September 26, 2024 • 23 mins
1st victory Monday of the 2024 season felt amazing!!! We look back and discuss the Carolina Panthers big road win at the Las Vegas Raiders. We discuss the dominant play of the offensive line, and the steady hand of Andy Dalton. What does this mean for Bryce Young? We then take a look ahead at the week 4 matchup against Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and the Cincinnati Bengals. 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.
(00:05):
I'm your host Luke Farber and before we get started today, just a couple of pieces of
business we gotta get out of the way first.
Let's go baby.
That's what I have to say the rest of the league and all you haters out there.
(00:29):
Later we get our big time performance from newly meant to start Andy Dalton and take
down the Raiders big time in Vegas.
I predicted a 17 to 13 win for the Panthers.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see us put up 36 was that the finals 36 22 and and
(00:53):
they they got most of that 22 in garbage time.
So we got what we were looking for.
We got an weapon on the road.
I mean we gave an open on the road, you know, it's about time.
This is more of what I envisioned from this offense.
(01:16):
Obviously the offensive line looked phenomenal.
Let's start there.
The foundation of any great championship offense is the offensive line and we knew after last
year we needed to upgrade.
We needed to upgrade for our quarterback sake, our running back sake.
(01:37):
Really our offensive line has kind of been in disarray for more than a few years now.
And with these free agent guards we signed and hopefully with some better coaching and
better scheme that fit our personnel that these guys can really excel.
(02:00):
Now according to PFF Pro Football Focus, which is a great tool that uses different statistical
metrics to grade players, grade teams, all this different stuff.
I am very skeptical of stats analytics to begin with.
(02:21):
Look since 2001, since the games have become available to me, I've seen 95 plus percent
of the Panthers games live.
And there is a difference between box score scouting and watching the actual games.
And obviously if you box score scouted our offense for the first two weeks, we're completely
(02:46):
inept.
Obviously.
And that led to, we got embarrassed and we've been a bit of a laughing stock, right?
Especially after the first two weeks of the season.
And of course that impression kind of went throughout the team, throughout the organization,
(03:11):
throughout the locker room.
And it's been bad for a while so I can understand that.
But when we beefed up the offensive line in the off season, this is the type of football
we wanted.
Smash mouth, dictate to the other team what is going to happen, what they're going to
(03:33):
have to do to stop you.
And it was awesome to see.
A bunch of pancake blocks, you know, people getting out, having fun in the running game.
And we finally got over 30 carries in a game, which is wonderful.
Chuba got 21, went over 100.
31 carries I believe for a 4.2 average will take that almost every game.
(03:59):
You know, I personally, I love the running game.
I think you can even dictate it more.
I'd love to see the 35 carry mark broken this week.
Especially because we're going up against one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
But anyway, before we get to this week, let's continue and finish the recap of the great
(04:20):
game over Oakland, which we all desperately needed.
Not only as fans, but as players, coaches, office personnel, everybody related to the
franchise needed that win.
So we've gone with the offensive line first.
(04:41):
They made everything go.
They made everything possible.
And the next guy in line obviously is Mr. Dalton.
The Red Rocket himself, he complimented the running game and he complimented the offensive
line by getting the ball out on time, getting the ball out accurately, being unafraid to
(05:06):
push the ball down the field to let it fly.
You know, there are a lot, I'm sure there's lots of speculation about why Bryce Young
hasn't developed, why he hasn't taken those steps and why he has struggled so much.
(05:27):
And you know, oh, well, it's a confidence thing.
He needs confidence.
It's a bit more than that, obviously.
I think honestly, with Andy's play on Sunday, and it has to continue, but I believe honestly,
it's obviously the best thing for the Panthers franchise to win right now, to give ourselves
hope.
(05:48):
But I got to believe it's the best thing for Bryce Young to sit down, watch how it's done,
learn.
You know, if he was upset about getting benched early in the week and he's felt like he hasn't
had this and that and whatever and the support that he needs.
And honestly, yeah, the franchise, especially last year, failed him as far as surrounding
(06:14):
him with good coaches, good players, complimentary football team, as far as roster was built.
