December 26, 2025 • 41 mins
In the show's final hour, Willie P dives head first in to what the game plan needs to be for the Panthers to defeat the Seahawks on Sunday, and Willie reacts to the Michigan coaching vacancy being filled.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Kyle Bailey Show, powered by Victory Chevy Charlotte,
where every month is truck Month. Victory Chevy Charlotte, your
Silverado destination. You got me in a really bad tangent
(00:22):
of a rabbit hole. Of all these bad ball game
sponsors from back in the day, they actually had it
right for a while. They had the Buffalo, they had
the Buffalo, Wild Wings Bowl in that in that Arizona
that second Arizona Bowl that was Wild Wings and I
was and I was at one of them also it
(00:43):
changed over the Wild Wings. Dang, that's right, because that
was the one where the uh the camera on top
broke right the skycamp. I think that was. Oh my gosh,
this is such a deep cut. I think I remember
who was in that game, brow you Carolina Panthers fans.
(01:03):
That was a Spartanburg legend. There you go. I will
say one war note on the Bulls before I move on.
Best hospitality, even though I mentioned the wall of tostitos
the Cotton Bowl, really those people take care of you.
I'll give you a story. So I'm at acc kickoff right,
(01:26):
the gentleman who runs the Cotton Bowl the longest time
A gentleman named Charlie. I forget his last name. I
think these guys were their first names. He just recently retired.
And the guy who's the now head of it, his
name is Tommy. I ran into Tommy at acc kickoff.
I used to carry around as my backpack a cotton
(01:47):
bowl backpack that was kind it was kind of tattered
and torn or whatever. It was on its last legs.
So I saw him the one year, and then I
saw him the year after that at a kickoff and
he's like, where's your cotton boll back? And I said,
I had to retire it. It's the zipper fell off,
et cetera, and so on. He said, he gave me
(02:07):
his card and he said, email me your address, and
he sent me a new cotton ball back. Wow. So
there you go. That's gonna be pretty hard to beat.
The hospitality. That's that's why they are known as the
hospitable bull that and I know, uh course Sports Foundation
does a great job with all that. Oh yeah, I
would say that. So I did not want to leave them.
(02:30):
I did not want to leave Danny and there in
those folks out too, because uh, not just the Jars
of Mayo, but they make the they make the coaches available,
they make the players available, they do stuff in the community.
They go out to the racetrack I know as well,
which is cool. I'd say easily top five top ten
pr work by a bowl game in the country. Well,
I was definitely not going to leave out our friends
(02:53):
at the Charlotte Sports Foundation, not going to leave them
out at all. Mill Miller, Yoho, and are are people
over there now doing fantastic work. Meanwhile, Anthon's doing fantastic
work today as well on the practice field today. We
just got ourselves the injury report when it comes down
(03:14):
to it, will not have Trevin Wallace for the rest
of the year. He will have shoulder surgery, his season
is over. Will not have Turk Warton still injured by
the hamstring that he injured weekend before the New Orleans
part Due game. David Moore popped up as questionable. This
(03:35):
is a very intriguing part of it because obviously they're
going to put Trevin Wallace on IR. It's a wonder
what they're going to do with that fifty third spot
because here's the thing, which is essentially the forty eighth
spot in this situation, because They're more than likely going
to bring up Isaiah Simmons as a standard elevation. I
think Barnes has been up twice already, so if they
(03:57):
wanted to do a third with him, they probably have
to wait next week in order to do that. They
probably bring up Simmons this week and next because there's
unlimited standard elevations in the playoffs, so you can bring
up whoever you want in the playoffs. But they're probably
gonna bring up Simmons this week and next. Now people
are sitting there and saying they want Simmons sign to
the three man roster. I don't think that's gonna happen
(04:19):
for a couple of reasons. Number One, you got two
people who need to be added to the free three
man roster in order to play. David Moore is one
of them, and Rob Hunt is another one. Now, Rob
Hunt just had his twenty one day practice window opened,
and I don't know if he is going to be
available by the by the Tampa game part two earliest.
(04:43):
As if they make the wild card, I would I
would say that I would say that point point being
there are other people who are ahead of Isaiah Simmons
to get a first team contract with this roster. UH
David Moore probably is the logical one that ends up
going in. But here's the problem. Who do you who
you taking out of the wide receiver lineup? Now do
(05:04):
you take? You take Tremaine? Now Tremaine's played all right,
he's a better I think he's a better blocker than
David Moore. He's got the size advantage over uh David
Moore in a situations, So definitely that. And it'll look
for as much as we get frustrated and just want
(05:25):
to handring over every single thing XL does. XL is
a good blocker. Excel's turned into a very good blocker,
and he'll still have some moments where he makes some
good plays. It's just the bad ones are so mind
numbingly frustrating mm hmm that it gets us to thinking,
you know, well, it's it's gotten a point where he's
he's not to be trusted with a key catch. Well,
I I I know he's made some consequential catches this year,
(05:48):
I would say more so this year than last year,
but he's also made more consequential drops in both years
than he has made consequential catches and penalty's in an
illegal touch. That's the other part of it. He is
he has done more to hurt his reputation than help
it over the course of this season and the second
half of last year. Even even despite all that, I
(06:13):
don't think he's not getting a jersey next two weeks. Yeah.
I also want to point this out. On the other
side of the field, the Seattle Seahawks will be without
two key starters. Kobe Bryant, not not that Kobe well, yeah,
spelled with us, It's spelled co b Y former Cincinnati
defensive back. Not to be confused with the Kobe Bryant
(06:34):
on the Falcons either or to Kobe Bryant or Kobe
White on the Bulls. But he will be out due
to knee injury he sustained late in the win over
l A. I believe it was eiver late in four
for early and overtime. And on the other side of
the ball, Charles Cross, who's a familiar name because he
(06:58):
was one of the three tackles we were talking about
nauseum in twenty twenty two when they drafted Ikeyakwanu. That's
a big loss for that. Yeah, that is a big loss.
He is out with a hamstring injury, so he's not
going to be playing. Out of all the three guys, like,
I think it's a race between Ikey and Charles for
the better two of that because Evan Neil has just
been a massive bust. But Charles Cross easily the better
(07:19):
pass blocking left tackle out of the two. So that's
not going to be good for saying Darnold's blindside now
in this situation, So that could be something. But then again,
Carolina's got to take advantage of offensive line woes and
unfortunately this is not a good pass rushing team this year.
And this is not me trying to say anything bad.
There a couple pople who ask about Isaiah Simmons. I
(07:43):
don't think Isaiah Simmons plays a massive role. I think
Isaiah Simmons is here to be a special teamer, reserve linebacker.
If Clauden or Rose Boom gets hurt, maybe he gets
on the field. But I'm out looking in him as
a hefty snap guy. I know there's a lot of
people who want to see him play and want to
(08:05):
see him get a look. I will just tell you
there's a reason why Isaiah Simmons is collecting collecting stamps
across the league. Uh, and there was a reason he
didn't get signed until November after getting cut during the preseason.
He just hasn't worked out. He just hasn't worked out
as an NFL linebacker. And this this is coming from
(08:25):
a guy who wanted him. I want to I love
I will say I will say this. When he was
in when he was at Clemson, I was I was
covering Clemson at the time. I thought, this guy is
going to be a generational type player who will change
the way we look at the the kind of tweeters
between linebackers and safeties. I thought he was going to
(08:48):
lead a charge of people who were that size largely overlooked,
kind of almost like chin in in a way, because
it was that was around the same time that Chin
was doing his thing as the same draft, same draft. Yeah,
So I think I think we looked at Simmons in
that same kind of vein where it was like, Okay,
here's somebody and who here's somebody who can play a
role that is a hybrid of being a safety and
(09:10):
a linebacker. And it just hasn't worked out. And I
just think some people need to get And I think
part of it too is just a Clemson factor, you know, yes,
from a local school and the fact that you know,
and I love that he was great at Clemson. He
was great, absolutely wonderful. The problem is, I think it's
one of those situations that we ran into during the
off season because what was one of the biggest talking
(09:33):
points during the preseason hunter Infro, hunter Infro, hunter Infro.
And you know, we had a good, good, you know,
training camp. But there's a reason he's been on a
healthy scratch list for eight to ten weeks. Now. Got
that fourth down catch against my Miami Dallas, Dallas. It
was against Dallas, and then Jimmy Horn was Miami. Yes, yes,
(09:55):
But outside of that and a couple of good catches
in the on a game, not much he's been in
my aim. And there's a reason why. And I think
part of it is just so much a lot of
Clemson fans won't one of their guys to see well.
