September 9, 2025 • 35 mins
This week on Weekend Warriors, Anish and Tom recap the Panthers 26-10 loss to the Jaguars, discuss UNC's bounce back win over Charlotte, praise the players that wait their turn in college football, and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another week of the Weekend Warriors. Funny thing about the
Weekend Warrior Show. We tape it on a Tuesday. That's
the fourth wall coming down for you. Tom. You had
an interesting one this past weekend. You got the Bill
Belichick UNC experience. You did the game UNC against Charlotte. Yeah,
(00:21):
you have to go very far. What was that like
being around Belichick and seeing what that operation look like
and kind of going behind the curtains.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I guess as far as it was exactly what anybody
who's been a fan of college football, professional football, who
has ever watched a Bill Belichick press conference.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That's exactly what it was like in our meetings with him,
as if you were sitting in the gallery in a
postgame press conference. So, you know, short answers, not a
lot of detail, quite a bit of parent don't really
want to talk about who they truly are, who they
think they are, in part because I don't think many
(01:09):
people know, including them. I will give them credit in
this regard. You know, that had to have been on
a short week, one of the most talacious public scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Span of four days that any.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Team in recent college football has probably Hadn't you know,
in a long, long time player to coach everything based
off of what happened Monday night against TCU. They were better,
They were improved from that game to Saturday night. The
opponent obviously was not TCU, but also the score, which
(01:51):
ended up being twenty to three.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Was not that big of a gap. If you watched the.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Game, you know Charlotte moved the ball several times up
and down the field but could not capitalize inside the
red zone. So they miss a field goal. They drop
a touchdown, all right, So and remember it was ten
to three with two minutes to go in the second
quarter when Charlotte, excuse me, North Carolina scores a touchdown
(02:18):
to go in.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
At half to make it seventeen to three.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, they only scored three points the entire rest of
the game, and Charlotte drops a touchdown to put them
right back in it in that second half, So a
little bit of a deceptive score. I'll give Gio Lopez
a lot of credit. He really came to play. He
was a vastly different player than he was on Monday night.
(02:41):
But you know, it's interesting. They are such an enigma.
They're a total mystery, partly because they won't release any
information on the.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Want to want to be as they totally do. Yeah,
they totally do.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
As the schedule gets more difficult though, like their deficiencies
are going to become more and more difficult to hide
and masks as the teams that they play become better.
But you look at their schedule, and outside of Virginia
and the ACC, it's the easiest.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Schedule in the league.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
However, on paper it looks like that, but some of
those teams on that schedule are better this.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Year than maybe people thought they were going to be.
I look at it this way, Lucas. Listen, you and
I both live in North Carolina. We both lived in
Charlotte for a while. Yeah, we want to see our
local teams do good. We want to see our in
state teams do well. But this Carolina experiment, a lot
was made. After the TCU lost forty transfer seventy new players,
(03:43):
Charlotte has pretty much an entirely new roster as well,
fifty six new players. Fifty six new players. So you
have a Charlotte team which is again, with all due
respect first year head coach Tim Alvin, it's not even
occupying the same area that North Carolina occupies. And to
(04:04):
hear what you said, Hey, that game was closer than
the school indicated. If you're a Tar Heel fan and
you hear that, this may be a very very long season,
and the NFL is a closed circuit, so you can
give the one word answers. Yeah, on to New England,
or we're on to Miami. We're onto the Jets, We're
(04:24):
on to the next game. You can do all that
you put out the injury reports, you don't have to
talk about it. In college football, that stuff gives your
competition ammunition. Right, Hey, we're not gonna let the Patriots
come to our facilities because they don't let us there.
We're not gonna let them there. So okay, all your
(04:46):
players who have dreams of playing in the NFL, you're
taking one team and you're saying you don't get any
exposure to them. Yeah, don't get any exposure to you
in college football where there's no salary cap and there's
no draft, and every one's trying to get the same guys,
and I mean it's a free for all. Right now,
that stuff is now used against you in recruiting. Do
(05:07):
they understand that the dynamics of college football and the
way you operate. It's not the same as the NFL,
and it can't be the same playbook.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I'm not convinced that they understand that. But at the
same time, I also don't think they care. That's just
Bill Belichick's mindset, right He those things do not matter
to him, right, wrong, or indifferent, And you're right, those
can be used against them in high school recruiting tactics.
Those can be used against them in the transfer portal.
And you know, you obviously you want to put together
(05:40):
the best team you can and then you want to
be able to showcase that team for players that are
potentially good enough to play at the next level. And
if you're going to be cutting off a team from
that opportunity, would I do it?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
No? But again I don't.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think with his mannerisms and how he views things,
he doesn't care. And for them, it's all about they'll
tell you it's about player development.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's about finding the right mix.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's about getting a roster to grow together and develop together.
And that's great, but let's not forget that one of
the reasons he was hired was because he has a
reputation of being an elite level player evaluator, and personnel guy.
And when I hear all of this stuff about Okay,
well they've got seventy new players and this and that
(06:26):
we just talked about Charlotte's got fifty sixt new players.
Here's the reality that's not exclusive to North Carolina. That's
everybody in college football. They're all having a twenty thirty,
forty to fifty player roster turnover. And what it then
comes down to is, did you and your roster turnover
select the right guys to be a really good team
(06:47):
right now? And unlike this profession five years ago, where
if you are a new head coach that took over
for a previous regime that wasn't having success, well outside
of a recruiting class, yeah, you inherited that team. Well yeah,
that's not the case anymore. North Carolina did not inherit
this team. They built this team. So the players they
(07:08):
went out and identified and recruited to come to North Carolina,
in their mind, they thought they were as good, if
not better than what they lost, or they were improving
across the board.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I think that right.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Now, on early returns, how much of that has been
a positive. I don't know if it's overly strong right now.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
We're talking a couple of weeks and we'll see how
this thing plays out. But even when the coaching staff
that UNC has assembled, there's a lot of inexperience on
that coaching staff, Oh my goodness, a lot of guys
who have not had a coaching job anywhere near this
level before. Yeah. Again, Natron Means was a great running
(07:51):
back at North Carolina. Yeah, never coached Chargers to a
super Bowl and what was it ninety four when they
lost their forty niners. He's never coached before though, right,
and he's the running extra they have on him. Again,
this is to me just Bill Belichick is the guy.
And this could turn into Willie Mays falling in the
outfield with the Mets. Guess what, Nobody remembers that, right, Right?
(08:15):
If he is a total disaster at North Carolina, that
becomes a blip on his legacy, the same way his
Cleveland tenure is a blip on his legacy. This guy, again,
the legacy is cemented. You know, you'll have the talking
heads talk about that, and people who do the yelly
and shouty shows, they'll talk about that, Oh what does
this mean for his legacy? Doesn't mean anything, like the
legacy is secured when you have as many Super Bowls
(08:38):
as he has. And okay, he never won without Tom Brady, like,
but he won a lot with Tom Brady, Like, yeah,
what happened? So I just wonder, right Like, I just
wonder what the level of buy in is not from
UNC because when you're paying him that money, the school
wants to win, right, but like the people in charge
(09:02):
of building football at that place, what's the level of
buying from them? I think that's a question right now
until they prove otherwise.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
They have so many people now associated with the program.
