going? Yeah? Man, that de Americ news
is you can't have that, and I think you deserved that.
A couple of things regarding fundamentals with that that sound
that clip you play with canallas uh sort of a very.
Speaker 8 (29:21):
Very unnoticeable, but it was notice little bit to me.
On that second kiss Christian mccafrey fumble. Our guys are
just slelling at the ball and trying to dive on it.
Speaker 7 (29:32):
But if you.
Speaker 8 (29:33):
Notice you run it back, if you notice how fundamentally
sound that offensive lineman was. When you're taught, when when
I was playing football, you're taught to go under control
to the football and incredibly look like a baby to
make sure that you get possession. Our guys are just
falling and diving on it. But if you look and
you see how that offensive lineman fell on it, it's
(29:54):
those little things that win win the ball game. But
the point I really wanted to make was I think
the game.
Speaker 6 (30:00):
Was lost on that first red zone intersection interception.
Speaker 8 (30:04):
I think from there the win was out ourselves. I
know we had two other picks after that, but it did.
Speaker 6 (30:10):
The game just turned down.
Speaker 8 (30:11):
I know it was early and man and man, and
I feel like that for me, I think that's where
the game turned so fundamentals, small things like falling on
the fumble and then just that first and read zone
interception just really took took the sale out on wins
and I'll take it off for Yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
No, I appreciate you, buddy. I think the textra a
minute ago. I went back and watched the game, or
the first half rather right before the show. Got to
get back to the second half again, probably later tonight,
but I like this point about Tommy Trimble. And I'm also,
by the way, getting text from people who are saying
the phone lines are busy. I think we're having an
issue with our phone lines today. I think only two
of those are working at the moment. I'm going to
try to reset them and figure out what's going on.
(30:47):
We have a couple of lines working, but I'm getting
people saying the lines are busy, even though I'm not
saying full phone lines. So just know that we'll cycle
through them. We I'll get our engineer working on that.
Topper is up next Topper. What's going on?
Speaker 9 (31:00):
Good?
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Well? Not the Panthers last night?
Speaker 10 (31:03):
Yeah? So, uh, First of all, UH day canals does
not know how to call plays now has it knows
how to call good plays? And does not know how
to run the ball When we have a top tier
running back and an okay running back and we don't
(31:23):
and we just don't run the ball. We just avoid
the run and start doing it to Bryce Young. And
I don't trust Bryce Young throwing the ball down the
field and throwing picks.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Okay, all right, so you were a coach that can't
call plays and a quarterback that you don't trust.
Speaker 10 (31:39):
Yeah, I I I'm not sure why we're not running
the ball.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
Well last night. It's a fair question, top er. I
appreciate you, buddy, great great phone call.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
I hope you doing well. Seven oh four five seven
ninety six. Uh.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Bagel guy says, when does this show not have problems
with the phone lines? Oh, that's not fair most days.
And listen, it's not even our fault when we do
it's at and T. It's not our fault. We don't
control the phone lines. We just pay for the service.
Robin DC is up next, Rob real quick?
Speaker 2 (32:07):
What you got Hey?
Speaker 9 (32:09):
How you doing? We're sitting at the airport. Sorry for
the noise. All good, it was it was It wasn't
hard to watch, but it was hard to understand. I mean,
I can't understand those picks at all. We saw those picks,
We saw the touchdown right in front of us, is great,
great pass, so he'll make one dime the TM MAC
(32:29):
and then he just throws those terrible interceptions. And the
play calling I just didn't get. I mean to go
in for two when we're on two.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
The other just hated it.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
I hated the chasing the points, I really did. I
do think, though, if you go if you go back,
if you want to bang on Bryce for not running
the ball in in the goal line situation, I'm completely
fine with that. I do think if you go back
and rewatch it. Tommy Trimble owns some of that guys
were not exactly where they supposed they were supposed to be.
It goes back to the trust factor. This is not
to excuse Bryce because he could have done more last night,
(32:59):
but I I've talked to some folks over there in
the last ten hours or so, and uh, it's a
little bit more layered, in nuanced than just Bryce threw
a pick, probably should have run it in. But I mean,
and and Rob, how was the atmosphere last night?
