September 8, 2025 • 42 mins
This week on Panther Talk, Anish, Jim and Eugene speak with Dave Canales and Mike Tolbert about the Panthers season opening loss to the Jaguars, the upcoming game against Arizona and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Following is an exclusive presentation of the Carolina Panthers in
the National.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Football League's Tough The Panther Tell and They're Doll and
They're Doll. This is Panther Talk on the Carolina Panthers
Radio network.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Let's take a look in the mirror, you know, talk
to the group and just said, hey, look, this is
us today, this is us right now. We're going to
watch that film and here's where we're at. We can
be better than this. There are things that we have
total control over. I think that the things that we're
going to see and be able to fix are well
within our control. And I feel that sense from the
group as well, that the guys know that we can
(00:38):
play a better brand of football, but we just have
to be fundamentally sound.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And now, along with Jim Zochi and Eugene Robinson, here's
a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers
broadcast facility at Bank of America Stadio.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome to Panther Talk. In Ashraf, Eugene Robinson, Jim Zokie,
and we are joined as always on this Monday by
Panthers head coach Dave Knalis. Coach I know, not the
start that you, or the team or the fans wanted
to begin the season. But when you digest everything that
happened in Jacksonville and you looked at the film, what
were a couple of key things the film review revealed.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean, it's tell the truth Monday. So we
had to go right to the turnovers. We cannot play
that brand of football and expect to win in this league.
You know, the early turnover, early interception by Bryce, the
fumble before the half in scoring range, that just puts
us out a real disadvantage. And that's something that philosophically
(01:42):
that we have to be better at. You know, I
think just in terms of you know, offensive, Let's stay
with the offense first, you know, just you know, looking
at some some bright spots and some plays being made.
Some run game that's there is overshadowed by the fact
that we had a couple of turnovers, you know, and
we got to handle the blitz. We gotta handle pressure better.
(02:02):
We had a couple of great opportunities down the field,
but it all starts with protection. Making sure we're on
the same page so we can take advantage of those opportunities.
Because they put themselves in vulnerable spots from a coverage standpoint,
and that's where we got to be explosive and we
got we gotta cash in on those on the flip side.
On the defensive side, you know, it's about tackling. You know,
it was missed opportunities at the line of scrimmage, behind
(02:22):
the line of scrimmage, and then a couple down the field.
And that was kind of the story of the day.
Just making sure that we're disciplined about our run. Fits
a bunch of guys, you know, playing a lot of
games together for the first time. Gotta gotta be able
to communicate, gotta trust each other, be in our graps,
and ultimately just play with our feet in the ground
square and get the guy down.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Coach, I want to go to something you talk about
the defensive side of the ball. There's always hidden yards
and people don't realize that when you miss a tackle
that that really creates a lot of as a bubble
effect because now guy's getting more yards than he should
be getting. So where was all that hitting yardisan. It
also saw a play when DJ Wantum coming in side,
look like he's gonna do a spill technique to put
(03:02):
the running back on the outside, so that the the
linebacker to pick up. But it seemed like somebody didn't
get there. So yeah, what was that? What was that
hitting yard?
Speaker 5 (03:10):
So yeah, you know, I think you hit it right there.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
You know, you got a seventy yarder, a couple of
nice you know, third down rush lane. We kind of
we got to be disciplined about just a third down
rush lane scrambled by the quarterback and then there was
two explosive runs in the four minute drill. And that's
what it takes to have a big day rushing right there,
and that's how the Jags were able to get that done.
And that's where we got to be better at, you know,
(03:33):
in those run fits. But again, that's about trust, that's
about playing you know, playing our right technique and ultimately
getting the guy down.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
A lot of teams go through this, but you've incorporated
a lot of new players. I know you talk about
communication a little bit there, but a lot of guys
have had success and experience with other teams. But to
be on the field for the first time in a
live regular season game, does that naturally take part of
a game at least or whatever it seemed like in
the second half, things maybe tightened up a little bit
as far as maybe being more cohesive.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, there's some really good football throughout this game on
both sides and in special teams as well. I forgot
to mention that we got a bunch of young guys
playing on special teams who I did the phenomenal job
just chasing the ball, covering kicks and and pretty good
in the in the in the blocking game in terms
of the returns. But yeah, this is this is the
challenge for this group, you know, and the league is
not going to wait for us. And that's the urgency
(04:20):
that we have in our building is like, look, yes,
we have people playing together in real games for a
full four quarters right now for the first time.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
We got another one coming. And that's the mentality, that's
the energy that's happening right now with our team. And
you know, we had a great meeting today where we
were able to just go right to the breakdowns, the
breakdowns of the play, whether it was offense, defense or
special teams, tell the truth about it, and tell the
truth about the things that we did well so the
guys can see, Which is the sense I get from
this group is they're disappointed because they know what we have,
(04:50):
they know the group that we've put together here, and
they expect to play better.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
So we'll build off of that, Dave.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
One of the tipping points in the game seemed to
be that seq when's before the half and then after
the half seventeen to three. If leg Get gets that
second foot in, maybe that changes the drive. Two plays
later there's the fumble, they kick a field goal, and
now all of a sudden instead of maybe a one
score game and you guys getting the ball with a
chance to tie three score game, which maybe impacts how
(05:19):
you call the plays and how balanced you can be offensively.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Absolutely, it's about this game is about execution, you know,
and the margins are so thin you know in this
league that we have to be able to make the
plays that are there for us to make.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Coach, I asked you last week about the team and
what was the character of the same you mentioned it
was about physicality. Did you see any of that stuff
that you talked about the physicality Did you see that
displayed in that game at all?
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And that's the part where you know, I after the game,
you know, I hop on the bus and start watching
it immediately and just kind of looking at what did
this game feel like? And it felt like a team
that's physical, a team that's fast, a team that gives
great effort, and it also feels like a team that
we got to be consistent about our basic fundamentals of
the game. But it showed up and I was I
(06:06):
was proud of that part of it. You know, it's
proud of the finish. The guys kept playing hard all
the way through it. But you know, in order for
us to go where we want to go and become
the team that we want to become, you know, this
is about the most practical parts of the game.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
As a follow up to that thought, on the worst
play of the game, Christian Roseboom, a linebacker goes down
the field, tracks traves et in seventy one yards, makes
a tackle with it. If he doesn't make his baby,
probably very likely a touchdown there. But just talk about
the effort of a guy like that. That just, you know,
that's a football player not giving up on a play
in a situation where it was a big negative play
(06:39):
to begin with.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Anyways. Yeah, that's the pride thing, you know, That's just
that's Boom.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Every day, you know, and he gives everything he has
and he knows that if we get the guy down
one more time, this gives us a chance potentially to
have a turnover. We can stop him right there. In
those situations make it challenging on the offense, just give
us one more chance out there. Trevin did a good
job of getting in front of it, turning it back
so that, you know, Christian could have a chance to
run him down. But I just love what he exemplified
(07:05):
in the type of effort that we're looking for from our.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Players, Dave, when it comes to the lineup, do anticipate
any changes between week one and week two, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I mean, we're trying to get Icky back one day
at a time. He was getting closer and closer to
the game, to the game on Sunday, and had a
great workout today, So we're gonna just keep pushing him
a little bit more each day and try to get
him back out there. Other than that, you know, I
just I'd like to see the young guys get out there,
and you know, just like we know that as you learn,
you take your lumps, you know, and you'll make some
(07:36):
plays and then you'll give up some plays and all
of it is valuable. All of it is valuable for
learning the lessons that it takes to play this game.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So I think that's going to be the challenge for
our group and coach.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
You would love to see your leaders come and really
emerge at this point in time to go ahead and
really galvanize that locker room.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Absolutely, there's a kind of a general axiom in football
that the biggest improvements are made between week one and
week two of a season.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Is that true?
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Do you see that all through your past experiences and
obviously has your expectation this week as far as seeing
that growth this week?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, my expectation is growth weekly. To your point, I
think that you know what you when you make improvements.
I think the the improvements become smaller and smaller the
further you get, the closer you get to playing really
good football. They start off, especially with young players, the
growth curve is so huge, and then all of a
sudden you find good football and then you got to
(08:26):
like really fight and scratch to find that little incremental
improvement and compete to find whatever that edge is. You know,
But I think that you know early on, especially for us,
you know, coming off of a game like this, you know,
we we have some things that we can we can
definitely clean up.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
And Week two, coach, I've been asked this question, what
do the coaches do on a rain delay that happens?
Speaker 5 (08:46):
What do they do as opposed to what does the
team do?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, so we come in and first we go right
to our players and we you know, we have the
opportunity to look at the first couple of series to
say this is how they're trying to play us here.
You know, we talked through some different things so that
we can mentally, while it's fresh in your mind, kind
of go through that part of it, you know. And
then after that, like you know, the coaches we kind
of get together, you know and have a quick five
(09:10):
minute meeting and you know, it was a pretty long delay,
and then the players, we kind of asked them to like,
you know, take your shoulder pads off, breathe a little bit,
you know, change your socks if you want to, just
to kind of get a fresh feeling like we're going
to restart this thing. And then we just go through
our whole body prep just like we were going to
start the game and start to get their readiness happen,
(09:33):
take them out on the field, do a little bit
more dynamic movement, and then and then rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Coach Bryce, being the quarterback, good or bad, always will
be the lightning rod. That's the nature of the position.
How do you assess his performance from week one?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I think Bryce would be you know, if he's sitting here,
he'll tell you he's got to play better. He's got
to take care of the ball first and foremost. I
thought that he did a great job of getting us
to the right play, sorting us out with the protections,
getting us to.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
The right calls.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
He had us up there, we are ready to go.
He gave us some good opportunities. He's got a few opportunities.
