Wes & Walker Hour 2: What Did We Learn and Bryce Continuing to Impress

In the second hour of the show, the guys discuss some of what they learned over the weekend in the College Football Playoff and talk about how Bryce has been playing recently and if it might lead to a payday this offseason.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Wesson Walker Show, and a moral lesson
is told at the end of each episode.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
One notable episode is one called The Price, in which
a boy buys a drug called spin. He was smoking
that spin It's Wes, becomes addicted to it and dies
of an overdose. We need walk cartoons like that these
days for these badass.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
And Walker Would these kids die of drugs? Yes, they
can learn their lesson and know not to do it.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
If somebody fiction or dies, they'll learn not to do
it in nonfition.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
You know what I'm saying. Man.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
For that reason, Marshall, bracetaf tech Text Drew Texas is
straight by you. I had to act to figure bracet off,
but Ma Mar.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Wouldn't let me get text tent only on Sports Radio
ninety two point seven FM wfnzs Oh.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Come on, mom, why didn't you do this? They said
it was too demonic.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Well maybe it's because the kid died of drugs.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
From the channel of both the studios. CV Injurylaw dot Com.
That's CV Injurylaw dot Com. One call. That's all the
Carolina's personal injury lawyers. This is the Western Walkers Show.
Sports Radio ninety two seven WFNZ. Before we get started
on what did we learn this weekend in the CFP,
Bobby Patrino has agreed to become the next North Carolina

(01:25):
offensive coordinator under Bill Belichick. We know about Carolina's offense struggling.
Belichick and Patrino do not have direct ties, but Patrino
has ties to the current North Carolina coaching staff as
he was the coach of Louisville and Arkansas. Also has
NFL head coaching experience, having spent one season as the
Atlanta Falcons head coach, and we know that he coached

(01:47):
Lamar Jackson to his Heisman season as well. He called
the offense for Arkansas this past season and they were
fourth in the SEC four hundred and fifty five yards
a game, thirty three points per game. I love this
hire FLYINGDA what'say?

Speaker 5 (02:00):
Yeah, tremendous higher. I thought it was down to either
him or Chip Kelly. I think either way that they
would have went, it would have been an outstanding I mean, look,
Schip Kelly's a guy that's been incredibly successful as well.
You know, I think the thing with him is is
that you look at the talent that he has on
a lot of those rosters. Would Carolina be able to

(02:22):
put together that talented of a roster. I'm not sure
whether or not they have the nil money to be
able to do that because they spent a lot of
their revenue money on freshman this year. So I think
the thing that you like with Petrino is he's a
guy that has done more with less. He doesn't necessarily
have to have the most talented teams to be successful offensively.

(02:44):
So I give it to him. I'll give them, I'll
give them their praise for this one. You know, I'm
still not one hundred percent on board just yet.

Speaker 4 (02:54):
Well, this has to be the best hire that Bill
Belichick has made. And how I mean, how far do
you have to go back? Really, because you know we
go back to New England terrible hires. Right, I've said
this a million times. This was the infrastructurally. Infrastructurally speaking,
it was a big issue. And here's what I liked.

(03:15):
You didn't complicate it. Go after somebody that has designed
a bunch of really impressive offenses and just go get
that guy. It's hilarious that, amidst all of the drama
that Bill Belichick is saturated in, that he went after
a guy that himself has had a lot of drama
in his day. Yeah, it's hilarious, like in a bunch
of different ways shapes are formed. Oh yah, let's go

(03:35):
get that guy. We want to keep the noise at
a minimum. Let's go after Bobby Petrino. But it's been
a while. Yeah, okay, time. Heals all wounds, even in
the one that you had on your neck that the
neck brace protected you from it. Heals all wounds and
he can design an offense. So that's what Bill Belichick
needed to do. He didn't need to do any of
these weird Hey, we'll hold on to somebody that failed previously.

(03:56):
We don't need to turn a defensive guy into an
offensive mind and then fail is believe. Let's just go
get the dude that has been really good across multiple years.
And that's what they did. So I think to Bill
Belichick's credit, they didn't complicate this higher and you went
out and got somebody that's real smart designing plays.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
All right, college football playoffs went down this weekend. Let's
talk about what we learned. Flound to drop that in
Trump Good morning class.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
I don't like disorder in my room. I'm in charge
of this class. I'm the warrior Chief. I'm the merciless
god of anything that stirs in my universe. Who kind
of school is this? Anyway?

Speaker 2 (04:35):
All right, let's talk about it, folks. The ACC got
in and they represented, well, the ACC's best team can
play with a lot of teams, just maybe anyone. And
I think that they can play with anyone. As Miami
went into the belly of the Beast, which was Texas
A and m Kyo Phield, you saw that atmosphere. Did
you hear them channing that power Kanye West song before

(04:55):
that game? You talk about yer electricity in a building?
It was all there and Miami emerged ten to three.
What a side is find victory? That must be And
I'm not gonna get on hand sac the ACC's better
than the SEC or none of that nonsense. But the
Miami Hurricanes went in there and got a huge win
in a spot that many people did not think that

(05:16):
they could. The Kynes have now won five straight since
dropping two of three games. Mark Fletcher Junr had one
hundred and seventy two yards rushing. Malachai Toni had the
tie breaking eleven yard touchdown reception. They called it even
though it looked a lot like a short reverse run
with less than two minutes left. He also had a
big punt return, also had a big fumble as well.

