October 13, 2025 • 13 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Over fifteen thousand total yards away sixteen NFL seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
If you say that's nice, not mean last.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Five Pro Bowls and countless memories.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
When a dog gets an X ray, they've got that.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Steve Smith inside their rib gage.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Steve Smith is on WFNZ I.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Sub Son.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
He's back, Agent eighty nine. Steve Smith, Senior NFL Network analyst,
Carolina Panthers legend back for his Monday conversation. Panthers have
won two straight, beating the Cowboys at the Horn yesterday
thirty to twenty seven. And how about Rico Dawdle the
last two weeks four hundred and seventy three yards from scrimmage,
And not that it matters, but just to put it
(00:44):
into perspective, Rico Daddle has more yards from scrimmage his
last two games than Saquon Barkley has all season so far. Again,
that's not a shot at Saquon, That's just how great
Rico Daddle has been the last two weeks. And Steve Smith,
who is back with us, told us last week about
Rico and what he thought he could be in this offense,
and he did it once again after the big Miami performance.
And Steve uh I no one hates hearing this. Turns
(01:06):
out you were right last week.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
How you doing, buddy, I'm doing good, doing good.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, it was. It was pretty amazing to watch the
game and you know and see the excitement. Uh you
can see the movement of the offense. I believe kind
of set the tone for the defense. Uh. Knowing the defense,
can I think maybe take some risks, add some extra
people uh into the blitz package and it benefited. And
(01:37):
then you have some guys individually I thought on the
defensive line at times really showed up, really gave some
uh some penetration, got back off the spot, and created
set indecisive throws, some some some throwaways. So it was
really good to see, Uh the team be competitive.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
They were that.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
And last week again to your credit, I asked you
about Jimmy Horn Junior and Cocher coming back and Excel
getting back in the mix and all those mouths to feed,
and you said, wait a minute. You know that's a lot,
but this team needs to run the ball first and foremost,
and Rico certainly did that again yesterday. Cuba was respected
inside the building. Cuba's certainly earned a second contract, but
it does feel like there's a little bit of a
(02:21):
difference when Rico's out there.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Why is that? What do you.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Notice Rico hits the hole in Trouba's tiptoe, right, He's
dancing around sometimes when you lack the speed. And I'm
talking about speed and game speed, I'm not talking about
everybody's in the underwear. Everybody's run fast. Okay, my fight
asking round pretty fast right now in underwear. But when
(02:47):
you got on, when you got somebody draped over you,
once you got somebody hanging on you, can you hit
the hole with the same enthusiasm as if you hit
the hole when it's a toss. Rico is running between
the tackles and the guards like a man on a mission.
And I just see that the offense, it's easier to
(03:11):
stay with the run when Ricos at the helm.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
How would you carry? He was the story yesterday, right,
He was the centerpiece of the offense. But you know,
Bryce yesterday one nine three touchdowns did have the one
pick on the on the drop tipball whatever. But the
best way I can think of to describe Bryce yesterday
was efficient.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Is that how you would describe him?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah? I think efficient is a great word. Now, some
people may take it as a slap in the faith, right,
and I'm not trying to do that. But my question is,
do you want somebody who's efficient or inefficient? Of course, okay,
then then I mean you gotta you gotta pick. If
he if he's gonna work, play, you gotta pick. You
(03:52):
gotta pick. U pick your way through it or sitting
there trying to give a name to something that we
all know. We just want Bryce to be efficient right
now because he's been inefficient thus far. Right, when you
give a team a seventeen point lead, ten point lead,
(04:12):
you throw some passes to a wide open receiver in
the dirt, like some of that stuff you don't want
to see. And he's improving each week. He's becoming efficient.
