November 25, 2025 • 41 mins
Dave Canales joins Anish Shroff, Jim Szoke and Eugene Robinson on "Panther Talk" to recap the Panther's loss to the 49ers on Monday Night Football, discuss the suspension, look ahead to this week's game against the LA Rams, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The following is an exclusive presentation of the Carolina Panthers
and the National Football League. Still Tough, PANTHERTLL and they tell,
and They're to. This is Panther Talk on the Carolina
Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Anytime you get three three interceptions off of a group,
you know, we expect to score points on those. We
expect to come away with some success there and flip
the probabilities and the chances of us winning the game.
And we left it out there, you know, and and
through an interception and and didn't come away with points,
you know, on on those drives. So we have to
make sure we capitalize. And it really just comes down
(00:36):
to the fundamental basics that we talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And now, along with Jim Zochi and Eugene Robinson, here's
a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers
broadcast facility at Bank of America Stereo.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thanksgiving Week. Welcome to Panther Talk and New Shop, Jim Zochie,
Eugene Robinson, and the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
We'll get in a Monday night. The team plane didn't
land till a little after six, so it is a
tight week, and I kind of want to begin there
because you get the Rams, maybe the best team in
the NFL coming here on Sunday. Short week for you guys,
(01:16):
everything is condensed. Can you just walk us through the
coaching staff timeline for how preparation ensues for the remainder
of the week.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, so you take advantage of some windows. You know,
last week we had a bonus day and there's a
there's a portion of time there where you can kind
of get set up for all the things you need
to watch. Then you got to quickly shift your brain
back into Okay, we're in full game plan mode here.
We're playing the Niners, so that when we land, you
know at six point thirty in the morning, comes straight
(01:47):
into the office and all of your cutups, all of
your things are organized to get ready to get to work.
And you know, that's really the process that we're in
right now is just going through our game plan. So
and you got to condense a Monday Tuesday into one
day so that you're ready to talk to the players
tomorrow present you know, things to them. But again, we're
just removed from a game, so we're in walk through
mode to start off, and then we have to gauge
(02:09):
the you know, health of the group to see, Okay,
at some point we got to get out there. We've
got to get our timing and run around and do that.
But initially it's about just having that set up point
so that we can condense things. Is there anything we
can carry over, you know that makes sense from one
week to the next, kind of start there and then
dive into the specific game plan for the Rams.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Well, coach, how much how much would you dwell on
this loss coming back home? And it was a lot
of good things that would happen in there, there was
some things that didn't happen.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
So how did you dwell on this loss?
Speaker 6 (02:38):
That you move forward?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, we just we got to learn from the lessons
and got to make sure that we connect with our
players and and you know, you're not gonna be able
to evaluate the full game together, but you can make
cutups and you can say, here's a couple of things
we did well, here are some things some areas we
really need to improve upon, you know, fundamentally, And so
you take those things, try to move from there, go
straight into the game plan and start talking about the Rams.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
You know, I'm at this the point when Particklarly as
a defensive back. There was a play early in the
in the game where Christian McCaffrey does this little dive
thing to pick up the first down that kind of
extended to drive and I'm on an impression as Berger
was coming up, as he looks back at the quarterback
and then he gets his eyes back, he loses his leverage.
(03:20):
It was so slightly I thought that was such a
pivotal play because it seemed like it's a non play.
But talk about how the details really spell out things,
because getting your head back towards the opponent as opposed
to looking at the quarterback to see what's going on,
makes a huge difference.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Absolutely, it's a leverage game and assignment football. Good things
happen when you own your leverage, when you're in position.
You know when interceptions happen because you own your leverage
and your feet are in the ground, your eyes are
in the right spot breaking up passes. Great tackling happens
because you're in the proper leverage and you have help.
And when you own outside leverage, you have a player
(03:56):
inside that helps him. When you squeeze and team tackle,
you know then you create more impact and you have
an opportunity to affect the ball carrier and get him
down in those situations. And so those are all the
critical little things that we're working on.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
A big part of the preparations is knowing what personnel
you're going to have this week is a bit of
a laundry list, of course, but what you could tell
us here early in the week as far as availability
and also the news of trade by Marra getting the
one game suspension.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, so you know, we're counting our guys to step up.
These are big opportunities for a bunch of players to
help our team this week. And you know we'll hopefully
get Trevin back, Trevin Wallace back on the inside this week.
But Chris Barnes played really well in the game and
Bam Martin Scott got in at the end and really flashed,
flashed some speed, some lengths, some things that we've been
seeing and he's just been really conscientious in preparing and
(04:41):
being ready to play. And Pete Hanson's done a great
job you know with Bam, just making sure that he's
ready for that moment. So there's guys that can help us,
you know, and Jake Kurhan has come in before on
the offensive line side to help us and he finished
the game for us, so really counting on him to
do that again. A good chance to see some more
guys out there. And then of course at the corner spot.
You know, we got to see where Jac's at. He's
in the concussion protocol right now, but at Caleb Evans
(05:03):
played outside Shaw Smith Wade made some nice plays at
corner as well. So some of the guys that have
been developing while we've been here. You know, we're going
to count on this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Week, coach, to go back to Monday night. You know,
one of the things that we've noticed that you guys
have done to other teams this year is when you've
put together long drives and chewed up clock, you can
get them out of their offensive rhythm. And three scoring
drives for them took up twenty three plus minutes off
the clock. What does that do to your offense?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Well, it definitely you know, creates a challenge where you
have to get going and find your rhythm pretty quickly,
you know. And got to give credit to the Niners.
It's about third down efficiency as well. You know, they
had some explosive plays our defense did a great job
held them to six explosives on the day, but they
were efficient and on the first drive of the game,
I want to say they were four for four or
five for five. On third down, where the flip side
(05:53):
of that story was we were one for seven and
so we didn't allow ourselves to get rhythm. We didn'
allow ourselves to get into it. And I got to
take full accountabilit We got to get the run game
going and we got two amazing backs. Cuba's back, Rico
looks great. We got to make sure that that's a
part of what we're doing. So I put that on
myself as well. But that also goes hand in hand
with being efficient on third down, making at least half
(06:13):
of those give ourselves another rack, so we can get
deeper into our call sheet and allow the different things
and the different presentation of how we're attacking to show up.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Coach, you mentioned that before, what I guess the staces
to talk about being balanced, Being balanced?
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Is that what you're talking about right now? Absolutely? And balanced? Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know, in the Saints game, it was a little
bit of a different story, you know, and we stuck
with the run game, and you know, we saw success
against the Dolphins. We saw success against the Cowboys where
we stuck with the run game, we had some efficient
passes and trying to find our explosives, you know, where
all of a sudden we have this explosion if you will,
at Atlanta with the pass game, you know, and trying
to make both things come to live. That's the goal,
(06:49):
to be a balanced offense where you can be attacking
in both phases.
Speaker 7 (06:52):
Even the losses, offensive line continues with another combination and
playing well. So just addressing that you lose chances of
the vola during the game already without Kid May's, but
they were able to run effectively, only one sack giving
up in the game. Just how week after week they
just performed collectively with whatever the number of players that
are out there.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love this group and the way they work together.
The way that they're always communicating with each other is
why it happens the way it does. Because there's a
lot of chemistry that happens in combination, whether it's in
the run game or whether you're passing off a pass
stunt or communicating the pressure that's coming. And they did
a great job of picking up the blitzes, picking up
pressures and they blocked well. In the run game, they
got the play started, they got their combos were pushing
(07:30):
up to the second level. And just love that I
can count on those guys to step in and do
the job and help their team.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And then coach, defensively, I mean the dbs JC and
Mike Jack three picks total in that first half. What
did you see out of your secondary in particular.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Just aggressive play, great leverage, being in position, being connected
to guys whether they were cutting in or out. The
guys were on the top hip, they were in great
position to.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Make those plays.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And then just the hands to be able to, you know,
at full speed, cut in front of the guy and
make the play. Just some really impressive, impressive play out
of our dbs in that game.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
And coach, I want to stay right there because I
thought Jc's one of his best interceptions was the second
interception because he actually found work to go ahead and
do because he never looked like he should even even
be anywhere near that area.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Absolutely, his pattern recognition, understanding the formation and understanding the
type of action that they were that they were trying
to execute, and seeing the concept he knew what was happening.
He understood that he didn't have anybody threatening in his
side and just followed the quarterback size and made a
great play right there. So that was a fantastic play.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
In the game.
Speaker 7 (08:34):
That's kind of your overarching message to a team after
a long flight back.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
The effort and energy were there.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
As far as again, guys coming in and out of
the lineup, but they're disappointing and not getting the win
coming off a big win the week before, Just as
far as kind of the motivation, like how do you
approach them, as far as just the attitude moving.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Just let's go.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It's that time of year, and you know, unfortunately we
had some injuries. We have guys stepping up with great
opportunities and talk to them after the game and said, look,
the rehab starts right now. In terms of physical preparation,
like we got to get hydrated, we got to get
rested on this plane. Tomorrow's going to be a great
rest day for the guys, and then we've got to
get back to work, get right back to our processes,
(09:13):
making sure we're going through our game plan with detail,
getting back to the fundamentals and basics that has led
to our success.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Five games left in the year, You're still right in
the middle of this thing. You got two against Tampa
left only a half game out of first Do you
address the P word playoffs With.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
This group, every game is a championship opportunity. We have
to have that mindset. We have to approach our work
that way. Every practice, every walk through, every meeting has
a purpose. It's to prepare ourselves for championship moments. And
each of these games, without a shadow of doubt, our
championship opportunities. And we're fired up to get back to work, refocus,
look at the things that we can improve upon, build
(09:50):
on the things that we've been doing well so that
we can continue to build this team.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Hey, coach, how my self evaluation? Do you do of
your own self?
