December 3, 2025 • 48 mins
In the first hour of the show, Walker and Flounder react to a strong performance from the ACC in the first day of the ACC/SEC Challenge, discuss the Dan Graziano report about the Panthers likely picking up Bryce's 5th-year option and talk about fantasy football etiquette.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Crout Walker.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Only Sports Radio ninety two point seven. Half m coming
you FNC play fine, He's the Weston Walker Show. Even
a crowd knows what's coming there.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Happy warcrime Wednesday, folks, it's Wes and Walker Sports Radio
ninety two to seven wfn Z, flound Dog co hosting
once again. He'll be co hosting the rest of the week.
West still off at least for this week. Then he's
back on Monday from twelve to three, so it is
still the westless West and Walker on Sports Radio ninety
two seven WFNZ. We're broadcasting live from the Channel vaulta
(00:46):
studio CB Injury Law dot com, cebe Injury Law dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
One call.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
That's all the Carolina's personal injury lawyers. At last, but
not least, we want to hear from your baby. FanDuel
text line seven oh four five seven oh ninety six ten.
The number two text us is seven oh four five
seven oh ninety six ten. I gotta tell you I'm giddy.
Not only do we have a war cry Wednesday to
get the energy flow in just a little bit. It's
basically a shot of caffeine to your face, audible caffeine
(01:15):
to your face. I'm here to give to you on
this war cry Wednesday. But you know what else has
me giddy? The acc showing up when it's around ball time.
I look, I found out. I know, we talked about
it a little bit yesterday. I want to save some
of this for actually riding the bus. When I don't
have Wes with me, I'm not as disciplined the father
on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's got a walking to work instead of taking the bus.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
You know a lot of what I'm healthier right, But
at the same time, we need to ride the bus.
People need to hear mac Brown say we look good
getting off of the bus, and I deprive them of that.
When I don't stay disciplined, I will say. Watching everything
happen last night, all the basketball, all the round ball,
because it's what we do around here, it made me think, man, wait,
(01:57):
it is what we do around here.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
As he's you can't take this. You got football, man, this.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Is what you have with the college football playoff Committee
giving you the benefit of the doubt. We can't give
you the benefit of the doubt. And roundball two. This
is what we do. And more importantly, I am so
glad that all the programs in the ACC this offseason
decided that yeah, yeah, this is what we do. We
need to get back to it all right. At NC State,
they decided, now we're a basketball school. We were reminded
(02:27):
of that on that final four run. And here's all
of the money, will weighed. We need to get back
to playing some basketball at a high level North Carolina,
none of this inconsistent stuff anymore. Let's just go ahead
and give you all of the money and get with
the times. And let's go ahead and win a couple
of games against blue bloods that are ranked within the
top twenty five. Duke is always at the top. They
(02:48):
deserve all the credit in the world for consistently being there.
But even Louisville, a team that won the twenty thirteen championship.
Let's not remind anybody of the Kenny Payne years anymore.
Let's go after Pat Kelsey and let's spend all of
the KFC money extra crispy.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Let's be extra crispy this year.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I love it Virginia, like I I am glad that
we sit here today with the ACC being on top
of the SEC in the ACC SEC Challenge six to three.
All we need is three victories tonight. Now you look
the schedule, slate's a little more difficult for the hometown
conference doesn't look good. I think you can knock on
(03:27):
wood as I like to do around here, just to
exercise the demons. But what I want to do is
bank on a win from Louisville, even if it is
against the ranked opponent tonight. I think that's one that
you feel like you have. You hope to have it.
You have to get if you're gonna win the challenge,
you have to have Louisville win the other two wins Virginia,
NC State are those the teams that we're looking at.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
If you can put your.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
NC State, I'm sharing, I'm staring right at Georgia Tech.
Come on, man, I mean, well, because they're SIMP State's
not good.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
But no, you're helping us out. You're right, Georgia Tech
is not good. Neither is Mississippi State. It is hilarious
that it might just come down to not towards the bottom,
but at the bottom, the teams at the bottom of
the ACC and the SEC. It's a battle between those
two teams to win the division. It's kind of like
me in high jump. For Bunker Hill's track team placing
(04:20):
in the top eight to give us a point in
order to win the conference championship. It's only because I
was good at the Fostbury Flop. I wasn't good at
high jumping, per se. I was just good at the form.
But all we needed to do was getting to the
top eight, and you get a point.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I got one of those points. Floundy.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
If Georgia Tech can just give us one of those points,
doesn't matter who you beat. We don't need to call
you good the rest of the way. You ain't going
to dance and that's not happening with the Yellow Jackets.
Can you beat Mississippi State and get us the ACC challenge?
I want this and I knew I knew I wanted
it yesterday. I don't know if I knew I wanted
it this badly coming in and then seeing it right
(04:58):
in front of me, I want to grab it before
or it disappears right in front of my face.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And you know what I.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Need to see right after this challenge is over, and
if the ACC wins it, you better put Joe Lenardi
on television and let him break this down because he
has been a guy that has been talking for years
about how the ACC is down. This is not a
conference that deserves tournament teams. Well, if they win this challenge,
(05:23):
what are you gonna say?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
They need them to shut up, is what I need
them to do. Yeah, if they're gonna try to spread that,
then I need them to shut up. If the ACC
wins this challenge, no doubt about it. Everybody is performing
exactly how they're supposed to at this moment in time.
The only real disappointment was Wake Forest falling behind the
way that they did. That's the biggest disappointment. And I
(05:46):
wanted to work out for Steve Forbes so bad. I
love the dude. I do think he's smart. It's not
happening for him. It just can't. Every single close game,
every single big game down the stretch, when we get
to ACC tournament time, they're gonna lose just enough to
be right on the outside looking in. That's what happens
at Wake Forest, and it's frustrating.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Here.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You have two really tough losses against great opponents to start,
and then against Oklahoma, Okay, you got an SEC opponent,
what are you gonna do? Close battle, close battle? Oklahoma
starts to drive away that's that's the most frustrating part
of what we saw from the ACC last night.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I think because that game felt like for a
while that it was a toss up game. It felt
like Wake at Home would be the team that would
have the advantage, and then all of a sudden, you
look up late as the game starts to get late
in the second half, and here goes Oklahoma just pulling away,
and you're like, how did it get this bad? And
(06:43):
the thing about Oklahoma, I don't know if that's an
NCAA tournament team. It might be, but if it's not,
you have a loss that's probably gonna end up Quad two.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It's a brutal loss. Man, it's not good.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
It's a tough one for Wake because if you're trying
to build a tournament resume, like you're looking at it,
these are the opportunities you have to take advantage of.
Not saying Oklahoma is a great opportunity, but that's one
you've got to take care of. Just feels like we're
in the same spot with Wake where they're going to
be right on the precipice of potentially making the tournament.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And we'll come back to that Oklahoma game.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And say that was the game that keeps them out
of the tournament field.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
They didn't do what Syracuse did last night because they
have all of these ranked opponents that they're facing because
they want to schedule tough, and Syracuse gets the win
over Tennessee. That's the big one. We talked about it yesterday.
I topologize. You've been hide doubt at him. You've been
doubt at him, you've been hating on him. Brett Autrey,
you got it done, brother, say I need it, needed
(07:41):
it too. All right, let's not waste any more time.
We got a warcry, got a war cry about the ACC.
Even without Wes, Wes usually tries to outlast me. I'm
glad that I'm not going to have any Wes competition,
But me and Flounder are going to bring it. You
guys know the drill at the count of three. I
want everybody to let out all of that energy for
the holiday season. Maybe you're still working off that turkey
(08:03):
weight after Thanksgiving. Maybe you can burn a few calories
with this yell. Pulling for the ACC in both college
basketball and college football. Bryce Derek Brown comeback Player of
the Year. Oh it's all, It's all here on westn Walker.
Let's war cry about it at the count of three,
wherever you are one, two, three, to wait for the.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
AC What a wait for Carolina basketball.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I know it doesn't look great, but I love it.
Let's get off the bus flounding. We look good getting
off the bus.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
A couple of good games too, from some of the
blue bloods here in the ACC. Let's start with Duke
and Florida, because they tipped off before North Carolina and Kentucky.
Duke had this one controlled for most of the game.
They were up fifteen points on the Gators, and many
people believe that Duke was going to win by double digits.
(09:02):
I know you said that yesterday, you weren't the only one.
A lot of people felt like Duke was going to
control this game the entirety of the game, and Florida
they came back. Boogie Flanned hit a couple of really
impressive shots to not only bring Florida back but also
give them the lead. And then Isaiah Evans, all slim,
after not shooting well all night long, hit the most
(09:24):
crucial bucket and it was Cam Boozer keeping them in
this game offensively hitting a ton of shots a ton
of tough, contested shots down low. He had a big
three as well to stay Florida off just enough during
the boogie flanned flurry of shots that he was hitting
at the end of this game, but it was Isaiah
Evans who hit the biggest shot in Duke. They escaped
with a victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium. What did you
(09:47):
think about this Duke Florida game? Did it say anything
about the Blue Devils? Are you more positive about them
as a basketball team or negative after watching what they
did against the game.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I'm kind of just where I was with them, I think.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And my thing is I have said that I think
they're the favorite to win the ACC. I know a
lot of people are on the Louisville bandwagon. They believe that,
especially with MIKEL Brown there, they've got a great chance
to win this conference. But it just looks like Duke
is so deep. They've got so many guys that can
make plays. I mean, the guy that we were complaining
about at point guard that wasn't necessarily doing.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A whole lot.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And you wanted to see more of Caden Boozer, Well
you saw more of them.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
He looked good.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Then Caleb Foster comes up with the biggest play of
the game, maybe with the steal that was huge after
the three from Isaiah Evans, So I mean everybody stepped
up for them.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I think Evans, you know, that's a huge shot for him.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
He was oh of seven from beyond the arc before
he takes that shot, just having an off night, but
when they needed him, he ends up knocking down that shot.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And Cameron Boozer, man, kid's a player.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
He's it's not the sexiest, but it's very similar to
his dad. I never watched Carlos Boozer's game and said,
by god, this is one of the most fun guys
in the league to watch. But it's effective and that's
what you keep seeing from him. I mean, he's got
a three game stretch right now where he's scoring thirty
plus points per game.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So with CA and you mentioned his dad, the difference
is his dad played with among the best duke teams
of all time, and so he wasn't the focal point.
It's all about Cameron Boozer. With this team, it's everybody
surrounding Cam Boozer that has all of the ancillary responsibilities.