(05:37):
That was a huge moment in the game when he
fumbled and he went over to the sidelines and he
was in shambles. But you can tell how tight this
Miami team is by how they huddered around that young man.
They told him that they were going to need him later,
and they certainly did. And he got it done. And
then the defense, Ruben Band and the crew off the
chain sacked Marcel Reid seven times. They held Texas A

(05:59):
and M without a touchdown for the first time this season.
And Carson Beck he didn't have to do a ton.
It was tough out there. The wind was blowing crazy.
It was a lot going on. They missed three field
goals in this game between both of these teams, and
so Carson Beck he threw for one hundred and three yards.
That was a season low, but it was enough to

(06:19):
get the victory. But I thought that Miami they showed
a lot of guts, They showed a lot of you know,
fort two. However, you want to put it to go
in there and get that win, and I think it
proved that they can play with anybody.

Speaker 3 (06:30):
Well.

Speaker 4 (06:30):
It showed a lot of run production is what it showed.
He doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand how their
bread was buttered in this one. Offensively, it was running
the football one hundred and seventy five yards. Mark Fletcher
just a monster game from him. You even take away
the long fifty five to fifty six yarder, you're talking
about still a one hundred yard day on sixteen carries.
The man was an absolute baller out there. And this

(06:53):
was my question heading into the game, who do I
trust the most? It was tough for me to choose
between these two quarterbacks and morel Reid and Carson Beck,
who came in with identical stats in some ways, twenty
five touchdown passes for each, ten interceptions for each. We've
seen Carson Beck before not perform in the big game.
We've seen Marcel Reid. He's one to turn it over
quite a bit. It was Marcel Reid who turned it

(07:15):
over Carson Beck. I wouldn't say that he was overly impressive.
You're right, it was tough conditions out there for him,
but also he didn't make the backbreaking mistake and give
Texas A and M the football.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
That's all you needed to do.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
When Mark Fletcher was running the way that he did,
and Texas A and M was handing you the football,
Marcel Reid specifically was handing you the football the way
that they were.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
So Miami gets it done. Really talented football team.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
If the argument is they can play with anybody, Wes,
it's because of the argument that you've been making really
all year long, and that they are crazy talented all
across the board. And even if the offense didn't look great,
the passing game wasn't great in this one. I think
they're going to have to turn that up a little
more against Ohio State to beat them. But even so,
they have a lot of talent all over the place.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yes, And when you talk about it at the end
of the game, Bryce fitsto getting two interceptions. He undercut
that little slant or that bang eight whatever they ran
in the back of that end zone. He undercut that
to get that done. He also had the earlier interception
as well. But again, like I said, it was a
tough game. I said it had enough plays in it
to keep you entertained. But yes, it was definitely a

(08:18):
throwback defensive game, and you were just waiting for something
to break in this one, and it finally did find out.
What were you going to say about this matchup?

Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, I mean Fletcher was great, man.

Speaker 5 (08:28):
I thought they should have probably ran it a little
bit more with him in this game, honestly, because he
was so explosive when he had the football in his hands.
A and M really didn't have much of an answer
for him, especially when they started running it in the middle.
You know, early in the game, a lot of Jets
sweep stuff, a lot of stuff trying to get to
the edges, and Texas A and M was just too good.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Sidelined to sideline.

Speaker 5 (08:50):
But I mean Miami's offense when they needed to show up,
they did. That defense was absolutely tremendous, led by the
defensive line. Once again, Ruben Bain was pretty solid in
this one. Same thing with a key messador. So that's
that's a group that you know, could challenge Ohio State
in the next round. I don't know if I'm bold
enough to pick them to win that one, but I
definitely think they showed you that they deserve to be

(09:13):
in the College Football Playoff and that they could be
a team that could give Ohio State a little bit
of a run.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
First money, I.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Think we'll be on together again before Miami's game against
Ohio State. If I'm not mistaken, I do know Ohio
State is already a ten point favorite ten and a half.
I believe they are for this matchup with the Kings.
I saw that this morning, but I was gonna say,
even if we were gonna be on, then I will
not give my pick right now. But you know, I

(09:40):
feel the way I feel, But let's move on. What
was the next thing we learned is that group of five.
It was fun while it lasted, but you guys ruined
any shot that you have to be able to get
two teams, maybe even one. At this point, after Tulane
loses to Ole Miss forty one to ten, and the
game that wasn't again from the outset, you already knew

(10:01):
what time it was after that first drive, and there
were a couple of times that I thought Tulane might
be able to come through and make a little bit
of noise.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
But no, it wasn't to be. And then James Madison
they got smashed.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
I know they came back with a little back door
covered late in the second half. They ended up scoring
thirty four points, but a lot of it felt like
empty calories to me. Oregon was dominant from the outset,
and I think that they took their foot off of
the gas and so James Madison was able to get
some cheapies. But I never thought that this game was
as close as this final score indicates, even though James

(10:33):
Madison did end up racking up five hundred and nine
yards and Oregon had five hundred and fourteen.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
But I think for the Group of five, they did
not make.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
A great case for themselves to be included going forward.

Speaker 4 (10:44):
The problem with the G five opponents is that they're
going to be playing not really good college football teams.
They're gonna be playing the best college football teams. So
when you're a G five opponent, you're gonna be a
lower seed. And when you're a lower seed, you're gonna
be playing the top five teams in the entire sport.
And you go back and you see, Okay, James Madison
or two lane specifically, well, Tulane did beat Duke, and

(11:06):
that's true, and Duke we all thought shouldn't be the
a SEC champion this year with five losses. Now, they
did win the AEC championship, but they also had five losses,
and they had a little bit more outside of Tulane,
and they didn't look great. So this was the thing
I wanted to believe in Tulane and Ole Miss. You
gave a great pitch for us to possibly go that
way the last time that we were here on Friday,

(11:28):
and I thought, maybe there's a shot, and then you
look at it. Man, there's just too many mistakes for
them putting the ball in harm's way.