Speaker 6 (09:56):
A lot?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yeah, And I have great help. I have a bunch
of people in the building that I talked to and
I'm accountable to. And we look at what showed up
and what didn't show up, you know, and had a
chance to talk about, Okay, we got to make sure
this run game shows up for us. It has got
to be about who we are a part of what
we're doing and makes because especially because of the impact
that Rico and Chuba can make for this team.
Speaker 7 (10:15):
All right, last thing, it's Thanksgiving week. It's early in
this week, but last time we talked to you beforehead
with your football team and with your life. What are
some of the things you're kind of thinking about this
week as you get ready for this game as well?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Just incredibly grateful for all the people that all hands
on deck in this building, everyone from every floor of
this of this whole place, how they pour their heart
and soul into the players, into this organization, and it's
all about winning and it's taking care of each other
with love and respect. But I just feel that I'm
super grateful for all the people in the training room,
(10:49):
in the cafeteria, the equipment staff, on and on, for
just the selfless work that goes into making sure that
the coaches, the players, that we all have everything we
need to be successful. And so I'm super were grateful
for that.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
All right, Dave, A happy Thanksgiving on behalf of us.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Oh no, coach, thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Dave Canalis. Here on the Carolina Panthers Radio network, This.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Is Panther Talk Ron. Do you buy Bank of America?
What would you like the power to do?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
As Jim Eugene back with you Panther Talk after a
long Monday night in San Francisco. Panthers fall on Monday
Night football, a game that frankly, the final score I
don't think l portrayed how close the Panthers were in
that game. There were opportunities. You get three interceptions in
the first half, you only turn those into three points.
(11:41):
It was three successive drives, and Eugene and I were
walking in We're talking about the domino effect that one sequence,
one series has on the next. Had the Panthers been
able to capitalize in that first half, and it'll go
up by a touchdown, maybe even ten points, two scores whatever.
Going in a halftime, you do a couple of things.
(12:02):
You take the crowd out of it. One secondly, you
make Rock party in the second you throw the ball
downfield forty nine ers in the second half. We were
wondering at one point in the booth, hey do they
bring in mac Jones? But they didn't like Rock Purty
do anything downfield. It was run the ball, take the
check downs, take the easy uh you know passes that
(12:23):
are there for you mitigate all risks. Well, now you
put him in a higher risk mode, maybe it come
up with another big play downfield. So you know, like
those little things matter, and I look at these final
five games like that's where the cleanup needs to take place.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I thought that missed opportunity by running in for a
test down instead of throwing the ball at an interception.
I thought that was one of the turning points of
the game because unless the air out of the sales,
it takes the interception and it throws it away because
they got an interception and it was an easier play.
I'm just thinking, as me running off to your right,
(13:03):
I thought that Bryce was gonna go ahead and the score.
I thought he saw what everybody saw that Hey there's
nobody on the right hand side, go ahead and walk
on it, on it. And because you didn't capitalize on that,
that's the domino effect that you're talking about, because.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
It's in your psyche, it's in your head, that oh man.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And it also emboldens the defense of the San Francist
and forty nine ers because now they like that, hey,
we stopped them, we stopped them, We stopped them. And
so there's a whole bunch of things that happened psychologically
because you didn't put it in the in the end
zone when you had a great chance. And don't forget
when we were on the one yard line too well,
first down, Oh man, I'm like, just just run it.
(13:44):
You got some dogs back there, just go ahead and
run it. So this will miss opportunities. And that's the
frustrating part because that game was winnable. It was really
really winnable, and it became not a winnable game. You
talked about having a margin and against when we looked
at the Saints, there was some margin there. There's a
(14:04):
lot of margin for the Carolina Panthers, but we have
to execute and we have to, you know, take advantage
of that margin.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
I didn't think the Niners themselves are overly impressive.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
No.
Speaker 7 (14:15):
I thought they were again just regular. I didn't think
anything stood out at all about what they did. And
it was like the two halves were The first half
was the number of points left on the table that
the Panthers didn't get, whatever that might have been. Although
only down ten three at halftime, it felt worse because
you're thinking in your mind, well, we should have fourteen,
or we should have seventeen, whatever the case may be.
(14:35):
And once they scored that other touchdown in the third
quarter in the Caapri seventeen three, all of a sudden,
it's like, now you're chasing points, so you're doing these things.
But I thought then part two was the dominant effective,
just the bad luck of injury after injury, guy after
guy going into the blue tent, and then all of
a sudden that also played into sand fray and being
able to extend drives and so forth, because they were
(14:55):
spotting those places where guys were out of position, just
little things where they're converting thirds in the first downs
and things like that. Where they possessed the ball. Forty
three plays is all the Panthers ran, which I believe
is the second fewest in team history.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So they only had in the first half.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Yeah, I couldn't control the ball, you know.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
And also we only ran the ball nine times. Nine times,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
And really, when you have Donald and you have a
Hubber back there, I thought there was gonna be much
more effort to go ahead and establish a running game.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Even after the half.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I'm sitting like this, you can still establish the running
game and get yourself back in this game easily, easily
because you got guys can who can run.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And I thought the forty nine ers, you know, to
their credit, strong game plan and to execute that, you
got to do a couple of things. You got to
stay in front of the chains, and you can't have penalties.
They only had two penalties for a total of six yards.
One I believe it was a delay of game. The
other was on that extra point, which ended up being
a one yard penalty, So six penalty yards. One came
(15:54):
on a special team.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
They got a point back on it, and they got
a point back.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
But their first drive eight forty three off the clock,
they're touchdown. Driving the third quarter seven to forty three
off the clock. Their last score a field goal by
Matt Gabe, six and a half off the clock. So
right there, you've eaten up a quarter and a half
of football on three drives. And Jim, you know you cover,
(16:18):
you know ECU and the American You see teams like
Army and Navy, and we see this sometimes in college
when you know you have teams put together those like
fifteen play seven eight minute drives. What happens on the
other sideline, you get antsy. You get antsy, right, and
there's this psychological warfare that goes on, and now you're thinking, okay,
this this game is shrunkly.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
We got to get these points quick.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Sometimes that takes you out of your offense.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
Well, and it's twofold.
Speaker 7 (16:42):
It's the uncomplimentary part of football in that your defense
is getting worn down with all those body blows out there.
For the college case of fifteen to twenty play drives,
I mean those add up over the course of time.
You start, you know, getting out of your rhythm, losing air,
your legs get tired in the second half. And of
course the other thing is your office is six on
the sidelines, unable to put points on the board. So
(17:03):
it really is like a deflating thing when you see
one team just kind of dominate time and possession, keep
their offense on the field, keep you off to the side.
But also conversely, Eugene, that defense, I mean, it's just like,
especially if you can't sub sub packages getting in things
like that, it could be a really long afternoon.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
It can be very very long after it. And also
I got to maybe complement a little bit the defense
of San Francisco. They managed to to stop us, and
I didn't think that was even possible. I didn't think
that was possible. I'm like, hold on, we can easily
run against them, and I think that it's gonna open
up the throwing lanes because we can run the ball
(17:41):
against them, and they seem to be coming up with
playing after play. We were one for seven on third
down fourteen percent. Fourteen percent. I'm like, how did it
even happen?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
And against one of the worst third down defenses in
the NFL exactly, and.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I'm saying, how did that happen? I'm like, you know what.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
It's almost like if I'm on the of the side
and when I'm broadcasting about the San Francisco forty nine,
I'm sitting there going, man, they're lucky that the Panthers
are messing up because they're keeping San Fran in the game.
You know, they allowing for San Fran to do what
they're doing.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
This is the part that I think with this team,
you kind of understand, you know, the Doctor Jekyl mister
Hyde nature of it. Last week against Atlanta, which at
the time was the number one pass defense in the NFL,
they were fifth in the NFL and sacks. They were
coming off a game where they had seven sacks right,
and you go throw for four to forty eight. I
(18:37):
mean they couldn't stop you through the air. And you
play the forty nine ers, who since Week six when
Fred Warner got hurt, worst pass defense in the NFL
almost in every category, near the bottom in defensive metrics
all right, can't get to the pass rusher all season,
and that's been a thing.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
They had.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Twelve sacks coming into the game. Really didn't affect the
passer except for you know, the one play at the
end when Coln Farrow got at home and then you
struggle to move the ball through the air like that.
That part doesn't compute. It's also I think a little
bit of just where this team is right now and
moment to moment you're prisoner of the moment. Everything's a
(19:15):
binary absolute week to week, right, things look great, pop
the champagne, light the fireworks, then it's apocalypse now. Then
you go back to the fireworks and the champagne. You know,
it's been a little bit of that. But when you
zoom out, you're six and six, you're a half game
out of first place. Rams, Yes, tough task by comes
(19:35):
at the right time. New Orleans on the road listen.
I think you gotta believe they should be no worse
than seven and seven going into the last three games.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
Which gives you a chance, which gives you just Tampa
Bay's not lighting on fire and they're continually getting hurt
at and they remind me of San Furan, like a
good solid team, but they're not the Rams the Tampa Bay.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
The team is chasing in the division. That's job one.
Speaker 7 (19:57):
You win the division, it's an automatic entry into the playoff.
You don't have to worry about your record.
Speaker 8 (20:03):
Just whin.
Speaker 7 (20:04):
It's the old like I don't have to beat the Bear.
I just have to beat you because the Bear will you.
So you just got to be that team. And I
think they're capable of that. We've seen, you know, good
play out of the Panthers where they can pull that off.
So yeah, get it together, get healthy. I think that's
the biggest thing. We have super thin at that linebacker
and defensive back with the attrition in that game second half.
So I think that was the other part of it,
(20:24):
like where Sam frank Can possessed the ball and we
couldn't get back into it was just having at some
point when you got.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Your fifth guy in a position out there playing.
Speaker 7 (20:31):
We started with the game without the two starting linebackers
and then for a period of time lost both of
the guys that were starting because Chris Barnes left and
came back.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
I think one thing, playing clean football is going to
be the premium, and also I think it's going to
be also on the coaches too, and on coach Canalis
in this one regard, he's talking about ballots. We talked
about in the Saints game. We talked about this game.
