December 1, 2025 • 47 mins
In the first hour of the show, Walker and Flounder give their initial thoughts on the Panthers pulling the upset over the Rams, discuss how much Dan Morgan should be considered for Executive of the Year and react to some of the listeners' thoughts on the win.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven a half
am a UFNZ fun.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
He's the Weston Walker Show. Even a crowd knows what's
coming there.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Oh man, I can't believe you did it? Are you
kidding me? The Panthers actually got this thing done. We
are on the ascent of the Panthers Coaster. There have
been so many people floundy. There have been so many
people that have said that they have enjoyed the ride. Look,
I can't tell you that I've enjoyed every single second.
I do want to go Homer Simpson back in the
bushes on some of those takes. But I'm having fun
(00:45):
now on the ascent of this Panthers coaster in twenty
twenty five, and we're here to talk about it. And
then we'll have the drop zone where our heart kind
of goes into our throat and we're a little scared
of what's to happen, and we have that four or
five seconds of real feared, genuine fear if they lose
again to the Saints. But then we'll be real excited
once we start up the Panthers twenty twenty five coaster
(01:07):
like we are right now. I can't believe they got
it done. They beat the Rams, and they played clean football.
They didn't turn it over. Bryce Young was throwing dots.
He was throwing dots downfield. He was throwing dots downfield
on clutch downs and situations. Derek Brown was the clutch
defensive player of the game. And the Panthers beat what
(01:28):
many considered to be and I'm not gonna throw that caveat.
I'm gonna say what everybody believed to be the best
team in football. The Panthers beat that team thirty one
to twenty eight at Boa. It's WESN. Walker on what
is a fun edition of WESN. Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ, and we're broadcasting live from the
(01:49):
Chandler vaulta studio CEV Injurylaw dot com, cvinjurylat dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
One call.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. Now, I will
say just some house cleaning before we really get off
of the bus. It is a Westless and Walker show,
not only today, but all week long. Wes decided that
he didn't have enough time away from us. On Friday,
the usual Fridays that he's been getting off all of
not getting off, getting off of Western Walker from for
(02:17):
all college football season, but this time he's going to
take all of this week off and then I.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Think he's back next week in full. I don't know
the ballgames.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'll find out all find out together, but it is
a Westless and Walker show here on WESN Walker the
rest of the week. And so Flounder, he's going to
be a renaissance man. Flound He's going to be doing
the co host thing, He's going to be doing the
producer thing, the boardop thing, all of it. How are
you feeling this week?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Feeling good?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Man?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I mean no, I gotta tell you. We hosted on Friday.
We came up with a victory formula. Most of it
was basically just pray. I mean we literally put that
in there. Pray you and.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Lane Kiffin this weekend. You were the ones praying this
week and man, and it worked out for the Panthers.
What a win this is?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I mean, we keep asking this question, right, It seems
like every time they win, we ask biggest win since win?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, Well, this one. I don't know if you can
top it this season.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I thought the massive I thought about tweeting out this
is by far the biggest win the Panthers have experienced
since the Green Bay win a couple of weeks ago.
But this is how we've talked all year long. That
Green Bay win in Lambeau, that was significant, and then
you follow that up with a terrible, terrible loss to
the Saints at home, and then you have the win
(03:34):
against Atlanta where you throw for a gajillion yards, and
then you have the let down performance specifically offensively against
San fran and then finally here we are against the
best team in football offense, elite defense. There are some
deficiencies there in some areas, but that's a really good defense,
(03:54):
and they've got some problem areas. Emmanuel Forbes is a
problem for them at corner. They're not perfect, right, but
they are a very good football team, and they'd been
playing like a very good football team all year long,
and flounder. I will say this, I don't even think
the Rams were terrible in this game. That's what gives
me more comfort. The Rams did not lay an egg
in this game, in my opinion. They had mistakes. The
(04:17):
Panthers forced a lot of those mistakes, but this was
not some performance with the Rams. To the cross country
thing they play at ten am. Yes, I'm sure that
has some kind of effect. But I go back to
what Sean McVeigh said after the game. He says he
refuses to believe that his team took the Panthers like lightly.
Like I love Sean mcvagh for that. Just to kind
(04:37):
of go off on a little side tangent, he said,
credit to them. We didn't take them lightly. We didn't
underestimate him. This wasn't one of those situations where we
came into Charlotte thinking we're really good. We were reading
the press clippings all of that and then we mailed
it in and then give them credit. But we could
have played better football. McVeigh didn't do any of that.
He said, that's a really good football team. Knew it,
(05:00):
they proved it against us. We got to go fix
some of the stuff that went wrong in this one
for the future, for the inevitable playoff run. But he
gave all the credit to Carolina and founder I think
he was dead on about it. Man Carolina forced turnovers.
Derek Brown with the pass defended, He's been so good
at that all year long. If he can't get home,
he throws his hands up, and this time he caused
(05:21):
a turnover, and the turnovers they were the worst kind
of turnovers for the Rams. Like, it's the kind of
turnovers that keep Dave Canalis up at night if it
were to happen to his team. Right, It's all about
the ball. That's the theme. He holds the football, he
chases people down Morehead Street. It's all about the ball.
It's all about the ball. He repeats that message constantly.
(05:45):
And Matthew Stafford threw a couple of interceptions and fumbled
the football in the worst of ways. And I can't
even tell you that it was because Stafford was so bad.
I don't think Stafford was terrible. I don't think he
was great. Think some throws even without the interceptions that
like negating those, I think he missed them throws for sure.
But that's what leaves me so impressed with this squad.
(06:10):
The Rams did not come in and play this terrible,
terrible football game. They did some good stuff. They showed
good football in multiple areas of what they showed you
yesterday at Bank of America Stadium. And the Panthers had
an answer. They had an answer for all of it. Defensively, offensively,
they got the job done and That's why I leave
(06:32):
that game so impressed, because the Rams. It's not like
they were the worst football team yesterday and they didn't
show this team any respect.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
No, absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean I thought they played pretty well for the
majority of the day.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Outside of the turnovers.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
It looked like what we had seen from the Rams
for the majority of the season. It's just the Panthers
when they needed to in clutch moments, came up with turnovers.
And you know, in terms of what Carolina was able
to do offensively, I mean, no one saw this coming.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
After what you did against San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You thought, Okay, how in the world are you going
to turn around and all of a sudden put up
the type of offensive performance to keep up with the Rams.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And they did.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Man, I mean they ran the football incredibly well the
entire day.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I thought that was.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
A great move by Dave Canalis to lean on what
the strength of this team is.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
We talked about it on Friday.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
We said, you still don't really know what the identity
of this team is. Offensively. I think you know what
the identity is exiting this game. It is a run
first team that builds their passing game off of the run.
When they are having success on the ground, that's what
allows them to be successful through the air.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And so I thought you saw that in this game.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
It really allowed the Panthers to be able to settle
into a nice groove, allow Bryce young to settle into
a nice groove. And then again, the thing that he
has done so well at times this year, especially in
the games against Green Bay and now in this game
against La was he made the throws that he has
to make.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
He was good.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, Bryce young Man, he was really good in this one.
The constant he made the throws he had to make
to win. It does feel like not a backhanded compliment,
but we stopped short of giving him a lot of credit.
And I think that phrase is appropriate for some of
these performances that we've seen.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Dallas is the one that comes to mind for me.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Atlanta, the thirty to nothing beat down in Week three
of the regular season. That's where that phrase comes into
play for me. I didn't see anything that was crazy.
Cowboys a little different. He did some really impressive stuff
against the Cowboys. The win against the Falcons, we said
that he did what he had to do to win
the game. That's like a nice way of saying, eh,
(08:45):
he's not the one that really caused them the victory
or that led them to victory. It was the running game.
It was other stuff here. I don't want to hold
back on any of the praise for Bryce, you know
what I'm saying, Like he fan, He writes in on
the text line, he was a little worried that I
was throwing in some qualifiers and some caveats as if
to strip them of any credit. Now, man, it's all
love all here today. It's all love. When I said
(09:10):
Emmanuel Forbes and the rams like, I'm just yeah, that
was not to put a caveat on it. That has
no bearing on how well Bryce played. Bryce was fantastic
in this one. That was a monster throw that he
had to t Mac. That was a monster throw that
he had to Jalen Kocher. Again, we got the t
mac shot on the sideline where I thought that was
(09:31):
a good throw. It was going to have to be
contested by t Mac and he shot away from it. Whatever, right,
We can get to some of the criticism a little
bit later on, if even if there is any room
for that today. But no, man, it's all love over
here today. I thought the defense stepped up when they
needed to, and I don't. I don't want to give
the qualifying filled compliments towards Bryce. I thought he was
(09:53):
flat out awesome in this game. I give him all
of the credit in the world for those clutch throws,
for the drives, for his superpower, which seems to be
evading pressure and then throwing accurately. That's my favorite thing
in the world. Bryce does. If he dodges a sack,
scary for the defense. After that, if you don't bring
(10:13):
him down, he's going to throw a completion, probably downfield
on you.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
It's a lot like bow Knicks, to be honest with you,
and bo Nix is being praised for it every time
that you turn on the TV. I mean they were
talking about it the entire night last night. In the
game against Washington, you don't hear the same things about Bryce,
and I don't know why, because when you're avoiding pressure
the way that he is and then making throw after throw,
that deserves a lot of praise from these guys.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
We got people writing in seven oh four five seven
zero on the fan duel text line line of Boy
seventy four says our receivers weren't dropping balls Sunday. That's
a big difference. Yeah, and you had the questionable one
from t MAC. But for sure, especially Jalen Koker, who
is going to get some shine on this Monday as well.
We're scrolling, We're scrolling some more our big cat, Dan says.
(11:01):
Most of all, he leaned Dave Canalis. He leaned on
Bryce's strengths. Yeah, we're gonna have a lot to say
about Dave Canalis with the response in play calling, leaning
not only on Bryce's strengths, but heavily on Cheico.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Now is what we're doing. Yeah, why not.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I gotta say I'm a fan. Chico's just fun to say.
I'm with it. Chico the two headed monster that they
have in that backfield. And you can't have Chico without Cuba.
And Cuba showed the bleep up yesterday. My word. He
looked healthy. He was playing really well. He looked like
the better running back, which had not been the case.
I mean, what since week four, I guess when Cuba
(11:42):
went down with injury and then Rico took over. Rico
had been game after game, whether Cuba was injured or not,
Rico had looked like the better running back all the
way until yesterday against LA and if you have both
of these guys running well, I don't think Rico is bad.
