October 20, 2025 • 42 mins
Dave Canales joins Anish Shroff, Jim Szoke and Sharon Thorsland on Panther Talk to recap the Panther's road win over the New York Jets, provide an update on Bryce Youngs ankle injury, discuss Derrick Brown's ascension, 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.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Panther Tall and They're Tall and They're toll. This is
Panther Talk on the Carolina Panthers Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Network staff to fake to Harbor, rolling right now, Young
rolls back to his left eyes up. Young crows head zone,
diving Catchley get touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
The defense certainly shining today with the sacks and the
two interceptions by JC, and then the offense finding our
wins early, doubling down, you know, scoring right before the half,
scoring when we came out of it, being able to
get those critical points that were the difference, you know,
and just clutch performances by guys, focusing and finishing by
doing right longer.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And now along with Sharon Thusland and Jim Zoki, hears
a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers
broadcast facility at Bank of America Stadio.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It is Panther Talk, and the Carolina Panthers are rolling
three straight wins, four of the last five, and a
shwrop Jimzoki, Sharon Thorslnen for Eugene Robinson and the head
coach of the Carolina Panthers Dave Knaalis back from New Jersey,
hard fought win against the Jets. The thing that we've
noticed over these last four or five games, this team
(01:18):
is finding different ways to win games.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
What does that tell you?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
It just tells me that there's a lot of trust
in the building between the coaching staff and the players
to our processes, commitment to how we practice, commitment to
growing our football, learning more information about situational ball and
being able to execute. You know, we talk about finishing
our definition is due right longer, and that's what it's required,
and that's what we continue to find lad in games
(01:45):
is quality football in all three phases really, and I'm
sure we'll be able to dive into that a little
bit more as we go, but it's a team that's
trusting the process and just growing up. Right before our eyes.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
A lot had been said about the three wins, hadn't
been able to win on the road, yet you tweaked
a few things, I think going into this game against
the Gist. What did you see different from your team
yesterday that maybe you haven't seen in the prior three
road games.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well, you know, the Patriots game, this game we took
care of the ball. We had no turnovers, so that's
a big one. And then eliminating the explosive plays. They
had a couple of nice returns on kickoff return unit.
They are one of the best in the NFL. Our
guys brought the right energy. They made some yards there.
Other than that, we minimized the explosives on defense, we
took care of the ball. On offense and special teams wise,
(02:33):
we were really efficient in terms of just the hidden
yardage fielding our punts Trevor etn giving us two nice returns.
We covered our punts really well, took care of the
protection part of that and flipped the fields and forced
the Jets into some long field positions. So that worked
into our favor. And it was just collectively, just a
full three phases of team football.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Yeah, you can make a case for all three phases
doing such a great job. But take the offense for
a moment. I present my problems with your rushing attack now,
Tetro the way he's playing. When you know going in
they're going to try to take away certain things. How
hard is it to run into a loaded box to
get the ball to Teta Row with sauside and plays
like that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
It was really difficult, and they had a commitment to
stopping the run and it worked for them to an extent.
You know, by the end of the day, we're you know,
in the mid hundreds in terms of rushing, and that
required a lot of toughness and a lot of just
adjustments on the sideline from our coaching staff to our
receiving group and the tight ends and the way that
they were trying to play us and having to mitigate
(03:33):
some of those things and finding successful runs kind of
through the course of it, which really came out to
where we were able to possess the ball I think
around ten minutes longer than they had it. That's also
a tribute to the defense giving us more opportunities to
be able to do that. But it was troubleshooting some
things in a group that stayed together and continue to
play violently for four quarters.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And speaking of the run with Cuba and Rico and
splitting those carries, we saw alternating series is quite a bit.
How do you manage that going forward?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Yeah, it worked great for me.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
What I saw was two really strong backs at the
end of the game, and that's what I'm counting on
and that's what we have at our disposal right now.
It's an opportunity to stay fresh that whoever goes out
there is ready and they can just empty the tank
on every single carry. You don't have to save anything
for later. Don't worry about that. We got the other
guy coming in, and we still have Trevor sitting right
back there waiting for his turn, you know, and trying
(04:25):
to make an impact in the return game. So I
love the balance of it. I love the attacking nature
of it and the aggressive nature which both guys are
running with.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Xavier Legett had a great game yesterday, especially because they
were blanketing Tmax so much. How have you seen him
come along now and develop since earlier in this season,
especially when he was injured. I mean, he seems like
he's gearing up every week and really had a breakout yesterday.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Hard work works, he just continued to work through the
whole process, and he had the injury and he battled
through that part of it and got back out on
the field, finding his rhythm, working on his game. He
was a focused man this week. He was a man
on a mission, you know. Just noticeably, I'm looking over
there and he's just he's just locked in, locked in
on improvement, locked in on taking the next steps for
(05:08):
him and helping helping the team win, helping the Panthers win.
And that was him in the run game, that was
that was him in the past game, you know, making
big plays when we needed some critical third downs.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I'm so proud of him.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I'm so proud of the way that he went about
his work because he earned that, he earned the right
to have those be ready for those opportunities when they came,
and he made some huge plays for us.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
You had a number of guys return and some for
just a couple of weeks, but for Jalen Kocher had
been since a preseason with the quad injury. There, so
being a first game back with the reps you gave
him and so forth, you kind of have to go
through a little reinitiation, I guess as far as his
fitness and his chemistry and everything with.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
That, Yeah, it's the game speed, just getting his feet
back underneath him. He looked great on film, He'd put
some wins out there. The ball didn't go his way
very often. We weren't able to get him a catch
in that game. But what I saw was a guy
that came out of the game healthy. He was really
physical in the run game for us as well, which
we need those guys to be. He was reliable in
the past game as well, So this is just something
they'll continue to build off of. But we're really excited
(06:05):
to have kokerback out there.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Coach switching over to defense, I think the most amazing
stat that I saw the last three games, the Panthers
have not allowed a rush of more than eight yards,
which is wild and considering where this defense was and
the run defense was last year, what do you attribute
that growth to.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean, I can't say enough about coach Ajiro and
the staff putting together a really good run game plan.
Todd Wash our defensive line coach. He presents the run
game plan on Wednesdays. But it's the commitment of the players.
I have to talk about the players. Yes, coaches can
come up with a great game plan, but it's the
way that they engage with the material, the way that
(06:45):
they take it to the walkthroughs and talk about things,
fit things together, discipline about it in practice, everybody running
to the ball. It takes all eleven. It really truly does.
To have the type of success that we've been having
against the run. And while this game and the discipline
is required, it also is about the guys in there.
You know, Derek Brown and Turk Wharton being back out there,
(07:07):
Ashawn Robinson, you know Bobby Brown. These these huge guys
inside that are just causing havoc and then setting edges.
You got Nick Scrton, dj Wanham Princely who just continues
to grow each week. These guys all have to work
in concert along that line, and then it just allows
for Trevin and for Christian to run sideline to sideline
(07:27):
and make plays. But it's a full group effort, and
we ask our corners to be involved in the run
game and tackle as well, and they're committed to it.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Speaking of Derek, are we watching him unlock like another layer,
you know now seeing a little more pass rush out
of him?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I believe so.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I believe that Derek is still an ascending player. He'll
be the first one to sit here and tell you
there's so much in his game that he can continue
to build on and improve on. And this is Derek
going for it. This is him working on his pass
rush moves before practice, after practice, hand placement, all those things.
You know, even just saw him affect the game by
knocking the ball down. You know, it's difficult to engage
(08:05):
in a pass rush and then to match the hand
of the quarterback. You got to have fast eyes and
you got to be able to react in those situations.
But I'm just really proud of the way that he's
he chases the ball. He had a couple of beautiful
plays where he's forcing the quarterbacks out of bounds where
they only get about you know, four or five or
six yards on a scramble that could have been bigger,
that could have been first downs. But it's that type
(08:26):
of effort that's required of the whole group. And if
our best defensive player up front is doing it, everybody
should be doing it. And it's an accountability factor.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Speaking of outstanding and play, I mean jac Horn with
the two picks, especially late in the game when it
really mattered, even more so than maybe the early one.
I mean the way he's been playing. What have you
seen out of him this season and his.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Growth, consistency, and JC just continue to be committed to
our schemes and also just being patient for his opportunities
and quarterbacks think twice about trying him on different concepts.
He got tried. They tried him yesterday and he produced.
And that's the type of patience that you have to
(09:07):
have when people recognize you as an elite corner. You
got to be an opportunist and you got to be
ready for when that moment comes and to be able
to make those catches, to be the dominant receiver on
the play. It's kind of like when you're playing in
the backyard and we call it three flies up and
you know it'd be a group of kids and you
throw it up and you know, somebody comes up with
the pass, you know, and in those situations it's one
(09:28):
on one, and he was the bigger, faster, better receiver
on those plays.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
How hard is it as a defense?
Speaker 6 (09:35):
I mean, you everyone wants to be a complete team,
but to be able to stop the run, like Aniche
was talking about, like a live couple of weeks eighteen
sixteen quarterback price or six sacks yesterday, to be good
in both and then have the coverage as well, to
put all that together at this level, How difficult is
it to be that complete on the defensive side.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
It's extremely difficult. And you know, Jim, it all starts
with stopping the run. So if you if you minimize
how many yards they get on first down, typically those
are going to turn into pass opportunities second and seven
plus third and longers where they got to hold it
to try to get the sticks, and that's where the
pass rush comes alive. That's where all the work on
the stunts, all the work on the different defensive packages
(10:13):
comes alive, where you can blitz the quarterback or you
can stun them different ways and present different fronts to them.
The more opportunities you have, the better you get at it.