He's going to have to be able to figure out
a way to and during the game to go ahead
and see where does he need to to to lean to?
(21:01):
Do I lean more heavily in a run? Past is
a combination of both, you know, in real time because
I thought in real time, if we are able to
go hit and score with a run, it's a different
It's a different ball game. It's totally different ballgame, and
every football player knows it. Every football player knows it
(21:22):
it's going to be a different ballgame. So from that standpoint,
I think it's going to be really imperative that coach
recognizes that the coaching staff that he has around him,
that they'll be able to recognize that and be able
to push the right button because it's not going to
be I can't put it all on Bryce all right,
because I know it's a lot I'm saying, But I
think if he's listening to the coach, I think the
(21:44):
coach can help them.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Yeah, I look at it from this standpoint. There have
been times this year where special teams has been great.
There's been times when the run defense has been good.
I thought the pass defense with three picks had a
strong game on Monday against Atlanta. We saw what you
could do through the air. We've seen how explosive the
ground game can be. But you're at the juncture now
(22:05):
in the season and you face the gauntlet of the schedule.
It started with San Francisco, now it's the Rams, who
might be the best team in the NFL. You've got
Tampa twice, you still have Seattle. The Saints game is
no doubt, a must win, a must win. You can't
lose twice to the Saints. But the margin for error
that the Panthers have been able to overcome by, you know,
maybe being good in one of those categories but being
(22:27):
deficient in another on a given week, in some games
they're able to overcome that. I think you got to
have more of those boxes checked, especially against these better teams.
If this playoff push is going to be real, and
I think they're gonna go to the last three games
with a chance. But if you're talking about actually seeing
it into existence, then yes, it's clean football. It's complimentary football.
(22:49):
When Sam Martin pins the forty nine ers inside the
ten and then Brock Purty throws an interception and you've
got the ball in the red zone, that has to
be a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Absolutely, you know. And I'm just thinking out.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
I'm thinking to myself, if you were to win the
game against a next opponent of the Rams, then there's
no victory. Monday is good. After Monday, it's work Monday.
It's a bye week. Oh yeah, bye week. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
But I'm thinking like that because I don't I don't
want to let up off the gas. I don't.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
You know, when you're on a row, winning is contagious
and looses contagious, and when you're winning, that's a really
big thing. And so I wanted to be contagious and
I want to keep doing it, and I want to
keep doing the things that got me there.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
All right, We'll have more here on the Carolina Panthers
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
This is Panther Talk, brought to you. Buy Atrium Health.
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Speaker 7 (23:54):
Captain Manolin played not once, but twice two different stents
with the Panthers. He has five pick six is in
his five year career with the Carolina Panthers overall, a
team record, of course. Played at the University of South Carolina.
Now a high school football coach here in Charlotte. We'll
check in with Captain Munterland today.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 7 (24:24):
Do you think about your career and how many years
you played in this league? Double figure years? I mean,
that's to do those kind of things. To be in
the moment after a game. It's easy after a big win,
but after a loss, it's five it's ten minutes. The
coach has maybe said a few words to you, guys.
That'd be hard because it's like you, guys, the fans
take it so hard. Broadcasters nitpick it all, but you
(24:45):
guys live and breathe it, and physically, I mean, you
delve your whole life. You leave your wife and kids
to go there all day to be you know, working
and out in the heat and preparing for this. It's
gotta be devastating when things don't go your way.
Speaker 9 (24:56):
Oh yeah, it's definitely is, especially when you had like
a art fault game and you might be the part
of the reason why you lost the game. And to
have the that happened and you have to talk to
the media after, it's tough. It's definitely tough. I'm a
guy who always owned up to his mistakes. I never
wanted to not talk to the media and get a
(25:18):
guy's insight on what happened in the game and different
things like that.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
So it was tough.
Speaker 9 (25:23):
But at the same time, I went traded for the world, man,
I wanted to get them the insight and you know,
let him know what happened, you know, even though sometimes
I was on the wrong side you know of it.
So that part was definitely tough, But at the same time,
wasn't changing for the world. I kind of like kind
of missed those things, you know, you missed those things
when you're done and retired, you kind of missed talking
to the media, you know, being in the locker room
(25:44):
with you your brothers, and like you said, man, it's
something that was built around here that was very special.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 9 (25:50):
I wasn't part of the twenty fifteen season when they
made the run to the Super Bowl, but I remember
in twenty thirteen when we started out one and three.
We went on a roll and Coach Rivera right then
and there. I think he ended up going in and
Coach of the Year that year. Louke Keighley was a
Defensive Player of the Year that year, and it was
(26:10):
a lot of different things that change the makeup of
this organization. You know, we was back on top, and
to leave in free agency, it was tough.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
It was tough.
Speaker 9 (26:19):
I remember being in Minnesota, man, being in Rick Spearman office,
and I had to sit there and look at my phone.
Coach Rivera was calling me. I had to act like
a kid that was in school. I raised my hand
and say, hey, can I go use the restaurant right fast.
I was one of those guys because I didn't want
to be disrespectful in answer the phone right then. So
I like I had to use the restaurant rich. I didn't,
but I wanted to answer the phone for Coach Rivera
(26:41):
and Sean McDermott before I signed up my contract. You know,
they was telling me, you know, a cap, we want
you to.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Hold off a little bit long as you can.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
It hurt. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want
to leave because I knew this place was going to
be very special. And fast forward a couple of years later,
they make it to the Super Bowl and I actually
went out there to sant Franz to watch those guys
play because those my teammates. I wanted them to win
so bad man, just for the guys like Thomas Davis,
Ryan Khalil, you know, the Charles Johnson's, the Cam Newton's,
(27:11):
the Luke Keigley's, all those guys that I put in
to work with. I wanted to see those guys successful,
and you know, they fell a little short, and I
was kind of biter about it because I wanted them
to win. I wanted them to win, and I remember
playing coming to the playoff games. I actually said in
Charles justin box doing the playoff games when they played
against Arizona and I was sitting there like man, and
(27:32):
I went after the game, those guys were celebrating. I
was talking to Charles and I was sitting there like, Man.
I was like, you know, y'all going to the super Bowl,
and you know the only thing y'all.
Speaker 8 (27:40):
Missing is me?
Speaker 9 (27:41):
He said, yeah, Cap, but we went fifteen to one
without you.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
And I was like, yo, but you know it was
just all I got sixteen to know with you.
Speaker 9 (27:49):
That so man, But just to see those guys have success, Man, I.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Was happy for.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Subscribed to thirty seasons of him through Football on the
iHeartRadio app, Panthers dot com and Team Apple, Apple podcast
or Spotify. This is Panther Talk. Coke d deserves the
(28:18):
great taste of Coca cola because fan work is thirsty work.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Welcome back to Panther Talk. A new Shroff Jordan Gross
Luke Keigley lost to the forty nine ers on Monday Night,
not for a lack of opportunities. There were chances there,
but Jordan, it almost feels like these are the growing
pains teams go through, where you're up one week, you're
(28:44):
down the next week. How do you kind of get
out of the cycle and find consistency.
Speaker 10 (28:49):
It's a short week. You got to bounce back very
very quickly, right, A lot of hype and build up
for the Monday night game, championship opportunity against a big
time opponent. Everybody's watching, and you just kind of laid
an egg when there was an opportunity to win with
the turnovers early in the half. But the sky is
not falling. The division is still right there to be had.
(29:09):
You know the beauty of it is. You know, we
got the Rams, which is gonna be a tough game
this week on a short week, but a winnable game
at home Thanksgiving, all that stuff, family in town. Then
you got your buy finally, right, finally, these guys get
to come down a little bit, decompress, and you get
to play the bucks twice. So you can either kind
of look at this as, oh man, we got a
tough schedule, come in toughest in the NFL the rest
(29:31):
of the way, or man, this opportunity is there for
us to continue to get everything we want out of
this season.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Looke. When you have a game like this, you don't
really have a chance to dwell on it. Does that help? Sometimes? Hey,
we're gonna get back early Tuesday morning, and then the
attention focuses to the RAMS. Next thing, you know, it's Sunday,
and you know there's not a whole lot of time
that you would have in a normal week. Can that
(29:56):
be a good thing.
Speaker 8 (29:57):
Absolutely. I think we'll go in at some point tomorrow
and they'll start getting ready for the La Rams. The
coaches are gonna be watching the Rams on the way home.
I'm sure they DIDs some prep last week for it.
The guys are gonna get in and get some sleep,
come on in and they don't have a choice. They're
gonna have to work on their bodies. We've got some
guys that are banged up, but everything on Tuesday and Wednesday.
You're gonna have a quick day on Thursday because of Thanksgiving,
(30:18):
and then Friday will all be RAMS, And like Jordan said,
sometimes a quick turnaround allows guys to kind of get
moved on to the next week because we have a
really good RAMS team coming in on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Jordan, I think the hard part for a lot of
us is trying to just make sense of things.
Speaker 8 (30:33):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
You go on the road and you beat Green Bay
and then you lose it home to New Orleans. Then
you come back on the road and you beat Atlanta.
You're feeling pretty good going in a Monday night, and
the offense after having a great day against Atlanta, can't
get going against the defense and the forty nine ers
that struggled. How do you wrap your head around all that?
Speaker 10 (30:52):
I mean still the NFL, Right, there's thirty two teams
full of the greatest players in the world at this game.
So there's gonna be talent on every single team. Just
because it's the logo on the helmet doesn't mean you're
facing the same team that somebody else did we saw
tonight or we saw it again in this game against
the forty nine ers with the injuries, right, So we
started with one product on defense.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
By the end of the game.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
J C.