But really, if you're gonna score the basketball. You're throwing
him the basketball ten of twenty one, the next most
(11:33):
amount of shot attempts came from Slim Evans with fourteen,
after that Foster with seven. So I will say this,
that is the part that worries me just a little
bit about Duke. I can't help but compare it to
last year, and I can't help but think about the
basketball popping to all sorts of different areas of the floor,
everybody getting their shots, everybody being so smart knowing where
(11:55):
the basketball is supposed to go, everybody playing their role
to the one hundred percent or the one hundred percent tile.
What they were able to do with con and Cooper
and what you had with Kaman Malawatch, like those guys
were fantastic. This time, it feels like I can trust
Slim to hit shots. Cam Boozer is gonna be a
force down low, and he's gonna make it hard, but
(12:17):
he is gonna go to the free throw line even
if he's not hitting some of those shots that are
closely contested right by the rim. Other than that, as
much as I love Gongba, he's more of a defensive force.
Malik Brown, I was good last night. Yeah, No, he was,
He was great, gongba was great last night, had eleven points,
hit a couple threes. They almost baited him into shooting
(12:39):
that wide open three a couple of possessions before Isaiah
Evans hits the go ahead. Other than that, I just
don't feel like you have as many threats to score.
And Damesar, I don't think is what we all thought
he would be. Dame Sar I thought would come in
and really help this team out as that secondary scoring option.
And he only played seventeen minutes last night, a goose
(13:01):
egg oh of one from the field. So, like I think,
for me, flound, I'm not worried about Duke. There's still
going to be a great basketball team. They're going to
be a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Boozer looks
fantastic after somewhat of a slow start, still looks great.
I not much ball movement, and that worries me, and
I allow that to have us transition to North Carolina
(13:23):
game where I thought it.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Was taking Yeah, man, that sounded weird. Look so you
just hang around fitting too much?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, probably. The ball movement is a thing.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We have to be able to say ball movement in
basketball and not have our mind go to the goak.
I would hope so, but now you got me thinking
about it either way. North Carolina also guys are just
standing around. I thought offensively, it just wasn't a whole
lot of flow to what this team did. I think
that's because of a couple of things here. Flound one,
(13:53):
they don't have your traditional point guard. We've talked about it.
The big talking point today is Kayan Evans, who I loved,
who Fitty loved, all of the metrics, watching.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Past tens, fast sense for Fitty, past.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Tense for Fitty. I still really like him, and we
can talk about what his role should be on this team.
But I know what it shouldn't be right now, and
that's being the starting lead ball handler. That responsibility belongs
to Derek Dixon. After the way that he stepped up
in clutch time, stepped back three bang, and then the
pick and role that he had with Henry Vasar where
(14:28):
he just takes it all the way to the rack
on the left side. Carolina ends up winning that one.
They beat Kentucky on the road, sixty seven to sixty four.
So still some issues. But here's the thing. You escape
Rupp Arena with the victory. That's a big win against
the number eighteen team in the country. And I can't
even tell you that North Carolina played anything close to
its best brand of basketball.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
No, that's the thing is that this was nowhere near
where you're hoping that Carolina can get to. This was
arguably the worst game we've seen them play this year.
I mean, you could make the argument that Michigan State
was worse, but there were some moments in this game
where offensively, I mean, they were doing nothing. There was
a stretch where Kentucky didn't score for over eight minutes
(15:14):
and they were still losing by six. Yeah, because they
couldn't hit a shot. And yet somehow this team comes
out of nowhere because all of a sudden, the decision
to leave Derek Dixon in the game, which there were
probably people at home. I wasn't necessarily questioning it because
I thought he had been solid enough throughout the night
that he was going to be able to handle it.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But there were probably people.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
At home questioning why is he in the game, And
all of a sudden, this dude is the guy that
hits a step back three and then drives to the
lane and finishes through, you know, a little bit of contact,
something that nobody else was able to do on the night.
I mean, we were talking during the game, me and Fiddy,
talking about how this team just looks soft. These turnovers
(15:57):
are soft, they're not finishing strong in outside of Henry Vassar,
and then you get that moment from Derek Dixon that
is an amazing It's an amazing win for Carolina because,
as I said yesterday, unless Kentucky just completely falls off
the face of the planet does not make the NCAA tournament,
(16:19):
that's a guaranteed Quad one win. So it's ugly, but
that was what Carolina needed. And yet you can still
play so much better, man, so much better, and I
think these guys will as the season goes along, especially
Caleb Wilson, who wasn't great last night.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
And give us your college basketball thoughts on the FanDuel
text line seven oh four five, seven oh ninety six
to ten. Will read some of your text messages on
the other side of the break, get to some college
football playoff conversation as well. But also Dan Graziano. He
reports that the Panthers are expected to pick up Bryce
Young's fifth year option. What does that mean for the
quarterback and the organization. We'll talk about it coming up
(16:56):
next on WESN. Walker Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
(17:18):
Danny Green dancing somewhere ufter Carolina's victory over Kentucky last night,
North Carolina winning sixty seven to sixty four over Kentucky
and the ACC. They're currently on top of the SEC
in the two Conferences Challenge. Dude getting to win against Florida.
Syracuse got the victory against Tennessee. That's the big one
if the ACC is gonna win the challenge. Syracuse getting
(17:41):
that victory over thirteenth ranked Tennessee, that's the big one.
They win sixty two to sixty over Rick Barnes squad,
Virginia Tech getting the dub over South Carolina eighty six
to eighty three. The bad one for the ACC, really
just in margin of defeat, is wake suffering the loss
they did to Oklahoma, almost losing by twenty eighty six
(18:01):
to sixty eight. That was a close game. They were
only down two. Wake Forest was down two at the half,
and then they allowed almost fifty points in the second half.
Not good enough for them. We expected a and m
to take care of Pittsburgh. They did Miami over all.
Miss that was going to be a close one. Lucas
got his first head coach. Jay Lucas got his first
win on the road as Miami's head coach. Georgia, they
(18:25):
take care of Florida State. Georgia, they look good. They
scored one oh seven. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
People were telling me yesterday, and I admittedly have not
watched them play this year. There are no games that
really caught my interest as opposed to some of the
other games. Told me this was a ridiculous offensive team.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I believe you. Yeah, I did do it for you.
In Florida State.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I don't think Florida State's going to be bad this year.
They've got some not as bad as they've been in
years past. I don't think they're a tournament team. But
this is a team that competed with Florida. They lost
to them by two. Yeah. Uh So, Georgia beats Florida
State one of seven to seventy three. Notre Dame gets
the last ACC win and the acc SEC challenge seventy
six to seventy one over Willie p University, Missouri called.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Into question last Yeah, apparently fit. He texted him and
he said.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
The referees at the end cost us the game. So shocking.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
You know what, it's really stunning that he would go
after officiating.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We've never seen him go after officiating.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Do you think he's got to be the guy at
the station that rips on officials the most?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Oh? Who else is it?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Smoke? Smoke. Smoke is pretty pmogus bad with the man.
Yeah he is, he is on them.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
But the whole game. I feel like Willy's louder about
it that you're not. What's pretty loud loud? What do
you mean, Willy's not loud? Smoke's pretty loud about it
to Smoke's pretty loud about it too.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know those were both moments where he was going
after the referees. That's that's where we get our sound.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Here's what in your group chat, I would like for
you to tell Willy if he's going to complain about
the refs, then he has to send an audio message.
He can't test, so we hit Yes, I was not
that was not an officiating one. That was about the
Panthers caller, but still good moment. But yes, that that
would be the response we would probably get if we said, well, imagine,
(20:24):
send an audio message, why so.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You can make fun of me.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I don't want to bring this up again, I guess
I will, though I didn't listen to what exactly happened
between the two, but I tuned into Mac and Bone
the segment tuned in after I guess the segment that
they had just finished talking to Willy and apparently Fiddy
went too far, And I never really got the full
story on how far Fitty went against Willy running But
(20:51):
apparently these two are going to have b for a
while now. I did hear Fiddy apologize. It was like
seeing a unicorn. I saw fit I heard happened.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It was a low blow, it was it was a
incredibly like this is this is so far below the
belt it might have been on his feet.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
No, I mean this was bad.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, it's pretty bad, so pretty it's pretty seems bad
enough to where we shouldn't be bringing it up.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
No, I would not No, No, I mean I'm saying
I would not say what was said. I would not
repeat it on the air because I have some respect.
Oh wow, but yeah, this is gonna be a tough
one for those two to repair you get.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You get Fitty. Well that's the thing. It's not even that.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
If you get Fitty mad enough, then he'll blow past
the boundaries. He just does it really anyway, in a
lot of different areas.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
So I'm sorry, Willie.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
You know you can't. You can't trust those guys. And
I know Mac is just egging it on. I know
he is. He can say, oh, Fitty, that's a low blow.
But I know Mac is like secretly doing the Tiger
Woods fist bump under the desk.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
He would never come on Great Radio. He would never
throw somebody under the bus for the name of radio. Yeah, no,
that's true. He never does that.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Jeff, the Braves fan, says Smoke will be livid after
the ACC Championship game. What ACC officials can't find, They
will make up new rules. Yes, you're not wrong to
bring Smoke's name up. Let's leave it to the FanDuel
text line. Who do you feel like you hear complain
about officials more Smoke on the critically acclaimed Kyle Bailey
Show from three to six or Willie on the critically
(22:22):
acclaimed sports radio station Anywhere from six am to six pm.
I said, August and the postgame show and Charlotte FC games.
He's got a lot of platforms at various time slots
to where he can complain about the officials. Willy or
Smoke who complains about him more.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, Look, it's a good point because you do have
Willy doing the Panthers postgame show. I'm assuming that he's
complained about the officials there. I've heard him.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
He might do it tonight, complain about the officials with
Sam Farber. It'll be live sham, you know what.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I definitely saw some rough moments out there from the officiating. Yeah,
and then we know that he's going after the officials
sometimes on the soccer air waves. So yeah, I think
I'm just I'm making my case that it's Willy. But
I do think that Smoke is right there. I think
it's very close. Yeah, fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
We've got people still writing in on the Fandel text
line ultra nostalgia, great Willie p impersonation. I don't know
who has the best one. I think it might be you.
Smoke also does a great one. I think Fiddy's is
the worst, but he has other impressions so he can't
take offense to that. It is funny whenever it's sad
that I don't like it's Trump. I think it's Trump's
pretty rough. Well, we heard I heard him talking about
(23:38):
it today. There were plenty of people saying that they
want Fitty to do it. I don't think it's rough.
