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January 3, 2025 • 17 mins

In this weeks episode we discuss the big loss to the Tampa Bay Bucs. How injuries, youth, a new coaching staff, and a new front office has effected this seasons results. We look forward to the last game of the season vs the Atlanta Falcons. Keep Pounding!!!

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Carolina Panthers football in my mind podcast.

(00:06):
I'm your host Luke Farber and what is in my mind today?
Well, we're coming down to the last week of the season.
It's almost over and unfortunately we did not make the playoffs this year.
Although beginning where we started this year, it was always going to be a bit of a long
shot.
I was hoping we'd start the season a little bit further ahead of where we were, especially

(00:31):
with Bryce in the offense, but obviously that didn't happen.
Now I was always hoping, you know, when a new regime, a new coach, a new schemes, new
front office, new everything like we had in this off season and plus like half the roster
was new.
It just takes a long time for those things to gel or at least longer than off season

(00:56):
workouts and training camp in the first month of the season.
Luckily after the second month of the season, we started playing much better football, much
more competitive on offense and defense.
And given the injuries that we had, and like I said, all the new pieces and everything

(01:16):
and the youth of this team, I mean we were starting a second year quarterback, two rookie
wide receivers, a rookie tight end, you know, these things with this lack of experience,
it's hard to have high measured success in the NFL.

(01:36):
But luckily all of those guys got a lot of reps, a lot of real game reps this year.
So hopefully we can see a lot of growth going into next season.
Anyway, that'll be for a later date.
Obviously we got a whole six to nine months before things start happening again for next
year.
But let's let's finish off this year, right?

(01:58):
And let's see what we got here.
Obviously last week was not what we wanted going into Tampa Bay and getting blown out.
You know, after we were able to take down the Cardinals in overtime a couple of weeks
ago at home, you know, a potential playoff team that we knocked out, you know, it's like,
oh yeah, we're going to ride this momentum all the way to win in our last three games

(02:22):
and we'll start off on a winning streak next year.
And then I saw the injury report, especially on defense with all the guys that we've lost.
We lose another linebacker, Josie Jewell, the only one that was actually a starter at
the beginning of the season and obviously a veteran, a green dot guy, the communicator,

(02:47):
the guy that gets everybody lined up in the right spot and calls out, you know, what the
offense is doing.
So obviously you put an undrafted rookie who came off the practice squad, who was signed
on the practice squad less than a month ago to take his place.
You're going to have a major drop off, unfortunately.

(03:08):
And that's, that's just the way it goes.
And obviously JC was out as well.
Oh, shout out to JC.
Hey, congrats buddy on the Pro Bowl.
It was wonderful to see you healthy this season and we look forward to more of that in the
future.
And you know, congrats on the Pro Bowl.
So Chuba, Robert Hunt, Johnny Hecker, you guys, you know, screw that alternate shit.

(03:32):
You guys deserve to be on the roster.
You are Pro Bowlers.
Congratulations, especially Chuba.
Hey man, I've been on his coattails all season and I'm just so happy for the guy to have
a great year, get a new contract, get a Pro Bowl nod.
He deserves all of it.
It was great to see him running at okay state and it's great to see him running in the Carolinas.

(03:55):
All right.
Yes, JC was out as well last week.
And so obviously when it came down to it, you know, our run defense has been the worst
in the NFL all year.
And without those two guys, JC is a fantastic run support corner.
And like I said, Josie, with your inside linebacker and communicator, we didn't have a chance

(04:19):
to stop Tampa's running game.
And it started right from the jump and went all the way into the fourth quarter.
And obviously Baker and Mike Evans are tough at the quarterback and wide receiver position,
especially when you don't have JC.
Mike Jackson has played some good football.
He's, you know, had some rough patches as well and he gave it his best shot.

(04:42):
But you know, Mike Evans is a first ballot Hall of Famer.
And really, if you look at his stats, his production, what he's done with the quarter
backs that he's had, and this is before, you know, the Brady era and now the Mayfield era,
you know, you're talking about even going back to Josh Freeman and his, you know, very

(05:08):
small window of good play.
But there was a revolving door there.
You know, obviously had Jameis, but you know, not great quarterback play for the beginning
of his career.
And he set a record.
He passed Jerry Rice for the most consecutive thousand yard season.

