September 26, 2025 • 46 mins
In hour 2, Walker reacts to the Panthers going into the Patriots game without both starting edges, and Walker weighs in on the XL injury situation and if it is fair for fans to fully give up on last year's first-round pick.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You were listening to the Wes and Walker Show.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Are you telling me?
Speaker 3 (00:04):
After fifteen years of unanswered prayers, we finally get our
rint protector only for Dorian Finney Smith and Danilo Gallinari.
It's Wes fifty two year old Danilo Gallinari.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Try mess it all up.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Let's go seven games, seven games into the gear man?
Are you telling me? I actually miss Cody Zeller and Walker?
Forget o hornet starter jacket. I need a straight jacket.
I'm going crazy. I'm rocking back and forth and fetal
position only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM, WFNZ.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Longing for the days of Cody Zeller?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
What's the Walker?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Sports Radio ninety two in wfn Z Smoke filling in
not only the first hour, but the next two hours.
It's a freaky Friday on ninety two to seven FM.
We appreciate you joining us as we broadcast live from
the Chandler Vault Studio. Cvinjurylaw dot Com, CV Injurylaw dot Com.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
One call.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers got some injuries
to talk about. Regarding the Panthers, we can get back
to that over the next few segments. Over the course
of the upcoming two hours. But we got to take
a trip to the campus kauna here in just a
moment because we got an interesting ECU game that was
a hell of a result for the Pirates last night.
(01:36):
I usually don't like giving love to what I would
deem my biggest college football rival at this point.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
For Charlotte, Yeah, especially considering well are they rivals still?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean easy and beat us. I will say that
Pogi's two and zero against the CU, of all things,
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I can't believe after all of the weirdness that took
place with Biffpog and his lack of sleeves, he was
not without his wins against the school I wanted to
beat first and foremost, and he put fifty on them.
Like beatdowns, man, not beatdowns. The one game was a beatdown,
the other one was not, but a beat down. I
(02:15):
just anyways, So we'll give some love to ECU after
their win last night, and then we'll look at the
rest of the ACC slate that's coming up right now
on the campus code, and let's get freaky on a Friday.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I tried my best there for Wes.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Let's look at that ACU game, ECU getting the win
last night, trying to pull out the exact score.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Was it twenty eight six? Is that what it was?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Twenty eight to six against Army where that one was
a dicey game coming in. Army lost to Tarleton State
to open up the season, but that they won against
Kansas State, who I know Kansas State isn't good even
still to lose to Tarleton. I would not expect you
to get a victory against Kansas State, even if they're
not your Normaliti Snyder teams. And yet Army ended up
(03:03):
losing to ECU last night in a way where ECU
dominated that game. Surprising results on the season here locally, smoke,
where does that one compare? I know, Syracuse beating Clemson
was shocking because of the way that it happened, even
with Clemson struggling going into that matchup.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Where does that win rank?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
If Clemson Syracuse is won, Where's ECU winning the way
they did against Army on that list?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You know, it's not as so much for.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
The opponent, because I don't think it's the same Army
team that was ranked in the top twenty five last year.
Out a quarterback daily, you know graduated, but it's just
more so to circumstances and how they won. That was
really shocking because they were coming off the tough loss
to BYU where they couldn't capitalize whenever they got near
to red zone. And BYU is a very tough team,
so that you had that loss to BYU. It does
(03:49):
help that you're at home, but it's still a short
week going against a team that runs the triple option.
That usually could be a recipe for disaster. Which is
why I think Army beat Kansas State, you know, because
Kansas it was still I mean, they still haven't recovered
from their opening season week zero loss in Ireland, and
I think, you know, as the record show, when you
lose Week zero in Ireland, you never seem to recover. Now,
(04:11):
but I think what just shocked is the fact that
a short week, coming off the tough loss, going against
a team that runs a triple and you score twenty
one in the first quarter the first quarter, Like twenty
one of the points that you scored were all in
the first quarter. Now, the one thing with this team
that is concerning, they like to turn the ball over
a little bit. Cayton Hauser has a little bit of
(04:32):
the Brett Faarr syndrome.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Or Amazon Garcia syndrome.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yes, So it wasn't as bad as it was against BYU,
but they're a little turnover happy. But you know, looking
at ECU, they're good. I just don't know if they're great,
and we'll we'll get a true test when they come
off their bye week as they take on two Lane,
which will be a massive matchup in the American because
I view ECU right now as a dark horse team
in the American which is saying a lot considering the
(04:58):
fact that the American Conference as flexing their muscle to
stark a year.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
They absolutely have.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I think ECU is going to be a team at
the end of the year where we remember them better
than what their record is going to show. Because they're
going to have that loss to NC State and that
was a tightly contested game. They're going to have a
loss to BYU, a good football program. Tulane is their
next one. So it was nice for them to get
a win against Army. If they would have lost last night,
you're looking at a three game losing streak and now
the season is completely flipped on its head. But they didn't,
(05:24):
and in fact, not only did they beat the Knights,
they ended up beating them by twenty eight to six
double digits. Crazy victory in my opinion based on what
we've come to expect from Army here recently, and so
I expect an l against Tulane. Then they can really
get the ball rolling in what is going to be
the second half of the season. Kateen Hawser, I'm a
big fan of I think he is a good quarterback
(05:45):
in this league. So yeah, man, I like what ECU
showed us, and I think now with that win, you're
setting yourself. Blake Carroll will set himself up to have
a good starting point as a first time full year
head coach at ECU. By the way, we do need
to mention before we move on, scored that last touchdown.
They had a field goal run, a fake field goal
to kicker scored the touchdown.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, I mean to see, Well, this is the thing
I think of too, man like Blake Harrol pulling out
the Jake Garcia not Mason Garcia. I apologize, uh, Jason,
I got my Garcia is mixed up. But anyways, I
think of Blake Harrol taking over that job or cu
fans were a little underwhelmed, even if he did a
nice job as the interim coach. But now I feel
(06:27):
like you are changing the tune on that just a
little bit, especially with that victory. And John David Baker,
I think is an awesome offensive coordinator for them. I
don't know if he's going to be there's a concern
is slide all right, this guy's really good as an
offense coordinator. Yeah, I agree, I think he's probably gone.
All right, let's just go through the local slate here
the ACC schedule for this upcoming weekend. We'll go with
(06:50):
one that's not too local, but an interesting one of
the conferences, to say the least, Florida State in Charlottesville.
The seminoles are a six and a half point fait.
This is one where I thought we went through some
categories yesterday. Flander was helping me out here smoke, and
I had Florida State as having the biggest potential of
(07:11):
fumbling the bag scenarios taking place this week, like if
it's Florida State awesome win against Alabama. Now we're looking
at them as a possible representative of the ACC and
the College Football Playoff. I think that's the hope for
them at least right now. But they're only a six
and a half point favorite against Virginia because Virginia just
scores a boatload of points. How are you feeling about
(07:32):
this matchup for both parties coming in.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I look at it like this, If Florida State doesn't
read their own press clippings heading into this game and
just takes it business as usual, they should win this
game because I think, you know, looking at all the metrics,
they are the better team. Looking at the talent on
the field, they look like a better team. But here's
where I'm concerned for Florida State a little bit. Outside
of that Alabama game, who they played, Yeah, they blew
(07:56):
them out, But they played East Texas A and M,
which I didn't know was at school until three weeks
go in Kent State. That's not really competition Virginia. They've lost,
you know, to NC State, but that was a tough
back and forth game, and you know, they've played a
little bit tougher upon. It's not the best opponents because
Coastal Carolina sucks right now and MJ. Morris has been
(08:16):
a total dud with the Chanta Clears. But I look
at that, and then you look at the circumstances surrounding
the game. I don't know if you notice, but they're
honoring the nineteen ninety five team tonight. Remember thirty years
ago it was a night game on ESPN, not on
a Saturday, when Florida State suffered their first loss in Charlottesville.
This game's in Charlottesville. They're honoring said team that gave
(08:37):
Florida State their first off in the ACC. And here's
where I also, it's not just all the feelings, all
the you know, stuff like that, the nostalgia. Look, he's
not the best quarterback ever, but I think Chandler Morris
might be the most experienced quarterback in college football, even
more experienced than Diego Pavia. In the situations like this,
(08:57):
when you're going against top twenty five teams and you're
kind of fighting behind the eight ball, you need to
have an experienced quarterback that knows his stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Chandler Morris has done that.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
He's had stops at Oklahoma, he played two and a
half years as a starter at TCU, played one year
at North Texas, and so far this year has been
a great addition for the Virginia Cavaliers when Tony Elliott
needed a quarterback like him the most. So while I
think Florida State wins this game, Florida State can't keep
their eyes off of Virginia because Virginia could really slap
(09:26):
him across the face and shock him.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Well, not only is Chandler Morris experienced, but maybe he's
just good. You look at what he's done over the
first four games. He's only throwing one interception. He had
his fort passing touchdowns against Stanford and that forty eight
to twenty victory against the Cardinal And I know they're
not good.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But other thing, Stanford has already won an ACC game.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
They beat Boston College.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
And so now I think that helped them with a
little validity going into this one. And now you're looking
at Chandler Morris's rushing totals as well. How about one
hundred and thirty two rushing yards He had fifty in
the first two contests, the fifty yard forty two yard
long rush against NC State. But he's also helping you
with his legs a little bit. I'm gonna go to Virginia.
(10:08):
I'm calling it. Oh, I'm gonna go Virginia.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I can go full into this.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I just think the.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Only reason, well I shouldn't say the only reason they
gave up thirty five points at NC State, and that
can't be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But again, that's CJ. Bailey.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
It's the only interception that he's thrown so far is
the interception in the end zone to give NC State
that victory. But Virginia had NC State with all of
the pressure on the back end at that point, and hey,
good for NCI State's defense. They got the pick. But
I'm gonna go Virginia. I've been high on them all
off season. I really like what they've been doing their
offensive line. They had a bunch of experience coming back.
(10:39):
So that's probably the best way to describe it.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
A pretty good run game too, if guys like Jamii
Taylor and Harrison Way like, both of those guys have
been averaging over six yards of carrying. Now, the competition
is one thing, but when you talk about Alabama's lost
to Florida State, well it was the biggest problem the
fact that he just went away from the run game
entirely and just decided to say, all right, Ty Simpson,
all the pressures on you in your first game is
a full on starter. So look, I think Florida State
(11:03):
wins this game, but I understand where you're coming from,
and I won't be totally shocked if they win this game.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Tonight, Duke at Syracuse. The Blue Devils are four and
a half point favorites. I thought this was going to
be an awesome matchup, and then you get the report
that Steve Ageli is gone because of his season ending injury.