And here's a guy that I think who's efficient. Daniel
Jones is efficient. Sam Darnold is efficient. Right, you don't
(04:33):
need right, Tua, he's inefficient right now because when you
add so much onto the quarterback's play and now the
quarterback has to play hero and villain and carry everything. Man,
that's too much responsibility for a quarterback, and we've seen
it with other guys. That's what gets Josh Allen the
(04:57):
MVP but it also gets him in trouble.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Oh yeah, No, I love that point because in my mind,
as you're talking about that, I'm thinking, yet, not everybody
is Josh Allen physically.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Most guys are as a matter.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Of fact, But Josh Allen at times it's been frustrating
because he does so much for the team. But yeah,
if you look up, there's a wide open wide receiver
back in the end zone watching you leap over guys, right,
And that's just being given a critical eye and using
(05:28):
that as an example. Now, obviously, if Bryce turns out
to be like Josh Allen, he's MVP, doesn't matter. But
we're talking about let's let's let's crawl before we should
we start handing out trophies.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Fair enough, Steve Smith hanging out with us here for
a Monday conversation. No, it wasn't perfect yesterday. It usually isn't,
you know, in a football game. But I felt like
the coaching staff really took a step forward yesterday. I
thought Dave Canalis end of half management was much better.
And I talked to Bryce about this too after the game, Steve.
On the offensive side, in particular, they've lost reoffensive lineman
(06:01):
already without Taylor Moten yesterday and they went out as
a group and played really well yesterday. What does all
that say about this coaching staff and their own progression.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Well, the coach of staff gets a lot of credit,
but also too, that's how my check. Now one of
them coaches blocked anybody yesterday. So yes, the coaching staff
gets credit by and a general manager, right Dan Morgan
gets credit for having the depth and developing some of
the players that they have developed or drafted or picked
(06:34):
up in free agency off the waiver wire, because we
know in years past you haven't always we haven't always
experienced picking a good player off the waiver wire. You
find out why a guy is on a waiver wire
unfortunately why he's playing right. Great example, Jacksonville trades with
(06:55):
with the Cleveland Browns and Jay is his runs by
newso Mike is his uh, it's his rookie season like
this wasn't a pro bowler and an outstanding cornerback. So again,
sometimes you gotta be careful and not put too much
(07:17):
on a on a player's play that can sometimes expose them.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Let's talk about the defense. This run defense statistically has
been really good to start the year. Stats don't always
tell the entire story, but they've been really good statistically.
Another good day yesterday, And last year we know Derek
Brown went down Week one, Bobby Brown and Turk Wharton
weren't here. Wharton didn't play yesterday, of course, and now
you've got them all back together, dB, Bobby Brown, Ashwan
(07:42):
Robinson and those guys, I mean just making plays yesterday.
You've talked about this a lot. You know, there's only
so much coaches can do. You just made that point
a second ago, that defensive personnel they have upfront? How
good were those guys yesterday from your eye you're watching
the film, and how good can they be upfront the
rest of the year?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Who are the year? They're playing a lot of different
types of players, right, a lot of different types of offenses.
And I think they obviously with Derek Brown in there,
they have a chance. But how good can they be
is if really, if they can get consistency off the
edge like they had yesterday. I think against Miami they
(08:24):
were okay, but against against the Cowboys and they were
top tier from first quarter to fourth quarter, right, they
did not take a break. It wasn't time where Dak
had all day, so I think when that happens, Hannah's
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It is.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
And there's something else. Speaking of the defense that I
brought up to you last week, and we only had
seen it once at that point, and that was the
switch Trevin Wallace and Christian Rose Boom Wallace calling the
defense getting the green dot. Well, here we are again
this week, and those two were tied for the team
lead in time yesterday six apiece. You were emphasizing quite
a bit, guys. Trevin Wallace is still learning how to
(09:06):
play this game, and it seems like something has clicked
with him.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Steve, what does that look like to you?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Well, his click is he's getting coached up. He's seeing
and recognizing right, you whenever you move programs, right, if
you're doing computer, whatever you're doing, whenever you leave or
change programs, there's a learning curve but beyond but if
(09:34):
you go deeper into the learning curve, there are some
clear indications about yourself that you were not reading this
right or you missed the step. And I don't know
how he was coached, I believe at Kentucky, but I'm
(09:55):
pretty sure just like most of the other college kids,
they're not doing a lot of coaching in college this year.
I mean in the last couple of years, it's about nil.
Can a kid get drafted and you're the next man up.
It's not about teaching fundamentals, at least from what I've seen,
(10:15):
because there's a lot of players that when I go
to these pro days, man, there are some kids who
don't even know how to work a remote control in
All twenty two or Catapult because everything is done for
him is put on their iPad. They've never had to
go in a wide receiver's room and click stop or
(10:36):
look up anything because it's all provided. Those are the
things that you know, I don't think people are aware of.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, no, you're right, hey, Jets on Sunday, let's just
look ahead real quick. We'll get you out of here.