I'm sure he would like to have back, you know,
down the field on a couple of opportunities.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
But I just love the way he kept leading.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I love the way he kept challenging the guys, and I,
you know, fully expect him to continue doing that.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I saw you at your press conference. You talked about
just the communication. Those five six extra seconds at the
line of scrimmage. What does that do for a quarterback?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, it's just they have so much good information in
their mind. That they can take all that in if
we can be at the line of scrimmage where the
snap is imminent. Once a snap is eminent, the defense
at some point has to kind of show you what
they're doing, you know, and when you can do that,
they can't wait you out all the way until you're
under five seconds and then time up the snap and
(10:51):
all those things. And so it's just it's an advantage
and and that's something that we'll we'll have to you know,
continue and prove.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
On love and and justicipacially with the fans bout seeing
Tam Mac out there for his first game, and obviously
you'd like to see that touchdown grab, which would have been
a good one to get, a tough one to get.
Overall though, it looked like he was smooth and uncomfortable.
There were your general impressions about him.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, confident, you know, friendly to the quarterback, attacked the ball,
he was on time, he was where he was supposed
to be, at the depth he was supposed to be there,
and just really showed us that, you know, he's going
to be a reliable target for us.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I would be remissive. I didn't talk about the interception
that was in a secondary beautiful, beautiful play. How did
j C play?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
J C had a fantastic game. I thought that he was,
you know, in great position in the past game, great
position in the run game. Yes, there's stuff that I'm
sure he would tell you. There's some dishes and that's
and technique wise that he could have done better. The
interception was a beautiful heads up play. He recognized the concept,
punched out and then made a real high point like
(11:51):
incredible interception on it right in front of where I
was sitting and I'm standing on the sideline. And that's
what we expect out of JC. You know, we don't
anything less. But I think what gets down played is
how physical he played in the run game, showing up
on the edge and throwing his body in there to
get guys down.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Last thing, Derek Brown's first game in about a year
where he's played a lot of snaps. How did he
hold up on the back end after the game?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Awesome? I think it sums it up in this. It's
the fourth quarter, they're in one of the last series
of the game. They have a two score lead. They
throw a middle screen on third and long. Derek Brown
at the end of the game, everything has got comes
out the stack, knocks down Travis Hunter, they gain about
three yards. We hold him to a field goal, and
(12:38):
it gives us a chance. And that's the reason I
love Derek Brown. He embodies what we're looking for as
a group. We just keep playing football. We just keep finishing,
try to do right longer than the opponent. That's our goal,
you know, And so I just love to be able
to talk about that.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
All right, Dave Canal, said, coach of the Panthers. One week.
There's still sixteen more games see after Arizona.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Thanks guys, Thanks coach.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Panther Talk continues after this on the Carolina Panthers or
Radio network.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
This is Panther Talk, not do you buy Bank of America?
What would you like the power to do?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Back here on Panther Talk and you sharp, Jimzochi, Eugene Robinson.
We finally have a game to react to Panthers falling
to the Jaguars twenty six to ten. You heard from
head coach Dave Canalis in that first segment. A lot
to unpack. Let's start with this, Eugene six drives where
(13:40):
the Panthers got into plus territory. They showed they could
move the ball, but you do have to finish those drives.
Only ten points, only scores on two of those drives.
And when you kind of go back and you look
at how things unfolded to me, missed opportunities. Sum this up,
talk about the turnovers, and that's true. But take the
(14:02):
first possession for the Jaguars. They committed a few penalties.
You got them in second and long, third and long.
There was a fourth and one couldn't get off the field.
Panthers ensuing drive, Hunter Renfro beats his man, balls a
little underthrown. Instead of a touchdown, you kick a field goal.
We talked to Dave about the sequence. At the end
of the half, Lee get makes the catch, can't get
(14:25):
both feet in out, So instead of a red zone opportunity,
two plays later, Bryce Young fumbles a score. It's now
twenty to three. Now you can't maybe be as balanced
with the run in the pass as you want to be,
and instead of maybe seventeen to ten and getting the
ball with a chance to tie to begin the third quarter,
twenty to three. It feels different, it looks different, it
(14:46):
is different. Those were the kind.
Speaker 7 (14:50):
Of plays in the margins where most teams, when you
make three mistakes like that, multiple mistakes like that, you
can't overcome. Panthers certainly are an improved roster, but they're
not at the point where you can overcome all that.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
No, when you're a young team, and we are a
young team, you know you're not gonna be able to
overcome that. And particularly like when I bet you like
fans when as they're watching the game and maybe want
to scream at Bryce Young a little bit, but when
I kind of like pill it back a little bit.
I mean, there was some plays where the receivers can
help them out tremendously. When we talk about Legett, there
(15:27):
was a even a play that catches the ball and
he's running to his left hand side, but the ball
is in his right hand. He doesn't transfer to his
left hand side to use his right hand as a
weapon that he can go ahead and put his foot
in the ground and go up the field. He keeps
it in his right hand and now he has to
use his legs to jump over people. And it's when
(15:47):
you're in the air, you still got people running at him,
and I'm like, you're gonna get tackled, and so from
that standpoint, I'm like, dude, switch the ball, give yourself
a chance to get up the field right a play
of his size, he could have turned that play into
a ten yard run twelve thirteen yards as opposed to
latterally picked up three yards. And so from that standpoint,
(16:09):
I'm like, dude, there's plays there's this out there that
the receiver's got to help Bryce. Now, I'm not talking
about when the defensive back makes a good play on
Hunter Refro, totally different, a good play on team ac
totally different.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
I'm talking about when you.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Have a chance to catch the ball, catch the ball,
get your feet in the bounds those the quarterback is
relying on that. And we have such a young team.
You're not good enough to overcome those mistakes. You're not
good enough to go ahead and wait for those opportunities
to show back up. You gotta seize them right now.
And that's what we did not do. And then it
(16:46):
looks like it's not all Bryce, But it looks like, man, Bryce,
what's going on with you?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Well, there's a lot that's going on. Jim.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
You know that fourth and one play that didn't work.
Luke Kickley called this out on the radio broadcast. A
lot of people pointed to the fact that Bryce could
have found j T. Sanders in the end zone. Leget
pre snap was uncovered and he doesn't look back at Bryce,
and Bryce is locked in on him because he's open
and nobody's on him. And by the time lee Get
(17:16):
realizes it's too late.
Speaker 6 (17:17):
And I'm assuming that's a rough film session in the
receiver's room. You watch with your teammates and see stuff
like that, and we were watching it, and so it's
it's hard because at that point when you're looking at
j T. Sanders, that's like the second play. First play
is gone and he's trying to create something and then
Bryce is under pressure and he has to hurry it
and it looks like he's throwing the ball out of bounds.
It was just like he's trying to create something that
(17:39):
he'd ran out of time, he'd run out of you
really field to work with because league Get, when he
continued to run his route, he was out of bounds.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
So it had to be j T.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
Sanders or nobody on the background because at that point
they Get had taken as his route was out of bounds.
And we always talk about too, like how one out
of the eleven if they don't do their job, how
the whole play can look off.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
How the team but the offense looks bad.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
It just takes one person that's one play and one
example the other players with other people as examples, that
throws things off. And the reality is Adam thlen was traded.
He was here for the first two years with Bryce
Young is a great security blanket when healthy.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
But they did the right thing.
Speaker 6 (18:15):
This is gonna be Adams last year, and so now
we have other people that step up. Not knowing Jalen
Coker was going to get hurt, and so not having
Jalen Cocher and Thieling, two guys that he's had some
time with, some history with, is having to speed up
having that chemistry with other players out there.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
So it'll come, It'll take time.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
You don't want to lose games in the meanwhile, hope
you you win games while you figure all that out.
But there is going to be a little bit of
just a little bit out of sync probably at times
with that passing game.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Oh embarrassing. That's going to be in the locker room
for him, I mean in the film session because he's
every receiver when you're line up and you know that's
zero coverage, miss man and man coverage, and nobody lies
upon you, and you and your shoes were like, you're
looking at the quarterback, like, dude, throw the ball me
right now.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Get the ball to me right now, because nobody's all me.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
If somebody's onl me that way in the back, that
means they have to go run ten fifteen yards to
get to you. From that standpoint, when you're not looking
and you're not doing that, you're gonna say, hey, man.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Are you not?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
This is what you live for, an impromptu play like
this where you can get the ball right now.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And the PostScript to that play was the cameras for
Fox catching Bryce Young walking to the sideline, frustrated, rips
his helmet off and canalice you see, tries to kind
of calm him down, and a lot of people were
wondering where was the disconnect, what was the frustration from
makes you wonder if it was, hey, that could have
been at the very least an easy pitch and catch
(19:40):
for a first down. And now you got first and
goal inside the five four chances to punch it in
or in all likelihood a touchdown.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
With leget size, that's a touchdown. I mean because you
got a man outside of him who's in man and
man coverage. There's nobody. The free safety is way in
the middle of the field. There's nobody there. You're gonna run,
but by the time you catch up with somebody, it's
gonna be ten yards down the field. You got too
much move or too much room to maneuver. And so
from that standpoint, it's a major missed opportunity. And that's
(20:11):
something that you would hope to get every receiver when
they're in that. You know, when they come out the
play and they're sitting there like this, hope nobody covers me.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Nobody covers me. Get me the ball.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Right now, and so you got to be able to improvise,
and that should have happened immediately when leaguet saw that
nobody was on them.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
You talk about a hot route city that's on fire
as how could be. That's the best way to describe.
It's a hot route.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
I hated hot rocks where I know I got to
get to the guy and I'm back ten twelve yards
and he has that much room if he gets the
ball by the time you get to him, I'm like
eight yards.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
I mean that's too much room.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
What's the feedback loop?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
There?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Is it the quarterback signaling the receiver or is the receiver?
You just kind of have to know what what's the
feedback loop? How does that work?
Speaker 4 (20:56):
The receiver would know because guess it's man to man
coverage and no, but he's nobody is on you. And
when you look up to find out who's supposed to
be covering you, and you see that there's two guys.