It sucks, man, because Syracuse looked like they were poised
for what was going to be an awesome year with
another prolific passer that finds a home and Syracuse after
(11:27):
Colin McCord was throwing it all over the yard last year,
and then we're like.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Job in the NFL because of Buddy.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
So now we're talking about replacing him with another quarterback
that just I don't know. I think he was top
two at the time of his injury and passing yards
in college football. The other thing that's interesting, though, is
on the other side, Darien Mensa is up there in
all of college sports as well. So now you're talking
about Duke being a four and a half point favorite,
even if it is on the road. I think the
QB injury takes the luster out of this game here, Smokey,
(11:54):
give me Duke to win.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Look, Ricky Collins, he did do enough to keep Syracuse
afloat in their win against Clemson last week. But it's
just we've barely seen Ricky Collins. Like put it in
perspective Walker, he came into Syracuse with only seven passing attempts.
He had fourteen on Saturday. There's just not enough of
the sample size. For all we know, Ricky Collins could
(12:16):
Wally Pitt Steve Angeli here, but we just don't have
enough sample size to go after it.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I also am concerned with Duke and their defense.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
The defense has not been as good as it was
last year under Many Diaz, and that's a little bit
of a concern. This is one of those games where
it's a true coin flip in my opinion, even with
Ricky Collins's starting quarterback, just because I gotta get fran
Brown an advantage here. For as much as I like Manny Diaz,
Fran Brown has shown in a short time as a
head coach he can overachieve like nobody else in the ACC.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
You mean you can win and be successful your first
year in the portal era Bill Belichick maybe take notes
from what Fran Brown did at Syracuse last year and
then continue to do his second season. I'm just saying
I really do about Brown. I was going to make
this point as well. I feel like that injury robbed
us of an all time character season from Brown, which
we might get, but there's not going to be as
(13:05):
many eyeballs because I don't think as many wins are
coming their way. If they do, I'm glad that we
weren't robbed of it. I just think we might be
robbed of an all time character coach season.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Well.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
Unfortunately, for some Orange fans, Fran Brown's big season where
he could have a character season could be chomping at
the bit elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You think he's gone. You think after this one, Yeah, okay,
that's data chop. It makes sense, all right. Rapid fire
VT at NC State, NC State big favorite ten and
a half. In fact, I think it was nine and
a half money coming in even more. On NC State
being at home, I think the wolf Pack win. I
think they're just too good, especially on offense.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
If you want to be contenders in the ACC state,
you can't mess up here, don't lollygag.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Don't pull a state ish, just take care of business.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I did in the category breakdown yesterday with Flounder, I
did have this as the biggest potential for Oh, it
could get ugly because Benzay State loses a VT. NC
State does not need a reason to want to get
rid of Dave dor And even more so than they've
already wanted to they're not even all the way on
board outside of what is a pretty good start out,
even outside that loss to Duke, they lose to VT gonna.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Be a lot of noise. It'll be a lot of noise.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
And plus you know you're zero to two and conference
play because your win against Virginia was a non conference game.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Yeah, which is a great point. Georgia Tech at Wake
Forest Georgia Tech minus thirteen and a half. I think
Georgia Tech is the team in the ACC sitting the
prettiest among all the teams in the conference. Their schedule
is not hard. They avoid Florida State, they avoid Miami.
Their toughest games are some of those like I don't
(14:38):
know if they're for real squads like Duke for instance,
Like NC State, I think Georgia Tech is sitting mighty
pretty here, smoke. I think they're just I don't think
they're the type of team that would lay an egg
against the teams are supposed to beat two. I think
the Yellow Jackets are gonna be fine. And look in
your one for Jake Dickart. They've looked better outside of
the Kennessas State game than I imagine to start things out
and just could be a track game for most teams.
(15:01):
Brit Key doesn't seem like the coach that would have
his guys get caught in the trap game, especially with
a veteran quarterback like Ain's game. It's it's the guy
saying I am the danger, I am the trap game.
We don't get trapped. I'm the trap game, and I
suffocate you.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
What's his record against ranked opponents? Is it eight and one?
God at Georgia Tech. It's crazy? All right?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
That'll do it for basically your Pickham segment. Talking a
little bit about ECU getting that impressive victory last night.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Let's go back to the Panther side of things.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
What's the biggest issue with Carolina's defense to this point?
And another Ron Rivera ism, it's my second one of
the day. Are the answers to those problems still on
the roster. We'll get to it. Weston Walker Sports Radio
ninety two seven WFNZ. Weston Walker Sports Radio ninety two
(16:06):
to seven WFNZ. It's Wes and Walker. But Smoke is
filling in, so don't be like world class driver who
writes in on the FanDuel text line. Turned on the radio.
I heard smoke and thought it was almost time to
go home. No, don't clock out, don't blame us, don't
lose money because you heard Smoke.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
No, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
You get it approved because if you want to go party,
by all means, just get it approved. We do not
want you to miss out on any money that you
might want to use. So you could party a little
bit later in the weekend. But it is not five
o'clock people, it is one twenty three. We got a
couple more hours to go here on Western Walker. Before then,
Kyle Bailey takes over with Flounder filling in for Smoke.
(16:48):
Because Smoke, if you did not hear it at the
top of the broadcast, Smoke's gonna go do some Pa
announcing at his alma mater, North Lincoln, and I kind
of want some audio of that. I guarantee that there's
no way you would bring back any tape of that.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
You wouldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I would like to hear it, though, What can you
record it on your phone at least so we can
play it and hear how you are on the on
the mic down there in North Lincoln or are you
just gonna refuse.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'll put it to you like this.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
There's audio of me calling high school football games on YouTube?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Really?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (17:23):
Okay, so I could maybe bring some of that audio
later into show.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, that's fair enough. You got yourself a deal that
is a fantastic deal. I appreciate you for being a
bargaining man. Let's talk about the Panthers' injuries, because it's
an interesting slate of injuries here for Carolina, Joe Person
and the Panthers themselves. They put out the report. Pat
Jones with his hamstring injury gonna be out a second
straight week. DJ Want with a hip injury is going
(17:48):
to be out. So you're you're down. You're starting two
edge rushers. Enter Nick s Gorton, Enter Prince of u
man Meel, and I guess that's why you drafted him
as high as you did. Chuva Hubbard is questionable with
a calf injury, so it looked like Dave Canalis wasn't
too concerned when he was speaking to media. But he
does show up with the calf injury, just like Timac did.
And I think, just like Chuba going back and forth,
(18:10):
feels like these calves, these aren't injuries that the Panthers
seem to be too worried about.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
That And I think Joe Person said it best on Twitter.
He's not being as open with the injury reports when
it comes to guys that are questionable this year, So
I think more gamesmanship going with Dave Canals. It's the
negative for us at least, the fact that he's not
being as transparent this year when it comes to injuries.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Unless it's really obvious.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Happens to all of them, man, every single coach they
got to them. I know, I hate it because you
can't you can't get happy or you can't be happy
with any of these coaches that are going to be
open with you in their first year because it happens
to all of them.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Charles Lee, same thing this year. I guarantee Charles Lee.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Is not going to be fourth, right, He's not going
to be as outgoing as he is with information.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
In fact, he talked about that.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I believe he's like, hey, I got to practice being
a little more vague with these answers. No, don't do it,
don't let him get to you. The other injuries real quickly.
Turk Wharton, he's questionable instead of just being out immediately,
so that's good. Missed the last game with the hamstring injury,
been out a couple of games now, so hopefully he's back.
That would be nice to have him on the defensive line,
especially if you're going to be down your two starting
(19:19):
edge rushers.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
The only thing is this sounds like an Ikyakwantu Week
one situation where yeah, he's technically questionable, but considering he
hasn't been a full participant in practice and he's missed
the previous two games after getting hurt against Jacksonville, it's like,
just looking at the semantics of the situation and all that,
it's like he'd be really rushing him to play this
week in this situation. So I'm just gonna air on
(19:44):
the side of costs and say it's still early in
the year. Even though that position, he's not a full
on d end but it would help to have him
with the d in depth.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I just don't think he'll play this wee.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
I think they're getting ready to play down the street
at Bank of America when they take on to Dolphins.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Doesn't seem like this strength of New England's offensive line
is one that you would need Turk Wharton for. Like
it's on the outside more than it is on the inside.
So I'm thinking will Campbell going against the Scortin and
Uman Biellen as you're outside guys, like, that's the one
where I'm thinking, hey, can you make some noise against
a top five pick who looks good so far for them,
(20:19):
played against last year. Yeah, that's true. That is true,
So you do have some familiarity, especially with Uman Biellen.
But yeah, Turk Wharton, we'll see if he suits up.
Here are the interesting ones, the pass catchers.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
JT.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Sanders is going to be out again. That sucks because
they're trying to get him involved in the offense. Just
needs to hold onto the football. But at least you're
seeing some flashes, you're seeing some downfield separation. He just
needs to hold onto the football, just like Xcel does.
But this is where I think we have the most
interesting conversation because Xcel smoke. He's about to miss his
(20:52):
second straight game hamstring injury. It's going to keep him out,
not going to suit up against New England last week,
XL didn't play and Carolina just so happens to score
thirty points. Sure, with the help of a bad Atlanta offense,
because Michael Pennix played his horse game so far in
the NFL, but even still, Carolina's offense moving the ball
(21:13):
a little bit, ran the ball effectively with Cuba and
Rico getting ten carries. Te Mac actually left a few
of those footballs on the field, but still looks like
an absolute dog. Not really much needed outside of Tea
Mac in the passing game. I would like Excel to
work out. I think most Panthers fans would, but it
just hasn't worked out for him quite yet. He's going
(21:36):
to be out again if the Panthers win without him.
Are we going to be able to control the XL
as a bus narrative, because it already seems pretty hard
to control, Not that I have any desire so much
to do it. It just feels like it's going to
enter a different level. Nuance be damned. The Panthers beat
(21:56):
New England. Let's say they even beat him convincingly. Say
this offense looks good and t mac maybe he has
the blow up game, maybe he has the one twenty
plus gets a touchdown, actually does it against Christian Gonzalez.
I mean, let's just keep piling on, right, I'm just
creating a scenario.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
But man, if that.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Happens and XL is out, just feels like people are
gonna pile on even more than they already are.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Smoky, most definitely, and it's already kind of piling on
just because of the fact that he's gotten off to
such a bad start and a bad end too his
rookie year. And then you add on the fact that
two guys taken after him are oh yeah lad mccackey,
Keon Coleman, yet not in that order, but right, yeah,
so you got that problem already. He's only had eight
(22:45):
receiving yards through four catches in two games. Not great.
So yeah, it's just it's gonna keep on being a factor.
And does it mean he'll never be able to overturn it? No,
I don't think so, because you look at some of
the wide receivers in Panthers history.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
It took until a year three.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Think about Musi Muhammad, he battled injuries and then he
didn't really get going into till midway through the nineteen
ninety eight season. With Steve Burline, you look at Steve Smith. Now, Steve,
it's different because he was not a first round pick
or a high draft pick. He was a third round
pick in an era where third round picks weren't expected
to do nearly as much as they're expected to do now.