I mean, they're staffing is multiplied. But to your point,
both on the field and administratively, a vast majority of
those people have not been in college athletics before. They
have multiple people on the coaching staff that it's their
very first full time job, all right, And then you
(09:31):
have some guys sprinkled in that have you know, a
decent tenure in college athletics over the span of you know,
several years. Maybe, But I do feel that there is
a you know, there's validity.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
To the fact that.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
This is not a college football grounded staff on the
field or administratively, and with that I think it's fair
to expect a learning curve and maybe a bit of
a bumpy road.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
But if you get a learning curve at a bumpy
road and it is a younger and inexperienced staff, and
I'm not making this about agism, but if it's a
staff that you know that you're going to give a
leash of Hey, we're going to give you two three
years to put in the foundational bricks needed to build
this thing up. It's one thing I don't think anybody
(10:20):
expects that Bill Belichick was brought in for anything other
than to be a quick fix.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Breck absolutely, and the expectation is there because we saw
that at Arizona State, right, We've seen it with some
examples across the country.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Well with Florida State a couple of years ago. But
two years ago they went heavy in the portal, and
I mean they should have been in the playoff.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I mean, think about that Florida State team, Okay, Kean Coleman,
Johnny Wilson, Jaheem Bell, Trey Benson, Jared Vers, Braden Fisk,
and I'm missing some guys, but every one of those
guys I mentioned were transferred guys and.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They hit on all of them.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So again, it does come down to who are you taking, Like,
is the collective group of the guys you're bringing in,
are they a significant upgrade to Wave the Magic, Wand
and poof have an entirely different product? And you're right,
I think that is the expectation early returns through two
weeks is that's not necessarily what we're going to see
(11:22):
here with this first iteration of Bill Belichick's football team.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
To be continued. I don't think it's the last week
talked of you seeing Belichick on this show, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The weekend quick throw near side its Hubbart makes the catch,
tiptoes the sideline into the ends. Weekend Warriors. Week one
(11:49):
of the NFL season is in the books, Lucas. I
was in Jacksonville a bit of a forgettable game, but
I'm not trying to be Pollyanna here. I watched the
tape back from the Panthers season opening twenty six to
ten loss. There were a lot of things where you
kind of leave scratch in your head, mistackles, missdesignments, just
(12:10):
guys not being on the same page. I don't know
if you saw the fourth and one play where Bryce
Young got really frustrated. Xavier Leaguet is in the slot. Yeah,
uncovered before the play. Yeah, Bryce is looking at him.
And again, second year wide receiver doesn't quite understand. If
I just turned my body to the quarterback and he
throws me a quick screen smoke screen, at minimum, you
(12:34):
got the yard and it's first in goal, more likely outcome,
you've got a touchdown. Yeah, And instead he runs his
route and he's not looking at the quarterback. Bryce is
locked into him because that's the hot receiver ends up
being an incomplete pass. He's got to throw it away.
By the time the play develops, it's too late. And
that was sort of the story of the game. Six
drives into plus territory. They moved the ball only ten points. Yeah,
(12:57):
those drives. You had some turnovers. We always say, and
your dad was a long time head coach. We always say.
The old coaching cliche is teams improve the most from
week one to week two? Right does that come from?
Where is the truth in that? Why is that?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I think it's actually more of an adage that's applied
to college football, where you don't have as long as
a training camp, and you don't have preseason games, and
that first time you take the field, the lad bullets
are flying by. It's real and it counts right, So
that many instances is the first time you're going to
have your ones on the field for the entire game,
(13:35):
and then whatever your rotational guys are, they're going to
go through there that you've ever had, right, Whereas in
practice you're going against each other and it's ones versus studs,
and it's twos versus ones, and then you try to
get your threes and fours in there. Sometimes you go
good on good, but in a game, real setting, it's
the first time, so I think, because there's so much
to go off of on that four quarter sample side,
(13:57):
and so much to coach and address that that's why
you see the jump in week one to week two.
In the preseason, you've had more opportunities, even though you
are holding guys out, may not play at your starters
this week, this and that, but you've put the players
in situational opportunities against somebody else for you to evaluate
(14:20):
on tape. And in college football you don't have that
until you're in week one, and so I do think
there's some legitimacy to it. Listen, is it related to
the Panthers. I mean when you're if you ever told
a coach in an NFL game or any other game, hey,
we're going to be fifty percent on third down. The
coach is going to tell you that means we have
more offensive possessions, We've extended drives, we've taken time off
(14:44):
the clock, our defense isn't on the field as much,
all of which are true. And then the one thing
in the sport of football, the the gates all of
those positives is what turnovers?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Penalties and turnovers.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah, so you know we forget some times that the
most important thing in football is the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Do we have it or do you have it? All? Right?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And I thought that was yesterday that the turnovers, the miscues,
you talk about the miscommunication, guy's not being on the
same page. And I'll tell you with the Xavier leg
ittt he is.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Having a very good day when it comes to when
they get in and watch the tape. In the run
blocking part of the of the scheme, because in that
league is a wide out. You don't get to just
be a guy that runs out there and catches passes.
If you are tasked with blocking the edge on a
third and two you don't get to ola and with
(15:42):
which he did.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
By the way, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I was the chew of Hubbard player on social media,
and you just it's just it's not winning football, right,
and and that's and again. So it's all all pointed
at one guy and things of that nature, but certainly
not a team that was on the same age.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
You know, there were other things too write and you say,
how much of this can you clean up? And how
much of this is a worry? I think you have
to let the sample size build out a little bit
at least. But yeah, to be fair too, right, I
understand the fans sentiment because I got a lot of,
you know, messages from fans who were frustrated, angry, all
those things. And you're kind of reading this stuff and
(16:24):
you're saying, well, listen, we have to earn some of
the benefit of the doubt here, right. If that was
Buffalo or Baltimore in week one, and we can get
into that game later, that was the best regular season
games you'll see. But if they laid an egg in
week one, they have the benefit of the doubt, right,
I think sure the Panthers, and Dan Morgan's even said it. Hey,
we got to go out and earn it. Dave can
Allis has you know, said some version of that too.
(16:46):
You got to go out and earn that and earn
that trust back. But that first drive in the game, right,
Jacksonville had a couple of penalties and it's first eighteen
and second and twenty. Those are instances you got to
get off the field. Yeah, into a field goal. There
were moments like that where it was like you were close,
but then that last piece wasn't there. And they're just
(17:10):
not good enough and most teams are not good enough
to overcome three turnovers. Most of these games in the
NFL come down to two or three plays, yep, and
you have to make those plays. You got to win
in the margins. So one game that I think Bryce
played particularly well, No, but this is different than him
not playing well the early part of last season, where
(17:33):
there weren't a lot of examples of him playing well.
He kind of gave you an eight nine games sample
size which showed he had made progress. So you hope
this is just a week one blip, small thing, Lukes,
And this is something I want your input in because
you played the position as a quarterback. We saw the
Panthers have some difficulty getting to play in. Yeah, and
(17:53):
they break the huddle all of a sudden, there's five
seconds left on the play clock. You're hurrying up to
the line, and then you're trying to snap the ball.
Why does that happen?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Well, it can happen for a variety of reasons. Maybe
you're late getting your personnel that you want on the
field or the personnel coming off the field. Maybe there's
some confusion on what we're in communication at the line
of scrimmage. If you are in the huddle, how quickly
is that call coming in? It can be a combination
(18:25):
of a variety of things. I think the number one
thing though, that has to happen from a play caller perspective,
is you have to be one to two calls ahead, right.