That's way in the back. There's nobody on you. You're sitting
there going like this, throw me right now, and you
start to look back at the quarterback immediately, I hope
you see what I'm seeing because nobody we don't have
(21:17):
a play that nobody covers anybody. There's no plays like that.
There's no plays that nobody covers anybody. Every well, you
got zero covers. That means the entire secondary is in coverage,
covering is all five eligible receivers.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
It's almost surprising the Jags didn't call it time out
un attended slot receiver like exactly, I.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Mean, pre snap, Luke is going, he gets open, he
gets open.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yes, and and typically what I would do. I saw that,
I'm calling a time out because I can't get there
fast enough because the quarterback and the receiver and sync,
every last one of them in sync.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So that's a misuppers And if you watch the play,
Bryce sees it right away. Bryce is locked in on
the seventeen.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
And he's looking at him and it's like he ain't
looking back, and now all of a sudden he's under
pressure and the whole thing blows up. But people get
people like I don't know, they watch it, they go
the emotion. He must be mad at the coach and
all this stuff. Say, I want to see a guy
that's mad when a play goes wrong. Yeah, I don't
want to see like shocks darn that could have been
a touchdown. Maybe next time, guys. I like that he's
mad because I think that maybe speeds up the process
(22:15):
of people learning and getting more on points. And if
you don't learn quickly from those lessons are going to repeat.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
You know, he was gonna run a wheel route anyway,
because he ran a wheel row back to that flat
and then going up the field, so that he was
gonna be one of the primary guys anyway on that
wheel row. But the fact that there's nobody on you, you
don't have to run a wheel row. All you have
to do is look at the quarterback, and the quarterback
is going to get you the ball.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Right now, Leaguette had a game to forget, but the
debut of Tataroa McMillan offers a lot of promise for
this offense. And I know, Silver Linings playbook. You can
go there all day. At the end of the day,
I get it, twenty six to ten. They lost Week one,
but you have a rookie receiver. You invested a lot
in him, first round pick ten pick. He looked very
(23:02):
comfortable out there. He didn't look like a guy playing
in his first game. A couple of times matched up
against one of the better corners in the NFL and
Tyson Campbell, he more than held his own.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
I agree, And he's like kind of said when we
first got to practice. I mean, he just he looks
like a different dude, Like we don't have that dude
on that team. That's like built the way he is
with speed, A power receiver, if you will, that's going
to win some fifty to fifty battles out there. So
big target for Bryce, and obviously you know Bryce is
well documented, went to bat for him as far as
(23:32):
draft pre draft day, I should say as far as
saying that I would love to have this kid on
my team too, that there's a chemistry from knowing each
other in the past that he vouched from his you know,
saying I think we could have something here.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
So I think that matters.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
And again with the departure of Adam Thielen for a
period of time, without Jalen Cocher, that's probably going to
be your most successful option in the passing game.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
He has a huge catch radio. This is no doubt
about that.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
And also the defensive backs who made great plays on
him to get rid of the ball, to knock the
ball out of his hands twice.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
I'm sitting there.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Those were great plays by defensive backs, no doubt about it.
I'm like, Wow, what a great play. Because anytime the
balls around him, he's catching the rock. You know, he
is catching the rock. And so when I saw his debut,
I'm like, wow, he's a number one receiver. I can
see why Bryce wanted his good I can see why
because he's that guy. And you notice his size too.
(24:25):
I notice his size against the other defensive backs. I'm like, dude,
this is a big dude. So from that standpoint, and
he uses it and he that's what I'm getting too.
He's boxing you out, dude, He's going like backing you
down Loan like Charles Barkley boxing the brother out. That's
what he that's what he brings.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Such like if you and I were playing basketball, you're
not shooting jump shots. You're taking You're taking me in
the post.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Post, low block right now, get the ball to me
right there, passing me zoke.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
I got him on the low b flop flop it.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, charge that blocker.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
But that's what he does.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
He's a very gifted receiver, and I think he learned
his lesson in Cleveland. Got his eyes around immediately and
caught the ball.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So again Week one of seventeen games, eighteen weeks, seventeen
games Arizona. In week two, we'll talk a little bit
more about the Panthers defense. Later on, we're gonna hear
from another Panther legend, Mike Tolbert. He caught up with
Jim Zochi. That's coming up here on the Carolina Panthers
Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
This is Panther talk brought to you by Atrian Health.
At Atrium Health, we do more to keep you moving, achieving,
striving at every age and stage so you can live fully.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
The greatest fullback in Carolina Panthers history, Mike Tolbert, played
here from twenty twelve to twenty sixteen, three times a
Pro Bowl performer for the Panthers, a part of the
twenty fifteen Super Bowl fifty team. Played his college football
at Coastal Carolina.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
We'll check in today with Mike Tolberts.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Seasons of Panther Football a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
You guys won eighteen straight regular season games. A lot
of different ways of chopping up the winning streak over
a two year period of time and how that all
went down there. But I mean, especially now for Panther
fans to hear that, it's like, Wow, what eighteenth straight
regular season victories in a row. It could take you know,
if you look back at this franchise over the past
couple of years, several years to accumulate even eighteen wins
(26:32):
that when you were in the midst of that, what
did that feel like or we just caught up in
the week to week At that point, I.
Speaker 8 (26:38):
Think we were so focused on the day that we
didn't really understand what we were doing. You know, I
don't think it was still probably week ten or eleven
or of twenty fifteen when we were ten and zero
eleven and oh something like that, it was like, this
is this is clicking.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
You know.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
The games felt easy, you know, like we were winning
by thirty points at halftime and some of them, you
know what I mean. So the games didn't feel like
other seasons where where everything is a struggle, where that's
a great two yard run. Now if we hit a
two yard run that we should have got ten, you
know what I mean. So the games felt a little
bit easier in twenty fifteen. So we were clicking. We
(27:18):
were all cylinders offense, defense and special teams. You know,
we had a couple of runbacks things that everything was
going the right way.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Well, I was gonna say, just to take the running
component of that offense yourself, Jon Vin Stewart, Cam Newton,
D'Angelo Williams prior to that for a long time with
John Fann Stewart, I mean, just to take that aspect
of running the ball. I mean, you guys presented such
a challenge from so many ways, and as we all know,
we don't see that many traditional fullbacks anymore. A physical
(27:47):
running quarterback like Cam Newton. I mean, what, what a
what a horrible team that have to be prepared for.
If you were an opponent to face the Panthers running attack,
I would think.
Speaker 8 (27:55):
Oh, yeah, we had we had a formation called twenty
one as right, and that's where they would take me
out of the game and put in Fozzi along with
Jonathan and Cam. And I'm like, hey, I'm just as
fast as Fazzi now, even though he's faster than me,
but I used to talk mess with him, right, like
I'm just as fast. When we he called twenty one
(28:17):
jumbo and then they put it in twenty one jumbo.
So you look at it, that's me two point fifty,
Jonathan two forty, Cam two fifty.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
You know what I mean. That's two hundred and seven
hundred offensive line.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
That's seven hundred plus pounds, right, And then we started
running the ball out of that and it was wow,
you know what I mean. But that's the unguardable, guys,
is the quarterback when your quarterback.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Is your best running back.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
It makes the game so much easier because you got
to account for him some kind of way, right, and
then he can throw the ball seventy yards down the
field too. So it was definitely fun, a fun run game,
you know, one of the funnest seasons I've had in
my pro career.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
What was it like playing for Ryan river because all
the seasons were under ron players. Coach I would think,
mostly because we all know his personality, but truly was
a player, So how did that translate his to his
coaching style.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
I think he understood the plight of a player, you know,
from being myself being married with children, or somebody that's
a rookie that brand new into the city, that standing
at a team hotel, coming to work every day. He
understands the different levels of player, somebody like Ryan Khalil
(29:30):
that was here before him, here after him type thing.
So playing for coach Rivera, I actually knew coach Riverta
because he came from San Diego, where I was at previously,
so I knew what kind of man he was. I
knew his wife, I knew his daughter, Like we were
friends outside of football. We understood each other you know
we as as ball players. You know, you speak the
(29:51):
same language for the for the most part, He's an
eighty five bear, you know what I'm saying. I got
an old soul, so to speak. I was born in
eighty five, but I got an old soul. So he
was one of those guys that I look back on,
like him running lot. You know what I'm saying, Walter Payton,
those were my guys, you know what I mean. When
I grew up watching football, I would watch old film
(30:11):
because I loved football, and watching that type of grit
on the field is how I like to model my game.
So I played very rough, very reckless with my body,
you know what I mean. But it was fun and
I really he's my guy to this day.
Speaker 6 (30:32):
Great coach, two time Coach of the Year, and one
of our all type favorite people, Ryan Rivera. The next
year would be your last year, twenty sixteen, and there
were injuries for sure, But six and ten that team
they talked about Super Bowl hangover. Was it a mix
of things or what kind of went sideways? The year
following fifteen and one.
Speaker 8 (30:50):
I think when you live in an abnormal space for
so long, it's only a certain amount of.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
Time before you come back down to reality.
Speaker 8 (30:58):
Right the end of twenty fourteen into the playoffs into
twenty fifteen preseason, we were running such a high that
we finally came back down following the humbling of the
Super Bowl. We finally came back down. It was like, Okay,
let's get back to work. But at the same time,
(31:19):
it's like, what what's next, right, because we've been here,
we know how hard it was to get here. Can
we do it again? And then I think we was
pressing a little a lot on certain situations. There's games
that year that we should have won by thirty points,
we won by three.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
You know.
Speaker 8 (31:36):
There's games that we should have lost because of the
way we played, and we won by twenty, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
So it's one of kind of masking some of the
deficiencies by the outcomes exactly.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
So, I mean it's one of those things that was
it a Super Bowl low postgame post low? Probably so,
But at the same time, a lot of things happened,
a lot of things got to go right in or
if you have a season like twenty five team and
you gotta be lucky as well, we weren't in the
same as sixteen.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Subscribe to thirty seasons of Panther football on the iHeartRadio app,
Panthers dot com and Team Apple Apple Podcast, or Spotify.