And I think the biggest problem is that the year
off probably affected his abilities to get back into football
(10:19):
shape and also just to stand out. And at the
same point in time, you know, when he was with
the Raiders, he looked good, but also had himself at
times where you can get you can get lost in games,
and it's unfortunate. And I really liked the signing. I
(10:39):
thought it was shrewd given the Panthers need to get
wide receiver depth after what had happened with Cocher in
the preseason. But at the same point in time, Coker
has come back and becoming replaceable. And it comes back
to it again, you're not going to dress more than
five wide receivers in any given Sunday, and the wide
receivers that are on the back end need to play
(10:59):
special teams under reun For has gotten to the point
where he's not the same special teams player as well
no that he was in his early days in Las
Vegas and Tremaine. That's why he's on the roster right now.
Mm hmm seven four, five, seven, nine to six ten.
And I also would still contend that, and they did
a little bit of it last week, but I think
(11:21):
they've been holding back on some of the Jimmy Horn
Junior stuff. If not this upcoming week, the next week,
Dave's got to be more in his bag trying to
get Jimmy Horn Junior involved. Just and here's the thing,
maybe it happens even as soon as this week, just
to get it on film, to see that, to have
Tampa I give something to think about because while while
(11:43):
we were talking about this with Mike Cay in the
first hour of the program. By the way, if you
haven't bet if you missed that interview is a fantastic
interview to be on the podcast page at Kyle Bailey Show.
And I'm sure also we'll hear about it a little
bit from the in the rewind. But this is a
house money game for the Panthers this weekend. I know
that they will go into it like it's a playoff game.
(12:05):
They will go into it like making the assumption that
Tampa is probably gonna beat Miami and all the cards
are on the table next week. Do you need to
point out too, with Tampa no Tristan Wurfs correct against
the Dolphins, I know that will have an impact, but
I don't know if that keeps them from winning that
football game. Sure, but what I will say about this
(12:26):
game for Carolina is so much of what is going
to be defined is the taste you have in your
mouth coming out of these last two games. Can you
at least play well enough to where the result is
I material because I think again, I'm okay with any
scenario that happens this weekend, aside from just latting a
(12:50):
complete egg and getting your doors blown off. You like
the Buffalo game. And I think the reason they got
their doors blown off them in the Buffalo game is
a combination of factors. Number One, Buffalo is off by
and Buffalo's really good. And the Panthers had a quarterback
who was it not only a backup quarterback, probably had
an elevated sense of self of what we thought he was.
(13:10):
And he also hurt his thumb and couldn't throw. I
think if you have Bryce in that game, it's much
summer football. I don't think they win, but if you
had a healthy Bryce in that game, I think that's
a much different football game then it was. And yeah,
buff the the Buffalo offense could have definitely caught with
the defense like they did one period stop. But I
(13:33):
also think we would have gotten ar licks into And
I think that's that's the only game I remember this
year where I look at it and at least since
this since this renaissance, again I'm taking I'm taking the
New England game out of it. I'm taking the Arizona game.
Out of it, those are the only three games I'd
look at this year and say Carolina had themselves beaten
before basically by the time was too late. And even
(13:56):
in the Arizona game, I think he could say that too,
and they was I included that one. Yeah, yeah, at
the same point in time. In the Arizona game they
put on a furious comeback, fell short, had ball in hand,
fell short. But at the same point in time. This
is a game where, much like the Ram game, much
(14:17):
like the Packer game, you have a measuring test against
the best in the league, among the best in the league,
and I'm very curious to know how they go off
to that test. I'll give you the points in how
they can pass that test next. Kyle Belly Show, Sports
Radio ninety seven WFNZ Sports Radio, Ninez. Oh, you had
(14:45):
fun today. The show's gone by, I mean completely. A
lot of great interviews. Matt al Kisa. You'll hear that interview,
by the way, on Hornet's pre game coming up the
top of the hour. Mike Kaminski was incredible. In the
second hour, we talked to acc Hoops. He's got a
big class, a high school basketball classic going on at
Marvin Ridge High School Saturday, Monday, Tuesday in wax Saw
(15:06):
should be a lot of fun. And also Mike Kaye
who joined us from these Child Observer to talk Panthers.
Only real news on him today outside of the Panther
injury report was Kyle Whittingham five year deal Michigan. The
former Utah coach is now going to be the head
coach at Michigan. I saw something with our guy Chip
Patterson where he said that that Kyle Whittingham is actually
(15:29):
an upgrade over Sharon Moore, and I think we can
all kind of agree from a coaching standpoint, a culture standpoint,
and also just the fact that you took a left
turn away from the Harbaugh shadow as well. Look, and
I think we'll talk more about it as today's go
(15:50):
on and we know a little bit more, But I mean,
it's gonna be weird not seeing him at Utah or
just in the state because he went to BYU. He
played football for the most part in Denver, both in
the Broncos and the USFL team, and his coaching career
has almost exclusively been in Denver two or in Utah
(16:14):
as well, both at BYU and he's been at Utah
as a coach of some sorts since nineteen ninety four,
so that's going to be weird. And you usually kind
of get concerned when a guy's been in one place
for a long time and then he goes to another
part of the country. But I also don't think this
is too terribly This isn't a big stretch. This isn't
like Brian Harrison going from Boise State to Auburn, and
(16:35):
his style of play is very similar to the style
of play that Michigan wants to have, and he'll get players,
and he'll get players and they'll play. The only thing
I think the reason why Michigan fans are not as
high on this is because it's not a long term
higher like this isn't a guy because he's not young. Yeah,
because he's not young. He's sixty six years old at
(16:56):
the most, probably ten years maybe at the apps very most.
But I also viewed this as like, well, the time,
the timing was not such to where they were going
to get an up and coming guy. But I'll look
at it like this, no matter what happens, I don't
think we're going to be hearing about six Michigan coaches
in the next ten years getting arrested or getting reprimanded
for one reason or another. If he gives you four
(17:19):
or five years as Michigan coach, you take it. And
I also think the worst case scenario that you maybe
six you get it six year. The worst case scenario
is eight nine wins most years. And now he's going
to have more resources than he had at Utah, and
there'd be years at Utah like twenty three. Be very,
very curious if he gets from an assistant ship standpoint,
(17:40):
he just got his oc that's good. So and it
seems like Bryce Underwood's going to stay. So maybe he's
able to cultivate somebody and and groom somebody to be
able to make the transition away from him somewhat palatable.
And that's exactly what he did at Utah. Defense coordinator
just got elevated to beat ahead coach that he was
(18:00):
always viewed as a head coach in waiting. That could
be the same situation. But I don't know if Michigan
will do a coach in waiting because they're Michigan. No No,
And that's one of the ten jobs where someone will
always go out there and also who knows if what
Manuel is the man who hires the next time. Oh,
I don't think he is. I'm surprised he hired this one. Yeah,
I think he's going to be going by next year.
(18:21):
Although although who really hired him is the question I think.
I think I think it maybe is up for debate.
Maybe a high end booster, and I could easily see
that too. But either wait, is this a home run higher?
Probably not, but this is also a high or I'm like,
you can't really get too mad at it. It is good.
It is an upgrade from bandaid. It is plastic surgery
(18:46):
oscar thurgery that might have to be you know, tweaked
and nipped and tucked a little bit, but not bad.
And I don't think it's bad in this case. I
don't think it's bad to know what you're getting. No,
just because Kyle Whitting has been a hell of a
coach for a long time. So the path to victory
against Seattle, as Mike k put it to us, is
stop Kenneth Walker. But I also think you have to
(19:10):
figure out a way to get Sam off his mark,
because Sam Darnold, for all his great renaissance, it's still
part of that guy that was here when he that's
with him, when he was here in Carolina, in New York,
that still exists. You have to figure out a way
(19:31):
to get him off his mark and have him throw
you the football. Everro's gonna have well time blitzes. Middle
of the field's gonna be open. We know it. They're
gonna get yards to the twenties. I'm gonna be you know, say,
I won't be doing it in the press box so
Matt can be happy. I won't be complaining about zero
Everro next to him. I'll be sitting in the one
(19:53):
thirties or wherever I'm at, you know, clutching my clutching whatever,
grabbing the seats and saying, why in the world do
we not stopping guys between the twenties? And I'll be
angry about it, and it'll be fine. But at the
same point in time, you need to get your stops.
You need to get your sevens that turn into threes,
(20:15):
need to get your turnovers. You need to at least
get one at the absolute very least. And it can't
be like last week when you get it at the
end of the football game. Yeah, I just think you
need to get it sometime in the middle quarters. I
would think also wouldn't hurt to get in the first quarter.