Speaker 3 (11:35):
Ole Miss.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
They're a good football team, clearly, and you're talking about
it for a top half of the college football playoff
field squad and the Rebels. I know people are saying
there just needs to be a group of five playoff
over here reserved separately. Problem is that are the schools
going to agree to that.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
No, they won't, that's the problem. So that's not going
to happen either. I think what's probably going to happen
is they're only going to allow one in the rest
of the way. They probably won't go too.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Yeah, and that Miami, Ohio state matchup will be on
December thirty first, so I will not be on the
air to be able to deliver a pick for you guys.
And you know, I'll just let you know straight up,
I'm taking a king. I think the Kaynes are gonna
beat Ohio State. I feel like Ohio State. I haven't
been overly impressed with them all year long. You know,
I think that they should. The schedule it was okay,

(12:22):
Yes they played Indiana. I think Indiana's a really good team,
but that's also a team that their schedule was kind
of light on, you know, heavy meals as well. This
line has already moved. I saw it at ten and
a half, but I see ESPN has it at nine
and a half. But I just think Miami upfront can
match up with Ohio State. But when you look at
I mean Bo Jackson, He's a good running back, but

(12:42):
nothing to write home about. I think saying again, there's
only been two two freshmen. I was wrong with that.
Trevor Lawrence Tony Rice are the only ones that have
won a Natty in recent memory. I just don't see
Julyn saying doing that. This is gonna be a pressure
cooker for him. And like I said, I like the
Knes and Tom Brenneman and I were definitely going back
and forth on text about this because he was talking

(13:03):
about his big bad buck guys.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
But flying that, you look like you are itching to
say something.

Speaker 5 (13:08):
I mean, look, I won't give away my exact pick,
but I think Ohio State this will be the biggest
test that this Miami defense will face in terms of
I really just I mean that wide receiving corps loaded.
How are they going to be able to take away
every member of that receiving.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
PA hometown boys too? Because Jaimie smiths the Miami Boys.
So there's gonna be a lot of lot of trash talking,
a lot of guys you grew up with that you're
going against in this one.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, that's the thing.

Speaker 5 (13:34):
I think that's gonna be interesting to see how they do,
how they take that away. I think this offense, we
can all agree, right, this offense is much much better
than the offense that they just played at Texas A and.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
M No Quick.

Speaker 5 (13:45):
So I think that's gonna be The thing is is
Miami's offense going to be able to keep up? Yes,
you did have a good game for Mark Fletcher. Are
you banking on that against Ohio State's defense that you're
gonna be able to run the ball the same way.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
I don't think.

Speaker 5 (13:59):
I don't think you're going to be able to run
it that successfully. And so that means that Carson Beck's
gonna have to make plays. And I don't know, man,
I just I still can't trust Carson Beck.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
Were you about to say, I was gonna say, we
put a pin in it.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Talk about it on the other side, all right, we
also got to talk a little bit about Bbama and
OU as well. On the other side, this is the
West and Walker Show. I'm guessing, flounder the way you
give it up that this was played for a reason,
because we will.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Not really, but I think it works out perfectly.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
I dout that you're putting this on for a reason
because fifty cent did perform during the Oklahoma Alabama game.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
It's true.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
This is the Western Walker Show Sports Radio ninety two
seven WFZ from the channel of Volta Studios. But yeah,
fifty cent came out did his performance. One of the
Alabama players. I believe they said they didn't know it
was him at first when he first came out there
to perform. Many men, but they said they listened to
that song a lot in the locker room, and they
got them hype, so they had a reverse effect. They're

(15:02):
supposed to get Oklahoma's team hype, but it got Alabama's
team hype.

Speaker 4 (15:05):
That's a problem with getting somebody as universal as Rick
Ross or fifty cent, where both of these guys performed
either ACC Championship for Rick Ross, and now you're talking
about a college football playoff game for fifty cent, you
might be, Hey, it's at Oklahoma, let's get the crowd
riled up. Okay, but the team, the other team, they
want to kill people too. And that song is about

(15:26):
how many people have tried to kill you before that
you're still alive. You got to do something different cause
if you were to say what song does many men
describe more this year? Is it Oklahoma or is it Alabama?
I would say Alabama. So many people wrote them off,
so many people don't want them in the college football playoff?
So who responds to many men more? It's Alabama. Bad choice.

(15:48):
I don't know who booked them, but bad choice. And
I believe that's probably forty percent of the reason as
to why Oklahoma lost it.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
Yeah, and we started off with a good matchup.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
In my opinion, some people still tried to give some
things to that game, but I really enjoyed Oklahoma and Alabama.
I thought it was a really good game to get
things started because before, like I said, Desmond Howard spoke
about it the day after, and one of the few
things that I agree with him on, but he said
that he had picked Oklahoma because of the atmosphere. He said,
once he got down there and he felt the energy,

(16:18):
that he thought he was gonna win. And that's the
thing about these first round playoff games we saw last year,
teams got smashed.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
When they came on the road.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
For these teams in these first ever and I'm doing
air quotes, first ever at these historic venues, Oklahoma was
no different. And then it just felt like once that
big drop came when Oklahoma was up seventeen the zip
or I think it was seventeen seven.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
It was seventeen nothing, Yeah, seventeen.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
I think Matia rolls out, throws a beautiful pass and
then it's absolutely dropped on what it would have been
a short touchdown. And I said, right then and there,
this game is about to change. And then you see
the block punt, well, the dropped punt that turned into
a block punt and then the rest is history. Alabama
is just coming. You know what I'm saying. They Yeah,

(17:03):
it just flipped the game on his head. And so
shouts to TODs Simpson and Alabama and those guys. They
went in there and got the job done in a very,
very tough environment and they turned because I thought that
had changed without Nick Stabment at the Helm, because when
Sabin was there, I felt.