It does sound a little cartmany. I know that has
been a criticism of It's a good point. He does
sound like he's telling everyone to you know, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
If I could say that. Yeah, Gillan head, that's what
I didn't know if I could say. But fair enough,
we just said it.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
So know if he was impersonating Cartman or Donald Trump,
it's funny either way, So keep doing it, Fitty, Big
text Willy just sounds like someone who got hot water
poured on him.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I guess that's with some of the calls that are there.
I don't know if he wants to pour hot water
on the officials, but I do think it's between those
two guys. All right, let's dive into some Panthers conversation.
Dan Grasiano. He reported yesterday that the Panthers aren't expected
to exercise Bryce Young's fifth year option, something that I
have been saying for really for a while now that
(24:37):
I expect Carolina to do, and I think it's the
right move, But I don't want to paint a picture
to suggest that I have been mandating Carolina do this
for the entire season because I believe so much in him. Right,
It's been what everybody has called Bryce Young's season so far.
It has been a roller coaster year for him. We
have seen some descents and we've seen some since. I
(24:59):
think what we saw from him against LA that was
my favorite game that I've seen him play flounder. Even
that game against Atlanta where he threw for almost four
hundred and fifty yards, I think a lot of that
was he was special. Like we take zero credit away
from what he did. It just felt like against that
team that I still believe to be the best team
in football, even after the loss, on fourth downs and
(25:22):
on third down and throwing with accuracy and confidence and
stepping up to the plate again at home excited. There
wasn't any problems in the first half. It's not like
he gave us early turnovers and then came back from
those early turnovers. He just played really clean football the
entire way. That's my favorite game I've ever seen Bryce
(25:45):
Young play. In my opinion, even with that, we know
that he did have the Atlanta Falcons game, he did
have the Dallas Cowboys game. He did just enough against
Green Bay. There were some problems in that one. We
leaned more so on Rico Daddle in that one. Even still,
you got the job done. He's done enough to justify
Carolina picking up this fifth year option in my opinion. Now,
(26:08):
we still are going to have to answer that one question,
the big time contract extension. How much should that contract
be worth? They are going to have to answer that,
And I don't know what the answer is to that
question right now. The good news is you don't have
to answer it right now. All you got to do
is figure out if he's worth twenty six and a
half million dollars, which is what this fifth year option entails.
(26:30):
That would put him outside of the top twenty paid
quarterbacks in the league. That to me seems more than justifiable.
In fact, it seems advisable. Flounder, I'm cool with Carolina
with what we've seen so far. Unless something drastically changes
from here on out, this is the right move to me,
as long as everything Dan Graziano reports is true.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, I think it certainly is the right move.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
He's shown you enough because you see the moments like
la which I I would agree with you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I think is his best game.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Because the thing about the Falcons is the Falcons they're
just a it's a weird team. When it comes to him,
he always succeeds.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Again. Well, and my thing about the Falcons is, man,
you've heard me talk about it all season long. I
get things right, I get things wrong. I always felt
like they were fraudulent. Just that defense. There's the number
one passing defense, like yep, man, lookause it's because they
run against all those guys that have light keasters that
they draft in order to rush the passer. They're not
very big, so teams just run against them all of
(27:32):
the time. And they do have some talented guys in coverage.
I don't want to take that away from him, but
the defense, it always felt fraudulent to me, and Carolina
picked him apart. Bryce Young' did exactly what he was
supposed to do. It does not take any credit. The
guy threw for four hundred and fifty yards. Man, there's
a zero credit taken away from me. It's just this
Rams team has pass rushers Galore and Bryce through dots
(27:56):
to t Maac to Jalen Coker and Clutch got have
it situations. Even the Cuba Hubbard swing pass, where all
of that is pretty much Tuba. Maybe that's even a
tiny bit inaccurate because the swing pass was right on
the money, hits Tuba right and stride right on the
money for him to propel himself forward to burst through
that gap and score the touchdown. I loved everything I
(28:19):
saw from Bryce in bad weather, all of it my
favorite performance.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, I mean, I think and that's fair.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I think it is a really strong performance from him because,
as you said, I think that the Falcons defense was
rather suspect. There's nothing suspect about this La Rams team.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I see this team as the best team in the
NFL right now, even still after that loss. So I mean,
for you to be able to do it in those
weather conditions, I think that certainly means that he's taken
steps in the right direction. So again, it's the fifth
year option. That's the other thing that people have to understand.
This is mean that they are necessarily saying we are
(29:02):
going to sign him long term, but they want to
see Okay, you're gonna have to continue to build off
of this, but we like what we've seen so far
this year. I mean, yeah, it's the inconsistencies. It's the
same thing with the team in general. It's just it's
been an up and down year where there's moments where
he looks like he has a chance to be a
franchise quarterback, and then there's other moments where you say,
(29:24):
oh my gosh, is this guy really the franchise quarterback
for the Panthers or is this someone that you know
could be here for another couple of years, and then
we're looking to move on. So I think picking up
the fifth year option makes the most sense. It allows
you to continue to explore whether or not he's the guy,
and I think with the fact that you're basically saying
(29:46):
he's in year two, because that's where I think people
have to realize the first year throw it out the window,
that doesn't really matter. Now he's married with Dave Canalis
and we've seen two years of it so far. We've
seen more success, I think, than we've seen struggles. So
(30:09):
I think this is certainly the right move for them.
I think it makes a ton of sense, and you know,
for me, I think, you know, he could be trending
towards getting that extension.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I think right now he's trending towards that, except everything
is so fickle with the way that he's played so
far on a week to week basis. And I know
Bryce young fans want me and others to put context
around that and always mention impairing that the team has
been inconsistent, that Dave Canalis has been inconsistent, and I'm
(30:40):
not trying to ignore that fact. We're talking about the
quarterback right now. There are lots of things that affect
quarterback play, but Bryce himself has also been inconsistent, Like
that's okay to say, and it's why Dan Graziano win
this report mentions this paragraph quote, It's hard to really
know what the long term outlook is when the swings
are this wild week to week. The Panthers will have
(31:02):
to decide by the first week of May whether to
pick up the fiftyear option for twenty twenty seven. I
expect them to do that because the cost will be
reasonable around twenty six and a half million dollars. But
then the question becomes what to do after that. That's
still the question and I'm not sure because as we
talk about the top paid quarterbacks in the league, Okay,
(31:23):
you see Dak Prescott, he's the pacemaker at sixty million dollars.
I don't even I don't know why I've decided to
go with medical hardware. There, Dak Prescott sixty million dollars
a year, he's the top paid QB in the league.
Joe Burrow fifty five million, Josh Allen fifty five million.
We go down all the way to Justin Fields making
(31:43):
twenty million, Baker Mayfield making thirty three slot Baker Mayfield
right in the middle of those two guys, And isn't
that funny how the pay It doesn't always work out
this way, but the pay kind of represents what I
think the median opinion is on him. Justin Fields had
a couple of different opportunities to prove that he's a
(32:05):
starting quarterback, and eventually just it wasn't gonna happen for him.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I can't believe that that shows you where the league is.
The fact that that dude's getting paid twenty million dollars
is mind blowing.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
So he's had a chance with Chicago, he had a
chance with Pittsburgh. He had a chance with the Jets.
Right making twenty million, Bryce Young has been better than
Justin Fields.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
On Baker Mayfield is next in line as a reclamation
project who eventually did figure it out on a thirty
three million dollar deal, and Baker isn't making as Bryce
is not making as much as Baker.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
It feels right.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
It's funny how the fifth year option kind of works
out this way, where I do think he's getting paid
what he's shown us for the most part, right over
Justin Fields for sure, under Baker Mayfield. That makes sense
to me. Now, Gino Smith making thirty seven million not
playing up to that level this year by any stretch
of the imagination, but had played up to that level
(33:00):
with his years in Seattle forty million for Stafford forty
five from a homes And then you get a little
wonky because of, you know, just the way that the
market kind of plays out. So are we going to
pay fifty million dollars annually to Bryce Young?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
That ultimately becomes the question.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
If you're Bryce are you cool with settling for forty
with the going rate for starting quarterbacks in the league,
starting quarterbacks that were drafted by the team that's about
to give them that extension.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That just doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Those quarterbacks and those types of contract negotiations, they don't
get anything less than forty forty five. They don't get
anything less than top ten QB money. So that's what
you have to ask yourself. The good news is we
don't have to answer it right now. All you got
to do is give them the fifth year option, continue
to build around them, and maybe we parlay this into
a playoff situation, not only this year, but back to
(33:51):
back seasons, back to back winning seasons, which has eluded
this fan base forever. We've never had it, even when
we thought it was right in our grasp with the
Panthers starting off six and two after a winning season
and then they only win one game in the second half,
Like I, maybe we can do it in twenty twenty
five and twenty twenty six where we see Carolina get
(34:12):
back to back winning seasons. I want to read some
of your text messages on this topic on the FanDuel
text line seven oh four five seven ninety six ten.
We can come back and talk more about that fiftyeer
option and plenty of other stuff to get to you
right here. On WESN. Walker Sports Radio ninety two to
seven WFNZ. Boties this Wednesday, move your booty with me,
(34:40):
won't you? Western Walker Sports Radio, ninety two to seven WFNZ.
I like to think that Wes's Spidey senses are tingling
wherever he is right now, and he got a little
jolt of rhythm running through a system.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
He might still be sleeping, you think so. Do you
think he's a late sleeper?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I mean, oh, I don't think so. Oh, you don't
think so? All right, So maybe he's up.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
And grooving only because we've talked about it before, Wes
Bryant wakes up pretty early. Whether that, yeah, I do
remember that conversation now, whether it be working out, whether
it be father duties. It's also twelve forty five. I
hope he's awake, even if he's spent.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
So you don't think you could sleep till twelve forty five? No, No,
can't do it now.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I don't know if I could get there just solidly
sleeping twelve forty five as late.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Yeah, the times that I could sleep till twelve forty
five was high school and college after a night out,
and I mean like a night out I mean not
getting back home until four am, five am, that kind
of night out, and even then I still would probably
wake up one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
There have been a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I don't know if anybody else has run into this
issue before, but there were a couple of times where
before I would go out during football season, I would
set my fantasy football lineup the night before, just in
case left all the way up until one o'clock kick
It was like my number one responsibility. It was phone keys, wallet,
(36:09):
set my fantasy football lineup for all the leagues that
I might be in, which is never more than three,
but that was a responsibility. It was as important as
making sure my ID was on me. Do have identification check? Okay, cool,
that's in my pocket. Do I have my keys?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Yep? All good there. Ooh did I move Doug Martin
into my starting lineup? Rip? Yeah? All right, cool, pile,
let's go. Let's go baby. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Andre Johnson is he playing? He is cool? Set him
in my starting lineup. This is me all making those
decisions at like nine ten pm because I knew there
was a decent chance that I was not going to
wake up in time before one pm kickoff. Dang, well,
that's life, man, that's college. That's college, not so much
(36:50):
high school.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
That didn't exactly happen at SBCC or what is that
the Carolina School of Broadcasting?