At the same time, he has not been able to pick that ball up and make up for those failures.
(06:34):
You know, that was the thing about Cam is like we weren't set up to do great things
when Cam came in the building.
But Cam had that oomph, that X factor, that whatever it was that he could make down and
pull down within himself and make a play out of nothing.
Bryce has not shown that ability yet.
(06:54):
He needs to sit.
He needs to watch.
And I am thrilled that Dalton did what he did, because that's a message to everybody
in the organization.
It's like, hey, man, we love this guy.
We think he's got town.
We know he's got moxie, but he's not ready.
(07:14):
And I know it must have been a gut check for you, Bryce, a real humbling experience on
the sideline on Sunday.
But hey, that shows you that should show you you're not ready.
That should show you that you have some humbling of yourself to do and a lot of work.
(07:37):
And you know what?
Patrick Mahomes sat for a year.
You know, sitting behind a veteran quarterback, learning from proxy is not a bad thing.
These younger quarterbacks that are coming into the league and the younger quarterbacks
in the college ranks that are having so much success right now is because they've stacked
football on top of football on top of football.
(08:00):
You know, Michael Panek's Jalen Daniels, these are guys who were college starters for four,
five, six seasons.
You know, Bryce, two.
And you know, besides being two, three, four years younger than some of these guys.
So he needs more experience.
A lot of them do.
(08:21):
I mean, look at Caleb Williams, who's struggling far more than Jaden Daniels in ways.
He's played less football.
Period.
People with more experience are just going to have a better, better handle on things.
Most of the time.
Anyway, we saw exactly what we wanted to see out of Dalton.
(08:45):
This calm, steady, accurate passer who led the team to a great victory.
And he's got to get all the credit in the world.
Deontay Johnson finally got loose, went over 100 yards, had a score.
Beautiful thing to see.
Ligette had a nice catch and run, you know, got to show off his speed.
(09:09):
Man, he is a bull in the china shop when he gets the ball in his hands.
Look out.
But anyway, we are going to miss Adam Thelen.
He injured his hamstring on the touchdown catch in the first half.
It looked significant right away and he's on short term IR.
(09:30):
He'll be on for four weeks at minimum.
To me, it kind of looks like more than four weeks just because he's a little bit older
and probably won't want to rush him back.
Hamstring injuries tend to linger, especially for receivers.
(09:50):
So we'll see what happens with that.
I am excited to see, you know, some of these younger guys get a little more opportunity
while he's gone and maybe they can progress a little bit faster because of it.
Obviously, Mingo and Ligette there.
But I'm excited.
They brought up Jalen Coker from the practice squad and he was impressive.
(10:11):
You know, kind of as more of a possession type receiver or whatnot in the preseason.
So I'm looking forward to seeing if he gets in the game and what he can do.
David Moore is another one, another solid possession receiver that's going to definitely
get more snagged with Thelen out.
So we'll see what the production is there.
(10:32):
If there's any sort of drop off, you know, we're not going to have his veteran presence.
So experience wise, you know, we might have some hiccups more so with that.
Tight end group.
It was great to see Tommy Trimble back.
And you know, I love JT Sanders.
I think he's going to be a stud.
(10:54):
It's going to take some time, though.
He's still a rookie.
Trimble's been there.
He's got the experience.
He's a fierce blocker.
He's unafraid.
And I love to see Tim and Chuba together, their friendship and and how they fight for
one another and celebrate each other.
And man, you know, yeah, having Trimble's toughness back, being able to get back in
(11:17):
some of those 12 personnel looks with solid starters instead of practice squad guys is
going to be great.
I'm not sure when Ian's getting back, but once Ian gets back, we're going to have three
really solid tight ends for that group, which is exciting.
All right.
(11:37):
Moving on to the defense.
Defense looks great.
You know, especially the run defense.
We were talking about the run defense being porous at best, obviously giving up over 200
yards to the Chargers.
Now they ran the ball over 40 times, but you don't want to give up that kind of rushing
yardage.