And we're seeing those opportunities by how well we're playing
the run game now.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And on that note, what's it been like to kind
of see this vision come through? And I think of
the analogy of a jigsaw puzzle where you start putting
the pieces together and it doesn't quite look like what
you see on top of the box, and then the
more you do it, the more you commit to it,
the more it starts looking like what it's supposed to
look like. You, Dan Morgan Brandt, you guys had the
vision to build this thing from the trenches out invested
(10:48):
in the old line.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Last year.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
We saw the dividends, d line and the front seven.
This year we're seeing the dividends. What's it been like
to now kind of watch that vision come to fruition
and see a team that can control the trenches on
both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It's really exciting. It's really exciting to be able to
force teams to play our style of football. And we
want the we want the football game to come to
us so that we can play the mode that we're
most comfortable and aggressive and attacking in. And it's a
beautiful thing, you know. Just I can't say enough about
the hard work that Dan Morgan puts in and his
and his staff, you know, to get the type of
(11:23):
players we need, to be able to play our schemes
the way we want to play them, and to find
each other's you know, to find the player's strengths, and
to utilize Trey Meregan different ways, you know, and to
utilize our front players in different shades and techniques and
offensively certainly the same thing, you know, So to see
it all come together is amazing. All that being said,
it's a week to week business and we have a
(11:44):
great team coming in here this week that we're all
excited about just, you know, to get back to our process,
to get back to our focusing game plans.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Now this week could possibly look a little different with
Bryce young head the ankle injury against the Jets. What
do we know about his status so far and how
how are you planning to move forward with that?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, what we know, it's going to be day to
day and Bryce's Bryce wants to be out there. I
want him to be out there, and so we're going
to push the envelope. We're going to see how much
we can do each day to see if we can
just improve him little by little all the way up
to Sunday. And if we can do that, that's exactly
what we want to do for our team. On the
flip side of it, Andy Dalton's going to be ready
(12:24):
and prepared to take reps to be ready to go
out there and to uh, you know, to be able
to continue to push our processes forward. And that's the
biggest goal for me, is that if we can get
Bryce back out there, he can continue to build on
what we're building as an offense. If we get Andy,
Andy gives us an opportunity to continue to build our
processes in the run game and also in the past
(12:45):
game and developing this this team that's becoming, you know,
a really collective unit.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
Last thing for me and Derek Brown mentioned about during
process three wins in a row. Soone asked him in
the locker room yesterday about victory Monday. He says, I'm
not doing victory Monday. I'm going back to work tomorrow.
That's process right now. Where do you stand about, you know,
kind of celebrating a little bit the wins, but also
knowing that your team of sending tried to get to
a spot.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yeah, the celebration ends in about an hour. So the
guys are finishing up the film sessions with their coaches
right now, and they're celebrating the things that we did
well and they're also correcting the things that we can
improve on. And then we got to move on. And
that's always got to be the approach for us. We
definitely got to enjoy it. Enjoy it on the plane
on the way home, Enjoy it at home when you
get to see your families and celebrate that part of it.
(13:27):
We celebrate those things together as a team when we
watch them on Tell the Truth Monday.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
But it's Tell the Truth Monday.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We also have to attack the things that we got
to improve on, and then we move on to the work.
And that's the way we've seen.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
This, Dave. We'll end on this three and zero at home.
Bill's coming in. Message for the fans is get here early.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Absolutely, we need you don't miss this offense. You know,
if we get a chance to get out there first,
if we get the choice, we're kicking the ball and
you're going to see your defense out there continuing to
build on the things that we're doing. But it's an
exciting time for our teams, exciting time for the Panthers,
you know, and to be able to see some of
these some of the talent come together, the guys we
brought in a free agency, the draft picks, all developing,
(14:09):
all growing right before our eyes. It's an exciting time
in our football and I can't wait to hear keep
pounding from snap one until the final finish of the game.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's how we end to segment right there. Panther's head
coach Dave knallis, you're listening to the Carolina Panthers Radio network.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
This is Panther Talk. Rom Do you buy Bank of America?
What would you like? The power to do and.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
He sharp Chip Zoki. Sharon Thorsland is with us on
Panther Talk on this Monday. Eugene Robinson coming back from
Mexico forty year wedding anniversary.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Impressive.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Since you're here, Sharon, I figured i'd start with you
because you have a great vantage point. During games, you're
on the sideline, you sort of get the emotional read,
the temperature and over these this last few weeks, what
have you noticed that's different along the sidelines, especially with
the defense compared to what we've seen the last couple
of seasons.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Wow, the defense in particular, it's like they've just gotten
so hyper focused as these past couple of weeks have
gone on. They are just like on a mission. And
they were talking about that yesterday late in the game.
We're going to go out and finish this game. This
is our game to win. We need to go out
and finish. So I see those guys, they're so just
methodical and so just driven to get the job done
(15:32):
that maybe you weren't seeing quite as much of that
early on in the season. And the offense. It was
great to have Austin Corbett back yesterday. He's such a
cheerleader on the sidelines, just going around getting guys pumped
up and saying, come on, we can do this. Let's
go out and get some points on the board, that
kind of thing. So there's just a more of a
more energy. You can tell the confidences they are now
more as well. I think from comparing it to early
(15:52):
in this season, I'm definitely a more confident group, particularly
on offense with that defense is just called it on
a mission, is the best way I can describe it.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It also feel now that the hiccups, gym, the adversity,
those moments in the game that can become tipping points
that in the past may have snowballed. Now you're really
able to stop that and say, Okay, a bad thing happened.
This team is finding ways to get over it.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
I think the Miami win might have been the best
thing that happened to them. That they had the adversity
of being down seventeen nothing to your point, and saw
they could not only come back but win the game.
And that's a big deficit obviously, a tied a franchise
record to come back from seventeen, you know, kind of
staring a loss in the face like that, and be
able to come back and get the win. Out of that,
I think says a lot about this team, and I think,
you know, they had to pull together to do that,
(16:42):
and you know, as we talked with coach, you know,
this past victory was all three phases. And I feel
like this team does play really good, complimentary football. So
it's not like now people talk about was like the
offenses man the defense.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
I've never really seen that.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
I think teams are teams, but it is a lot
easier going when you've got guys that are helping each
other out. If you've got a good special team's return
or maybe even make a long field goal something like
that to kind of bail the offense out when they
didn't get as far down the field as they want.
The defense sets up the offense and good field position
or whatever that you remember the good times and you
you go, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna bind here. But
(17:15):
the offense is bailed us out that many times and
the defense has so I feel like this team's also
got a personality to it where it takes time to
kind of, you know, build having that camaraderie here, and
I think we have some kind of pillars of the
roster and some other guys. I love what Derek Brown said, like,
I don't know victory Monday. We're in process of trying
and get better. I'm going to work tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
And so I said that after the Atlanta game too,
like something to that effect.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
That's one game, big deal.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Yeah what that like I Jacon Hornet expects to get
two interceptions?
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You know, things like that.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
I think that's those are culture setting things like that's
the standard and it's not shouldn't be a surprise or anything.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
And these are great football players.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
So you look at the younger guys who are coming up,
like say Princely or Nick or whoever, and they see that,
they go, Okay, that's the bar.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
That's where we're trying to get to as a team.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
That's well, I was saying, that's the Miami game is
when I noticed that turnaround two Because in the prior games,
this particular on the road, when we went down early
with turnovers or big plays, explosive plays, you could just
they just didn't have that same oomph to get over
the hill that like you said, you get down and
they're like, oh, here we go again. It was almost
that kind.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Of a that in Jacksonville.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, especially and I think the guy said that,
Derek Brown, he actually said that. He said, when we
that was a wake up call for us, when we
went out there and we're like, okay, we're gonna get
this great defense this year and where everybody's back, and
then to go out and give up that two hundred
yards Russ and they're like, whoah, wait a minute. So
he said, we sort of hit the reset button at
that point. But I think that there was such a
huge difference between the Patriots game and the Miami game
that I was on the sidelines for as well. To
(18:40):
see them just say all right, we're going to get
past this, and to be able to mount that comeback
and I only come back like they did in Arizona,
but to actually win that was such a huge confidence
booster to let them see, all right, we can do this.
We don't have to just get deflated and let the
air out when we have a turnover or a big
plague that doesn't go our way something like that. So
I think that Miami game was definitely that you could
just see the the light switch went on. I mean,
(19:02):
it was great.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
What's been illuminating is you go back to two years ago,
the two and fifteen team. The two games they won,
they scored fifteen points against the Texans, they scored nine
against the Falcons. Soon that offense could not do anything,
and the defense, to its credit, tried to keep the
Panthers in a lot of the games than they did
for a half for three quarters, but they couldn't get
(19:24):
anything going on offense. So you only had a shot
if you played a low scoring game and were able
to win. Last year, with the issues and the injuries
they had on defense, it felt like you had to
outscore everybody and you had to have the ball last
because it was going to be a shootout. What we're
noticing this year the Atlanta game, you could credit special
(19:44):
teams as being a driver in that game with field
position and then creating some turnovers. The Miami game, the
ability to come back and handle adversity, to stay with
the run, even down seventeen to nothing. Dallas was a shootout.