Speaker 10 (31:15):
Horn was out, other starters were out. You get to
the later in the game and you're playing kind of
a whole different defense. So it's a week to week
business man. The NFL stands for not for long, right,
And that's what you see when you watch these games
is like, what team, what can we get consistency? And
I want to see some long standing consistency out of
our team moving forward. Five games to go, and the
(31:36):
Rams are going to be a tough matchup. I mean
there's no denying that on a weird week, short weekend,
Thanksgiving thrown in there one week at a time. Man,
we just got to get this one and then get
to the buy.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
And then there's the Bryce Young piece of it, where
you know, he had the three games in a row
where I didn't throw for a lot of yards, but
the team won games. And then the Saints essentially said, Okay,
we're gonna sell out against the run. Bryce struggled in
that game. Everybody doubted him. He comes back against Atlanta
plays the game of his life, and I think we
all were wondering, Okay, what happens now, and through two interceptions,
(32:09):
one in the end zone the other with the team
driving for Bryce, especially against zone coverage, Luke, what does
he have to figure out? What's the part that needs
to be unlocked.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
I just think the ability for us to try to
find a rhythm in games. I think today there was
no rhythm. First play was the first drive was a
three and out, and then we get the ball in
a short field kind of changes the offense run the
plus side already in the red zone after the pick
from JC. I just feel like there wasn't a lot
of rhythm early in this game, and then the zone concept.
(32:43):
It's an issue where Bryce has to improve, but also
we got to get better on the perimeter of guys
finding soft spots and zones, uncovering in certain windows, and
just winning en route. So it's just one of those
things we got to get better everywhere. It's not one
guy's it's not one guy's responsibility, it's not one guy fall.
We have to come to there as together as a group,
and guys have to get open. Bryce has to find
(33:05):
the ability to find them.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
And then you zoom out, and I think we're a
prisoner of the moment, win, lose, everything's great, everything's terrible,
and you zoom out and you say, hey, listen, six
and six, half game out of first place going in
a week thirteen. It's an improved roster and it's improved team.
They've had their moments. So what is the big picture
(33:28):
perspective on the Panthers through twelve games? Jordan, Yeah, the.
Speaker 10 (33:32):
Big picture, The big picture perspective is that on Thanksgiving
week there's still a lot to be thankful for. I mean,
six and six is a far far cry from where
we've been the last few years at this point in time,
and still being in the discussion, which more than in
the discussion, competing for the number one spot in our
division this late in November is a blessing. So the
(33:52):
way the schedule's playing out is we're going to be
very challenged these final five games, and starting with the
Rams at home this week. But you're in the driver's seat.
You win in critical games, you beat the Bucks once
or twice, you win the division, you're hosting a playoff game.
Everybody's gonna be happy. So it's really in the player's hands,
the coaches hands to get it done the rest of
the way.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
And Luke, I'll leave you with the last thought here
because I look at this from the standpoint of there
have been games where the Panthers have been a little
sloppy at times and they've turned it over and they
found ways to overcome that and win. But against the
schedule that you're gonna face down the stretch, it seems
that's sort of the imperative. Play clean football. You play
clean football, you just get the feeling you're gonna have
a chance.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
Absolutely, and I think we just need to find ways
to give ourselves a chance. And none of these games
on the We play Tampa twice, you play La, you
play the Saints, and you play Seattle. All teams that
are above five hundred, at the exception of the Saints,
good football teams that you got to play. You gotta
play well to win, especially this week coming up against
the Rams, and for us to have an opportunity to win,
we have to play clean and we have to give
(34:53):
ourselves a chance to win. When you turn the football over,
we don't score in the red zone. It limits the opportunity.
And I don't think we're there yet as a team
where we can ever overcome those those mistakes.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, a few teams are. There was a chance. Certainly
on Monday night, three first half takeaways only led to
three points. We'll be back with more. Panther Talk continues
after this on the Carolina Panthers Radio network.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio network.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Anish Rov Jimzoki you teed Robinson. Panther Talk continues a
couple of news items Jim mentioned earlier. Trayvon Merrigg suspended
for one game after his altercation with Juwan Jennings on
Monday Night Football and then some good news. The Hall
of Fame announced its semi finalists for its next class.
A couple of Panthers, couple of friends of the program,
(35:49):
Luke Keigley and Steve Smith among Hall of Fame semi
finalists once again.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
You know, and I thought that Luke didn't get in
last year because they limit the number of people that
they let in. I think this year he would be.
I think it's harder for two Panthers a go in,
you know, on the on the ballot. But there's something
about loose career that just just stands out, you know,
and it doesn't so I'm expecting that he'll probably going
(36:14):
down this ballot.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Microphone.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
They there's no reason you shouldn't go in this year.
Speaker 7 (36:20):
I mean, there's just Patrick Willis's in, and Luke's got
Patrick Willis's career, plus being defensive player that you're on
top of that.
Speaker 6 (36:27):
So it's it's not if, but when and when should
be now?
Speaker 7 (36:31):
And Steve Smith is in the top tennis to make
big categories exact NFL history, And again it's like they
always he didn't win a Super Bowl, but they they
played in Super Bowls. And you know, just to me,
I had two deserving guys.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
He had Hall of Fame moments. It wasn't just the
career you had, you know, the moments sprinkled throughout that
Fans remember cultural touchstones if you.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Will, no doubt about it.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
And you know, and they were the guys that were
the other team's game plan. So like, how do we
take Steve Smith of that offense? What do we do
to work around Luke Keigley? And the answer was you
can't in both cases. So I think very deserving. It's
great that they get this opportunity and hopefully it gets
all the way to Canton.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Well, speaking of other teams game plans, the challenge for
Week thirteen is I think as significant as we've seen
for the Panthers. It's not just the opponent, but it's
everything leading up. This is a team that, let's face it,
it's badly in need of a bye week to go
get healthy. The Rams, I think, are playing as well
as anybody in the NFL. They've won six straight. Look
(37:31):
at some of these scores, the margin of victory in
these games. They beat the Ravens by fourteen, beat the Jaguars,
thirty five to seven. All right, it's the Saints, but
they beat them thirty four to ten, beat the Niners
forty two, twenty six. They edged Seattle by two, and
then they beat Tampa thirty four to seven. They've won
six games in a row. Matthew Stafford to me, is
(37:52):
the league MVPs having the best season of his career
at age what thirty seven, thirty touchdowns, two picks the
ball downfield? Uh, Kyron Williams is gonna run for a
thousand yards. You got Naku up, you got DeVante Adams,
you got a defense with Fisk and Verse, and you
know pootah Ford and those guys up front. This is
(38:13):
a super Bowl team. And with the Panthers coming off
a short week Thanksgiving Week on top of that, Eugene,
how do you navigate it as a player?
Speaker 4 (38:24):
I'm glad it's a short week because if it focuses
your attention immediately, everybody's going to be talking about a
short week. And then you have to make sure that
you're getting in whatever the installation is, whether on the
third down installations, a resonant installations, you got to get
that in and you have to mean maintain a fine focus.
So the fact that it's a short week, I think
there is a good thing because it directs your focus
(38:47):
is like, we gotta get this done, and.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
We have to go ahead against this opponent.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
This opponent is one of the best teams in the league,
bar none, and everybody needs to know that, bar none,
they're that good. And so you gotta go ahead and say,
we gotta saw Stafford, we got to start Nikoula Gosaw Williams,
we got to suck Devanta Adams, we got to bring
out let's bucket.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
And go to work.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
And you may not have J. C.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Horn and Trayvon Merrick.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
That's exact part.
Speaker 6 (39:11):
It is gonna be tough because of that.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
But I think again it's an opportunity or at home
at least they got to travel across the country to
get here, So I think you factored that back in.
But Matt Stafford and Sean McVay are just on the
same wavelength as if they're just standing side by side
out on the field or whatever. They're about the same age,
first of all, but they just there's just the processing
is so quick, and then the ability that they have
(39:34):
with all the talent there. And we talked about the
Niners defense only had twelve sacks where its the league
they got thirty.
Speaker 6 (39:39):
One sacks on defense. So they do all the things good.
Speaker 7 (39:42):
So we could talk about the past game and Puka
Nakula and the addition of Devonte Adams, and they.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
Run the ball good.
Speaker 7 (39:47):
They also play defense top of that, so you don't
win by wide margins. About being good on both sides
of the football.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
And I've always thought Matthew Stafford was one of the
best quarterbacks, even when he was with Detroit. He's always
been good. He can throw that rocket, can throw it
these deep. He's explosive, he's accurate, and he moves in
the pocket. Well, he's that quarterback too, And so he's
proven himself down there with the rams and rightfully so
when you said he could be the MVP, he can
definitely be an MVP.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Thirty to two touchdown to interception ratio. You know, there's
a party that goes, well, maybe he's due for a
bad game.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
I hope, So I hope. I hope he's due for
a bad game, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
And I hope they take the Panthers for granted, But
I don't think that team will wow.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Listen, what's wild with this Panthers team. I think we're
at the point nothing would surprise us.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
Nope.
Speaker 6 (40:37):
Now it's our week to win. It's every other week,
and it's win one, lose one.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
So why not Panthers in Rams Week thirteen? Back home,
everybody heard. Joy Feast week, Enjoy Thanksgiving, get some time
with your family, and embrace gratitude.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
This on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network, brought to you
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(41:14):
taste of Coca Cola because fan work is thirsty work. Pantherton, Panthertoll,
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The following is an exclusive presentation of the Carolina Panthers
and the National Football League. Still Tough, PANTHERTLL and they tell,
and They're to. This is Panther Talk on the Carolina
Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Anytime you get three three interceptions off of a group,
you know, we expect to score points on those. We
expect to come away with some success there and flip
the probabilities and the chances of us winning the game.
And we left it out there, you know, and and
through an interception and and didn't come away with points,
you know, on on those drives. So we have to
make sure we capitalize. And it really just comes down
(00:36):
to the fundamental basics that we talk about.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
And now, along with Jim Zochi and Eugene Robinson, here's
a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers
broadcast facility at Bank of America Stereo.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Thanksgiving Week. Welcome to Panther Talk and New Shop, Jim Zochie,
Eugene Robinson, and the head coach of the Carolina Panthers.