This is Panther Talk, Cokey. It deserves the great taste
of Coca cola because fan work is thirsty work.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Anisch. Eugene Jim back with you here on Panther Talk.
Week two, Panthers take on Arizona defensively a bit of
a struggle on Sunday against Jacksonville, they gave up two
hundred yards rushing. Now, seventy one did come on one play,
but that still counts seventh straight game where the Panthers
have given up two hundred rushing yards in a contest.
(32:53):
The Jaguars didn't really try a whole lot downfield in
the passing game. One time they did, JC Horn made
an incredible one handed interception. But one area where Jacksonville
was able to find some success in the passing game
was using the tight end. Brenton Strange had four catches
for fifty nine yards, leading the team. You look ahead
to Week two, Arizona's got Trey McBride. He's gonna be
(33:14):
targeted a lot. Eugene, what do the Panthers have to
zero in on. Let's start with their pass defense. We'll
get to the run, but let's start with the pass defense,
especially when it comes in defending the tight end. Who
can catch what's important.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
So whenever you have a tight end like an Osen
that we had, who can go ahead and be just
move from place to players, get up and zoom back
and forth, and has the ability to catch the ball
extremely well, you can't put a lineback on him because
he's gonna beat the linebacker with his ability. And you
gotta be careful putting a safety on him because then
he just bocks off the safety.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
So they become an enigma.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
They becoming that little freakis player that my goodness, how
do we stop them?
Speaker 5 (33:54):
All right?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
I want the lineback on him because Thomas Davis light,
because Thomas Davis acts like he's a safety and he can.
He can bully you down the field, and that's what
you want. So you're gonna tell I'm gonna tell my guys,
I need you to hit him and punch him in
the mouth before he releases up the field because if
he has a free release, that puts me in a bind.
(34:15):
If I'm covering him and then the other thing I
will do with my corners. I got with Jack, and
I got with when I got with j C, and
also with thought K comes in the game, I'm you know,
I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Hey, let's go.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Ahead and and go man to man unless blitzch Kyler
Murray to get him off his spot, to get people
in his face so he doesn't have the chance to
hit the ball to McBride. So how do we take
that away? Get in the face of this dude. If
I'm coach Jarald, Look, this is what I'm gonna do. Coach,
I'm gonna go ahead, and I'm blessing people, I'm blesching.
I'm gonna tell my safeties in my corners. I need
(34:50):
you to hold up here because we're blissing because we
gotta get this quarter brought out, this quarterback hands and
we can't have this tight end beating us like he
stole money from us.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Now, for Jim what it's worth. McBride against the Panthers
three catches twenty yards, but Arizona ran for two oh six,
savaging seven point one to carry. That's the other area
you got to clean up, which is the run defense.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
That's why coaches always say the first thing you have
to do is stop the run, because otherwise it's like
you said with Jacksonville, why would you throw downfield when
you don't take away the run. There's no reason not to.
And if you got the lead, you just gonna keep
running it downhill like Jacksonville did for two hundred yards.
They got two good backs in Benson and Connor and
then Eugie. What you said about Kyler Murray is correct,
but also the fact that he can run. He ran
for thirty eight on seven carries this past week. But
(35:32):
he's not the world's greatest pastor. But when he does
his best is probably rolling them out and getting him
in space. Again their shorter stature quarterback, but he can run,
so you do have to be careful if you're spying
him that you've got a sure tackler or chasing him. Otherwise,
if he breaks through and wins that one on one
match up, he could run for twenty yards.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
And as control, one of the things that we saw
against the Jaguars is we have poor edges. Poor as control.
You better have better edges this week because Kyler Murray
no joke. Get outside as you as you well said,
and that's why I want to keep him correlled in
the pocket. I want to send somebody on the outside
to force him in the pocket and try to collapse
(36:09):
the pocket with I'm sending five, six, seven people, and
then I'm telling, hey, if the running back comes out,
pill off and one of my guys who listened, pill
off and take the running back. But what I'm I'm
not gonna do. I'm not gonna sit back in the
zone and look at Kyler Murray because he's gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Eugene, what was your big diagnosis as you walk away
from week one of the Panthers defense, Like, if you
were to diagnose kind of where you felt, hey, there
were some bright spots and where you felt that got
to get better here, and obviously there's an opportunity to
do that this weekend. But what was your overall diagnosis there?
Speaker 4 (36:49):
I thought that the edges weren't good at all. I
thought that the fact that the Carolina Panthers didn't take
it edges and got beat at times just by you know,
physically getting beat. I thought that, you know, if we
look at the test sound with the tight end rose
out and then it was a bootleg to the right
hand side by Trevor Lawrence. Nobody's covering the tight end,
(37:11):
but the quarterback could have walked in the end zone too.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Where is the edge?
Speaker 4 (37:16):
This is a thing called BCR boot leg, Contain and
reverse the edges is what you take care of, and
you collapse the pocket by taking care of the edges.
And I thought we didn't do a good job of that,
and in fact thought to the fact that we didn't tackle well.
Limit to that hitding yardage. We better tackle a lot
better and we better be concerned about our edges. And
when you saw that the Cleveland game and preseason, the
(37:38):
edges were an issue again. These edges have to get
taken care of. That way we can go ahead and
play collastible football and make good tackles.
Speaker 5 (37:49):
There's young players on this team. It's no dabt. We
spent some draft packs early on.
Speaker 6 (37:51):
But I said with coach Canal's when he was in here,
they've also plugged in a lot of veteran guys at
all three levels.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
They should know how to tackle by now. That's to me.
Speaker 6 (38:00):
Everybody's involved in a loss, everybody's involved in a win.
But to take the player component of it. They've got
to be accountable for making tackles, winning their matchups out there.
So it's not always about the coach didn't have you
prepared for this, they didn't have you in the right spot.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
You are, you should know.
Speaker 6 (38:15):
O hot to play somebod These guys have been brought
in here, have been in this league for a long time,
so there are some players here that need to step
up and play.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
They're being paid for a reason to make plays out there.
Speaker 6 (38:23):
We saw jac Horn you mention, make a dynamic play
in front of Travis Hunter for the interception. There are
other great moments out there. We mentioned the Derek Brown
play with coach Canalis. So their plays out there, they
have to happen more consistently, have to win more often
than you lose during the course of say seventy steps
out there.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
You know, I have over fourteen hundred tackles in the
NEESTL Football League, all right, and one thing I know
is when to make a tackle, When to go down low,
and when to stay up high. When to stay up
high when you forcedly got the sideline, the usually help
one the sideline. When to go ahead and give your
body up because you got to give your body up.
There was art to tackling back in my day, right,
and now I think that's the art that's actually lost
(38:59):
now a little.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
It.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
So from that standpoint, riding lot can easily make a tackle.
Learned a lot from the guys, you know, how to
tackle this group. I don't think they I don't think
they spend enough time on making tackles.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
You're telling me there's fourteen hundred combined tackles here at
this desk.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
Do fourteen hundred and forty one?
Speaker 6 (39:16):
Then you bind, he's adding forty one jo tackle people
are hearing this room.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Yeah, but that's what it is. And tackling is an art,
and there's something you get used to doing. It's something
that you learn to go ahead and do and you
do off.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Micky used to also say that we were all in
three Pro Bowls as well. Yeah, we were. We collectively
were collectively all collective.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
I'm sorry, I didn't want to be that guy filled
my stet out there, but yeah, I'm making a point.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
Tackling is a huge issue.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
He also wore a suit to a radio show. You
know that's right, the Carolina Panthers radio network.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
As we get ready to a bow. On Week one,
We've got a Monday night game Tonight Vikings and Bears
JJ McCarthy, Vikings debut Caleb Johnson as a new play
caller head coach in Ben Johnson. But uh, looking at
Week one, jim My big takeaway was Ravens and Bill's
last night. That was one of the most amazing regular
season games I've ever seen. And you saw Lamar Josh Allen,
(40:22):
two guys who I think are gonna figure very prominently
in the MVP race, and I would not be surprised
if one of them finally gets a ring this year.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
Now, that was an amazing game.
Speaker 6 (40:31):
And then you have a guy who signed on Thursday
kick the game winning field goal and that that Prader
real quick.
Speaker 5 (40:35):
I I got to.
Speaker 6 (40:36):
Give him credit four time MVP Aaron Rodgers four touchdown
passes against his former team with all his cat calls
out there. That was that was a really brilliant performance.
And then they won with a sixty yard field goal.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
The Bills and Ravens one of the best games I've
I've seen, one of the best. Now, I thought that
both quarterbacks were in rare form. Like, man, they're they're
in top form right now. Now from from the guy
who came from the time with run Henry Harry.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
When he fumbled a ball, I was like, oh no,
And I saw him on the.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Sidelight, walking up and down the sideline, because fumbling changes
the trajectory of where you're going and puts people back
in the mix.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
That game at one point looked like it was about
to be a runaway Ravens blowout, and then Josh Allen
does what Josh Allen does. One last thing. Danny Dimes
quite the debut for the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe one of
those second chance quarterback reclamation project stories we'll see bought.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
The Giants look for their next quarterback.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Giants are sticking with Russell Wilson for at least one
more week.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
This has been on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network, brought
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(41:59):
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Following is an exclusive presentation of the Carolina Panthers in
the National.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Football League's Tough The Panther Tell and They're Doll and
They're Doll. This is Panther Talk on the Carolina Panthers
Radio network.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Let's take a look in the mirror, you know, talk
to the group and just said, hey, look, this is
us today, this is us right now. We're going to
watch that film and here's where we're at. We can
be better than this. There are things that we have
total control over. I think that the things that we're
going to see and be able to fix are well
within our control. And I feel that sense from the
group as well, that the guys know that we can
(00:38):
play a better brand of football, but we just have
to be fundamentally sound.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
And now, along with Jim Zochi and Eugene Robinson, here's
a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers
broadcast facility at Bank of America Stadio.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Welcome to Panther Talk. In Ashraf, Eugene Robinson, Jim Zokie,
and we are joined as always on this Monday by
Panthers head coach Dave Knalis. Coach I know, not the
start that you, or the team or the fans wanted
to begin the season. But when you digest everything that
happened in Jacksonville and you looked at the film, what
were a couple of key things the film review revealed.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean, it's tell the truth Monday. So we
had to go right to the turnovers. We cannot play
that brand of football and expect to win in this league.
