Wes & Walker- Live Wire

In this edition of the Live Wire, the guys react to some of the best audio from Dave Canales's presser from yesterday.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, We'll go to the live wire and place
him with the latest sound in sports flound with sound
go ahead and hit.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
It the east and the west the west of down
sound down live wise, which you got fo.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
All right, guys, And we had a plan for what
we were originally gonna do today, we're gonna shift off
of that because it just doesn't feel like, in the
nature of everything that's happening that we should go through
with what our original plan was. So we're just gonna
We're gonna play some sound from the Panthers from yesterday.
Talk a little bit about what's going on over at
Bank of America Stadium. Here is Dave Canalis talking about

(00:35):
tam Mac's injury and what exactly is going on with
the young wide receiver.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
This stuff that just came up in the game. I
think you got rolled up on on a run play
looked like and uh, you know, just kind of you know,
built up on him, and we just decided to, you know,
keep him out of practice today, try to get him
back for tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
All right, So with t Mac returning to practice today,
how concerned are you that this is gonna limit him?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Though?

Speaker 3 (00:58):
During the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean you always got to worry about that
when you have a guy that's got a lingering issue
like that, especially when you talk lower extremities. I mean,
he's a wide receiver. That's when he needs to use
to make his money besides his hands, and so any
little thing, even if he was one hundred percent healthy,
roll it up on an ankle, roll up on anything,
anything could become an injury in the game. But you know,

(01:21):
when he's already going in with something that it feels
like to many has been hampering him over the last
few weeks, with his numbers declining, you would think that
maybe it won't take much for it to get irritated.
So you're hoping that he's able to come into this
game and it be at least most of what he's
been all season long.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Now, there are reports that he, Damian Lewis, and J. C.
Horn are all back practicing today, so good news there.
T Mac never really a question of whether he was
going to suit up against Tampa. We all expected that
he would. Now the question is just how banged up
is he and how much does it affect his play.
I will say this Todd Bowles just said a couple
of days ago that he has very high confidence in

(02:03):
rookie cornerbacks Benjamin Morrison and Jacob Parrish with Zion McCollum
now on injured reserves. So there are a couple of
rookie corners that are going to be defending t Mac
and Jalen Coker and all the wide receivers that Mina
might line up on the outside like tam Mac tends
to do, even with him moving in the slot every
once in a while. So perhaps this is a game

(02:24):
that is a get right game against corners that are inexperience,
just like t Mac is. But there's a reason that
Temac has been mostly productive this year. Maybe you can
get back on track after some lackluster games production wise
over the last three contests.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
One name that we did not see on the injury
report in terms of returning to the field today was
Ikey Aquanu here is the head coach of the Panthers.
Talking about his injury status and what's going on with him.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
He made it through the game.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
He was battling out there, you know, and you can
kind of sense there was some stuff going on, but
you know, in the postgame evaluation and as I started
doing tests on him, there's something in there. There's something
going on with his knee, and so we had to
make sure that we took care of him.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Today.

Speaker 4 (03:01):
He's going to be day to day. We're gonna look
at him tomorrow see if we can get him out
there to practice. But we're not really sure right now,
so you know, we'll go through it. We'll make sure
we do all the testing that we need to and
do the right thing by Ikey. And you know, he
wants to play, and that's I wouldn't expect anything different
from him, but we have to make sure we do
the right thing and put him through the ringer and
make sure we test it so that it's strong and

(03:23):
he's able to perform.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
And of course, as I said, he was not out
there today. So if Ikey is unable to go, how
much does that affect you think the Carolina Panthers chances
to be able to win this game against Tampa.

Speaker 5 (03:35):
Yeah, I mean, despite his struggles, he is your left tackle.
That's a key important position and I'm sure that the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers will try to exploit that in this game.
So you want to be able to protect Bryce Young
as best as possible. This is the Tampa Bay defense
that as I said, they do not guard the pass well.
So if you have a left tackle missing, obviously it's
gonna affect you in the run game as well, because

(03:57):
that's Ikey strong suit.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
He is a mauler. I talked about that yesterday.