Jets Sunday h to six. They fought Denver yesterday over
in Europe. But I mean it was a heck of
a game early on. We had it on during the
pregame show, but the offense just wasn't there. Feels like
it's a different feeling, Steve, because now Carolina's one a
trap game a little bit, a little bit like, how
(11:05):
do you feel about this situation?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Well, I hope justin Field shows up like he has been,
which is not very good, studying long and studying wrong. Right.
You know, you know what the Jets, the defense is
always gonna is always gonna show up. Here's what I'm
interested in to see. I'm interested to see who goes
(11:29):
as sauce and the reason I said sauce has been
given up some yards. Bro, you know they called him sauce.
But he playing like a mob right now. So I'll
be really interested to see how they attack him. Do
they attacking with speed with Jimmy you know it's Javin
(11:51):
cocher bag or is uh is t Mac. I'm just
I'm just interested to really see how things.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Go me too.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Well, Hey, congrats to the five and one Utah Utes
breaking into the top twenty five this week in absolute
ass beating of Arizona State on Saturday forty two to ten.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That was something else I know.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
But we got the Holy Ward coming up and that
makes me panic.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well listen, I can't tell you half of half.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Of the dang coaching staff at BYU used to be
at Utah and former player yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I was reading all about it this morning. I didn't
know I was reading all about it this morning.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Oh I know who.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Jackson Dark's dad is a Utah lom and he went
the oh miss wow. And then Wilson's dad who let
him go to byu At he was at Utah as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
That's crazy.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Well, one of these, like I've been telling you for years,
one of these days, I'm going to tag along with
you to that game because that's one of my bucket
list games in college football.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So enjoying the Muscius is great. I'm actually going to
the Colorado Colorado game in a couple of week back
in Utah, so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
All Right, buddy, we appreciate you, man. We'll talk to
you next week.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Appreciate it.
Over fifteen thousand total yards away sixteen NFL seasons.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
If you say that's nice, not mean last.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Five Pro Bowls and countless memories.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
When a dog gets an X ray, they've got that.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Steve Smith inside their rib gage.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Steve Smith is on WFNZ I.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Sub Son.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
He's back, Agent eighty nine. Steve Smith, Senior NFL Network analyst,
Carolina Panthers legend back for his Monday conversation. Panthers have
won two straight, beating the Cowboys at the Horn yesterday
thirty to twenty seven. And how about Rico Dawdle the
last two weeks four hundred and seventy three yards from scrimmage,
And not that it matters, but just to put it
(00:44):
into perspective, Rico Daddle has more yards from scrimmage his
last two games than Saquon Barkley has all season so far. Again,
that's not a shot at Saquon, That's just how great
Rico Daddle has been the last two weeks. And Steve Smith,
who is back with us, told us last week about
Rico and what he thought he could be in this offense,
and he did it once again after the big Miami performance.
And Steve uh I no one hates hearing this. Turns
(01:06):
out you were right last week.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
How you doing, buddy, I'm doing good, doing good.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, it was. It was pretty amazing to watch the
game and you know and see the excitement. Uh you
can see the movement of the offense. I believe kind
of set the tone for the defense. Uh. Knowing the defense,
can I think maybe take some risks, add some extra
people uh into the blitz package and it benefited. And
(01:37):
then you have some guys individually I thought on the
defensive line at times really showed up, really gave some
uh some penetration, got back off the spot, and created
set indecisive throws, some some some throwaways. So it was
really good to see, Uh the team be competitive.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
They were that.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
And last week again to your credit, I asked you
about Jimmy Horn Junior and Cocher coming back and Excel
getting back in the mix and all those mouths to feed,
and you said, wait a minute. You know that's a lot,
but this team needs to run the ball first and foremost,
and Rico certainly did that again yesterday. Cuba was respected
inside the building. Cuba's certainly earned a second contract, but
it does feel like there's a little bit of a
(02:21):
difference when Rico's out there.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Why is that? What do you.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Notice Rico hits the hole in Trouba's tiptoe, right, He's
dancing around sometimes when you lack the speed. And I'm
talking about speed and game speed, I'm not talking about
everybody's in the underwear. Everybody's run fast. Okay, my fight
asking round pretty fast right now in underwear. But when
(02:47):
you got on, when you got somebody draped over you,
once you got somebody hanging on you, can you hit
the hole with the same enthusiasm as if you hit
the hole when it's a toss. Rico is running between
the tackles and the guards like a man on a mission.