It's just I thought Tuba was really good. I think
no matter what you look at eye test analytics, good
(12:04):
old fashioned traditional stats.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Dare I say he had some burst floundy?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
How about that looks like it that swing pass to
lead us off with a touchdown. I mean he hit
that hole hard. Which was part of the issue that
we had with Tuba was it didn't feel like he
was as decisive. And then when he did decide to
run through a gap, he wasn't hitting it hard. And
then on that swing pass, yeah, I mean he shot
out of a cannon like. That's not what we're used
to seeing from him. He looks healthy. I know he
(12:30):
had talked about how he was praying on getting back
to that style of football, and I think you saw
it against the Rams. I thought he was great. We
got a lot to get to. Let's dive in on
the other side of the break, were a lot of
times when we win. Coming into him Monday, I don't
even need the bus. I say, you're good. I feel
like walking today.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It's a beautiful day. He actually jogged this time.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Dare I say, Tuba sprinted. We don't need the bus.
Thank you man.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
You can go on. It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
I feel like walking around the block a little bit,
So that's what we're gonna do. Western Walker Coming up next,
we'll discuss Dave Canalis and Bryce Young.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Where's the reputation now?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And I got something to say about Dave Canalis with
the lack of ego that I think is commendable. Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFZ, look at you, producer Floundy
(13:29):
Oh got some breaking news here.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's right man.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
According to this is from Tom peliserah was originally I reported.
I believe Adam Schefter got it in first. The Vikings
are waiting waiving wide receiver Adam Thlen, who approached the
team about moving on last week. The team granted the
request out of respect for thelan and will allow him
to finish his final NFL season elsewhere. It's interesting considering
(13:54):
his drop percentages. What did you say?
Speaker 5 (13:56):
It was?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Walker? Just a minute ago?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
All right, so here are the stats you just mentioned
it just for anybody that needs it repeated. Adam Thlen
is homeless when it comes to an NFL squad. He
just got waived by Minnesota, and as you heard Flounder
say coming in from Tom Pelasero, Adam Thlen requested to
be let go so he could go play for a
different team, presumably to go compete for a playoff spot
(14:21):
or a championship.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Here are Adam Thelen's stats through twelve games this year
one two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine ten
eleven eleven games. Excuse me, sixteen targets in eleven games,
eight catches, sixty nine yards, A nice total. Three drops,
which means on sixteen targets he has a twenty seven
(14:47):
percent drop rate. Every fourth pass you throw Adam Thielen,
he's dropping, even if it's accurate. I yeah, I want
to talk about a victory. We're gonna do that. But
you got a fourth round pick for a guy that
was dropped on a bad football team because he himself
(15:07):
has been bad and now he's looking for a different team.
I know that it was questionable at the time. I
get it. I was for making this move, but I
also understand the people that weren't for making this move.
You had t mac as your number one wide out,
You had Jalen Cocher. You had exl, but Thelan was
(15:28):
your most reliable receiver last year, on top of Jalen Cocher.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I think you can.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Make the case for either one of them, but I
still think it's probably Thelan to be completely fair, So
Bryce Young his growth is what matters most.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You don't want to get rid of a receiver that
he's relied on so much. Understandable getting a fourth round
pick for Adam Thielen. I thought the value was too much.
You had to move on from him, in my opinion.
But cool if you thought otherwise. If I were to
tell you then that you're giving up on a guy
that's only going to have eight catches through eleven games
and drop every fourth pass that is thrown to him,
(16:03):
then you would say, I'd be happy to get a
seventh rounder for him. But you got more than that.
And then we go back to the whole family thing.
His wife was putting on social media how much that
she wanted to go home. The purple background on the
Instagram post. I'm cool, right, I get it. You want
to go back to Minnesota. Remember Adam Thielen went to
(16:26):
Minnesota State or whatever it is. I forget what it is,
but he went to some D two school in Minnesota.
He tried out for the Vikings, made the squad, should have.
It's really a remarkable story how his career was born
and it was all in Minnesota that had happened. And
then he became a Pro Bowl wide receiver like awesome
back in the day, very very good for Carolina in
an offense that didn't really lift up anybody. And then
(16:49):
he wanted to go compete for the hometown team because
he thought Minnesota was just going to pick up where
they left off, having moved on from Sam Donold. But
JJ McCarthy a first round pick, it's all gravy. I'm
gonna get fifty catches and help this team compete. Oh
except that I got a healthy scratch this weekend, not
being hurt, a healthy scratch, and now you want to
(17:11):
go compete with a different team. So it's really not
even all that much about playing at home, right right,
it's wanting to go compete.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Now. The question is how many people are gonna want
to sign you.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, there's not going to be many. You wouldn't think.
The only one that comes to mind for me would
be New England. I think maybe New England could look
at him because their wide receiving core isn't great. But
even if they do bring him in, do you guarantee
that he is a part of what they're doing right away?
Like maybe you could get a ring with them, but
I don't think you're going to be super involved.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Here's a question for the people that I think could
be interesting to explore. FanDuel text line seven oh four
five seven oh ninety six to ten.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Have we seen a.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Bigger fall in reputation from Panthers fans than Adam Thielen.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm sure we have.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
But we used to love him around here because he
was the only guy we're throwing to consistently. That was
a thing for a while, and then we had the
messy breakup. Dan Morgan hops on these airwaves with Kyle
Bailey and says, Adam one of this guys was he
wasn't really trying to blame Adam Thielen a ton directly,
but it was kind of one of those indirect direct situations, like, hey,
(18:23):
I'm telling you read between the lines. It could have
been a little hairy had Adam Thielen been on the
roster because we refused to trade him I'm just telling you, guys.
I'm not telling you he would have gone full ice
Cube in the office, throwing chairs and breaking glass, but
I'm not sure this would have been all that tenable.
So we moved on from him as soon as we
(18:44):
got what we felt like was fair value. How does
Minnesota feel today giving up a fourth round pick for
a guy that they ended up waving before they even
got to the last quarter of the season.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Now they got to feel horrible.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Not good business for them now, and it was supposed
to be this field, good story. And so that's that's
my question, the fall from Grace here in Carolina, the
way that we think about a player. It's been a
year's worth of time, right, or like, not even a
year's worth of time calendar speaking, just an NFL season,
not even an NFL season. It's been so quick off season.
(19:15):
He went out cool, you get traded Dan Morgan, I
was like, I don't know. It starts to make you
think about some of the tirades that we had seen
from him on the sideline in Bryce's second year. We
used to defend that, and then you go back in
hindsight and think, oh, maybe that wasn't so cool. Now
I think about it, with what's being reported about your
behavior behind the scenes and now here he is going
(19:37):
to Minnesota, the place that is home to him, and
he wants to go play for a competitor. When do
yourself have not played like a competitor at all this year?
It's just weird. Nick Batoom comes to mind in terms
of fall from Grace, who was excellent the playoff year
and my god, people hated him after that.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Similar mindset too, like it seemed kind of like a
diva a little.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh yeah, uh well, we got we got some people
that are discussing off the field issues, you know, So
let's leave that aside, right the athletes because of like
messy breakups with the organization UFC. Pillow Fight says, maybe
when Josh Norman went to Washington, now man, remember that
was Dave Gettleman, who might be an answer here. With
(20:22):
Gettleman and Dave, we trust he's shopping in the bargain
bend for all of these free agents that have a
monster return on investment. And then that soured Josh Norman.
Remember he calls the Panthers say hey, I want to
come back.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
When they were sending the franchise tag so more so
for Dave Gettleman. Do we have the hate than we
do Josh Norman, Nascar, Brad Kelvin, Benjamin that's a good one.
We soured on Kelvin. He had the comments towards Cama.
I'm incredibly quick, Yeah, man, I mean a thousand yard season,
his rookie year gets hurt. The second season, the Panthers
actually go to the super Bowl without him. Then he
(20:59):
gets traded or a third rounder goes to the Bills
talks trash about Cam. All right, we're good on the
fond quote unquote fond memories of Kelvin. We can just
move on from there. Seven oh four five, seven oh
ninety six. Ten people are saying, wait, what he got?
Waved Casey an Indian trail. Yeah, Adam Thielen waved by
Minnesota waved.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
And I'm gonna tell you because there are gonna be
people that are gonna say it.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
You do not want him back here? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You got it, don't you. You gotta address it. I
know we're good. We're good, man, especially with the way
that he left. Yes, I don't know how ugly it
got like, I don't I don't think it was all
hunky dory behind the scenes. Again, I go back to
the ice cube example. I don't think he was throwing chairs,
(21:48):
but I can't imagine that it was all hunky dory
enough to say, yeah, man, we need your help.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
The argument for it would be he understands the system.
You need a wide receiver that can gain SEP option.
I guess I don't know. All the arguments for signing
him are pretty weak. On my behalf flounder, like even
playing the Devil's advocate part of the debate trying to
figure out ways as to why they need to bring
him back. I feel like they're all weak arguments. I
would get like a C minus if I were to
(22:16):
put this forth in debate class.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Well, I think at this point, you know, with Jalen
Coker starting to play better, there really is no argument.
If Jalen Cocher was still not a factor at all
and you needed someone else to step up besides TMAC,
then maybe you think about it.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
But I think right now you just roll with Coker. Man,
that's your guy.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
I think he's going to be a big part of
what they do moving forward, and so to me, there
really isn't an avenue for him to sign here. You know,
some people are bringing up other interesting places, but I
mean people brought up Buffalo guys. They already have Khalil Shakir,
who they really like. Why are they going to give
up on him to put Adam thlen on the field. Like,
(22:55):
the thing that you have to realize is Thelan's only
playing the slot, so he's limited. He doesn't bring that
versatility that he brought earlier in his career.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
So I don't know where he fits. And that's the
other thing.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
If he was still versatile enough and you could play
him on the outside, then maybe you take him back
here because Xcel isn't playing great.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
But that's just not where he is in his career.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Right now, Let's transition into this topic because I heard
Mack and Bone talking about it. Dave Canalis, does he
deserve to be a real contender for NFL Coach of
the Year perhaps because of this Adam Thielen thing. We
just go ahead and move up the Dan Morgan Executive
of the Year conversation because I I haven't heard anybody
talk about that quite yet.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
And I go to.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
A text message here on the Fandel text line seven oh,
four five seven zero ninety six ten. I apologize that
I can't find the name of who wrote this in
I'll try to give you credit. But someone said, man,
this makes Dan Morgan look a lot better, and it
makes Dan Morgan look like an above average GM. Look founder,
this is now different scenarios, but this is now the
(24:04):
second veteran wide receiver that you've moved off of where
it looks like a genius move. Half a year later,
Deontay Johnson, the risk still totally worth it. You were
gonna move on from Dante Jackson anyway. Nobody criticizes Dan
Morgan for acquiring Deontay Johnson the way that they did,
nor should they criticize him. It was an excellent move.
(24:27):
It was a risk worth taking. I criticized Dan for
moving on from Deontay the way that he did because
I felt like you could have gotten more. I'll shut
up about that. My god, how many ways was I
wrong about Deontay? Like three, four or five different ways?
Goodness gracious, But Dan Morgan, you win there on both accounts.