(11:58):
I think we only gave up 55 this week, but under four yards to carry, which was wonderful.
And we were able to jump out to a lead in this game.
And so the Raiders weren't able to dictate the running game to us like so many of our
(12:18):
opponents in the last year plus have because we get down so quickly.
And obviously we're able to have our own running game go much further when we're not behind
either.
So running game was great.
You know, guys are stepping up in Derrick Brown's absence.
(12:41):
You can tell, you know, there, there were a lot of new pieces on defense.
Yeah.
Some of these pieces were in EJ's defense before, so they had some understanding, but
you can tell it's taken them a little time to get on the same page as far as their assignments
and trusting each other, especially in the run defense and in the backend.
(13:06):
But it looks great.
You know, Shaq and Josie are flying around.
Trevin Wallace had a couple of nice hits.
The line, you know, did their job and they put up against the run, got three sacks.
The pass rush is evolving.
It is getting better.
It's not great, but I love the improvement.
(13:29):
Even in three weeks, if that's the type of improvement we can have and we eventually
we are going to get DJ want them back.
We're going to get Amari Barno back.
We're really depleted on our frontline and we're improving at the same time.
(13:50):
So I think that spells good things for the future.
We'll see.
Secondary, secondary play is improving every week as well.
The communication on the back end.
Obviously we lost our starting safety.
Jordan Fuller went on our IR, but I'm excited to see Damani Richardson come up from the
(14:16):
practice squad and see what he's got.
You know, he won't start, but he's going to get on the field.
And I think he's going to be a dynamite special teams player too.
So I'm excited about the guys we had to pull up.
And I think it's going to help us in the long run with our depth, which, you know, after
(14:40):
that win, it's all, oh yeah, we can make the playoffs.
We could do this.
We could do that.
Who knows?
Maybe we can.
But obviously we're going to need consistency and we're going to need to develop better
depth.
It's, it's just, if that is going to happen, we are going to need to see that progression
(15:03):
through this season.
Anyway, wrapping up.
It was a great game.
Thank you, Panthers.
Thank you, Vegas.
Thank you, Steph Curry.
I know you were there.
I'm going to go back to my key matchup of last game, which was our offensive line versus
(15:24):
their defensive line.
I tell you, Max Crosby looks hobbled and I didn't really hear from Christian Wilkins
at all that game.
So we won that one out right.
Okay.
Moving on.
We got the Bengals week four at home.
(15:44):
Bengals coming off a loss.
Monday Night Football to the Washington commanders and Jalen Daniels almost perfect rookie quarterback
performance.
What people tend to miss in that is that Joe Burrow pretty much had a perfect type performance
as well.
They just didn't win.
(16:05):
So I think unfortunately I would have loved to see Cincinnati win that game so they could
be a little bit more confident, a little bit less urgency to get the win, but they're coming
in at 0 and 3.
And Cincinnati is all, since Joe Burrow and especially Jamar Chase have gotten there,
(16:27):
they're a trendy pick to win that division every year.
They went to the Super Bowl.
They're the ones that have given Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs the most problems.
Of course, Joe Burrow can't seem to stay healthy, which is hurt Cincinnati in those years.
They also don't seem to have much of a running game.
(16:47):
They ran for a better average per clip against the commanders.
But really since Burrow has been there, the offensive line play has been poor and the
running game has been poor.
Still he's had a ton of success in it through the air because he's a fantastic quarterback
and he has fantastic wide receivers.
(17:08):
So that is the matchup.
We're going to zero in on this week.
It's going to be Burrow and the pass catchers versus the defensive line slash secondary
of the Carolina Panthers because I think the two go hand in hand.
(17:30):
We got to be able to have some sort of pressure on Burrow as well as being able to limit the
rushing yards to force them into passing situations and the communication and the execution on
the back end has to be tight because Jamar Chase, for my money, I know everybody wants
(17:54):
to talk about Justin Jefferson, CD Lamb, all this sort of stuff.
I think Chase is the best wide receiver in the NFL.
And anyway, it'll be really interesting.