You have to know, okay, we convert here, No, right,
this is immediately what we're going to. We convert here, Yes,
this is immediately what we're going to so that you
don't have a lull in time between when that play
(18:49):
ends and when you're getting the next call in. So
whatever's creating that, I don't know, but I know that
in personnel and having the opportunity to get it in
quickly so you can get aligned, if you want to shift,
you can motion, and you're not in danger.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Of a delay again.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
So I think a lot of it has to do
with the expedition, the expediting of information as early as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What's the difference for you as a quarterback when you
get to the line with ten or twelve seconds on
the play clock versus five? What are those extra five
to six seconds by you?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Well, if you are in a position where you have
a check with me at the line of scrimmage, it
gives you the opportunity to see what it is that's
giving you your key and then being able to make
that call, also being able to do so with still
being able to maybe move people around, saying okay, what
we want to do, we want to shift over here,
and we're going to motion back, we're going to orbit
(19:46):
around blah blah blah, and.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Then you have the time to do it.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
The problem is when you get down to five, Now
everything's rushed and you're just trying to be aligned so
that you don't have a pre snap penalty, and now
you might be locked in to a call and it
may not be the right call or the best call.
But because you're running back on time, you're picking the
lesser of two evils, losing five yards on a penalty
(20:08):
or just running the play that we've called.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, and you lose five yards in a penalty. Now
you shrink the playbook.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
For the next play absolutely, and you stay behind the chains.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
You know one other key tipping point in that game
that jumped out to me before the half. So Jacksonville's
up seventeen to three. Panthers have the ball moving downfield.
Bryce hits Xavier League get who's fairly open, makes the
catch inside the twenty, doesn't get both feet and bounds,
so it goes as an incompletion. Now, two plays later,
Bryce has room to raw and up the middle, he
(20:38):
gets turf monstered, he fumbles. Jacksonville recovers the fumble. They
have a kicker who hit from seventy in preseason, so
they didn't have to get very far. But they get
well in the field goal range make a field goal.
It's now twenty to three going into the third quarter.
And I thought that changed how you approach it as
(20:59):
a play caller too, because let's say you score a
touchdown on that last drive. If we get catches that
ball and you got a red zone opportunity, think they
had time out, you got plenty of time. Now it's
seventeen to ten, you get the ball first to begin
the third quarter, you score, or even if you get
a field goal seventeen thirteen, maybe even a tie game.
And on that first drive of the third quarter, again
(21:19):
the Panthers got all the way inside the ten yard line.
So that's a whole new game versus twenty to three
where it's a three score game. Now you kind of
feel like, all right, we got to get back into
this game quickly. You're probably not going to the run
as much as you want. Was effective Like that changes
(21:40):
how you call the game. That changes the very dna
of the game. And again two plays right, two plays
seventeen to ten, getting the ball to begin the third
Now you can stay with the run. You don't feel rushed,
you don't feel like you got to make up a
lot of ground in a short time, especially in a
game where possessions seem to be longer and there were
(22:01):
going to be fewer possessions. Those are kind of the
areas that I sort of look at and say, like
that's winning in the margins.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
That's absolutely winning in the margins. And the problem is
what you're alluding to there is it changes your approach
you what is the natural human nature? So now you're
going to press a little bit more. You feel like
you have to make every play right. You feel like
you have to connect on a shot downfield, which are
low percentage plays instead of having the normal schedule on
(22:31):
schedule balanced attack because you don't feel like you're.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Having to play constant catchup. And it does.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
It changes the tone of how you call a game.
It changes the mindset of the quarterback, maybe feeling like
he's got to do too much and you just you
press a little and it's not healthy.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I'll say this. The one really really strong bright spot
was Tedoa McMillan. I know, I try to bring in
the one handed touchdown, he'll learn and he'll use two
hands and that'll be a touchdown next time. But boy,
he looks like he's got a real shot to be
a bona fide number one receiver. Smooth the contested catches
(23:13):
in the right spots for the most part. You know,
a couple of nice slant routes seem to be on
the same page. I think that offers a lot of
promise that again, in his debut, yeah, played Travis Hunter.
He was better than Travis Hunter. Yeah, and he was
going up against Tyson Campbell, who was Jacksonville's best corner.
(23:33):
Travis Hunter was playing on the slot most of the time.
I thought Tedol McMillan rewarded Dan Morgan and his team's
faith by taking him in the top ten. Where you're going,
all right, that might be you know, the guy who
might have a chance to put up a thousand yards
as a rookie.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, I think Listen, there's a lot to build on
right there, and he's because of the contested part of
it that you mentioned. It always gives your quarterback and
out right because there's going to be a trust that
will be developed there that if I have to throw
one up, one or two things are gonna happen. It's
either gonna be caught by our guy, or it's going
to be incomplete, or there's gonna be maybe a defensive
pass interference. But you feel confident in lessening the danger
(24:13):
of a turnover because of how that guy attacks the
ball and how he elevates and how he finds a
way to come down with it. So yeah, I think
there are positives there, and you know, wrapping that game up,
and especially in the National Football League where the margin
of error is so slim, because the competitive edge is
so slim, everybody's fairly equally competitive with one another. Most
(24:39):
games are lost, they're not one. And in that game
the other day on Sunday, what you had was a
team that made more errors than the other team, and
a lot of them were self inflicted, all right, And
so if you can eliminate those and play a game
where we say, okay, if we just don't screw it up, guys,
let's see what happens. Let's see how many games we.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Got there to win if we don't screw it up.
That's where Carolina's got to get to one last thing
and then we'll wrap up this show. Did you watch
the Sunday night Ravens Bill's game.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I mean, a clinic of quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Incredible theater, and it got me thinking, right, go back.
And it's been a few years now since we've had
this conversation, but it was sort of in the twilight
years of Brady Peyton Manning had retired, eli Manning was
on the way out Ben Roethlisberger, right, farv was was gone,
and you know, Ryan Mark Matt Ryan, like we had
(25:37):
sort of felt like we were coming out of this
golden age of quarterbacks Drew Brees, right, Philip Rivers, Philip
Rivers and hey will we have another group of quarterbacks
like this, And it almost feels like we kind of
have that conversation every ten to fifteen years. And you're
watching Josh Allen and you're watching Lamar Jackson, two guys
(25:57):
who I think could win a Super Bowl this year,
both MVP caliber players. But you take those two, you
take Mahomes, you take Joe Burrow. Jalen Hurts now has
a Super Bowl and he's played into Jaden Daniels looks
like he is a budding star. Bow Knicks. We might
be in another golden age of quarterbacks. And dare I
(26:22):
say it may be a golden age where these quarterbacks
are better than the generation before them, who set the
bar pretty darn high. Yeah, they've set the bar high.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I mean we're not even We didn't even mention Jordan
Love there, who you know, is starting to come into
his own. And I think what's interesting about that is
there's a there's a common denominator there, like Jaden Daniels
and bow Knicks. Those guys played six years of college football,
all right. Their learning curve was not as steep as
most three and out rookie quarterbacks that are going to
(26:51):
struggle if they're forced to play right away. Those guys
got put into the fire, but had so much more
of a sample size of having seen thing that they
were more prepared for the moment.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Jordan loves a guy just like Aaron Rodgers before him,
wasn't forced to play right away, right, So now all
of a sudden he's a different guy because of that.