In my opinion, Adam Thielen, I thought that that side
(24:49):
of the argument that wanted Delan here, they had a
lot of evidence to point to to say, I don't
think it's a great idea to move off from him,
even national NFL media. I can remember some of the
brighter minds in my opinions, say, and thelen is a
really good contested catcher of the football. Remember how many
tough catches he made, he got separation. He helps you
out with some versatility playing in the slot. I don't know, man,
(25:12):
I get it. It's a fourth round. That seems fair,
but I don't know. It's all about Bryce. I think
you should hold on to Adam Thielen. Now, clear as
day they shouldn't have This is clearly, clearly the right
move to have traded him for a fourth rounder, clearly.
So when you bring that into the fold, you also
talk about the revamped defense, you discuss drafting Tmac, who
(25:36):
might win Offensive Rookie of the Year. In my opinion,
he should, even if the production yardage wise is tailed
off a little bit. The last couple of days. Narrative
moments matter for these types of awards, last couple of games,
I should say, but narrative moments matter for these types
of awards. How about that narrative moment yesterday where he
breaks off from his defender and scores a forty yard touchdown.
(25:57):
That's what people are gonna remember when the Riders put
their ballot in, and they're going to remember the touchdown
that he scored to beat the best team in the NFL.
Dan Morgan's drafting that guy. Can we just talk about
him being possibly the executive of the year. Dan Orlovski
certainly thought so. He got about sixty percent of the
stuff that he mentioned in that video, right. I appreciate
(26:19):
the intent from Dan a couple of weeks ago saying
that nobody had a better off season than Carolina. Accuracy
not quite one hundred percent there, but I get the
spirit of the video. So we should have the coach
of the year conversation and whether Dave Kanalis should be
in it.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I don't think he's going to win.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
I don't think he should win, but he should be
somewhere in that conversation and we'll have it. Perhaps we
parlay that into man, what about Dan Morgan winning Executive
of the year. It was Brad Holmes last year. It
was Brad Holmes in twenty twenty three. Howie Roseman twenty
twenty two, Bill Belichick twenty twenty one. Oh yikes, this
(26:56):
is the PFWA Executive of the Year award winners. Can
Dan Morgan next on that list?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Here? Floundy as we start to explore this more, I
mean it's possible. I mean, with what he's done.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I mean, somebody also brought up don't forget that he
traded Jonathan Mingo for a fourth round pick too. Now
Sjonathan Migo somehow is not cut from that roster.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
He's still on that roster. Believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
If Dan trade you as a wide receiver, just know
you're cooked and we got something way more valuable in
a return.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yeah. And so that's what I think is amazing.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
And I mean, yeah, you talked about it, how good
this defense is as compared to last season. Look, is
this the greatest defense in the league. No, there are
inconsistencies with it. But last year you're talking about a
historically bad run defense and this year they're part of
the reason why this team is seven and six.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
That quick of a turnaround.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
He deserves to be talked about because who are the
other guys. I mean, if you look at it, there's
a guy that had an even worse reputation than he
did that might be heating with him for this award
in Ryan Poles, they hated him, couldn't believe why they
kept him on his GM, And yet now you see
that he's actually made some really good moves there in Chicago.
(28:12):
And I think you're seeing similar stuff here from Dan
Morgan where people might have been questioning some things early
on with him, But now you're getting to the point
where all these moves that he's making. I mean, we
could sit here and brag again about this move. How
about trading Michael Barrett for Mike Jackson?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Great? How great is that looking today? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Man, you really start to build up a nice resume
if you're Dan, all of these moves, it's starting to
add up flown. So you're right, Mike Jackson, you traded
Michael Barrett, who has not played I believe one snap
of NFL football.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I don't think so. And Mike jack I don't know
if you saw he just stepped up for j C. Horn.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And depending on how you want to evaluate a player's performance,
it doesn't really matter. The dude balled out yesterday pick six,
even the catch that Puku Nakua had.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
What else can you do? Yeah, there's that.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I mean, it was a great defensive, great defense, and
Puka just gave us a look. I was gonna say
maybe catch of the year until we saw trailing Bergs
and brock Bowers do what they did. But it was
a top three catch of this weekend. And that is
the highest bar I believe of any weekend. Mike Jack
playing very well, clearly in above average corner who has
some struggles every once in a while.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
It's recovered from mid year that these last few weeks
couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So you get Jack, you get the fourth round, or
for Thielen and Mingo, you move on from Deontay Johnson
when you moved on from him at his peak value
before he flushed it down the toilet with all of
the other stops that he had the rest.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Of us shit and lit it on fire. I just
wall flushing.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
It's crazy you draft the offensive rookie of the year
if he's not gonna win. I don't know if you'allre
paying attention to what a buk is doing down there.
I've seen too many subpar games from him to give
him this award anymore. No, No, Abuca doesn't deserve it
over t Mac with what we've seen, like seven of
the last eight weeks, t Mac has been the better receiver.
I stand ten toes down on that. The quarterback play.
(30:12):
I thought cam Ward was excellent against Seattle, thought we
took a step back against Jacksonville. Cam Ward has not
been the rookie quarterback that deserves this award. Really, it's
your boy Flounder that has I think the best argument
at Jackson Dard.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
We'll see what he does.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Tell me he missed two games, he missed a couple
goal and we have to see. Yeah tonight, if he
comes out puts up a great performance against the.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
I would want to said the Giants.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
If he comes out and puts together a good performance
against the Patriots, yeah, well, and maybe you can start
having the conversation. But he hasn't even been a starter
for the entire season, so his resume is not going
to be nearly as strong I think as T Max.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Nick Gordon looks like a hit. Mitchell Levins.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Has he just become the tight end that I trust
most out of this trio In terms of pass catching.
JT has clearly fallen to the bottom, which Dan Morgan
also drafted to be fair. But Mitchell Evins is a
fifth round pick. He kind of balls I just every
time you throw it.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Yeah, even if he made a mistake, it seems like
he corrected it the next year.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
And Tommy Tremble we just kind of different. He wasn't
brought in by Dan. I like Tommy Trimble, just in
terms of who do I trust the most. If I
see a pass heading towards a tight end, it might
just be Mitchell Evans at this point, Lathan Ransom filling
in nicely at that safety spot, got his first sack
in his first start yesterday. You're seeing contributions from all
(31:32):
these rookies. It doesn't mean he's perfect. Right for everybody
that wants to have me slow down. Hey, how does
that Brian Burns trade?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Look?
Speaker 1 (31:39):
It doesn't look good. To be fair, you're right, Brian
Burns looks great. No GM is going to have a
one hundred percent hit rate, Dan Morgan, no different. I
want to give credit to Bryce. Will still do this,
Dave Canalis. There are lots of conversations that we should
have about these guys, but just as a convo to
have off of the Adam Thielen news, we're starting to
stack up some really impressive decisions from Dan Morgan to
(32:02):
get as much value as possible, and there feels like
flounder every time that we see a move and then
we re evaluate it a half month or half month,
half year later. It's like, buddy, how did you get that?
How many times have we said that about some of
the trades that we've seen.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Oh, it's it's more often than any other GM. I
will say that, and then I'll finish with this.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Man.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Look, David Tepper, you deserve some credit. And it's why
you've heard me say that in somewhat of a surprising
tone over the last I'll say year and a half,
two years. There you are come from behind the backdrop, tep.
I want to give you some credit. I think he
deserves it, man, because part of it is the way
(32:47):
that you acted throughout the first six seven years.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Of your tenure.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, okay, low bar, Oh you did it? Come on, man, six,
I walked right into it. Yeah, it's and I can
only blame myself the first six seven and years of
your tenure. It's the first time I've ever done that.
I think, by the way, it's a low bar to clear.
But to be fair, I think you cleared it and
went above and beyond. I've always understood the diversity of
(33:14):
thought philosophy. It worked out horribly, but I always understood it.
It's the way that you acted and meddled afterwards that
I had a real problem with. But everybody seems to
be making the decisions where they should be making their decisions.
Dan Morgan is doing the GM stuff, making all these
small decisions where he might check in with you with
(33:35):
the big time decisions like quarterback, whether you're gonna keep them.
I'm sure there's gonna be a conversation with Tepper about
picking up the faith Yer option on Bryce Young and
what to do with that contract negotiation. I'm sure you're
gonna get a lot of that. But it seems like
the right kind of hierarchy where Tepper trusts everybody to
do their job and he's somewhat hands off and we're
(33:55):
not hearing a lot from him. And the fact that
you hired Dan when the whole Well fan base didn't
like it, right, Like, we love what Dan did as
a player here in Carolina, but people thought he was
too close to Scott Fitterer to be his own man.
People thought that he was too close to that decision
making process where you don't take the two first in
the second in the original Brian Burns conundrum where he
(34:17):
was a part of acquiring CJ. Henderson, where you were
a part of all of these bad decisions. Now, man,
he's too close to it. I'm sorry we got a
fully clean house. I'm glad he didn't. Now, I'm real
glad that he didn't. Now, a lot of people over
there with the Panthers deserve a lot of credit. And boy,
we're going to use today to shed light on that
very fact. It's Wes and Walker Sports Radio ninety two
(34:37):
to seven WFNZ. I need your help, people, me and Flounder.
It's just us today. Join the conversation. Won't you call us?
Seven oh four five, seven oh ninety six to ten.
We want to hear your thoughts. Go ahead, vent about
madam dealing stuff if you want to, but really, just
celebrate a win against the best football team that we've
seen so far this year. Seven oh four five, I
(35:00):
have seven ninety six to ten. We take your phone
calls on the other side of the break. It's wesn.
Walker Sports Radio ninety two seven WFZ. I just watched
the Victory Dance video. During the break Oh to your
(35:21):
God first time, I'm are you start? Officially Mac and
Bone Victory Dance seven, the revival. It's the wildest one yet,
and that's saying something. We talk about bars to clear.
This one is a high bar to clear. They incredibly high,
the highest they just Fosberry flopped right over this baby
cleared it.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
We have flying tour.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I'm not gonna say everything because you need to go
check it out at t Bone WFZ. We have flying tortillas,
we have falling things hanging on the wall like multiple
we have butt slapping, and we have Fiddy's body. I
don't know if that's a nice tease, what a what
(36:03):
a horrendous combination? Do you think that's gonna send more
traffic to the video or less?
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Probably people are gonna be intrigued. I would say check
it out. I would say check it out. It is
pretty weird. It's a weird one, but at the same time,
I mean, you get to watch these goofballs dance after
a huge win over the Rams.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
It does include I think that the initial Mac dance
is my favorite dance that he's given us all year long.
The slow mo from him is fantastic. Go check it
out at t Bone WFNZ. Let's go over to the
phone lines. People are calling in baby you can too.
Feel free to dial in at seven oh four five,
seven oh ninety six to ten to give us some
of your takes after the Panthers win over the Rams.
