The Kyle Bailey Show With Will Palaszczuk: Mike Kaye

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is in that fame we go to Mike k
I didn't know that'd be math involved, but Mike joins
us here on the twenty sixth day of December, joins
us on WFNZ. Hello, Mike, how are you, sir?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm well, are you?

Speaker 1 (00:13):
I'm fantastic. So, in terms of how you can forecast
this game, does it feel like house money for the
Panthers or does it almost feel like they can throw
everything at this one and feel like they're okay as
long as they don't lay an egg.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I don't think house money. I mean they're playing with
house money right now. Yeah, But if you look at
them being eight and seven, if they want to make
the playoffs and they want to have a strong start
to the playoffs, they've got to keep their foot on
the gas. But you can say to yourself, is in
the grand scheme of things that they lose, they don't

(00:50):
lose out on the division. And so in that case,
this game, especially if the Eagles take care of business
in their game, like this game and the grand team
of things of the matter, because the only thing they'd
be chasing with a win here is the third seed.
So that's kind of a loaded answer, But to answer

(01:12):
your question, like, no matter what happens this week, the
Panthers and their fans should feel good about the home season.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Finale looking at the team as it sits. When I
talked to you a couple of weeks ago, you said,
good luck trying to figure out this team, because I
haven't yet. Are you any closer to figuring out exactly
how this team is from a mentality standpoint, consistency standpoint,
because it seems like all of those things have been

(01:42):
a wavering moving target over the course of this season.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
I mean, I think from a mentality standpoint, this team
plays very hard for their head coach. I think culturally
they have really over the last two years overhauled this building,
and the vibes are completely different, and not just because
you know they are winning. You know, eight they've won
more games than they've lost. Like even when they were
one in three, you could tell there was a belief

(02:08):
within the organization, within the locker room of lease, and
when they were you know, kind of hovering around five hundred,
maybe one game below or one game over, there were
guys who were referring to themselves playoffs contenders. So they
have a belief in themselves now. From an execution standpoint,
a play calling standpoint, I still don't think this team

(02:29):
has been consistent enough to say, oh, there it is.
But that said, when they run the football effectively and
they stop the run effectively, they are typically pretty good.
The thing that happens, though, is there will be a
game where, like last week, they weren't particularly good as
a running team, and Bryce Young carried them to a win.

(02:51):
The passing game carried them to a win. So I
think they're still kind of an anomaly in that regard.
But I think from her mind a standpoint, it's very
easy to figure them out. They want to out effortview
and sometimes that works when everybody he executes.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
What is the most surprising part about the Panther's success
this season.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
It's taking me a while to kind of figure out,
Dave Canalis honestly from a leader ship standpoint, But I
think what you've seen over the past five weeks is
the result this team has and their ability to bounce
back from being punched in the space. You know, they
could have easily quivered after that forty nine Ers loss,
they could have easily sunk after both Saints losses. They

(03:36):
did not do that. They were able to battle back,
and I think that speaks to the leadership in the building,
the leadership in the locker room, and the way to
save view this mission that they're on, because really we
brought up house money. I think talent wise, they've overachieved,
but they are exponentially more talented than they were last
year or the year before, and that's helped them out
as well. It's just a matter of when they execute

(03:58):
and when the play calling you down is when they
have a recipe, recipe excuse me for success.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
The surprising thing for me, we talked with Mike k
the Charlotte Observer, is that how many points of demarcation
we've seen in this team, how many almost kind of
forks in the road and crossroads that they have defeated,
And a lot of it kind of goes to their
daringness on fourth down. And I saw something on social
media the other day as I was digesting my Christmas Lasagna,

(04:26):
the converting the fourth down down seventeen to nothing against
the Dolphins, Like, if Bryce Young doesn't complete that throat
at Temac a lot of things could have happened, like
like Bryce Young could have gotten benched in that game,
they could have gone a different direction at quarterback, they
could have gotten blown out by the Dolphins. There could
have a lot of different things could have happened from

(04:47):
a chain reaction event standpoint, and that and succeeding events
since then have led to this magical run that they've
been on. And I guess I'm impressed with just how
much the resolve has stayed true, like you said, because
I think without that, we're asking a lot of the
same questions we asked last year.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Well, I quite infimously, it was on your guys' air
right after that Dolphins game, and I had mused that
maybe if Andy Dalton had played, they might have blown
out the the Dolphins, just because I thought he would
have a lack of turnovers. I was very silly and
very wrong, and clearly that wasn't the case if you

(05:31):
watched the Buffalo game. Sure, but I think what Bright's
young is kind of done, especially over the last five weeks,
has kind of shown that he can be the conductor
of the offense. He can be a guy who orchestrates
in tight pressure situations as well as on fourth down.