Speaker 3 (17:17):
Like I didn't care who your coach was, what your.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
Atmosphere was, like, Bama was gonna come ready to play,
and they were nine times out of ten gonna beat you.
And I thought that maybe that had changed since he's
no longer there. But you know, with Kaitlyn de Boord,
they kind of got that monica back at least for
one night, that they'll come and play anytime, any place,
and it doesn't matter what you present in front of them,
they're gonna come out with a victory.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
Two things you talk about the home field advantage. Ryan
McGee joined Kyle last week to preview the college football
Playoff and he said, look, it's a bucket list item.
If you are putting together a list of venues to
go watch a live college football game, going to Norman
should be towards the top of that list. If you
can put that top five, that is a magical place

(18:00):
to go watch a college football game. To your second point,
you know I've toyed with this, I've talked about it
a little bit, but I'm telling you right now, the
curse of a it means something.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
It just does. And here the thin red line.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
Baby, what I wonder is even with Kaitlin de Boor
not being the Boogeyman, and there is a big difference,
I do think that there is some sense of comfort
knowing that that Nick Saban scal is not going to
be looking dead in your soul anymore. The boar does
not have a soul snatching scal. Saban does, all right, fair,
but the curse of a it just brings a little

(18:34):
more magic to the equation. So, Oklahoma, do you get
lemon booty when you see that logo like, who are
the teams that are impervious to curse of a Lemon Booty?

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Well, it feels like Oklahoma gets to what everybody because
they're zero and five in the playoffs in their history.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
And that's true too, because I guess Alabama did have
an Oklahoma problem for a little while, right. I think
that's something Roman Harper talked about. I was listening to
Ryan McGee. That's two Ryan McGee references. But at the
same time, different stage. Man colleg football plaoff is very different,
and you can play at home, but it's not like
material was great anyway, and you see, oh yeah, think

(19:09):
about that when you're about to go take the field
and you got fifty cent and it's that loud, and
you look across the field and you see the Crimson
tide and you were thinking about the stories you get
to tell to everybody. Yeah, I beat Alabama and the
College Football Playoff at home. The crowd was rockets. It
was when you start thinking about that makes it a
little tight, And it felt like Oklahoma got tight at

(19:31):
for a seventeen oh league.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Yeah, And that was the thing too, that Oklahoma, Yes,
they're one of the college football blue bloods, but you know,
they haven't necessarily won in big spots yet really, and
so it is kind of a difference in locker rooms
when you walk in and expectations for in Alabama as
opposed to expectations Oklahoma is a program right now that's
trying to restore what they once were as far as

(19:53):
you know, winning the championships, and we know that, you know,
Venables was on the hot seat for a lot of
this year.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
So this was a team that.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
Kind of expected to be there, but not really, whereas
Alabama they expect to always be.

Speaker 4 (20:06):
Many men also wish death pun Brent Venables down enormous
that did happen.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Final thing before you have to go and get on
a coach's call.

Speaker 4 (20:12):
Just wanted to finish some points from the last segment
going into the Miami Ohio State breakdown. The reason, Look,
you know my thoughts on Carson Beck. I'm just not
a believer outside of that. Clearly, the team is insanely talented.
I might pick Miami in games that didn't feature one
of two or maybe three teams that are the only

(20:33):
teams as talented as Miami.

Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, it's Ohio State.

Speaker 4 (20:36):
So if your argument is to pick the Canes because
they are so damn good and because they have a
bunch of NFL draft picks on their roster, that makes sense,
except you're talking about Ohio State having four top fifteen
projected picks and you're talking about Oregon being the other
team that has a boatload of first round draft picks.
If they were playing Texas, Tech might pick Miami. Yeah,

(21:00):
even if they have great college football players. You guys
get the idea. But you're picking Miami because they're so
talented all across the board. Unfortunately for them, because you
lost a couple of times in conference play. You're playing
one of the few teams that has more dudes than
you do, Like there's maybe one or two, and you're
playing one of the few teams that does. Doesn't mean

(21:20):
you can't win, but you are playing one of the
few teams that does.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
And one thing I will add to from a mental standpoint,
I think Miami is a hot football team, and I
think the team that's really believing right now, especially after
you go get a victory like that. Let me be
interesting to see how Ohio State responds to taking that
loss to Indiana.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
They desponded well last year. Yeah, did it damage them
a little bit? Or do they come out, you know, angrier?

Speaker 2 (21:41):
And that's kind of that reset loss that everybody always
talks about coming into the playoffs. All Right, I gotta
go talk to some coaches with a snoop dog ball.
I won't have any gin and juice during this call. Okay,
I'll bring you one back.

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Why are you saying I kind of want you to
low key, to be honest with you, to have Jenne
juice while you're promising me like I wanted that, I
would if you want to bring you back some. If
you don't, yeah, because I don't think they have it
in the stores around here. Maybe in the list, but
I don't want. I want Snoop Dogg gin and juice
that he made and handed to you. Okay, what would
you would you drink that if he gave me one?

(22:12):
If he gave you a mason jar of gin and juice,
I'm putting that on the display shelf. Yeah, probably, I'm
probably sipping a little bit and putting the rest. I
know you gotta go. I wanted to talk more Snoop
Dogg and gin and juice with you. Let us know
fandual text line seven oh four five seven oh ninety
six to ten. If Snoop Dogg gave you a mason
jar of gin and juice, how much are you drinking?

(22:33):
Are you drinking a little bit of it? And then
putting the rest on the display case. Kyle Kyle, Oh,
Kyle is is he saying that he's drinking that much.
Is that what he was saying? To have no idea
what that signal meant. Okay, I just I would think
for me, the perfect thing to do is to drink
a little bit. Yeah, So Kyle is saying, oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
Kyle's saying he's he's gonna drink a lot. And I
feel that there we go, there we go. I'm with you,
I'm with you. You gotta drink it. And then I'm
putting the rest on the display case. And then when
people will in, I get to say, Snoop Dogg gave
me that directly, that's what I want. Seven oh four
five seven oh ninety six ten, seven oh four five
seven oh ninety six ten. Dick Stockton writing in saying
I'm drinking it entirely. Jack said you gotta chug it.