(36:43):
Seven oh four, five, seven oh ninety six to ten.
Jersey Frank, we have a couple of Jersey guys that
listen to the show Jersey Frank.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
He's dialing in. How are you doing, man?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I am doing. I'm doing fantastic. By the way, the
video it's fantastic. Got some light flashing. McLean messed up.
But that's a whole other story.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
He really is.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
You know, my wife said it, and my wife knows
nothing about football. Could you imagine, guys, let's be honest,
if Bryce was consistent, could you imagine what we would
have at Bank of America Stadium. Like it's scary to think,
Like if that team shows up every week and people
are hurt, we have so many injuries right now, what
(37:26):
would our what could this team be because it's a
good football team would be yesterday with our fifth stringer,
Like I don't even like, are you sure we watched
the Panthers game yesterday. I still can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
They played consistently. Well, that's the thing, right, I got that.
That's what you're saying, Frank, And we appreciate the phone call.
We really appreciate it. Seven oh four five, seven ninety
six ten. Feel free to dial in and share some
of your thoughts. But I think that was his point.
He's totally right about it. They were consistent from the
first quarter to the fourth quarter. I thought they played
good foot pretty much all throughout. There were some issues.
(38:03):
They couldn't stop the run very well. Blake Korum got
going on them. He had a high archs per carry average.
Kyrad Williams had his moments too. DeVante Adams was running
free on the back end, and Davante's just the hardest
receiver to cover in the red zone. The releases are
I think the best of any wide receiver. If you
don't believe me, listen to some of the other receivers.
But he's dead on. This is where you're starting to
(38:23):
get into a little bit of trouble though, When you say,
can you imagine where we would be if this team
was consistent? It is hard for every NFL team to
be consistent week in and week out, because then you
could just say, well, yeah, the Panthers could have beaten
the Saints. But then I guess you could go the
other way and just say, well, the Panthers could have
lost the Rams too. Right, if it happens like it's
(38:44):
supposed to on paper, where does this team stand at
the end or at this point of the season.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
But he's not wrong, I get it.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
I'm thinking now is the rocky road to the top
and then staying there being consistent is the goal for
twenty twenty six. This is where the theme all season long
for me has been are things going according to plan?
I would say enthusiastically, yes, they are going according to
plan right now. There have been some bright struggles along
(39:14):
the way. There have been Dave Kanalis struggles along the
way all across the board. But next year, I think
the goal what Jersey Frank speaks of, that consistency, that
giddy tone that he had for us, thinking about consistency,
I think that's the goal for twenty twenty six. Let's
go back to the phone lines, people dialing in again.
Seven oh four, five, seven oh ninety six, to ten seminole, Sam,
(39:39):
he's calling in to the West and Walker Show today.
Go ahead, SIMONL Sam, what's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (39:44):
What's up? Man? I was going to say, Oh, Man,
I think nothing can be consistent for a long period
of time. I think we assume it's gonna make a
consistent moves every day. But listen, I just had a
feeling that we was gonna beat the Rams for some reason.
We win the games that we know I supposed to win,
and then and then the games that we're supposed to win,
and we win. A man, Well, what's consistent? What I do,
(40:06):
like the Pethers did yesterday, was we moved our war
receivers around like him Newton said on four to one movie,
and Walrs is around to identify who's and what Blicks
is coming for now they need him to get Jimmy
Horn into the game.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
We got everybody else. Now we gotta put Jimmy Horn
steed to the best TOVI ability. I like how they
do pookamn hour. Whenever he comes around, he comes in
between the guard and the tackle which freeze him with
If you was watching the game, you will see how
he see how he does his wide receivers then give
us a better opportunity. I think that we're gonna go
to the playoffs, but when we get there, what team
(40:41):
are we going to get? It's the problem I'm gonna have.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
YEP. I love that phone call. Sam.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
I'm totally with you, especially with some of the clips
that are rolling out there about how Sean McVeigh uses Pooka,
who just can do everything. I think he would be
an average left tackle if that's where they put him.
The catch that he had down the sideline against Mike
Jack was incredible. They do he he's an excellent run blocker.
They do run him between the guard and the tackle
on some of these routes, which is just like, it's diabolical,
(41:07):
if you will with Sean mcvayh, what are you doing?
It's crazy stuff. But he mentions the Panthers moving their
receivers around. Totally agree with that point. Look at what
Dave Canalis did with t mac yesterday flound He put
him in the slot twenty two point seven percent of
the time. Okay, he did that same thing against Atlanta.
T Mac ran out of the slot twenty five percent
(41:28):
of the time. Against New Orleans it was twenty four,
which I guess you could say that's your bad piece
of evidence to point to that maybe you shouldn't do
it as much. But I think good things happen when
you put your best wide receivers in the slot at
least a quarter of the time or a fifth of
the time. That's what I want to see from Dave Man,
cause you have guys that are versatile in that regard.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
T Mac.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
He can run routes out of the slot. Same thing
with Jalen Coker, move them around. Make it hard his
own man. It doesn't really matter somebody following you, it
does not matter.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Make it hard on him.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
And I think day for the most part, there have
been times where he's gotten away from it. Well, for
the most part, he's done a great job at that.
And you saw that again on display against LA And
it's not like Team Mac had a whole bunch of catches.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
He had two targets. One you'd like to.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
See him come down with the spectacular play didn't happen
down the sideline. Two did come up with a spectacular play.
Let's go to the phone line one more time before
we ended Ryan dialing in Ryan, thanks for the phone call. Man,
you're on with Wesson Walker, what's on your mind?
Speaker 7 (42:28):
I appreciate it, appreciate you got you gots taking my call.
I was I was just going to say that that
it's very it's very exciting what happened, what happened yesterday,
and that we do have a decent team now. One
one thing. One thing I am I was a little
bit frustrated with Panther fans about this year is even
if we have even if we had lost that game yesterday,
(42:48):
we're still We're still in the fight for the division.
We've been saying for the last few few years now,
we just want a team that's going to be competitive
and fight for the division. Well, we have been doing
that this year. I know it hasn't it hasn't always
been pretty, and it's been very inconsistent, but this is
what we've been wanting. I think you're right. Next year
you look for consistency, but we we've just been We've
(43:08):
been wanting to be in the fight and have and
and have a decent team. And we've got that now.
So we have we have we have you know, you
know what we want. You don't want to lose to
the Saints after a big win like this, but I
don't think they're going through this time. I think they
did learn from the last time, and I think they're
gonna whip the state this time. Like I think it's
not even going to be closed, and I think it
is going to be US in Campa for the division.
(43:29):
And I think one of those games, probably that first
one here in middle of December, is probably going to
get flexed, you know, you know, cause it's going to
be a lot of.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Incitement behind it.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Yeah, I like it. Thank you, good good call from
Ryan Man. You guys understood the assignment. I love all
those phone calls. Man. Shout out to everybody dialing in there.
But one hundred percent, it's next year for consistency. And
also I get what he's saying here. Just to put
a bow on this segment, we come in and we
talk about the game that took place on Sunday. Maybe
we start calling it micro Monday because we have of
(44:00):
the micro outlook on it, and then we can get
to macro midweek by taking a look at the big
picture and saying it's all good, We're okay. We can
be frustrated with a terrible offensive performance against San France.
We should we should be asking for better every single
time you watch the Panthers. That's okay to want an
(44:20):
improvement every single week. It's okay to want that. And
I do want that when I come in on Tuesday
after Monday Night football and I see Bryce Young not
play very well at times, and I see Dave Canalis
go with what I thought was a weird game plan
that he owned up to. He owned up to it,
And that's the point I want to drive home. Maybe
at one twenty we can call him out on that.
(44:41):
That's okay. While also on Tuesdays or Wednesdays Macro midweek,
we can take a step back and we can start
saying we are where we're supposed to be and maybe
even a little ahead of schedule, having wins against Green
Bay and the Rams. And I'll say this, I'm okay
with losing some of the bat games. As much as
I hate it real time. I hate it losing to
(45:03):
the Saints that way where you look pathetic, I hate that,
don't get me wrong, But once we get to this
point in the season, I would take that if it
meant that you were guaranteed the victories in lambeau Field
and at home against the best team in the NFL.
Like if you were telling me, okay, we'll have you
beat the Saints, but it means you don't get your
(45:25):
wins against Green Bay and LA, I would say, no, man,
let's just go ahead and have it play out the
way that it did.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
I want these wins to have us believe that they
can play with anybody as long as they bring the
juice and play their best football or even close to it.
So I to be fair as we start to get
to Macro midweek, I'm here to tell you I wouldn't
sacrifice those victories if it meant we would have beaten
the Saints or showed up in a better way against
(45:51):
some of the worst teams in the worlds because then.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
I mean we're having the conversation about how special really
is this. You're then talking about, Okay, well you beat
the Saints. What would be your best win If you said, oh, well,
you take away the Packers game and you take away
the Rams game. I mean, I don't know, maybe you
give them the Niners game. Maybe that's your signature win.
But I mean, let's say you don't have that one.
(46:14):
Then we're literally just talking about who's the best win
Atlanta like that.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
You really want to be in that spot. So I
get it.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
The ups and downs are are, you know, frustrating for sure,
But at the same time, you are beating really good teams.
You are beating teams that if you get to the
playoffs this year, you could actually pull it upset in
the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
I'm not saying you can get to the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
I think that's probably a little bit too much, but
I do think if you get there, there's a chance
that you could beat one of these teams.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
It's an important point because I'm totally with you on that.
Would would you rather just beat all the teams you're
supposed to on paper and lose to all the teams
you're supposed to on paper?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Not one? Where's the fun in that too? You're right.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Then you get to the postseason with people we'll still
questioning whether you can get these victories. Now now you
got people saying, hey, they could do it. We saw
it against Green Bay and we saw it against LA
And I think that matters, not only just for us,
because at the end of the day, Matt Rule, Sorry,
I just went to a dark place in my brain.
At the end of the day, it doesn't necessarily matter
(47:19):
what the fans think to a certain degree on how
you perform. Let me word this differently. What matters most
is if the players believe that they can beat those times. Yes, exactly,
that's what miners post. Let's go to the campus ConA
ConA hit me with it. Maybe I love it, flound
Dog Walker Mail. We're here with you on Wes and
Walker No West for the rest of the show, rest
(47:39):
of the week, but we'll still be bringing you the
campus corner on the other side of the break. Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ Listen to the Wes and
Walker Show WEWE teas from noon to three only on
Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM UFNZ, the
Speaker 2 (47:53):
Official home of the Charlotte sports Fan
Only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven a half
am a UFNZ fun.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
He's the Weston Walker Show. Even a crowd knows what's
coming there.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Oh man, I can't believe you did it? Are you
kidding me? The Panthers actually got this thing done. We
are on the ascent of the Panthers Coaster. There have
been so many people floundy. There have been so many
people that have said that they have enjoyed the ride. Look,
I can't tell you that I've enjoyed every single second.