But when middle eight's gonna be big middle yeah, out
of all that, Like, of course, the middle eight's always big.
(20:35):
But I think in this game, especially in this game,
if Carolina wins, it's because they won to middle eight,
and that's usually what's become a big partner wins. And
to give Dave Canalis some credit, he has done a
very good job of doing that, even in weeks where
they've played keep away in the middle eight, and I
think a large part of that is because they play
keep away. As frustrating as it can be, I think
(20:57):
playing keep aways actually helped them in these games. And
I think what also helped last year or last week,
excuse me, was the fact that they were still able
to overcome the middle eight against Tampa Bay. Now do
I think they'll be able to overcome the middle eight
against Seattle? Very difficult. It's gonna be pretty hard. So
I think if Carolina wins, they win the middle eight,
they also get a key turnover. And when Sam struggles
(21:19):
even this year, it's because the turnover bug enters his system.
Yet again, I mean look at the loss earlier this
year against the Rams four interceptions. Now, the scary thing
is they still had a chance to win that game
on the road against LA despite their quarterback throwing four interceptions.
But when he struggled the last two years, both in
Minnesota and in Seattle, it's been because the turnover syndrome
(21:41):
enters San Donald's body yet again. And I think that's
where you have to capitalize. You have to get something
from him, and you have to be able to get
points off turnovers, like extra possessions. Anything extra you get
out of this game needs to be number one acquired
and number two converted in because that's the way you
(22:01):
beat Seattle. And I don't know if it's going to
be the kind of game like we saw against the
Cults where it's low scoring. I think you're gonna have
to be able to put points up on the defense.
I really do. And I'll say this, hopefully Mike Jackson
can have a game similar to what he had against
the LA Rams. I'm not saying, you know, venge game,
(22:22):
Mike jack revenge game. And look, we've been talking a
lot about Sam Donald. We do need to mention Mike
jack because he basically he basically made it known that
he's still not happy at how he got traded, especially
when he basically compared Michael Barrett to a bag of chips,
which he's not wrong, but he still said it, and
that's pretty blunt assessment. And you have to basically play
(22:44):
mistake free football on the offensive side, which they did
in the two in the two in the two games
they won against upper echelon competition, the Rams and the Packers,
they played about as mistake free as you can be
in those scenarios. You've got the team to throw you
the football. That's that's the formula, and that if there's
(23:07):
nothing more encouraging it is that we have seen proof
of concept with those two results, which is why I
found that particularly rich that when we were talking with
our friend from Seattle, he was a little braggadocious about
their chances, not to say they don't have reason to be,
not to say they don't have a better football team potentially,
(23:28):
you know, top to bottom. They are the number one
seed in the NFC currently and if they end up
winning out they will do so. But at the same
point in time, I don't look at them as unbeatable
by any stretch of the imagination. This is not some
charity game the Panthers are walking into. They have a
chance to compete on the same field as this team.
There's no one in the NFL that is that you
(23:49):
look at the like, oh crap it, you know, because
I think we've seen you know, any given Sunday has
been very true this year. The weirdest thing is the
one team you might say that about is the Bronco
and still people are shuddering to give them any chance
to do anything. Well, it's the fact that they've won,
been tied for the most one score games in NFL history,
and it took a lot for them to beat the
(24:12):
Chiefs last night with Chris o'duncan at quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Even the Patriots is one where you look at him
and say, I mean they kicked the you know, I
was talking with my buddy who covers the Patriots up
there in New England, and he's sitting there and saying,
you know, they think they're good again, but they also
feel like the other shoe could drop at any point. Well,
part of it's because of the schedule that they had
was the biggest break and known the man cond and
(24:40):
what part of lost part of that was off the
finish from a year ago. Yeah, and part of that
too was because that I'm also you know, once again
sounding the alarms for the Patriots. Is you blew a
twenty one point lead at home. No One, everyone in
the NFL feels gettable this year. This isn't one of
those years where there's like one true fai or it's like, oh,
(25:01):
they're the team that they're the team dakrim to lakrim
the Eagles. If Carolina plays against Eagles, I'm not scared
of them. Well, that's part of the reason. That's part
of what you get when you have a playoff that's
not going to include Mahomes, It's not going to include
Lamar Jackson. It's it's a lot of it's a lot
of newcomers at the table. I mean, Caleb Williams is
(25:23):
quarterbacking the second best team in the NFC right now.
Jalen Hurts is quarterbacking the Philadelphia Eagles at this point
right now. Both have had moments, but also they've had
their negative ownents as well. Party Party in San Francisco,
Stafford in Los Angeles. I mean, there's is there a
(25:44):
is there a bust in Canton among any of the
people who you're looking at right now quarterbacking any of
these football teams. Maybe maybe Josh Josh Allen Yeah, oh yeah,
I think in this case him and Stafford. Yeah, of
the other teams, not yet. That's basically what I'm saying. Yeah,
(26:04):
either it's either it's either no or not yet. So
part of what we talk about with quarterback play is
or part of part part we talk about the NFL
teams as quarterback play, and you've got guys who are
admittedly playing well, but there's a lot of what I
would call decentralized talent away from the quarterback position, which
(26:24):
has become a great leveler of the way these teams
have gone now and and and somebody else brings up
the fact that the Jaguars kick the crap out of
the Broncos too in in Denver. Yeah, Texas, Texas goes
to the Bills something it's super Bowl. They won't make
it any time soon. They're gonna have a tough road
(26:45):
because they're because they're gonna have to do it very
much on the back door. Unless unless you know, there's
as unless there's a massive ship the last two weeks. Uh,
if they have to They have to do it out
of that out of that sixth seed position. They have
to win on the road of the entire way, it's
be very difficult to do. Some Panthers centric questions before
(27:06):
we step aside, how does making the playoffs change the
way you view this season or does it not change
it at all? Oh? Obviously I think changes it just
to the fact that what we're we saying, it's like
heading into this year, I think where they're currently at,
or where they were at before the Tampa Bay game
last week was kind of how we viewed as a
(27:27):
year before the year, year before the year, realistic best
case scenario, and then making the playoffs, not as a
wild card but as an NFC South champs would be
best case scenario. So you view it as that. I
don't know necessarily if the year next year would be
like super Bowl or bust. No, but it's one of
those where it's like, all right, let's take the next step,
(27:48):
let's reclaim the division and let's make it a little
bit deeper. If you make it to the super Bowl, great,
But I also feel like the make or break here
for this team with the way it's currently constructed will
be twenty twenty seven. Well, I'll say this, if you
the playoffs this year, you've raised the floor in the
expectations of the fans absolutely, which makes you feel like, Okay,
the division containable in a season where you felt like
(28:08):
you weren't necessarily built to do a lot. That means
that this could be the most important offseason for Dan
Morgan and company because you have to do everything you
possibly can to maintain that floor. That's what making the
playoffs to me changes the way you view this season,
because that means now that the baseline is set, this
is a team that is among the best in the division.
(28:30):
We have to make sure that we maintain that and
then excel beyond that. The questions that have been answered
for me with this team is that Bryce Shung is
going to get a fifth year option, and he is
the quarterback for the next two seasons. What beyond that,
I think is still to be determined of what happens
the rest of this season and next year and the following.
(28:53):
I don't know if you're ready to give him a
long term contract yet. I wouldn't do it. You're gonna
get him for a bargain in your five comparatively, so
from that perspective, it's okay. But at the same point
in time, I don't know if you've had any long
term answers in that regard. And what is it be
answered to is how do you make this defense from
(29:14):
a personal standpoint good enough to the point where Azuerio
Avero can run it the way that it's meant to
be run. I e. Getting a safety next to Javon
Merrick that is up to his caliber, getting enough depth
at corner, getting enough depth at linebacker, and my kingdom
for a pass rush. Someone we mentioned in that we
(29:39):
were talking about Max Crosby basically being basically walking out
of the facility with the Raiders, and someone said, you know,
we were asking the question, would you give a first
round pick if you're the pantis from Max Crosby. Someone goes,
would you have to give up one of the young
edges too? I give up Princely for Max Crosby. Yeah,
and a heartbeat. I have to say that I don't
(30:00):
like Princely, but I expected a heck of a lot
more from him this year and it's been a lot
of nothing. I thought he's gonna.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Be more raw.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I'm not as maybe shocked or disappointed as you, but
you maybe I thought we'd see impact plays. Though I
thought we see more impact plays from him, while also
being raw third round asdresser is not as much for me.