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Did you say? Is that is that CBCC? Is that
what that is?
Speaker 1 (37:02):
No? That you have Central Piedmont Community College and then
in Monroe you have South Piedemont.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Key, gotcha? Gotcha? Oh?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yes, and yet wasn't wasn't exactly hoppin as they would say.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
I want to know if anybody else lived in that
world the same as me once upon a time on
the FanDuel text line, was that a responsibility for people?
Because there's nothing worse than in Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration.
There's lots of things worse, But to me, there was
nothing worse than waking up at one o'clock and realizing, oh,
that dude's on a buy And I never really did
(37:36):
move him out of my starting lineup.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I thought I was devastating.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I let the league down, and I was like, yeah, sorry, guys,
I drank one too many ynglings last night in college.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Can you give me a break? No, understandable.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
You get to your lineup and you're like, oh, man,
you just looked in the middle of the one o'clock
window and your projected points are like sixty, and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah,
all the guys are going to be pissed, and sure
enough they.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Are, well, especially because now you might be out of it,
might be out of the playoffs, and you don't put
forth your best effort to knock somebody out of the
type playoff race when somebody else is playing a different
opponent and they need you to win. But you've got
three guys on a bye week because this is the
last bye week for all NFL teams, and then everybody
(38:25):
plays every single weekend. That's right, So this is but
this is also it also coincides with the last week
of fantasy football's regular season. So then once you get
to the postseason, now it's all gravy. You don't have
to worry about bye weeks anymore. But with the people
already out of the playoffs, they just don't care anymore,
and so that's when you start to get real frustrated.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
I was the guy that and people would get so mad,
But it was my league, so I didn't really care.
If I was out of the playoffs. I would release
everybody off my roster and.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Oh, you're bad man. That's terrible, but.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
I think it gives it gives everybody a shot hit
these guys up. I felt like I was doing these
guys a service, not a discservice, and unfortunately, I think
now that I think about it, you are right. There
probably were some matchups that they were banking on me
trying my best.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
And I pulled.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
You know, I pulled a Philadelphia Eagles when they put
Nate Sudfeld in the game that one year.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Yeah, that's so true. It's just one of those moments.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
You had people out here pulling for Jim Sorgi so
they could make the postseason. It's just like they were
doing when the Colts would put him out there because
they already had a one seed locked up, and you
just said, here, here, peasants, take my running back one.
That's what you are the worst kind of person for that.
I want to know how many how much money did
you steal from people by doing that?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Oh well, see non money leagues, it's better, it's better.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, if it was money that we were playing with,
first of all. If it was money that we were
playing with, more than likely, if you finished in last
place there would be some type of punishment or something
like that, So clearly I would be trying to stay
out of the basement. There's no punishments in any of
these leagues. It's just a fun league that you play
with some of your friends.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
And so you really were the guy that just threw
all of the papers in the air and said, bleep it.
That's what you did as soon as you were out
of postseason contention. Here is everyone that I don't that
I used to care about. Lashawn McCoy up for grabs,
Jamal you want, Jamal Charles, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
I'm not gonna make the postseason, and that's right to
go for seven. You can have them.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Adam and Gastonia says I've lost friendships overdoing that. Flounder, truly, Yeah, buddy,
that's tough. Stanley Jay, that's bad fantasy football etiquette.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Flounder, how dare you?
Speaker 3 (40:41):
I agree I hit the gavel on that one and
say that you're guilty.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Who's your bobby?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Talking about live styles, he says, I still live in
that world every now and then, Walker, where I don't
wake up until twelve forty five and I need to
set up a fantasy football. Now, Bobby, who's your Bobby?
Having a great old time? Man, you deserve it. My
friend Moose Wings rights in on the FanDuel text line.
I used to have to be peeled off of the
floor of Ales in University Area on Thursday nights. Okay, well,
(41:07):
now we're starting to get to some of the establishments
out there that Charlotte forty nine er students used to frequent.
Angry Ales in University Area. Also Angry Al's in Monford if.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
You know, you know, oh tremendous place. Yeah, Angry I have.
We used to be in bed with them, Angry Als.
We did. We did it. Good place, man, I mean
some of the best chicken tenders you could ever get.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Man. And last thing on this I did see it
was Yes, the guy's name on Twitter is W. E. B.
Du Bois, which I just think is one of the
best Twitter names out there. He tweeted out a picture
of Southside's club membership card and said, just no, if
you had this card from twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen,
your ratchet and I immediately responded and said, I got
(41:51):
tipsy off of drinking trash cans just thinking about this.
South Side No longer in existence. Rip to south Side
as well. But let me just tell you if you know,
you know and w E B du boy was one
hundred percent right about that. Take seven oh four five,
seven oh ninety six ten the faith year option stuff.
Let's hear some of the people's thoughts on the fandal
(42:12):
text line there as well. We had people writing in
big Kat Dan. He's a Bryce fan, and I understand
why he said they should pick up the faith year option.
It's the right move. Bryce is the dude. Hill Billy
Hayter says, Bryce is our placeholder at QB until a
future draft pick hits us or a future draft offers
us an opportunity to draft a better guy, like God
(42:34):
luck with that. My thing is, I get why people
might still be out on him. He's given you some
evidence to suggest that he's not the guy. I understand it.
But the reason, even if I have both sides getting
mad at me, right, like that's what happens when you
sit the fence a little bit, is that eventually it's
not like everybody loves you. Everybody hates you, everybody disagrees
with you. I am more so on the let's give
(42:55):
Bryce all of the help as much as possible, because
I don't want to be in the business of looking
for a quarterback. That world sucks. I hate that world.
I've been through that so many times since Cam Newton.
I don't want to do that anymore. If Bryce is
showing his signs that he can play the way that
he did against the Rams, and everything can follow a
line from Dan Morgan making the right decisions to Dave
(43:16):
Canalvis putting Bryce showing in the right situations to perform,
and then Bryce capitalizing on those situations, then just give
me alignment, baby. If I get that, then I'm all
good with the structure of the Carolina Panthers organization. And
I feel like we have that, or we're showing signs
of that. We are at the end of the day
ahead of schedule here in twenty twenty five, and I
(43:38):
do think that there is a decent chance of the
Panthers giving us back to back winning seasons because of
what they've done to supplement Bryce with talent, and the
supporting task looks a lot better than what it used to. Man,
we went through the PFF rankings, right, you can throw
that out the window. Just use the good old fashioned
eyeball test. I have been one that believes Jalen Coker
(43:58):
is the real deal and Bryce just wasn't targeting him
as much. I'm glad we saw that happen against the Rams,
and Jalen Kocher delivered on his targets t Mac you
know I love Tamax. So that's two wide receivers that
you can trust right there. We need a speed guy
that I can rely on a little bit more than Xcel.
Even though maybe there's something there as like a third
(44:19):
fourth wide receiver that never lives up to what he
was supposed to be but still can be somewhat of
a useful football player. But even all of the offensive
line combinations they've been working flounder the supporting cast, it's
enough for Bryce to continue to grow and then we
continue to supplement him through the draft and free agency
in future years. Now, maybe that's how you breed consistency.
That's the world I want to be in. So even
(44:41):
if I do sit the fence on him every once
in a while, I do get it. All I tell
you is what I see. I would still rather be
on the side of the fence that says, if we
give enough talent to Bryce, he'll eventually show us that
consistency because he is an accurate QB.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Yeah, And I think that's the way I've tried to
stress this to people when I have been on these shows,
and I have told you that I don't necessarily think
he is yet a franchise quarterback because I still think
he's too inconsistent.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
The path for the most success for.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
The Carolina Panthers is for him to be the guy,
because I dare you take a look around college football.
Who the hell do you think is coming out of
college football? Especially not this year. But I'm saying, look
at all the other guys. We're having the discussion that
this is the worst Heisman Trophy year we have ever seen.
(45:36):
So there's not some young guy that's come out of
nowhere and is all of a sudden a stud Now,
who knows, maybe a guy like Jared Curtis who's gonna
go to Vanderbilt out of the twenty twenty sixth class,
Maybe that becomes your guy that's way down the line. Man,
So you need Bryce to be that guy or else
you have to go out and get a veteran quarterback.
And here's the thing about that. You may think that
(45:58):
sounds sexy. May think dude, you know Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold,
like these guys, man, they've they've recreated their entire careers.
Daniel Jones. But how many more of those guys are
out there? Do you really believe Mac Jones is that guy?
There's a there's one that I would look at, but
I don't think, you know, for the Panthers, you should
(46:19):
be begging for it, like Davis Mills should get a
chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (46:23):
I mean, well the thing is and but so you're
gonna be higher on him than I am. But like
to your point, if that's the answer, right, if the
answer is to take a chance on those guys, got
a great answer, Why can't we just reclimate the guy
that's already here?
Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yes, exactly, I think I think that's the best scenario
that you can get. And they're they're they're building around him.
We've seen some of the picks like Ted Tetoro.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Is a hit man.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Yeah, that is a full on hit. Rico Daddle that's
signing was a hit that worked, you know him combined
with Chewbah Hubbard. Do you feel like that's gonna provide
something down the stretch here, and I'm confident that they're
gonna be able to either you know, nurse Jonathan Brooks
back to where he's the secondary back and can help
him out to or they're gonna go pick somebody else
(47:10):
up off a free agency if they don't resign Rico.
So I think they're doing all the right things to
build around him. Now it's just about him finding that consistency.
And I think this is a big stretch. At the
end of the year, you had a chance to lead
this team to the playoffs. If you do, that's gonna
be because you're playing consistent football. So this is this
(47:32):
stretch is gonna tell us a lot. I think about
this question.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
I had somebody on the FanDuel text line say that
they worked security at South Side. I said, you've seen
some things and he said, oh yeah, Like I need
to know what bar? Will you have seen the most
things if you had worked security at that bar. Basically,
what I'm asking is the most ratchet, the wildest, let
me know in the Charlotte area what those are. Seven
oh four, five, seven oh ninety six, ten. We'll come back,
(47:57):
We'll visit the Campus ConA COONa Sports Rady Night WFNZ.
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show weekd is from
noon to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point
seven FM.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
WFNZ, the official home of the Charlotte sports fan
Crout Walker.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Only Sports Radio ninety two point seven. Half m coming
you FNC play fine, He's the Weston Walker Show. Even
a crowd knows what's coming there.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Happy warcrime Wednesday, folks, it's Wes and Walker Sports Radio
ninety two to seven wfn Z, flound Dog co hosting
once again. He'll be co hosting the rest of the week.