I do want to go Homer Simpson back in the
bushes on some of those takes. But I'm having fun
(00:45):
now on the ascent of this Panthers coaster in twenty
twenty five, and we're here to talk about it. And
then we'll have the drop zone where our heart kind
of goes into our throat and we're a little scared
of what's to happen, and we have that four or
five seconds of real feared, genuine fear if they lose
again to the Saints. But then we'll be real excited
once we start up the Panthers twenty twenty five coaster
(01:07):
like we are right now. I can't believe they got
it done. They beat the Rams, and they played clean football.
They didn't turn it over. Bryce Young was throwing dots.
He was throwing dots downfield. He was throwing dots downfield
on clutch downs and situations. Derek Brown was the clutch
defensive player of the game. And the Panthers beat what
(01:28):
many considered to be and I'm not gonna throw that caveat.
I'm gonna say what everybody believed to be the best
team in football. The Panthers beat that team thirty one
to twenty eight at Boa. It's WESN. Walker on what
is a fun edition of WESN. Walker Sports Radio ninety
two to seven WFNZ, and we're broadcasting live from the
(01:49):
Chandler vaulta studio CEV Injurylaw dot com, cvinjurylat dot com.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
One call.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. Now, I will
say just some house cleaning before we really get off
of the bus. It is a Westless and Walker show,
not only today, but all week long. Wes decided that
he didn't have enough time away from us. On Friday,
the usual Fridays that he's been getting off all of
not getting off, getting off of Western Walker from for
(02:17):
all college football season, but this time he's going to
take all of this week off and then I.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Think he's back next week in full. I don't know
the ballgames.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'll find out all find out together, but it is
a Westless and Walker show here on WESN Walker the
rest of the week. And so Flounder, he's going to
be a renaissance man. Flound He's going to be doing
the co host thing, He's going to be doing the
producer thing, the boardop thing, all of it. How are
you feeling this week?
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Feeling good?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Man?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
I mean no, I gotta tell you. We hosted on Friday.
We came up with a victory formula. Most of it
was basically just pray. I mean we literally put that
in there. Pray you and.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Lane Kiffin this weekend. You were the ones praying this
week and man, and it worked out for the Panthers.
What a win this is?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
I mean, we keep asking this question, right, It seems
like every time they win, we ask biggest win since win?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, Well, this one. I don't know if you can
top it this season.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
I thought the massive I thought about tweeting out this
is by far the biggest win the Panthers have experienced
since the Green Bay win a couple of weeks ago.
But this is how we've talked all year long. That
Green Bay win in Lambeau, that was significant, and then
you follow that up with a terrible, terrible loss to
the Saints at home, and then you have the win
(03:34):
against Atlanta where you throw for a gajillion yards, and
then you have the let down performance specifically offensively against
San fran and then finally here we are against the
best team in football offense, elite defense. There are some
deficiencies there in some areas, but that's a really good defense,
(03:54):
and they've got some problem areas. Emmanuel Forbes is a
problem for them at corner. They're not perfect, right, but
they are a very good football team, and they'd been
playing like a very good football team all year long,
and flounder. I will say this, I don't even think
the Rams were terrible in this game. That's what gives
me more comfort. The Rams did not lay an egg
in this game, in my opinion. They had mistakes. The
(04:17):
Panthers forced a lot of those mistakes, but this was
not some performance with the Rams. To the cross country
thing they play at ten am. Yes, I'm sure that
has some kind of effect. But I go back to
what Sean McVeigh said after the game. He says he
refuses to believe that his team took the Panthers like lightly.
Like I love Sean mcvagh for that. Just to kind
(04:37):
of go off on a little side tangent, he said,
credit to them. We didn't take them lightly. We didn't
underestimate him. This wasn't one of those situations where we
came into Charlotte thinking we're really good. We were reading
the press clippings all of that and then we mailed
it in and then give them credit. But we could
have played better football. McVeigh didn't do any of that.
He said, that's a really good football team. Knew it,
(05:00):
they proved it against us. We got to go fix
some of the stuff that went wrong in this one
for the future, for the inevitable playoff run. But he
gave all the credit to Carolina and founder I think
he was dead on about it. Man Carolina forced turnovers.
Derek Brown with the pass defended, He's been so good
at that all year long. If he can't get home,
he throws his hands up, and this time he caused
(05:21):
a turnover, and the turnovers they were the worst kind
of turnovers for the Rams. Like, it's the kind of
turnovers that keep Dave Canalis up at night if it
were to happen to his team. Right, It's all about
the ball. That's the theme. He holds the football, he
chases people down Morehead Street. It's all about the ball.
It's all about the ball. He repeats that message constantly.
(05:45):
And Matthew Stafford threw a couple of interceptions and fumbled
the football in the worst of ways. And I can't
even tell you that it was because Stafford was so bad.
I don't think Stafford was terrible. I don't think he
was great. Think some throws even without the interceptions that
like negating those, I think he missed them throws for sure.
But that's what leaves me so impressed with this squad.
(06:10):
The Rams did not come in and play this terrible,
terrible football game. They did some good stuff. They showed
good football in multiple areas of what they showed you
yesterday at Bank of America Stadium. And the Panthers had
an answer. They had an answer for all of it. Defensively, offensively,
they got the job done and That's why I leave
(06:32):
that game so impressed, because the Rams. It's not like
they were the worst football team yesterday and they didn't
show this team any respect.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
No, absolutely not.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean I thought they played pretty well for the
majority of the day.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Outside of the turnovers.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
It looked like what we had seen from the Rams
for the majority of the season. It's just the Panthers
when they needed to in clutch moments, came up with turnovers.
And you know, in terms of what Carolina was able
to do offensively, I mean, no one saw this coming.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
After what you did against San Francisco.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You thought, Okay, how in the world are you going
to turn around and all of a sudden put up
the type of offensive performance to keep up with the Rams.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And they did.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Man, I mean they ran the football incredibly well the
entire day.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I thought that was.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
A great move by Dave Canalis to lean on what
the strength of this team is.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
We talked about it on Friday.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
We said, you still don't really know what the identity
of this team is. Offensively. I think you know what
the identity is exiting this game. It is a run
first team that builds their passing game off of the run.
When they are having success on the ground, that's what
allows them to be successful through the air.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
And so I thought you saw that in this game.
Speaker 4 (07:42):
It really allowed the Panthers to be able to settle
into a nice groove, allow Bryce young to settle into
a nice groove. And then again, the thing that he
has done so well at times this year, especially in
the games against Green Bay and now in this game
against La was he made the throws that he has
to make.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
He was good.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah, Bryce young Man, he was really good in this one.
The constant he made the throws he had to make
to win. It does feel like not a backhanded compliment,
but we stopped short of giving him a lot of credit.
And I think that phrase is appropriate for some of
these performances that we've seen.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Dallas is the one that comes to mind for me.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Atlanta, the thirty to nothing beat down in Week three
of the regular season. That's where that phrase comes into
play for me. I didn't see anything that was crazy.
Cowboys a little different. He did some really impressive stuff
against the Cowboys. The win against the Falcons, we said
that he did what he had to do to win
the game. That's like a nice way of saying, eh,
(08:45):
he's not the one that really caused them the victory
or that led them to victory. It was the running game.
It was other stuff here. I don't want to hold
back on any of the praise for Bryce, you know
what I'm saying, Like he fan, He writes in on
the text line, he was a little worried that I
was throwing in some qualifiers and some caveats as if
to strip them of any credit. Now, man, it's all
love all here today. It's all love. When I said
(09:10):
Emmanuel Forbes and the rams like, I'm just yeah, that
was not to put a caveat on it. That has
no bearing on how well Bryce played. Bryce was fantastic
in this one. That was a monster throw that he
had to t Mac. That was a monster throw that
he had to Jalen Kocher. Again, we got the t
mac shot on the sideline where I thought that was
(09:31):
a good throw. It was going to have to be
contested by t Mac and he shot away from it. Whatever, right,
We can get to some of the criticism a little
bit later on, if even if there is any room
for that today. But no, man, it's all love over
here today. I thought the defense stepped up when they
needed to, and I don't. I don't want to give
the qualifying filled compliments towards Bryce. I thought he was
(09:53):
flat out awesome in this game. I give him all
of the credit in the world for those clutch throws,
for the drives, for his superpower, which seems to be
evading pressure and then throwing accurately. That's my favorite thing
in the world. Bryce does. If he dodges a sack,
scary for the defense. After that, if you don't bring
(10:13):
him down, he's going to throw a completion, probably downfield
on you.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
It's a lot like bow Knicks, to be honest with you,
and bo Nix is being praised for it every time
that you turn on the TV. I mean they were
talking about it the entire night last night. In the
game against Washington, you don't hear the same things about Bryce,
and I don't know why, because when you're avoiding pressure
the way that he is and then making throw after throw,
that deserves a lot of praise from these guys.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
We got people writing in seven oh four five seven
zero on the fan duel text line line of Boy
seventy four says our receivers weren't dropping balls Sunday. That's
a big difference. Yeah, and you had the questionable one
from t MAC. But for sure, especially Jalen Koker, who
is going to get some shine on this Monday as well.
We're scrolling, We're scrolling some more our big cat, Dan says.
(11:01):
Most of all, he leaned Dave Canalis. He leaned on
Bryce's strengths. Yeah, we're gonna have a lot to say
about Dave Canalis with the response in play calling, leaning
not only on Bryce's strengths, but heavily on Cheico.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Now is what we're doing. Yeah, why not.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
I gotta say I'm a fan. Chico's just fun to say.
I'm with it. Chico the two headed monster that they
have in that backfield. And you can't have Chico without Cuba.
And Cuba showed the bleep up yesterday. My word. He
looked healthy. He was playing really well. He looked like
the better running back, which had not been the case.
I mean, what since week four, I guess when Cuba
(11:42):
went down with injury and then Rico took over. Rico
had been game after game, whether Cuba was injured or not,
Rico had looked like the better running back all the
way until yesterday against LA and if you have both
of these guys running well, I don't think Rico is bad.
It's just I thought Tuba was really good. I think
no matter what you look at eye test analytics, good
(12:04):
old fashioned traditional stats.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Dare I say he had some burst floundy?
Speaker 1 (12:09):
How about that looks like it that swing pass to
lead us off with a touchdown. I mean he hit
that hole hard. Which was part of the issue that
we had with Tuba was it didn't feel like he
was as decisive. And then when he did decide to
run through a gap, he wasn't hitting it hard. And
then on that swing pass, yeah, I mean he shot
out of a cannon like. That's not what we're used
to seeing from him. He looks healthy. I know he
(12:30):
had talked about how he was praying on getting back
to that style of football, and I think you saw
it against the Rams. I thought he was great. We
got a lot to get to. Let's dive in on
the other side of the break, were a lot of
times when we win. Coming into him Monday, I don't
even need the bus. I say, you're good. I feel
like walking today.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
It's a beautiful day. He actually jogged this time.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Dare I say, Tuba sprinted. We don't need the bus.