I just I just again, I thought they'd find ways
to scheme him free and they haven't. And again, a
(30:29):
lot of it's come down to they don't. They don't
send a lot of pressure. When they do, it usually
comes from the corner or the safety or that that
a gap linebacker blitz. So it is not a lot
of it's not a lot of stuff happening when it
comes to Princely in terms of a lot of times
he's left out there on an island to have to win,
and he has not won a lot of those matchups.
(30:51):
So from that perspective, again it's it's I'm not again,
I'm I'm I'm not saying it's all lost because I'm not.
I'm not. I'm not calling him DJ Johnson or eat
gross Matos. But I'm also, you know, not sitting here
and saying that he's above, you know, being a trade
prospect if you can get somebody like a Max Crosby.
Now you mentioned signing Treehgrancy. That's another option to as well,
(31:11):
but again that is a takes two to tango type scenario. Well,
we do the best audio we heard today, It's time
for smoking the headlines. Last check. Who is smoked? Where
is smoked? Where there's smoke, there's fire. Let's go all right.
I want to give an update Willy own the transfer portal.
(31:31):
The names that have been entered into it. A couple
of quarterbacks have entered themselves from the group of five level.
Anthony Calandria, the UNLV quarterback who was the quarterback last
year at Virginia, has re entered the transfer portal. Had
a great year for the running Rebels. Also, Alonza Barrett,
the third quarterback for James Madison, has entered himself into
(31:52):
the transfer portal. What's a note of that is, I
don't think he's going to go to UCLA because UCLA
has already resigned Nicoma, so he's probably not gonna go
with Bob Chesney's too la in that scenario, So he
could be a quarterback of note to go somewhere else
into transfer portal. Maybe someone in Chapel Hill should be
looking at that. And also names that have not injured
(32:16):
to transfer portal. Nick Harbor announced yesterday on Christmas Day
he is staying for one more year at South Carolina.
Dylan Stewart announced late last week he is staying, and
so did Leonora Sellers. So all three of the main
cogs in South Carolina's team, the main stars of sorts,
are staying with the game Cocks to go through revamped
team of next year. And also, do you want to
(32:37):
mention this one name that has entered to transfer portal
of note in the state. Noah Rodgers wide receiver from
NC State has entered the transfer port You see, my
old coworker got called out by Shade Meemer again. Yeah,
I did see that yesterday. Apparently my guy Phil Kornblue
said that Sellers and Stuart would combine the cost in
(32:57):
the neighborhood of five million dollars from the schools new
shared total. Beemer goes. Sounds like you need to do
much better sources. This is even remotely close to being true.
Hashtag anything for clicks, hashtag Merry Christmas. I would say
maybe three million, three and a half. I'd say two
at least for Sellers three and a half. I'd say
three and a half. Yeah, three and a half combined
and maybe get the four to four point twenty five
(33:20):
or something like that when you can bind Nick. So yeah,
but that's big for South Carolina to get all three
of those guys back, and to even get Kendall Briles
as oc. I think I'm expecting a bounce back here
for the game Poup. So I was looking at the
already clinched teams in terms of talking about teams that
have a busting canton. The Steelers are also in the
(33:41):
in the hunt Aaron Aaron Rodgers being the Hall of Fame,
So I just it still feels weird calling him Steelers
score right right. I didn't mean to not include him.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I was.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I was going off the teams that had already clinched
the spot. Yeah, you go in an I Watschka trip
and come back and do Radio Willie. Yeah, the best
audio we heard all day with the rewind next Shorts
Radio ninety to seven WFNZ. I don't mean to be
(34:14):
going back and forth with my guy Panthereo, because I
love the theory. And again, usually there's always the theory
of a team from the West coast going east and
playing at ten am body clock time. Unfortunately the team
uses a case study against This is not the Seattle
Seahawks number one, and not this head coach because he
(34:36):
is seven and oh in his first two seasons going
West to East playing at ten AM. I will say, though,
to Panthero's point, it is Christmas week that and LA
had a very very very very good record going from
west to east heading in and still do. I still
do going from west to east on nay and they
(34:58):
beat him, and they won that one, and that's nearly
a ten year sample size. Rams also beat the Seahawks,
ending a string of ten consecutive road games, one in
a row at Sofi Stadium. So from that perspective, there's
at least that to bring it out of the table.
I'm not saying it can't happen. I'm just telling you
of the things i'd put as factors as to why
(35:19):
I would not put the West to East thing. I'd
expect Seattle come in pretty pretty ready to play. It's
not time for thee one. Mike Kay from the Charlotte
Observer covers the Panthers for that great paper on what
needs to be the game plan for Carolina to beat Seattle.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Stop Kenneth Walker. If Kenneth Walker gets off to a
really good early start, it's gonna be really tough to
defend Sam with Jack Smith, Na and Rashida heatter Rashid
Shaheed who absolutely burned them with the same last year.
(35:58):
So I kind of feel like the Seahawks are much
more talented offense for defense. And then I think defensively,
you know, they've got Devin Witherspoon, They've got some guys
who can just get after dudes, get Sir Laurence Leonard
Williams like they are staffed, and I think this is
(36:18):
going to be a tough cat for the Panthers, but
we've seen that they are very opportunistics. You need to
be a little bit like they were against the Rams,
where they take advantage of mistakes. And if anybody knows
that cam Donold can make some mistakes, it's the folks
who covered him in Carolina, and you just hope that
you can pressure him enough where he makes a.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Poor decision or four and you take advantage.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Run game is going to be big and we'll see
why aunt the Panthers can make it happen. I'm being
tasked by Panthers PSL Sucker to make an official prediction
on the game. Panthers thirty Seahawks twenty seven one Seahawks.
All right, that's fun. Not sad about it. I'm not
(37:07):
said about it. I'm okay with it. Also on the
rewind Mike Kaminski fantastic conversation on ACC hoops with him.
I asked him what it's been like having the ACC
feel like it's getting a lot of national respect back
in the eyes of those who cover college basketball.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
I think it's been good for our league. And uh,
you know, with North Carolina coming back and really having
a great non conference record of Virginia, I think has
been a bit of a surprise.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
You know, Ryan Odom getting there. Of course, you know,
people familiar with his dad, Dave at Wake Forest, and
you know Ryan grew up in Charlottesville, so you know,
he got things turned around quickly there. You know, there's
just a lot of Pat Kelsey at Louisville. I think
the league is much better prepared, a much better you know,
(38:04):
shaped to go into the NCAA Tournament. It's going to
be a lot of great competition and a lot of
stuff in the league for teams to get better.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Did Panther wor missb picking the Panthers. I've been depending
the Seahawks all show. I said, you said, I've been
depending the Seahawks were a good team. I didn't say
that were unbeatable by any stretch. We just had a
segment where we said no team is unbeatable this year.
That's what I said. I don't know why he's thinking
that I didn't. I've been all over settle to win.
That's about to say, does he did he have our
(38:34):
voices confused or something? He said, thank you smoke. That's
the first time that's happened. I picked the Panthers. Why
are you getting psyched?
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Matt al Key's a covering the Hornets for Sports Illustrated
onto John Salon growing right before our very eyes.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
The decision making has been a lot better. Charlotte has
really simplified his role. He takes corner three, he sets
a lot of screens, he crashes the rebounds hard. He
injects energy into the lineup.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
And into the spectrum center when the Hornets play home games,
because the passion that he.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Plays with is undeniable, and you can just see the
flashes of what the Hornets believe in every once in
a while when he gets the ball in transition and
does one of those dead leg euro steps and finishes
up and a round to defender, which is what he
did against Washington. He had a game in Toronto a
few weeks ago where I think he hit five threes.
So yeah, every game, every minute, every second that Tijon plays,
(39:32):
you can just see the light in his head just
become just that much brighter as he continues to develop
into hopefully a long term important piece in this Hornet's score.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
That is a rewind for a Friday, the twenty sixth
day of December twenty twenty five, is now time before
we step aside and say good night to tip our
caps courtesy of neogenics, where all you have to lose
is the pain got so, my captain Panthero, this is
the first time I've ever been compared to Willie p
(40:03):
and it's apparently our voices apparently there. I mean, I'm
not knocking your voice, but I have a deeper voice
than you. Interesting, I mean I can read higher octaves,
but I can't sustain it. I will tip our cap
to my wife, who knocked it out of the park
again with the gifts for Christmas seventh consecutive year. She's
(40:26):
beaten me on the gifts. So long may it continue? Well,
I was going to say sixty five more years of losing.
Hey man, it's like the Jets terrible ownership. I had
a fun time doing this week. Kyle is back on Monday.
I will be back with In for the Mac and
(40:47):
Bone Show on Tuesday. Hornets pre Game comes away next
to the horn is coming, ready to take on the magic.