I Jalen Hurts is another guy that you know, kind
of was a little bit of a slow burn getting
in there.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And now they've.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Handed in the keys to the car, and who knows
what's gonna happen with a cam Ward. Who knows what's
gonna happen with a JJ McCarthy, Caleb Williams. I think
is obviously going to improve under Ben Johnson.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I think there's a mix of older in terms of age,
young quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels, Bo Nicks of those guys,
and then some younger in terms of age and experienced
quarterbacks Jalen Hurts, maybe potentially cam Ward at some point.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Michael Pennix junior.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
All right, guys played a ton of football, but he's
older in age, so I don't disagree. I think we
could see some quarterback play over the course of time
unfold here that becomes really, really competitive.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And I also think you know there's some OG's, if
you will, who are still hanging around. Aaron Rodgers threw
four touchdown passes. Matthew Stafford to me, that's a like
bona fide hall of famer. Yeah, won a Super Bowl,
basically put some bad Detroit teams on his shoulders for years. Yeah,
goes to LA wins the Super Bowl. Matthew Stafford is
(28:30):
a Hall of Famer. You know, a guy like Brock Purty,
I think the jury is still out. With the small
sample size from the last two years, Rock Purty might
be in that conversation sooner or later. Sooner or later,
I think, you know, some people have to get past
the pedigree, like they did with Tom Brady early in
his career. But if he continues to stack seasons the
way he has, he's in that mix. But that game,
(28:52):
just watching Lamar watching Josh Allen's like, you're going, this
is a master class on how to play quarterback, how
to lead a team. You know, Baltimore looked to be
on the verge of running away when that game. I
was at a point like all right, I'll give it
one more drive and then I'll go to bed. Yeah
and okay, like one more drive. Oh oh. Then you
(29:16):
know you get the two blanket version. You're going, wait
a minute, could this actually happen? Then they get to stop,
they get the ball back. And when they got the
ball back, even though they had no timeouts, I mean
you just kind of knew Josh Allen was going to
give them a shot.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, I mean it was clinic video. It really was
on how to play the position. To your point for
both guys. You hate to see anybody lose that one.
But man, and I'll tell you too, like when you
look at that level of quarterback play and then you
look at the rest of the league, you see the difference.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
That's why if you have one, if you have one
that's in that stratosphere, you have advantages every single week
you play because that guy can deficiencies.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, and to me, when you have that guy. You
put yourself in a contention window usually for a decade.
And yep, the Panthers again when Cam Newton was there
and when Cam started to really begin his ascent, they
were on their way before he got that hit and TJ.
Watt injured his shoulder was never quite the same. But right,
(30:23):
you know you felt that with Cam when he was
with the Panthers from the beginning. I mean, he was
thrown for four hundred yards in his first game and
you kind of felt, Okay, he didn't have all the
pieces around him in the beginning, but when Cam was
out there, you felt like you always had a chance.
And m yeah, it's kind of what you saw on
Sunday night. A right, we are you off to this week.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Thursday at ESPN seven pm Eastern Time. NC State at wake.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Oh NC State at a nice one third quarterback looks
the part too, now, huh. Bro CJ. Bailey is a dude.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
That football team's really good and in typical Dave dore
In fashion, when nobody's talking about NC State when they
are really yeah, they are really good.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Well I shouldn't say it ten because they they can't
get they need to get.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
I know, and no, they've got a chance. And that
was the heck of a football game against Virginia, and
Virginia's improved significantly. That thing was just a back and
forth track meet, which was a lot of fun to watch.
So we could have a pretty decent one on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I got one, and you'll enjoy this. So I've got
Colorado at Houston, AH. There was a report earlier today
that Ryan Stobb was named the quarterback for Colorado, who
in the postgame on field interview, Dion Sanders was listening
to Stob tell the sideline reporter, Hey, I always believed
I had a dream and Dion goes Martin Luther Stob,
(31:41):
which was just a great quote. We want to find away.
It was a Fox game, so we're gonna have to
find a way to see if we can use that.
But you know what I love about this story. This
was a kid who backed up Shador for two years.
YEA not a big recruit. I think a three star recruit.
Christ Shadoor leaves. They lose four receivers to the NFL.
(32:03):
They go into the portal that they go get Cayden Salter,
with a very good career at Liberty, took him to
the Fiesta Bow. A few years ago, they get Juju Lewis,
five star recruit, YEP, number one quarterback coming out of
high school. And this kid stays. This kid stays. This
kid gets an opportunity last week, makes the most of it.
(32:26):
I root for stories like that in college football because
they've become so rare. The kid, the kid road less traveled,
right the pole the road less traveled or the road
not taken, whatever it was like, it's it's the guy
who doesn't take the road, that's the road less traveled. Yeah,
the guy who stays home, that's the road less traveled.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
YEP, that's got that. Scarrett nuts Myra at LSU. Remember
when Jayde and Daniels are right on campus.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
He didn't leave, and Miss Johnson might have been there too, right.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Max Johnson was there, absolutely, and then look at where
he's at. The next example of that might be Tye
Simpson Alabama, who went seventeen or seventeen the other day. Right,
Alabama responded, But you're right. And you know it's interesting
because I think the opening game versus Georgia Tech, I
really feel like Colorado went with Salter because he played
the most, had the most experienced and you want to
(33:15):
be able to rely on that in game one. I
don't know if they were overly pleased with him overall.
So they say, Okay, we've got Delaware this week. We
want to send a message to the quarterback room that
we need better out of the quarterback. So we're going
to play a few guys and we're going to see
what happens. And then now they've got an opportunity against Houston,
which we know is going to be greatly improved because
of who they're coached.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
By, and they're in year two now under Willie Fritz.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
I think they're trying to figure out they're trying to
tell the quarterbacks, whoever is going to be the quarterback
here is going to win the job in game.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I think of what my partner andre Ware has said
quite a bit. He said, often the locker room tells
you absolutely you know this right the kids stob you
had the student section chanton QB one. You could feel
the that that team had when he came into the game,
having been there and been in the trenches and having
(34:06):
been the understudy. Wouldn't surprise me when we hear Dion
speak on this if he says Yeah, like it was
obvious because the locker room, let me know.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Yeah, the pulse of the team will oftentimes tell the story.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
All right, well, save travels. You're headed two Raleigh, right, No,
Winston Salem, Winston Salem.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Get to drive because I got to go to Bristol afterwards.
I got to take like a nineteen minute flight up
to Greensboro.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
They go from Greensboro back to Charlotte, up to Hartford,
drive to Bristol.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
You're gonna spend more time on the tarmac than you
are in the air.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Exactly right, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Brother, I have I have made that mistake once. I
think when I first moved here and I had a
basketball game at Wake and I didn't even look at
the map. So I just booked travel, and I'm going, wait,
this is a lot, a lot shorter. I didn't need
to do this.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Yeah, I mean, if I didn't have to go to Bristol,
I would just drive back and forth. It's it's just
too easy, right, But don't have the opportunity to do that.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
All right, man, we will do this again next week.