We'll get in a Monday night. The team plane didn't
land till a little after six, so it is a
tight week, and I kind of want to begin there
because you get the Rams, maybe the best team in
the NFL coming here on Sunday. Short week for you guys,
(01:16):
everything is condensed. Can you just walk us through the
coaching staff timeline for how preparation ensues for the remainder
of the week.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, so you take advantage of some windows. You know,
last week we had a bonus day and there's a
there's a portion of time there where you can kind
of get set up for all the things you need
to watch. Then you got to quickly shift your brain
back into Okay, we're in full game plan mode here.
We're playing the Niners, so that when we land, you
know at six point thirty in the morning, comes straight
(01:47):
into the office and all of your cutups, all of
your things are organized to get ready to get to work.
And you know, that's really the process that we're in
right now is just going through our game plan. So
and you got to condense a Monday Tuesday into one
day so that you're ready to talk to the players
tomorrow present you know, things to them. But again, we're
just removed from a game, so we're in walk through
mode to start off, and then we have to gauge
(02:09):
the you know, health of the group to see, Okay,
at some point we got to get out there. We've
got to get our timing and run around and do that.
But initially it's about just having that set up point
so that we can condense things. Is there anything we
can carry over, you know that makes sense from one
week to the next, kind of start there and then
dive into the specific game plan for the Rams.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
Well, coach, how much how much would you dwell on
this loss coming back home? And it was a lot
of good things that would happen in there, there was
some things that didn't happen.
Speaker 5 (02:36):
So how did you dwell on this loss?
Speaker 6 (02:38):
That you move forward?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, we just we got to learn from the lessons
and got to make sure that we connect with our
players and and you know, you're not gonna be able
to evaluate the full game together, but you can make
cutups and you can say, here's a couple of things
we did well, here are some things some areas we
really need to improve upon, you know, fundamentally, And so
you take those things, try to move from there, go
straight into the game plan and start talking about the Rams.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
You know, I'm at this the point when Particklarly as
a defensive back. There was a play early in the
in the game where Christian McCaffrey does this little dive
thing to pick up the first down that kind of
extended to drive and I'm on an impression as Berger
was coming up, as he looks back at the quarterback
and then he gets his eyes back, he loses his leverage.
(03:20):
It was so slightly I thought that was such a
pivotal play because it seemed like it's a non play.
But talk about how the details really spell out things,
because getting your head back towards the opponent as opposed
to looking at the quarterback to see what's going on,
makes a huge difference.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Absolutely, it's a leverage game and assignment football. Good things
happen when you own your leverage, when you're in position.
You know when interceptions happen because you own your leverage
and your feet are in the ground, your eyes are
in the right spot breaking up passes. Great tackling happens
because you're in the proper leverage and you have help.
And when you own outside leverage, you have a player
(03:56):
inside that helps him. When you squeeze and team tackle,
you know then you create more impact and you have
an opportunity to affect the ball carrier and get him
down in those situations. And so those are all the
critical little things that we're working on.
Speaker 7 (04:08):
A big part of the preparations is knowing what personnel
you're going to have this week is a bit of
a laundry list, of course, but what you could tell
us here early in the week as far as availability
and also the news of trade by Marra getting the
one game suspension.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, so you know, we're counting our guys to step up.
These are big opportunities for a bunch of players to
help our team this week. And you know we'll hopefully
get Trevin back, Trevin Wallace back on the inside this week.
But Chris Barnes played really well in the game and
Bam Martin Scott got in at the end and really flashed,
flashed some speed, some lengths, some things that we've been
seeing and he's just been really conscientious in preparing and
(04:41):
being ready to play. And Pete Hanson's done a great
job you know with Bam, just making sure that he's
ready for that moment. So there's guys that can help us,
you know, and Jake Kurhan has come in before on
the offensive line side to help us and he finished
the game for us, so really counting on him to
do that again. A good chance to see some more
guys out there. And then of course at the corner spot.
You know, we got to see where Jac's at. He's
in the concussion protocol right now, but at Caleb Evans
(05:03):
played outside Shaw Smith Wade made some nice plays at
corner as well. So some of the guys that have
been developing while we've been here. You know, we're going
to count on this.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Week, coach, to go back to Monday night. You know,
one of the things that we've noticed that you guys
have done to other teams this year is when you've
put together long drives and chewed up clock, you can
get them out of their offensive rhythm. And three scoring
drives for them took up twenty three plus minutes off
the clock. What does that do to your offense?
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Well, it definitely you know, creates a challenge where you
have to get going and find your rhythm pretty quickly,
you know. And got to give credit to the Niners.
It's about third down efficiency as well. You know, they
had some explosive plays our defense did a great job
held them to six explosives on the day, but they
were efficient and on the first drive of the game,
I want to say they were four for four or
five for five. On third down, where the flip side
(05:53):
of that story was we were one for seven and
so we didn't allow ourselves to get rhythm. We didn'
allow ourselves to get into it. And I got to
take full accountabilit We got to get the run game
going and we got two amazing backs. Cuba's back, Rico
looks great. We got to make sure that that's a
part of what we're doing. So I put that on
myself as well. But that also goes hand in hand
with being efficient on third down, making at least half
(06:13):
of those give ourselves another rack, so we can get
deeper into our call sheet and allow the different things
and the different presentation of how we're attacking to show up.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Coach, you mentioned that before, what I guess the staces
to talk about being balanced, Being balanced?
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Is that what you're talking about right now? Absolutely? And balanced? Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
You know, in the Saints game, it was a little
bit of a different story, you know, and we stuck
with the run game, and you know, we saw success
against the Dolphins. We saw success against the Cowboys where
we stuck with the run game, we had some efficient
passes and trying to find our explosives, you know, where
all of a sudden we have this explosion if you will,
at Atlanta with the pass game, you know, and trying
to make both things come to live. That's the goal,
(06:49):
to be a balanced offense where you can be attacking
in both phases.
Speaker 7 (06:52):
Even the losses, offensive line continues with another combination and
playing well. So just addressing that you lose chances of
the vola during the game already without Kid May's, but
they were able to run effectively, only one sack giving
up in the game. Just how week after week they
just performed collectively with whatever the number of players that
are out there.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
I love this group and the way they work together.
The way that they're always communicating with each other is
why it happens the way it does. Because there's a
lot of chemistry that happens in combination, whether it's in
the run game or whether you're passing off a pass
stunt or communicating the pressure that's coming. And they did
a great job of picking up the blitzes, picking up
pressures and they blocked well. In the run game, they
got the play started, they got their combos were pushing
(07:30):
up to the second level. And just love that I
can count on those guys to step in and do
the job and help their team.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
And then coach, defensively, I mean the dbs JC and
Mike Jack three picks total in that first half. What
did you see out of your secondary in particular.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Just aggressive play, great leverage, being in position, being connected
to guys whether they were cutting in or out. The
guys were on the top hip, they were in great
position to.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
Make those plays.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
And then just the hands to be able to, you know,
at full speed, cut in front of the guy and
make the play. Just some really impressive, impressive play out
of our dbs in that game.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
And coach, I want to stay right there because I
thought Jc's one of his best interceptions was the second
interception because he actually found work to go ahead and
do because he never looked like he should even even
be anywhere near that area.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Absolutely, his pattern recognition, understanding the formation and understanding the
type of action that they were that they were trying
to execute, and seeing the concept he knew what was happening.
He understood that he didn't have anybody threatening in his
side and just followed the quarterback size and made a
great play right there. So that was a fantastic play.
Speaker 5 (08:34):
In the game.
Speaker 7 (08:34):
That's kind of your overarching message to a team after
a long flight back.
Speaker 6 (08:38):
The effort and energy were there.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
As far as again, guys coming in and out of
the lineup, but they're disappointing and not getting the win
coming off a big win the week before, Just as
far as kind of the motivation, like how do you
approach them, as far as just the attitude moving.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Just let's go.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
It's that time of year, and you know, unfortunately we
had some injuries. We have guys stepping up with great
opportunities and talk to them after the game and said, look,
the rehab starts right now. In terms of physical preparation,
like we got to get hydrated, we got to get
rested on this plane. Tomorrow's going to be a great
rest day for the guys, and then we've got to
get back to work, get right back to our processes,
(09:13):
making sure we're going through our game plan with detail,
getting back to the fundamentals and basics that has led
to our success.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Five games left in the year, You're still right in
the middle of this thing. You got two against Tampa
left only a half game out of first Do you
address the P word playoffs With.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
This group, every game is a championship opportunity. We have
to have that mindset. We have to approach our work
that way. Every practice, every walk through, every meeting has
a purpose. It's to prepare ourselves for championship moments. And
each of these games, without a shadow of doubt, our
championship opportunities. And we're fired up to get back to work, refocus,
look at the things that we can improve upon, build
(09:50):
on the things that we've been doing well so that
we can continue to build this team.
Speaker 5 (09:53):
Hey, coach, how my self evaluation? Do you do of
your own self?
Speaker 6 (09:56):
A lot?
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Yeah, And I have great help. I have a bunch
of people in the building that I talked to and
I'm accountable to. And we look at what showed up
and what didn't show up, you know, and had a
chance to talk about, Okay, we got to make sure
this run game shows up for us. It has got
to be about who we are a part of what
we're doing and makes because especially because of the impact
that Rico and Chuba can make for this team.