You know, the early turnover, early interception by Bryce, the
fumble before the half in scoring range, that just puts
us out a real disadvantage. And that's something that philosophically
(01:42):
that we have to be better at. You know, I
think just in terms of you know, offensive, Let's stay
with the offense first, you know, just you know, looking
at some some bright spots and some plays being made.
Some run game that's there is overshadowed by the fact
that we had a couple of turnovers, you know, and
we got to handle the blitz. We gotta handle pressure better.
(02:02):
We had a couple of great opportunities down the field,
but it all starts with protection. Making sure we're on
the same page so we can take advantage of those opportunities.
Because they put themselves in vulnerable spots from a coverage standpoint,
and that's where we got to be explosive and we
got we gotta cash in on those on the flip side.
On the defensive side, you know, it's about tackling. You know,
it was missed opportunities at the line of scrimmage, behind
(02:22):
the line of scrimmage, and then a couple down the field.
And that was kind of the story of the day.
Just making sure that we're disciplined about our run. Fits
a bunch of guys, you know, playing a lot of
games together for the first time. Gotta gotta be able
to communicate, gotta trust each other, be in our graps,
and ultimately just play with our feet in the ground
square and get the guy down.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Coach, I want to go to something you talk about
the defensive side of the ball. There's always hidden yards
and people don't realize that when you miss a tackle
that that really creates a lot of as a bubble
effect because now guy's getting more yards than he should
be getting. So where was all that hitting yardisan. It
also saw a play when DJ Wantum coming in side,
look like he's gonna do a spill technique to put
(03:02):
the running back on the outside, so that the the
linebacker to pick up. But it seemed like somebody didn't
get there. So yeah, what was that? What was that
hitting yard?
Speaker 5 (03:10):
So yeah, you know, I think you hit it right there.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
You know, you got a seventy yarder, a couple of
nice you know, third down rush lane. We kind of
we got to be disciplined about just a third down
rush lane scrambled by the quarterback and then there was
two explosive runs in the four minute drill. And that's
what it takes to have a big day rushing right there,
and that's how the Jags were able to get that done.
And that's where we got to be better at, you know,
(03:33):
in those run fits. But again, that's about trust, that's
about playing you know, playing our right technique and ultimately
getting the guy down.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
A lot of teams go through this, but you've incorporated
a lot of new players. I know you talk about
communication a little bit there, but a lot of guys
have had success and experience with other teams. But to
be on the field for the first time in a
live regular season game, does that naturally take part of
a game at least or whatever it seemed like in
the second half, things maybe tightened up a little bit
as far as maybe being more cohesive.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Yeah, there's some really good football throughout this game on
both sides and in special teams as well. I forgot
to mention that we got a bunch of young guys
playing on special teams who I did the phenomenal job
just chasing the ball, covering kicks and and pretty good
in the in the in the blocking game in terms
of the returns. But yeah, this is this is the
challenge for this group, you know, and the league is
not going to wait for us. And that's the urgency
(04:20):
that we have in our building is like, look, yes,
we have people playing together in real games for a
full four quarters right now for the first time.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Let's go.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
We got another one coming. And that's the mentality, that's
the energy that's happening right now with our team. And
you know, we had a great meeting today where we
were able to just go right to the breakdowns, the
breakdowns of the play, whether it was offense, defense or
special teams, tell the truth about it, and tell the
truth about the things that we did well so the
guys can see, Which is the sense I get from
this group is they're disappointed because they know what we have,
(04:50):
they know the group that we've put together here, and
they expect to play better.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
So we'll build off of that, Dave.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
One of the tipping points in the game seemed to
be that seq when's before the half and then after
the half seventeen to three. If leg Get gets that
second foot in, maybe that changes the drive. Two plays
later there's the fumble, they kick a field goal, and
now all of a sudden instead of maybe a one
score game and you guys getting the ball with a
chance to tie three score game, which maybe impacts how
(05:19):
you call the plays and how balanced you can be offensively.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Absolutely, it's about this game is about execution, you know,
and the margins are so thin you know in this
league that we have to be able to make the
plays that are there for us to make.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Coach, I asked you last week about the team and
what was the character of the same you mentioned it
was about physicality. Did you see any of that stuff
that you talked about the physicality Did you see that
displayed in that game at all?
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (05:46):
And that's the part where you know, I after the game,
you know, I hop on the bus and start watching
it immediately and just kind of looking at what did
this game feel like? And it felt like a team
that's physical, a team that's fast, a team that gives
great effort, and it also feels like a team that
we got to be consistent about our basic fundamentals of
the game. But it showed up and I was I
(06:06):
was proud of that part of it. You know, it's
proud of the finish. The guys kept playing hard all
the way through it. But you know, in order for
us to go where we want to go and become
the team that we want to become, you know, this
is about the most practical parts of the game.
Speaker 6 (06:18):
As a follow up to that thought, on the worst
play of the game, Christian Roseboom, a linebacker goes down
the field, tracks traves et in seventy one yards, makes
a tackle with it. If he doesn't make his baby,
probably very likely a touchdown there. But just talk about
the effort of a guy like that. That just, you know,
that's a football player not giving up on a play
in a situation where it was a big negative play
(06:39):
to begin with.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Anyways. Yeah, that's the pride thing, you know, That's just
that's Boom.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Every day, you know, and he gives everything he has
and he knows that if we get the guy down
one more time, this gives us a chance potentially to
have a turnover. We can stop him right there. In
those situations make it challenging on the offense, just give
us one more chance out there. Trevin did a good
job of getting in front of it, turning it back
so that, you know, Christian could have a chance to
run him down. But I just love what he exemplified
(07:05):
in the type of effort that we're looking for from our.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Players, Dave, when it comes to the lineup, do anticipate
any changes between week one and week two, you know.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
I mean, we're trying to get Icky back one day
at a time. He was getting closer and closer to
the game, to the game on Sunday, and had a
great workout today, So we're gonna just keep pushing him
a little bit more each day and try to get
him back out there. Other than that, you know, I
just I'd like to see the young guys get out there,
and you know, just like we know that as you learn,
you take your lumps, you know, and you'll make some
(07:36):
plays and then you'll give up some plays and all
of it is valuable. All of it is valuable for
learning the lessons that it takes to play this game.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So I think that's going to be the challenge for
our group and coach.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
You would love to see your leaders come and really
emerge at this point in time to go ahead and
really galvanize that locker room.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Absolutely, there's a kind of a general axiom in football
that the biggest improvements are made between week one and
week two of a season.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
Is that true?
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Do you see that all through your past experiences and
obviously has your expectation this week as far as seeing
that growth this week?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah, my expectation is growth weekly. To your point, I
think that you know what you when you make improvements.
I think the the improvements become smaller and smaller the
further you get, the closer you get to playing really
good football. They start off, especially with young players, the
growth curve is so huge, and then all of a
sudden you find good football and then you got to
(08:26):
like really fight and scratch to find that little incremental
improvement and compete to find whatever that edge is. You know,
But I think that you know early on, especially for us,
you know, coming off of a game like this, you know,
we we have some things that we can we can
definitely clean up.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
And Week two, coach, I've been asked this question, what
do the coaches do on a rain delay that happens?
Speaker 5 (08:46):
What do they do as opposed to what does the
team do?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, so we come in and first we go right
to our players and we you know, we have the
opportunity to look at the first couple of series to
say this is how they're trying to play us here.
You know, we talked through some different things so that
we can mentally, while it's fresh in your mind, kind
of go through that part of it, you know. And
then after that, like you know, the coaches we kind
of get together, you know and have a quick five
(09:10):
minute meeting and you know, it was a pretty long delay,
and then the players, we kind of asked them to like,
you know, take your shoulder pads off, breathe a little bit,
you know, change your socks if you want to, just
to kind of get a fresh feeling like we're going
to restart this thing. And then we just go through
our whole body prep just like we were going to
start the game and start to get their readiness happen,
(09:33):
take them out on the field, do a little bit
more dynamic movement, and then and then rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Coach Bryce, being the quarterback, good or bad, always will
be the lightning rod. That's the nature of the position.
How do you assess his performance from week one?
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I think Bryce would be you know, if he's sitting here,
he'll tell you he's got to play better. He's got
to take care of the ball first and foremost. I
thought that he did a great job of getting us
to the right play, sorting us out with the protections,
getting us to.
Speaker 5 (10:03):
The right calls.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
He had us up there, we are ready to go.
He gave us some good opportunities. He's got a few opportunities.
I'm sure he would like to have back, you know,
down the field on a couple of opportunities.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
But I just love the way he kept leading.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
I love the way he kept challenging the guys, and I,
you know, fully expect him to continue doing that.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
I saw you at your press conference. You talked about
just the communication. Those five six extra seconds at the
line of scrimmage. What does that do for a quarterback?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Yeah, it's just they have so much good information in
their mind. That they can take all that in if
we can be at the line of scrimmage where the
snap is imminent. Once a snap is eminent, the defense
at some point has to kind of show you what
they're doing, you know, and when you can do that,
they can't wait you out all the way until you're
under five seconds and then time up the snap and
(10:51):
all those things. And so it's just it's an advantage
and and that's something that we'll we'll have to you know,
continue and prove.
Speaker 6 (10:56):
On love and and justicipacially with the fans bout seeing
Tam Mac out there for his first game, and obviously
you'd like to see that touchdown grab, which would have been
a good one to get, a tough one to get.