We'll see if J.C. travels with him, see how much, see what kind of stats he's able to
(18:17):
put up and whether it hurts us in winning the game or not.
So that's going to be big.
That's going to be key.
Obviously, to keep Burrow and offense off the field as well, we got to hold on to the
ball.
We did a great job with time of possession this last week as opposed to the first two
weeks.
(18:37):
It helped that the running game went going and that we were converting third downs.
Obviously those are keys on offense.
We got to keep pounding the rock to help us in our pass protection, in our pass reads,
but also to keep the ball in our hands and out of Joe Burrow's hands.
(18:59):
We're also playing at home, so hopefully the crowd can give us a boost, which I'll be interested
to see what the crowds like this week as opposed to week two.
After that big win, will there be a bunch more people show up?
How will we play?
How will the fans react?
We'll see.
(19:21):
So that's another key.
We're at home.
The Bengals are coming off a short week because of a Monday night game.
So I guess we're to prediction time now.
The things I was saying about Dalton and about Bryce and about our team and franchise right
(19:44):
now really are only true if we continue to play well with Andy Dalton.
You know, if we go out here and craft the bed, then we're going to be feeling exactly
like we did a couple of weeks ago because we've been teased over the years.
We've had the Kyle Allens, the Matt Moores, the countless backup quarterbacks that can
(20:11):
have one or two decent performances and you think they're the guy and then they're not.
So obviously Dalton has more of a track record in this league.
He has more success history in this league and there are a lot of older quarterbacks
in recent years, especially because of the offensive rules that have had a lot of success.
(20:34):
Hell, Tom Brady played till 43.
You know, Aaron Rodgers is 49.
So Andy Dalton at 36 is like, oh, he's a young guy.
So we'll see how he continues to play.
Obviously I believe that with solid offensive line play, with solid skill position players
(20:57):
and with a solid defense, which I think that we all have.
Now are we above solid?
Not at this point.
You know, and really honestly, until we win a couple more games, we're probably still
a little bit below solid, but if we can get this win on Sunday, I mean, that'd be huge
(21:18):
to start the season 0 and 2 and to look the way we did.
And then all of a sudden be 2 and 2 with a win on the, a big time win on the road and
beating a playoff team at home.
Those would be huge.
That being said, I am not picking us to win this week.
(21:41):
I think we're going to give a great effort.
I think we're going to get good execution, but now having a week's worth of tape on our
offense and our offensive success, people are going to have more of an idea of how to
attack us defensively.
You know, the Raiders were surprised last week because we hadn't shown the league any
(22:04):
of our playbook because we hadn't even gotten into it in the first two weeks.
So I expect Cincy's defense to come out very motivated, very on fire.
They're 0 and 3.
It's going to be more difficult on Dalton and company.
Remember to rely on the running game.
(22:24):
Pound Chuba, Pound Chuba, Pound Chuba.
If he gets over a hundred yards again, I think we got a really good chance of winning this
game.
I think it's going to be close, probably lower scoring.
We're going to go 20 to 20 bangles.
(22:46):
All right, everybody.
Hell of a week.
First victory Monday of the season.
We're riding high.
Hey, if we can end up at two and two after this week, man, hey, our season's alive, baby.
That's what I'm talking about.
(23:06):
Actually shout out to the two folks in the Casino Sportsbook last week that reminded
me why I love the Panthers and why I love this thing so much.
The one other Panthers fan that was there, of course, saw him and before the game first
quarter he was already moving on to next year's.
(23:27):
Fourth quarter, oh, we're going to win the Super Bowl.
Come on, man.
Little faith, little faith.
You know, what are you going to do?
And then, of course, the Steelers fan that called me over after the game, just like,
oh, did you really think they were going to win?
Hell yeah.
Maybe not by that much, but yeah, we were going to win.
(23:49):
All right, Panther faithful, keep pounding.
Enjoy the game this week.
I'll talk to you later.
Peace.
Hello and welcome to the Carolina Panthers football in my mind podcast.
(00:05):
I'm your host Luke Farber and before we get started today, just a couple of pieces of
business we gotta get out of the way first.