Speaker 2 (33:11):
Real quick? But before you got I mean it was.
Speaker 9 (33:13):
Just a red with a couple of couple of blue
dots all over it. You know, the park was nice.
It's fine that people were great, but it just was
hard to watch. Yeah, every time you threw a pick,
they were saying, sweet Caroline, and you know watching us, uh,
you know, have have three interceptions which we were roaring
and come away with what three points?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (33:33):
You know, how could you understand that?
Speaker 2 (33:36):
I hear you, man, I hear you.
Speaker 9 (33:37):
Well, the bubble, the bubble with you know, I don't
know how far and people are flopping all over it.
We couldn't get it.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
It was excruciating. Oh god, it was awful to watch. Hey,
save save track and hit a break. Save travels. Enjoyed that.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I was gonna say, enjoy the airport. That would have
been stupid. Enjoy your flight back week. Yeah, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to rush you off. I got to
hit a break. Let's go to smoke on the headlines.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Who is smoked? Where is smoke? Where there's smoke, there's fire.
Let's go what you got? All right?
Speaker 4 (34:05):
This report is a Bet three six five sports report.
When it comes to sports books, Bet three sixty five
has it all. Download the app today and see why
it's never ordinary at Bet three six five. Gambling Problem
call one eight seven to seven seven one eight five
five four to three, or visit more than agame in
dot NC dot gov. All right, I just want to
reiterate what you said earlier. Trey Von Merrick has officially
been suspended four Sunday's game against the Rams by the
(34:27):
NFL for the nutpunch Herd around the world. He is
the Nutcracker. And now also in some NFC South news,
the New Orleans Saints the next road game for the
Carolina Panthers after the bye, they have signed a new kicker,
Kay York has been signed to the practice squad. This
was a lot of controversy surrounding this kicking battle because
(34:50):
the Saints yesterday also brought in Justin Tucker. I think
the Saints got cold feet at the idea of signing
Justin Tucker and decided to go for the other kicker.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Yeah, yeah, that sounds about right right. We'll come back.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Nick Carboni, NBC Charlotte Next Sports Radio ninety two to seven,
WFNZ Sports Radio ninety two to seven, wufn Z. I've
(35:25):
got loaded phone lines. I'll get to you as soon
as I can. Kareem not abdul Jabbar, seven oh four, Tyler,
Greg Alex, everybody, hang tight. I'm gonna take a lot
of phone calls today as we get near Thanksgiving Street
turkeys tomorrow. More on that in just a bit, but
you can tell out there in the traffic area, both
in the city and up my way in the Lake
Norman area. My goodness, everybody is lighting out to travel
(35:46):
for Thanksgiving today, so be safe out there on the roads.
Right now, we go to the hotline and we check
in with Nick Carboni, NBC Charlotte Sports Director, Sports anchor,
back with us for a Tuesday conversation. Nick, how about
them Carolina Panthers last night?
Speaker 7 (36:00):
Well, well they answered one question. We were wondering if
they were ready for prime time and offensively, the answer
was a resounding no. You know, another disappointment after some success,
and it just seems like, you know, keep in mind,
there's still five hundred, there's still six and six, but
it seems like all six of the losses come with
(36:20):
an existential crisis, especially when it comes to the quarterback.
Speaker 3 (36:24):
Well, they bucked one trend last night. They won the
coin toss and lost the game, So I guess we've
lost that. But in all seriousness, the defense JC Horn,
Mike Jack, I mean, they were forcing turnovers last night.
They tried to give the Panthers offense every opportunity, but
the offense just would not take control of it. What
was your biggest problem with what happened offensively last night?