(23:14):
Spoiled Sportsman says you got to poe up a drink
with him. Excel defender says, the question is what question?
Like how much would you drink of the ginine? All right,
so everybody else is saying they're not putting on the
display case. Everybody else is just saying, I'm taking it
straight to the face, and I'm partying with Snoop right
then and there, which is also something I did.

Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah, I mean, which you could make lifetime memories, so
that might actually be worth it, so might I can
see why.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
I could see why you could go in that direction.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
I wonder how much it's even worth, Like, how much
do you think that would go for on eBay?

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (23:45):
Half the amount?

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Yeah, he thinks so, oh for sure has to be right.
I'm sure somebody has sold a joint from Snoop from
at one point or the other, Like somebody has to
have gone to eBay, and I guess there's probably some
rules against that. Somebody had to spend a lot of
money on a Snoop Dogg joint, has.

Speaker 3 (24:05):
To have I don't know.

Speaker 4 (24:06):
We can look it up during the break, we'll get
Drum and the research team on it. Seven oh four
to five, seven oh ninety six ten, seven oh four
five seven ninety six ten. Let's go back to the
Panthers side of things. Because Jack, he writes in and says,
Yo excel defender has to change his name. Ain't no
more defending Lomingo is what he called him. I will say,

(24:28):
I'm not exactly sure as to why the Panthers are
the team within the thirties to have picked two wide
receivers that don't seem to be very spatially aware. This
has happened a couple times now with XL. It's not
even just a one off ver Xavier Leaguet. It happened
earlier in the season where he didn't drag his foot.
Was that the second game or the first game of
the year, It was very early, but he doesn't drag

(24:50):
I think it's first. I think it was against Jacksonville, Yes,
where it's over on the sideline and he just doesn't
drag his feet and it was an easy completion for
Bryce and XCEL completely erased it. I heard today saying
Bryce only threw for so many yards. The problem is
you got to account for XL not making plays when
he could have had a couple plays. There was the drop,

(25:10):
there was the not being very spatially aware. And it
wasn't all smiles and rainbows in this game. There were
some issues here. We talked about being leaky on the
final drive before the interception from Lathan Ransom. Bend don't
break still the bending sometimes you don't want it to break,
but sometimes it does can we defend a.

Speaker 5 (25:31):
Third down and four like we actually know what we're
doing instead of saying, hey, here have the first down.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
A Varo deserves credit today. He was not perfect.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
Nobody was perfect, but the final drive a little scary
until Ransom made the play. Running game wasn't a huge
production point for Carolina in this one, like it was
more so Bryce making the plays when he had to
stepping up and throwing the ball downfield. You look at
the rushing statistics in this one for Carolina, You're talking

(26:01):
about Rico Dawdle going nine carries for twenty nine yards.
Cuba looked better on three less carries. If I were
to tell you Flounder that the Panthers only gave Rico
o'daddle nine carries and Cuba Hubbard six carries, I don't
think many people would like that. Just I don't think
they'd like that divving up of the responsibility.

Speaker 5 (26:19):
Probably be pretty frustrated because you would say, to yourself,
this is supposed to be a run first football team.
Why in the world are we not leaning on our
run game and instead where we're leaning heavily on Bryce's arm.
But I mean it worked out, man, I mean somebody
questioned it earlier. They said, why did we come out
throwing the ball as opposed to running the football?

Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yeah, but people, this is the thing.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
People want it so bad, Bryce Young to just go
falcons on everybody again, right and again. It's all about
balance and I don't want to overuse the word, and
there are different ways that you can balance your attacks,
but that's what people want, and I think that's okay.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
I can't. I can't.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
It's so lost into well, which one do you want?
It can only be it can be either, or you
could throw the ball downfield, or you can run the football.
I thought that there was a decent enough balance here
in this one. Twenty carries. You did have five yards
per carry. Jimmy Horn helping you a lot there, and
Bryce Young helping you out a lot more. This is
something that I've really liked the last three weeks, and

(27:21):
it's something you and I brought up when we did
a show together earlier in the year Flounder. It's that
Bryce just wasn't scrambling nearly as much as he was
last year. I think that's kind of almost a magic elixir,
if you will. I think this is something that gets
him going. Each of the last three games, Bryce Young
has ran for twenty yards or more. He ran for

(27:41):
twenty three yards against the Rams, ran for forty nine
against the Saints, where it wasn't a great game against
the Saints overall, but we don't look at Bryce and
say he was the big issue or even really a
issue period now. So twenty three yards against the Rams,
forty nine against the Saints. He had twenty yesterday on
four carries, where that was even the play call. It

(28:02):
was a direct, hey, this is going to be you
getting the chance to run if you want not on
scramble plays. He only had run for twenty yards or
more one other time this year. That was the opening
game against Jacksonville. Here are the next totals two eight, three, one,
five ten. I mean you can even go back to
the same Frand game he ran for fifteen. That's now

(28:25):
the fifth most amount of yards that he's run for.
Go ahead and dig into that a little bit more.
I like that Bryce running using that dual threat ability
because it makes sense if Bryce Young can escape pressure
the way that he does, he doesn't really escape pressure
with the intent to run afterwards, he escapes pressure to
reset and look downfield, and it's my favorite part of