Speaker 7 (10:15):
All right, last thing, it's Thanksgiving week. It's early in
this week, but last time we talked to you beforehead
with your football team and with your life. What are
some of the things you're kind of thinking about this
week as you get ready for this game as well?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Just incredibly grateful for all the people that all hands
on deck in this building, everyone from every floor of
this of this whole place, how they pour their heart
and soul into the players, into this organization, and it's
all about winning and it's taking care of each other
with love and respect. But I just feel that I'm
super grateful for all the people in the training room,
(10:49):
in the cafeteria, the equipment staff, on and on, for
just the selfless work that goes into making sure that
the coaches, the players, that we all have everything we
need to be successful. And so I'm super were grateful
for that.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
All right, Dave, A happy Thanksgiving on behalf of us.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 5 (11:05):
Oh no, coach, thank you.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Dave Canalis. Here on the Carolina Panthers Radio network, This.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Is Panther Talk Ron. Do you buy Bank of America?
What would you like the power to do?
Speaker 3 (11:20):
As Jim Eugene back with you Panther Talk after a
long Monday night in San Francisco. Panthers fall on Monday
Night football, a game that frankly, the final score I
don't think l portrayed how close the Panthers were in
that game. There were opportunities. You get three interceptions in
the first half, you only turn those into three points.
(11:41):
It was three successive drives, and Eugene and I were
walking in We're talking about the domino effect that one sequence,
one series has on the next. Had the Panthers been
able to capitalize in that first half, and it'll go
up by a touchdown, maybe even ten points, two scores whatever.
Going in a halftime, you do a couple of things.
(12:02):
You take the crowd out of it. One secondly, you
make Rock party in the second you throw the ball
downfield forty nine ers in the second half. We were
wondering at one point in the booth, hey do they
bring in mac Jones? But they didn't like Rock Purty
do anything downfield. It was run the ball, take the
check downs, take the easy uh you know passes that
(12:23):
are there for you mitigate all risks. Well, now you
put him in a higher risk mode, maybe it come
up with another big play downfield. So you know, like
those little things matter, and I look at these final
five games like that's where the cleanup needs to take place.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
You know.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
I thought that missed opportunity by running in for a
test down instead of throwing the ball at an interception.
I thought that was one of the turning points of
the game because unless the air out of the sales,
it takes the interception and it throws it away because
they got an interception and it was an easier play.
I'm just thinking, as me running off to your right,
(13:03):
I thought that Bryce was gonna go ahead and the score.
I thought he saw what everybody saw that Hey there's
nobody on the right hand side, go ahead and walk
on it, on it. And because you didn't capitalize on that,
that's the domino effect that you're talking about, because.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
It's in your psyche, it's in your head, that oh man.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And it also emboldens the defense of the San Francist
and forty nine ers because now they like that, hey,
we stopped them, we stopped them, We stopped them. And
so there's a whole bunch of things that happened psychologically
because you didn't put it in the in the end
zone when you had a great chance. And don't forget
when we were on the one yard line too well,
first down, Oh man, I'm like, just just run it.
(13:44):
You got some dogs back there, just go ahead and
run it. So this will miss opportunities. And that's the
frustrating part because that game was winnable. It was really
really winnable, and it became not a winnable game. You
talked about having a margin and against when we looked
at the Saints, there was some margin there. There's a
(14:04):
lot of margin for the Carolina Panthers, but we have
to execute and we have to, you know, take advantage
of that margin.
Speaker 6 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (14:11):
I didn't think the Niners themselves are overly impressive.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
No.
Speaker 7 (14:15):
I thought they were again just regular. I didn't think
anything stood out at all about what they did. And
it was like the two halves were The first half
was the number of points left on the table that
the Panthers didn't get, whatever that might have been. Although
only down ten three at halftime, it felt worse because
you're thinking in your mind, well, we should have fourteen,
or we should have seventeen, whatever the case may be.
(14:35):
And once they scored that other touchdown in the third
quarter in the Caapri seventeen three, all of a sudden,
it's like, now you're chasing points, so you're doing these things.
But I thought then part two was the dominant effective,
just the bad luck of injury after injury, guy after
guy going into the blue tent, and then all of
a sudden that also played into sand fray and being
able to extend drives and so forth, because they were
(14:55):
spotting those places where guys were out of position, just
little things where they're converting thirds in the first downs
and things like that. Where they possessed the ball. Forty
three plays is all the Panthers ran, which I believe
is the second fewest in team history.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
So they only had in the first half.
Speaker 6 (15:09):
Yeah, I couldn't control the ball, you know.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
And also we only ran the ball nine times. Nine times,
I'm telling you.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
And really, when you have Donald and you have a
Hubber back there, I thought there was gonna be much
more effort to go ahead and establish a running game.
Speaker 5 (15:22):
Even after the half.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
I'm sitting like this, you can still establish the running
game and get yourself back in this game easily, easily
because you got guys can who can run.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And I thought the forty nine ers, you know, to
their credit, strong game plan and to execute that, you
got to do a couple of things. You got to
stay in front of the chains, and you can't have penalties.
They only had two penalties for a total of six yards.
One I believe it was a delay of game. The
other was on that extra point, which ended up being
a one yard penalty, So six penalty yards. One came
(15:54):
on a special team.
Speaker 6 (15:55):
They got a point back on it, and they got
a point back.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
But their first drive eight forty three off the clock,
they're touchdown. Driving the third quarter seven to forty three
off the clock. Their last score a field goal by
Matt Gabe, six and a half off the clock. So
right there, you've eaten up a quarter and a half
of football on three drives. And Jim, you know you cover,
(16:18):
you know ECU and the American You see teams like
Army and Navy, and we see this sometimes in college
when you know you have teams put together those like
fifteen play seven eight minute drives. What happens on the
other sideline, you get antsy. You get antsy, right, and
there's this psychological warfare that goes on, and now you're thinking, okay,
this this game is shrunkly.
Speaker 6 (16:38):
We got to get these points quick.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Sometimes that takes you out of your offense.
Speaker 6 (16:41):
Well, and it's twofold.
Speaker 7 (16:42):
It's the uncomplimentary part of football in that your defense
is getting worn down with all those body blows out there.
For the college case of fifteen to twenty play drives,
I mean those add up over the course of time.
You start, you know, getting out of your rhythm, losing air,
your legs get tired in the second half. And of
course the other thing is your office is six on
the sidelines, unable to put points on the board. So
(17:03):
it really is like a deflating thing when you see
one team just kind of dominate time and possession, keep
their offense on the field, keep you off to the side.
But also conversely, Eugene, that defense, I mean, it's just like,
especially if you can't sub sub packages getting in things
like that, it could be a really long afternoon.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
It can be very very long after it. And also
I got to maybe complement a little bit the defense
of San Francisco. They managed to to stop us, and
I didn't think that was even possible. I didn't think
that was possible. I'm like, hold on, we can easily
run against them, and I think that it's gonna open
up the throwing lanes because we can run the ball
(17:41):
against them, and they seem to be coming up with
playing after play. We were one for seven on third
down fourteen percent. Fourteen percent. I'm like, how did it
even happen?
Speaker 3 (17:53):
And against one of the worst third down defenses in
the NFL exactly, and.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
I'm saying, how did that happen? I'm like, you know what.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
It's almost like if I'm on the of the side
and when I'm broadcasting about the San Francisco forty nine,
I'm sitting there going, man, they're lucky that the Panthers
are messing up because they're keeping San Fran in the game.
You know, they allowing for San Fran to do what
they're doing.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
This is the part that I think with this team,
you kind of understand, you know, the Doctor Jekyl mister
Hyde nature of it. Last week against Atlanta, which at
the time was the number one pass defense in the NFL,
they were fifth in the NFL and sacks. They were
coming off a game where they had seven sacks right,
and you go throw for four to forty eight. I
(18:37):
mean they couldn't stop you through the air. And you
play the forty nine ers, who since Week six when
Fred Warner got hurt, worst pass defense in the NFL
almost in every category, near the bottom in defensive metrics
all right, can't get to the pass rusher all season,
and that's been a thing.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
They had.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Twelve sacks coming into the game. Really didn't affect the
passer except for you know, the one play at the
end when Coln Farrow got at home and then you
struggle to move the ball through the air like that.
That part doesn't compute. It's also I think a little
bit of just where this team is right now and
moment to moment you're prisoner of the moment. Everything's a
(19:15):
binary absolute week to week, right, things look great, pop
the champagne, light the fireworks, then it's apocalypse now. Then
you go back to the fireworks and the champagne. You know,
it's been a little bit of that. But when you
zoom out, you're six and six, you're a half game
out of first place. Rams, Yes, tough task by comes
(19:35):
at the right time. New Orleans on the road listen.
I think you gotta believe they should be no worse
than seven and seven going into the last three games.
Speaker 7 (19:44):
Which gives you a chance, which gives you just Tampa
Bay's not lighting on fire and they're continually getting hurt
at and they remind me of San Furan, like a
good solid team, but they're not the Rams the Tampa Bay.
Speaker 6 (19:55):
The team is chasing in the division. That's job one.
Speaker 7 (19:57):
You win the division, it's an automatic entry into the playoff.
You don't have to worry about your record.
Speaker 8 (20:03):
Just whin.
Speaker 7 (20:04):
It's the old like I don't have to beat the Bear.
I just have to beat you because the Bear will you.
So you just got to be that team. And I
think they're capable of that. We've seen, you know, good
play out of the Panthers where they can pull that off.
So yeah, get it together, get healthy. I think that's
the biggest thing. We have super thin at that linebacker
and defensive back with the attrition in that game second half.
So I think that was the other part of it,
(20:24):
like where Sam frank Can possessed the ball and we
couldn't get back into it was just having at some
point when you got.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Your fifth guy in a position out there playing.
Speaker 7 (20:31):
We started with the game without the two starting linebackers
and then for a period of time lost both of
the guys that were starting because Chris Barnes left and
came back.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
I think one thing, playing clean football is going to
be the premium, and also I think it's going to
be also on the coaches too, and on coach Canalis
in this one regard, he's talking about ballots. We talked
about in the Saints game. We talked about this game.
He's going to have to be able to figure out
a way to and during the game to go ahead
and see where does he need to to to lean to?