Thank you man.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
You can go on. It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
I feel like walking around the block a little bit,
So that's what we're gonna do. Western Walker Coming up next,
we'll discuss Dave Canalis and Bryce Young.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Where's the reputation now?
Speaker 1 (13:06):
And I got something to say about Dave Canalis with
the lack of ego that I think is commendable. Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFZ, look at you, producer Floundy
(13:29):
Oh got some breaking news here.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
That's right man.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
According to this is from Tom peliserah was originally I reported.
I believe Adam Schefter got it in first. The Vikings
are waiting waiving wide receiver Adam Thlen, who approached the
team about moving on last week. The team granted the
request out of respect for thelan and will allow him
to finish his final NFL season elsewhere. It's interesting considering
(13:54):
his drop percentages. What did you say?
Speaker 5 (13:56):
It was?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Walker? Just a minute ago?
Speaker 1 (13:58):
All right, so here are the stats you just mentioned
it just for anybody that needs it repeated. Adam Thlen
is homeless when it comes to an NFL squad. He
just got waived by Minnesota, and as you heard Flounder
say coming in from Tom Pelasero, Adam Thlen requested to
be let go so he could go play for a
different team, presumably to go compete for a playoff spot
(14:21):
or a championship.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Here are Adam Thelen's stats through twelve games this year
one two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight nine ten
eleven eleven games. Excuse me, sixteen targets in eleven games,
eight catches, sixty nine yards, A nice total. Three drops,
which means on sixteen targets he has a twenty seven
(14:47):
percent drop rate. Every fourth pass you throw Adam Thielen,
he's dropping, even if it's accurate. I yeah, I want
to talk about a victory. We're gonna do that. But
you got a fourth round pick for a guy that
was dropped on a bad football team because he himself
(15:07):
has been bad and now he's looking for a different team.
I know that it was questionable at the time. I
get it. I was for making this move, but I
also understand the people that weren't for making this move.
You had t mac as your number one wide out,
You had Jalen Cocher. You had exl, but Thelan was
(15:28):
your most reliable receiver last year, on top of Jalen Cocher.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
I think you can.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Make the case for either one of them, but I
still think it's probably Thelan to be completely fair, So
Bryce Young his growth is what matters most.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
You don't want to get rid of a receiver that
he's relied on so much. Understandable getting a fourth round
pick for Adam Thielen. I thought the value was too much.
You had to move on from him, in my opinion.
But cool if you thought otherwise. If I were to
tell you then that you're giving up on a guy
that's only going to have eight catches through eleven games
and drop every fourth pass that is thrown to him,
(16:03):
then you would say, I'd be happy to get a
seventh rounder for him. But you got more than that.
And then we go back to the whole family thing.
His wife was putting on social media how much that
she wanted to go home. The purple background on the
Instagram post. I'm cool, right, I get it. You want
to go back to Minnesota. Remember Adam Thielen went to
(16:26):
Minnesota State or whatever it is. I forget what it is,
but he went to some D two school in Minnesota.
He tried out for the Vikings, made the squad, should have.
It's really a remarkable story how his career was born
and it was all in Minnesota that had happened. And
then he became a Pro Bowl wide receiver like awesome
back in the day, very very good for Carolina in
an offense that didn't really lift up anybody. And then
(16:49):
he wanted to go compete for the hometown team because
he thought Minnesota was just going to pick up where
they left off, having moved on from Sam Donold. But
JJ McCarthy a first round pick, it's all gravy. I'm
gonna get fifty catches and help this team compete. Oh
except that I got a healthy scratch this weekend, not
being hurt, a healthy scratch, and now you want to
(17:11):
go compete with a different team. So it's really not
even all that much about playing at home, right right,
it's wanting to go compete.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Now. The question is how many people are gonna want
to sign you.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Yeah, there's not going to be many. You wouldn't think.
The only one that comes to mind for me would
be New England. I think maybe New England could look
at him because their wide receiving core isn't great. But
even if they do bring him in, do you guarantee
that he is a part of what they're doing right away?
Like maybe you could get a ring with them, but
I don't think you're going to be super involved.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Here's a question for the people that I think could
be interesting to explore. FanDuel text line seven oh four
five seven oh ninety six to ten.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Have we seen a.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Bigger fall in reputation from Panthers fans than Adam Thielen.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm sure we have.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
But we used to love him around here because he
was the only guy we're throwing to consistently. That was
a thing for a while, and then we had the
messy breakup. Dan Morgan hops on these airwaves with Kyle
Bailey and says, Adam one of this guys was he
wasn't really trying to blame Adam Thielen a ton directly,
but it was kind of one of those indirect direct situations, like, hey,
(18:23):
I'm telling you read between the lines. It could have
been a little hairy had Adam Thielen been on the
roster because we refused to trade him I'm just telling you, guys.
I'm not telling you he would have gone full ice
Cube in the office, throwing chairs and breaking glass, but
I'm not sure this would have been all that tenable.
So we moved on from him as soon as we
(18:44):
got what we felt like was fair value. How does
Minnesota feel today giving up a fourth round pick for
a guy that they ended up waving before they even
got to the last quarter of the season.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Now they got to feel horrible.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Not good business for them now, and it was supposed
to be this field, good story. And so that's that's
my question, the fall from Grace here in Carolina, the
way that we think about a player. It's been a
year's worth of time, right, or like, not even a
year's worth of time calendar speaking, just an NFL season,
not even an NFL season. It's been so quick off season.
(19:15):
He went out cool, you get traded Dan Morgan, I
was like, I don't know. It starts to make you
think about some of the tirades that we had seen
from him on the sideline in Bryce's second year. We
used to defend that, and then you go back in
hindsight and think, oh, maybe that wasn't so cool. Now
I think about it, with what's being reported about your
behavior behind the scenes and now here he is going
(19:37):
to Minnesota, the place that is home to him, and
he wants to go play for a competitor. When do
yourself have not played like a competitor at all this year?
It's just weird. Nick Batoom comes to mind in terms
of fall from Grace, who was excellent the playoff year
and my god, people hated him after that.
Speaker 4 (19:55):
Similar mindset too, like it seemed kind of like a
diva a little.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
Oh yeah, uh well, we got we got some people
that are discussing off the field issues, you know, So
let's leave that aside, right the athletes because of like
messy breakups with the organization UFC. Pillow Fight says, maybe
when Josh Norman went to Washington, now man, remember that
was Dave Gettleman, who might be an answer here. With
(20:22):
Gettleman and Dave, we trust he's shopping in the bargain
bend for all of these free agents that have a
monster return on investment. And then that soured Josh Norman.
Remember he calls the Panthers say hey, I want to
come back.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
When they were sending the franchise tag so more so
for Dave Gettleman. Do we have the hate than we
do Josh Norman, Nascar, Brad Kelvin, Benjamin that's a good one.
We soured on Kelvin. He had the comments towards Cama.
I'm incredibly quick, Yeah, man, I mean a thousand yard season,
his rookie year gets hurt. The second season, the Panthers
actually go to the super Bowl without him. Then he
(20:59):
gets traded or a third rounder goes to the Bills
talks trash about Cam. All right, we're good on the
fond quote unquote fond memories of Kelvin. We can just
move on from there. Seven oh four five, seven oh
ninety six. Ten people are saying, wait, what he got?
Waved Casey an Indian trail. Yeah, Adam Thielen waved by
Minnesota waved.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
And I'm gonna tell you because there are gonna be
people that are gonna say it.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
You do not want him back here? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:25):
You got it, don't you. You gotta address it. I
know we're good. We're good, man, especially with the way
that he left. Yes, I don't know how ugly it
got like, I don't I don't think it was all
hunky dory behind the scenes. Again, I go back to
the ice cube example. I don't think he was throwing chairs,
(21:48):
but I can't imagine that it was all hunky dory
enough to say, yeah, man, we need your help.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Welcome back.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
The argument for it would be he understands the system.
You need a wide receiver that can gain SEP option.
I guess I don't know. All the arguments for signing
him are pretty weak. On my behalf flounder, like even
playing the Devil's advocate part of the debate trying to
figure out ways as to why they need to bring
him back. I feel like they're all weak arguments. I
would get like a C minus if I were to
(22:16):
put this forth in debate class.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Well, I think at this point, you know, with Jalen
Coker starting to play better, there really is no argument.
If Jalen Cocher was still not a factor at all
and you needed someone else to step up besides TMAC,
then maybe you think about it.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
But I think right now you just roll with Coker. Man,
that's your guy.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
I think he's going to be a big part of
what they do moving forward, and so to me, there
really isn't an avenue for him to sign here. You know,
some people are bringing up other interesting places, but I
mean people brought up Buffalo guys. They already have Khalil Shakir,
who they really like. Why are they going to give
up on him to put Adam thlen on the field. Like,
(22:55):
the thing that you have to realize is Thelan's only
playing the slot, so he's limited. He doesn't bring that
versatility that he brought earlier in his career.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
So I don't know where he fits. And that's the
other thing.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
If he was still versatile enough and you could play
him on the outside, then maybe you take him back
here because Xcel isn't playing great.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
But that's just not where he is in his career.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Right now, Let's transition into this topic because I heard
Mack and Bone talking about it. Dave Canalis, does he
deserve to be a real contender for NFL Coach of
the Year perhaps because of this Adam Thielen thing. We
just go ahead and move up the Dan Morgan Executive
of the Year conversation because I I haven't heard anybody
talk about that quite yet.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
And I go to.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
A text message here on the Fandel text line seven oh,
four five seven zero ninety six ten. I apologize that
I can't find the name of who wrote this in
I'll try to give you credit. But someone said, man,
this makes Dan Morgan look a lot better, and it
makes Dan Morgan look like an above average GM. Look founder,
this is now different scenarios, but this is now the
(24:04):
second veteran wide receiver that you've moved off of where
it looks like a genius move. Half a year later,
Deontay Johnson, the risk still totally worth it. You were
gonna move on from Dante Jackson anyway. Nobody criticizes Dan
Morgan for acquiring Deontay Johnson the way that they did,
nor should they criticize him. It was an excellent move.
(24:27):
It was a risk worth taking. I criticized Dan for
moving on from Deontay the way that he did because
I felt like you could have gotten more. I'll shut
up about that. My god, how many ways was I
wrong about Deontay? Like three, four or five different ways?
Goodness gracious, But Dan Morgan, you win there on both accounts.