And he didn't become a full time wide receiver until
early into two thousand and two season. So I look
(23:28):
at it and it's like, Yeah, they're gonna expect him
to be a bust, But that doesn't mean you can't
overcome that because look at the whole entire backfield for
Carolina right now. I remember sitting here after the Giants
game twenty twenty two, Week two, when on the opening
kickoff Chewba Hubbard fumbled the kickoff.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I forgot the fumble.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Issues were real with him on Yeah, they were dj
Morehead fumble lightists early in his career, and then got
over that as well, eventually use him as a trade
chip to go get the number one overall pick so
that kind of stuff can happen. I think the issue.
I don't know how many flashes you saw from Cuba
early because he did have fumblelitis, but you did have
flashes with DJ. I mean, he just couldn't hold onto
the football that well, but still was an eight hundred
(24:09):
yard receiver his first year. Because we don't do radio
all that much together, smoke. What's your specific take on
XL in terms of your belief level, Like, are you
still a guy that everybody else is wrong? He's going
to figure it out? Are you lukewarm? Where are you
on XL? I guess I'm a little bit more lukewarm.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
I kind of see where it this might be going,
and it feels like it's leaning that way right now.
But I also can see a way where he gets
back onto his horse, no pun intended.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I would love for him to get back on Yeah,
I'd love for.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Him to get back on his horse, but I just
it seems like a lot of things are going the
opposite way right now. I've just kind of resigned at
the fact, you know, no matter what if he works
out or not, that he's not going to be.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
The guy nine A zero says I'm in the minority here,
still willing to give Excel some time to figure it out.
I do want to ask that to the people. Is
Xcel a guy that most people are out on, but
you're still in on seven oh four, five, seven ninety
six ten. And if it's not Excel, who's the guy
that everybody else is out on that you're still holding
out hope for. If it's not him, is it Icky
(25:10):
seems like a good candidate for this conversation. Is there
somebody else that you feel strongly about, positively more so
than really all the other Carolina Panthers fans out there,
Because there's one interesting Carolina Panther not fan, but just
straight up team member in Bryce Young, who Joe Person
said yesterday on our show that maybe Bryce is a
(25:32):
guy that's losing faith in the South Carolina wide receiver product.
Here's Joe from the Athletic talking about that with me yesterday.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Yeah, I don't know how much believe Bryce Young has
in them. We saw that play in Jacksonville where when
the game was still in the balance and Bryce was
trying to throw the ball to a very open Xavier
Lagett in the flat and Xavier never turned around, and
he was the first read should have known to turn
his head around, didn't. And and you know we all
(26:03):
were wondering, like, oh, why was Bryce so kicked off
when he got to the sideline and throw his helmet.
He wasn't mad at Canalis or the play call, right,
I think he was very frustrated Xavier Lagette. And so
that's not good. You know, if you if you got
a quarterback, that's that's losing faith in yet and again, listen,
Bryce Young is a team guy, like he's not going
(26:24):
to be like turn my back on Xavier Leget every
every Sunday. But that you know, you're starting to see
some warning signs.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
The problem is you can trust Team X so much
that when you're looking downfield, you're always going to look
to him by default.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
J T. Sanders.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
The issue really is, especially with Jalen Koker being out
here smoke, how many guys can Bryce Young trust right
now in the passing game? Pretty brutal because you can't
trust Xcel. I'm sorry, you just can't with j T.
Sanders right now, not downfield. So if it's on a
Renfro winning in the red zon, that seems to be
a target. Bryce is throwing too, especially in the comeback
against Arizona. But you just don't have many guys that
(27:06):
you can trust in the passing game as much as
the eighth overall selection, especially if Exsel isn't going to
drag his toe, if he's going to drop these passes,
I can understand. Even for somebody that seems to be
as patient as Bryce. It's happened too many times, which
I wanted to work out for Xcel. I love the guy.
I think he's genuine. I know people are trying to
(27:28):
point out some kind of fake accent when they bring
up in earlier time at South Carolina where he doesn't
sound the same. I don't sound the same when you
play my audio now compared to five years ago. No,
I don't have a stronger accent, but I don't sound
the same. So I'm not really here to point fingers
and say it's all for show. I think he's a
genuine dude. I think he's awesome. I think he's a
really nice guy. And every single report that we hear
(27:49):
from him is that he works really, really hard. I
wanted to work out. Here's where I go the other way.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Smoke.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I just don't see it right now. That's my issue.
He he wasn't mingo. He gave us some stuff last year,
and he seems to be getting worse. Like people were
pointing to the Cincinnati Bengals reception on the sideline last year.
What was a great grab? My guy was parallel to
the ground and he tapped his toe in bounds. That
(28:16):
was a trustworthy catch. But he's not giving us that.
And that's where as much as I want it to work, smoke,
I think maybe in a previous time for me, I
would have tried to look at the positive and just
focus so much on that that all the negatives were
blind spots. I'm too wary of my blind spots now.
As much as I want it to work, it just
doesn't seem to be doing so.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Yeah, And I kind of think of it like this,
any chance of him being a number one receiver in Carolina,
even though it just still seems too soon to say this.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It feels like.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
It's done, but I still think it's sal evgible in
the sense of, let's see if he's still got a
good number two in them and if you can salvage that,
And I think that's something we'll figure out forout the
remainder this year whenever he comes back, but who knows,
Like if he doesn't get back soon enough, Jalen Coker
could come back and he gets through his soft tissue
injuries and plays like he did in the preseason, he
(29:07):
could get Wally Pitts by Jalen Coker and lose his
spot too. So you know, there is still a way
for Excel to get out of this hole and have
a relatively good run here in Carolina, but the chances
are starting to become limited if he continues to play
like he has been to start this year.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Can I run a not perfect comparison by you real
quickly with Excel? Hit me?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
There are ways where it can work out clearly right
Like I, I'm nobody can predict the future. It's why
we're not gambling every single second of the day and
accumulating millions of dollars. They're not the same player, but
Taevon Austin comes to mind just a little bit when
Tavon Austin pay.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Clearly not the same player, very very different.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
But the comparison to me is Tevon Austin is drafted
in the top ten to be a monster wow factor
and what he does is only reaches five hundred yards
in a season one time.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
And just becomes a key special teams player.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And also stays in the league from twenty thirteen to
twenty twenty one. So Excel did not have the college
career Tevon Austin did. It's an all timer in college football.
Get that out of your head for just a moment
and stick with me on the comparison. The comparison is
he doesn't pan out to be what you thought he would,
but he does find himself a role to stick and
(30:28):
I think Excel has that kind of ability. Can you
catch the football downfield? Can you be a deep threat specialist?
And if you can, maybe now the manufactured touches can
come into play with t Mac taking on wide receiver
one responsibilities, Jalen Coker taking on even wide receiver two responsibilities,
because Smoke, I don't even need him really to be
(30:51):
wide receiver too. If you want to say, well, Dan
Morgan swung and he missed, yeah, you're not going to
be wrong about that. He did flat out first. Just
what the two wide receivers or taken behind him? Absolutely,
just what it is. I can accept that fact XL
was a first round pick get traded up to go
get him. He does not play like a thirty second
overall prospect.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
We could admit the miss, but can we salvage something
from him? And I think you can? And I think
that's where I'm starting to go here smoke like this.
This is the space I view him in. Now, can
we salvage something? And that I still feel pretty good
about because that's where the work ethic stuff comes in
in my opinion, will he allow himself to fail? And no,
(31:33):
he won't allow himself to be a number one wide
receiver because he just doesn't have the ability. But I
don't think he'll fail. Let's hear from XL on his
injury and locker room availability. Zavily get talking with local media.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Is this a.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Situation where if this wore, say a playoff game or something,
you might.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Push through it or is you having trouble pushing off
of it or you know whatever?
Speaker 1 (31:55):
The what's it feeling like?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
How does it feel different than youtual? I'm pretty sold
right now. Coach told us how you baggat the last
week to let you play. How tough is it then
to have to sort of sit back in and watch
I mean, you know, I want to be in the game.
I mean I want to do so much of what
they want me to do.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
So you know how that is. Is this the case
where you want to play and they're saying no.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
You're not ready to Oh no, no, it ain't nothing
like it. And if you feel like this, you're gonna
be sitting out another week. That's what I mean. It's
just the coach's choice. Whatever they want me to do.
What do you want to do? Right if I if
I can, if I'm able to, it's up what you say.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Though right now, physically your hamestring, it's not ready to
play in a game.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I wouldn't say that, or I maybe have to be
a little limited or something like that, or maybe I
could play.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
This is a day to day so.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Joyce one great job by media really trying to get
a straight answer from him as much as possible, because
Joe was asking all sorts of clarifying questions, even David
Newton getting in there, not asking about a slipping slide
for the first time in a couple of days. Really
just trying to get an angle on what XL can't
and can't do. XCEL being very secretive. The conspiracy theory stuff,
(33:25):
Man got to be going through the roof here if
people were getting conspiratorial, conspiratorial over Bryce Young sitting out
that famous Seahawks game is rookie year where Andy Dalton
takes over, and it was just a why don't you
just well, don't just take a seat, Let Andy Dalton play?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
What if I told you that Xcel's hamstring was okay? Man?
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What if I told you Excel was just taking a
back seat so he could learn a little bit. And
XL doesn't want to throw Dave Canalis under the bus
quote unquote, So he's being very vague about all of it.
So Joe Person, David Newton, Mike kay bashed, TI hurt.
(34:09):
They can't go to their publication and write the story
of how Dave Canalis is simply sidelining XCEL not due
to injury, but because he desperately needs it mentally.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
Fox, you gotta be on top of this one, and
you gotta be fully right on that, Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I don't know, man, I'm feeling pretty reckless. I'm feeling
pretty reckless. Is it okay for my intended to go
up on this one?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Smoke?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Because it certainly seems like the journalists, it seems like
the Beat writers their intenna was going up on Dave
Canalis and company deciding to sideline Excel so he can
figure it out.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Last week, I folt nothing of it, and just because
of the facts, is like, why would you sideline him
when you have Jayla Cocher still out on IR. This
week it's a bit more interesting, to the point where
I'm not going to fully dismiss it. I'm still kind
of leaning nah, not really, but and of course the
guy wants to play because less time he's out there,
(35:03):
you know, you're losing money, you're losing opportunities.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But if it happens next week, it's like, Okay, this
seems like a thing now. At this point I pushed
back against the Brice stuff. I did.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
It seems and it's different coaching regime, so fair enough.
I guess that's it. Yeah, I guess the different coaching
regime stuff. That's where the case falls apart a little bit.
So yeah, if it was the same, I think maybe
we'd be just taking off with this conspiracy theory. But
it didn't seem like Excel was willing to go hor Yeah. Man,
(35:36):
it's been hurting a little bit. Hopefully we get back.
Like you can hear people talk about their injuries, e
gauge how truthful they're being, where they think they are.
That does not sound like a man. I don't know anything.