This is fun, awesome, man,
Another week of the Weekend Warriors. Funny thing about the
Weekend Warrior Show. We tape it on a Tuesday. That's
the fourth wall coming down for you. Tom. You had
an interesting one this past weekend. You got the Bill
Belichick UNC experience. You did the game UNC against Charlotte. Yeah,
(00:21):
you have to go very far. What was that like
being around Belichick and seeing what that operation look like
and kind of going behind the curtains.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
I guess as far as it was exactly what anybody
who's been a fan of college football, professional football, who
has ever watched a Bill Belichick press conference.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
That's exactly what it was like in our meetings with him,
as if you were sitting in the gallery in a
postgame press conference. So, you know, short answers, not a
lot of detail, quite a bit of parent don't really
want to talk about who they truly are, who they
think they are, in part because I don't think many
(01:09):
people know, including them. I will give them credit in
this regard. You know, that had to have been on
a short week, one of the most talacious public scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Span of four days that any.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Team in recent college football has probably Hadn't you know,
in a long, long time player to coach everything based
off of what happened Monday night against TCU. They were better,
They were improved from that game to Saturday night. The
opponent obviously was not TCU, but also the score, which
(01:51):
ended up being twenty to three.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Was not that big of a gap. If you watched the.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Game, you know Charlotte moved the ball several times up
and down the field but could not capitalize inside the
red zone. So they miss a field goal. They drop
a touchdown, all right, So and remember it was ten
to three with two minutes to go in the second
quarter when Charlotte, excuse me, North Carolina scores a touchdown
(02:18):
to go in.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
At half to make it seventeen to three.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Well, they only scored three points the entire rest of
the game, and Charlotte drops a touchdown to put them
right back in it in that second half, So a
little bit of a deceptive score. I'll give Gio Lopez
a lot of credit. He really came to play. He
was a vastly different player than he was on Monday night.
(02:41):
But you know, it's interesting. They are such an enigma.
They're a total mystery, partly because they won't release any
information on the.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Want to want to be as they totally do. Yeah,
they totally do.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
As the schedule gets more difficult though, like their deficiencies
are going to become more and more difficult to hide
and masks as the teams that they play become better.
But you look at their schedule, and outside of Virginia
and the ACC, it's the easiest.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Schedule in the league.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
However, on paper it looks like that, but some of
those teams on that schedule are better this.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Year than maybe people thought they were going to be.
I look at it this way, Lucas. Listen, you and
I both live in North Carolina. We both lived in
Charlotte for a while. Yeah, we want to see our
local teams do good. We want to see our in
state teams do well. But this Carolina experiment, a lot
was made. After the TCU lost forty transfer seventy new players,
(03:43):
Charlotte has pretty much an entirely new roster as well,
fifty six new players. Fifty six new players. So you
have a Charlotte team which is again, with all due
respect first year head coach Tim Alvin, it's not even
occupying the same area that North Carolina occupies. And to
(04:04):
hear what you said, Hey, that game was closer than
the school indicated. If you're a Tar Heel fan and
you hear that, this may be a very very long season,
and the NFL is a closed circuit, so you can
give the one word answers. Yeah, on to New England,
or we're on to Miami. We're onto the Jets, We're
(04:24):
on to the next game. You can do all that
you put out the injury reports, you don't have to
talk about it. In college football, that stuff gives your
competition ammunition. Right, Hey, we're not gonna let the Patriots
come to our facilities because they don't let us there.
We're not gonna let them there. So okay, all your
(04:46):
players who have dreams of playing in the NFL, you're
taking one team and you're saying you don't get any
exposure to them. Yeah, don't get any exposure to you
in college football where there's no salary cap and there's
no draft, and every one's trying to get the same guys,
and I mean it's a free for all. Right now,
that stuff is now used against you in recruiting. Do
(05:07):
they understand that the dynamics of college football and the
way you operate. It's not the same as the NFL,
and it can't be the same playbook.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
I'm not convinced that they understand that. But at the
same time, I also don't think they care. That's just
Bill Belichick's mindset, right He those things do not matter
to him, right, wrong, or indifferent, And you're right, those
can be used against them in high school recruiting tactics.
Those can be used against them in the transfer portal.
And you know, you obviously you want to put together
(05:40):
the best team you can and then you want to
be able to showcase that team for players that are
potentially good enough to play at the next level. And
if you're going to be cutting off a team from
that opportunity, would I do it?
Speaker 1 (05:51):
No? But again I don't.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
I think with his mannerisms and how he views things,
he doesn't care. And for them, it's all about they'll
tell you it's about player development.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
It's about finding the right mix.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's about getting a roster to grow together and develop together.
And that's great, but let's not forget that one of
the reasons he was hired was because he has a
reputation of being an elite level player evaluator, and personnel guy.
And when I hear all of this stuff about Okay,
well they've got seventy new players and this and that
(06:26):
we just talked about Charlotte's got fifty sixt new players.
Here's the reality that's not exclusive to North Carolina. That's
everybody in college football. They're all having a twenty thirty,
forty to fifty player roster turnover. And what it then
comes down to is, did you and your roster turnover
select the right guys to be a really good team
(06:47):
right now? And unlike this profession five years ago, where
if you are a new head coach that took over
for a previous regime that wasn't having success, well outside
of a recruiting class, yeah, you inherited that team. Well yeah,
that's not the case anymore. North Carolina did not inherit
this team. They built this team. So the players they
(07:08):
went out and identified and recruited to come to North Carolina,
in their mind, they thought they were as good, if
not better than what they lost, or they were improving
across the board.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
I think that right.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Now, on early returns, how much of that has been
a positive. I don't know if it's overly strong right now.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
We're talking a couple of weeks and we'll see how
this thing plays out. But even when the coaching staff
that UNC has assembled, there's a lot of inexperience on
that coaching staff, Oh my goodness, a lot of guys
who have not had a coaching job anywhere near this
level before. Yeah. Again, Natron Means was a great running
(07:51):
back at North Carolina. Yeah, never coached Chargers to a
super Bowl and what was it ninety four when they
lost their forty niners. He's never coached before though, right,
and he's the running extra they have on him. Again,
this is to me just Bill Belichick is the guy.
And this could turn into Willie Mays falling in the
outfield with the Mets. Guess what, Nobody remembers that, right, Right?
(08:15):
If he is a total disaster at North Carolina, that
becomes a blip on his legacy, the same way his
Cleveland tenure is a blip on his legacy. This guy, again,
the legacy is cemented. You know, you'll have the talking
heads talk about that, and people who do the yelly
and shouty shows, they'll talk about that, Oh what does
this mean for his legacy? Doesn't mean anything, like the
legacy is secured when you have as many Super Bowls
(08:38):
as he has. And okay, he never won without Tom Brady, like,
but he won a lot with Tom Brady, Like, yeah,
what happened? So I just wonder, right Like, I just
wonder what the level of buy in is not from
UNC because when you're paying him that money, the school
wants to win, right, but like the people in charge
(09:02):
of building football at that place, what's the level of
buying from them? I think that's a question right now
until they prove otherwise.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
They have so many people now associated with the program.