They had a great offense and we went toe to
toe with them. And then you win the Jets game
on the strength of your defense. That to me is
(20:07):
a sign of an ascending team. You're finding different ways
to win. Even you go back to twenty twenty one
when Steve Wilks took over, they had one lane and
that was you gotta run the ball thirty five to
forty times. If the other team took that away, you
probably weren't going to win. But that was your one
lane to run in and play in. And if you
ran in that lane and you went a few miles
ahead of the speed limit, you had a shot. We're
(20:29):
seeing a team that can find different ways to win
this year. That's a big step now.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
It is, and every opponent's different too. Some are more
explosive than others. So there are gonna be some games where, look,
we got Buffalo, we got green Bay coming up.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
We could be in some shootouts coming up here.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
So maybe on the offense to be able to put
up like an Atlanta kind of a number to be
able to win the game or something like that, because
the defense could play well. But Buffalo and Green Bay
can be very explosive. So it'll be interesting to see
as these next a couple of weeks unfold and that
we're on this three game winning streak, how it continues
from there.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
But you see see what the players.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
You see talent on both sides of the ball. You
see the coaching concepts that they talk about play out
on the field. The way they're going right now is
great to see somebody healthy, players back that had been
out over the past couple of weeks, including Turk Wharton
on the defensive side. All that rotational stuff helps you
through the course of a season and the course of
a game to be able to do things like that.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Yeah, I think that just the way that everybody is
starting to really gel and play together. You see that
chemistry developing more. And of course now we don't know
the situation with Bryce going into this Sunday's game, but
he's really developed that chemistry with t mac already. You
were saying earlier it has to sort of get it
back maybe with Jalen Cooker. But these guys are just
meshing on both sides of football, and I think you
really see it defensively, like with with j C. Horn
(21:41):
and Mike Jackson back there, and the guys just seem
to be clicking. And I'm on the front line that
it seems like they're really growing together as units as
well as a team.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
I thought Mike jack played his best game of the season.
And then the one guy who played the best game
of his career was Xavier le getting the trust they
showed in him. On that last play when Dalton throws
at thirty three yards downfield and he's got to adjust,
he makes the catch. Andy's faith and Xavier lea get
I mean that was his go to guy with Sauce
Gardner on Tedole McMillan, and again you start to dream, right, Yes,
(22:13):
I know Bryce Young might be out, but Tedol McMillan
has shown what he could do. He was matched up
with Sauce Gardner. You start to unlock what Legett can
potentially do. This guy was a first round pick. Well,
that's another weapon, Jalen Cocher's back, JT Sanders's back. These
are good problems to have. I know it's easy to
harp on. Well, chewbun Rico, what are you gonna do again?
(22:34):
Good problems to have in panther Land.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
On that note, we will get a little bit of
a scouting report on the Buffalo Bills when we come back.
They are the Week eight opponent for the Carolina Panthers,
big home game. Carolina tries to stay unbeaten at home
We'll talk with one of Central New York's finalist, Brent Axe,
when we come back on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
This is Panther Talk, brought to you by Atreum Health.
At Atrium Health, we do more to keep you moving,
the treating strenging at every age and stage so you
can live fully.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Look start God running around store.
Speaker 6 (23:15):
Jonn Over, a tackler at the tent slows up.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Lauris's shoulder keeps running.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
No one will touch him.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Jonathan Stuart how suggested.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
The slash back football Stu and the Crew.
Speaker 7 (23:29):
Welcome back to Stu and the Crew. Got my guy here,
Mike Tolbert. What was your mindset like while you were
in college?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Savage?
Speaker 7 (23:40):
Just a savage off the field, fel Savage.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I was.
Speaker 8 (23:45):
I was enjoying college life.
Speaker 9 (23:46):
Man.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
I love playing ball at Coastal.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Like if I had to put it in the phrase
told love's life. Yes, and if you are a part
of his life, you would be loved. And I feel
honored to have like have had you as a teammate,
but more so as a brother.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, my brother.
Speaker 7 (24:05):
You know what I'm saying, because but my question is bro, Like,
do you wear that as like something that's heavy when
you come into a room knowing that you have to
be this positive light all the time, or is it
something that you you know, have struggles with sometimes because
as I know, consistency as a father, as a husband,
(24:29):
as a friend, provider, son, and you are always consistent.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
It is.
Speaker 8 (24:38):
It is tough, But at the same time, I'm a
product of who my mama made. You know what I'm saying.
My mama has always figured it out, you know what
I'm saying. So we like to say in our family, Hey,
I gotta figure it out, bonus right there next to mine.
So my rebcage, Well, it's something happened, whatever it is,
got to figure it out, you know what I'm saying.
(25:00):
Come up tomorrow for somebody, but we gotta figure it out.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You know.
Speaker 8 (25:03):
I have a very optimistic look on life, you know,
where I see the positive of what can come from everything,
every situation, Like when my grandma passed away when I
was in San Diego. You know, team flew me to
Atlanta from San Diego, you know, and I'm devastated, Like
(25:27):
my grandma was the light of my.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Life, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8 (25:30):
And North. Turn the flight, I told me, you don't
have to play. I know how close you'all were, you
don't have to play. And I was like, I can't
stay here, you know what I'm saying, Like I can't
be by myself.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Let me be.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
Around my brother. So Darren Spros came with me to
the funeral and then we went from Atlanta to Cleveland.
I had the longest play in my career that day,
you know what I'm saying. So Like it's one of
those things where like life is so intertwined that like
you can't be too up and too down. Now I've
(26:00):
had my time, especially since I retired, that I've fallen
into like a funk, like a deeper depression type state,
and it took some work to get out of it.
But at the same time, I had people like yourself,
you know, that I could call on and just vent
to and just talk, you know what I'm saying. And
Cody Sensible is another one. You know what I'm saying,
(26:21):
God that I lean leaned on heavy during that dark time,
you know, and my wife and my family as well.
But I'm so lucky to be in this position, you
know what I'm saying. To be saying that I played
this long in the NFL, I got to live my dream,
married the woman of my dreams, got three wonderful kids.
That it doesn't no one any good for me to
(26:43):
look down on life, you know what I'm saying. So
when I come into a room, if I'm not smiling,
I'm probably just tired, you know what I'm saying. Because
I have been at volleyball football practice, I've been at
golf practice with my youngest. I've been working at the gym.
You know what I'm saying, all over the place doing things.
So that's all it is.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Yeah, for y'all that's listening when I tell you this
man right here to my right, Toad is a guy
that brought a lot of inspiration to me when he
came to Carolina. Uh. He was. He was a guy
that I saw be the best husband and best father.
(27:22):
I got to see him, you know, with his kids
and me being a single guy at that time, I
always looked up to him. I always probably used to
ask you questions about, Hey, what's this?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Like? What are you doing?
Speaker 7 (27:34):
Like y'all, how do y'all work this out?
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Like I was?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I was.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
I was prepping and asking questions because obviously, I think
one of the things that people desire the most is
love and to be loved right and to and to
cherish someone right. And so Tolbert was that guy that
I looked at for the first time. I'm like, wow,
I want that, and you know, to see how you
(28:00):
you've you know, gone through you know, post football, you know,
you had the trucking company, rock box businessman and balancing
all these things and still showing up for your family,
but most of all, showing up for yourself, because I
think that gets so lost in today's society for man,
(28:25):
but for speaking about the NFL guys, the professional athletes.
You know, we sometimes become so prideful about what we're
doing post career and how we are doing post career
that we just check out.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
And you checked in.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Like it's funny because like when I was playing, my
wife will be like, well, you're working, so when the
off season comes, you like, it's my off season now.
So I'm just like, man, if I'm working during this,
then it's your off season off season.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I'm working full time, right, so I don't have a.
Speaker 8 (29:05):
Don't I don't have no time, you know what I'm saying,
But man, I appreciate that too. I mean, like I
didn't have a father growing up. Well I had one,
but like I've seen him probably that'saw him like three
times before I got was in the NFL. So I
wanted to make sure that my kids had something that
I never had, especially my son. You know, I love
(29:28):
my daughters tremendously, but my son, I have to raise
him to be a man. I have to raise him
to be a man like me, you know what I'm saying.
So I never had a man. Tell me I love you,
you know what I'm saying. So I tell my son
I love him every day. My girls too, you know
what I'm saying. My wife, you know, she is the
backbone of our family. You know what I'm saying. She
(29:49):
is the one that curated all of this. You know
she she was the one that said let's go to Carolina,
you know what I'm saying, because there was other options
on the table. Shot, there was other options on the table,
but she knew how much it meant to me to
get back south. Yeah, you know, where could you have gone?
Arizona was one boo, Seattle was one boo Jets boo Tampa.
Speaker 7 (30:14):
Boo oh, double boo. Yeah, so it was uh that
would have been bad for our defense.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You can listen to Stu and the crew on the
iHeartRadio app, Panthers dot com and Team Apple Apple Podcast
or Spotify. This is Panther Talk. You blind coke dude
deserves the great taste of Goca cola because fan work
is thirsty work.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And he shroped Jim Zokie Sharon Thorsland back here on
Panther Talk. You guys have seen Game of Thrones before, right,
Sharon has it? Jim has so you know when they
introduced the dragon Queen, and she's got nine thousand titles,
Queen of the and Als, the First Men and Breaker
of chains and Mother of dragons. So our next guest
(31:05):
Brent Ax. When I've been on his shows, he gives
me these overly flowery introductions, really flattering. It's great stuff.
So I'm gonna try to do my best to bring
in our next guest. His name is Brent Ax. He
is a man of all seasons. He is a radio host,
a podcaster, a columnist. He is the soundtrack to Central
New York Sports, all things Buffalo Bills, Syracuse football, Syracuse basketball,
(31:30):
he's also a professor. The only blemish on his resume
is many years ago, Brent had this show called The
Friday Sports Connection and he needed a co host and
he chose me. But we're not perfect, Brent. We're bringing
you on Panther Talk because we want to talk Buffalo Bills.
And I think you know this. When you have a
great quarterback and then you have to pay that great quarterback,
(31:53):
the calculus within the franchise becomes, Okay, he's going to
cover up deficiencies everywhere. And we know what Josh Allen
can do. But in this season, with the expectations being
what they are, are the Bills asking too much of
Josh Allen right now?