Speaker 7 (36:44):
That there was a forty nine ers defense that you
know and this is this is not the norm there
in San Francisco, But this defense, this secondary and this
pass rush for them was ripe to be had. And
the Panthers were coming off a record breaking performance carrying
would think all the confidence in the world on at
the biggest stage in football, and we're not able to
(37:05):
attack a vulnerable defense. Listen, They're well coached, there's no
doubt about it. They do have some pieces, including the
kids from Charlotte, Malik Mustafa and the kid that obviously
made two interceptions. But this is an offense that should
have been able to dictate what it wanted to do
a little more. And nine design runs to your two
(37:27):
very good running backs with good running averages on the
night is just not going to cut it. I know
they were behind, but even Troy Aikman was begging Dave
Canalis late in the game. You're behind two scores, you
still should stick to the run. I thought there are
plenty of opportunities throughout the game and situationally where that
should have happened. So I think the most disappointing thing
(37:47):
is to not see that offensive attack mode, aggressiveness carry
over into a week it certainly should have. I don't
think they can have that game plan against everybody, but
I thought yesterday they should.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
So I mean what, I guess what changed in your
mind from last week? Last week against Atlanta, against the
number one ranked pass defense in the league, Dave clearly
trusted Bryce to throw the football down the field. I
can't imagine that trust just evaporated. Why do you think
there was only one real shot down the field last night?
Speaker 7 (38:17):
Well, I don't know if it's if it's a lack
of trust or confidence going into the game, but I
think when Bryce has that early turnover, it does change
the dynamic. It changes the mindset, and it changes the
confidence level in coach, quarterback and everything in between. So
when he drives down the field and he throws that
(38:38):
backbreaking interception in a situation you absolutely can't do it
in you know, it's just reverts back to that's what
we saw the first two weeks. That's what we see
in the losses, these early turnovers and things kind of
crumble from there. So I don't know, you know, the
the lack of ability to kind of rebound from that,
although they believe it or not, they've actually done better
(39:00):
and and Bryce has done better at rebounding from it
than in years past. It's still not good enough to
go out there and win you a game. I mean,
you can't shrink from that, especially when you're not going
to run the ball either. And listen, there were drafts
last night. There were clearly receivers in the wrong spots.
I don't think Bryce Young is that inaccurate. In fact,
I know he's not. So to have an incompletion that
(39:21):
was called an intentional grounding, yeah, sure, I've seen that before.
It was everybody, but you know you have to point
to coaching quarterback first.
Speaker 3 (39:28):
Well, it clearly was a miscommunication and the ball was
tipped upon review, So I mean it was a very
very weird circumstance. I do want to pass along some
more breaking news. A lot of this is the Breaking
News show, after all. Trayvon Merrik has been suspended, of course,
for a game for the crotch punch to Juwan Jennings,
but also three minutes ago, Adam Schefter reporting the Panthers
(39:48):
have signed Isaiah Simmons. Veteran linebacker, former Clemson standout Isaiah
Simmons has finally made his way home to of course,
he was part of that Derek Brown draft all those
years ago, but they've signed him, and I'd love your
thoughts on that. But also the fact that they lost
JC and Claude and cherylistic concussions last night, Corey Thornton's hurt.
I mean, it kind of feels like they might have
(40:10):
lost the Rams game last night too with all these injuries.
Speaker 7 (40:12):
Yeah, yeah, I mean absolutely brutal. And did see the
Isaiah Simons news right before I came on KB. Big name,
obviously local ties. Not sure how much it's going to
help you against the top team in the NFC on Sunday.
He's practice squad for now. Obviously we've seen guys kind
of shuttle between the two. But yeah, kind of takes
(40:32):
you back to that twenty twenty COVID draft. He was
all the rage. You know, what are the what do
you do with him? Linebacker? Safety? How do you utilize them?
How do you deploy him? Cardinals couldn't figure it out.
Other teams couldn't figure it out, and now he's just
kind of floating along here and getting to a practice squad.
Good for him for you know, continuing the battle and
his career and find a new spot. Yeah, we'll see
(40:56):
Listen looking at especially the second half last night. You
may see Isaiah Simmons out there on Sunday, because that's
kind of the the the way it's going for this
defense is just next man up and then the next
guy and then the next guy. And I credit them
for most of their performance last night.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
To be honest, I don't we.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
Got Nick Carbone hanging out with us NBC Charlotte. I
hate the way last night went for the offense.