In my opinion, Adam Thielen, I thought that that side
(24:49):
of the argument that wanted Delan here, they had a
lot of evidence to point to to say, I don't
think it's a great idea to move off from him,
even national NFL media. I can remember some of the
brighter minds in my opinions, say, and thelen is a
really good contested catcher of the football. Remember how many
tough catches he made, he got separation. He helps you
out with some versatility playing in the slot. I don't know, man,
(25:12):
I get it. It's a fourth round. That seems fair,
but I don't know. It's all about Bryce. I think
you should hold on to Adam Thielen. Now, clear as
day they shouldn't have This is clearly, clearly the right
move to have traded him for a fourth rounder, clearly.
So when you bring that into the fold, you also
talk about the revamped defense, you discuss drafting Tmac, who
(25:36):
might win Offensive Rookie of the Year. In my opinion,
he should, even if the production yardage wise is tailed
off a little bit. The last couple of days. Narrative
moments matter for these types of awards, last couple of games,
I should say, but narrative moments matter for these types
of awards. How about that narrative moment yesterday where he
breaks off from his defender and scores a forty yard touchdown.
(25:57):
That's what people are gonna remember when the Riders put
their ballot in, and they're going to remember the touchdown
that he scored to beat the best team in the NFL.
Dan Morgan's drafting that guy. Can we just talk about
him being possibly the executive of the year. Dan Orlovski
certainly thought so. He got about sixty percent of the
stuff that he mentioned in that video, right. I appreciate
(26:19):
the intent from Dan a couple of weeks ago saying
that nobody had a better off season than Carolina. Accuracy
not quite one hundred percent there, but I get the
spirit of the video. So we should have the coach
of the year conversation and whether Dave Kanalis should be
in it.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
I don't think he's going to win.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
I don't think he should win, but he should be
somewhere in that conversation and we'll have it. Perhaps we
parlay that into man, what about Dan Morgan winning Executive
of the year. It was Brad Holmes last year. It
was Brad Holmes in twenty twenty three. Howie Roseman twenty
twenty two, Bill Belichick twenty twenty one. Oh yikes, this
(26:56):
is the PFWA Executive of the Year award winners. Can
Dan Morgan next on that list?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Here? Floundy as we start to explore this more, I
mean it's possible. I mean, with what he's done.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
I mean, somebody also brought up don't forget that he
traded Jonathan Mingo for a fourth round pick too. Now
Sjonathan Migo somehow is not cut from that roster.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
He's still on that roster. Believe it or not.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
If Dan trade you as a wide receiver, just know
you're cooked and we got something way more valuable in
a return.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yeah. And so that's what I think is amazing.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
And I mean, yeah, you talked about it, how good
this defense is as compared to last season. Look, is
this the greatest defense in the league. No, there are
inconsistencies with it. But last year you're talking about a
historically bad run defense and this year they're part of
the reason why this team is seven and six.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
That quick of a turnaround.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
He deserves to be talked about because who are the
other guys. I mean, if you look at it, there's
a guy that had an even worse reputation than he
did that might be heating with him for this award
in Ryan Poles, they hated him, couldn't believe why they
kept him on his GM, And yet now you see
that he's actually made some really good moves there in Chicago.
(28:12):
And I think you're seeing similar stuff here from Dan
Morgan where people might have been questioning some things early
on with him, But now you're getting to the point
where all these moves that he's making. I mean, we
could sit here and brag again about this move. How
about trading Michael Barrett for Mike Jackson?
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Great? How great is that looking today? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Man, you really start to build up a nice resume
if you're Dan, all of these moves, it's starting to
add up flown. So you're right, Mike Jackson, you traded
Michael Barrett, who has not played I believe one snap
of NFL football.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
I don't think so. And Mike jack I don't know
if you saw he just stepped up for j C. Horn.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And depending on how you want to evaluate a player's performance,
it doesn't really matter. The dude balled out yesterday pick six,
even the catch that Puku Nakua had.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
What else can you do? Yeah, there's that.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I mean, it was a great defensive, great defense, and
Puka just gave us a look. I was gonna say
maybe catch of the year until we saw trailing Bergs
and brock Bowers do what they did. But it was
a top three catch of this weekend. And that is
the highest bar I believe of any weekend. Mike Jack
playing very well, clearly in above average corner who has
some struggles every once in a while.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
It's recovered from mid year that these last few weeks
couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
So you get Jack, you get the fourth round, or
for Thielen and Mingo, you move on from Deontay Johnson
when you moved on from him at his peak value
before he flushed it down the toilet with all of
the other stops that he had the rest.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Of us shit and lit it on fire. I just
wall flushing.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
It's crazy you draft the offensive rookie of the year
if he's not gonna win. I don't know if you'allre
paying attention to what a buk is doing down there.
I've seen too many subpar games from him to give
him this award anymore. No, No, Abuca doesn't deserve it
over t Mac with what we've seen, like seven of
the last eight weeks, t Mac has been the better receiver.
I stand ten toes down on that. The quarterback play.
(30:12):
I thought cam Ward was excellent against Seattle, thought we
took a step back against Jacksonville. Cam Ward has not
been the rookie quarterback that deserves this award. Really, it's
your boy Flounder that has I think the best argument
at Jackson Dard.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
We'll see what he does.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
Tell me he missed two games, he missed a couple
goal and we have to see. Yeah tonight, if he
comes out puts up a great performance against the.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
I would want to said the Giants.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
If he comes out and puts together a good performance
against the Patriots, yeah, well, and maybe you can start
having the conversation. But he hasn't even been a starter
for the entire season, so his resume is not going
to be nearly as strong I think as T Max.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Nick Gordon looks like a hit. Mitchell Levins.
Speaker 1 (30:53):
Has he just become the tight end that I trust
most out of this trio In terms of pass catching.
JT has clearly fallen to the bottom, which Dan Morgan
also drafted to be fair. But Mitchell Evins is a
fifth round pick. He kind of balls I just every
time you throw it.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Yeah, even if he made a mistake, it seems like
he corrected it the next year.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
And Tommy Tremble we just kind of different. He wasn't
brought in by Dan. I like Tommy Trimble, just in
terms of who do I trust the most. If I
see a pass heading towards a tight end, it might
just be Mitchell Evans at this point, Lathan Ransom filling
in nicely at that safety spot, got his first sack
in his first start yesterday. You're seeing contributions from all
(31:32):
these rookies. It doesn't mean he's perfect. Right for everybody
that wants to have me slow down. Hey, how does
that Brian Burns trade?
Speaker 2 (31:38):
Look?
Speaker 1 (31:39):
It doesn't look good. To be fair, you're right, Brian
Burns looks great. No GM is going to have a
one hundred percent hit rate, Dan Morgan, no different. I
want to give credit to Bryce. Will still do this,
Dave Canalis. There are lots of conversations that we should
have about these guys, but just as a convo to
have off of the Adam Thielen news, we're starting to
stack up some really impressive decisions from Dan Morgan to
(32:02):
get as much value as possible, and there feels like
flounder every time that we see a move and then
we re evaluate it a half month or half month,
half year later. It's like, buddy, how did you get that?
How many times have we said that about some of
the trades that we've seen.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
Oh, it's it's more often than any other GM. I
will say that, and then I'll finish with this.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Man.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Look, David Tepper, you deserve some credit. And it's why
you've heard me say that in somewhat of a surprising
tone over the last I'll say year and a half,
two years. There you are come from behind the backdrop, tep.
I want to give you some credit. I think he
deserves it, man, because part of it is the way
(32:47):
that you acted throughout the first six seven years.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Of your tenure.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Yeah, okay, low bar, Oh you did it? Come on, man, six,
I walked right into it. Yeah, it's and I can
only blame myself the first six seven and years of
your tenure. It's the first time I've ever done that.
I think, by the way, it's a low bar to clear.
But to be fair, I think you cleared it and
went above and beyond. I've always understood the diversity of
(33:14):
thought philosophy. It worked out horribly, but I always understood it.
It's the way that you acted and meddled afterwards that
I had a real problem with. But everybody seems to
be making the decisions where they should be making their decisions.
Dan Morgan is doing the GM stuff, making all these
small decisions where he might check in with you with
(33:35):
the big time decisions like quarterback, whether you're gonna keep them.
I'm sure there's gonna be a conversation with Tepper about
picking up the faith Yer option on Bryce Young and
what to do with that contract negotiation. I'm sure you're
gonna get a lot of that. But it seems like
the right kind of hierarchy where Tepper trusts everybody to
do their job and he's somewhat hands off and we're
(33:55):
not hearing a lot from him. And the fact that
you hired Dan when the whole Well fan base didn't
like it, right, Like, we love what Dan did as
a player here in Carolina, but people thought he was
too close to Scott Fitterer to be his own man.
People thought that he was too close to that decision
making process where you don't take the two first in
the second in the original Brian Burns conundrum where he
(34:17):
was a part of acquiring CJ. Henderson, where you were
a part of all of these bad decisions. Now, man,
he's too close to it. I'm sorry we got a
fully clean house. I'm glad he didn't. Now, I'm real
glad that he didn't. Now, a lot of people over
there with the Panthers deserve a lot of credit. And boy,
we're going to use today to shed light on that
very fact. It's Wes and Walker Sports Radio ninety two
(34:37):
to seven WFNZ. I need your help, people, me and Flounder.
It's just us today. Join the conversation. Won't you call us?
Seven oh four five, seven oh ninety six to ten.
We want to hear your thoughts. Go ahead, vent about
madam dealing stuff if you want to, but really, just
celebrate a win against the best football team that we've
seen so far this year. Seven oh four five, I
(35:00):
have seven ninety six to ten. We take your phone
calls on the other side of the break. It's wesn.
Walker Sports Radio ninety two seven WFZ. I just watched
the Victory Dance video. During the break Oh to your
(35:21):
God first time, I'm are you start? Officially Mac and
Bone Victory Dance seven, the revival. It's the wildest one yet,
and that's saying something. We talk about bars to clear.
This one is a high bar to clear. They incredibly high,
the highest they just Fosberry flopped right over this baby
cleared it.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
We have flying tour.
Speaker 1 (35:42):
I'm not gonna say everything because you need to go
check it out at t Bone WFZ. We have flying tortillas,
we have falling things hanging on the wall like multiple
we have butt slapping, and we have Fiddy's body. I
don't know if that's a nice tease, what a what
(36:03):
a horrendous combination? Do you think that's gonna send more
traffic to the video or less?
Speaker 4 (36:08):
Probably people are gonna be intrigued. I would say check
it out. I would say check it out. It is
pretty weird. It's a weird one, but at the same time,
I mean, you get to watch these goofballs dance after
a huge win over the Rams.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
It does include I think that the initial Mac dance
is my favorite dance that he's given us all year long.
The slow mo from him is fantastic. Go check it
out at t Bone WFNZ. Let's go over to the
phone lines. People are calling in baby you can too.
Feel free to dial in at seven oh four five,
seven oh ninety six to ten to give us some
of your takes after the Panthers win over the Rams.
(36:43):
Seven oh four, five, seven oh ninety six to ten.