I mean, they're staffing is multiplied. But to your point,
both on the field and administratively, a vast majority of
those people have not been in college athletics before. They
have multiple people on the coaching staff that it's their
very first full time job, all right, And then you
(09:31):
have some guys sprinkled in that have you know, a
decent tenure in college athletics over the span of you know,
several years. Maybe, But I do feel that there is
a you know, there's validity.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
To the fact that.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
This is not a college football grounded staff on the
field or administratively, and with that I think it's fair
to expect a learning curve and maybe a bit of
a bumpy road.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
But if you get a learning curve at a bumpy
road and it is a younger and inexperienced staff, and
I'm not making this about agism, but if it's a
staff that you know that you're going to give a
leash of Hey, we're going to give you two three
years to put in the foundational bricks needed to build
this thing up. It's one thing I don't think anybody
(10:20):
expects that Bill Belichick was brought in for anything other
than to be a quick fix.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
Breck absolutely, and the expectation is there because we saw
that at Arizona State, right, We've seen it with some
examples across the country.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Well with Florida State a couple of years ago. But
two years ago they went heavy in the portal, and
I mean they should have been in the playoff.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I mean, think about that Florida State team, Okay, Kean Coleman,
Johnny Wilson, Jaheem Bell, Trey Benson, Jared Vers, Braden Fisk,
and I'm missing some guys, but every one of those
guys I mentioned were transferred guys and.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
They hit on all of them.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So again, it does come down to who are you taking, Like,
is the collective group of the guys you're bringing in,
are they a significant upgrade to Wave the Magic, Wand
and poof have an entirely different product? And you're right,
I think that is the expectation early returns through two
weeks is that's not necessarily what we're going to see
(11:22):
here with this first iteration of Bill Belichick's football team.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
To be continued. I don't think it's the last week
talked of you seeing Belichick on this show, Ladies and Gentlemen.
The weekend quick throw near side its Hubbart makes the catch,
tiptoes the sideline into the ends. Weekend Warriors. Week one
(11:49):
of the NFL season is in the books, Lucas. I
was in Jacksonville a bit of a forgettable game, but
I'm not trying to be Pollyanna here. I watched the
tape back from the Panthers season opening twenty six to
ten loss. There were a lot of things where you
kind of leave scratch in your head, mistackles, missdesignments, just
(12:10):
guys not being on the same page. I don't know
if you saw the fourth and one play where Bryce
Young got really frustrated. Xavier Leaguet is in the slot. Yeah,
uncovered before the play. Yeah, Bryce is looking at him.
And again, second year wide receiver doesn't quite understand. If
I just turned my body to the quarterback and he
throws me a quick screen smoke screen, at minimum, you
(12:34):
got the yard and it's first in goal, more likely outcome,
you've got a touchdown. Yeah, And instead he runs his
route and he's not looking at the quarterback. Bryce is
locked into him because that's the hot receiver ends up
being an incomplete pass. He's got to throw it away.
By the time the play develops, it's too late. And
that was sort of the story of the game. Six
drives into plus territory. They moved the ball only ten points. Yeah,
(12:57):
those drives. You had some turnovers. We always say, and
your dad was a long time head coach. We always say.
The old coaching cliche is teams improve the most from
week one to week two? Right does that come from?
Where is the truth in that? Why is that?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
I think it's actually more of an adage that's applied
to college football, where you don't have as long as
a training camp, and you don't have preseason games, and
that first time you take the field, the lad bullets
are flying by. It's real and it counts right, So
that many instances is the first time you're going to
have your ones on the field for the entire game,
(13:35):
and then whatever your rotational guys are, they're going to
go through there that you've ever had, right, Whereas in
practice you're going against each other and it's ones versus studs,
and it's twos versus ones, and then you try to
get your threes and fours in there. Sometimes you go
good on good, but in a game, real setting, it's
the first time, so I think, because there's so much
to go off of on that four quarter sample side,
(13:57):
and so much to coach and address that that's why
you see the jump in week one to week two.
In the preseason, you've had more opportunities, even though you
are holding guys out, may not play at your starters
this week, this and that, but you've put the players
in situational opportunities against somebody else for you to evaluate
(14:20):
on tape. And in college football you don't have that
until you're in week one, and so I do think
there's some legitimacy to it. Listen, is it related to
the Panthers. I mean when you're if you ever told
a coach in an NFL game or any other game, hey,
we're going to be fifty percent on third down. The
coach is going to tell you that means we have
more offensive possessions, We've extended drives, we've taken time off
(14:44):
the clock, our defense isn't on the field as much,
all of which are true. And then the one thing
in the sport of football, the the gates all of
those positives is what turnovers?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Penalties and turnovers.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
Yeah, so you know we forget some times that the
most important thing in football is the ball.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Do we have it or do you have it? All? Right?
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And I thought that was yesterday that the turnovers, the miscues,
you talk about the miscommunication, guy's not being on the
same page. And I'll tell you with the Xavier leg
ittt he is.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Probably not.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Having a very good day when it comes to when
they get in and watch the tape. In the run
blocking part of the of the scheme, because in that
league is a wide out. You don't get to just
be a guy that runs out there and catches passes.
If you are tasked with blocking the edge on a
third and two you don't get to ola and with
(15:42):
which he did.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
By the way, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I was the chew of Hubbard player on social media,
and you just it's just it's not winning football, right,
and and that's and again. So it's all all pointed
at one guy and things of that nature, but certainly
not a team that was on the same age.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
You know, there were other things too write and you say,
how much of this can you clean up? And how
much of this is a worry? I think you have
to let the sample size build out a little bit
at least. But yeah, to be fair too, right, I
understand the fans sentiment because I got a lot of,
you know, messages from fans who were frustrated, angry, all
those things. And you're kind of reading this stuff and
(16:24):
you're saying, well, listen, we have to earn some of
the benefit of the doubt here, right. If that was
Buffalo or Baltimore in week one, and we can get
into that game later, that was the best regular season
games you'll see. But if they laid an egg in
week one, they have the benefit of the doubt, right,
I think sure the Panthers, and Dan Morgan's even said it. Hey,
we got to go out and earn it. Dave can
Allis has you know, said some version of that too.
(16:46):
You got to go out and earn that and earn
that trust back. But that first drive in the game, right,
Jacksonville had a couple of penalties and it's first eighteen
and second and twenty. Those are instances you got to
get off the field. Yeah, into a field goal. There
were moments like that where it was like you were close,
but then that last piece wasn't there. And they're just
(17:10):
not good enough and most teams are not good enough
to overcome three turnovers. Most of these games in the
NFL come down to two or three plays, yep, and
you have to make those plays. You got to win
in the margins. So one game that I think Bryce
played particularly well, No, but this is different than him
not playing well the early part of last season, where
(17:33):
there weren't a lot of examples of him playing well.
He kind of gave you an eight nine games sample
size which showed he had made progress. So you hope
this is just a week one blip, small thing, Lukes,
And this is something I want your input in because
you played the position as a quarterback. We saw the
Panthers have some difficulty getting to play in. Yeah, and
(17:53):
they break the huddle all of a sudden, there's five
seconds left on the play clock. You're hurrying up to
the line, and then you're trying to snap the ball.
Why does that happen?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Well, it can happen for a variety of reasons. Maybe
you're late getting your personnel that you want on the
field or the personnel coming off the field. Maybe there's
some confusion on what we're in communication at the line
of scrimmage. If you are in the huddle, how quickly
is that call coming in? It can be a combination
(18:25):
of a variety of things. I think the number one
thing though, that has to happen from a play caller perspective,
is you have to be one to two calls ahead, right.