(05:28):
So if you can be mentioned with Jerry Rice's name or even past Jerry Rice's name when it
comes to wide receiver statistics, I mean, that's the rarest air there is, obviously.
So yeah, yeah, we obviously had a tough time with Tampa's offense.

(05:48):
And you know, having Chuba out as well, another part of that injury report, our best player
on offense, we were shorthanded again.
But given that fact, Bryce played pretty well.
Obviously, there weren't a lot of third down conversions, especially early in the game,
which would have allowed us to stay in it longer, because obviously, we just couldn't

(06:13):
stop Tampa Bay's offense.
So when we could not possess the ball because we couldn't run it or convert on those third
downs, we didn't have any chance to stay in the game.
That being said, Bryce did not turn the ball over.
He threw two touchdown passes.
You know, yeah, it's not the prolific offense that we want, obviously yet.

(06:38):
But you know, we've outlined why that is, you know, our inexperience, our youth, and
just have our lack of playmaking depth.
The O-line, the running back room is looking good.
I did see, you know, a post online this week about, you know, some fans call it and saying
that Jonathan Brooks is done and, you know, we should draft another running back next

(07:04):
year.
I mean, I'm all for drafting running backs and stockpiling that position because we want
to pound the football.
Cam Scadaboo was brought up and oh, man, he'd be a great hammer to go with with Tuba and
Brooks.
But I digress.
Yeah, a lot of people call it some people call in that, oh, Brooks is done.

(07:27):
But you know, he might not play next year, obviously, or he might come back in the latter
part of the season like he did this year.
But those ACL tears are not as uncommon as, you know, for a player to recover and become
his full self again.
In a short period of time, the technology and surgeries and everything has gotten better

(07:51):
than medical care.
So I expect him to make a full recovery and if he returns to who he was in the like three
games he played coming back from his ACL tear previously, which, you know, typically they
say it takes a little bit longer, you know, to regain full capabilities.

(08:14):
You know, he showed that he has power, that he has agility, that he has speed, that he
can catch the ball and he has got some moves that Tuba doesn't.
So I'm crossing my fingers that he comes back healthy.
I expect him to.
Yeah, I wasn't thrilled about drafting and injured running back in the second round this

(08:36):
year, but I know that it was, you know, with a focus on the future and seeing what he could
do in those three games.
I agree that he's got a bright future as long as he comes back healthy and I believe he
will.
I know he's attacking that rehab.
Go through it JB.
We're rooting for you.

(08:58):
Keep pounding.
Anyway, yeah, we couldn't run the ball without Chuba.
I do like Raheem Blackshear, but he's not the workhorse that Chuba is and obviously
getting down, getting down that much that early and not being able to convert those
third downs to keep the drives going.

(09:18):
We just had no opportunity to get him going.
Hopefully we'll have some more opportunity this game, but we'll see.
So obviously it was an ass kicking last week when I saw that injury report with, you know,
Chuba, JC and Josie out, I switched my pick from the Panthers to the Bucks.

(09:43):
So that was a sad thing to do obviously.
And unfortunately I may have to do it again this week.
I was definitely hoping that all those guys would be back.
Obviously Chuba's on IR so he wouldn't be back, but I was hoping they'd be back for
this Atlanta game so we could do what we can to keep them out of the playoffs.

(10:06):
You know, I hate the Bucks and the Falcons.
I probably hate the Bucks more than the Falcons, but right now this year with the Falcons drafting
penics like they did and signing cousins and making all of these moves that really may

(10:26):
or may not be questionable.
Who knows obviously if they work out best for Atlanta in the next few years and they
made the right moves, but I would just like to see them fail.
I always want to see them fail, but I want to see their arrogance shoot them in the foot
and I want to see us the ones to keep them out of the playoffs.

(10:49):
Now obviously that's going to be hard.
I took a look at the injury report just now and not only are J.C. and Josie still out,
but we got Lonnie Johnson out, DJ Johnson out, Amari Barnault out.
We got a lot of guys questionable.
I expect those guys to play, but having Barnault and DJ Johnson out, that's two more defensive

(11:15):
linemen.
Our defensive line has just been ravaged starting with our best player in the first game, Derek
Brown.
And yet again it is, you know, because Barnault didn't come back till midseason from an injury
and he has showed some pass rush ability in that time.