So long, you're going to be dead in one hundred years. Anyway,
live dangerously
This is the Kyle Bailey Show, powered by Victory Chevy Charlotte,
where every month is truck Month. Victory Chevy Charlotte, your
Silverado destination. You got me in a really bad tangent
(00:22):
of a rabbit hole. Of all these bad ball game
sponsors from back in the day, they actually had it
right for a while. They had the Buffalo, they had
the Buffalo, Wild Wings Bowl in that in that Arizona
that second Arizona Bowl that was Wild Wings and I
was and I was at one of them also it
(00:43):
changed over the Wild Wings. Dang, that's right, because that
was the one where the uh the camera on top
broke right the skycamp. I think that was. Oh my gosh,
this is such a deep cut. I think I remember
who was in that game, brow you Carolina Panthers fans.
(01:03):
That was a Spartanburg legend. There you go. I will
say one war note on the Bulls before I move on.
Best hospitality, even though I mentioned the wall of tostitos
the Cotton Bowl, really those people take care of you.
I'll give you a story. So I'm at acc kickoff right,
(01:26):
the gentleman who runs the Cotton Bowl the longest time
A gentleman named Charlie. I forget his last name. I
think these guys were their first names. He just recently retired.
And the guy who's the now head of it, his
name is Tommy. I ran into Tommy at acc kickoff.
I used to carry around as my backpack a cotton
(01:47):
bowl backpack that was kind it was kind of tattered
and torn or whatever. It was on its last legs.
So I saw him the one year, and then I
saw him the year after that at a kickoff and
he's like, where's your cotton boll back? And I said,
I had to retire it. It's the zipper fell off,
et cetera, and so on. He said, he gave me
(02:07):
his card and he said, email me your address, and
he sent me a new cotton ball back. Wow. So
there you go. That's gonna be pretty hard to beat.
The hospitality. That's that's why they are known as the
hospitable bull that and I know, uh course Sports Foundation
does a great job with all that. Oh yeah, I
would say that. So I did not want to leave them.
(02:30):
I did not want to leave Danny and there in
those folks out too, because uh, not just the Jars
of Mayo, but they make the they make the coaches available,
they make the players available, they do stuff in the community.
They go out to the racetrack I know as well,
which is cool. I'd say easily top five top ten
pr work by a bowl game in the country. Well,
I was definitely not going to leave out our friends
(02:53):
at the Charlotte Sports Foundation, not going to leave them
out at all. Mill Miller, Yoho, and are are people
over there now doing fantastic work. Meanwhile, Anthon's doing fantastic
work today as well on the practice field today. We
just got ourselves the injury report when it comes down
(03:14):
to it, will not have Trevin Wallace for the rest
of the year. He will have shoulder surgery, his season
is over. Will not have Turk Warton still injured by
the hamstring that he injured weekend before the New Orleans
part Due game. David Moore popped up as questionable. This
(03:35):
is a very intriguing part of it because obviously they're
going to put Trevin Wallace on IR. It's a wonder
what they're going to do with that fifty third spot
because here's the thing, which is essentially the forty eighth
spot in this situation, because They're more than likely going
to bring up Isaiah Simmons as a standard elevation. I
think Barnes has been up twice already, so if they
(03:57):
wanted to do a third with him, they probably have
to wait next week in order to do that. They
probably bring up Simmons this week and next because there's
unlimited standard elevations in the playoffs, so you can bring
up whoever you want in the playoffs. But they're probably
gonna bring up Simmons this week and next. Now people
are sitting there and saying they want Simmons sign to
the three man roster. I don't think that's gonna happen
(04:19):
for a couple of reasons. Number One, you got two
people who need to be added to the free three
man roster in order to play. David Moore is one
of them, and Rob Hunt is another one. Now, Rob
Hunt just had his twenty one day practice window opened,
and I don't know if he is going to be
available by the by the Tampa game part two earliest.
(04:43):
As if they make the wild card, I would I
would say that I would say that point point being
there are other people who are ahead of Isaiah Simmons
to get a first team contract with this roster. UH
David Moore probably is the logical one that ends up
going in. But here's the problem. Who do you who
you taking out of the wide receiver lineup? Now do
(05:04):
you take? You take Tremaine? Now Tremaine's played all right,
he's a better I think he's a better blocker than
David Moore. He's got the size advantage over uh David
Moore in a situations, So definitely that. And it'll look
for as much as we get frustrated and just want
(05:25):
to handring over every single thing XL does. XL is
a good blocker. Excel's turned into a very good blocker,
and he'll still have some moments where he makes some
good plays. It's just the bad ones are so mind
numbingly frustrating mm hmm that it gets us to thinking,
you know, well, it's it's gotten a point where he's
he's not to be trusted with a key catch. Well,
I I I know he's made some consequential catches this year,
(05:48):
I would say more so this year than last year,
but he's also made more consequential drops in both years
than he has made consequential catches and penalty's in an
illegal touch. That's the other part of it. He is
he has done more to hurt his reputation than help
it over the course of this season and the second
half of last year. Even even despite all that, I
(06:13):
don't think he's not getting a jersey next two weeks. Yeah.
I also want to point this out. On the other
side of the field, the Seattle Seahawks will be without
two key starters. Kobe Bryant, not not that Kobe well, yeah,
spelled with us, It's spelled co b Y former Cincinnati
defensive back. Not to be confused with the Kobe Bryant
(06:34):
on the Falcons either or to Kobe Bryant or Kobe
White on the Bulls. But he will be out due
to knee injury he sustained late in the win over
l A. I believe it was eiver late in four
for early and overtime. And on the other side of
the ball, Charles Cross, who's a familiar name because he
(06:58):
was one of the three tackles we were talking about
nauseum in twenty twenty two when they drafted Ikeyakwanu. That's
a big loss for that. Yeah, that is a big loss.
He is out with a hamstring injury, so he's not
going to be playing. Out of all the three guys, like,
I think it's a race between Ikey and Charles for
the better two of that because Evan Neil has just
been a massive bust. But Charles Cross easily the better
(07:19):
pass blocking left tackle out of the two. So that's
not going to be good for saying Darnold's blindside now
in this situation, So that could be something. But then again,
Carolina's got to take advantage of offensive line woes and
unfortunately this is not a good pass rushing team this year.
And this is not me trying to say anything bad.
There a couple pople who ask about Isaiah Simmons. I
(07:43):
don't think Isaiah Simmons plays a massive role. I think
Isaiah Simmons is here to be a special teamer, reserve linebacker.
If Clauden or Rose Boom gets hurt, maybe he gets
on the field. But I'm out looking in him as
a hefty snap guy. I know there's a lot of
people who want to see him play and want to
(08:05):
see him get a look. I will just tell you
there's a reason why Isaiah Simmons is collecting collecting stamps
across the league. Uh, and there was a reason he
didn't get signed until November after getting cut during the preseason.
He just hasn't worked out. He just hasn't worked out
as an NFL linebacker. And this this is coming from
(08:25):
a guy who wanted him. I want to I love
I will say I will say this. When he was
in when he was at Clemson, I was I was
covering Clemson at the time. I thought, this guy is
going to be a generational type player who will change
the way we look at the the kind of tweeters
between linebackers and safeties. I thought he was going to
(08:48):
lead a charge of people who were that size largely overlooked,
kind of almost like chin in in a way, because
it was that was around the same time that Chin
was doing his thing as the same draft, same draft. Yeah,
So I think I think we looked at Simmons in
that same kind of vein where it was like, Okay,
here's somebody and who here's somebody who can play a
role that is a hybrid of being a safety and
(09:10):
a linebacker. And it just hasn't worked out. And I
just think some people need to get And I think
part of it too is just a Clemson factor, you know, yes,
from a local school and the fact that you know,
and I love that he was great at Clemson. He
was great, absolutely wonderful. The problem is, I think it's
one of those situations that we ran into during the
off season because what was one of the biggest talking
(09:33):
points during the preseason hunter Infro, hunter Infro, hunter Infro.
And you know, we had a good, good, you know,
training camp. But there's a reason he's been on a
healthy scratch list for eight to ten weeks. Now. Got
that fourth down catch against my Miami Dallas, Dallas. It
was against Dallas, and then Jimmy Horn was Miami. Yes, yes,
(09:55):
But outside of that and a couple of good catches
in the on a game, not much he's been in
my aim. And there's a reason why. And I think
part of it is just so much a lot of
Clemson fans won't one of their guys to see well.