I got no sources telling me anything whatsoever. But hearing
that clip, just like everybody else did, my take is
that does not sound like a man that feels like
(35:57):
he should be sitting on the sideline.
Speaker 5 (35:59):
And let's be honest, Xavier le Get he has a
history of not being able to keep secrets, didn't and
he was getting drafted by the Panthers to the point
where it's like we don't really need to talk about
if they're gonna draft Live, it's going to be Excel.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
It was the worst kept secret of all time. Like
I yeah, I wish, I wish betting was legal at that.
I don't think it was right was betting it was?
If it was, I was bet I was betting everything.
I was betting everything on XCEL. If it was, Oh
my god, which makes this year that much more impressive
that they pulled the bull all over our eyes. They
had to, they had to, especially with the way it went. Uh,
(36:37):
regarding Xcel Flashback Friday. We have not played this intro
in like, I don't know, two years, but we got smoke.
He's a historian, so we're gonna put that encyclopedic brain
to use by taking a trip in the time machine.
Coming up next Sports Radio ninety two seven w FNZ
(37:01):
West and Walker Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
We're broadcasting live from the Chandler volt To Studio. CV
Injury Law dot com, Cevinjurylaw dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
One call.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. No wes for
the show except for the upcoming segment. He's going to
be calling in. He's working the sidelines for the cw
NC State Virginia Tech this weekend. You know, talking with
Kyle dur in the fish bowl, I would say Kyle's
gonna have eyes on West and watching his Hokies. But
(37:34):
I'm not sure that he's gonna watch his Virginia Tech
Hokies this weekend because it's just too painful with how
bad that they've been playing. And I completely understand why
doesn't you and I both didn't even contemplate like a
Virginia Tech upset here.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
It would be crazy.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I know NC State ish can happen, But when we
were doing the rapid fire Pickham segment stuff, we didn't
even really consider giving Virginia Tech that much of a
chance at an upset.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
No, Like, just with Kyle's mindset and you know what
he's been to, it's everyone's just like, all right, let's
just get through this year. Unfortunately, it's not like a
video game. You can't send for it. You actually got
to go week by week. I know, but the deed
has been done. You fired your head coach. You're just
trying to get for the next eight to ten weeks.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, when you do that, it does seem like a
real big lame duck season.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
That's what sucks about this is when you fire Pry
that early in the year, that's a lot of football.
That doesn't mean a whole lot. And I'm just speaking
from a fans perspective because I am sympathetic to it,
mattering to the players. Still, I want the best for
them all of it, right, Like, I'm a players type
of guy. I hope that they get exactly what they
(38:41):
want out of all of this. But as a fan,
you're tuning in every single weekend and understanding what's about
to happen at a school with that kind of tradition.
So it's unfortunate, but hey, maybe it happens. It's not
like they're a thirty point underdog. They're only ten and
a half. It could happen. Angels in the outfield word
to them. It could happen, but I just don't think
it will. All right, you're ready to take a trip
(39:02):
in the time machine. Let's do it, all right? Time
now for Flashback Friday.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Let's go back in time.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
It's flashback Friday.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Let's go away.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Ourselves?
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Is fun?
Speaker 3 (39:15):
You mean?
Speaker 5 (39:15):
Not?
Speaker 3 (39:16):
No job?
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (39:17):
What?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
My time machine has been activated?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
The time machine. I don't know you had a time machine.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
All right, but prepare to a ton traveling.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
All right, smokey, take us back to previous matchups between
the Panthers and the Patriots, and maybe we can apply
that past to the Panthers future.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Yes, well, most certainly, Walker, this does not include all
the twenty five thousand preseason games they've had, because if
there's any team that's come close to playing the Panthers
in the preseason to the Steelers, it's the New England Patriots.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
But we don't have time for that.
Speaker 5 (39:47):
Uh So we go for the history that they've had
in the regular In postseason, of course, they lost into
Super Bowl February first, two thousand and four forty two
twenty nine in Houston, Texans. But when they've been in England,
whether that be the Old Stadium or Gillette Stadium, Carolina's
done pretty well at New England s going all the
(40:08):
way back to their first matchup on the October twenty ninth,
nineteen ninety five, Carolina won the game in overtime, Banks
to a clutch kick from John Casey, which was the
first overtime win in franchise history and was in the
midst of their three game winning streak, the first three
game winning streak and expansion team ever had. Going to
their next road matchup, you have to go all the
(40:30):
way into the future to two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
This is when a.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Matt Moore led Panthers team lost a hard fought battle
against the Patriots twenty to ten, and the last time
these two teams faced in New England was October first,
twenty seventeen, where Cam Newton led the Patriot led the
Panthers over to Patriots in a shootout Graham Gano, if
I believe about a fifty one or fifty two yard
field goal.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
That was just two days prior to.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
Cam Newton's most second most infamous press conference when he
was talking about routes with Jordan rod Rieg.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Oh so that's the last time. Oh god.
Speaker 5 (41:06):
And when you look at the all time record between
these two teams, Walker, it's even at four piece. Four
wins for Carolina, four wins for New England. But most
of New England's wins have come here at Bank of
America Stadium slash ericson Stadium, including the infamous last game
of George Seaford in two thousand and two January sixth.
(41:27):
Remember that game was supposed to take place on September
the sixteenth of two thousand and one, but the game's
got canceled due to nine to eleven. It got pushed
all the way back to two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
George Severerd basically was sleepwalking through the game, barely gave
a pregame speech.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
The Patriots were just trying to clinch the AFC East.
Speaker 5 (41:46):
And if you go back and watch that game in
the very poor quality on YouTube, you'll see a woman
with a sign begging Jerry Richardson to sign Steve Spurrier.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
As head coach.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
Wow, that was excellent. I love that trip back in time.
I would ask you this because you are the man
to ask. Is New England the most interesting non conference
opponent in terms of record history with the squad conference?
Speaker 2 (42:10):
So you're talking AFC.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Really just non division No, I'm sorry, not conference. I'm
sorry non divisional because because you could have any of
them in the NFC south, of course, I think Seattle
is the other one that you would think of.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
But is it New England?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Given a four and four record five hundred between the two,
the Cam Newton Monday Night football matchup, a Super Bowl
matchup between the two, it does feel like New England
and Seattle are the two that I would lead.
Speaker 5 (42:32):
With New England definitely, I think might have the lead
to Clubhouse in the AFC, But overall I think Seattle's
a pretty good one too. But you know, they only
played like twice in the first ten years because Seattle
was any AFC at that time. Yeah, I'd take Green
Bays up there, guess think about it. The NFC Championship
game was the first time they had a lot of
shootouts ninety eight. Carrie Collins last home game here as
(42:54):
a Panther was against Brett Farvin, a shootout think about
nineteen ninety nine with Steve Berlin and the quarterback draw
to win and basically end Ray Rouge's career, and that
essentially gave them a shot to make the playoffs if
they scored more points than the Packers against the Cardinals
in week seventeen, while Jake Delomb was getting sacked by
Kevin Green in his last start two thousand, Monday Night
Football with Dennis Miller, Brad Hoover having his breakout performance.
(43:17):
Let's see two thousand and two Shane Raam Shane Graham
missing a chip shot field goal to avoid an a
four to oh start and choke away.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
What was a great start for John Fox.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
You go back to four when Steve Smith got hurt
on Monday Night Football against the Packers. Then you had
to shoot out five against the Packers. That really got
that season rolling after a one and two start two
thousand and eight, Steve Smith had an credible catch in
Green Bay as they won that game. Twenty eleven, Cam
Newton's first home game was against Green Bay. Then twenty fifteen,
you had that shootout with Cam and a Packers fan,
(43:49):
Julius Peppers, and then Thomas Davis was the leaping interception
twenty seventeen. Oh, it's a real route, it's a will route.
Oh you like watching film? Huh. Twenty nineteen Christian McCaffery
gets stuck at the goal line. Twenty twenty Teddy Bridgewater
tries to leap over the lineman, fumbles the ball, Green
Baber covers it, and then he had to Christmas Eve
game at twenty twenty three. So I'd say to Packers, sorry,
(44:12):
I didn't mention OH seven matchup between Brett Tharbon Viny Testaverdy, but.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
That game sucked.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
I need people to bathe in all of that for
just a second. Did you just go through every single
game the Panthers have played in their history against Green Bay?
Speaker 5 (44:26):
No, I failed to mention one to oh seven, but
those games are not of note. The only thing that
notice OH one was Steve Smith had two fumbles out
on kickoff returns and got benched by Seaford.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Okay, a little speechless on that, to be honest.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
Right, the quarterback matchup of Brett Fair versus Chris Winky.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
I need to stop you. I need to stop you
at some point. That was excellent. I mean, I don't
know the time machine trip all the way back to
all of those years that you just mentioned. I mean,
you just could not stop. Somebody stop.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
But no, no, no, no no no no no no.
Speaker 5 (44:56):
I actually got some interesting statistics because I decided, you know,
Carolina hasn't had that many shutouts for out their history.
What's the record after shutouts? In short three and four
is the record after shutout victories. Last time they had
a shutout they followed a shoutout win with age. Win
was in twenty fifteen when the Giants they beat the
Giants in the infamous j o Odell Beckham Game. Last
(45:18):
time they lost in the Chnnesota Game. Twenty thirteen, they
lost to the Cardinals after shutting out to Giants. Two
thousand and eight, after they shut out the crappy Chiefs,
the Bucks gave them a punch hitty I twenty.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Seven to three.
Speaker 5 (45:30):
I think that's when Dante Wesley got a awful cheap
penalty on special teams, no doubt. Two thousand and six,
they followed the fifteen nothing went over the Rams with
a sloppy performance against.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Redskins so sloppy you could forget that one.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Nineteen ninety seven, they followed the Saints thirteen notughing win
with a win against the Falcons, which was the last
Sunday Night Nitro game on TNT, and their first shoutout
was against the Bucks twenty four to nothing. And they
followed that with one of the biggest wins in franchise
history if they thirty to twenty four win over the
forty nine ers.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
On the road in Candlestick to sweep the Niners.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Yeah, no, everybody remembers that one. I appreciate you for
reminding us of something that everybody already knew. Anyway, great
stuff from you, Smoke, it's one fifty eight. I need
you to realize just how long of a tangent that
you went on during Flashback Friday. We can talk about
it a little bit later on. We try to squeeze
in West Bright just a little bit on the other side.
(46:21):
Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ, goodness, gracious,
You were listening to the Wes and Walker Show.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Are you telling me?
Speaker 3 (00:04):
After fifteen years of unanswered prayers, we finally get our
rint protector only for Dorian Finney Smith and Danilo Gallinari.
It's Wes fifty two year old Danilo Gallinari.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Try mess it all up.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Let's go seven games, seven games into the gear man?
Are you telling me? I actually miss Cody Zeller and Walker?
Forget o hornet starter jacket. I need a straight jacket.