And I just see that the offense, it's easier to
(03:11):
stay with the run when Ricos at the helm.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
How would you carry? He was the story yesterday, right,
He was the centerpiece of the offense. But you know,
Bryce yesterday one nine three touchdowns did have the one
pick on the on the drop tipball whatever. But the
best way I can think of to describe Bryce yesterday
was efficient.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Is that how you would describe him?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Yeah? I think efficient is a great word. Now, some
people may take it as a slap in the faith, right,
and I'm not trying to do that. But my question is,
do you want somebody who's efficient or inefficient? Of course, okay,
then then I mean you gotta you gotta pick. If
he if he's gonna work, play, you gotta pick. You
(03:52):
gotta pick. U pick your way through it or sitting
there trying to give a name to something that we
all know. We just want Bryce to be efficient right
now because he's been inefficient thus far. Right, when you
give a team a seventeen point lead, ten point lead,
(04:12):
you throw some passes to a wide open receiver in
the dirt, like some of that stuff you don't want
to see. And he's improving each week. He's becoming efficient.
And here's a guy that I think who's efficient. Daniel
Jones is efficient. Sam Darnold is efficient. Right, you don't
(04:33):
need right, Tua, he's inefficient right now because when you
add so much onto the quarterback's play and now the
quarterback has to play hero and villain and carry everything. Man,
that's too much responsibility for a quarterback, and we've seen
it with other guys. That's what gets Josh Allen the
(04:57):
MVP but it also gets him in trouble.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Oh yeah, No, I love that point because in my mind,
as you're talking about that, I'm thinking, yet, not everybody
is Josh Allen physically.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Most guys are as a matter.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
Of fact, But Josh Allen at times it's been frustrating
because he does so much for the team. But yeah,
if you look up, there's a wide open wide receiver
back in the end zone watching you leap over guys, right,
And that's just being given a critical eye and using
(05:28):
that as an example. Now, obviously, if Bryce turns out
to be like Josh Allen, he's MVP, doesn't matter. But
we're talking about let's let's let's crawl before we should
we start handing out trophies.
Speaker 4 (05:39):
Fair enough, Steve Smith hanging out with us here for
a Monday conversation. No, it wasn't perfect yesterday. It usually isn't,
you know, in a football game. But I felt like
the coaching staff really took a step forward yesterday. I
thought Dave Canalis end of half management was much better.
And I talked to Bryce about this too after the game, Steve.
On the offensive side, in particular, they've lost reoffensive lineman
(06:01):
already without Taylor Moten yesterday and they went out as
a group and played really well yesterday. What does all
that say about this coaching staff and their own progression.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Well, the coach of staff gets a lot of credit,
but also too, that's how my check. Now one of
them coaches blocked anybody yesterday. So yes, the coaching staff
gets credit by and a general manager, right Dan Morgan
gets credit for having the depth and developing some of
the players that they have developed or drafted or picked
(06:34):
up in free agency off the waiver wire, because we
know in years past you haven't always we haven't always
experienced picking a good player off the waiver wire. You
find out why a guy is on a waiver wire
unfortunately why he's playing right. Great example, Jacksonville trades with
(06:55):
with the Cleveland Browns and Jay is his runs by
newso Mike is his uh, it's his rookie season like
this wasn't a pro bowler and an outstanding cornerback. So again,
sometimes you gotta be careful and not put too much
(07:17):
on a on a player's play that can sometimes expose them.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Let's talk about the defense. This run defense statistically has
been really good to start the year. Stats don't always
tell the entire story, but they've been really good statistically.
Another good day yesterday, And last year we know Derek
Brown went down Week one, Bobby Brown and Turk Wharton
weren't here. Wharton didn't play yesterday, of course, and now
you've got them all back together, dB, Bobby Brown, Ashwan
(07:42):
Robinson and those guys, I mean just making plays yesterday.