And I think the biggest problem is that the year
off probably affected his abilities to get back into football
(10:19):
shape and also just to stand out. And at the
same point in time, you know, when he was with
the Raiders, he looked good, but also had himself at
times where you can get you can get lost in games,
and it's unfortunate. And I really liked the signing. I
(10:39):
thought it was shrewd given the Panthers need to get
wide receiver depth after what had happened with Cocher in
the preseason. But at the same point in time, Coker
has come back and becoming replaceable. And it comes back
to it again, you're not going to dress more than
five wide receivers in any given Sunday, and the wide
receivers that are on the back end need to play
(10:59):
special teams under reun For has gotten to the point
where he's not the same special teams player as well
no that he was in his early days in Las
Vegas and Tremaine. That's why he's on the roster right now.
Mm hmm seven four, five, seven, nine to six ten.
And I also would still contend that, and they did
a little bit of it last week, but I think
(11:21):
they've been holding back on some of the Jimmy Horn
Junior stuff. If not this upcoming week, the next week,
Dave's got to be more in his bag trying to
get Jimmy Horn Junior involved. Just and here's the thing,
maybe it happens even as soon as this week, just
to get it on film, to see that, to have
Tampa I give something to think about because while while
(11:43):
we were talking about this with Mike Cay in the
first hour of the program. By the way, if you
haven't bet if you missed that interview is a fantastic
interview to be on the podcast page at Kyle Bailey Show.
And I'm sure also we'll hear about it a little
bit from the in the rewind. But this is a
house money game for the Panthers this weekend. I know
that they will go into it like it's a playoff game.
(12:05):
They will go into it like making the assumption that
Tampa is probably gonna beat Miami and all the cards
are on the table next week. Do you need to
point out too, with Tampa no Tristan Wurfs correct against
the Dolphins, I know that will have an impact, but
I don't know if that keeps them from winning that
football game. Sure, but what I will say about this
(12:26):
game for Carolina is so much of what is going
to be defined is the taste you have in your
mouth coming out of these last two games. Can you
at least play well enough to where the result is
I material because I think again, I'm okay with any
scenario that happens this weekend, aside from just latting a
(12:50):
complete egg and getting your doors blown off. You like
the Buffalo game. And I think the reason they got
their doors blown off them in the Buffalo game is
a combination of factors. Number One, Buffalo is off by
and Buffalo's really good. And the Panthers had a quarterback
who was it not only a backup quarterback, probably had
an elevated sense of self of what we thought he was.
(13:10):
And he also hurt his thumb and couldn't throw. I
think if you have Bryce in that game, it's much
summer football. I don't think they win, but if you
had a healthy Bryce in that game, I think that's
a much different football game then it was. And yeah,
buff the the Buffalo offense could have definitely caught with
the defense like they did one period stop. But I
(13:33):
also think we would have gotten ar licks into And
I think that's that's the only game I remember this
year where I look at it and at least since
this since this renaissance, again I'm taking I'm taking the
New England game out of it. I'm taking the Arizona game.
Out of it, those are the only three games I'd
look at this year and say Carolina had themselves beaten
before basically by the time was too late. And even
(13:56):
in the Arizona game, I think he could say that too,
and they was I included that one. Yeah, yeah, at
the same point in time. In the Arizona game they
put on a furious comeback, fell short, had ball in hand,
fell short. But at the same point in time. This
is a game where, much like the Ram game, much
(14:17):
like the Packer game, you have a measuring test against
the best in the league, among the best in the league,
and I'm very curious to know how they go off
to that test. I'll give you the points in how
they can pass that test next. Kyle Belly Show, Sports
Radio ninety seven WFNZ Sports Radio, Ninez. Oh, you had
(14:45):
fun today. The show's gone by, I mean completely. A
lot of great interviews. Matt al Kisa. You'll hear that interview,
by the way, on Hornet's pre game coming up the
top of the hour. Mike Kaminski was incredible. In the
second hour, we talked to acc Hoops. He's got a
big class, a high school basketball classic going on at
Marvin Ridge High School Saturday, Monday, Tuesday in wax Saw
(15:06):
should be a lot of fun. And also Mike Kaye
who joined us from these Child Observer to talk Panthers.
Only real news on him today outside of the Panther
injury report was Kyle Whittingham five year deal Michigan. The
former Utah coach is now going to be the head
coach at Michigan. I saw something with our guy Chip
Patterson where he said that that Kyle Whittingham is actually
(15:29):
an upgrade over Sharon Moore, and I think we can
all kind of agree from a coaching standpoint, a culture standpoint,
and also just the fact that you took a left
turn away from the Harbaugh shadow as well. Look, and
I think we'll talk more about it as today's go
(15:50):
on and we know a little bit more, But I mean,
it's gonna be weird not seeing him at Utah or
just in the state because he went to BYU. He
played football for the most part in Denver, both in
the Broncos and the USFL team, and his coaching career
has almost exclusively been in Denver two or in Utah
(16:14):
as well, both at BYU and he's been at Utah
as a coach of some sorts since nineteen ninety four,
so that's going to be weird. And you usually kind
of get concerned when a guy's been in one place
for a long time and then he goes to another
part of the country. But I also don't think this
is too terribly This isn't a big stretch. This isn't
like Brian Harrison going from Boise State to Auburn, and
(16:35):
his style of play is very similar to the style
of play that Michigan wants to have, and he'll get players,
and he'll get players and they'll play. The only thing
I think the reason why Michigan fans are not as
high on this is because it's not a long term
higher like this isn't a guy because he's not young. Yeah,
because he's not young. He's sixty six years old at
(16:56):
the most, probably ten years maybe at the apps very most.
But I also viewed this as like, well, the time,
the timing was not such to where they were going
to get an up and coming guy. But I'll look
at it like this, no matter what happens, I don't
think we're going to be hearing about six Michigan coaches
in the next ten years getting arrested or getting reprimanded
for one reason or another. If he gives you four
(17:19):
or five years as Michigan coach, you take it. And
I also think the worst case scenario that you maybe
six you get it six year. The worst case scenario
is eight nine wins most years. And now he's going
to have more resources than he had at Utah, and
there'd be years at Utah like twenty three. Be very,
very curious if he gets from an assistant ship standpoint,
(17:40):
he just got his oc that's good. So and it
seems like Bryce Underwood's going to stay. So maybe he's
able to cultivate somebody and and groom somebody to be
able to make the transition away from him somewhat palatable.
And that's exactly what he did at Utah. Defense coordinator
just got elevated to beat ahead coach that he was
(18:00):
always viewed as a head coach in waiting. That could
be the same situation. But I don't know if Michigan
will do a coach in waiting because they're Michigan. No No,
And that's one of the ten jobs where someone will
always go out there and also who knows if what
Manuel is the man who hires the next time. Oh,
I don't think he is. I'm surprised he hired this one. Yeah,
I think he's going to be going by next year.
(18:21):
Although although who really hired him is the question I think.
I think I think it maybe is up for debate.
Maybe a high end booster, and I could easily see
that too. But either wait, is this a home run higher?
Probably not, but this is also a high or I'm like,
you can't really get too mad at it. It is good.
It is an upgrade from bandaid. It is plastic surgery
(18:46):
oscar thurgery that might have to be you know, tweaked
and nipped and tucked a little bit, but not bad.
And I don't think it's bad in this case. I
don't think it's bad to know what you're getting. No,
just because Kyle Whitting has been a hell of a
coach for a long time. So the path to victory
against Seattle, as Mike k put it to us, is
stop Kenneth Walker. But I also think you have to
(19:10):
figure out a way to get Sam off his mark,
because Sam Darnold, for all his great renaissance, it's still
part of that guy that was here when he that's
with him, when he was here in Carolina, in New York,
that still exists. You have to figure out a way
(19:31):
to get him off his mark and have him throw
you the football. Everro's gonna have well time blitzes. Middle
of the field's gonna be open. We know it. They're
gonna get yards to the twenties. I'm gonna be you know, say,
I won't be doing it in the press box so
Matt can be happy. I won't be complaining about zero
Everro next to him. I'll be sitting in the one
(19:53):
thirties or wherever I'm at, you know, clutching my clutching whatever,
grabbing the seats and saying, why in the world do
we not stopping guys between the twenties? And I'll be
angry about it, and it'll be fine. But at the
same point in time, you need to get your stops.
You need to get your sevens that turn into threes,
(20:15):
need to get your turnovers. You need to at least
get one at the absolute very least. And it can't
be like last week when you get it at the
end of the football game. Yeah, I just think you
need to get it sometime in the middle quarters. I
would think also wouldn't hurt to get in the first quarter.
But when middle eight's gonna be big middle yeah, out
of all that, Like, of course, the middle eight's always big.