I'm going crazy. I'm rocking back and forth and fetal
position only on Sports Radio ninety two point seven FM, WFNZ.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Longing for the days of Cody Zeller?
Speaker 4 (00:57):
What's the Walker?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Sports Radio ninety two in wfn Z Smoke filling in
not only the first hour, but the next two hours.
It's a freaky Friday on ninety two to seven FM.
We appreciate you joining us as we broadcast live from
the Chandler Vault Studio. Cvinjurylaw dot Com, CV Injurylaw dot Com.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
One call.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers got some injuries
to talk about. Regarding the Panthers, we can get back
to that over the next few segments. Over the course
of the upcoming two hours. But we got to take
a trip to the campus kauna here in just a
moment because we got an interesting ECU game that was
a hell of a result for the Pirates last night.
(01:36):
I usually don't like giving love to what I would
deem my biggest college football rival at this point.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
For Charlotte, Yeah, especially considering well are they rivals still?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
I mean easy and beat us. I will say that
Pogi's two and zero against the CU, of all things,
it's unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I can't believe after all of the weirdness that took
place with Biffpog and his lack of sleeves, he was
not without his wins against the school I wanted to
beat first and foremost, and he put fifty on them.
Like beatdowns, man, not beatdowns. The one game was a beatdown,
the other one was not, but a beat down. I
(02:15):
just anyways, So we'll give some love to ECU after
their win last night, and then we'll look at the
rest of the ACC slate that's coming up right now
on the campus code, and let's get freaky on a Friday.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
I tried my best there for Wes.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Let's look at that ACU game, ECU getting the win
last night, trying to pull out the exact score.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Was it twenty eight six? Is that what it was?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Twenty eight to six against Army where that one was
a dicey game coming in. Army lost to Tarleton State
to open up the season, but that they won against
Kansas State, who I know Kansas State isn't good even
still to lose to Tarleton. I would not expect you
to get a victory against Kansas State, even if they're
not your Normaliti Snyder teams. And yet Army ended up
(03:03):
losing to ECU last night in a way where ECU
dominated that game. Surprising results on the season here locally, smoke,
where does that one compare? I know, Syracuse beating Clemson
was shocking because of the way that it happened, even
with Clemson struggling going into that matchup.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Where does that win rank?
Speaker 3 (03:19):
If Clemson Syracuse is won, Where's ECU winning the way
they did against Army on that list?
Speaker 2 (03:25):
You know, it's not as so much for.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
The opponent, because I don't think it's the same Army
team that was ranked in the top twenty five last year.
Out a quarterback daily, you know graduated, but it's just
more so to circumstances and how they won. That was
really shocking because they were coming off the tough loss
to BYU where they couldn't capitalize whenever they got near
to red zone. And BYU is a very tough team,
so that you had that loss to BYU. It does
(03:49):
help that you're at home, but it's still a short
week going against a team that runs the triple option.
That usually could be a recipe for disaster. Which is
why I think Army beat Kansas State, you know, because
Kansas it was still I mean, they still haven't recovered
from their opening season week zero loss in Ireland, and
I think, you know, as the record show, when you
lose Week zero in Ireland, you never seem to recover. Now,
(04:11):
but I think what just shocked is the fact that
a short week, coming off the tough loss, going against
a team that runs a triple and you score twenty
one in the first quarter the first quarter, Like twenty
one of the points that you scored were all in
the first quarter. Now, the one thing with this team
that is concerning, they like to turn the ball over
a little bit. Cayton Hauser has a little bit of
(04:32):
the Brett Faarr syndrome.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Or Amazon Garcia syndrome.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Yes, So it wasn't as bad as it was against BYU,
but they're a little turnover happy. But you know, looking
at ECU, they're good. I just don't know if they're great,
and we'll we'll get a true test when they come
off their bye week as they take on two Lane,
which will be a massive matchup in the American because
I view ECU right now as a dark horse team
in the American which is saying a lot considering the
(04:58):
fact that the American Conference as flexing their muscle to
stark a year.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
They absolutely have.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I think ECU is going to be a team at
the end of the year where we remember them better
than what their record is going to show. Because they're
going to have that loss to NC State and that
was a tightly contested game. They're going to have a
loss to BYU, a good football program. Tulane is their
next one. So it was nice for them to get
a win against Army. If they would have lost last night,
you're looking at a three game losing streak and now
the season is completely flipped on its head. But they didn't,
(05:24):
and in fact, not only did they beat the Knights,
they ended up beating them by twenty eight to six
double digits. Crazy victory in my opinion based on what
we've come to expect from Army here recently, and so
I expect an l against Tulane. Then they can really
get the ball rolling in what is going to be
the second half of the season. Kateen Hawser, I'm a
big fan of I think he is a good quarterback
(05:45):
in this league. So yeah, man, I like what ECU
showed us, and I think now with that win, you're
setting yourself. Blake Carroll will set himself up to have
a good starting point as a first time full year
head coach at ECU. By the way, we do need
to mention before we move on, scored that last touchdown.
They had a field goal run, a fake field goal
to kicker scored the touchdown.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Yeah, I mean to see, Well, this is the thing
I think of too, man like Blake Harrol pulling out
the Jake Garcia not Mason Garcia. I apologize, uh, Jason,
I got my Garcia is mixed up. But anyways, I
think of Blake Harrol taking over that job or cu
fans were a little underwhelmed, even if he did a
nice job as the interim coach. But now I feel
(06:27):
like you are changing the tune on that just a
little bit, especially with that victory. And John David Baker,
I think is an awesome offensive coordinator for them. I
don't know if he's going to be there's a concern
is slide all right, this guy's really good as an
offense coordinator. Yeah, I agree, I think he's probably gone.
All right, let's just go through the local slate here
the ACC schedule for this upcoming weekend. We'll go with
(06:50):
one that's not too local, but an interesting one of
the conferences, to say the least, Florida State in Charlottesville.
The seminoles are a six and a half point fait.
This is one where I thought we went through some
categories yesterday. Flander was helping me out here smoke, and
I had Florida State as having the biggest potential of
(07:11):
fumbling the bag scenarios taking place this week, like if
it's Florida State awesome win against Alabama. Now we're looking
at them as a possible representative of the ACC and
the College Football Playoff. I think that's the hope for
them at least right now. But they're only a six
and a half point favorite against Virginia because Virginia just
scores a boatload of points. How are you feeling about
(07:32):
this matchup for both parties coming in.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
I look at it like this, If Florida State doesn't
read their own press clippings heading into this game and
just takes it business as usual, they should win this
game because I think, you know, looking at all the metrics,
they are the better team. Looking at the talent on
the field, they look like a better team. But here's
where I'm concerned for Florida State a little bit. Outside
of that Alabama game, who they played, Yeah, they blew
(07:56):
them out, But they played East Texas A and M,
which I didn't know was at school until three weeks
go in Kent State. That's not really competition Virginia. They've lost,
you know, to NC State, but that was a tough
back and forth game, and you know, they've played a
little bit tougher upon. It's not the best opponents because
Coastal Carolina sucks right now and MJ. Morris has been
(08:16):
a total dud with the Chanta Clears. But I look
at that, and then you look at the circumstances surrounding
the game. I don't know if you notice, but they're
honoring the nineteen ninety five team tonight. Remember thirty years
ago it was a night game on ESPN, not on
a Saturday, when Florida State suffered their first loss in Charlottesville.
This game's in Charlottesville. They're honoring said team that gave
(08:37):
Florida State their first off in the ACC. And here's
where I also, it's not just all the feelings, all
the you know, stuff like that, the nostalgia. Look, he's
not the best quarterback ever, but I think Chandler Morris
might be the most experienced quarterback in college football, even
more experienced than Diego Pavia. In the situations like this,
(08:57):
when you're going against top twenty five teams and you're
kind of fighting behind the eight ball, you need to
have an experienced quarterback that knows his stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Chandler Morris has done that.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
He's had stops at Oklahoma, he played two and a
half years as a starter at TCU, played one year
at North Texas, and so far this year has been
a great addition for the Virginia Cavaliers when Tony Elliott
needed a quarterback like him the most. So while I
think Florida State wins this game, Florida State can't keep
their eyes off of Virginia because Virginia could really slap
(09:26):
him across the face and shock him.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Well, not only is Chandler Morris experienced, but maybe he's
just good. You look at what he's done over the
first four games. He's only throwing one interception. He had
his fort passing touchdowns against Stanford and that forty eight
to twenty victory against the Cardinal And I know they're
not good.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But other thing, Stanford has already won an ACC game.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
They beat Boston College.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
And so now I think that helped them with a
little validity going into this one. And now you're looking
at Chandler Morris's rushing totals as well. How about one
hundred and thirty two rushing yards He had fifty in
the first two contests, the fifty yard forty two yard
long rush against NC State. But he's also helping you
with his legs a little bit. I'm gonna go to Virginia.
(10:08):
I'm calling it. Oh, I'm gonna go Virginia.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
I can go full into this.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I just think the.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
Only reason, well I shouldn't say the only reason they
gave up thirty five points at NC State, and that
can't be overlooked.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
But again, that's CJ. Bailey.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
It's the only interception that he's thrown so far is
the interception in the end zone to give NC State
that victory. But Virginia had NC State with all of
the pressure on the back end at that point, and hey,
good for NCI State's defense. They got the pick. But
I'm gonna go Virginia. I've been high on them all
off season. I really like what they've been doing their
offensive line. They had a bunch of experience coming back.
(10:39):
So that's probably the best way to describe it.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
A pretty good run game too, if guys like Jamii
Taylor and Harrison Way like, both of those guys have
been averaging over six yards of carrying. Now, the competition
is one thing, but when you talk about Alabama's lost
to Florida State, well it was the biggest problem the
fact that he just went away from the run game
entirely and just decided to say, all right, Ty Simpson,
all the pressures on you in your first game is
a full on starter. So look, I think Florida State
(11:03):
wins this game, but I understand where you're coming from,
and I won't be totally shocked if they win this game.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Tonight, Duke at Syracuse. The Blue Devils are four and
a half point favorites. I thought this was going to
be an awesome matchup, and then you get the report
that Steve Ageli is gone because of his season ending injury.
It sucks, man, because Syracuse looked like they were poised
for what was going to be an awesome year with
another prolific passer that finds a home and Syracuse after
(11:27):
Colin McCord was throwing it all over the yard last year,
and then we're like.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Job in the NFL because of Buddy.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
So now we're talking about replacing him with another quarterback
that just I don't know. I think he was top
two at the time of his injury and passing yards
in college football. The other thing that's interesting, though, is
on the other side, Darien Mensa is up there in
all of college sports as well. So now you're talking
about Duke being a four and a half point favorite,
even if it is on the road. I think the
QB injury takes the luster out of this game here, Smokey,
(11:54):
give me Duke to win.