Overall though, it looked like he was smooth and uncomfortable.
There were your general impressions about him.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, confident, you know, friendly to the quarterback, attacked the ball,
he was on time, he was where he was supposed
to be, at the depth he was supposed to be there,
and just really showed us that, you know, he's going
to be a reliable target for us.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
I would be remissive. I didn't talk about the interception
that was in a secondary beautiful, beautiful play. How did
j C play?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
J C had a fantastic game. I thought that he was,
you know, in great position in the past game, great
position in the run game. Yes, there's stuff that I'm
sure he would tell you. There's some dishes and that's
and technique wise that he could have done better. The
interception was a beautiful heads up play. He recognized the concept,
punched out and then made a real high point like
(11:51):
incredible interception on it right in front of where I
was sitting and I'm standing on the sideline. And that's
what we expect out of JC. You know, we don't
anything less. But I think what gets down played is
how physical he played in the run game, showing up
on the edge and throwing his body in there to
get guys down.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Last thing, Derek Brown's first game in about a year
where he's played a lot of snaps. How did he
hold up on the back end after the game?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
Awesome? I think it sums it up in this. It's
the fourth quarter, they're in one of the last series
of the game. They have a two score lead. They
throw a middle screen on third and long. Derek Brown
at the end of the game, everything has got comes
out the stack, knocks down Travis Hunter, they gain about
three yards. We hold him to a field goal, and
(12:38):
it gives us a chance. And that's the reason I
love Derek Brown. He embodies what we're looking for as
a group. We just keep playing football. We just keep finishing,
try to do right longer than the opponent. That's our goal,
you know, And so I just love to be able
to talk about that.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
All right, Dave Canal, said, coach of the Panthers. One week.
There's still sixteen more games see after Arizona.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Thanks guys, Thanks coach.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Panther Talk continues after this on the Carolina Panthers or
Radio network.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
This is Panther Talk, not do you buy Bank of America?
What would you like the power to do?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Back here on Panther Talk and you sharp, Jimzochi, Eugene Robinson.
We finally have a game to react to Panthers falling
to the Jaguars twenty six to ten. You heard from
head coach Dave Canalis in that first segment. A lot
to unpack. Let's start with this, Eugene six drives where
(13:40):
the Panthers got into plus territory. They showed they could
move the ball, but you do have to finish those drives.
Only ten points, only scores on two of those drives.
And when you kind of go back and you look
at how things unfolded to me, missed opportunities. Sum this up,
talk about the turnovers, and that's true. But take the
(14:02):
first possession for the Jaguars. They committed a few penalties.
You got them in second and long, third and long.
There was a fourth and one couldn't get off the field.
Panthers ensuing drive, Hunter Renfro beats his man, balls a
little underthrown. Instead of a touchdown, you kick a field goal.
We talked to Dave about the sequence. At the end
of the half, Lee get makes the catch, can't get
(14:25):
both feet in out, So instead of a red zone opportunity,
two plays later, Bryce Young fumbles a score. It's now
twenty to three. Now you can't maybe be as balanced
with the run in the pass as you want to be,
and instead of maybe seventeen to ten and getting the
ball with a chance to tie to begin the third quarter,
twenty to three. It feels different, it looks different, it
(14:46):
is different. Those were the kind.
Speaker 7 (14:50):
Of plays in the margins where most teams, when you
make three mistakes like that, multiple mistakes like that, you
can't overcome. Panthers certainly are an improved roster, but they're
not at the point where you can overcome all that.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
No, when you're a young team, and we are a
young team, you know you're not gonna be able to
overcome that. And particularly like when I bet you like
fans when as they're watching the game and maybe want
to scream at Bryce Young a little bit, but when
I kind of like pill it back a little bit.
I mean, there was some plays where the receivers can
help them out tremendously. When we talk about Legett, there
(15:27):
was a even a play that catches the ball and
he's running to his left hand side, but the ball
is in his right hand. He doesn't transfer to his
left hand side to use his right hand as a
weapon that he can go ahead and put his foot
in the ground and go up the field. He keeps
it in his right hand and now he has to
use his legs to jump over people. And it's when
(15:47):
you're in the air, you still got people running at him,
and I'm like, you're gonna get tackled, and so from
that standpoint, I'm like, dude, switch the ball, give yourself
a chance to get up the field right a play
of his size, he could have turned that play into
a ten yard run twelve thirteen yards as opposed to
latterally picked up three yards. And so from that standpoint,
(16:09):
I'm like, dude, there's plays there's this out there that
the receiver's got to help Bryce. Now, I'm not talking
about when the defensive back makes a good play on
Hunter Refro, totally different, a good play on team ac
totally different.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
I'm talking about when you.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Have a chance to catch the ball, catch the ball,
get your feet in the bounds those the quarterback is
relying on that. And we have such a young team.
You're not good enough to overcome those mistakes. You're not
good enough to go ahead and wait for those opportunities
to show back up. You gotta seize them right now.
And that's what we did not do. And then it
(16:46):
looks like it's not all Bryce, But it looks like, man, Bryce,
what's going on with you?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
Well, there's a lot that's going on. Jim.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
You know that fourth and one play that didn't work.
Luke Kickley called this out on the radio broadcast. A
lot of people pointed to the fact that Bryce could
have found j T. Sanders in the end zone. Leget
pre snap was uncovered and he doesn't look back at Bryce,
and Bryce is locked in on him because he's open
and nobody's on him. And by the time lee Get
(17:16):
realizes it's too late.
Speaker 6 (17:17):
And I'm assuming that's a rough film session in the
receiver's room. You watch with your teammates and see stuff
like that, and we were watching it, and so it's
it's hard because at that point when you're looking at
j T. Sanders, that's like the second play. First play
is gone and he's trying to create something and then
Bryce is under pressure and he has to hurry it
and it looks like he's throwing the ball out of bounds.
It was just like he's trying to create something that
(17:39):
he'd ran out of time, he'd run out of you
really field to work with because league Get, when he
continued to run his route, he was out of bounds.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
So it had to be j T.
Speaker 6 (17:47):
Sanders or nobody on the background because at that point
they Get had taken as his route was out of bounds.
And we always talk about too, like how one out
of the eleven if they don't do their job, how
the whole play can look off.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
How the team but the offense looks bad.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
It just takes one person that's one play and one
example the other players with other people as examples, that
throws things off. And the reality is Adam thlen was traded.
He was here for the first two years with Bryce
Young is a great security blanket when healthy.
Speaker 5 (18:14):
But they did the right thing.
Speaker 6 (18:15):
This is gonna be Adams last year, and so now
we have other people that step up. Not knowing Jalen
Coker was going to get hurt, and so not having
Jalen Cocher and Thieling, two guys that he's had some
time with, some history with, is having to speed up
having that chemistry with other players out there.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
So it'll come, It'll take time.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
You don't want to lose games in the meanwhile, hope
you you win games while you figure all that out.
But there is going to be a little bit of
just a little bit out of sync probably at times
with that passing game.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Oh embarrassing. That's going to be in the locker room
for him, I mean in the film session because he's
every receiver when you're line up and you know that's
zero coverage, miss man and man coverage, and nobody lies
upon you, and you and your shoes were like, you're
looking at the quarterback, like, dude, throw the ball me
right now.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
Get the ball to me right now, because nobody's all me.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
If somebody's onl me that way in the back, that
means they have to go run ten fifteen yards to
get to you. From that standpoint, when you're not looking
and you're not doing that, you're gonna say, hey, man.
Speaker 5 (19:11):
Are you not?
Speaker 4 (19:12):
This is what you live for, an impromptu play like
this where you can get the ball right now.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And the PostScript to that play was the cameras for
Fox catching Bryce Young walking to the sideline, frustrated, rips
his helmet off and canalice you see, tries to kind
of calm him down, and a lot of people were
wondering where was the disconnect, what was the frustration from
makes you wonder if it was, hey, that could have
been at the very least an easy pitch and catch
(19:40):
for a first down. And now you got first and
goal inside the five four chances to punch it in
or in all likelihood a touchdown.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
With leget size, that's a touchdown. I mean because you
got a man outside of him who's in man and
man coverage. There's nobody. The free safety is way in
the middle of the field. There's nobody there. You're gonna run,
but by the time you catch up with somebody, it's
gonna be ten yards down the field. You got too
much move or too much room to maneuver. And so
from that standpoint, it's a major missed opportunity. And that's
(20:11):
something that you would hope to get every receiver when
they're in that. You know, when they come out the
play and they're sitting there like this, hope nobody covers me.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Nobody covers me. Get me the ball.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
Right now, and so you got to be able to improvise,
and that should have happened immediately when leaguet saw that
nobody was on them.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
You talk about a hot route city that's on fire
as how could be. That's the best way to describe.
It's a hot route.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
I hated hot rocks where I know I got to
get to the guy and I'm back ten twelve yards
and he has that much room if he gets the
ball by the time you get to him, I'm like
eight yards.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
I mean that's too much room.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
What's the feedback loop?
Speaker 5 (20:48):
There?
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Is it the quarterback signaling the receiver or is the receiver?
You just kind of have to know what what's the
feedback loop? How does that work?
Speaker 4 (20:56):
The receiver would know because guess it's man to man
coverage and no, but he's nobody is on you. And
when you look up to find out who's supposed to
be covering you, and you see that there's two guys.
That's way in the back. There's nobody on you. You're sitting
there going like this, throw me right now, and you
start to look back at the quarterback immediately, I hope
you see what I'm seeing because nobody we don't have
(21:17):
a play that nobody covers anybody. There's no plays like that.