You've talked about this a lot. You know, there's only
so much coaches can do. You just made that point
a second ago, that defensive personnel they have upfront? How
good were those guys yesterday from your eye you're watching
the film, and how good can they be upfront the
rest of the year?
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Who are the year? They're playing a lot of different
types of players, right, a lot of different types of offenses.
And I think they obviously with Derek Brown in there,
they have a chance. But how good can they be
is if really, if they can get consistency off the
edge like they had yesterday. I think against Miami they
(08:24):
were okay, but against against the Cowboys and they were
top tier from first quarter to fourth quarter, right, they
did not take a break. It wasn't time where Dak
had all day, so I think when that happens, Hannah's
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
It is.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
And there's something else. Speaking of the defense that I
brought up to you last week, and we only had
seen it once at that point, and that was the
switch Trevin Wallace and Christian Rose Boom Wallace calling the
defense getting the green dot. Well, here we are again
this week, and those two were tied for the team
lead in time yesterday six apiece. You were emphasizing quite
a bit, guys. Trevin Wallace is still learning how to
(09:06):
play this game, and it seems like something has clicked
with him.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Steve, what does that look like to you?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Well, his click is he's getting coached up. He's seeing
and recognizing right, you whenever you move programs, right, if
you're doing computer, whatever you're doing, whenever you leave or
change programs, there's a learning curve but beyond but if
(09:34):
you go deeper into the learning curve, there are some
clear indications about yourself that you were not reading this
right or you missed the step. And I don't know
how he was coached, I believe at Kentucky, but I'm
(09:55):
pretty sure just like most of the other college kids,
they're not doing a lot of coaching in college this year.
I mean in the last couple of years, it's about nil.
Can a kid get drafted and you're the next man up.
It's not about teaching fundamentals, at least from what I've seen,
(10:15):
because there's a lot of players that when I go
to these pro days, man, there are some kids who
don't even know how to work a remote control in
All twenty two or Catapult because everything is done for
him is put on their iPad. They've never had to
go in a wide receiver's room and click stop or
(10:36):
look up anything because it's all provided. Those are the
things that you know, I don't think people are aware of.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yeah, no, you're right, hey, Jets on Sunday, let's just
look ahead real quick. We'll get you out of here.
Jets Sunday h to six. They fought Denver yesterday over
in Europe. But I mean it was a heck of
a game early on. We had it on during the
pregame show, but the offense just wasn't there. Feels like
it's a different feeling, Steve, because now Carolina's one a
trap game a little bit, a little bit like, how
(11:05):
do you feel about this situation?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Well, I hope justin Field shows up like he has been,
which is not very good, studying long and studying wrong. Right.
You know, you know what the Jets, the defense is
always gonna is always gonna show up. Here's what I'm
interested in to see. I'm interested to see who goes
(11:29):
as sauce and the reason I said sauce has been
given up some yards. Bro, you know they called him sauce.
But he playing like a mob right now. So I'll
be really interested to see how they attack him. Do
they attacking with speed with Jimmy you know it's Javin
(11:51):
cocher bag or is uh is t Mac. I'm just
I'm just interested to really see how things.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Go me too.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Well, Hey, congrats to the five and one Utah Utes
breaking into the top twenty five this week in absolute
ass beating of Arizona State on Saturday forty two to ten.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That was something else I know.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
But we got the Holy Ward coming up and that
makes me panic.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well listen, I can't tell you half of half.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Of the dang coaching staff at BYU used to be
at Utah and former player yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
I was reading all about it this morning. I didn't
know I was reading all about it this morning.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Oh I know who.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Jackson Dark's dad is a Utah lom and he went
the oh miss wow. And then Wilson's dad who let
him go to byu At he was at Utah as well.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
That's crazy.
Speaker 4 (12:47):
Well, one of these, like I've been telling you for years,
one of these days, I'm going to tag along with
you to that game because that's one of my bucket
list games in college football.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
So enjoying the Muscius is great. I'm actually going to
the Colorado Colorado game in a couple of week back
in Utah, so I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
All Right, buddy, we appreciate you, man. We'll talk to
you next week.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Appreciate it.
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