(20:35):
But I think in this game, especially in this game,
if Carolina wins, it's because they won to middle eight,
and that's usually what's become a big partner wins. And
to give Dave Canalis some credit, he has done a
very good job of doing that, even in weeks where
they've played keep away in the middle eight, and I
think a large part of that is because they play
keep away. As frustrating as it can be, I think
(20:57):
playing keep aways actually helped them in these games. And
I think what also helped last year or last week,
excuse me, was the fact that they were still able
to overcome the middle eight against Tampa Bay. Now do
I think they'll be able to overcome the middle eight
against Seattle? Very difficult. It's gonna be pretty hard. So
I think if Carolina wins, they win the middle eight,
they also get a key turnover. And when Sam struggles
(21:19):
even this year, it's because the turnover bug enters his system.
Yet again, I mean look at the loss earlier this
year against the Rams four interceptions. Now, the scary thing
is they still had a chance to win that game
on the road against LA despite their quarterback throwing four interceptions.
But when he struggled the last two years, both in
Minnesota and in Seattle, it's been because the turnover syndrome
(21:41):
enters San Donald's body yet again. And I think that's
where you have to capitalize. You have to get something
from him, and you have to be able to get
points off turnovers, like extra possessions. Anything extra you get
out of this game needs to be number one acquired
and number two converted in because that's the way you
(22:01):
beat Seattle. And I don't know if it's going to
be the kind of game like we saw against the
Cults where it's low scoring. I think you're gonna have
to be able to put points up on the defense.
I really do. And I'll say this, hopefully Mike Jackson
can have a game similar to what he had against
the LA Rams. I'm not saying, you know, venge game,
(22:22):
Mike jack revenge game. And look, we've been talking a
lot about Sam Donald. We do need to mention Mike
jack because he basically he basically made it known that
he's still not happy at how he got traded, especially
when he basically compared Michael Barrett to a bag of chips,
which he's not wrong, but he still said it, and
that's pretty blunt assessment. And you have to basically play
(22:44):
mistake free football on the offensive side, which they did
in the two in the two in the two games
they won against upper echelon competition, the Rams and the Packers,
they played about as mistake free as you can be
in those scenarios. You've got the team to throw you
the football. That's that's the formula, and that if there's
(23:07):
nothing more encouraging it is that we have seen proof
of concept with those two results, which is why I
found that particularly rich that when we were talking with
our friend from Seattle, he was a little braggadocious about
their chances, not to say they don't have reason to be,
not to say they don't have a better football team potentially,
(23:28):
you know, top to bottom. They are the number one
seed in the NFC currently and if they end up
winning out they will do so. But at the same
point in time, I don't look at them as unbeatable
by any stretch of the imagination. This is not some
charity game the Panthers are walking into. They have a
chance to compete on the same field as this team.
There's no one in the NFL that is that you
(23:49):
look at the like, oh crap it, you know, because
I think we've seen you know, any given Sunday has
been very true this year. The weirdest thing is the
one team you might say that about is the Bronco
and still people are shuddering to give them any chance
to do anything. Well, it's the fact that they've won,
been tied for the most one score games in NFL history,
and it took a lot for them to beat the
(24:12):
Chiefs last night with Chris o'duncan at quarterback.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
And.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Even the Patriots is one where you look at him
and say, I mean they kicked the you know, I
was talking with my buddy who covers the Patriots up
there in New England, and he's sitting there and saying,
you know, they think they're good again, but they also
feel like the other shoe could drop at any point. Well,
part of it's because of the schedule that they had
was the biggest break and known the man cond and
(24:40):
what part of lost part of that was off the
finish from a year ago. Yeah, and part of that
too was because that I'm also you know, once again
sounding the alarms for the Patriots. Is you blew a
twenty one point lead at home. No One, everyone in
the NFL feels gettable this year. This isn't one of
those years where there's like one true fai or it's like, oh,
(25:01):
they're the team that they're the team dakrim to lakrim
the Eagles. If Carolina plays against Eagles, I'm not scared
of them. Well, that's part of the reason. That's part
of what you get when you have a playoff that's
not going to include Mahomes, It's not going to include
Lamar Jackson. It's it's a lot of it's a lot
of newcomers at the table. I mean, Caleb Williams is
(25:23):
quarterbacking the second best team in the NFC right now.
Jalen Hurts is quarterbacking the Philadelphia Eagles at this point
right now. Both have had moments, but also they've had
their negative ownents as well. Party Party in San Francisco,
Stafford in Los Angeles. I mean, there's is there a
(25:44):
is there a bust in Canton among any of the
people who you're looking at right now quarterbacking any of
these football teams. Maybe maybe Josh Josh Allen Yeah, oh yeah,
I think in this case him and Stafford. Yeah, of
the other teams, not yet. That's basically what I'm saying. Yeah,
(26:04):
either it's either it's either no or not yet. So
part of what we talk about with quarterback play is
or part of part part we talk about the NFL
teams as quarterback play, and you've got guys who are
admittedly playing well, but there's a lot of what I
would call decentralized talent away from the quarterback position, which
(26:24):
has become a great leveler of the way these teams
have gone now and and and somebody else brings up
the fact that the Jaguars kick the crap out of
the Broncos too in in Denver. Yeah, Texas, Texas goes
to the Bills something it's super Bowl. They won't make
it any time soon. They're gonna have a tough road
(26:45):
because they're because they're gonna have to do it very
much on the back door. Unless unless you know, there's
as unless there's a massive ship the last two weeks. Uh,
if they have to They have to do it out
of that out of that sixth seed position. They have
to win on the road of the entire way, it's
be very difficult to do. Some Panthers centric questions before
(27:06):
we step aside, how does making the playoffs change the
way you view this season or does it not change
it at all? Oh? Obviously I think changes it just
to the fact that what we're we saying, it's like
heading into this year, I think where they're currently at,
or where they were at before the Tampa Bay game
last week was kind of how we viewed as a
(27:27):
year before the year, year before the year, realistic best
case scenario, and then making the playoffs, not as a
wild card but as an NFC South champs would be
best case scenario. So you view it as that. I
don't know necessarily if the year next year would be
like super Bowl or bust. No, but it's one of
those where it's like, all right, let's take the next step,
(27:48):
let's reclaim the division and let's make it a little
bit deeper. If you make it to the super Bowl, great,
But I also feel like the make or break here
for this team with the way it's currently constructed will
be twenty twenty seven. Well, I'll say this, if you
the playoffs this year, you've raised the floor in the
expectations of the fans absolutely, which makes you feel like, Okay,
the division containable in a season where you felt like
(28:08):
you weren't necessarily built to do a lot. That means
that this could be the most important offseason for Dan
Morgan and company because you have to do everything you
possibly can to maintain that floor. That's what making the
playoffs to me changes the way you view this season,
because that means now that the baseline is set, this
is a team that is among the best in the division.
(28:30):
We have to make sure that we maintain that and
then excel beyond that. The questions that have been answered
for me with this team is that Bryce Shung is
going to get a fifth year option, and he is
the quarterback for the next two seasons. What beyond that,
I think is still to be determined of what happens
the rest of this season and next year and the following.
(28:53):
I don't know if you're ready to give him a
long term contract yet. I wouldn't do it. You're gonna
get him for a bargain in your five comparatively, so
from that perspective, it's okay. But at the same point
in time, I don't know if you've had any long
term answers in that regard. And what is it be
answered to is how do you make this defense from
(29:14):
a personal standpoint good enough to the point where Azuerio
Avero can run it the way that it's meant to
be run. I e. Getting a safety next to Javon
Merrick that is up to his caliber, getting enough depth
at corner, getting enough depth at linebacker, and my kingdom
for a pass rush. Someone we mentioned in that we
(29:39):
were talking about Max Crosby basically being basically walking out
of the facility with the Raiders, and someone said, you know,
we were asking the question, would you give a first
round pick if you're the pantis from Max Crosby. Someone goes,
would you have to give up one of the young
edges too? I give up Princely for Max Crosby. Yeah,
and a heartbeat. I have to say that I don't
(30:00):
like Princely, but I expected a heck of a lot
more from him this year and it's been a lot
of nothing. I thought he's gonna.
Speaker 3 (30:07):
Be more raw.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I'm not as maybe shocked or disappointed as you, but
you maybe I thought we'd see impact plays. Though I
thought we see more impact plays from him, while also
being raw third round asdresser is not as much for me.
I just I just again, I thought they'd find ways
to scheme him free and they haven't. And again, a
(30:29):
lot of it's come down to they don't. They don't
send a lot of pressure. When they do, it usually
comes from the corner or the safety or that that
a gap linebacker blitz. So it is not a lot
of it's not a lot of stuff happening when it
comes to Princely in terms of a lot of times
he's left out there on an island to have to win,
and he has not won a lot of those matchups.