Speaker 9 (32:10):
I don't think there's any question about it. A niche
And the thing is Josh has just been able to
put on a superman k the past couple of years
and just rescue them out of these situations. But I
saw a look in Josh Allen's eyes after that loss
to Atlanta that I have not seen since his rookie year,
in just the sense of no one's open. Kean Coleman
is not the number one wide receiver. Khalil Shakure is.
(32:33):
I will take him over many receivers in the National
Football League, but he has its limits in terms of
what he can do. He's not a deep threat. He's
more of a guy just get the ball in his
hands and let him you know, shake and bake up
the field. And people are picking up on that and
they're you know, taking him out of the game plan more.
Dalton Kincaid was hurt in that game, and the Bills
do have some injuries. Kurtis Samuel has been hurt as well.
(32:56):
But when you have Josh Allen, I think Bill's been
looking around the past couple of years, like, man, shouldn't
we get that guy, like a top receiver, Like, I mean,
what's going on here with this? And Stefan Diggs was
kind of the last guy that built that role and
he comes in with the Patriots a couple of weeks
ago and he lit up the Bills. So they are
(33:17):
definitely leaning a little too hard on this hole.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Like ah Man, Josh Allen, He'll he'll.
Speaker 9 (33:22):
Figure it out. Now they've got to figure it out
collectively as an offense.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
So they lost the Falcons before that lost to the Patriot.
What's been the what was the common thread in those
two losses. What did you see out of those two games?
Speaker 9 (33:35):
The common thread was that they're turning the ball over
more than they did last year, sharing and in the
words of the head coach, not just bywords here, they're
getting a little too cute on some play calls. Right, So, like,
that's what we're hoping the bye week brings out of
this team, is like, can you just kind of get
back to basics and stop getting a little too cute
(33:57):
and stop doing things that Joe Brady was a college
offensive coordinator. I think he's dipping a little bit too
much into that creative LSU playbook. And the other thing is, look, again, defensively,
they've had some injuries, I mean Dake von Jones, Treelpinard,
Matt Mulano, Maxwell Harrison hasn't even made it on the
(34:18):
field yet, their first round draft pick. But the defensive
play calling has been a little questionable. And I know
I'm rambling here, but this is the amount of issues
they had in those two games. They just haven't been
tackling well, I mean just flat out, which is again
a thing. Hopefully the bye week turns around for the
Bills and they are undefeated under McDermot. Out of the
bye week, So hopefully that's something they put a priority
(34:41):
on as well, because it's been pretty bad past couple
of weeks.
Speaker 6 (34:43):
Well, Brent, as you know, the Panthers have been the
training ground for all those people you mentioned, Joe Brady
and Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean and so many others.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
This is a macro question.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
You guys have been double digit win team playoffs, get
the conference championship game, so forth. Obviously there's only one
thing left to do is get to a super Bowl
and go win one. When is that kind of a pressure,
Like you got to win the whole golf tournament, not
finish in the top three or top five. You've got
to be Scotti shuffler, you got to win the whole thing.
What's the pressure like on the organization right now?
Speaker 9 (35:13):
It's kind of like Rory McElroy, right, he's had this
great run and accomplished all these things, but guy, win
the Masters, right, You've got to close the deal on this.
And it's not like the bills of one other majors
air quotes because they've but they've they're getting to AFC
championship games and they're doing everything else except get to
the Super Bowl and win it. And you guys know
as well as anybody in the NFL that windows open
(35:35):
for so long and when you have either the best
or second best quarterback in the game, depending on you know,
the bounce back between other quarterbacks, the fitness conversation. But
Josh Allen is in the top two no matter how
you rank it right now, and he's the reigning MVP.
You've got to cash that in. So Kansas City has
been the team in the way right And I've been
(35:57):
obsessed a little bit with Bean, Like every move you
make it sounds like that song by Sting right, every
move you make, every breath you take should be designed
to beat Kansas City. And I don't always get the
impression that they're doing that right. So that's the thing, Like,
what is this team doing to maintain that success and
get to where you need to be and get home
(36:18):
field advantage and everything that you can put in front
of you to beat the Kansas City Chiefs Because that's
almost their super Bowl right now. Sure think if they
can manage that, then they'll whim the super Bowl. Like
that's the thing they've got to do more than anything
on the to do list.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, it feels kind of like where the forty nine
ers were with the Cowboys in the nineties many years ago. Brent,
I'll leave you with this. You look at the Bills
right now. They have struggled to stop the run. They're
in the bottom three in rush defense. Sandwich between Dallas
and Miami. The Panthers ran all over Dallas and they
(36:55):
ran all over Miami. How much of a concern is
that for Buffalo against what now seems to be a
very activated Carolina rushing attack.
Speaker 9 (37:05):
Not as much of a concern as maybe it would
have been a couple of weeks ago. The Bills do
get Ojanobi and Michael heck Back off of a suspension
this week. At Oliver is healthy again, and the difference
between the Bills run defense when that Oliver is on
the field and healthy versus when not is huge. So
I think it'll will improve. But it's it's kind of
(37:27):
what we touched on a minute ago, a Niche. The
numbers speak for themselves, even when they've been healthy. There
you've just got running backs and yeah, they beat the
Ravens in Week one, but Derrick Henry ran all over him.
He done every time he plays the Bills and a
couple other running backs that frankly should not be putting
up the numbers. They are again to be John Robinson.
(37:49):
I mean, Buffalo could do nothing against him in that
Atlanta game, but they are healthier and getting those two
back from their suspension. It's almost like a week eight signing.
The trade deadlines approaching here, I think the Bills have
to be aggressive there and try and grab another receiver
and help their safety position, which has also been a
big concern.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
He is Brent Ax, the ax Man. He is the
soundtrack of all things Central New York. The man, themit,
the legend, Brent Ax shedding some light here on the
Buffalo Bills. Brent, I will see you on Halloween when
I'll be up at Syracuse for the North Carolina game
and uh trick or treat. Until then, my friend.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
Cannot wait to see you. Can't wait to see what
costume you're going to be in for that one. There's
so many Bill Belichick possibilities to be careful.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
Sharon is a unc alum II.
Speaker 9 (38:43):
I love it for me and it's always great, always
great to talk to, Like my sixth or seven favorite
person from the state of New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
His friends.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
That's great, does the Great Brent Ax. You're listening to
the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network and East.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Jim Sharon back with you here on Panther Talk. We
look ahead to Sunday. Sharon, this feels like one of
the bigger games we've had in recent memory at Bank
of America Stadium.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
Absolutely. I mean, coming off a three game win streak,
which is something we haven't seen around here in a
long time, above five hundred and this team is rolling
right now. And to have the Buffalo Bills coming into town,
who obviously we know how good that team is, even
if they're coming off of two losses. You bring in
just the talent that they have on that team, the
fans acrawl out of the woodwork around here in Charlotte.
(39:38):
I know so many people, yeah, from Buffalo, So it
feels like there's a lot riding on this game, even
though it's just a regular season game. But it feels
bigger than that, just based on what they've been doing
in this path, this trajectory that they've been on, getting
better and better and better every week, and now this
is gonna be a whole nother scenario coming in here
from the ugly win type thing. It was yesterday and
(40:00):
you know the shootout against Dallas to come from behind
when against Miami. What's it going to take to beat
this Bills team on Sunday? And I think it's going
to take us, Jim must saying earlier, I mean it's
going to be a collective effort. I mean, all three
phases have got to be on if you want to
try to take down Josh Allen in that group?
Speaker 6 (40:16):
Do you guys know why this is a big game
because it's the next game.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
I always wanted to coach.
Speaker 6 (40:21):
I always wanted to coach speak to you guys one
time and just say something a coach, just say forget
because it's the next game.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
You guys all know that. And I think it's just
from the entertainment standpoint.
Speaker 6 (40:30):
I mean we talked about some fans travel, so well,
we see Cowboys fans or Miami fans or whatever. They're
embedded in our community. They've been here for decades, they
live amongst us, So this is not even a travel game.
There's so many Buffalo people that live in this area.
So I love the entertainment spectacle of it's not only
a big game that's meaningful, but you have fans that
are passionate. These are two passionate fan bases. So I
think the energy is gonna be a lot of fun
(40:51):
at this game.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
I think it's going to be great energy. And the
Panthers again three and zero at home. They've played their
best football at home. I go back to last year
when you know the Panthers were coming off back to
back wins against the Saints. They go beat the Giants
in Munich, had the bye week. Kansas City comes into
town and it was one of these litmus test games.
How much better have you really gotten? And they go
toe to toe with Kansas City and that was the
(41:13):
first sign that things are starting to turn. And now
that they're learning how to win their plus thirty five
scoring margin in the fourth quarter, it's best in the league.
They're learning how to finish and close games out. You
bring in a team that's been doing that for years
with Josh Allen. You bring in a Super Bowl contender,
one of the preseason Super Bowl favorites. To me. If
you go out, you play Buffalo competitively, even if you
(41:35):
come out with a Win. I think it says a
lot to where this franchise is in where it's heading.
So big test, as we've been saying all along, get
here early.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
This has been talk on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network,
brought to you by Atrium Health. At Atrium Health, we
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age and stage so you can live fully. Bank of America.
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(42:08):
deserves the great taste of Coca Cola because fan work
is thirsty work. Pantherton, Pantherton, Panthertoll. This is the Carolina
Panthers Radio Network.
The following is an exclusive presentation of the Carolina Panthers
and the National Football League.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Panther Tall and They're Tall and They're toll. This is
Panther Talk on the Carolina Panthers Radio.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Network staff to fake to Harbor, rolling right now, Young
rolls back to his left eyes up. Young crows head zone,
diving Catchley get touchdown Carolina.