(21:01):
Do I lean more heavily in a run? Past is
a combination of both, you know, in real time because
I thought in real time, if we are able to
go hit and score with a run, it's a different
It's a different ball game. It's totally different ballgame, and
every football player knows it. Every football player knows it
(21:22):
it's going to be a different ballgame. So from that standpoint,
I think it's going to be really imperative that coach
recognizes that the coaching staff that he has around him,
that they'll be able to recognize that and be able
to push the right button because it's not going to
be I can't put it all on Bryce all right,
because I know it's a lot I'm saying, But I
think if he's listening to the coach, I think the
(21:44):
coach can help them.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Yeah, I look at it from this standpoint. There have
been times this year where special teams has been great.
There's been times when the run defense has been good.
I thought the pass defense with three picks had a
strong game on Monday against Atlanta. We saw what you
could do through the air. We've seen how explosive the
ground game can be. But you're at the juncture now
(22:05):
in the season and you face the gauntlet of the schedule.
It started with San Francisco, now it's the Rams, who
might be the best team in the NFL. You've got
Tampa twice, you still have Seattle. The Saints game is
no doubt, a must win, a must win. You can't
lose twice to the Saints. But the margin for error
that the Panthers have been able to overcome by, you know,
maybe being good in one of those categories but being
(22:27):
deficient in another on a given week, in some games
they're able to overcome that. I think you got to
have more of those boxes checked, especially against these better teams.
If this playoff push is going to be real, and
I think they're gonna go to the last three games
with a chance. But if you're talking about actually seeing
it into existence, then yes, it's clean football. It's complimentary football.
(22:49):
When Sam Martin pins the forty nine ers inside the
ten and then Brock Purty throws an interception and you've
got the ball in the red zone, that has to
be a touchdown.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Absolutely, you know. And I'm just thinking out.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
I'm thinking to myself, if you were to win the
game against a next opponent of the Rams, then there's
no victory. Monday is good. After Monday, it's work Monday.
It's a bye week. Oh yeah, bye week. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
But I'm thinking like that because I don't I don't
want to let up off the gas. I don't.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
You know, when you're on a row, winning is contagious
and looses contagious, and when you're winning, that's a really
big thing. And so I wanted to be contagious and
I want to keep doing it, and I want to
keep doing the things that got me there.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
All right, We'll have more here on the Carolina Panthers
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
This is Panther Talk, brought to you. Buy Atrium Health.
Have Atrium Health. We do more to keep you moving, achieving,
striving at every age and stage so you can live fully.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
Captain Manolin played not once, but twice two different stents
with the Panthers. He has five pick six is in
his five year career with the Carolina Panthers overall, a
team record, of course. Played at the University of South Carolina.
Now a high school football coach here in Charlotte. We'll
check in with Captain Munterland today.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 7 (24:24):
Do you think about your career and how many years
you played in this league? Double figure years? I mean,
that's to do those kind of things. To be in
the moment after a game. It's easy after a big win,
but after a loss, it's five it's ten minutes. The
coach has maybe said a few words to you, guys.
That'd be hard because it's like you, guys, the fans
take it so hard. Broadcasters nitpick it all, but you
(24:45):
guys live and breathe it, and physically, I mean, you
delve your whole life. You leave your wife and kids
to go there all day to be you know, working
and out in the heat and preparing for this. It's
gotta be devastating when things don't go your way.
Speaker 9 (24:56):
Oh yeah, it's definitely is, especially when you had like
a art fault game and you might be the part
of the reason why you lost the game. And to
have the that happened and you have to talk to
the media after, it's tough. It's definitely tough. I'm a
guy who always owned up to his mistakes. I never
wanted to not talk to the media and get a
(25:18):
guy's insight on what happened in the game and different
things like that.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
So it was tough.
Speaker 9 (25:23):
But at the same time, I went traded for the world, man,
I wanted to get them the insight and you know,
let him know what happened, you know, even though sometimes
I was on the wrong side you know of it.
So that part was definitely tough, But at the same time,
wasn't changing for the world. I kind of like kind
of missed those things, you know, you missed those things
when you're done and retired, you kind of missed talking
to the media, you know, being in the locker room
(25:44):
with you your brothers, and like you said, man, it's
something that was built around here that was very special.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You know.
Speaker 9 (25:50):
I wasn't part of the twenty fifteen season when they
made the run to the Super Bowl, but I remember
in twenty thirteen when we started out one and three.
We went on a roll and Coach Rivera right then
and there. I think he ended up going in and
Coach of the Year that year. Louke Keighley was a
Defensive Player of the Year that year, and it was
(26:10):
a lot of different things that change the makeup of
this organization. You know, we was back on top, and
to leave in free agency, it was tough.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
It was tough.
Speaker 9 (26:19):
I remember being in Minnesota, man, being in Rick Spearman office,
and I had to sit there and look at my phone.
Coach Rivera was calling me. I had to act like
a kid that was in school. I raised my hand
and say, hey, can I go use the restaurant right fast.
I was one of those guys because I didn't want
to be disrespectful in answer the phone right then. So
I like I had to use the restaurant rich. I didn't,
but I wanted to answer the phone for Coach Rivera
(26:41):
and Sean McDermott before I signed up my contract. You know,
they was telling me, you know, a cap, we want
you to.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Hold off a little bit long as you can.
Speaker 9 (26:48):
It hurt. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want
to leave because I knew this place was going to
be very special. And fast forward a couple of years later,
they make it to the Super Bowl and I actually
went out there to sant Franz to watch those guys
play because those my teammates. I wanted them to win
so bad man, just for the guys like Thomas Davis,
Ryan Khalil, you know, the Charles Johnson's, the Cam Newton's,
(27:11):
the Luke Keigley's, all those guys that I put in
to work with. I wanted to see those guys successful,
and you know, they fell a little short, and I
was kind of biter about it because I wanted them
to win. I wanted them to win, and I remember
playing coming to the playoff games. I actually said in
Charles justin box doing the playoff games when they played
against Arizona and I was sitting there like man, and
(27:32):
I went after the game, those guys were celebrating. I
was talking to Charles and I was sitting there like, Man.
I was like, you know, y'all going to the super Bowl,
and you know the only thing y'all.
Speaker 8 (27:40):
Missing is me?
Speaker 9 (27:41):
He said, yeah, Cap, but we went fifteen to one
without you.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
And I was like, yo, but you know it was
just all I got sixteen to know with you.
Speaker 9 (27:49):
That so man, But just to see those guys have success, Man, I.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
Was happy for.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Subscribed to thirty seasons of him through Football on the
iHeartRadio app, Panthers dot com and Team Apple, Apple podcast
or Spotify. This is Panther Talk. Coke d deserves the
(28:18):
great taste of Coca cola because fan work is thirsty work.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Welcome back to Panther Talk. A new Shroff Jordan Gross
Luke Keigley lost to the forty nine ers on Monday Night,
not for a lack of opportunities. There were chances there,
but Jordan, it almost feels like these are the growing
pains teams go through, where you're up one week, you're
(28:44):
down the next week. How do you kind of get
out of the cycle and find consistency.
Speaker 10 (28:49):
It's a short week. You got to bounce back very
very quickly, right, A lot of hype and build up
for the Monday night game, championship opportunity against a big
time opponent. Everybody's watching, and you just kind of laid
an egg when there was an opportunity to win with
the turnovers early in the half. But the sky is
not falling. The division is still right there to be had.
(29:09):
You know the beauty of it is. You know, we
got the Rams, which is gonna be a tough game
this week on a short week, but a winnable game
at home Thanksgiving, all that stuff, family in town. Then
you got your buy finally, right, finally, these guys get
to come down a little bit, decompress, and you get
to play the bucks twice. So you can either kind
of look at this as, oh man, we got a
tough schedule, come in toughest in the NFL the rest
(29:31):
of the way, or man, this opportunity is there for
us to continue to get everything we want out of
this season.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Looke. When you have a game like this, you don't
really have a chance to dwell on it. Does that help? Sometimes? Hey,
we're gonna get back early Tuesday morning, and then the
attention focuses to the RAMS. Next thing, you know, it's Sunday,
and you know there's not a whole lot of time
that you would have in a normal week. Can that
(29:56):
be a good thing.
Speaker 8 (29:57):
Absolutely. I think we'll go in at some point tomorrow
and they'll start getting ready for the La Rams. The
coaches are gonna be watching the Rams on the way home.
I'm sure they DIDs some prep last week for it.
The guys are gonna get in and get some sleep,
come on in and they don't have a choice. They're
gonna have to work on their bodies. We've got some
guys that are banged up, but everything on Tuesday and Wednesday.
You're gonna have a quick day on Thursday because of Thanksgiving,
(30:18):
and then Friday will all be RAMS, And like Jordan said,
sometimes a quick turnaround allows guys to kind of get
moved on to the next week because we have a
really good RAMS team coming in on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
Jordan, I think the hard part for a lot of
us is trying to just make sense of things.
Speaker 8 (30:33):
Right.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
You go on the road and you beat Green Bay
and then you lose it home to New Orleans. Then
you come back on the road and you beat Atlanta.
You're feeling pretty good going in a Monday night, and
the offense after having a great day against Atlanta, can't
get going against the defense and the forty nine ers
that struggled. How do you wrap your head around all that?
Speaker 10 (30:52):
I mean still the NFL, Right, there's thirty two teams
full of the greatest players in the world at this game.
So there's gonna be talent on every single team. Just
because it's the logo on the helmet doesn't mean you're
facing the same team that somebody else did we saw
tonight or we saw it again in this game against
the forty nine ers with the injuries, right, So we
started with one product on defense.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
By the end of the game.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
J C.