(30:51):
So from that perspective, again it's it's I'm not again,
I'm I'm I'm not saying it's all lost because I'm not.
I'm not. I'm not calling him DJ Johnson or eat
gross Matos. But I'm also, you know, not sitting here
and saying that he's above, you know, being a trade
prospect if you can get somebody like a Max Crosby.
Now you mentioned signing Treehgrancy. That's another option to as well,
(31:11):
but again that is a takes two to tango type scenario. Well,
we do the best audio we heard today, It's time
for smoking the headlines. Last check. Who is smoked? Where
is smoked? Where there's smoke, there's fire. Let's go all right.
I want to give an update Willy own the transfer portal.
(31:31):
The names that have been entered into it. A couple
of quarterbacks have entered themselves from the group of five level.
Anthony Calandria, the UNLV quarterback who was the quarterback last
year at Virginia, has re entered the transfer portal. Had
a great year for the running Rebels. Also, Alonza Barrett,
the third quarterback for James Madison, has entered himself into
(31:52):
the transfer portal. What's a note of that is, I
don't think he's going to go to UCLA because UCLA
has already resigned Nicoma, so he's probably not gonna go
with Bob Chesney's too la in that scenario, So he
could be a quarterback of note to go somewhere else
into transfer portal. Maybe someone in Chapel Hill should be
looking at that. And also names that have not injured
(32:16):
to transfer portal. Nick Harbor announced yesterday on Christmas Day
he is staying for one more year at South Carolina.
Dylan Stewart announced late last week he is staying, and
so did Leonora Sellers. So all three of the main
cogs in South Carolina's team, the main stars of sorts,
are staying with the game Cocks to go through revamped
team of next year. And also, do you want to
(32:37):
mention this one name that has entered to transfer portal
of note in the state. Noah Rodgers wide receiver from
NC State has entered the transfer port You see, my
old coworker got called out by Shade Meemer again. Yeah,
I did see that yesterday. Apparently my guy Phil Kornblue
said that Sellers and Stuart would combine the cost in
(32:57):
the neighborhood of five million dollars from the schools new
shared total. Beemer goes. Sounds like you need to do
much better sources. This is even remotely close to being true.
Hashtag anything for clicks, hashtag Merry Christmas. I would say
maybe three million, three and a half. I'd say two
at least for Sellers three and a half. I'd say
three and a half. Yeah, three and a half combined
and maybe get the four to four point twenty five
(33:20):
or something like that when you can bind Nick. So yeah,
but that's big for South Carolina to get all three
of those guys back, and to even get Kendall Briles
as oc. I think I'm expecting a bounce back here
for the game Poup. So I was looking at the
already clinched teams in terms of talking about teams that
have a busting canton. The Steelers are also in the
(33:41):
in the hunt Aaron Aaron Rodgers being the Hall of Fame,
So I just it still feels weird calling him Steelers
score right right. I didn't mean to not include him.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
I was.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
I was going off the teams that had already clinched
the spot. Yeah, you go in an I Watschka trip
and come back and do Radio Willie. Yeah, the best
audio we heard all day with the rewind next Shorts
Radio ninety to seven WFNZ. I don't mean to be
(34:14):
going back and forth with my guy Panthereo, because I
love the theory. And again, usually there's always the theory
of a team from the West coast going east and
playing at ten am body clock time. Unfortunately the team
uses a case study against This is not the Seattle
Seahawks number one, and not this head coach because he
(34:36):
is seven and oh in his first two seasons going
West to East playing at ten AM. I will say, though,
to Panthero's point, it is Christmas week that and LA
had a very very very very good record going from
west to east heading in and still do. I still
do going from west to east on nay and they
(34:58):
beat him, and they won that one, and that's nearly
a ten year sample size. Rams also beat the Seahawks,
ending a string of ten consecutive road games, one in
a row at Sofi Stadium. So from that perspective, there's
at least that to bring it out of the table.
I'm not saying it can't happen. I'm just telling you
of the things i'd put as factors as to why
(35:19):
I would not put the West to East thing. I'd
expect Seattle come in pretty pretty ready to play. It's
not time for thee one. Mike Kay from the Charlotte
Observer covers the Panthers for that great paper on what
needs to be the game plan for Carolina to beat Seattle.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
Stop Kenneth Walker. If Kenneth Walker gets off to a
really good early start, it's gonna be really tough to
defend Sam with Jack Smith, Na and Rashida heatter Rashid
Shaheed who absolutely burned them with the same last year.
(35:58):
So I kind of feel like the Seahawks are much
more talented offense for defense. And then I think defensively,
you know, they've got Devin Witherspoon, They've got some guys
who can just get after dudes, get Sir Laurence Leonard
Williams like they are staffed, and I think this is
(36:18):
going to be a tough cat for the Panthers, but
we've seen that they are very opportunistics. You need to
be a little bit like they were against the Rams,
where they take advantage of mistakes. And if anybody knows
that cam Donold can make some mistakes, it's the folks
who covered him in Carolina, and you just hope that
you can pressure him enough where he makes a.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Poor decision or four and you take advantage.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Run game is going to be big and we'll see
why aunt the Panthers can make it happen. I'm being
tasked by Panthers PSL Sucker to make an official prediction
on the game. Panthers thirty Seahawks twenty seven one Seahawks.
All right, that's fun. Not sad about it. I'm not
(37:07):
said about it. I'm okay with it. Also on the
rewind Mike Kaminski fantastic conversation on ACC hoops with him.
I asked him what it's been like having the ACC
feel like it's getting a lot of national respect back
in the eyes of those who cover college basketball.
Speaker 3 (37:22):
I think it's been good for our league. And uh,
you know, with North Carolina coming back and really having
a great non conference record of Virginia, I think has
been a bit of a surprise.
Speaker 5 (37:38):
You know, Ryan Odom getting there. Of course, you know,
people familiar with his dad, Dave at Wake Forest, and
you know Ryan grew up in Charlottesville, so you know,
he got things turned around quickly there. You know, there's
just a lot of Pat Kelsey at Louisville. I think
the league is much better prepared, a much better you know,
(38:04):
shaped to go into the NCAA Tournament. It's going to
be a lot of great competition and a lot of
stuff in the league for teams to get better.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Did Panther wor missb picking the Panthers. I've been depending
the Seahawks all show. I said, you said, I've been
depending the Seahawks were a good team. I didn't say
that were unbeatable by any stretch. We just had a
segment where we said no team is unbeatable this year.
That's what I said. I don't know why he's thinking
that I didn't. I've been all over settle to win.
That's about to say, does he did he have our
(38:34):
voices confused or something? He said, thank you smoke. That's
the first time that's happened. I picked the Panthers. Why
are you getting psyched?
Speaker 3 (38:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Matt al Key's a covering the Hornets for Sports Illustrated
onto John Salon growing right before our very eyes.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
The decision making has been a lot better. Charlotte has
really simplified his role. He takes corner three, he sets
a lot of screens, he crashes the rebounds hard. He
injects energy into the lineup.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
And into the spectrum center when the Hornets play home games,
because the passion that he.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Plays with is undeniable, and you can just see the
flashes of what the Hornets believe in every once in
a while when he gets the ball in transition and
does one of those dead leg euro steps and finishes
up and a round to defender, which is what he
did against Washington. He had a game in Toronto a
few weeks ago where I think he hit five threes.
So yeah, every game, every minute, every second that Tijon plays,
(39:32):
you can just see the light in his head just
become just that much brighter as he continues to develop
into hopefully a long term important piece in this Hornet's score.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
That is a rewind for a Friday, the twenty sixth
day of December twenty twenty five, is now time before
we step aside and say good night to tip our
caps courtesy of neogenics, where all you have to lose
is the pain got so, my captain Panthero, this is
the first time I've ever been compared to Willie p
(40:03):
and it's apparently our voices apparently there. I mean, I'm
not knocking your voice, but I have a deeper voice
than you. Interesting, I mean I can read higher octaves,
but I can't sustain it. I will tip our cap
to my wife, who knocked it out of the park
again with the gifts for Christmas seventh consecutive year. She's
(40:26):
beaten me on the gifts. So long may it continue? Well,
I was going to say sixty five more years of losing.
Hey man, it's like the Jets terrible ownership. I had
a fun time doing this week. Kyle is back on Monday.
I will be back with In for the Mac and
(40:47):
Bone Show on Tuesday. Hornets pre Game comes away next
to the horn is coming, ready to take on the magic.
So long, you're going to be dead in one hundred years. Anyway,
live dangerously
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