Speaker 3 (00:26):
The defense certainly shining today with the sacks and the
two interceptions by JC, and then the offense finding our
wins early, doubling down, you know, scoring right before the half,
scoring when we came out of it, being able to
get those critical points that were the difference, you know,
and just clutch performances by guys, focusing and finishing by
doing right longer.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And now along with Sharon Thusland and Jim Zoki, hears
a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers
broadcast facility at Bank of America Stadio.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It is Panther Talk, and the Carolina Panthers are rolling
three straight wins, four of the last five, and a
shwrop Jimzoki, Sharon Thorslnen for Eugene Robinson and the head
coach of the Carolina Panthers Dave Knaalis back from New Jersey,
hard fought win against the Jets. The thing that we've
noticed over these last four or five games, this team
(01:18):
is finding different ways to win games.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
What does that tell you?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
It just tells me that there's a lot of trust
in the building between the coaching staff and the players
to our processes, commitment to how we practice, commitment to
growing our football, learning more information about situational ball and
being able to execute. You know, we talk about finishing
our definition is due right longer, and that's what it's required,
and that's what we continue to find lad in games
(01:45):
is quality football in all three phases really, and I'm
sure we'll be able to dive into that a little
bit more as we go, but it's a team that's
trusting the process and just growing up. Right before our eyes.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
A lot had been said about the three wins, hadn't
been able to win on the road, yet you tweaked
a few things, I think going into this game against
the Gist. What did you see different from your team
yesterday that maybe you haven't seen in the prior three
road games.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Well, you know, the Patriots game, this game we took
care of the ball. We had no turnovers, so that's
a big one. And then eliminating the explosive plays. They
had a couple of nice returns on kickoff return unit.
They are one of the best in the NFL. Our
guys brought the right energy. They made some yards there.
Other than that, we minimized the explosives on defense, we
took care of the ball. On offense and special teams wise,
(02:33):
we were really efficient in terms of just the hidden
yardage fielding our punts Trevor etn giving us two nice returns.
We covered our punts really well, took care of the
protection part of that and flipped the fields and forced
the Jets into some long field positions. So that worked
into our favor. And it was just collectively, just a
full three phases of team football.
Speaker 6 (02:54):
Yeah, you can make a case for all three phases
doing such a great job. But take the offense for
a moment. I present my problems with your rushing attack now,
Tetro the way he's playing. When you know going in
they're going to try to take away certain things. How
hard is it to run into a loaded box to
get the ball to Teta Row with sauside and plays
like that.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
It was really difficult, and they had a commitment to
stopping the run and it worked for them to an extent.
You know, by the end of the day, we're you know,
in the mid hundreds in terms of rushing, and that
required a lot of toughness and a lot of just
adjustments on the sideline from our coaching staff to our
receiving group and the tight ends and the way that
they were trying to play us and having to mitigate
(03:33):
some of those things and finding successful runs kind of
through the course of it, which really came out to
where we were able to possess the ball I think
around ten minutes longer than they had it. That's also
a tribute to the defense giving us more opportunities to
be able to do that. But it was troubleshooting some
things in a group that stayed together and continue to
play violently for four quarters.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
And speaking of the run with Cuba and Rico and
splitting those carries, we saw alternating series is quite a bit.
How do you manage that going forward?
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Yeah, it worked great for me.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
What I saw was two really strong backs at the
end of the game, and that's what I'm counting on
and that's what we have at our disposal right now.
It's an opportunity to stay fresh that whoever goes out
there is ready and they can just empty the tank
on every single carry. You don't have to save anything
for later. Don't worry about that. We got the other
guy coming in, and we still have Trevor sitting right
back there waiting for his turn, you know, and trying
(04:25):
to make an impact in the return game. So I
love the balance of it. I love the attacking nature
of it and the aggressive nature which both guys are
running with.
Speaker 5 (04:34):
Xavier Legett had a great game yesterday, especially because they
were blanketing Tmax so much. How have you seen him
come along now and develop since earlier in this season,
especially when he was injured. I mean, he seems like
he's gearing up every week and really had a breakout yesterday.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Hard work works, he just continued to work through the
whole process, and he had the injury and he battled
through that part of it and got back out on
the field, finding his rhythm, working on his game. He
was a focused man this week. He was a man
on a mission, you know. Just noticeably, I'm looking over
there and he's just he's just locked in, locked in
on improvement, locked in on taking the next steps for
(05:08):
him and helping helping the team win, helping the Panthers win.
And that was him in the run game, that was
that was him in the past game, you know, making
big plays when we needed some critical third downs.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
I'm so proud of him.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
I'm so proud of the way that he went about
his work because he earned that, he earned the right
to have those be ready for those opportunities when they came,
and he made some huge plays for us.
Speaker 6 (05:28):
You had a number of guys return and some for
just a couple of weeks, but for Jalen Kocher had
been since a preseason with the quad injury. There, so
being a first game back with the reps you gave
him and so forth, you kind of have to go
through a little reinitiation, I guess as far as his
fitness and his chemistry and everything with.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
That, Yeah, it's the game speed, just getting his feet
back underneath him. He looked great on film, He'd put
some wins out there. The ball didn't go his way
very often. We weren't able to get him a catch
in that game. But what I saw was a guy
that came out of the game healthy. He was really
physical in the run game for us as well, which
we need those guys to be. He was reliable in
the past game as well, So this is just something
they'll continue to build off of. But we're really excited
(06:05):
to have kokerback out there.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Coach switching over to defense, I think the most amazing
stat that I saw the last three games, the Panthers
have not allowed a rush of more than eight yards,
which is wild and considering where this defense was and
the run defense was last year, what do you attribute
that growth to.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean, I can't say enough about coach Ajiro and
the staff putting together a really good run game plan.
Todd Wash our defensive line coach. He presents the run
game plan on Wednesdays. But it's the commitment of the players.
I have to talk about the players. Yes, coaches can
come up with a great game plan, but it's the
way that they engage with the material, the way that
(06:45):
they take it to the walkthroughs and talk about things,
fit things together, discipline about it in practice, everybody running
to the ball. It takes all eleven. It really truly does.
To have the type of success that we've been having
against the run. And while this game and the discipline
is required, it also is about the guys in there.
You know, Derek Brown and Turk Wharton being back out there,
(07:07):
Ashawn Robinson, you know Bobby Brown. These these huge guys
inside that are just causing havoc and then setting edges.
You got Nick Scrton, dj Wanham Princely who just continues
to grow each week. These guys all have to work
in concert along that line, and then it just allows
for Trevin and for Christian to run sideline to sideline
(07:27):
and make plays. But it's a full group effort, and
we ask our corners to be involved in the run
game and tackle as well, and they're committed to it.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Speaking of Derek, are we watching him unlock like another layer,
you know now seeing a little more pass rush out
of him?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
I believe so.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
I believe that Derek is still an ascending player. He'll
be the first one to sit here and tell you
there's so much in his game that he can continue
to build on and improve on. And this is Derek
going for it. This is him working on his pass
rush moves before practice, after practice, hand placement, all those things.
You know, even just saw him affect the game by
knocking the ball down. You know, it's difficult to engage
(08:05):
in a pass rush and then to match the hand
of the quarterback. You got to have fast eyes and
you got to be able to react in those situations.
But I'm just really proud of the way that he's
he chases the ball. He had a couple of beautiful
plays where he's forcing the quarterbacks out of bounds where
they only get about you know, four or five or
six yards on a scramble that could have been bigger,
that could have been first downs. But it's that type
(08:26):
of effort that's required of the whole group. And if
our best defensive player up front is doing it, everybody
should be doing it. And it's an accountability factor.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Speaking of outstanding and play, I mean jac Horn with
the two picks, especially late in the game when it
really mattered, even more so than maybe the early one.
I mean the way he's been playing. What have you
seen out of him this season and his.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Growth, consistency, and JC just continue to be committed to
our schemes and also just being patient for his opportunities
and quarterbacks think twice about trying him on different concepts.
He got tried. They tried him yesterday and he produced.
And that's the type of patience that you have to
(09:07):
have when people recognize you as an elite corner. You
got to be an opportunist and you got to be
ready for when that moment comes and to be able
to make those catches, to be the dominant receiver on
the play. It's kind of like when you're playing in
the backyard and we call it three flies up and
you know it'd be a group of kids and you
throw it up and you know, somebody comes up with
the pass, you know, and in those situations it's one
(09:28):
on one, and he was the bigger, faster, better receiver
on those plays.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
How hard is it as a defense?
Speaker 6 (09:35):
I mean, you everyone wants to be a complete team,
but to be able to stop the run, like Aniche
was talking about, like a live couple of weeks eighteen
sixteen quarterback price or six sacks yesterday, to be good
in both and then have the coverage as well, to
put all that together at this level, How difficult is
it to be that complete on the defensive side.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
It's extremely difficult. And you know, Jim, it all starts
with stopping the run. So if you if you minimize
how many yards they get on first down, typically those
are going to turn into pass opportunities second and seven
plus third and longers where they got to hold it
to try to get the sticks, and that's where the
pass rush comes alive. That's where all the work on
the stunts, all the work on the different defensive packages
(10:13):
comes alive, where you can blitz the quarterback or you
can stun them different ways and present different fronts to them.
The more opportunities you have, the better you get at it.
And we're seeing those opportunities by how well we're playing
the run game now.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
And on that note, what's it been like to kind
of see this vision come through? And I think of
the analogy of a jigsaw puzzle where you start putting
the pieces together and it doesn't quite look like what
you see on top of the box, and then the
more you do it, the more you commit to it,
the more it starts looking like what it's supposed to
look like. You, Dan Morgan Brandt, you guys had the
vision to build this thing from the trenches out invested
(10:48):
in the old line.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Last year.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
We saw the dividends, d line and the front seven.