Speaker 5 (11:56):
Look, Ricky Collins, he did do enough to keep Syracuse
afloat in their win against Clemson last week. But it's
just we've barely seen Ricky Collins. Like put it in
perspective Walker, he came into Syracuse with only seven passing attempts.
He had fourteen on Saturday. There's just not enough of
the sample size. For all we know, Ricky Collins could
(12:16):
Wally Pitt Steve Angeli here, but we just don't have
enough sample size to go after it.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
I also am concerned with Duke and their defense.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
The defense has not been as good as it was
last year under Many Diaz, and that's a little bit
of a concern. This is one of those games where
it's a true coin flip in my opinion, even with
Ricky Collins's starting quarterback, just because I gotta get fran
Brown an advantage here. For as much as I like Manny Diaz,
Fran Brown has shown in a short time as a
head coach he can overachieve like nobody else in the ACC.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
You mean you can win and be successful your first
year in the portal era Bill Belichick maybe take notes
from what Fran Brown did at Syracuse last year and
then continue to do his second season. I'm just saying
I really do about Brown. I was going to make
this point as well. I feel like that injury robbed
us of an all time character season from Brown, which
we might get, but there's not going to be as
(13:05):
many eyeballs because I don't think as many wins are
coming their way. If they do, I'm glad that we
weren't robbed of it. I just think we might be
robbed of an all time character coach season.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Well.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
Unfortunately, for some Orange fans, Fran Brown's big season where
he could have a character season could be chomping at
the bit elsewhere.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
You think he's gone. You think after this one, Yeah, okay,
that's data chop. It makes sense, all right. Rapid fire
VT at NC State, NC State big favorite ten and
a half. In fact, I think it was nine and
a half money coming in even more. On NC State
being at home, I think the wolf Pack win. I
think they're just too good, especially on offense.
Speaker 5 (13:42):
If you want to be contenders in the ACC state,
you can't mess up here, don't lollygag.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Don't pull a state ish, just take care of business.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I did in the category breakdown yesterday with Flounder, I
did have this as the biggest potential for Oh, it
could get ugly because Benzay State loses a VT. NC
State does not need a reason to want to get
rid of Dave dor And even more so than they've
already wanted to they're not even all the way on
board outside of what is a pretty good start out,
even outside that loss to Duke, they lose to VT gonna.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Be a lot of noise. It'll be a lot of noise.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
And plus you know you're zero to two and conference
play because your win against Virginia was a non conference game.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Yeah, which is a great point. Georgia Tech at Wake
Forest Georgia Tech minus thirteen and a half. I think
Georgia Tech is the team in the ACC sitting the
prettiest among all the teams in the conference. Their schedule
is not hard. They avoid Florida State, they avoid Miami.
Their toughest games are some of those like I don't
(14:38):
know if they're for real squads like Duke for instance,
Like NC State, I think Georgia Tech is sitting mighty
pretty here, smoke. I think they're just I don't think
they're the type of team that would lay an egg
against the teams are supposed to beat two. I think
the Yellow Jackets are gonna be fine. And look in
your one for Jake Dickart. They've looked better outside of
the Kennessas State game than I imagine to start things out
and just could be a track game for most teams.
(15:01):
Brit Key doesn't seem like the coach that would have
his guys get caught in the trap game, especially with
a veteran quarterback like Ain's game. It's it's the guy
saying I am the danger, I am the trap game.
We don't get trapped. I'm the trap game, and I
suffocate you.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
What's his record against ranked opponents? Is it eight and one?
God at Georgia Tech. It's crazy? All right?
Speaker 3 (15:24):
That'll do it for basically your Pickham segment. Talking a
little bit about ECU getting that impressive victory last night.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Let's go back to the Panther side of things.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
What's the biggest issue with Carolina's defense to this point?
And another Ron Rivera ism, it's my second one of
the day. Are the answers to those problems still on
the roster. We'll get to it. Weston Walker Sports Radio
ninety two seven WFNZ. Weston Walker Sports Radio ninety two
(16:06):
to seven WFNZ. It's Wes and Walker. But Smoke is
filling in, so don't be like world class driver who
writes in on the FanDuel text line. Turned on the radio.
I heard smoke and thought it was almost time to
go home. No, don't clock out, don't blame us, don't
lose money because you heard Smoke.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
No, don't do that.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
You get it approved because if you want to go party,
by all means, just get it approved. We do not
want you to miss out on any money that you
might want to use. So you could party a little
bit later in the weekend. But it is not five
o'clock people, it is one twenty three. We got a
couple more hours to go here on Western Walker. Before then,
Kyle Bailey takes over with Flounder filling in for Smoke.
(16:48):
Because Smoke, if you did not hear it at the
top of the broadcast, Smoke's gonna go do some Pa
announcing at his alma mater, North Lincoln, and I kind
of want some audio of that. I guarantee that there's
no way you would bring back any tape of that.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
You wouldn't do it.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
I would like to hear it, though, What can you
record it on your phone at least so we can
play it and hear how you are on the on
the mic down there in North Lincoln or are you
just gonna refuse.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
I'll put it to you like this.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
There's audio of me calling high school football games on YouTube?
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Really?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (17:23):
Okay, so I could maybe bring some of that audio
later into show.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Okay, that's fair enough. You got yourself a deal that
is a fantastic deal. I appreciate you for being a
bargaining man. Let's talk about the Panthers' injuries, because it's
an interesting slate of injuries here for Carolina, Joe Person
and the Panthers themselves. They put out the report. Pat
Jones with his hamstring injury gonna be out a second
straight week. DJ Want with a hip injury is going
(17:48):
to be out. So you're you're down. You're starting two
edge rushers. Enter Nick s Gorton, Enter Prince of u
man Meel, and I guess that's why you drafted him
as high as you did. Chuva Hubbard is questionable with
a calf injury, so it looked like Dave Canalis wasn't
too concerned when he was speaking to media. But he
does show up with the calf injury, just like Timac did.
And I think, just like Chuba going back and forth,
(18:10):
feels like these calves, these aren't injuries that the Panthers
seem to be too worried about.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
That And I think Joe Person said it best on Twitter.
He's not being as open with the injury reports when
it comes to guys that are questionable this year, So
I think more gamesmanship going with Dave Canals. It's the
negative for us at least, the fact that he's not
being as transparent this year when it comes to injuries.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Unless it's really obvious.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Happens to all of them, man, every single coach they
got to them. I know, I hate it because you
can't you can't get happy or you can't be happy
with any of these coaches that are going to be
open with you in their first year because it happens
to all of them.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Charles Lee, same thing this year. I guarantee Charles Lee.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Is not going to be fourth, right, He's not going
to be as outgoing as he is with information.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
In fact, he talked about that.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I believe he's like, hey, I got to practice being
a little more vague with these answers. No, don't do it,
don't let him get to you. The other injuries real quickly.
Turk Wharton, he's questionable instead of just being out immediately,
so that's good. Missed the last game with the hamstring injury,
been out a couple of games now, so hopefully he's back.
That would be nice to have him on the defensive line,
especially if you're going to be down your two starting
(19:19):
edge rushers.
Speaker 5 (19:20):
The only thing is this sounds like an Ikyakwantu Week
one situation where yeah, he's technically questionable, but considering he
hasn't been a full participant in practice and he's missed
the previous two games after getting hurt against Jacksonville, it's like,
just looking at the semantics of the situation and all that,
it's like he'd be really rushing him to play this
week in this situation. So I'm just gonna air on
(19:44):
the side of costs and say it's still early in
the year. Even though that position, he's not a full
on d end but it would help to have him
with the d in depth.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
I just don't think he'll play this wee.
Speaker 5 (19:54):
I think they're getting ready to play down the street
at Bank of America when they take on to Dolphins.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Doesn't seem like this strength of New England's offensive line
is one that you would need Turk Wharton for. Like
it's on the outside more than it is on the inside.
So I'm thinking will Campbell going against the Scortin and
Uman Biellen as you're outside guys, like, that's the one
where I'm thinking, hey, can you make some noise against
a top five pick who looks good so far for them,
(20:19):
played against last year. Yeah, that's true. That is true,
So you do have some familiarity, especially with Uman Biellen.
But yeah, Turk Wharton, we'll see if he suits up.
Here are the interesting ones, the pass catchers.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
JT.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Sanders is going to be out again. That sucks because
they're trying to get him involved in the offense. Just
needs to hold onto the football. But at least you're
seeing some flashes, you're seeing some downfield separation. He just
needs to hold onto the football, just like Xcel does.
But this is where I think we have the most
interesting conversation because Xcel smoke. He's about to miss his
(20:52):
second straight game hamstring injury. It's going to keep him out,
not going to suit up against New England last week,
XL didn't play and Carolina just so happens to score
thirty points. Sure, with the help of a bad Atlanta offense,
because Michael Pennix played his horse game so far in
the NFL, but even still, Carolina's offense moving the ball
(21:13):
a little bit, ran the ball effectively with Cuba and
Rico getting ten carries. Te Mac actually left a few
of those footballs on the field, but still looks like
an absolute dog. Not really much needed outside of Tea
Mac in the passing game. I would like Excel to
work out. I think most Panthers fans would, but it
just hasn't worked out for him quite yet. He's going
(21:36):
to be out again if the Panthers win without him.
Are we going to be able to control the XL
as a bus narrative, because it already seems pretty hard
to control, Not that I have any desire so much
to do it. It just feels like it's going to
enter a different level. Nuance be damned. The Panthers beat
(21:56):
New England. Let's say they even beat him convincingly. Say
this offense looks good and t mac maybe he has
the blow up game, maybe he has the one twenty
plus gets a touchdown, actually does it against Christian Gonzalez.
I mean, let's just keep piling on, right, I'm just
creating a scenario.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
But man, if that.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Happens and XL is out, just feels like people are
gonna pile on even more than they already are.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
Smoky, most definitely, and it's already kind of piling on
just because of the fact that he's gotten off to
such a bad start and a bad end too his
rookie year. And then you add on the fact that
two guys taken after him are oh yeah lad mccackey,
Keon Coleman, yet not in that order, but right, yeah,
so you got that problem already. He's only had eight
(22:45):
receiving yards through four catches in two games. Not great.
So yeah, it's just it's gonna keep on being a factor.
And does it mean he'll never be able to overturn it? No,
I don't think so, because you look at some of
the wide receivers in Panthers history.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
It took until a year three.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Think about Musi Muhammad, he battled injuries and then he
didn't really get going into till midway through the nineteen
ninety eight season. With Steve Burline, you look at Steve Smith. Now, Steve,
it's different because he was not a first round pick
or a high draft pick. He was a third round
pick in an era where third round picks weren't expected
to do nearly as much as they're expected to do now.