(28:47):
his game. That's when you see magical Bryce Young. That's
when you start to see some of the comparisons people
made coming out of college. Oh, he's Pat mahomes Light,
He's Steph Curry on the football field. He can things
happen once he evades pressure, maybe with the help of
a little hole from yosh Nimen. But at the same time,

(29:07):
we've seen plays like that before, and it's my favorite
part of his game that he consistently shows. And you're
starting to see him perform better against pressure. Big time
throws her up. According to Pro Football Focus, the grades,
if you care about it, you see just overall, the
amount of yardage, the plays against pressure. He's starting to
play a lot better man. And that's the reason I

(29:27):
have so much hope and maybe the Panthers and Bryce
coming together on a long term contract extension. It's still
gonna be fascinating. But a big part of the last
I would say, I don't know five six weeks of
this season, not only was it can the Panthers get
to the playoffs? That still matters overall more than a
lot of things around here. Maybe not too distant of

(29:49):
a second is, can Bryce show you that he's the guy?
I think you could argue it's the first if you
really wanted to, and Bryce right now is showing you, hey,
don't move on for me. I'm not one that you're
just going to be able to trade and feel great
about it. Let's get the fifth year option taken care
of done, Panthers going to pick it up, and then

(30:10):
maybe they go to the negotiating table and figure out
a long term deal. I don't know how much that's
going to be affected by these last two games, but
flound Let's say this. Let's say they get to the
postseason and let's say Bryce kind of balls out. We've
seen quarterbacks get paid off of small sample size. Does
it mean you should be making decisions off of a

(30:30):
small sample size?

Speaker 3 (30:32):
No?

Speaker 4 (30:33):
But I think we would have enough for Bryce if
he played well in a playoff game. May I say,
even wins a playoff game. I think you'll have enough
to where Bryce might have leverage and then the Panthers
might give in on that a little bit. Gonna be fascinating,
not only for the team to see if they make
the postseason, Because it's team sports, you play to win

(30:53):
the game. Herm Edwards, all of it. But these games
are also going to be really fascinating to see just
how well Bryce caps off the season and if that's
parlayed into a long term contract extension outside of the
fifth year option.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
Which I'm starting to feel confident is gonna happen. You know,
when we talked about this earlier in the season, I
was not necessarily confident that he was going to be
the guy that was going to get the long term contract.
I thought the fifth year option was the perfect way
to go. It would give you more time to sort
of evaluate him, but yet again we would be going
into next year in an evaluation state. I think now

(31:26):
you're starting to think, Ay, especially if this team makes
the playoffs and let's say they find a way to
win a game, I don't think you need to evaluate
at that point. I think you know what you've got
in Bryce Young, and especially if he continues to have
these late game heroics, he continues to make plays when
he needs to, then I think you're gonna have to

(31:46):
have a serious conversation about do we sign him to
a contract extension this year? Sort of get out ahead
of it, because you don't know what next year could provide.
I mean, yeah, it's the fifth year he could ball
out and then all of a sudden, you're paying him
fifty five million dollars a year as opposed to maybe
paying him a little bit less than that. So that's
gonna be the interesting thing for when it comes to

(32:08):
Bryce Young for this front office to sort of evaluate,
is how quickly do you want to get on board
and make sure that you're in the Bryce Young business?

Speaker 3 (32:18):
I think now, is it? Is it clear to us?

Speaker 5 (32:22):
We kind of question, both of us were kind of
the guys on the fence about whether or not he
was a franchise quarterback in the middle portion of this season.
I think with what he showed us recently, I'm leaning
more towards he is the franchise guy. Yeah, I think
I was just uncertain, right, I think, No, I'm with
you right. My frustrations earlier this year, I've said this
a million times it did feel like Bryce was being

(32:43):
coddled anytime that there would be legitimate mistakes that he
was responsible for. Well, it's this, it's that it's something different,
and I'm willing to hear all of that. No, he
doesn't have an amazing supporting cast I think he's got
an above average supporting cast. When you talk about offensive line,
when you talk about the running backs, Hey, how many

(33:04):
times have we talked about a good running game being
important for a young quarterback. So you might look at
the wide receivers around them and think it's a little lackluster.
Excel's not helping anything. The lack of tight end production
isn't helping anything. I get it, okay, but the offensive
line is one of the better pass protecting units in
all of football. They're one of the better run blocking units,
which means you have a flat out just good offensive line.

Speaker 4 (33:27):
So that's going to help them. Dave Canalis a little
up and down. That's gonna affect quarterback play. I just
have my questions. I had my uncertainty, and now I
think you're right in terms of where are we leaning.
I am leaning more towards Let's explore this thing. Let's
see what happens here. A lot of people writing in
on the text line about the contract conversation. Let's read

(33:47):
some of those text messages. On the other side of
the break, we'll get back to the Bryce money, and
we'll give you some more observations from this game coming
up Next Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFZ Weston

(34:09):
Walker Backsports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ flound Dog
filling in for Wes. He's on a coaches call, getting
ready for the Snoop dog Ball. That's a thing. Now,
It's an amazing name for a bowl game. I never
thought when I was a kid that we would graduate
towards actually actual people, artists getting bowl games, or even

(34:30):
it was a joke as a kid that we would
have these hilarious bold names right like growing up hearing
sports radio fodder PTI joke about the weird randomness that
did come with naming bowl games. I did not ever
expect that we would get to artists. But here we are,
pop tarts Like that makes sense. I didn't realize that
the mascot is something I so desperately needed in my life.

(34:52):
But Snoop Dogg having his own ball game, that's fantastic.
And Wes Bryan's going to be on the sidelines.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
That excite you.

Speaker 5 (34:57):
More than the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl, which it was
the last few years. If late night hosts can get it,
then yeah, we can go with some of our more
popular musicians or in this case rap artist. I think
this makes perfect sense. No, I'm intrigued. It is in Tucson, Arizona.
If people are wondering, so that is where Wes will

(35:18):
be traveling to the desert.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
That that's that's gonna be interesting.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
He's uh, He's taken some long trips, but this one,
this one's going to be a long one for it.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
It is indeed.