Speaker 5 (04:00):
But also you talk about on passing downs as Tampa defense, well,
they can get a whole lot of help for that
secondary that has been struggling and also has some injuries.
With the good pass rush in FA's starting left tackle
is missing, that certainly goes a long way in helping
the pass rush.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Yeah, Yosh Niman has filled in for the game that
iky Kwanu missed in Week one, and we also saw
Yosh really play a lot of right tackle.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
That's where he.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Performed way better than what he did on the opposite
side of the line. You saw him pass block quite
well outside of the games against Buffalo, which was his
only game at right tackle where he really struggled protecting
the passer. It was real bad. Eight pressures allowed six pressures.
I think that's actually after it was advised, so only
only quote unquote six pressures allowed to Jacksonville in Week one,

(04:46):
but yosh Naiman taking over that spot. Remember no Brady
Christensen this year. Brady Christensen out for the entire season
because of an injury that he suffered earlier on. Yeah,
if you don't have Vicky, who did struggle against the Saints,
no doubt about that, did struggle against San Francisco. Really
wasn't very good in the first three games of the season.
But I think to give him some grace, that was

(05:07):
with him coming off of that appendicitis and really hit
a stride. I mean, you're talking about much of the
season in the middle portion where he didn't allow a
ton of pressures, didn't allow any more than four pressures
in a single game until he got to the bad
one against San fran I.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
Think he's been good. He hasn't been great.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
We still have some things to figure out as far
as how much you want to lock him up long term.
But the fact that you've had two bad performances in
the last three games that leaves you a little uneasy.
And even still he's by far your best option to
protect the blind side of Bryce Young, it just feels
like you wouldn't be able to capitalize on a potential
strength as much as you would with Tampa being leaky

(05:46):
pass defense wise, So I would hate to have all
of that plan foiled with Yoshneimen protecting the blind side
of Bryce.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
What you got, all right?

Speaker 3 (05:54):
Dave was also asked about his former quarterback, Baker Mayfield
and the weapons that he has around him, and he says,
this is a group that is finally healthy around their
starting quarterback, so that's what can make them dangerous.

Speaker 4 (06:06):
He just continues to take his game up and really
just time on task with the group of receivers that
he's gotten comfortable with. And they're back. They're back to
full strength in terms of just the guys that they
were counting on coming into the season. And I can
certainly see the excitement of trying, you know, trying to
get Mike the way, to get Mike the ball, and
Chris as well, and they got Bucky back as well,
So a bunch of different weapons on that side, and

(06:29):
you know, Baker's kind of him right in the middle
of that, being the point guard and distributing and making
sure the offense works smoothly.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
All right, So what elements of this Tampa Bay offense
scare you the most? From a Carolina Panthers perspective going
into this matchup.

Speaker 5 (06:41):
Yeah, no question, that's a healthy receiving corps. I pointed
out earlier when you talk about Bacon Mayfield completing more
passes of fifteen or more yards downfield, and he had
in the previous six games combined when he didn't have
Mike Evans. Bacon Mayfield is a very confident quarterback. He's
not going to be afraid to throw it in tight windows,
nor will he be afraid to throw it deep. So
if he's got his guys out there, his frisbee catching

(07:02):
dogs so to speak, that he knows can go up
and get it, yeah, man, you're gonna be able to
have some good results. Gods are going back to their
natural positions because of the fact that this receiving crew
is intact, which is probably gonna be Mike Evans Gotlin
can play in the slot or outside, and Mecha Buca
can do both as well McMillan. So they've got a
lot of versatile weapons in that receiving course. So to me,

(07:23):
it's no question I go with the receivers.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Mike Evans has been a Panther killer really for a
very long time. Really throughout his career, but since twenty nineteen,
he has only been under seventy receiving yards against Carolina
once and that was January seventh of twenty twenty four,
where he caught three of his eight targets for twenty
two yards. Here are the numbers surrounding that bad one

(07:48):
ninety seven yards, one hundred and eighteen one.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
Sixty two, two oh seven.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Like not even just one hundred yard games, but monster
performances against this Panthers team and a lackluster performance was
I don't know, just seventy seven yards in twenty twenty
Like that's one of the worst games that he posted
against Carolina. I could try to give you a different answer.
I got some other things that I'm a little worried about.
Middle of the field I think tied in of course,
because that's true forever. You can't sleep on a running

(08:14):
back rome either. They got there. I really like all
three of them, to be honest. I really like what
they have. Sean Tucker being the third string guy is
good and has proven that he can be a good
bath been killing a late Rashad White in the passing
game scares me. If you're gonna get him on linebackers
attack the middle of the field. But who's going to
be the guy that hurts us the most. It's Mike Evans.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
YEP.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Scared of Mike Evans. And now he's back. It would
have been nice to have played him before he came back.
But the first game that he does come back, he
goes for over one hundred and he's coming the ball
at the high point.

Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yeah, and you don't have Jac Horn out there.

Speaker 5 (08:44):
I mean, even if he was out there, you know,
he might get the ball caught on him and pushed
into the ground. But at least it gives you a
fighting chance and maybe some of the guys you might
put out

Speaker 1 (08:51):
There backhanded compliment, not even a compliment really, just Jac
Horn is trash man, apparently, That's what I hear.