And he didn't become a full time wide receiver until
early into two thousand and two season. So I look
(23:28):
at it and it's like, Yeah, they're gonna expect him
to be a bust, But that doesn't mean you can't
overcome that because look at the whole entire backfield for
Carolina right now. I remember sitting here after the Giants
game twenty twenty two, Week two, when on the opening
kickoff Chewba Hubbard fumbled the kickoff.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
I forgot the fumble.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Issues were real with him on Yeah, they were dj
Morehead fumble lightists early in his career, and then got
over that as well, eventually use him as a trade
chip to go get the number one overall pick so
that kind of stuff can happen. I think the issue.
I don't know how many flashes you saw from Cuba
early because he did have fumblelitis, but you did have
flashes with DJ. I mean, he just couldn't hold onto
the football that well, but still was an eight hundred
(24:09):
yard receiver his first year. Because we don't do radio
all that much together, smoke. What's your specific take on
XL in terms of your belief level, Like, are you
still a guy that everybody else is wrong? He's going
to figure it out? Are you lukewarm? Where are you
on XL? I guess I'm a little bit more lukewarm.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
I kind of see where it this might be going,
and it feels like it's leaning that way right now.
But I also can see a way where he gets
back onto his horse, no pun intended.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I would love for him to get back on Yeah,
I'd love for.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Him to get back on his horse, but I just
it seems like a lot of things are going the
opposite way right now. I've just kind of resigned at
the fact, you know, no matter what if he works
out or not, that he's not going to be.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
The guy nine A zero says I'm in the minority here,
still willing to give Excel some time to figure it out.
I do want to ask that to the people. Is
Xcel a guy that most people are out on, but
you're still in on seven oh four, five, seven ninety
six ten. And if it's not Excel, who's the guy
that everybody else is out on that you're still holding
out hope for. If it's not him, is it Icky
(25:10):
seems like a good candidate for this conversation. Is there
somebody else that you feel strongly about, positively more so
than really all the other Carolina Panthers fans out there,
Because there's one interesting Carolina Panther not fan, but just
straight up team member in Bryce Young, who Joe Person
said yesterday on our show that maybe Bryce is a
(25:32):
guy that's losing faith in the South Carolina wide receiver product.
Here's Joe from the Athletic talking about that with me yesterday.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Yeah, I don't know how much believe Bryce Young has
in them. We saw that play in Jacksonville where when
the game was still in the balance and Bryce was
trying to throw the ball to a very open Xavier
Lagett in the flat and Xavier never turned around, and
he was the first read should have known to turn
his head around, didn't. And and you know we all
(26:03):
were wondering, like, oh, why was Bryce so kicked off
when he got to the sideline and throw his helmet.
He wasn't mad at Canalis or the play call, right,
I think he was very frustrated Xavier Lagette. And so
that's not good. You know, if you if you got
a quarterback, that's that's losing faith in yet and again, listen,
Bryce Young is a team guy, like he's not going
(26:24):
to be like turn my back on Xavier Leget every
every Sunday. But that you know, you're starting to see
some warning signs.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
The problem is you can trust Team X so much
that when you're looking downfield, you're always going to look
to him by default.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
J T. Sanders.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
The issue really is, especially with Jalen Koker being out
here smoke, how many guys can Bryce Young trust right
now in the passing game? Pretty brutal because you can't
trust Xcel. I'm sorry, you just can't with j T.
Sanders right now, not downfield. So if it's on a
Renfro winning in the red zon, that seems to be
a target. Bryce is throwing too, especially in the comeback
against Arizona. But you just don't have many guys that
(27:06):
you can trust in the passing game as much as
the eighth overall selection, especially if Exsel isn't going to
drag his toe, if he's going to drop these passes,
I can understand. Even for somebody that seems to be
as patient as Bryce. It's happened too many times, which
I wanted to work out for Xcel. I love the guy.
I think he's genuine. I know people are trying to
(27:28):
point out some kind of fake accent when they bring
up in earlier time at South Carolina where he doesn't
sound the same. I don't sound the same when you
play my audio now compared to five years ago. No,
I don't have a stronger accent, but I don't sound
the same. So I'm not really here to point fingers
and say it's all for show. I think he's a
genuine dude. I think he's awesome. I think he's a
really nice guy. And every single report that we hear
(27:49):
from him is that he works really, really hard. I
wanted to work out. Here's where I go the other way.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Smoke.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I just don't see it right now. That's my issue.
He he wasn't mingo. He gave us some stuff last year,
and he seems to be getting worse. Like people were
pointing to the Cincinnati Bengals reception on the sideline last year.
What was a great grab? My guy was parallel to
the ground and he tapped his toe in bounds. That
(28:16):
was a trustworthy catch. But he's not giving us that.
And that's where as much as I want it to work, smoke,
I think maybe in a previous time for me, I
would have tried to look at the positive and just
focus so much on that that all the negatives were
blind spots. I'm too wary of my blind spots now.
As much as I want it to work, it just
doesn't seem to be doing so.
Speaker 5 (28:36):
Yeah, And I kind of think of it like this,
any chance of him being a number one receiver in Carolina,
even though it just still seems too soon to say this.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
It feels like.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
It's done, but I still think it's sal evgible in
the sense of, let's see if he's still got a
good number two in them and if you can salvage that,
And I think that's something we'll figure out forout the
remainder this year whenever he comes back, but who knows,
Like if he doesn't get back soon enough, Jalen Coker
could come back and he gets through his soft tissue
injuries and plays like he did in the preseason, he
(29:07):
could get Wally Pitts by Jalen Coker and lose his
spot too. So you know, there is still a way
for Excel to get out of this hole and have
a relatively good run here in Carolina, but the chances
are starting to become limited if he continues to play
like he has been to start this year.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Can I run a not perfect comparison by you real
quickly with Excel? Hit me?
Speaker 3 (29:30):
There are ways where it can work out clearly right
Like I, I'm nobody can predict the future. It's why
we're not gambling every single second of the day and
accumulating millions of dollars. They're not the same player, but
Taevon Austin comes to mind just a little bit when
Tavon Austin pay.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Clearly not the same player, very very different.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
But the comparison to me is Tevon Austin is drafted
in the top ten to be a monster wow factor
and what he does is only reaches five hundred yards
in a season one time.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
And just becomes a key special teams player.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And also stays in the league from twenty thirteen to
twenty twenty one. So Excel did not have the college
career Tevon Austin did. It's an all timer in college football.
Get that out of your head for just a moment
and stick with me on the comparison. The comparison is
he doesn't pan out to be what you thought he would,
but he does find himself a role to stick and
(30:28):
I think Excel has that kind of ability. Can you
catch the football downfield? Can you be a deep threat specialist?
And if you can, maybe now the manufactured touches can
come into play with t Mac taking on wide receiver
one responsibilities, Jalen Coker taking on even wide receiver two responsibilities,
because Smoke, I don't even need him really to be
(30:51):
wide receiver too. If you want to say, well, Dan
Morgan swung and he missed, yeah, you're not going to
be wrong about that. He did flat out first. Just
what the two wide receivers or taken behind him? Absolutely,
just what it is. I can accept that fact XL
was a first round pick get traded up to go
get him. He does not play like a thirty second
overall prospect.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
We could admit the miss, but can we salvage something
from him? And I think you can? And I think
that's where I'm starting to go here smoke like this.
This is the space I view him in. Now, can
we salvage something? And that I still feel pretty good
about because that's where the work ethic stuff comes in
in my opinion, will he allow himself to fail? And no,
(31:33):
he won't allow himself to be a number one wide
receiver because he just doesn't have the ability. But I
don't think he'll fail. Let's hear from XL on his
injury and locker room availability. Zavily get talking with local media.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Is this a.
Speaker 4 (31:44):
Situation where if this wore, say a playoff game or something,
you might.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Push through it or is you having trouble pushing off
of it or you know whatever?
Speaker 1 (31:55):
The what's it feeling like?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
How does it feel different than youtual? I'm pretty sold
right now. Coach told us how you baggat the last
week to let you play. How tough is it then
to have to sort of sit back in and watch
I mean, you know, I want to be in the game.
I mean I want to do so much of what
they want me to do.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
So you know how that is. Is this the case
where you want to play and they're saying no.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
You're not ready to Oh no, no, it ain't nothing
like it. And if you feel like this, you're gonna
be sitting out another week. That's what I mean. It's
just the coach's choice. Whatever they want me to do.
What do you want to do? Right if I if
I can, if I'm able to, it's up what you say.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
Though right now, physically your hamestring, it's not ready to
play in a game.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
I wouldn't say that, or I maybe have to be
a little limited or something like that, or maybe I
could play.
Speaker 4 (32:58):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
This is a day to day so.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
Joyce one great job by media really trying to get
a straight answer from him as much as possible, because
Joe was asking all sorts of clarifying questions, even David
Newton getting in there, not asking about a slipping slide
for the first time in a couple of days. Really
just trying to get an angle on what XL can't
and can't do. XCEL being very secretive. The conspiracy theory stuff,
(33:25):
Man got to be going through the roof here if
people were getting conspiratorial, conspiratorial over Bryce Young sitting out
that famous Seahawks game is rookie year where Andy Dalton
takes over, and it was just a why don't you
just well, don't just take a seat, Let Andy Dalton play?
Speaker 1 (33:42):
What if I told you that Xcel's hamstring was okay? Man?
Speaker 3 (33:48):
What if I told you Excel was just taking a
back seat so he could learn a little bit. And
XL doesn't want to throw Dave Canalis under the bus
quote unquote, So he's being very vague about all of it.
So Joe Person, David Newton, Mike kay bashed, TI hurt.
(34:09):
They can't go to their publication and write the story
of how Dave Canalis is simply sidelining XCEL not due
to injury, but because he desperately needs it mentally.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
Fox, you gotta be on top of this one, and
you gotta be fully right on that, Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
I don't know, man, I'm feeling pretty reckless. I'm feeling
pretty reckless. Is it okay for my intended to go
up on this one?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Smoke?
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Because it certainly seems like the journalists, it seems like
the Beat writers their intenna was going up on Dave
Canalis and company deciding to sideline Excel so he can
figure it out.
Speaker 5 (34:43):
Last week, I folt nothing of it, and just because
of the facts, is like, why would you sideline him
when you have Jayla Cocher still out on IR. This
week it's a bit more interesting, to the point where
I'm not going to fully dismiss it. I'm still kind
of leaning nah, not really, but and of course the
guy wants to play because less time he's out there,
(35:03):
you know, you're losing money, you're losing opportunities.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
But if it happens next week, it's like, Okay, this
seems like a thing now. At this point I pushed
back against the Brice stuff. I did.
Speaker 3 (35:15):
It seems and it's different coaching regime, so fair enough.
I guess that's it. Yeah, I guess the different coaching
regime stuff. That's where the case falls apart a little bit.
So yeah, if it was the same, I think maybe
we'd be just taking off with this conspiracy theory. But
it didn't seem like Excel was willing to go hor Yeah. Man,
(35:36):
it's been hurting a little bit. Hopefully we get back.
Like you can hear people talk about their injuries, e
gauge how truthful they're being, where they think they are.
That does not sound like a man. I don't know anything.