West still off at least for this week. Then he's
back on Monday from twelve to three, so it is
still the westless West and Walker on Sports Radio ninety
two seven WFNZ. We're broadcasting live from the Channel vaulta
(00:46):
studio CB Injury Law dot com, cebe Injury Law dot Com.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
One call.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
That's all the Carolina's personal injury lawyers. At last, but
not least, we want to hear from your baby. FanDuel
text line seven oh four five seven oh ninety six ten.
The number two text us is seven oh four five
seven oh ninety six ten. I gotta tell you I'm giddy.
Not only do we have a war cry Wednesday to
get the energy flow in just a little bit. It's
basically a shot of caffeine to your face, audible caffeine
(01:15):
to your face. I'm here to give to you on
this war cry Wednesday. But you know what else has
me giddy? The acc showing up when it's around ball time.
I look, I found out. I know, we talked about
it a little bit yesterday. I want to save some
of this for actually riding the bus. When I don't
have Wes with me, I'm not as disciplined the father
on the show.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
It's got a walking to work instead of taking the bus.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
You know a lot of what I'm healthier right, But
at the same time, we need to ride the bus.
People need to hear mac Brown say we look good
getting off of the bus, and I deprive them of that.
When I don't stay disciplined, I will say. Watching everything
happen last night, all the basketball, all the round ball,
because it's what we do around here, it made me think, man, wait,
(01:57):
it is what we do around here.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
As he's you can't take this. You got football, man, this.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Is what you have with the college football playoff Committee
giving you the benefit of the doubt. We can't give
you the benefit of the doubt. And roundball two. This
is what we do. And more importantly, I am so
glad that all the programs in the ACC this offseason
decided that yeah, yeah, this is what we do. We
need to get back to it all right. At NC State,
they decided, now we're a basketball school. We were reminded
(02:27):
of that on that final four run. And here's all
of the money, will weighed. We need to get back
to playing some basketball at a high level North Carolina,
none of this inconsistent stuff anymore. Let's just go ahead
and give you all of the money and get with
the times. And let's go ahead and win a couple
of games against blue bloods that are ranked within the
top twenty five. Duke is always at the top. They
(02:48):
deserve all the credit in the world for consistently being there.
But even Louisville, a team that won the twenty thirteen championship.
Let's not remind anybody of the Kenny Payne years anymore.
Let's go after Pat Kelsey and let's spend all of
the KFC money extra crispy.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Let's be extra crispy this year.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I love it Virginia, like I I am glad that
we sit here today with the ACC being on top
of the SEC in the ACC SEC Challenge six to three.
All we need is three victories tonight. Now you look
the schedule, slate's a little more difficult for the hometown
conference doesn't look good. I think you can knock on
(03:27):
wood as I like to do around here, just to
exercise the demons. But what I want to do is
bank on a win from Louisville, even if it is
against the ranked opponent tonight. I think that's one that
you feel like you have. You hope to have it.
You have to get if you're gonna win the challenge,
you have to have Louisville win the other two wins Virginia,
NC State are those the teams that we're looking at.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
If you can put your.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
NC State, I'm sharing, I'm staring right at Georgia Tech.
Come on, man, I mean, well, because they're SIMP State's
not good.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
But no, you're helping us out. You're right, Georgia Tech
is not good. Neither is Mississippi State. It is hilarious
that it might just come down to not towards the bottom,
but at the bottom, the teams at the bottom of
the ACC and the SEC. It's a battle between those
two teams to win the division. It's kind of like
me in high jump. For Bunker Hill's track team placing
(04:20):
in the top eight to give us a point in
order to win the conference championship. It's only because I
was good at the Fostbury Flop. I wasn't good at
high jumping, per se. I was just good at the form.
But all we needed to do was getting to the
top eight, and you get a point.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I got one of those points. Floundy.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
If Georgia Tech can just give us one of those points,
doesn't matter who you beat. We don't need to call
you good the rest of the way. You ain't going
to dance and that's not happening with the Yellow Jackets.
Can you beat Mississippi State and get us the ACC challenge?
I want this and I knew I knew I wanted
it yesterday. I don't know if I knew I wanted
it this badly coming in and then seeing it right
(04:58):
in front of me, I want to grab it before
or it disappears right in front of my face.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And you know what I.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Need to see right after this challenge is over, and
if the ACC wins it, you better put Joe Lenardi
on television and let him break this down because he
has been a guy that has been talking for years
about how the ACC is down. This is not a
conference that deserves tournament teams. Well, if they win this challenge,
(05:23):
what are you gonna say?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
They need them to shut up, is what I need
them to do. Yeah, if they're gonna try to spread that,
then I need them to shut up. If the ACC
wins this challenge, no doubt about it. Everybody is performing
exactly how they're supposed to at this moment in time.
The only real disappointment was Wake Forest falling behind the
way that they did. That's the biggest disappointment. And I
(05:46):
wanted to work out for Steve Forbes so bad. I
love the dude. I do think he's smart. It's not
happening for him. It just can't. Every single close game,
every single big game down the stretch, when we get
to ACC tournament time, they're gonna lose just enough to
be right on the outside looking in. That's what happens
at Wake Forest, and it's frustrating.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Here.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
You have two really tough losses against great opponents to start,
and then against Oklahoma, Okay, you got an SEC opponent,
what are you gonna do? Close battle, close battle? Oklahoma
starts to drive away that's that's the most frustrating part
of what we saw from the ACC last night.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Yeah, I think because that game felt like for a
while that it was a toss up game. It felt
like Wake at Home would be the team that would
have the advantage, and then all of a sudden, you
look up late as the game starts to get late
in the second half, and here goes Oklahoma just pulling away,
and you're like, how did it get this bad? And
(06:43):
the thing about Oklahoma, I don't know if that's an
NCAA tournament team. It might be, but if it's not,
you have a loss that's probably gonna end up Quad two.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
It's a brutal loss. Man, it's not good.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
It's a tough one for Wake because if you're trying
to build a tournament resume, like you're looking at it,
these are the opportunities you have to take advantage of.
Not saying Oklahoma is a great opportunity, but that's one
you've got to take care of. Just feels like we're
in the same spot with Wake where they're going to
be right on the precipice of potentially making the tournament.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
And we'll come back to that Oklahoma game.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
And say that was the game that keeps them out
of the tournament field.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
They didn't do what Syracuse did last night because they
have all of these ranked opponents that they're facing because
they want to schedule tough, and Syracuse gets the win
over Tennessee. That's the big one. We talked about it yesterday.
I topologize. You've been hide doubt at him. You've been
doubt at him, you've been hating on him. Brett Autrey,
you got it done, brother, say I need it, needed
(07:41):
it too. All right, let's not waste any more time.
We got a warcry, got a war cry about the ACC.
Even without Wes, Wes usually tries to outlast me. I'm
glad that I'm not going to have any Wes competition,
But me and Flounder are going to bring it. You
guys know the drill at the count of three. I
want everybody to let out all of that energy for
the holiday season. Maybe you're still working off that turkey
(08:03):
weight after Thanksgiving. Maybe you can burn a few calories
with this yell. Pulling for the ACC in both college
basketball and college football. Bryce Derek Brown comeback Player of
the Year. Oh it's all, It's all here on westn Walker.
Let's war cry about it at the count of three,
wherever you are one, two, three, to wait for the.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
AC What a wait for Carolina basketball.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I know it doesn't look great, but I love it.
Let's get off the bus flounding. We look good getting
off the bus.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
A couple of good games too, from some of the
blue bloods here in the ACC. Let's start with Duke
and Florida, because they tipped off before North Carolina and Kentucky.
Duke had this one controlled for most of the game.
They were up fifteen points on the Gators, and many
people believe that Duke was going to win by double digits.
(09:02):
I know you said that yesterday, you weren't the only one.
A lot of people felt like Duke was going to
control this game the entirety of the game, and Florida
they came back. Boogie Flanned hit a couple of really
impressive shots to not only bring Florida back but also
give them the lead. And then Isaiah Evans, all slim,
after not shooting well all night long, hit the most
(09:24):
crucial bucket and it was Cam Boozer keeping them in
this game offensively hitting a ton of shots a ton
of tough, contested shots down low. He had a big
three as well to stay Florida off just enough during
the boogie flanned flurry of shots that he was hitting
at the end of this game, but it was Isaiah
Evans who hit the biggest shot in Duke. They escaped
with a victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium. What did you
(09:47):
think about this Duke Florida game? Did it say anything
about the Blue Devils? Are you more positive about them
as a basketball team or negative after watching what they
did against the game.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
I'm kind of just where I was with them, I think.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
And my thing is I have said that I think
they're the favorite to win the ACC. I know a
lot of people are on the Louisville bandwagon. They believe that,
especially with MIKEL Brown there, they've got a great chance
to win this conference. But it just looks like Duke
is so deep. They've got so many guys that can
make plays. I mean, the guy that we were complaining
about at point guard that wasn't necessarily doing.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A whole lot.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And you wanted to see more of Caden Boozer, Well
you saw more of them.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
He looked good.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Then Caleb Foster comes up with the biggest play of
the game, maybe with the steal that was huge after
the three from Isaiah Evans, So I mean everybody stepped
up for them.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
I think Evans, you know, that's a huge shot for him.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
He was oh of seven from beyond the arc before
he takes that shot, just having an off night, but
when they needed him, he ends up knocking down that shot.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
And Cameron Boozer, man, kid's a player.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
He's it's not the sexiest, but it's very similar to
his dad. I never watched Carlos Boozer's game and said,
by god, this is one of the most fun guys
in the league to watch. But it's effective and that's
what you keep seeing from him. I mean, he's got
a three game stretch right now where he's scoring thirty
plus points per game.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
So with CA and you mentioned his dad, the difference
is his dad played with among the best duke teams
of all time, and so he wasn't the focal point.
It's all about Cameron Boozer. With this team, it's everybody
surrounding Cam Boozer that has all of the ancillary responsibilities.
But really, if you're gonna score the basketball. You're throwing
him the basketball ten of twenty one, the next most
(11:33):
amount of shot attempts came from Slim Evans with fourteen,
after that Foster with seven. So I will say this,
that is the part that worries me just a little
bit about Duke. I can't help but compare it to
last year, and I can't help but think about the
basketball popping to all sorts of different areas of the floor,
everybody getting their shots, everybody being so smart knowing where
(11:55):
the basketball is supposed to go, everybody playing their role
to the one hundred percent or the one hundred percent tile.