There's no plays that nobody covers anybody. Every well, you
got zero covers. That means the entire secondary is in coverage,
covering is all five eligible receivers.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
It's almost surprising the Jags didn't call it time out
un attended slot receiver like exactly, I.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Mean, pre snap, Luke is going, he gets open, he
gets open.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Yes, and and typically what I would do. I saw that,
I'm calling a time out because I can't get there
fast enough because the quarterback and the receiver and sync,
every last one of them in sync.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
So that's a misuppers And if you watch the play,
Bryce sees it right away. Bryce is locked in on
the seventeen.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
And he's looking at him and it's like he ain't
looking back, and now all of a sudden he's under
pressure and the whole thing blows up. But people get
people like I don't know, they watch it, they go
the emotion. He must be mad at the coach and
all this stuff. Say, I want to see a guy
that's mad when a play goes wrong. Yeah, I don't
want to see like shocks darn that could have been
a touchdown. Maybe next time, guys. I like that he's
mad because I think that maybe speeds up the process
(22:15):
of people learning and getting more on points. And if
you don't learn quickly from those lessons are going to repeat.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
You know, he was gonna run a wheel route anyway,
because he ran a wheel row back to that flat
and then going up the field, so that he was
gonna be one of the primary guys anyway on that
wheel row. But the fact that there's nobody on you, you
don't have to run a wheel row. All you have
to do is look at the quarterback, and the quarterback
is going to get you the ball.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Right now, Leaguette had a game to forget, but the
debut of Tataroa McMillan offers a lot of promise for
this offense. And I know, Silver Linings playbook. You can
go there all day. At the end of the day,
I get it, twenty six to ten. They lost Week one,
but you have a rookie receiver. You invested a lot
in him, first round pick ten pick. He looked very
(23:02):
comfortable out there. He didn't look like a guy playing
in his first game. A couple of times matched up
against one of the better corners in the NFL and
Tyson Campbell, he more than held his own.
Speaker 6 (23:11):
I agree, And he's like kind of said when we
first got to practice. I mean, he just he looks
like a different dude, Like we don't have that dude
on that team. That's like built the way he is
with speed, A power receiver, if you will, that's going
to win some fifty to fifty battles out there. So
big target for Bryce, and obviously you know Bryce is
well documented, went to bat for him as far as
(23:32):
draft pre draft day, I should say as far as
saying that I would love to have this kid on
my team too, that there's a chemistry from knowing each
other in the past that he vouched from his you know,
saying I think we could have something here.
Speaker 5 (23:44):
So I think that matters.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
And again with the departure of Adam Thielen for a
period of time, without Jalen Cocher, that's probably going to
be your most successful option in the passing game.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
He has a huge catch radio. This is no doubt
about that.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
And also the defensive backs who made great plays on
him to get rid of the ball, to knock the
ball out of his hands twice.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
I'm sitting there.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Those were great plays by defensive backs, no doubt about it.
I'm like, Wow, what a great play. Because anytime the
balls around him, he's catching the rock. You know, he
is catching the rock. And so when I saw his debut,
I'm like, wow, he's a number one receiver. I can
see why Bryce wanted his good I can see why
because he's that guy. And you notice his size too.
(24:25):
I notice his size against the other defensive backs. I'm like, dude,
this is a big dude. So from that standpoint, and
he uses it and he that's what I'm getting too.
He's boxing you out, dude, He's going like backing you
down Loan like Charles Barkley boxing the brother out. That's
what he that's what he brings.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Such like if you and I were playing basketball, you're
not shooting jump shots. You're taking You're taking me in
the post.
Speaker 4 (24:49):
Post, low block right now, get the ball to me
right there, passing me zoke.
Speaker 5 (24:53):
I got him on the low b flop flop it.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, charge that blocker.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
But that's what he does.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
He's a very gifted receiver, and I think he learned
his lesson in Cleveland. Got his eyes around immediately and
caught the ball.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
So again Week one of seventeen games, eighteen weeks, seventeen
games Arizona. In week two, we'll talk a little bit
more about the Panthers defense. Later on, we're gonna hear
from another Panther legend, Mike Tolbert. He caught up with
Jim Zochi. That's coming up here on the Carolina Panthers
Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
This is Panther talk brought to you by Atrian Health.
At Atrium Health, we do more to keep you moving, achieving,
striving at every age and stage so you can live fully.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
The greatest fullback in Carolina Panthers history, Mike Tolbert, played
here from twenty twelve to twenty sixteen, three times a
Pro Bowl performer for the Panthers, a part of the
twenty fifteen Super Bowl fifty team. Played his college football
at Coastal Carolina.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
We'll check in today with Mike Tolberts.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Seasons of Panther Football a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 6 (26:11):
You guys won eighteen straight regular season games. A lot
of different ways of chopping up the winning streak over
a two year period of time and how that all
went down there. But I mean, especially now for Panther
fans to hear that, it's like, Wow, what eighteenth straight
regular season victories in a row. It could take you know,
if you look back at this franchise over the past
couple of years, several years to accumulate even eighteen wins
(26:32):
that when you were in the midst of that, what
did that feel like or we just caught up in
the week to week At that point, I.
Speaker 8 (26:38):
Think we were so focused on the day that we
didn't really understand what we were doing. You know, I
don't think it was still probably week ten or eleven
or of twenty fifteen when we were ten and zero
eleven and oh something like that, it was like, this
is this is clicking.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
You know.
Speaker 8 (26:55):
The games felt easy, you know, like we were winning
by thirty points at halftime and some of them, you
know what I mean. So the games didn't feel like
other seasons where where everything is a struggle, where that's
a great two yard run. Now if we hit a
two yard run that we should have got ten, you
know what I mean. So the games felt a little
bit easier in twenty fifteen. So we were clicking. We
(27:18):
were all cylinders offense, defense and special teams. You know,
we had a couple of runbacks things that everything was
going the right way.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Well, I was gonna say, just to take the running
component of that offense yourself, Jon Vin Stewart, Cam Newton,
D'Angelo Williams prior to that for a long time with
John Fann Stewart, I mean, just to take that aspect
of running the ball. I mean, you guys presented such
a challenge from so many ways, and as we all know,
we don't see that many traditional fullbacks anymore. A physical
(27:47):
running quarterback like Cam Newton. I mean, what, what a
what a horrible team that have to be prepared for.
If you were an opponent to face the Panthers running attack,
I would think.
Speaker 8 (27:55):
Oh, yeah, we had we had a formation called twenty
one as right, and that's where they would take me
out of the game and put in Fozzi along with
Jonathan and Cam. And I'm like, hey, I'm just as
fast as Fazzi now, even though he's faster than me,
but I used to talk mess with him, right, like
I'm just as fast. When we he called twenty one
(28:17):
jumbo and then they put it in twenty one jumbo.
So you look at it, that's me two point fifty,
Jonathan two forty, Cam two fifty.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
You know what I mean. That's two hundred and seven
hundred offensive line.
Speaker 8 (28:31):
That's seven hundred plus pounds, right, And then we started
running the ball out of that and it was wow,
you know what I mean. But that's the unguardable, guys,
is the quarterback when your quarterback.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Is your best running back.
Speaker 8 (28:44):
It makes the game so much easier because you got
to account for him some kind of way, right, and
then he can throw the ball seventy yards down the
field too. So it was definitely fun, a fun run game,
you know, one of the funnest seasons I've had in
my pro career.
Speaker 6 (28:58):
What was it like playing for Ryan river because all
the seasons were under ron players. Coach I would think,
mostly because we all know his personality, but truly was
a player, So how did that translate his to his
coaching style.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
I think he understood the plight of a player, you know,
from being myself being married with children, or somebody that's
a rookie that brand new into the city, that standing
at a team hotel, coming to work every day. He
understands the different levels of player, somebody like Ryan Khalil
(29:30):
that was here before him, here after him type thing.
So playing for coach Rivera, I actually knew coach Riverta
because he came from San Diego, where I was at previously,
so I knew what kind of man he was. I
knew his wife, I knew his daughter, Like we were
friends outside of football. We understood each other you know
we as as ball players. You know, you speak the
(29:51):
same language for the for the most part, He's an
eighty five bear, you know what I'm saying. I got
an old soul, so to speak. I was born in
eighty five, but I got an old soul. So he
was one of those guys that I look back on,
like him running lot. You know what I'm saying, Walter Payton,
those were my guys, you know what I mean. When
I grew up watching football, I would watch old film
(30:11):
because I loved football, and watching that type of grit
on the field is how I like to model my game.
So I played very rough, very reckless with my body,
you know what I mean. But it was fun and
I really he's my guy to this day.
Speaker 6 (30:32):
Great coach, two time Coach of the Year, and one
of our all type favorite people, Ryan Rivera. The next
year would be your last year, twenty sixteen, and there
were injuries for sure, But six and ten that team
they talked about Super Bowl hangover. Was it a mix
of things or what kind of went sideways? The year
following fifteen and one.
Speaker 8 (30:50):
I think when you live in an abnormal space for
so long, it's only a certain amount of.
Speaker 5 (30:56):
Time before you come back down to reality.
Speaker 8 (30:58):
Right the end of twenty fourteen into the playoffs into
twenty fifteen preseason, we were running such a high that
we finally came back down following the humbling of the
Super Bowl. We finally came back down. It was like, Okay,
let's get back to work. But at the same time,
(31:19):
it's like, what what's next, right, because we've been here,
we know how hard it was to get here. Can
we do it again? And then I think we was
pressing a little a lot on certain situations. There's games
that year that we should have won by thirty points,
we won by three.
Speaker 1 (31:36):
You know.
Speaker 8 (31:36):
There's games that we should have lost because of the
way we played, and we won by twenty, you know
what I mean.
Speaker 6 (31:42):
So it's one of kind of masking some of the
deficiencies by the outcomes exactly.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:46):
So, I mean it's one of those things that was
it a Super Bowl low postgame post low? Probably so,
But at the same time, a lot of things happened,
a lot of things got to go right in or
if you have a season like twenty five team and
you gotta be lucky as well, we weren't in the
same as sixteen.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Subscribe to thirty seasons of Panther football on the iHeartRadio app,
Panthers dot com and Team Apple Apple Podcast, or Spotify.