I got no sources telling me anything whatsoever. But hearing
that clip, just like everybody else did, my take is
that does not sound like a man that feels like
(35:57):
he should be sitting on the sideline.
Speaker 5 (35:59):
And let's be honest, Xavier le Get he has a
history of not being able to keep secrets, didn't and
he was getting drafted by the Panthers to the point
where it's like we don't really need to talk about
if they're gonna draft Live, it's going to be Excel.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
It was the worst kept secret of all time. Like
I yeah, I wish, I wish betting was legal at that.
I don't think it was right was betting it was?
If it was, I was bet I was betting everything.
I was betting everything on XCEL. If it was, Oh
my god, which makes this year that much more impressive
that they pulled the bull all over our eyes. They
had to, they had to, especially with the way it went. Uh,
(36:37):
regarding Xcel Flashback Friday. We have not played this intro
in like, I don't know, two years, but we got smoke.
He's a historian, so we're gonna put that encyclopedic brain
to use by taking a trip in the time machine.
Coming up next Sports Radio ninety two seven w FNZ
(37:01):
West and Walker Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.
We're broadcasting live from the Chandler volt To Studio. CV
Injury Law dot com, Cevinjurylaw dot com.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
One call.
Speaker 3 (37:11):
That's all the Carolinas personal injury lawyers. No wes for
the show except for the upcoming segment. He's going to
be calling in. He's working the sidelines for the cw
NC State Virginia Tech this weekend. You know, talking with
Kyle dur in the fish bowl, I would say Kyle's
gonna have eyes on West and watching his Hokies. But
(37:34):
I'm not sure that he's gonna watch his Virginia Tech
Hokies this weekend because it's just too painful with how
bad that they've been playing. And I completely understand why
doesn't you and I both didn't even contemplate like a
Virginia Tech upset here.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
It would be crazy.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
I know NC State ish can happen, But when we
were doing the rapid fire Pickham segment stuff, we didn't
even really consider giving Virginia Tech that much of a
chance at an upset.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
No, Like, just with Kyle's mindset and you know what
he's been to, it's everyone's just like, all right, let's
just get through this year. Unfortunately, it's not like a
video game. You can't send for it. You actually got
to go week by week. I know, but the deed
has been done. You fired your head coach. You're just
trying to get for the next eight to ten weeks.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, when you do that, it does seem like a
real big lame duck season.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
That's what sucks about this is when you fire Pry
that early in the year, that's a lot of football.
That doesn't mean a whole lot. And I'm just speaking
from a fans perspective because I am sympathetic to it,
mattering to the players. Still, I want the best for
them all of it, right, Like, I'm a players type
of guy. I hope that they get exactly what they
(38:41):
want out of all of this. But as a fan,
you're tuning in every single weekend and understanding what's about
to happen at a school with that kind of tradition.
So it's unfortunate, but hey, maybe it happens. It's not
like they're a thirty point underdog. They're only ten and
a half. It could happen. Angels in the outfield word
to them. It could happen, but I just don't think
it will. All right, you're ready to take a trip
(39:02):
in the time machine. Let's do it, all right? Time
now for Flashback Friday.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Let's go back in time.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
It's flashback Friday.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
Let's go away.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Ourselves?
Speaker 4 (39:14):
Is fun?
Speaker 3 (39:15):
You mean?
Speaker 5 (39:15):
Not?
Speaker 3 (39:16):
No job?
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (39:17):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (39:17):
What?
Speaker 1 (39:18):
My time machine has been activated?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
The time machine. I don't know you had a time machine.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
All right, but prepare to a ton traveling.
Speaker 3 (39:25):
All right, smokey, take us back to previous matchups between
the Panthers and the Patriots, and maybe we can apply
that past to the Panthers future.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
Yes, well, most certainly, Walker, this does not include all
the twenty five thousand preseason games they've had, because if
there's any team that's come close to playing the Panthers
in the preseason to the Steelers, it's the New England Patriots.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
But we don't have time for that.
Speaker 5 (39:47):
Uh So we go for the history that they've had
in the regular In postseason, of course, they lost into
Super Bowl February first, two thousand and four forty two
twenty nine in Houston, Texans. But when they've been in England,
whether that be the Old Stadium or Gillette Stadium, Carolina's
done pretty well at New England s going all the
(40:08):
way back to their first matchup on the October twenty ninth,
nineteen ninety five, Carolina won the game in overtime, Banks
to a clutch kick from John Casey, which was the
first overtime win in franchise history and was in the
midst of their three game winning streak, the first three
game winning streak and expansion team ever had. Going to
their next road matchup, you have to go all the
(40:30):
way into the future to two thousand and nine.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
This is when a.
Speaker 5 (40:33):
Matt Moore led Panthers team lost a hard fought battle
against the Patriots twenty to ten, and the last time
these two teams faced in New England was October first,
twenty seventeen, where Cam Newton led the Patriot led the
Panthers over to Patriots in a shootout Graham Gano, if
I believe about a fifty one or fifty two yard
field goal.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
That was just two days prior to.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
Cam Newton's most second most infamous press conference when he
was talking about routes with Jordan rod Rieg.
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Oh so that's the last time. Oh god.
Speaker 5 (41:06):
And when you look at the all time record between
these two teams, Walker, it's even at four piece. Four
wins for Carolina, four wins for New England. But most
of New England's wins have come here at Bank of
America Stadium slash ericson Stadium, including the infamous last game
of George Seaford in two thousand and two January sixth.
(41:27):
Remember that game was supposed to take place on September
the sixteenth of two thousand and one, but the game's
got canceled due to nine to eleven. It got pushed
all the way back to two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
George Severerd basically was sleepwalking through the game, barely gave
a pregame speech.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
The Patriots were just trying to clinch the AFC East.
Speaker 5 (41:46):
And if you go back and watch that game in
the very poor quality on YouTube, you'll see a woman
with a sign begging Jerry Richardson to sign Steve Spurrier.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
As head coach.
Speaker 3 (41:55):
Wow, that was excellent. I love that trip back in time.
I would ask you this because you are the man
to ask. Is New England the most interesting non conference
opponent in terms of record history with the squad conference?
Speaker 2 (42:10):
So you're talking AFC.
Speaker 3 (42:12):
Really just non division No, I'm sorry, not conference. I'm
sorry non divisional because because you could have any of
them in the NFC south, of course, I think Seattle
is the other one that you would think of.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
But is it New England?
Speaker 3 (42:23):
Given a four and four record five hundred between the two,
the Cam Newton Monday Night football matchup, a Super Bowl
matchup between the two, it does feel like New England
and Seattle are the two that I would lead.
Speaker 5 (42:32):
With New England definitely, I think might have the lead
to Clubhouse in the AFC, But overall I think Seattle's
a pretty good one too. But you know, they only
played like twice in the first ten years because Seattle
was any AFC at that time. Yeah, I'd take Green
Bays up there, guess think about it. The NFC Championship
game was the first time they had a lot of
shootouts ninety eight. Carrie Collins last home game here as
(42:54):
a Panther was against Brett Farvin, a shootout think about
nineteen ninety nine with Steve Berlin and the quarterback draw
to win and basically end Ray Rouge's career, and that
essentially gave them a shot to make the playoffs if
they scored more points than the Packers against the Cardinals
in week seventeen, while Jake Delomb was getting sacked by
Kevin Green in his last start two thousand, Monday Night
Football with Dennis Miller, Brad Hoover having his breakout performance.
(43:17):
Let's see two thousand and two Shane Raam Shane Graham
missing a chip shot field goal to avoid an a
four to oh start and choke away.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
What was a great start for John Fox.
Speaker 5 (43:28):
You go back to four when Steve Smith got hurt
on Monday Night Football against the Packers. Then you had
to shoot out five against the Packers. That really got
that season rolling after a one and two start two
thousand and eight, Steve Smith had an credible catch in
Green Bay as they won that game. Twenty eleven, Cam
Newton's first home game was against Green Bay. Then twenty fifteen,
you had that shootout with Cam and a Packers fan,
(43:49):
Julius Peppers, and then Thomas Davis was the leaping interception
twenty seventeen. Oh, it's a real route, it's a will route.
Oh you like watching film? Huh. Twenty nineteen Christian McCaffery
gets stuck at the goal line. Twenty twenty Teddy Bridgewater
tries to leap over the lineman, fumbles the ball, Green
Baber covers it, and then he had to Christmas Eve
game at twenty twenty three. So I'd say to Packers, sorry,
(44:12):
I didn't mention OH seven matchup between Brett Tharbon Viny Testaverdy, but.
Speaker 1 (44:15):
That game sucked.
Speaker 3 (44:18):
I need people to bathe in all of that for
just a second. Did you just go through every single
game the Panthers have played in their history against Green Bay?
Speaker 5 (44:26):
No, I failed to mention one to oh seven, but
those games are not of note. The only thing that
notice OH one was Steve Smith had two fumbles out
on kickoff returns and got benched by Seaford.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Okay, a little speechless on that, to be honest.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
Right, the quarterback matchup of Brett Fair versus Chris Winky.
Speaker 3 (44:43):
I need to stop you. I need to stop you
at some point. That was excellent. I mean, I don't
know the time machine trip all the way back to
all of those years that you just mentioned. I mean,
you just could not stop. Somebody stop.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
But no, no, no, no no no no no no.
Speaker 5 (44:56):
I actually got some interesting statistics because I decided, you know,
Carolina hasn't had that many shutouts for out their history.
What's the record after shutouts? In short three and four
is the record after shutout victories. Last time they had
a shutout they followed a shoutout win with age. Win
was in twenty fifteen when the Giants they beat the
Giants in the infamous j o Odell Beckham Game. Last
(45:18):
time they lost in the Chnnesota Game. Twenty thirteen, they
lost to the Cardinals after shutting out to Giants. Two
thousand and eight, after they shut out the crappy Chiefs,
the Bucks gave them a punch hitty I twenty.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Seven to three.
Speaker 5 (45:30):
I think that's when Dante Wesley got a awful cheap
penalty on special teams, no doubt. Two thousand and six,
they followed the fifteen nothing went over the Rams with
a sloppy performance against.
Speaker 1 (45:40):
Redskins so sloppy you could forget that one.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Nineteen ninety seven, they followed the Saints thirteen notughing win
with a win against the Falcons, which was the last
Sunday Night Nitro game on TNT, and their first shoutout
was against the Bucks twenty four to nothing. And they
followed that with one of the biggest wins in franchise
history if they thirty to twenty four win over the
forty nine ers.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
On the road in Candlestick to sweep the Niners.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Yeah, no, everybody remembers that one. I appreciate you for
reminding us of something that everybody already knew. Anyway, great
stuff from you, Smoke, it's one fifty eight. I need
you to realize just how long of a tangent that
you went on during Flashback Friday. We can talk about
it a little bit later on. We try to squeeze
in West Bright just a little bit on the other side.
(46:21):
Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ, goodness, gracious,
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