This year we're seeing the dividends. What's it been like
to now kind of watch that vision come to fruition
and see a team that can control the trenches on
both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It's really exciting. It's really exciting to be able to
force teams to play our style of football. And we
want the we want the football game to come to
us so that we can play the mode that we're
most comfortable and aggressive and attacking in. And it's a
beautiful thing, you know. Just I can't say enough about
the hard work that Dan Morgan puts in and his
and his staff, you know, to get the type of
(11:23):
players we need, to be able to play our schemes
the way we want to play them, and to find
each other's you know, to find the player's strengths, and
to utilize Trey Meregan different ways, you know, and to
utilize our front players in different shades and techniques and
offensively certainly the same thing, you know, So to see
it all come together is amazing. All that being said,
it's a week to week business and we have a
(11:44):
great team coming in here this week that we're all
excited about just, you know, to get back to our process,
to get back to our focusing game plans.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
Now this week could possibly look a little different with
Bryce young head the ankle injury against the Jets. What
do we know about his status so far and how
how are you planning to move forward with that?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, what we know, it's going to be day to
day and Bryce's Bryce wants to be out there. I
want him to be out there, and so we're going
to push the envelope. We're going to see how much
we can do each day to see if we can
just improve him little by little all the way up
to Sunday. And if we can do that, that's exactly
what we want to do for our team. On the
flip side of it, Andy Dalton's going to be ready
(12:24):
and prepared to take reps to be ready to go
out there and to uh, you know, to be able
to continue to push our processes forward. And that's the
biggest goal for me, is that if we can get
Bryce back out there, he can continue to build on
what we're building as an offense. If we get Andy,
Andy gives us an opportunity to continue to build our
processes in the run game and also in the past
(12:45):
game and developing this this team that's becoming, you know,
a really collective unit.
Speaker 6 (12:50):
Last thing for me and Derek Brown mentioned about during
process three wins in a row. Soone asked him in
the locker room yesterday about victory Monday. He says, I'm
not doing victory Monday. I'm going back to work tomorrow.
That's process right now. Where do you stand about, you know,
kind of celebrating a little bit the wins, but also
knowing that your team of sending tried to get to
a spot.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Yeah, the celebration ends in about an hour. So the
guys are finishing up the film sessions with their coaches
right now, and they're celebrating the things that we did
well and they're also correcting the things that we can
improve on. And then we got to move on. And
that's always got to be the approach for us. We
definitely got to enjoy it. Enjoy it on the plane
on the way home, Enjoy it at home when you
get to see your families and celebrate that part of it.
(13:27):
We celebrate those things together as a team when we
watch them on Tell the Truth Monday.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
But it's Tell the Truth Monday.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
We also have to attack the things that we got
to improve on, and then we move on to the work.
And that's the way we've seen.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
This, Dave. We'll end on this three and zero at home.
Bill's coming in. Message for the fans is get here early.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Absolutely, we need you don't miss this offense. You know,
if we get a chance to get out there first,
if we get the choice, we're kicking the ball and
you're going to see your defense out there continuing to
build on the things that we're doing. But it's an
exciting time for our teams, exciting time for the Panthers,
you know, and to be able to see some of
these some of the talent come together, the guys we
brought in a free agency, the draft picks, all developing,
(14:09):
all growing right before our eyes. It's an exciting time
in our football and I can't wait to hear keep
pounding from snap one until the final finish of the game.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's how we end to segment right there. Panther's head
coach Dave knallis, you're listening to the Carolina Panthers Radio network.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
This is Panther Talk. Rom Do you buy Bank of America?
What would you like? The power to do and.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
He sharp Chip Zoki. Sharon Thorsland is with us on
Panther Talk on this Monday. Eugene Robinson coming back from
Mexico forty year wedding anniversary.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
Impressive.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Since you're here, Sharon, I figured i'd start with you
because you have a great vantage point. During games, you're
on the sideline, you sort of get the emotional read,
the temperature and over these this last few weeks, what
have you noticed that's different along the sidelines, especially with
the defense compared to what we've seen the last couple
of seasons.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
Wow, the defense in particular, it's like they've just gotten
so hyper focused as these past couple of weeks have
gone on. They are just like on a mission. And
they were talking about that yesterday late in the game.
We're going to go out and finish this game. This
is our game to win. We need to go out
and finish. So I see those guys, they're so just
methodical and so just driven to get the job done
(15:32):
that maybe you weren't seeing quite as much of that
early on in the season. And the offense. It was
great to have Austin Corbett back yesterday. He's such a
cheerleader on the sidelines, just going around getting guys pumped
up and saying, come on, we can do this. Let's
go out and get some points on the board, that
kind of thing. So there's just a more of a
more energy. You can tell the confidences they are now
more as well. I think from comparing it to early
(15:52):
in this season, I'm definitely a more confident group, particularly
on offense with that defense is just called it on
a mission, is the best way I can describe it.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It also feel now that the hiccups, gym, the adversity,
those moments in the game that can become tipping points
that in the past may have snowballed. Now you're really
able to stop that and say, Okay, a bad thing happened.
This team is finding ways to get over it.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
I think the Miami win might have been the best
thing that happened to them. That they had the adversity
of being down seventeen nothing to your point, and saw
they could not only come back but win the game.
And that's a big deficit obviously, a tied a franchise
record to come back from seventeen, you know, kind of
staring a loss in the face like that, and be
able to come back and get the win. Out of that,
I think says a lot about this team, and I think,
you know, they had to pull together to do that,
(16:42):
and you know, as we talked with coach, you know,
this past victory was all three phases. And I feel
like this team does play really good, complimentary football. So
it's not like now people talk about was like the
offenses man the defense.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
I've never really seen that.
Speaker 6 (16:55):
I think teams are teams, but it is a lot
easier going when you've got guys that are helping each
other out. If you've got a good special team's return
or maybe even make a long field goal something like
that to kind of bail the offense out when they
didn't get as far down the field as they want.
The defense sets up the offense and good field position
or whatever that you remember the good times and you
you go, Okay, we're gonna we're gonna bind here. But
(17:15):
the offense is bailed us out that many times and
the defense has so I feel like this team's also
got a personality to it where it takes time to
kind of, you know, build having that camaraderie here, and
I think we have some kind of pillars of the
roster and some other guys. I love what Derek Brown said, like,
I don't know victory Monday. We're in process of trying
and get better. I'm going to work tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
And so I said that after the Atlanta game too,
like something to that effect.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
That's one game, big deal.
Speaker 6 (17:38):
Yeah what that like I Jacon Hornet expects to get
two interceptions?
Speaker 4 (17:41):
You know, things like that.
Speaker 6 (17:42):
I think that's those are culture setting things like that's
the standard and it's not shouldn't be a surprise or anything.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
And these are great football players.
Speaker 6 (17:49):
So you look at the younger guys who are coming up,
like say Princely or Nick or whoever, and they see that,
they go, Okay, that's the bar.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
That's where we're trying to get to as a team.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
That's well, I was saying, that's the Miami game is
when I noticed that turnaround two Because in the prior games,
this particular on the road, when we went down early
with turnovers or big plays, explosive plays, you could just
they just didn't have that same oomph to get over
the hill that like you said, you get down and
they're like, oh, here we go again. It was almost
that kind.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Of a that in Jacksonville.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, especially and I think the guy said that,
Derek Brown, he actually said that. He said, when we
that was a wake up call for us, when we
went out there and we're like, okay, we're gonna get
this great defense this year and where everybody's back, and
then to go out and give up that two hundred
yards Russ and they're like, whoah, wait a minute. So
he said, we sort of hit the reset button at
that point. But I think that there was such a
huge difference between the Patriots game and the Miami game
that I was on the sidelines for as well. To
(18:40):
see them just say all right, we're going to get
past this, and to be able to mount that comeback
and I only come back like they did in Arizona,
but to actually win that was such a huge confidence
booster to let them see, all right, we can do this.
We don't have to just get deflated and let the
air out when we have a turnover or a big
plague that doesn't go our way something like that. So
I think that Miami game was definitely that you could
just see the the light switch went on. I mean,
(19:02):
it was great.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
What's been illuminating is you go back to two years ago,
the two and fifteen team. The two games they won,
they scored fifteen points against the Texans, they scored nine
against the Falcons. Soon that offense could not do anything,
and the defense, to its credit, tried to keep the
Panthers in a lot of the games than they did
for a half for three quarters, but they couldn't get
(19:24):
anything going on offense. So you only had a shot
if you played a low scoring game and were able
to win. Last year, with the issues and the injuries
they had on defense, it felt like you had to
outscore everybody and you had to have the ball last
because it was going to be a shootout. What we're
noticing this year the Atlanta game, you could credit special
(19:44):
teams as being a driver in that game with field
position and then creating some turnovers. The Miami game, the
ability to come back and handle adversity, to stay with
the run, even down seventeen to nothing. Dallas was a shootout.
They had a great offense and we went toe to
toe with them. And then you win the Jets game
on the strength of your defense. That to me is
(20:07):
a sign of an ascending team. You're finding different ways
to win. Even you go back to twenty twenty one
when Steve Wilks took over, they had one lane and
that was you gotta run the ball thirty five to
forty times. If the other team took that away, you
probably weren't going to win. But that was your one
lane to run in and play in. And if you
ran in that lane and you went a few miles
ahead of the speed limit, you had a shot. We're
(20:29):
seeing a team that can find different ways to win
this year. That's a big step now.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
It is, and every opponent's different too. Some are more
explosive than others. So there are gonna be some games where, look,
we got Buffalo, we got green Bay coming up.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
We could be in some shootouts coming up here.