Speaker 4 (35:27):
Yeah, what artists do you want to see a bowl
game named after? Let us know seven oh four five
seven ninety six ten Excel defender says, we need the
West and Walker Bowl Game. I don't know what that
would feature. What would we give them, like something fire
related for fire or fizzle, Yeah, a staple segment, probably

(35:47):
some kind of food related thing, because we often talk
about food here.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
I don't know what would we give as the package
shop discount as we talked about last week. We have
to go to the bar very often, so you go
get you gotta get some sort of discount in there
for him. I think one that would be legitimately cool
if they actually did it. How about the Luke Combs
Bowl here in Bank of America Stadium instead, you know,

(36:13):
if they were to go away from the Duke's Male Bowl.

Speaker 3 (36:16):
I think that'd be pretty cool. Luke co What would
they give away at the Luke Combs Bow?

Speaker 5 (36:19):
Oh so gay, so much Columbia gear because he is
a big Columbia guy.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yes, that's what he wears. It sounds like we already
got a sponsor lined up for it. Let's go to
the FanDuel text line talking about paying Bryce shrimp Fried.
Bryce says, if you don't pay Bryce, you end up
like Minnesota. That team was supposed to compete this year.
We have a young team. We can't waste prime years
of Horn and Brown developing another QB. So that's one

(36:45):
way to look at it. You have Darren writing in
I most definitely think that Bryce is our quarterback for
now and the future. We should definitely sign him on
the extension this offseason. He is definitely way over criticized
for what he's working with all the way around.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
But kat Dan, I'm team pay him.

Speaker 4 (37:01):
Backyard legend I think has a text message that I
agree with the most. Say it depends he says, quote
unless you're saving money, what's the rush to pay Bryce?
Dude has played well for the last three games, but
he's been very inconsistent before that. Let's not overreact, and
that's fair. So the question is, do you want to

(37:22):
buy in to the projection that you have for Bryce
and do you just automatically buy in that he's going
to get better and better and better and better because
right now he's playing winning football with that offensive line,
with that supporting cast. And not to speak out of
both sides out of my mouth, but I think without
saying that he has absolutely nothing to work with, that's
not true. I also don't think that they have the

(37:44):
best set of weapons that we've ever seen. I think
you're probably somewhere either in the middle or above average.
I do believe that with the offensive line. The offensive
line matters the most to me in terms of developing
a young QB. Wide receivers are important. I think they're
actually under value in this league. I think with the masses,
but the O line, I still want my quarterback to

(38:05):
stay up right because I don't want my QBS panicking.
We saw just how badly that affected Bryce's rookie year.
Even so, you could probably stand to have more consistent
play at left tackle. Maybe the offensive line just isn't
injured as much. Health would be something that maybe you
can bank on and that would give you a better
offensive line than the way that they've already performed. Team act,

(38:27):
he gets better, right, Jalen Coker? Does he get better
as a wide receiver too? Do you draft somebody in
the third round that comes in and helps you out
right away? Better tight end? You can a git tight
end to a merge. That's a big thing, no doubt.
So if you upgrade at a few of those spots,
now Bryce has a little more to work with. All right,
So there's something what's the rush? The rush would be

(38:50):
Bryce plays really well next year, and now the price
of the brick goes up. Classic yesterday's price is not today's.
So do you get out front of that? Because just
as much as somebody might point to Minnesota very different situation,
Sam Donald, we had already gotten years of inconsistent, not
even good play from Sam.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
There were signs that he had it. He gave a
sum here in Carolina.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
But even so, Minnesota decided to move on to try
to develop their young quarterback.

Speaker 5 (39:19):
They were in a weird situation where they had drafted
a guy, he gets hurt, and they turned to Sam Donald.
That was ultimately the reason that they moved on. You
don't have that guy here, that's true.

Speaker 4 (39:32):
The cautionary tale is the Miami situation where they didn't
really want to pay to a Tua led the league
in passing yards. You want all of the stats, you
want all the Star Wars numbers. He gave you that,
and now you're clearly regretting it and you're on the
hook for all this dead money. And you got quinn
ew Weers starting at quarterback and that's the guy you

(39:53):
think gives you the best chance to win. And that
dude that you started over him, the dude that you
started instead of ta Hey, the backup now is making
fifty million a year. That's the thing you want to avoid.
Do you think that this is a to A situation?
What helps me, what eases me into saying that this
is not a to A situation, is that I think

(40:15):
one Bryce is just generally way more well liked. There
was the JJ story about how Tua just isn't it
liked dude around the league, and I think you could
pick up on some of that with comments coming out
not only from his head coach but also just players
in that organization. That's not Bryce, man. People love Bryce.
That matters to me. I care about the people part.
I do so just a little bit. I don't want

(40:37):
to overreact to it, but I don't want my quarterback hated,
So all right, that matters. Bryce isn't a one read quarterback.
He goes through his progressions. We applaud him for his
processing all right. So now the more you learn, I think,
the higher the processing grade grows. Right, Just this is
why experienced quarterbacks play better if you give a lot

(41:00):
of thought and credence into what Kirk Cousins was talking about.
With the way that the NFL is trending, so much
of it is based off of reading defenses. Well, if
he's doing a pretty nice job of reading defenses right now.
The more experience you see with all these different looks,
don't you think you're gonna get better and better and
better with all these reps.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
That you gain, you'd imagine.