Speaker 2 (41:18):
I really do.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
I despise it, but I'm not despondent today, and I
know that you know, we all have different perspectives on this.
I don't expect to beat reporters to look at this
the same way that you know a radio show talking
head does who openly roots for the team. But like I,
I'm frustrated by the way they played last night. I
think they left a lot of opportunities out there. But
I still think this division comes down to the final
three weeks of the season with two against Tampa.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
Dick, what do you.
Speaker 7 (41:39):
Think, Yeah, I mean, once you kind of dig yourself
out of that hole you probably put yourself in last
night with that los and you look at the newspaper.
I don't nobody you know, love I love me me too.
You look at the standings and you're six and six
and you're a half game out first place still and
Baker may feel and you get to play the Bucks twice,
(42:02):
so you know, it's still right there in front of
this team. They don't control their own destiny certainly, but
they have they have a great shot still. But you know,
last night was a reminder to them that they they're
clearly just not ready, especially quarterback and offensively and maybe
play calling and head coach wise for that big stage,
(42:23):
for that you know, big challenge. You know, they they
may have a better game against a better team on
Sunday because it's in the comforts of Bank of America
Stadium and it's at one o'clock. You know, I would
not be surprised if that happened somehow. But yeah, last
night was just a glaring, you know admission basically in
the performance that we're not ready for this yet. And
(42:45):
and when it comes to quarterback, I wonder when they
will be at this point.
Speaker 3 (42:50):
That's a fair question to make. I mean, what what
what about this roster stink? Because if we are very
rapidly moving toward the end of the season, a lot
of football left. We don't have to talk about draft
or free agency yet. But you know, I do think
it's interesting now understanding that we all know this team
is not going to win a super Bowl, not going
to play for a super Bowl. But like next year,
I think is where we look at Dave Canalis and thing, buddy,
you better make the playoffs next season. I think we
(43:11):
also believe Dan Morgan's done a good job rebuilding this roster.
So like, how close do you think they are overall
with a couple of holes plugged here or there, to
being a playoff team next year?
Speaker 2 (43:20):
And what do they need?
Speaker 7 (43:22):
I mean, shoot, they're still close now, like we just
talked about. So yeah, I mean, listen, they need more
top line talent at key positions, pass rush stands out,
they need you know, listen, they've got a number one receiver,
you know, te Max still going through some growing pains,
but overall. I mean, what a hit on that draft pick.
But you need help outside of him. You know, xavierly
(43:45):
Get still showing fundamental issues last night. Jalen Coker is
a nice piece. I'm not sure he's going to live
up to the expectations those with a certain nickname for
him have, So I think you need those those other pieces.
Tight End, I just you know, it seems like a
position that disappears in this offense to more often than not.
And you look across the field against most teams and
(44:07):
they have that big move past catching tight end who
can really help you break things open. So, uh, those
positions to me and linebacker, obviously, they still need to
fill those spots.
Speaker 9 (44:21):
You know.
Speaker 7 (44:21):
Is not all going to happen overnight, not gonna happen
in one off season. But as you mentioned, Dan Morgan
has been building this inside out, and the offensive line
is banged up as it gets. Listen, We've seen with
our own eyes some horrid offensive lines around here, KP.
This is not one of them. Bryce Young was not
under just in an insane amount of pressure last night
or anything like that, you know. So they've done a
(44:44):
great job of building from the out, the inside out,
but you've got to fill those key positions with with
top found. You got to hit on those those acquisitions however.
Speaker 9 (44:52):
You get them.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Love it, Nick.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
We appreciate you as always, brother, Thank you for the time.
Have a great week, Happy Thanksgiving. We'll talk to you
next Tuesday.
Speaker 7 (44:59):
You too, sir. Thank you in you as well.
Speaker 3 (45:01):
There you go our three hour two. I can't count
our two. Next, we'll take your phone calls when we
return seven oh four. Tyler is up first, Kareem, Alex,
everybody hang tight. We're taking phone calls next. Sports Radio
ninety two seven wfn Z
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