Speaker 6 (20:42):
So maybe on the offense to be able to put
up like an Atlanta kind of a number to be
able to win the game or something like that, because
the defense could play well. But Buffalo and Green Bay
can be very explosive. So it'll be interesting to see
as these next a couple of weeks unfold and that
we're on this three game winning streak, how it continues
from there.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
But you see see what the players.
Speaker 6 (21:01):
You see talent on both sides of the ball. You
see the coaching concepts that they talk about play out
on the field. The way they're going right now is
great to see somebody healthy, players back that had been
out over the past couple of weeks, including Turk Wharton
on the defensive side. All that rotational stuff helps you
through the course of a season and the course of
a game to be able to do things like that.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
Yeah, I think that just the way that everybody is
starting to really gel and play together. You see that
chemistry developing more. And of course now we don't know
the situation with Bryce going into this Sunday's game, but
he's really developed that chemistry with t mac already. You
were saying earlier it has to sort of get it
back maybe with Jalen Cooker. But these guys are just
meshing on both sides of football, and I think you
really see it defensively, like with with j C. Horn
(21:41):
and Mike Jackson back there, and the guys just seem
to be clicking. And I'm on the front line that
it seems like they're really growing together as units as
well as a team.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
I thought Mike jack played his best game of the season.
And then the one guy who played the best game
of his career was Xavier le getting the trust they
showed in him. On that last play when Dalton throws
at thirty three yards downfield and he's got to adjust,
he makes the catch. Andy's faith and Xavier lea get
I mean that was his go to guy with Sauce
Gardner on Tedole McMillan, and again you start to dream, right, Yes,
(22:13):
I know Bryce Young might be out, but Tedol McMillan
has shown what he could do. He was matched up
with Sauce Gardner. You start to unlock what Legett can
potentially do. This guy was a first round pick. Well,
that's another weapon, Jalen Cocher's back, JT Sanders's back. These
are good problems to have. I know it's easy to
harp on. Well, chewbun Rico, what are you gonna do again?
(22:34):
Good problems to have in panther Land.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
On that note, we will get a little bit of
a scouting report on the Buffalo Bills when we come back.
They are the Week eight opponent for the Carolina Panthers,
big home game. Carolina tries to stay unbeaten at home
We'll talk with one of Central New York's finalist, Brent Axe,
when we come back on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
This is Panther Talk, brought to you by Atreum Health.
At Atrium Health, we do more to keep you moving,
the treating strenging at every age and stage so you
can live fully.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Look start God running around store.
Speaker 6 (23:15):
Jonn Over, a tackler at the tent slows up.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Lauris's shoulder keeps running.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
No one will touch him.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Jonathan Stuart how suggested.
Speaker 4 (23:23):
That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
The slash back football Stu and the Crew.
Speaker 7 (23:29):
Welcome back to Stu and the Crew. Got my guy here,
Mike Tolbert. What was your mindset like while you were
in college?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Savage?
Speaker 7 (23:40):
Just a savage off the field, fel Savage.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I was.
Speaker 8 (23:45):
I was enjoying college life.
Speaker 9 (23:46):
Man.
Speaker 8 (23:46):
I love playing ball at Coastal.
Speaker 7 (23:50):
Like if I had to put it in the phrase
told love's life. Yes, and if you are a part
of his life, you would be loved. And I feel
honored to have like have had you as a teammate,
but more so as a brother.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Yeah, my brother.
Speaker 7 (24:05):
You know what I'm saying, because but my question is bro, Like,
do you wear that as like something that's heavy when
you come into a room knowing that you have to
be this positive light all the time, or is it
something that you you know, have struggles with sometimes because
as I know, consistency as a father, as a husband,
(24:29):
as a friend, provider, son, and you are always consistent.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
It is.
Speaker 8 (24:38):
It is tough, But at the same time, I'm a
product of who my mama made. You know what I'm saying.
My mama has always figured it out, you know what
I'm saying. So we like to say in our family, Hey,
I gotta figure it out, bonus right there next to mine.
So my rebcage, Well, it's something happened, whatever it is,
got to figure it out, you know what I'm saying.
(25:00):
Come up tomorrow for somebody, but we gotta figure it out.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
You know.
Speaker 8 (25:03):
I have a very optimistic look on life, you know,
where I see the positive of what can come from everything,
every situation, Like when my grandma passed away when I
was in San Diego. You know, team flew me to
Atlanta from San Diego, you know, and I'm devastated, Like
(25:27):
my grandma was the light of my.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Life, you know what I mean.
Speaker 8 (25:30):
And North. Turn the flight, I told me, you don't
have to play. I know how close you'all were, you
don't have to play. And I was like, I can't
stay here, you know what I'm saying, Like I can't
be by myself.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
Let me be.
Speaker 8 (25:40):
Around my brother. So Darren Spros came with me to
the funeral and then we went from Atlanta to Cleveland.
I had the longest play in my career that day,
you know what I'm saying. So Like it's one of
those things where like life is so intertwined that like
you can't be too up and too down. Now I've
(26:00):
had my time, especially since I retired, that I've fallen
into like a funk, like a deeper depression type state,
and it took some work to get out of it.
But at the same time, I had people like yourself,
you know, that I could call on and just vent
to and just talk, you know what I'm saying. And
Cody Sensible is another one. You know what I'm saying,
(26:21):
God that I lean leaned on heavy during that dark time,
you know, and my wife and my family as well.
But I'm so lucky to be in this position, you
know what I'm saying. To be saying that I played
this long in the NFL, I got to live my dream,
married the woman of my dreams, got three wonderful kids.
That it doesn't no one any good for me to
(26:43):
look down on life, you know what I'm saying. So
when I come into a room, if I'm not smiling,
I'm probably just tired, you know what I'm saying. Because
I have been at volleyball football practice, I've been at
golf practice with my youngest. I've been working at the gym.
You know what I'm saying, all over the place doing things.
So that's all it is.
Speaker 7 (27:00):
Yeah, for y'all that's listening when I tell you this
man right here to my right, Toad is a guy
that brought a lot of inspiration to me when he
came to Carolina. Uh. He was. He was a guy
that I saw be the best husband and best father.
(27:22):
I got to see him, you know, with his kids
and me being a single guy at that time, I
always looked up to him. I always probably used to
ask you questions about, Hey, what's this?
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Like? What are you doing?
Speaker 7 (27:34):
Like y'all, how do y'all work this out?
Speaker 4 (27:36):
Like I was?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I was.
Speaker 7 (27:38):
I was prepping and asking questions because obviously, I think
one of the things that people desire the most is
love and to be loved right and to and to
cherish someone right. And so Tolbert was that guy that
I looked at for the first time. I'm like, wow,
I want that, and you know, to see how you
(28:00):
you've you know, gone through you know, post football, you know,
you had the trucking company, rock box businessman and balancing
all these things and still showing up for your family,
but most of all, showing up for yourself, because I
think that gets so lost in today's society for man,
(28:25):
but for speaking about the NFL guys, the professional athletes.
You know, we sometimes become so prideful about what we're
doing post career and how we are doing post career
that we just check out.
Speaker 4 (28:42):
And you checked in.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (28:46):
Like it's funny because like when I was playing, my
wife will be like, well, you're working, so when the
off season comes, you like, it's my off season now.
So I'm just like, man, if I'm working during this,
then it's your off season off season.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
I'm working full time, right, so I don't have a.
Speaker 8 (29:05):
Don't I don't have no time, you know what I'm saying,
But man, I appreciate that too. I mean, like I
didn't have a father growing up. Well I had one,
but like I've seen him probably that'saw him like three
times before I got was in the NFL. So I
wanted to make sure that my kids had something that
I never had, especially my son. You know, I love
(29:28):
my daughters tremendously, but my son, I have to raise
him to be a man. I have to raise him
to be a man like me, you know what I'm saying.
So I never had a man. Tell me I love you,
you know what I'm saying. So I tell my son
I love him every day. My girls too, you know
what I'm saying. My wife, you know, she is the
backbone of our family. You know what I'm saying. She
(29:49):
is the one that curated all of this. You know
she she was the one that said let's go to Carolina,
you know what I'm saying, because there was other options
on the table. Shot, there was other options on the table,
but she knew how much it meant to me to
get back south. Yeah, you know, where could you have gone?
Arizona was one boo, Seattle was one boo Jets boo Tampa.
Speaker 7 (30:14):
Boo oh, double boo. Yeah, so it was uh that
would have been bad for our defense.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You can listen to Stu and the crew on the
iHeartRadio app, Panthers dot com and Team Apple Apple Podcast
or Spotify. This is Panther Talk. You blind coke dude
deserves the great taste of Goca cola because fan work
is thirsty work.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
And he shroped Jim Zokie Sharon Thorsland back here on
Panther Talk. You guys have seen Game of Thrones before, right,
Sharon has it? Jim has so you know when they
introduced the dragon Queen, and she's got nine thousand titles,
Queen of the and Als, the First Men and Breaker
of chains and Mother of dragons. So our next guest
(31:05):
Brent Ax. When I've been on his shows, he gives
me these overly flowery introductions, really flattering. It's great stuff.
So I'm gonna try to do my best to bring
in our next guest. His name is Brent Ax. He
is a man of all seasons. He is a radio host,
a podcaster, a columnist. He is the soundtrack to Central
New York Sports, all things Buffalo Bills, Syracuse football, Syracuse basketball,
(31:30):
he's also a professor. The only blemish on his resume
is many years ago, Brent had this show called The
Friday Sports Connection and he needed a co host and
he chose me. But we're not perfect, Brent. We're bringing
you on Panther Talk because we want to talk Buffalo Bills.