Speaker 4 (41:17):
Yeah, So part of this is getting out ahead of
having to pay him too much by just going ahead
and paying him now. Which is why I've referenced this
a couple times, just because I look. I don't mean
to continue to be a broken record on all of this,
but it does really intrigue me. Does Bryce actually have
some leverage? He's gaining it the last month. I know

(41:39):
that man, like the game that he played against the Rams. Okay,
now you're just throwing. Now he's doing the thing that
people were a little reluctant to say that he could consistently.
And it's just throw dimes in big moment moments, money downs,
and he's throwing downfield. He's throwing all these dimes. It's like, now,
when you have pieces that are better for him to

(42:02):
throw to, can Dave Canalis get a little more creative.
He was throwing downfield with yosh Niamen at left tackle,
and I thought Dave Canalis might be conservative because you
had a big time injury protecting the blind side of Bryce.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
He let him throw it a little bit more. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (42:18):
Look, I've been hesitant I have right now, the way
that he's been playing, and with some of the sample
that we've gotten previously, I do wonder if Bryce even
allows allows the Panthers to get ahead of what he
might earn if you don't pay him the extension this
offseason and then he balls out next year. Let's say
he does tickle four thousand yards, whatever it may be

(42:40):
if he gets around that number, you think he's still
gonna be okay with forty a year. Absolutely no chance
forty five, which is, by the way, which what people
are saying now is that, yeah, I mean, I'm not
paying him fifty five a year. The Panthers wouldn't do
that now, right like they wouldn't think. But if Bryce

(43:00):
would be up for it, then maybe you just go
ahead and give him that kind of deal with the
anticipation that he balls out next season. Now, forty five
a year looks pretty good. Again, if it's a very
big if to quote Hercules, the little aliens on Hercules,
if if Bryce Young falls out, and that's the thing
that we don't know, but both of us are starting

(43:20):
to believe a little bit more oft with their flat
a little bit.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
That's the thing is that it's just there's enough there
where you're starting to believe a little bit more. And
I think if he wins this division, you know, yes,
people will say, well, doesn't the teams in general deserve
a lot of credit. Yes, But let's say he has
another really strong performance in the game against Tampa Bay,
even you know, has a pretty strong performance in the

(43:45):
game against Seattle regardless of what ends up happening in
that game. You make it to the playoffs, then I
think you can start having that conversation about should we
actually extend him this offseason and sign him to a
legitimate contract and try to get out ahead of this
because winning the division is not nothing, guys. That's that's
a big step for him, huge So I think that

(44:08):
it's okay to have those types of conversations. He might be,
you know, still a little inconsistent at times, but you're
starting to see here lately and he's looked pretty damn consistent.
When was the last time, honestly, that you looked at
a game and you said, man, Bryce Young played really
bad in that game?

Speaker 3 (44:25):
It was San Fran That's the one that's even that game.
I didn't think he was the reason that they lost
that game, fair enough.

Speaker 4 (44:32):
I didn't think he was good, but the game plan
was bad and that they never hitted the football off
to Cuba and Rico as much as they should have.
And Rico had emojis to say after the game. I
don't want to say he didn't have words to say.
He had emojis to say after the game. So yeah,
you're right. The game plan was probably the thing you
point to most.

Speaker 5 (44:49):
Right, And so with that, then you're going back to
what the first New Orleans loss, that's where you really
look at it and say, yeah, he didn't really play
that well in that game.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
A lot of people would question the game play there. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (45:00):
So I mean that's the thing is that it's it's
hard to pick out a lot of games where you say, man,
Bryce really wasn't that good. They're in lies the inconsistencies.
It's been more the team has been inconsistent. But he's
starting to become more consistent. So I think you're getting
to that point, man, where you got to start considering
signing him after the year. And let's get out ahead

(45:22):
of this, because my thing is is that take a
look around the rest of the league and the college ranks,
and you tell me who is going to be a
better upgrade over Bryce Young?

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Who can you tell me for sure is going to
be better?

Speaker 5 (45:36):
And don't don't even think about giving me Fernando Mendoza.
I love Fernando Mendoza. I hope he goes on to
win a national championship. I don't see anything in him
that tells me guaranteed that's a franchise quarterback. I don't
see anything from Dante Moore that tells me that. And
then the other guys around the NFL, who are you

(45:56):
looking to, Davis Mills, Matt Like, do you think those
guys are guaranteed to be better than what you're getting
from Bryce?

Speaker 4 (46:04):
I don't think so guaranteed. No, it's Weston Walker. You
have one more hour to go here with us before
we passed the baton off to the Kyle Bailey Show
alongside Smoke Ludwig. Coming up next, we'll continue the Panthers conversation.
Dave Canalis speaking to media as we speak, so we'll
recap some of those comments coming up next on Western Walker.
Before we take that break, I do want to send
it back to Flound for a Neogenics college football injury report.

(46:27):
What you got there, floundg All right, guys, we'll make
it quick.

Speaker 5 (46:32):
For Indiana, we told you about the injury along the
defensive line to their star defensive end, Stephen Daily. He
is not going to play in this game, but everybody
else is expected to play. That got banged up. So
Omar Cooper Junior, the wide receiver who left the game
and did not come back after six snaps. He's expected
to play in the game against Alabama on January first. Meanwhile,

(46:56):
starting right guard Bray Lynch and defensive end Mikail Mora
were also banged up in that game.

Speaker 3 (47:02):
Both of those guys expected to go as well.

Speaker 5 (47:04):
That is your Neogenics College football injury Report.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Neogenics, We're all you have to lose is the pain?

Speaker 4 (47:09):
One more hover to go on Western Walker flounder filling
in Sports Radio ninety two to seven WFNZ.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Listen to the Wes and Walker Show WEEKI is from
noon to three only on Sports Radio ninety two point
seven FMFNZ, the

Speaker 4 (47:24):
Official home of the Charlotte sports fan