(05:52):
I think his resolve has been really impressive over the
last five games, he's thrown for ten touchdowns only at
two interceptions book came against the forty nine ers, and
he's completing sixty six point seven percent of his passes.
Like that's pretty good production. I know a lot of
stats are floating around like what he's produced, and he
was benched in Week two of last year, but really,

(06:15):
the last five weeks to me have shown you who
this guy is before it's you know, it's nice to
put up stats when your season's basically over and you're
just trying to prove yourself and you're trying to show
that you can be the starter of the next season.
What he's doing right now is showing you that the
Panthers can legitimately contend with him at quarterback, and I

(06:35):
think that that is a very impressive feat, especially given
where he's come from.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Well, that's the thing that I think there are people
who sit themselves in two different camps. There are those
who believe that the Panthers mitigate the limitations of Bryce Young,
whereas others say he's continuing to develop as his weapons
develop and as his head coach develops. I feel like
I'm more on the latter side than the former side.

(07:02):
How do you sit.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
I'm kind of in the middle. I think, does Brice
me to supporting cast that's competent, Absolutely do. I think
he's also kind of out playing with the coaching at
times and the play calling at times. Yeah. So, I
think it's one of those things where development isn't linear.
You and I are both objective observers who are watching

(07:25):
this stuff. When when he played poorly, you criticize. When
you see him play really well, you praise, And for
the most part, down the stretch of the second half
of the season, we've seen him step up orchestrate the offense,
do a lot of things that he did not do
in previous years. Even as he had that really nice

(07:45):
run the second half of last year. The pressure is
on him. This is go mode time for him, and
I think what's what I've been most impressive impressed by
is the fact that whether it's the fourth down play
for a string bowler having to improvise, he's more than
not had answers. This forty nine Ers game was brutal,

(08:06):
it was ugly, But in between all of that, I
thought he played relatively well against the same game, and
I thought play calling let him down the fourth quarter
and that's why they lost. But really, I mean since
that Atlanta game, things have clicked and I think he
is a He is an improved player with a pretty
decent feeling. Does that mean that he should be the
franchise quarterback for the next ten years? No? Does it

(08:29):
mean that they should pick up his fifth year option
for half of the price of Rock Purdy? Probably?

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Mike k joining us from the Charlotte Observer, I want
to ask you about the defense before I ask you
about the route the victory, because I think the defense,
I sometimes find myself sitting there and seeing how many
yards they give up and then being amazed at how
well they execute with the you know, Fangio, ask Ben,
don't break Moniker. They get turnovers, which is something they

(08:56):
didn't do a lot last year. They're finding ways to
get off the field and turn seven's into threes. How
do you, I guess, assess with this defense is which
is still I think an incomplete exercise based on their personnel,
but at the same point in time miles better than
they were a year ago.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah. I think this defense, which not necessarily deemphasizes but
doesn't place as much important in the middle of the field.
What I mean by that is inside linebacker and safety.
You see those lamps. But I also think, like you
said mentioning Fangio, I mean, Everro coached under him, and
he was a relatively big influence. And I think you're seeing,

(09:35):
even with a much less talented team than Fantio's previous groups,
especially the Eagles, right now, he's making it work. I
think having j C. Horn and Derek Brown is huge
having them both together as jac continues to ascend and
Derek Brown's come back from injury like nothing even happened. Arguably,

(09:56):
he's been much more improved. He leaves all defensive line
in his pass breakup. He's got a career high in sack.
It is an utter and complete joke that he is
not a Pro Bowler. I understand that the other three
guys deserved it too, but they need to do something
about the way that Pro Bowl voting is constructed, and
how about whatever. That's a whole other tangents. But that said,

(10:18):
I think you look at Nick Gordon, who is the
runaway defensive rookie of the year for this team. He's
been tremendous, and I think the stafeties have played relatively well.
Nick Scott got a lot of hate in the offseason
and in the summer and early in the season, but
he's played fine. Like he's not been great, but he
hasn't been like a complete liability either. And I think

(10:38):
Trevon Marrik changes so much about this defense because of
his versatility. It's really impressive.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
It certainly is. And I agree with you on Scott.
He is He's had some moments, had the interception, of course,
and has done some some very marked big things. Is
it just carbon copy of the ram game and bring
it to here or are the different things about this
contest that you look at, say Carolina can take advantage of.
Obviously there's the Sam angle of this, but what is

(11:04):
the route to victory for Carolina on Sunday?

Speaker 2 (11:07):
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, Nisba and Rashid to heat
your Rashid Shaheed who absolutely burned them with the Saint
last year. So I kind of feel like the Seahawks

(11:32):
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
Lawrence Leonard Williams like they are staffed, and I think
this is gonna be a tough pat for the Panthers,
but we've seen that they are very opportunistics they do.

(11:54):
You need to be a little bit like they were
against the Rams, where they take advantage of mistakes. And
if anybody knows that Tim Darnold can make some mistakes,
it's the folks who covered him in Carolina. And you
just hoped that you can pressure him enough where he
makes a poor decision or four and you take advantage.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
That's about to say, I remember a lot of those mistakes, Mike,
Mike Cave from the Child Observer. Appreciate the time as always. Man,
I'll see you on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
Sounds great. Thanks for having me