You have to know, okay, we convert here, No, right,
this is immediately what we're going to. We convert here, Yes,
this is immediately what we're going to so that you
don't have a lull in time between when that play
(18:49):
ends and when you're getting the next call in. So
whatever's creating that, I don't know, but I know that
in personnel and having the opportunity to get it in
quickly so you can get aligned, if you want to shift,
you can motion, and you're not in danger.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Of a delay again.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
So I think a lot of it has to do
with the expedition, the expediting of information as early as possible.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
What's the difference for you as a quarterback when you
get to the line with ten or twelve seconds on
the play clock versus five? What are those extra five
to six seconds by you?
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Well, if you are in a position where you have
a check with me at the line of scrimmage, it
gives you the opportunity to see what it is that's
giving you your key and then being able to make
that call, also being able to do so with still
being able to maybe move people around, saying okay, what
we want to do, we want to shift over here,
and we're going to motion back, we're going to orbit
(19:46):
around blah blah blah, and.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Then you have the time to do it.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
The problem is when you get down to five, Now
everything's rushed and you're just trying to be aligned so
that you don't have a pre snap penalty, and now
you might be locked in to a call and it
may not be the right call or the best call.
But because you're running back on time, you're picking the
lesser of two evils, losing five yards on a penalty
(20:08):
or just running the play that we've called.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, and you lose five yards in a penalty. Now
you shrink the playbook.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
For the next play absolutely, and you stay behind the chains.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
You know one other key tipping point in that game
that jumped out to me before the half. So Jacksonville's
up seventeen to three. Panthers have the ball moving downfield.
Bryce hits Xavier League get who's fairly open, makes the
catch inside the twenty, doesn't get both feet and bounds,
so it goes as an incompletion. Now, two plays later,
Bryce has room to raw and up the middle, he
(20:38):
gets turf monstered, he fumbles. Jacksonville recovers the fumble. They
have a kicker who hit from seventy in preseason, so
they didn't have to get very far. But they get
well in the field goal range make a field goal.
It's now twenty to three going into the third quarter.
And I thought that changed how you approach it as
(20:59):
a play caller too, because let's say you score a
touchdown on that last drive. If we get catches that
ball and you got a red zone opportunity, think they
had time out, you got plenty of time. Now it's
seventeen to ten, you get the ball first to begin
the third quarter, you score, or even if you get
a field goal seventeen thirteen, maybe even a tie game.
And on that first drive of the third quarter, again
(21:19):
the Panthers got all the way inside the ten yard line.
So that's a whole new game versus twenty to three
where it's a three score game. Now you kind of
feel like, all right, we got to get back into
this game quickly. You're probably not going to the run
as much as you want. Was effective Like that changes
(21:40):
how you call the game. That changes the very dna
of the game. And again two plays right, two plays
seventeen to ten, getting the ball to begin the third
Now you can stay with the run. You don't feel rushed,
you don't feel like you got to make up a
lot of ground in a short time, especially in a
game where possessions seem to be longer and there were
(22:01):
going to be fewer possessions. Those are kind of the
areas that I sort of look at and say, like
that's winning in the margins.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
That's absolutely winning in the margins. And the problem is
what you're alluding to there is it changes your approach
you what is the natural human nature? So now you're
going to press a little bit more. You feel like
you have to make every play right. You feel like
you have to connect on a shot downfield, which are
low percentage plays instead of having the normal schedule on
(22:31):
schedule balanced attack because you don't feel like you're.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Having to play constant catchup. And it does.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
It changes the tone of how you call a game.
It changes the mindset of the quarterback, maybe feeling like
he's got to do too much and you just you
press a little and it's not healthy.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
I'll say this. The one really really strong bright spot
was Tedoa McMillan. I know, I try to bring in
the one handed touchdown, he'll learn and he'll use two
hands and that'll be a touchdown next time. But boy,
he looks like he's got a real shot to be
a bona fide number one receiver. Smooth the contested catches
(23:13):
in the right spots for the most part. You know,
a couple of nice slant routes seem to be on
the same page. I think that offers a lot of
promise that again, in his debut, yeah, played Travis Hunter.
He was better than Travis Hunter. Yeah, and he was
going up against Tyson Campbell, who was Jacksonville's best corner.
(23:33):
Travis Hunter was playing on the slot most of the time.
I thought Tedol McMillan rewarded Dan Morgan and his team's
faith by taking him in the top ten. Where you're going,
all right, that might be you know, the guy who
might have a chance to put up a thousand yards
as a rookie.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Yeah, I think Listen, there's a lot to build on
right there, and he's because of the contested part of
it that you mentioned. It always gives your quarterback and
out right because there's going to be a trust that
will be developed there that if I have to throw
one up, one or two things are gonna happen. It's
either gonna be caught by our guy, or it's going
to be incomplete, or there's gonna be maybe a defensive
pass interference. But you feel confident in lessening the danger
(24:13):
of a turnover because of how that guy attacks the
ball and how he elevates and how he finds a
way to come down with it. So yeah, I think
there are positives there, and you know, wrapping that game up,
and especially in the National Football League where the margin
of error is so slim, because the competitive edge is
so slim, everybody's fairly equally competitive with one another. Most
(24:39):
games are lost, they're not one. And in that game
the other day on Sunday, what you had was a
team that made more errors than the other team, and
a lot of them were self inflicted, all right, And
so if you can eliminate those and play a game
where we say, okay, if we just don't screw it up, guys,
let's see what happens. Let's see how many games we.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Got there to win if we don't screw it up.
That's where Carolina's got to get to one last thing
and then we'll wrap up this show. Did you watch
the Sunday night Ravens Bill's game.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
I mean, a clinic of quarterback play.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Incredible theater, and it got me thinking, right, go back.
And it's been a few years now since we've had
this conversation, but it was sort of in the twilight
years of Brady Peyton Manning had retired, eli Manning was
on the way out Ben Roethlisberger, right, farv was was gone,
and you know, Ryan Mark Matt Ryan, like we had
(25:37):
sort of felt like we were coming out of this
golden age of quarterbacks Drew Brees, right, Philip Rivers, Philip
Rivers and hey will we have another group of quarterbacks
like this, And it almost feels like we kind of
have that conversation every ten to fifteen years. And you're
watching Josh Allen and you're watching Lamar Jackson, two guys
(25:57):
who I think could win a Super Bowl this year,
both MVP caliber players. But you take those two, you
take Mahomes, you take Joe Burrow. Jalen Hurts now has
a Super Bowl and he's played into Jaden Daniels looks
like he is a budding star. Bow Knicks. We might
be in another golden age of quarterbacks. And dare I
(26:22):
say it may be a golden age where these quarterbacks
are better than the generation before them, who set the
bar pretty darn high. Yeah, they've set the bar high.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
I mean we're not even We didn't even mention Jordan
Love there, who you know, is starting to come into
his own. And I think what's interesting about that is
there's a there's a common denominator there, like Jaden Daniels
and bow Knicks. Those guys played six years of college football,
all right. Their learning curve was not as steep as
most three and out rookie quarterbacks that are going to
(26:51):
struggle if they're forced to play right away. Those guys
got put into the fire, but had so much more
of a sample size of having seen thing that they
were more prepared for the moment.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (27:03):
Jordan loves a guy just like Aaron Rodgers before him,
wasn't forced to play right away, right, So now all
of a sudden he's a different guy because of that.