What they were able to do with con and Cooper
and what you had with Kaman Malawatch, like those guys
were fantastic. This time, it feels like I can trust
Slim to hit shots. Cam Boozer is gonna be a
force down low, and he's gonna make it hard, but
(12:17):
he is gonna go to the free throw line even
if he's not hitting some of those shots that are
closely contested right by the rim. Other than that, as
much as I love Gongba, he's more of a defensive force.
Malik Brown, I was good last night. Yeah, No, he was,
He was great, gongba was great last night, had eleven points,
hit a couple threes. They almost baited him into shooting
(12:39):
that wide open three a couple of possessions before Isaiah
Evans hits the go ahead. Other than that, I just
don't feel like you have as many threats to score.
And Damesar, I don't think is what we all thought
he would be. Dame Sar I thought would come in
and really help this team out as that secondary scoring option.
And he only played seventeen minutes last night, a goose
(13:01):
egg oh of one from the field. So, like I think,
for me, flound, I'm not worried about Duke. There's still
going to be a great basketball team. They're going to
be a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Boozer looks
fantastic after somewhat of a slow start, still looks great.
I not much ball movement, and that worries me, and
I allow that to have us transition to North Carolina
(13:23):
game where I thought it.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Was taking Yeah, man, that sounded weird. Look so you
just hang around fitting too much?
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, probably. The ball movement is a thing.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We have to be able to say ball movement in
basketball and not have our mind go to the goak.
I would hope so, but now you got me thinking
about it either way. North Carolina also guys are just
standing around. I thought offensively, it just wasn't a whole
lot of flow to what this team did. I think
that's because of a couple of things here. Flound one,
(13:53):
they don't have your traditional point guard. We've talked about it.
The big talking point today is Kayan Evans, who I loved,
who Fitty loved, all of the metrics, watching.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Past tens, fast sense for Fitty, past.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Tense for Fitty. I still really like him, and we
can talk about what his role should be on this team.
But I know what it shouldn't be right now, and
that's being the starting lead ball handler. That responsibility belongs
to Derek Dixon. After the way that he stepped up
in clutch time, stepped back three bang, and then the
pick and role that he had with Henry Vasar where
(14:28):
he just takes it all the way to the rack
on the left side. Carolina ends up winning that one.
They beat Kentucky on the road, sixty seven to sixty four.
So still some issues. But here's the thing. You escape
Rupp Arena with the victory. That's a big win against
the number eighteen team in the country. And I can't
even tell you that North Carolina played anything close to
its best brand of basketball.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
No, that's the thing is that this was nowhere near
where you're hoping that Carolina can get to. This was
arguably the worst game we've seen them play this year.
I mean, you could make the argument that Michigan State
was worse, but there were some moments in this game
where offensively, I mean, they were doing nothing. There was
a stretch where Kentucky didn't score for over eight minutes
(15:14):
and they were still losing by six. Yeah, because they
couldn't hit a shot. And yet somehow this team comes
out of nowhere because all of a sudden, the decision
to leave Derek Dixon in the game, which there were
probably people at home. I wasn't necessarily questioning it because
I thought he had been solid enough throughout the night
that he was going to be able to handle it.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But there were probably people.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
At home questioning why is he in the game, And
all of a sudden, this dude is the guy that
hits a step back three and then drives to the
lane and finishes through, you know, a little bit of contact,
something that nobody else was able to do on the night.
I mean, we were talking during the game, me and Fiddy,
talking about how this team just looks soft. These turnovers
(15:57):
are soft, they're not finishing strong in outside of Henry Vassar,
and then you get that moment from Derek Dixon that
is an amazing It's an amazing win for Carolina because,
as I said yesterday, unless Kentucky just completely falls off
the face of the planet does not make the NCAA tournament,
(16:19):
that's a guaranteed Quad one win. So it's ugly, but
that was what Carolina needed. And yet you can still
play so much better, man, so much better, and I
think these guys will as the season goes along, especially
Caleb Wilson, who wasn't great last night.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
And give us your college basketball thoughts on the FanDuel
text line seven oh four five, seven oh ninety six
to ten. Will read some of your text messages on
the other side of the break, get to some college
football playoff conversation as well. But also Dan Graziano. He
reports that the Panthers are expected to pick up Bryce
Young's fifth year option. What does that mean for the
quarterback and the organization. We'll talk about it coming up
(16:56):
next on WESN. Walker Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
(17:18):
Danny Green dancing somewhere ufter Carolina's victory over Kentucky last night,
North Carolina winning sixty seven to sixty four over Kentucky
and the ACC. They're currently on top of the SEC
in the two Conferences Challenge. Dude getting to win against Florida.
Syracuse got the victory against Tennessee. That's the big one
if the ACC is gonna win the challenge. Syracuse getting
(17:41):
that victory over thirteenth ranked Tennessee, that's the big one.
They win sixty two to sixty over Rick Barnes squad,
Virginia Tech getting the dub over South Carolina eighty six
to eighty three. The bad one for the ACC, really
just in margin of defeat, is wake suffering the loss
they did to Oklahoma, almost losing by twenty eighty six
(18:01):
to sixty eight. That was a close game. They were
only down two. Wake Forest was down two at the half,
and then they allowed almost fifty points in the second half.
Not good enough for them. We expected a and m
to take care of Pittsburgh. They did Miami over all.
Miss that was going to be a close one. Lucas
got his first head coach. Jay Lucas got his first
win on the road as Miami's head coach. Georgia, they
(18:25):
take care of Florida State. Georgia, they look good. They
scored one oh seven. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
People were telling me yesterday, and I admittedly have not
watched them play this year. There are no games that
really caught my interest as opposed to some of the
other games. Told me this was a ridiculous offensive team.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
I believe you. Yeah, I did do it for you.
In Florida State.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
I don't think Florida State's going to be bad this year.
They've got some not as bad as they've been in
years past. I don't think they're a tournament team. But
this is a team that competed with Florida. They lost
to them by two. Yeah. Uh So, Georgia beats Florida
State one of seven to seventy three. Notre Dame gets
the last ACC win and the acc SEC challenge seventy
six to seventy one over Willie p University, Missouri called.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Into question last Yeah, apparently fit. He texted him and
he said.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
The referees at the end cost us the game. So shocking.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
You know what, it's really stunning that he would go
after officiating.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
We've never seen him go after officiating.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Do you think he's got to be the guy at
the station that rips on officials the most?
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Oh? Who else is it?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
You?
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Smoke? Smoke. Smoke is pretty pmogus bad with the man.
Yeah he is, he is on them.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
But the whole game. I feel like Willy's louder about
it that you're not. What's pretty loud loud? What do
you mean, Willy's not loud? Smoke's pretty loud about it
to Smoke's pretty loud about it too.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
You know those were both moments where he was going
after the referees. That's that's where we get our sound.
That's right.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Here's what in your group chat, I would like for
you to tell Willy if he's going to complain about
the refs, then he has to send an audio message.
He can't test, so we hit Yes, I was not
that was not an officiating one. That was about the
Panthers caller, but still good moment. But yes, that that
would be the response we would probably get if we said, well, imagine,
(20:24):
send an audio message, why so.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
You can make fun of me.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I don't want to bring this up again, I guess
I will, though I didn't listen to what exactly happened
between the two, but I tuned into Mac and Bone
the segment tuned in after I guess the segment that
they had just finished talking to Willy and apparently Fiddy
went too far, And I never really got the full
story on how far Fitty went against Willy running But
(20:51):
apparently these two are going to have b for a
while now. I did hear Fiddy apologize. It was like
seeing a unicorn. I saw fit I heard happened.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
It was a low blow, it was it was a
incredibly like this is this is so far below the
belt it might have been on his feet.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
No, I mean this was bad.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Yeah, it's pretty bad, so pretty it's pretty seems bad
enough to where we shouldn't be bringing it up.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
No, I would not No, No, I mean I'm saying
I would not say what was said. I would not
repeat it on the air because I have some respect.
Oh wow, but yeah, this is gonna be a tough
one for those two to repair you get.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
You get Fitty. Well that's the thing. It's not even that.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
If you get Fitty mad enough, then he'll blow past
the boundaries. He just does it really anyway, in a
lot of different areas.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
So I'm sorry, Willie.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
You know you can't. You can't trust those guys. And
I know Mac is just egging it on. I know
he is. He can say, oh, Fitty, that's a low blow.
But I know Mac is like secretly doing the Tiger
Woods fist bump under the desk.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
He would never come on Great Radio. He would never
throw somebody under the bus for the name of radio. Yeah, no,
that's true. He never does that.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Jeff, the Braves fan, says Smoke will be livid after
the ACC Championship game. What ACC officials can't find, They
will make up new rules. Yes, you're not wrong to
bring Smoke's name up. Let's leave it to the FanDuel
text line. Who do you feel like you hear complain
about officials more Smoke on the critically acclaimed Kyle Bailey
Show from three to six or Willie on the critically
(22:22):
acclaimed sports radio station Anywhere from six am to six pm.
I said, August and the postgame show and Charlotte FC games.
He's got a lot of platforms at various time slots
to where he can complain about the officials. Willy or
Smoke who complains about him more.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, Look, it's a good point because you do have
Willy doing the Panthers postgame show. I'm assuming that he's
complained about the officials there. I've heard him.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
He might do it tonight, complain about the officials with
Sam Farber. It'll be live sham, you know what.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I definitely saw some rough moments out there from the officiating. Yeah,
and then we know that he's going after the officials
sometimes on the soccer air waves. So yeah, I think
I'm just I'm making my case that it's Willy. But
I do think that Smoke is right there. I think
it's very close. Yeah, fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
We've got people still writing in on the Fandel text
line ultra nostalgia, great Willie p impersonation. I don't know
who has the best one. I think it might be you.
Smoke also does a great one. I think Fiddy's is
the worst, but he has other impressions so he can't
take offense to that. It is funny whenever it's sad
that I don't like it's Trump. I think it's Trump's
pretty rough. Well, we heard I heard him talking about
(23:38):
it today. There were plenty of people saying that they
want Fitty to do it. I don't think it's rough.
It does sound a little cartmany. I know that has
been a criticism of It's a good point. He does
sound like he's telling everyone to you know, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
If I could say that. Yeah, Gillan head, that's what
I didn't know if I could say. But fair enough,
we just said it.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
So know if he was impersonating Cartman or Donald Trump,
it's funny either way, So keep doing it, Fitty, Big
text Willy just sounds like someone who got hot water
poured on him.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
I guess that's with some of the calls that are there.
I don't know if he wants to pour hot water
on the officials, but I do think it's between those
two guys. All right, let's dive into some Panthers conversation.