Jersey Frank, we have a couple of Jersey guys that
listen to the show Jersey Frank.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
He's dialing in. How are you doing, man?
Speaker 3 (36:52):
I am doing. I'm doing fantastic. By the way, the
video it's fantastic. Got some light flashing. McLean messed up.
But that's a whole other story.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
He really is.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
You know, my wife said it, and my wife knows
nothing about football. Could you imagine, guys, let's be honest,
if Bryce was consistent, could you imagine what we would
have at Bank of America Stadium. Like it's scary to think,
Like if that team shows up every week and people
are hurt, we have so many injuries right now, what
(37:26):
would our what could this team be because it's a
good football team would be yesterday with our fifth stringer,
Like I don't even like, are you sure we watched
the Panthers game yesterday. I still can't believe it.
Speaker 1 (37:41):
They played consistently. Well, that's the thing, right, I got that.
That's what you're saying, Frank, And we appreciate the phone call.
We really appreciate it. Seven oh four five, seven ninety
six ten. Feel free to dial in and share some
of your thoughts. But I think that was his point.
He's totally right about it. They were consistent from the
first quarter to the fourth quarter. I thought they played
good foot pretty much all throughout. There were some issues.
(38:03):
They couldn't stop the run very well. Blake Korum got
going on them. He had a high archs per carry average.
Kyrad Williams had his moments too. DeVante Adams was running
free on the back end, and Davante's just the hardest
receiver to cover in the red zone. The releases are
I think the best of any wide receiver. If you
don't believe me, listen to some of the other receivers.
But he's dead on. This is where you're starting to
(38:23):
get into a little bit of trouble though, When you say,
can you imagine where we would be if this team
was consistent? It is hard for every NFL team to
be consistent week in and week out, because then you
could just say, well, yeah, the Panthers could have beaten
the Saints. But then I guess you could go the
other way and just say, well, the Panthers could have
lost the Rams too. Right, if it happens like it's
(38:44):
supposed to on paper, where does this team stand at
the end or at this point of the season.
Speaker 2 (38:50):
But he's not wrong, I get it.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
I'm thinking now is the rocky road to the top
and then staying there being consistent is the goal for
twenty twenty six. This is where the theme all season long
for me has been are things going according to plan?
I would say enthusiastically, yes, they are going according to
plan right now. There have been some bright struggles along
(39:14):
the way. There have been Dave Kanalis struggles along the
way all across the board. But next year, I think
the goal what Jersey Frank speaks of, that consistency, that
giddy tone that he had for us, thinking about consistency,
I think that's the goal for twenty twenty six. Let's
go back to the phone lines, people dialing in again.
Seven oh four, five, seven oh ninety six, to ten seminole, Sam,
(39:39):
he's calling in to the West and Walker Show today.
Go ahead, SIMONL Sam, what's on your mind?
Speaker 6 (39:44):
What's up? Man? I was going to say, Oh, Man,
I think nothing can be consistent for a long period
of time. I think we assume it's gonna make a
consistent moves every day. But listen, I just had a
feeling that we was gonna beat the Rams for some reason.
We win the games that we know I supposed to win,
and then and then the games that we're supposed to win,
and we win. A man, Well, what's consistent? What I do,
(40:06):
like the Pethers did yesterday, was we moved our war
receivers around like him Newton said on four to one movie,
and Walrs is around to identify who's and what Blicks
is coming for now they need him to get Jimmy
Horn into the game.
Speaker 5 (40:19):
We got everybody else. Now we gotta put Jimmy Horn
steed to the best TOVI ability. I like how they
do pookamn hour. Whenever he comes around, he comes in
between the guard and the tackle which freeze him with
If you was watching the game, you will see how
he see how he does his wide receivers then give
us a better opportunity. I think that we're gonna go
to the playoffs, but when we get there, what team
(40:41):
are we going to get? It's the problem I'm gonna have.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
YEP. I love that phone call. Sam.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
I'm totally with you, especially with some of the clips
that are rolling out there about how Sean McVeigh uses Pooka,
who just can do everything. I think he would be
an average left tackle if that's where they put him.
The catch that he had down the sideline against Mike
Jack was incredible. They do he he's an excellent run blocker.
They do run him between the guard and the tackle
on some of these routes, which is just like, it's diabolical,
(41:07):
if you will with Sean mcvayh, what are you doing?
It's crazy stuff. But he mentions the Panthers moving their
receivers around. Totally agree with that point. Look at what
Dave Canalis did with t mac yesterday flound He put
him in the slot twenty two point seven percent of
the time. Okay, he did that same thing against Atlanta.
T Mac ran out of the slot twenty five percent
(41:28):
of the time. Against New Orleans it was twenty four,
which I guess you could say that's your bad piece
of evidence to point to that maybe you shouldn't do
it as much. But I think good things happen when
you put your best wide receivers in the slot at
least a quarter of the time or a fifth of
the time. That's what I want to see from Dave Man,
cause you have guys that are versatile in that regard.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
T Mac.
Speaker 1 (41:48):
He can run routes out of the slot. Same thing
with Jalen Coker, move them around. Make it hard his
own man. It doesn't really matter somebody following you, it
does not matter.
Speaker 2 (41:58):
Make it hard on him.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
And I think day for the most part, there have
been times where he's gotten away from it. Well, for
the most part, he's done a great job at that.
And you saw that again on display against LA And
it's not like Team Mac had a whole bunch of catches.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
He had two targets. One you'd like to.
Speaker 1 (42:13):
See him come down with the spectacular play didn't happen
down the sideline. Two did come up with a spectacular play.
Let's go to the phone line one more time before
we ended Ryan dialing in Ryan, thanks for the phone call. Man,
you're on with Wesson Walker, what's on your mind?
Speaker 7 (42:28):
I appreciate it, appreciate you got you gots taking my call.
I was I was just going to say that that
it's very it's very exciting what happened, what happened yesterday,
and that we do have a decent team now. One
one thing. One thing I am I was a little
bit frustrated with Panther fans about this year is even
if we have even if we had lost that game yesterday,
(42:48):
we're still We're still in the fight for the division.
We've been saying for the last few few years now,
we just want a team that's going to be competitive
and fight for the division. Well, we have been doing
that this year. I know it hasn't it hasn't always
been pretty, and it's been very inconsistent, but this is
what we've been wanting. I think you're right. Next year
you look for consistency, but we we've just been We've
(43:08):
been wanting to be in the fight and have and
and have a decent team. And we've got that now.
So we have we have we have you know, you
know what we want. You don't want to lose to
the Saints after a big win like this, but I
don't think they're going through this time. I think they
did learn from the last time, and I think they're
gonna whip the state this time. Like I think it's
not even going to be closed, and I think it
is going to be US in Campa for the division.
(43:29):
And I think one of those games, probably that first
one here in middle of December, is probably going to
get flexed, you know, you know, cause it's going to
be a lot of.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
Incitement behind it.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
Yeah, I like it. Thank you, good good call from
Ryan Man. You guys understood the assignment. I love all
those phone calls. Man. Shout out to everybody dialing in there.
But one hundred percent, it's next year for consistency. And
also I get what he's saying here. Just to put
a bow on this segment, we come in and we
talk about the game that took place on Sunday. Maybe
we start calling it micro Monday because we have of
(44:00):
the micro outlook on it, and then we can get
to macro midweek by taking a look at the big
picture and saying it's all good, We're okay. We can
be frustrated with a terrible offensive performance against San France.
We should we should be asking for better every single
time you watch the Panthers. That's okay to want an
(44:20):
improvement every single week. It's okay to want that. And
I do want that when I come in on Tuesday
after Monday Night football and I see Bryce Young not
play very well at times, and I see Dave Canalis
go with what I thought was a weird game plan
that he owned up to. He owned up to it,
And that's the point I want to drive home. Maybe
at one twenty we can call him out on that.
(44:41):
That's okay. While also on Tuesdays or Wednesdays Macro midweek,
we can take a step back and we can start
saying we are where we're supposed to be and maybe
even a little ahead of schedule, having wins against Green
Bay and the Rams. And I'll say this, I'm okay
with losing some of the bat games. As much as
I hate it real time. I hate it losing to
(45:03):
the Saints that way where you look pathetic, I hate that,
don't get me wrong, But once we get to this
point in the season, I would take that if it
meant that you were guaranteed the victories in lambeau Field
and at home against the best team in the NFL.
Like if you were telling me, okay, we'll have you
beat the Saints, but it means you don't get your
(45:25):
wins against Green Bay and LA, I would say, no, man,
let's just go ahead and have it play out the
way that it did.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
Cool.
Speaker 1 (45:31):
I want these wins to have us believe that they
can play with anybody as long as they bring the
juice and play their best football or even close to it.
So I to be fair as we start to get
to Macro midweek, I'm here to tell you I wouldn't
sacrifice those victories if it meant we would have beaten
the Saints or showed up in a better way against
(45:51):
some of the worst teams in the worlds because then.
Speaker 4 (45:53):
I mean we're having the conversation about how special really
is this. You're then talking about, Okay, well you beat
the Saints. What would be your best win If you said, oh, well,
you take away the Packers game and you take away
the Rams game. I mean, I don't know, maybe you
give them the Niners game. Maybe that's your signature win.
But I mean, let's say you don't have that one.
(46:14):
Then we're literally just talking about who's the best win
Atlanta like that.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
You really want to be in that spot. So I
get it.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
The ups and downs are are, you know, frustrating for sure,
But at the same time, you are beating really good teams.
You are beating teams that if you get to the
playoffs this year, you could actually pull it upset in
the playoffs.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
I'm not saying you can get to the super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (46:40):
I think that's probably a little bit too much, but
I do think if you get there, there's a chance
that you could beat one of these teams.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
It's an important point because I'm totally with you on that.
Would would you rather just beat all the teams you're
supposed to on paper and lose to all the teams
you're supposed to on paper?
Speaker 2 (46:55):
Not one? Where's the fun in that too? You're right.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Then you get to the postseason with people we'll still
questioning whether you can get these victories. Now now you
got people saying, hey, they could do it. We saw
it against Green Bay and we saw it against LA
And I think that matters, not only just for us,
because at the end of the day, Matt Rule, Sorry,
I just went to a dark place in my brain.
At the end of the day, it doesn't necessarily matter
(47:19):
what the fans think to a certain degree on how
you perform. Let me word this differently. What matters most
is if the players believe that they can beat those times. Yes, exactly,
that's what miners post. Let's go to the campus ConA
ConA hit me with it. Maybe I love it, flound
Dog Walker Mail. We're here with you on Wes and
Walker No West for the rest of the show, rest
(47:39):
of the week, but we'll still be bringing you the
campus corner on the other side of the break. Sports
Radio ninety two seven WFNZ Listen to the Wes and
Walker Show WEWE teas from noon to three only on
Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM UFNZ, the
Speaker 2 (47:53):
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