I Jalen Hurts is another guy that you know, kind
of was a little bit of a slow burn getting
in there.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And now they've.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
Handed in the keys to the car, and who knows
what's gonna happen with a cam Ward. Who knows what's
gonna happen with a JJ McCarthy, Caleb Williams. I think
is obviously going to improve under Ben Johnson.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
I think there's a mix of older in terms of age,
young quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels, Bo Nicks of those guys,
and then some younger in terms of age and experienced
quarterbacks Jalen Hurts, maybe potentially cam Ward at some point.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Michael Pennix junior.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
All right, guys played a ton of football, but he's
older in age, so I don't disagree. I think we
could see some quarterback play over the course of time
unfold here that becomes really, really competitive.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
And I also think you know there's some OG's, if
you will, who are still hanging around. Aaron Rodgers threw
four touchdown passes. Matthew Stafford to me, that's a like
bona fide hall of famer. Yeah, won a Super Bowl,
basically put some bad Detroit teams on his shoulders for years. Yeah,
goes to LA wins the Super Bowl. Matthew Stafford is
(28:30):
a Hall of Famer. You know, a guy like Brock Purty,
I think the jury is still out. With the small
sample size from the last two years, Rock Purty might
be in that conversation sooner or later. Sooner or later,
I think, you know, some people have to get past
the pedigree, like they did with Tom Brady early in
his career. But if he continues to stack seasons the
way he has, he's in that mix. But that game,
(28:52):
just watching Lamar watching Josh Allen's like, you're going, this
is a master class on how to play quarterback, how
to lead a team. You know, Baltimore looked to be
on the verge of running away when that game. I
was at a point like all right, I'll give it
one more drive and then I'll go to bed. Yeah
and okay, like one more drive. Oh oh. Then you
(29:16):
know you get the two blanket version. You're going, wait
a minute, could this actually happen? Then they get to stop,
they get the ball back. And when they got the
ball back, even though they had no timeouts, I mean
you just kind of knew Josh Allen was going to
give them a shot.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah, I mean it was clinic video. It really was
on how to play the position. To your point for
both guys. You hate to see anybody lose that one.
But man, and I'll tell you too, like when you
look at that level of quarterback play and then you
look at the rest of the league, you see the difference.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
That's why if you have one, if you have one
that's in that stratosphere, you have advantages every single week
you play because that guy can deficiencies.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah, and to me, when you have that guy. You
put yourself in a contention window usually for a decade.
And yep, the Panthers again when Cam Newton was there
and when Cam started to really begin his ascent, they
were on their way before he got that hit and TJ.
Watt injured his shoulder was never quite the same. But right,
(30:23):
you know you felt that with Cam when he was
with the Panthers from the beginning. I mean, he was
thrown for four hundred yards in his first game and
you kind of felt, Okay, he didn't have all the
pieces around him in the beginning, but when Cam was
out there, you felt like you always had a chance.
And m yeah, it's kind of what you saw on
Sunday night. A right, we are you off to this week.
Speaker 3 (30:43):
Thursday at ESPN seven pm Eastern Time. NC State at wake.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Oh NC State at a nice one third quarterback looks
the part too, now, huh. Bro CJ. Bailey is a dude.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
That football team's really good and in typical Dave dore
In fashion, when nobody's talking about NC State when they
are really yeah, they are really good.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Well I shouldn't say it ten because they they can't
get they need to get.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
I know, and no, they've got a chance. And that
was the heck of a football game against Virginia, and
Virginia's improved significantly. That thing was just a back and
forth track meet, which was a lot of fun to watch.
So we could have a pretty decent one on Thursday.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
I got one, and you'll enjoy this. So I've got
Colorado at Houston, AH. There was a report earlier today
that Ryan Stobb was named the quarterback for Colorado, who
in the postgame on field interview, Dion Sanders was listening
to Stob tell the sideline reporter, Hey, I always believed
I had a dream and Dion goes Martin Luther Stob,
(31:41):
which was just a great quote. We want to find away.
It was a Fox game, so we're gonna have to
find a way to see if we can use that.
But you know what I love about this story. This
was a kid who backed up Shador for two years.
YEA not a big recruit. I think a three star recruit.
Christ Shadoor leaves. They lose four receivers to the NFL.
(32:03):
They go into the portal that they go get Cayden Salter,
with a very good career at Liberty, took him to
the Fiesta Bow. A few years ago, they get Juju Lewis,
five star recruit, YEP, number one quarterback coming out of
high school. And this kid stays. This kid stays. This
kid gets an opportunity last week, makes the most of it.
(32:26):
I root for stories like that in college football because
they've become so rare. The kid, the kid road less traveled,
right the pole the road less traveled or the road
not taken, whatever it was like, it's it's the guy
who doesn't take the road, that's the road less traveled. Yeah,
the guy who stays home, that's the road less traveled.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
YEP, that's got that. Scarrett nuts Myra at LSU. Remember
when Jayde and Daniels are right on campus.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
He didn't leave, and Miss Johnson might have been there too, right.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Max Johnson was there, absolutely, and then look at where
he's at. The next example of that might be Tye
Simpson Alabama, who went seventeen or seventeen the other day. Right,
Alabama responded, But you're right. And you know it's interesting
because I think the opening game versus Georgia Tech, I
really feel like Colorado went with Salter because he played
the most, had the most experienced and you want to
(33:15):
be able to rely on that in game one. I
don't know if they were overly pleased with him overall.
So they say, Okay, we've got Delaware this week. We
want to send a message to the quarterback room that
we need better out of the quarterback. So we're going
to play a few guys and we're going to see
what happens. And then now they've got an opportunity against Houston,
which we know is going to be greatly improved because
of who they're coached.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
By, and they're in year two now under Willie Fritz.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
I think they're trying to figure out they're trying to
tell the quarterbacks, whoever is going to be the quarterback
here is going to win the job in game.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
I think of what my partner andre Ware has said
quite a bit. He said, often the locker room tells
you absolutely you know this right the kids stob you
had the student section chanton QB one. You could feel
the that that team had when he came into the game,
having been there and been in the trenches and having
(34:06):
been the understudy. Wouldn't surprise me when we hear Dion
speak on this if he says Yeah, like it was
obvious because the locker room, let me know.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
Yeah, the pulse of the team will oftentimes tell the story.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
All right, well, save travels. You're headed two Raleigh, right, No,
Winston Salem, Winston Salem.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Get to drive because I got to go to Bristol afterwards.
I got to take like a nineteen minute flight up
to Greensboro.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
They go from Greensboro back to Charlotte, up to Hartford,
drive to Bristol.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
You're gonna spend more time on the tarmac than you
are in the air.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
Exactly right, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Brother, I have I have made that mistake once. I
think when I first moved here and I had a
basketball game at Wake and I didn't even look at
the map. So I just booked travel, and I'm going, wait,
this is a lot, a lot shorter. I didn't need
to do this.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
Yeah, I mean, if I didn't have to go to Bristol,
I would just drive back and forth. It's it's just
too easy, right, But don't have the opportunity to do that.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
All right, man, we will do this again next week.
This is fun, awesome, man,
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