This is Panther Talk, Cokey. It deserves the great taste
of Coca cola because fan work is thirsty work.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Anisch. Eugene Jim back with you here on Panther Talk.
Week two, Panthers take on Arizona defensively a bit of
a struggle on Sunday against Jacksonville, they gave up two
hundred yards rushing. Now, seventy one did come on one play,
but that still counts seventh straight game where the Panthers
have given up two hundred rushing yards in a contest.
(32:53):
The Jaguars didn't really try a whole lot downfield in
the passing game. One time they did, JC Horn made
an incredible one handed interception. But one area where Jacksonville
was able to find some success in the passing game
was using the tight end. Brenton Strange had four catches
for fifty nine yards, leading the team. You look ahead
to Week two, Arizona's got Trey McBride. He's gonna be
(33:14):
targeted a lot. Eugene, what do the Panthers have to
zero in on. Let's start with their pass defense. We'll
get to the run, but let's start with the pass defense,
especially when it comes in defending the tight end. Who
can catch what's important.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
So whenever you have a tight end like an Osen
that we had, who can go ahead and be just
move from place to players, get up and zoom back
and forth, and has the ability to catch the ball
extremely well, you can't put a lineback on him because
he's gonna beat the linebacker with his ability. And you
gotta be careful putting a safety on him because then
he just bocks off the safety.
Speaker 5 (33:48):
So they become an enigma.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
They becoming that little freakis player that my goodness, how
do we stop them?
Speaker 5 (33:54):
All right?
Speaker 4 (33:55):
I want the lineback on him because Thomas Davis light,
because Thomas Davis acts like he's a safety and he can.
He can bully you down the field, and that's what
you want. So you're gonna tell I'm gonna tell my guys,
I need you to hit him and punch him in
the mouth before he releases up the field because if
he has a free release, that puts me in a bind.
(34:15):
If I'm covering him and then the other thing I
will do with my corners. I got with Jack, and
I got with when I got with j C, and
also with thought K comes in the game, I'm you know,
I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 5 (34:27):
Hey, let's go.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
Ahead and and go man to man unless blitzch Kyler
Murray to get him off his spot, to get people
in his face so he doesn't have the chance to
hit the ball to McBride. So how do we take
that away? Get in the face of this dude. If
I'm coach Jarald, Look, this is what I'm gonna do. Coach,
I'm gonna go ahead, and I'm blessing people, I'm blesching.
I'm gonna tell my safeties in my corners. I need
(34:50):
you to hold up here because we're blissing because we
gotta get this quarter brought out, this quarterback hands and
we can't have this tight end beating us like he
stole money from us.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
Now, for Jim what it's worth. McBride against the Panthers
three catches twenty yards, but Arizona ran for two oh six,
savaging seven point one to carry. That's the other area
you got to clean up, which is the run defense.
Speaker 6 (35:10):
That's why coaches always say the first thing you have
to do is stop the run, because otherwise it's like
you said with Jacksonville, why would you throw downfield when
you don't take away the run. There's no reason not to.
And if you got the lead, you just gonna keep
running it downhill like Jacksonville did for two hundred yards.
They got two good backs in Benson and Connor and
then Eugie. What you said about Kyler Murray is correct,
but also the fact that he can run. He ran
for thirty eight on seven carries this past week. But
(35:32):
he's not the world's greatest pastor. But when he does
his best is probably rolling them out and getting him
in space. Again their shorter stature quarterback, but he can run,
so you do have to be careful if you're spying
him that you've got a sure tackler or chasing him. Otherwise,
if he breaks through and wins that one on one
match up, he could run for twenty yards.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
You know.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
And as control, one of the things that we saw
against the Jaguars is we have poor edges. Poor as control.
You better have better edges this week because Kyler Murray
no joke. Get outside as you as you well said,
and that's why I want to keep him correlled in
the pocket. I want to send somebody on the outside
to force him in the pocket and try to collapse
(36:09):
the pocket with I'm sending five, six, seven people, and
then I'm telling, hey, if the running back comes out,
pill off and one of my guys who listened, pill
off and take the running back. But what I'm I'm
not gonna do. I'm not gonna sit back in the
zone and look at Kyler Murray because he's gonna kill you.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
Eugene, what was your big diagnosis as you walk away
from week one of the Panthers defense, Like, if you
were to diagnose kind of where you felt, hey, there
were some bright spots and where you felt that got
to get better here, and obviously there's an opportunity to
do that this weekend. But what was your overall diagnosis there?
Speaker 4 (36:49):
I thought that the edges weren't good at all. I
thought that the fact that the Carolina Panthers didn't take
it edges and got beat at times just by you know,
physically getting beat. I thought that, you know, if we
look at the test sound with the tight end rose
out and then it was a bootleg to the right
hand side by Trevor Lawrence. Nobody's covering the tight end,
(37:11):
but the quarterback could have walked in the end zone too.
Speaker 5 (37:14):
Where is the edge?
Speaker 4 (37:16):
This is a thing called BCR boot leg, Contain and
reverse the edges is what you take care of, and
you collapse the pocket by taking care of the edges.
And I thought we didn't do a good job of that,
and in fact thought to the fact that we didn't tackle well.
Limit to that hitding yardage. We better tackle a lot
better and we better be concerned about our edges. And
when you saw that the Cleveland game and preseason, the
(37:38):
edges were an issue again. These edges have to get
taken care of. That way we can go ahead and
play collastible football and make good tackles.
Speaker 5 (37:49):
There's young players on this team. It's no dabt. We
spent some draft packs early on.
Speaker 6 (37:51):
But I said with coach Canal's when he was in here,
they've also plugged in a lot of veteran guys at
all three levels.
Speaker 5 (37:57):
They should know how to tackle by now. That's to me.
Speaker 6 (38:00):
Everybody's involved in a loss, everybody's involved in a win.
But to take the player component of it. They've got
to be accountable for making tackles, winning their matchups out there.
So it's not always about the coach didn't have you
prepared for this, they didn't have you in the right spot.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
You are, you should know.
Speaker 6 (38:15):
O hot to play somebod These guys have been brought
in here, have been in this league for a long time,
so there are some players here that need to step
up and play.
Speaker 5 (38:20):
They're being paid for a reason to make plays out there.
Speaker 6 (38:23):
We saw jac Horn you mention, make a dynamic play
in front of Travis Hunter for the interception. There are
other great moments out there. We mentioned the Derek Brown
play with coach Canalis. So their plays out there, they
have to happen more consistently, have to win more often
than you lose during the course of say seventy steps
out there.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
You know, I have over fourteen hundred tackles in the
NEESTL Football League, all right, and one thing I know
is when to make a tackle, When to go down low,
and when to stay up high. When to stay up
high when you forcedly got the sideline, the usually help
one the sideline. When to go ahead and give your
body up because you got to give your body up.
There was art to tackling back in my day, right,
and now I think that's the art that's actually lost
(38:59):
now a little.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
It.
Speaker 4 (39:00):
So from that standpoint, riding lot can easily make a tackle.
Learned a lot from the guys, you know, how to
tackle this group. I don't think they I don't think
they spend enough time on making tackles.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
You're telling me there's fourteen hundred combined tackles here at
this desk.
Speaker 5 (39:14):
Do fourteen hundred and forty one?
Speaker 6 (39:16):
Then you bind, he's adding forty one jo tackle people
are hearing this room.
Speaker 4 (39:21):
Yeah, but that's what it is. And tackling is an art,
and there's something you get used to doing. It's something
that you learn to go ahead and do and you
do off.
Speaker 5 (39:29):
Micky used to also say that we were all in
three Pro Bowls as well. Yeah, we were. We collectively
were collectively all collective.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
I'm sorry, I didn't want to be that guy filled
my stet out there, but yeah, I'm making a point.
Speaker 5 (39:41):
Tackling is a huge issue.
Speaker 1 (39:43):
He also wore a suit to a radio show. You
know that's right, the Carolina Panthers radio network.
Speaker 2 (39:52):
Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
As we get ready to a bow. On Week one,
We've got a Monday night game Tonight Vikings and Bears
JJ McCarthy, Vikings debut Caleb Johnson as a new play
caller head coach in Ben Johnson. But uh, looking at
Week one, jim My big takeaway was Ravens and Bill's
last night. That was one of the most amazing regular
season games I've ever seen. And you saw Lamar Josh Allen,
(40:22):
two guys who I think are gonna figure very prominently
in the MVP race, and I would not be surprised
if one of them finally gets a ring this year.
Speaker 5 (40:29):
Now, that was an amazing game.
Speaker 6 (40:31):
And then you have a guy who signed on Thursday
kick the game winning field goal and that that Prader
real quick.
Speaker 5 (40:35):
I I got to.
Speaker 6 (40:36):
Give him credit four time MVP Aaron Rodgers four touchdown
passes against his former team with all his cat calls
out there. That was that was a really brilliant performance.
And then they won with a sixty yard field goal.
Speaker 4 (40:46):
The Bills and Ravens one of the best games I've
I've seen, one of the best. Now, I thought that
both quarterbacks were in rare form. Like, man, they're they're
in top form right now. Now from from the guy
who came from the time with run Henry Harry.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
When he fumbled a ball, I was like, oh no,
And I saw him on the.
Speaker 4 (41:03):
Sidelight, walking up and down the sideline, because fumbling changes
the trajectory of where you're going and puts people back
in the mix.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
That game at one point looked like it was about
to be a runaway Ravens blowout, and then Josh Allen
does what Josh Allen does. One last thing. Danny Dimes
quite the debut for the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe one of
those second chance quarterback reclamation project stories we'll see bought.
Speaker 5 (41:30):
The Giants look for their next quarterback.
Speaker 1 (41:33):
Giants are sticking with Russell Wilson for at least one
more week.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
This has been 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 game
(41:59):
dea Zerus the great taste of Coca Cola. Because fan
work is thirsty work. Pantherton, panther doll, panther doll. This
is the Carolina Panthers radio network.
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