Speaker 10 (31:15):
Horn was out, other starters were out. You get to
the later in the game and you're playing kind of
a whole different defense. So it's a week to week
business man. The NFL stands for not for long, right,
And that's what you see when you watch these games
is like, what team, what can we get consistency? And
I want to see some long standing consistency out of
our team moving forward. Five games to go, and the
(31:36):
Rams are going to be a tough matchup. I mean
there's no denying that on a weird week, short weekend,
Thanksgiving thrown in there one week at a time. Man,
we just got to get this one and then get
to the buy.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
And then there's the Bryce Young piece of it, where
you know, he had the three games in a row
where I didn't throw for a lot of yards, but
the team won games. And then the Saints essentially said, Okay,
we're gonna sell out against the run. Bryce struggled in
that game. Everybody doubted him. He comes back against Atlanta
plays the game of his life, and I think we
all were wondering, Okay, what happens now, and through two interceptions,
(32:09):
one in the end zone the other with the team
driving for Bryce, especially against zone coverage, Luke, what does
he have to figure out? What's the part that needs
to be unlocked.
Speaker 8 (32:23):
I just think the ability for us to try to
find a rhythm in games. I think today there was
no rhythm. First play was the first drive was a
three and out, and then we get the ball in
a short field kind of changes the offense run the
plus side already in the red zone after the pick
from JC. I just feel like there wasn't a lot
of rhythm early in this game, and then the zone concept.
(32:43):
It's an issue where Bryce has to improve, but also
we got to get better on the perimeter of guys
finding soft spots and zones, uncovering in certain windows, and
just winning en route. So it's just one of those
things we got to get better everywhere. It's not one
guy's it's not one guy's responsibility, it's not one guy fall.
We have to come to there as together as a group,
and guys have to get open. Bryce has to find
(33:05):
the ability to find them.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
And then you zoom out, and I think we're a
prisoner of the moment, win, lose, everything's great, everything's terrible,
and you zoom out and you say, hey, listen, six
and six, half game out of first place going in
a week thirteen. It's an improved roster and it's improved team.
They've had their moments. So what is the big picture
(33:28):
perspective on the Panthers through twelve games? Jordan, Yeah, the.
Speaker 10 (33:32):
Big picture, The big picture perspective is that on Thanksgiving
week there's still a lot to be thankful for. I mean,
six and six is a far far cry from where
we've been the last few years at this point in time,
and still being in the discussion, which more than in
the discussion, competing for the number one spot in our
division this late in November is a blessing. So the
(33:52):
way the schedule's playing out is we're going to be
very challenged these final five games, and starting with the
Rams at home this week. But you're in the driver's seat.
You win in critical games, you beat the Bucks once
or twice, you win the division, you're hosting a playoff game.
Everybody's gonna be happy. So it's really in the player's hands,
the coaches hands to get it done the rest of
the way.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
And Luke, I'll leave you with the last thought here
because I look at this from the standpoint of there
have been games where the Panthers have been a little
sloppy at times and they've turned it over and they
found ways to overcome that and win. But against the
schedule that you're gonna face down the stretch, it seems
that's sort of the imperative. Play clean football. You play
clean football, you just get the feeling you're gonna have
a chance.
Speaker 8 (34:32):
Absolutely, and I think we just need to find ways
to give ourselves a chance. And none of these games
on the We play Tampa twice, you play La, you
play the Saints, and you play Seattle. All teams that
are above five hundred, at the exception of the Saints,
good football teams that you got to play. You gotta
play well to win, especially this week coming up against
the Rams, and for us to have an opportunity to win,
we have to play clean and we have to give
(34:53):
ourselves a chance to win. When you turn the football over,
we don't score in the red zone. It limits the opportunity.
And I don't think we're there yet as a team
where we can ever overcome those those mistakes.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, a few teams are. There was a chance. Certainly
on Monday night, three first half takeaways only led to
three points. We'll be back with more. Panther Talk continues
after this on the Carolina Panthers Radio network.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio network.
Speaker 3 (35:26):
Anish Rov Jimzoki you teed Robinson. Panther Talk continues a
couple of news items Jim mentioned earlier. Trayvon Merrigg suspended
for one game after his altercation with Juwan Jennings on
Monday Night Football and then some good news. The Hall
of Fame announced its semi finalists for its next class.
A couple of Panthers, couple of friends of the program,
(35:49):
Luke Keigley and Steve Smith among Hall of Fame semi
finalists once again.
Speaker 4 (35:53):
You know, and I thought that Luke didn't get in
last year because they limit the number of people that
they let in. I think this year he would be.
I think it's harder for two Panthers a go in,
you know, on the on the ballot. But there's something
about loose career that just just stands out, you know,
and it doesn't so I'm expecting that he'll probably going
(36:14):
down this ballot.
Speaker 5 (36:17):
Microphone.
Speaker 6 (36:18):
They there's no reason you shouldn't go in this year.
Speaker 7 (36:20):
I mean, there's just Patrick Willis's in, and Luke's got
Patrick Willis's career, plus being defensive player that you're on
top of that.
Speaker 6 (36:27):
So it's it's not if, but when and when should
be now?
Speaker 7 (36:31):
And Steve Smith is in the top tennis to make
big categories exact NFL history, And again it's like they
always he didn't win a Super Bowl, but they they
played in Super Bowls. And you know, just to me,
I had two deserving guys.
Speaker 3 (36:44):
He had Hall of Fame moments. It wasn't just the
career you had, you know, the moments sprinkled throughout that
Fans remember cultural touchstones if you.
Speaker 6 (36:53):
Will, no doubt about it.
Speaker 7 (36:54):
And you know, and they were the guys that were
the other team's game plan. So like, how do we
take Steve Smith of that offense? What do we do
to work around Luke Keigley? And the answer was you
can't in both cases. So I think very deserving. It's
great that they get this opportunity and hopefully it gets
all the way to Canton.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Well, speaking of other teams game plans, the challenge for
Week thirteen is I think as significant as we've seen
for the Panthers. It's not just the opponent, but it's
everything leading up. This is a team that, let's face it,
it's badly in need of a bye week to go
get healthy. The Rams, I think, are playing as well
as anybody in the NFL. They've won six straight. Look
(37:31):
at some of these scores, the margin of victory in
these games. They beat the Ravens by fourteen, beat the Jaguars,
thirty five to seven. All right, it's the Saints, but
they beat them thirty four to ten, beat the Niners
forty two, twenty six. They edged Seattle by two, and
then they beat Tampa thirty four to seven. They've won
six games in a row. Matthew Stafford to me, is
(37:52):
the league MVPs having the best season of his career
at age what thirty seven, thirty touchdowns, two picks the
ball downfield? Uh, Kyron Williams is gonna run for a
thousand yards. You got Naku up, you got DeVante Adams,
you got a defense with Fisk and Verse, and you
know pootah Ford and those guys up front. This is
(38:13):
a super Bowl team. And with the Panthers coming off
a short week Thanksgiving Week on top of that, Eugene,
how do you navigate it as a player?
Speaker 4 (38:24):
I'm glad it's a short week because if it focuses
your attention immediately, everybody's going to be talking about a
short week. And then you have to make sure that
you're getting in whatever the installation is, whether on the
third down installations, a resonant installations, you got to get
that in and you have to mean maintain a fine focus.
So the fact that it's a short week, I think
there is a good thing because it directs your focus
(38:47):
is like, we gotta get this done, and.
Speaker 5 (38:49):
We have to go ahead against this opponent.
Speaker 4 (38:51):
This opponent is one of the best teams in the league,
bar none, and everybody needs to know that, bar none,
they're that good. And so you gotta go ahead and say,
we gotta saw Stafford, we got to start Nikoula Gosaw Williams,
we got to suck Devanta Adams, we got to bring
out let's bucket.
Speaker 6 (39:07):
And go to work.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
And you may not have J. C.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Horn and Trayvon Merrick.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
That's exact part.
Speaker 6 (39:11):
It is gonna be tough because of that.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
But I think again it's an opportunity or at home
at least they got to travel across the country to
get here, So I think you factored that back in.
But Matt Stafford and Sean McVay are just on the
same wavelength as if they're just standing side by side
out on the field or whatever. They're about the same age,
first of all, but they just there's just the processing
is so quick, and then the ability that they have
(39:34):
with all the talent there. And we talked about the
Niners defense only had twelve sacks where its the league
they got thirty.
Speaker 6 (39:39):
One sacks on defense. So they do all the things good.
Speaker 7 (39:42):
So we could talk about the past game and Puka
Nakula and the addition of Devonte Adams, and they.
Speaker 6 (39:47):
Run the ball good.
Speaker 7 (39:47):
They also play defense top of that, so you don't
win by wide margins. About being good on both sides
of the football.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
And I've always thought Matthew Stafford was one of the
best quarterbacks, even when he was with Detroit. He's always
been good. He can throw that rocket, can throw it
these deep. He's explosive, he's accurate, and he moves in
the pocket. Well, he's that quarterback too, And so he's
proven himself down there with the rams and rightfully so
when you said he could be the MVP, he can
definitely be an MVP.
Speaker 3 (40:13):
Thirty to two touchdown to interception ratio. You know, there's
a party that goes, well, maybe he's due for a
bad game.
Speaker 5 (40:22):
I hope, So I hope. I hope he's due for
a bad game, you know.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
And I hope they take the Panthers for granted, But
I don't think that team will wow.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Listen, what's wild with this Panthers team. I think we're
at the point nothing would surprise us.
Speaker 5 (40:37):
Nope.
Speaker 6 (40:37):
Now it's our week to win. It's every other week,
and it's win one, lose one.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
So why not Panthers in Rams Week thirteen? Back home,
everybody heard. Joy Feast week, Enjoy Thanksgiving, get some time
with your family, and embrace gratitude.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
This on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network, brought to you
by Atrium Health a health We do more to keep
you moving, achieving, striving at every age and stage so
you can live fully. Bank of America. What would you
like the power to do? Coke Kaindy deserves the great
(41:14):
taste of Coca Cola because fan work is thirsty work. Pantherton, Panthertoll,
Panther Doll. This is the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
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