Dan Grasiano. He reported yesterday that the Panthers aren't expected
to exercise Bryce Young's fifth year option, something that I
have been saying for really for a while now that
(24:37):
I expect Carolina to do, and I think it's the
right move, But I don't want to paint a picture
to suggest that I have been mandating Carolina do this
for the entire season because I believe so much in him. Right,
It's been what everybody has called Bryce Young's season so far.
It has been a roller coaster year for him. We
have seen some descents and we've seen some since. I
(24:59):
think what we saw from him against LA that was
my favorite game that I've seen him play flounder. Even
that game against Atlanta where he threw for almost four
hundred and fifty yards, I think a lot of that
was he was special. Like we take zero credit away
from what he did. It just felt like against that
team that I still believe to be the best team
in football, even after the loss, on fourth downs and
(25:22):
on third down and throwing with accuracy and confidence and
stepping up to the plate again at home excited. There
wasn't any problems in the first half. It's not like
he gave us early turnovers and then came back from
those early turnovers. He just played really clean football the
entire way. That's my favorite game I've ever seen Bryce
(25:45):
Young play. In my opinion, even with that, we know
that he did have the Atlanta Falcons game, he did
have the Dallas Cowboys game. He did just enough against
Green Bay. There were some problems in that one. We
leaned more so on Rico Daddle in that one. Even still,
you got the job done. He's done enough to justify
Carolina picking up this fifth year option in my opinion. Now,
(26:08):
we still are going to have to answer that one question,
the big time contract extension. How much should that contract
be worth? They are going to have to answer that,
And I don't know what the answer is to that
question right now. The good news is you don't have
to answer it right now. All you got to do
is figure out if he's worth twenty six and a
half million dollars, which is what this fifth year option entails.
(26:30):
That would put him outside of the top twenty paid
quarterbacks in the league. That to me seems more than justifiable.
In fact, it seems advisable. Flounder, I'm cool with Carolina
with what we've seen so far. Unless something drastically changes
from here on out, this is the right move to me,
as long as everything Dan Graziano reports is true.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, I think it certainly is the right move.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
He's shown you enough because you see the moments like
la which I I would agree with you.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I think is his best game.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Because the thing about the Falcons is the Falcons they're
just a it's a weird team. When it comes to him,
he always succeeds.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Again. Well, and my thing about the Falcons is, man,
you've heard me talk about it all season long. I
get things right, I get things wrong. I always felt
like they were fraudulent. Just that defense. There's the number
one passing defense, like yep, man, lookause it's because they
run against all those guys that have light keasters that
they draft in order to rush the passer. They're not
very big, so teams just run against them all of
(27:32):
the time. And they do have some talented guys in coverage.
I don't want to take that away from him, but
the defense, it always felt fraudulent to me, and Carolina
picked him apart. Bryce Young' did exactly what he was
supposed to do. It does not take any credit. The
guy threw for four hundred and fifty yards. Man, there's
a zero credit taken away from me. It's just this
Rams team has pass rushers Galore and Bryce through dots
(27:56):
to t Maac to Jalen Coker and Clutch got have
it situations. Even the Cuba Hubbard swing pass, where all
of that is pretty much Tuba. Maybe that's even a
tiny bit inaccurate because the swing pass was right on
the money, hits Tuba right and stride right on the
money for him to propel himself forward to burst through
that gap and score the touchdown. I loved everything I
(28:19):
saw from Bryce in bad weather, all of it my
favorite performance.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, I mean, I think and that's fair.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
I think it is a really strong performance from him because,
as you said, I think that the Falcons defense was
rather suspect. There's nothing suspect about this La Rams team.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
I see this team as the best team in the
NFL right now, even still after that loss. So I mean,
for you to be able to do it in those
weather conditions, I think that certainly means that he's taken
steps in the right direction. So again, it's the fifth
year option. That's the other thing that people have to understand.
This is mean that they are necessarily saying we are
(29:02):
going to sign him long term, but they want to
see Okay, you're gonna have to continue to build off
of this, but we like what we've seen so far
this year. I mean, yeah, it's the inconsistencies. It's the
same thing with the team in general. It's just it's
been an up and down year where there's moments where
he looks like he has a chance to be a
franchise quarterback, and then there's other moments where you say,
(29:24):
oh my gosh, is this guy really the franchise quarterback
for the Panthers or is this someone that you know
could be here for another couple of years, and then
we're looking to move on. So I think picking up
the fifth year option makes the most sense. It allows
you to continue to explore whether or not he's the guy,
and I think with the fact that you're basically saying
(29:46):
he's in year two, because that's where I think people
have to realize the first year throw it out the window,
that doesn't really matter. Now he's married with Dave Canalis
and we've seen two years of it so far. We've
seen more success, I think, than we've seen struggles. So
(30:09):
I think this is certainly the right move for them.
I think it makes a ton of sense, and you know,
for me, I think, you know, he could be trending
towards getting that extension.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
I think right now he's trending towards that, except everything
is so fickle with the way that he's played so
far on a week to week basis. And I know
Bryce young fans want me and others to put context
around that and always mention impairing that the team has
been inconsistent, that Dave Canalis has been inconsistent, and I'm
(30:40):
not trying to ignore that fact. We're talking about the
quarterback right now. There are lots of things that affect
quarterback play, but Bryce himself has also been inconsistent, Like
that's okay to say, and it's why Dan Graziano win
this report mentions this paragraph quote, It's hard to really
know what the long term outlook is when the swings
are this wild week to week. The Panthers will have
(31:02):
to decide by the first week of May whether to
pick up the fiftyear option for twenty twenty seven. I
expect them to do that because the cost will be
reasonable around twenty six and a half million dollars. But
then the question becomes what to do after that. That's
still the question and I'm not sure because as we
talk about the top paid quarterbacks in the league, Okay,
(31:23):
you see Dak Prescott, he's the pacemaker at sixty million dollars.
I don't even I don't know why I've decided to
go with medical hardware. There, Dak Prescott sixty million dollars
a year, he's the top paid QB in the league.
Joe Burrow fifty five million, Josh Allen fifty five million.
We go down all the way to Justin Fields making
(31:43):
twenty million, Baker Mayfield making thirty three slot Baker Mayfield
right in the middle of those two guys, And isn't
that funny how the pay It doesn't always work out
this way, but the pay kind of represents what I
think the median opinion is on him. Justin Fields had
a couple of different opportunities to prove that he's a
(32:05):
starting quarterback, and eventually just it wasn't gonna happen for him.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I can't believe that that shows you where the league is.
The fact that that dude's getting paid twenty million dollars
is mind blowing.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
So he's had a chance with Chicago, he had a
chance with Pittsburgh. He had a chance with the Jets.
Right making twenty million, Bryce Young has been better than
Justin Fields.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
On Baker Mayfield is next in line as a reclamation
project who eventually did figure it out on a thirty
three million dollar deal, and Baker isn't making as Bryce
is not making as much as Baker.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
It feels right.
Speaker 3 (32:40):
It's funny how the fifth year option kind of works
out this way, where I do think he's getting paid
what he's shown us for the most part, right over
Justin Fields for sure, under Baker Mayfield. That makes sense
to me. Now, Gino Smith making thirty seven million not
playing up to that level this year by any stretch
of the imagination, but had played up to that level
(33:00):
with his years in Seattle forty million for Stafford forty
five from a homes And then you get a little
wonky because of, you know, just the way that the
market kind of plays out. So are we going to
pay fifty million dollars annually to Bryce Young?
Speaker 2 (33:13):
That ultimately becomes the question.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
If you're Bryce are you cool with settling for forty
with the going rate for starting quarterbacks in the league,
starting quarterbacks that were drafted by the team that's about
to give them that extension.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That just doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (33:28):
Those quarterbacks and those types of contract negotiations, they don't
get anything less than forty forty five. They don't get
anything less than top ten QB money. So that's what
you have to ask yourself. The good news is we
don't have to answer it right now. All you got
to do is give them the fifth year option, continue
to build around them, and maybe we parlay this into
a playoff situation, not only this year, but back to
(33:51):
back seasons, back to back winning seasons, which has eluded
this fan base forever. We've never had it, even when
we thought it was right in our grasp with the
Panthers starting off six and two after a winning season
and then they only win one game in the second half,
Like I, maybe we can do it in twenty twenty
five and twenty twenty six where we see Carolina get
(34:12):
back to back winning seasons. I want to read some
of your text messages on this topic on the FanDuel
text line seven oh four five seven ninety six ten.
We can come back and talk more about that fiftyeer
option and plenty of other stuff to get to you
right here. On WESN. Walker Sports Radio ninety two to
seven WFNZ. Boties this Wednesday, move your booty with me,
(34:40):
won't you? Western Walker Sports Radio, ninety two to seven WFNZ.
I like to think that Wes's Spidey senses are tingling
wherever he is right now, and he got a little
jolt of rhythm running through a system.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
He might still be sleeping, you think so. Do you
think he's a late sleeper?
Speaker 2 (34:57):
I mean, oh, I don't think so. Oh, you don't
think so? All right, So maybe he's up.
Speaker 3 (35:01):
And grooving only because we've talked about it before, Wes
Bryant wakes up pretty early. Whether that, yeah, I do
remember that conversation now, whether it be working out, whether
it be father duties. It's also twelve forty five. I
hope he's awake, even if he's spent.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
So you don't think you could sleep till twelve forty five? No, No,
can't do it now.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
I don't know if I could get there just solidly
sleeping twelve forty five as late.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Yeah, the times that I could sleep till twelve forty
five was high school and college after a night out,
and I mean like a night out I mean not
getting back home until four am, five am, that kind
of night out, and even then I still would probably
wake up one o'clock.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
There have been a couple of times.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
I don't know if anybody else has run into this
issue before, but there were a couple of times where
before I would go out during football season, I would
set my fantasy football lineup the night before, just in
case left all the way up until one o'clock kick
It was like my number one responsibility. It was phone keys, wallet,
(36:09):
set my fantasy football lineup for all the leagues that
I might be in, which is never more than three,
but that was a responsibility. It was as important as
making sure my ID was on me. Do have identification check? Okay, cool,
that's in my pocket. Do I have my keys?
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Yep? All good there. Ooh did I move Doug Martin
into my starting lineup? Rip? Yeah? All right, cool, pile,
let's go. Let's go baby. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Andre Johnson is he playing? He is cool? Set him
in my starting lineup. This is me all making those
decisions at like nine ten pm because I knew there
was a decent chance that I was not going to
wake up in time before one pm kickoff. Dang, well,
that's life, man, that's college. That's college, not so much
(36:50):
high school.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
That didn't exactly happen at SBCC or what is that
the Carolina School of Broadcasting?