And I think you know this. When you have a
great quarterback and then you have to pay that great quarterback,
(31:53):
the calculus within the franchise becomes, Okay, he's going to
cover up deficiencies everywhere. And we know what Josh Allen
can do. But in this season, with the expectations being
what they are, are the Bills asking too much of
Josh Allen right now?
Speaker 9 (32:10):
I don't think there's any question about it. A niche
And the thing is Josh has just been able to
put on a superman k the past couple of years
and just rescue them out of these situations. But I
saw a look in Josh Allen's eyes after that loss
to Atlanta that I have not seen since his rookie year,
in just the sense of no one's open. Kean Coleman
is not the number one wide receiver. Khalil Shakure is.
(32:33):
I will take him over many receivers in the National
Football League, but he has its limits in terms of
what he can do. He's not a deep threat. He's
more of a guy just get the ball in his
hands and let him you know, shake and bake up
the field. And people are picking up on that and
they're you know, taking him out of the game plan more.
Dalton Kincaid was hurt in that game, and the Bills
do have some injuries. Kurtis Samuel has been hurt as well.
(32:56):
But when you have Josh Allen, I think Bill's been
looking around the past couple of years, like, man, shouldn't
we get that guy, like a top receiver, Like, I mean,
what's going on here with this? And Stefan Diggs was
kind of the last guy that built that role and
he comes in with the Patriots a couple of weeks
ago and he lit up the Bills. So they are
(33:17):
definitely leaning a little too hard on this hole.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Like ah Man, Josh Allen, He'll he'll.
Speaker 9 (33:22):
Figure it out. Now they've got to figure it out
collectively as an offense.
Speaker 5 (33:26):
So they lost the Falcons before that lost to the Patriot.
What's been the what was the common thread in those
two losses. What did you see out of those two games?
Speaker 9 (33:35):
The common thread was that they're turning the ball over
more than they did last year, sharing and in the
words of the head coach, not just bywords here, they're
getting a little too cute on some play calls. Right, So, like,
that's what we're hoping the bye week brings out of
this team, is like, can you just kind of get
back to basics and stop getting a little too cute
(33:57):
and stop doing things that Joe Brady was a college
offensive coordinator. I think he's dipping a little bit too
much into that creative LSU playbook. And the other thing is, look, again, defensively,
they've had some injuries, I mean Dake von Jones, Treelpinard,
Matt Mulano, Maxwell Harrison hasn't even made it on the
(34:18):
field yet, their first round draft pick. But the defensive
play calling has been a little questionable. And I know
I'm rambling here, but this is the amount of issues
they had in those two games. They just haven't been
tackling well, I mean just flat out, which is again
a thing. Hopefully the bye week turns around for the
Bills and they are undefeated under McDermot. Out of the
bye week, So hopefully that's something they put a priority
(34:41):
on as well, because it's been pretty bad past couple
of weeks.
Speaker 6 (34:43):
Well, Brent, as you know, the Panthers have been the
training ground for all those people you mentioned, Joe Brady
and Sean McDermott and Brandon Bean and so many others.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
This is a macro question.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
You guys have been double digit win team playoffs, get
the conference championship game, so forth. Obviously there's only one
thing left to do is get to a super Bowl
and go win one. When is that kind of a pressure,
Like you got to win the whole golf tournament, not
finish in the top three or top five. You've got
to be Scotti shuffler, you got to win the whole thing.
What's the pressure like on the organization right now?
Speaker 9 (35:13):
It's kind of like Rory McElroy, right, he's had this
great run and accomplished all these things, but guy, win
the Masters, right, You've got to close the deal on this.
And it's not like the bills of one other majors
air quotes because they've but they've they're getting to AFC
championship games and they're doing everything else except get to
the Super Bowl and win it. And you guys know
as well as anybody in the NFL that windows open
(35:35):
for so long and when you have either the best
or second best quarterback in the game, depending on you know,
the bounce back between other quarterbacks, the fitness conversation. But
Josh Allen is in the top two no matter how
you rank it right now, and he's the reigning MVP.
You've got to cash that in. So Kansas City has
been the team in the way right And I've been
(35:57):
obsessed a little bit with Bean, Like every move you
make it sounds like that song by Sting right, every
move you make, every breath you take should be designed
to beat Kansas City. And I don't always get the
impression that they're doing that right. So that's the thing, Like,
what is this team doing to maintain that success and
get to where you need to be and get home
(36:18):
field advantage and everything that you can put in front
of you to beat the Kansas City Chiefs Because that's
almost their super Bowl right now. Sure think if they
can manage that, then they'll whim the super Bowl. Like
that's the thing they've got to do more than anything
on the to do list.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Yeah, it feels kind of like where the forty nine
ers were with the Cowboys in the nineties many years ago. Brent,
I'll leave you with this. You look at the Bills
right now. They have struggled to stop the run. They're
in the bottom three in rush defense. Sandwich between Dallas
and Miami. The Panthers ran all over Dallas and they
(36:55):
ran all over Miami. How much of a concern is
that for Buffalo against what now seems to be a
very activated Carolina rushing attack.
Speaker 9 (37:05):
Not as much of a concern as maybe it would
have been a couple of weeks ago. The Bills do
get Ojanobi and Michael heck Back off of a suspension
this week. At Oliver is healthy again, and the difference
between the Bills run defense when that Oliver is on
the field and healthy versus when not is huge. So
I think it'll will improve. But it's it's kind of
(37:27):
what we touched on a minute ago, a Niche. The
numbers speak for themselves, even when they've been healthy. There
you've just got running backs and yeah, they beat the
Ravens in Week one, but Derrick Henry ran all over him.
He done every time he plays the Bills and a
couple other running backs that frankly should not be putting
up the numbers. They are again to be John Robinson.
(37:49):
I mean, Buffalo could do nothing against him in that
Atlanta game, but they are healthier and getting those two
back from their suspension. It's almost like a week eight signing.
The trade deadlines approaching here, I think the Bills have
to be aggressive there and try and grab another receiver
and help their safety position, which has also been a
big concern.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
He is Brent Ax, the ax Man. He is the
soundtrack of all things Central New York. The man, themit,
the legend, Brent Ax shedding some light here on the
Buffalo Bills. Brent, I will see you on Halloween when
I'll be up at Syracuse for the North Carolina game
and uh trick or treat. Until then, my friend.
Speaker 9 (38:29):
Cannot wait to see you. Can't wait to see what
costume you're going to be in for that one. There's
so many Bill Belichick possibilities to be careful.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
Sharon is a unc alum II.
Speaker 9 (38:43):
I love it for me and it's always great, always
great to talk to, Like my sixth or seven favorite
person from the state of New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (38:52):
His friends.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
That's great, does the Great Brent Ax. You're listening to
the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network and East.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Jim Sharon back with you here on Panther Talk. We
look ahead to Sunday. Sharon, this feels like one of
the bigger games we've had in recent memory at Bank
of America Stadium.
Speaker 5 (39:18):
Absolutely. I mean, coming off a three game win streak,
which is something we haven't seen around here in a
long time, above five hundred and this team is rolling
right now. And to have the Buffalo Bills coming into town,
who obviously we know how good that team is, even
if they're coming off of two losses. You bring in
just the talent that they have on that team, the
fans acrawl out of the woodwork around here in Charlotte.
(39:38):
I know so many people, yeah, from Buffalo, So it
feels like there's a lot riding on this game, even
though it's just a regular season game. But it feels
bigger than that, just based on what they've been doing
in this path, this trajectory that they've been on, getting
better and better and better every week, and now this
is gonna be a whole nother scenario coming in here
from the ugly win type thing. It was yesterday and
(40:00):
you know the shootout against Dallas to come from behind
when against Miami. What's it going to take to beat
this Bills team on Sunday? And I think it's going
to take us, Jim must saying earlier, I mean it's
going to be a collective effort. I mean, all three
phases have got to be on if you want to
try to take down Josh Allen in that group?
Speaker 6 (40:16):
Do you guys know why this is a big game
because it's the next game.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
I always wanted to coach.
Speaker 6 (40:21):
I always wanted to coach speak to you guys one
time and just say something a coach, just say forget
because it's the next game.
Speaker 4 (40:26):
You guys all know that. And I think it's just
from the entertainment standpoint.
Speaker 6 (40:30):
I mean we talked about some fans travel, so well,
we see Cowboys fans or Miami fans or whatever. They're
embedded in our community. They've been here for decades, they
live amongst us, So this is not even a travel game.
There's so many Buffalo people that live in this area.
So I love the entertainment spectacle of it's not only
a big game that's meaningful, but you have fans that
are passionate. These are two passionate fan bases. So I
think the energy is gonna be a lot of fun
(40:51):
at this game.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
I think it's going to be great energy. And the
Panthers again three and zero at home. They've played their
best football at home. I go back to last year
when you know the Panthers were coming off back to
back wins against the Saints. They go beat the Giants
in Munich, had the bye week. Kansas City comes into
town and it was one of these litmus test games.
How much better have you really gotten? And they go
toe to toe with Kansas City and that was the
(41:13):
first sign that things are starting to turn. And now
that they're learning how to win their plus thirty five
scoring margin in the fourth quarter, it's best in the league.
They're learning how to finish and close games out. You
bring in a team that's been doing that for years
with Josh Allen. You bring in a Super Bowl contender,
one of the preseason Super Bowl favorites. To me. If
you go out, you play Buffalo competitively, even if you
(41:35):
come out with a Win. I think it says a
lot to where this franchise is in where it's heading.
So big test, as we've been saying all along, get
here early.
Speaker 2 (41:47):
This has been talk on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network,
brought to you by Atrium Health. At Atrium 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 Kandy
(42:08):
deserves the great taste of Coca Cola because fan work
is thirsty work. Pantherton, Pantherton, Panthertoll. This is the Carolina
Panthers Radio Network.
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