(11:35):
And DJ Johnson has had, you know, not the most consistent year, but you've seen his
strength at the point of attack and the way he can set the edge against the run and use
his power to get to the quarterback.
Hopefully next year he can take another step and develop some more pass rush moves because

(11:57):
we need more pass rush.
And if he can play the pass as well as he plays the run, we're going to be in good shape.
But obviously we're not in good shape this week.
So having all those guys out on defense is, puts us almost, you know, in the same position
as last week against Atlanta.
Atlanta is a better running football team with a much better pair of running backs in

(12:22):
Bijon Robinson and Algiers.
So we could be in for a really long day if they're smart and run the ball, which I expect
them to do.
I've seen, they've kind of been protecting Pennex as much they can with the running game.
You know, he's a rookie.

(12:44):
I thought it was funny in Reem Morris's press conference after his first start that it's
like, oh yeah, Pennex played a near perfect game.
And it's like he completed under 60% of his passes, no touchdowns, an interception, a
fumble, and their offense only scored 10 points.

(13:04):
So you know, we'll see how Pennex does.
But if they lean on the running game like they should, and we continue to play as the
worst run defense in the NFL, and we should, especially considering all of those guys being
out, then it's going to be really hard for us to not only win this game, but be competitive

(13:32):
like last week.
You know, the thing that is going to help us be competitive is that we have to be able
to run the ball, which we couldn't do last week.
Hopefully Miles Sanders might be back this week, so that could give us a shot in the
arm there.
And we're going to have to convert those third downs, especially early in the game, to sustain

(13:53):
drives that we didn't do last week, because we can't afford to have three three and outs
on our first drive and have the Falcons go down and score 17 points like the Bucks did,
and be down 17 to nothing by the second quarter.
It's just, you know, that'll lead to another blowout.
So we got to be able to run the ball.

(14:14):
We got to be able to convert third downs, especially early if we want to stay in this
game and make it close in the second half and fourth quarter.
So that is definitely going to be a challenge.
Bryce and the offense is that they're just going to have to score more points, obviously.
And so somebody other than Adam Thielen is going to have to step up in the passing game.

(14:39):
Obviously, Ligette has had his moments.
He had his moments in the first half of the season.
The second half has been rough for him.
He's been hurt.
He's been dropping passes left and right.
And it just it just hasn't been great.
But like Coach said, you know, all experience is good experience.

(14:59):
And he was never the type of wide receiver like Alad McConkey, Ricky Pearsall, you know,
the guys up at the top of the draft, like neighbors and a doonze.
You know, he wasn't a polished route runner.
And what we've seen from previous years, especially the last five to 10, when there have been

(15:23):
so many high quality wide receivers drafted, is that the ones that make the most immediate
impact are the polished route runners.
And Ligette is much more of a physical specimen than a lot of those guys.
He's big, he's strong, he's fast, but he doesn't have quite the refinement to his game that

(15:43):
all of those guys do.
So he needs more time to get that refinement and be put in the right position to make plays
for his skill set.
And that is a lot easier to achieve if he doesn't have to be the number one or number
two receiver as a rookie, which he has had to be because we just don't have anybody else.

(16:04):
So yes, Ligette's going to have to step up.
Coker is going to have to continue to have his one, two, three big first down catches
of the game.
And it's been a while since JT Sanders has had a decent output as far as catches in yards.
Would love to see him get back into the fold this week.
It'd be great if those young guys on offense could show out in the last game.

(16:29):
Obviously, the defense is just going to struggle, but we'd love to have some positive momentum
from the young guys on offense going into the off season.
Excuse me.
So anyway, that's where we stand this week.
Unfortunately, like I said, it's going to be a tough one to stick with if we can't produce

(16:52):
better on offense early in the game.
So that being said, I think it's probably a 30 to 20 loss for the Panthers, but Bryce
and the offense show some good signs and we show some fight going into the off season.

(17:13):
That's all we can ask for at this point.
So anyway, enjoy the game, Panthers fans keep pounding and I will see you when the season
is over.
Peace.
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