Speaker 2 (36:57):
Did you say? Is that is that CBCC? Is that
what that is?
Speaker 1 (37:02):
No? That you have Central Piedmont Community College and then
in Monroe you have South Piedemont.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Key, gotcha? Gotcha? Oh?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Yes, and yet wasn't wasn't exactly hoppin as they would say.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
I want to know if anybody else lived in that
world the same as me once upon a time on
the FanDuel text line, was that a responsibility for people?
Because there's nothing worse than in Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration.
There's lots of things worse, But to me, there was
nothing worse than waking up at one o'clock and realizing, oh,
that dude's on a buy And I never really did
(37:36):
move him out of my starting lineup.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
I thought I was devastating.
Speaker 3 (37:39):
I let the league down, and I was like, yeah, sorry, guys,
I drank one too many ynglings last night in college.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Can you give me a break? No, understandable.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
You get to your lineup and you're like, oh, man,
you just looked in the middle of the one o'clock
window and your projected points are like sixty, and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah,
all the guys are going to be pissed, and sure
enough they.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Are, well, especially because now you might be out of it,
might be out of the playoffs, and you don't put
forth your best effort to knock somebody out of the
type playoff race when somebody else is playing a different
opponent and they need you to win. But you've got
three guys on a bye week because this is the
last bye week for all NFL teams, and then everybody
(38:25):
plays every single weekend. That's right, So this is but
this is also it also coincides with the last week
of fantasy football's regular season. So then once you get
to the postseason, now it's all gravy. You don't have
to worry about bye weeks anymore. But with the people
already out of the playoffs, they just don't care anymore,
and so that's when you start to get real frustrated.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
I was the guy that and people would get so mad,
But it was my league, so I didn't really care.
If I was out of the playoffs. I would release
everybody off my roster and.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Oh, you're bad man. That's terrible, but.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
I think it gives it gives everybody a shot hit
these guys up. I felt like I was doing these
guys a service, not a discservice, and unfortunately, I think
now that I think about it, you are right. There
probably were some matchups that they were banking on me
trying my best.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
And I pulled.
Speaker 1 (39:19):
You know, I pulled a Philadelphia Eagles when they put
Nate Sudfeld in the game that one year.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Yeah, that's so true. It's just one of those moments.
Speaker 3 (39:26):
You had people out here pulling for Jim Sorgi so
they could make the postseason. It's just like they were
doing when the Colts would put him out there because
they already had a one seed locked up, and you
just said, here, here, peasants, take my running back one.
That's what you are the worst kind of person for that.
I want to know how many how much money did
you steal from people by doing that?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Oh well, see non money leagues, it's better, it's better.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, if it was money that we were playing with,
first of all. If it was money that we were
playing with, more than likely, if you finished in last
place there would be some type of punishment or something
like that, So clearly I would be trying to stay
out of the basement. There's no punishments in any of
these leagues. It's just a fun league that you play
with some of your friends.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
And so you really were the guy that just threw
all of the papers in the air and said, bleep it.
That's what you did as soon as you were out
of postseason contention. Here is everyone that I don't that
I used to care about. Lashawn McCoy up for grabs,
Jamal you want, Jamal Charles, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (40:25):
I'm not gonna make the postseason, and that's right to
go for seven. You can have them.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Adam and Gastonia says I've lost friendships overdoing that. Flounder, truly, Yeah, buddy,
that's tough. Stanley Jay, that's bad fantasy football etiquette.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Flounder, how dare you?
Speaker 3 (40:41):
I agree I hit the gavel on that one and
say that you're guilty.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Who's your bobby?
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Talking about live styles, he says, I still live in
that world every now and then, Walker, where I don't
wake up until twelve forty five and I need to
set up a fantasy football. Now, Bobby, who's your Bobby?
Having a great old time? Man, you deserve it. My
friend Moose Wings rights in on the FanDuel text line.
I used to have to be peeled off of the
floor of Ales in University Area on Thursday nights. Okay, well,
(41:07):
now we're starting to get to some of the establishments
out there that Charlotte forty nine er students used to frequent.
Angry Ales in University Area. Also Angry Al's in Monford if.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
You know, you know, oh tremendous place. Yeah, Angry I have.
We used to be in bed with them, Angry Als.
We did. We did it. Good place, man, I mean
some of the best chicken tenders you could ever get.
Speaker 3 (41:28):
Man. And last thing on this I did see it
was Yes, the guy's name on Twitter is W. E. B.
Du Bois, which I just think is one of the
best Twitter names out there. He tweeted out a picture
of Southside's club membership card and said, just no, if
you had this card from twenty fourteen to twenty sixteen,
your ratchet and I immediately responded and said, I got
(41:51):
tipsy off of drinking trash cans just thinking about this.
South Side No longer in existence. Rip to south Side
as well. But let me just tell you if you know,
you know and w E B du boy was one
hundred percent right about that. Take seven oh four five,
seven oh ninety six ten the faith year option stuff.
Let's hear some of the people's thoughts on the fandal
(42:12):
text line there as well. We had people writing in
big Kat Dan. He's a Bryce fan, and I understand
why he said they should pick up the faith year option.
It's the right move. Bryce is the dude. Hill Billy
Hayter says, Bryce is our placeholder at QB until a
future draft pick hits us or a future draft offers
us an opportunity to draft a better guy, like God
(42:34):
luck with that. My thing is, I get why people
might still be out on him. He's given you some
evidence to suggest that he's not the guy. I understand it.
But the reason, even if I have both sides getting
mad at me, right, like that's what happens when you
sit the fence a little bit, is that eventually it's
not like everybody loves you. Everybody hates you, everybody disagrees
with you. I am more so on the let's give
(42:55):
Bryce all of the help as much as possible, because
I don't want to be in the business of looking
for a quarterback. That world sucks. I hate that world.
I've been through that so many times since Cam Newton.
I don't want to do that anymore. If Bryce is
showing his signs that he can play the way that
he did against the Rams, and everything can follow a
line from Dan Morgan making the right decisions to Dave
(43:16):
Canalvis putting Bryce showing in the right situations to perform,
and then Bryce capitalizing on those situations, then just give
me alignment, baby. If I get that, then I'm all
good with the structure of the Carolina Panthers organization. And
I feel like we have that, or we're showing signs
of that. We are at the end of the day
ahead of schedule here in twenty twenty five, and I
(43:38):
do think that there is a decent chance of the
Panthers giving us back to back winning seasons because of
what they've done to supplement Bryce with talent, and the
supporting task looks a lot better than what it used to. Man,
we went through the PFF rankings, right, you can throw
that out the window. Just use the good old fashioned
eyeball test. I have been one that believes Jalen Coker
(43:58):
is the real deal and Bryce just wasn't targeting him
as much. I'm glad we saw that happen against the Rams,
and Jalen Kocher delivered on his targets t Mac you
know I love Tamax. So that's two wide receivers that
you can trust right there. We need a speed guy
that I can rely on a little bit more than Xcel.
Even though maybe there's something there as like a third
(44:19):
fourth wide receiver that never lives up to what he
was supposed to be but still can be somewhat of
a useful football player. But even all of the offensive
line combinations they've been working flounder the supporting cast, it's
enough for Bryce to continue to grow and then we
continue to supplement him through the draft and free agency
in future years. Now, maybe that's how you breed consistency.
That's the world I want to be in. So even
(44:41):
if I do sit the fence on him every once
in a while, I do get it. All I tell
you is what I see. I would still rather be
on the side of the fence that says, if we
give enough talent to Bryce, he'll eventually show us that
consistency because he is an accurate QB.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Yeah, And I think that's the way I've tried to
stress this to people when I have been on these shows,
and I have told you that I don't necessarily think
he is yet a franchise quarterback because I still think
he's too inconsistent.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
The path for the most success for.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
The Carolina Panthers is for him to be the guy,
because I dare you take a look around college football.
Who the hell do you think is coming out of
college football? Especially not this year. But I'm saying, look
at all the other guys. We're having the discussion that
this is the worst Heisman Trophy year we have ever seen.
(45:36):
So there's not some young guy that's come out of
nowhere and is all of a sudden a stud Now,
who knows, maybe a guy like Jared Curtis who's gonna
go to Vanderbilt out of the twenty twenty sixth class,
Maybe that becomes your guy that's way down the line. Man,
So you need Bryce to be that guy or else
you have to go out and get a veteran quarterback.
And here's the thing about that. You may think that
(45:58):
sounds sexy. May think dude, you know Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold,
like these guys, man, they've they've recreated their entire careers.
Daniel Jones. But how many more of those guys are
out there? Do you really believe Mac Jones is that guy?
There's a there's one that I would look at, but
I don't think, you know, for the Panthers, you should
(46:19):
be begging for it, like Davis Mills should get a
chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (46:23):
I mean, well the thing is and but so you're
gonna be higher on him than I am. But like
to your point, if that's the answer, right, if the
answer is to take a chance on those guys, got
a great answer, Why can't we just reclimate the guy
that's already here?
Speaker 1 (46:39):
Yes, exactly, I think I think that's the best scenario
that you can get. And they're they're they're building around him.
We've seen some of the picks like Ted Tetoro.
Speaker 2 (46:49):
Is a hit man.
Speaker 1 (46:50):
Yeah, that is a full on hit. Rico Daddle that's
signing was a hit that worked, you know him combined
with Chewbah Hubbard. Do you feel like that's gonna provide
something down the stretch here, and I'm confident that they're
gonna be able to either you know, nurse Jonathan Brooks
back to where he's the secondary back and can help
him out to or they're gonna go pick somebody else
(47:10):
up off a free agency if they don't resign Rico.
So I think they're doing all the right things to
build around him. Now it's just about him finding that consistency.
And I think this is a big stretch. At the
end of the year, you had a chance to lead
this team to the playoffs. If you do, that's gonna
be because you're playing consistent football. So this is this
(47:32):
stretch is gonna tell us a lot. I think about
this question.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (47:35):
I had somebody on the FanDuel text line say that
they worked security at South Side. I said, you've seen
some things and he said, oh yeah, Like I need
to know what bar? Will you have seen the most
things if you had worked security at that bar. Basically,
what I'm asking is the most ratchet, the wildest, let
me know in the Charlotte area what those are. Seven
oh four, five, seven oh ninety six, ten. We'll come back,
(47:57):
We'll visit the Campus ConA COONa Sports Rady Night WFNZ.
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show weekd is from
noon to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point
seven FM.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
WFNZ, the official home of the Charlotte sports fan
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