Let's go baby.
That's what I have to say the rest of the league and all you haters out there.
(00:29):
Later we get our big time performance from newly meant to start Andy Dalton and take
down the Raiders big time in Vegas.
I predicted a 17 to 13 win for the Panthers.
I was very pleasantly surprised to see us put up 36 was that the finals 36 22 and and
(00:53):
they they got most of that 22 in garbage time.
So we got what we were looking for.
We got an weapon on the road.
I mean we gave an open on the road, you know, it's about time.
This is more of what I envisioned from this offense.
(01:16):
Obviously the offensive line looked phenomenal.
Let's start there.
The foundation of any great championship offense is the offensive line and we knew after last
year we needed to upgrade.
We needed to upgrade for our quarterback sake, our running back sake.
(01:37):
Really our offensive line has kind of been in disarray for more than a few years now.
And with these free agent guards we signed and hopefully with some better coaching and
better scheme that fit our personnel that these guys can really excel.
(02:00):
Now according to PFF Pro Football Focus, which is a great tool that uses different statistical
metrics to grade players, grade teams, all this different stuff.
I am very skeptical of stats analytics to begin with.
(02:21):
Look since 2001, since the games have become available to me, I've seen 95 plus percent
of the Panthers games live.
And there is a difference between box score scouting and watching the actual games.
And obviously if you box score scouted our offense for the first two weeks, we're completely
(02:46):
inept.
Obviously.
And that led to, we got embarrassed and we've been a bit of a laughing stock, right?
Especially after the first two weeks of the season.
And of course that impression kind of went throughout the team, throughout the organization,
(03:11):
throughout the locker room.
And it's been bad for a while so I can understand that.
But when we beefed up the offensive line in the off season, this is the type of football
we wanted.
Smash mouth, dictate to the other team what is going to happen, what they're going to
(03:33):
have to do to stop you.
And it was awesome to see.
A bunch of pancake blocks, you know, people getting out, having fun in the running game.
And we finally got over 30 carries in a game, which is wonderful.
Chuba got 21, went over 100.
31 carries I believe for a 4.2 average will take that almost every game.
(03:59):
You know, I personally, I love the running game.
I think you can even dictate it more.
I'd love to see the 35 carry mark broken this week.
Especially because we're going up against one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
But anyway, before we get to this week, let's continue and finish the recap of the great
(04:20):
game over Oakland, which we all desperately needed.
Not only as fans, but as players, coaches, office personnel, everybody related to the
franchise needed that win.
So we've gone with the offensive line first.
(04:41):
They made everything go.
They made everything possible.
And the next guy in line obviously is Mr. Dalton.
The Red Rocket himself, he complimented the running game and he complimented the offensive
line by getting the ball out on time, getting the ball out accurately, being unafraid to
(05:06):
push the ball down the field to let it fly.
You know, there are a lot, I'm sure there's lots of speculation about why Bryce Young
hasn't developed, why he hasn't taken those steps and why he has struggled so much.
(05:27):
And you know, oh, well, it's a confidence thing.
He needs confidence.
It's a bit more than that, obviously.
I think honestly, with Andy's play on Sunday, and it has to continue, but I believe honestly,
it's obviously the best thing for the Panthers franchise to win right now, to give ourselves
hope.
(05:48):
But I got to believe it's the best thing for Bryce Young to sit down, watch how it's done,
learn.
You know, if he was upset about getting benched early in the week and he's felt like he hasn't
had this and that and whatever and the support that he needs.
And honestly, yeah, the franchise, especially last year, failed him as far as surrounding
(06:14):
him with good coaches, good players, complimentary football team, as far as roster was built.
At the same time, he has not been able to pick that ball up and make up for those failures.
(06:34):
You know, that was the thing about Cam is like we weren't set up to do great things
when Cam came in the building.
But Cam had that oomph, that X factor, that whatever it was that he could make down and
pull down within himself and make a play out of nothing.
Bryce has not shown that ability yet.
(06:54):
He needs to sit.
He needs to watch.
And I am thrilled that Dalton did what he did, because that's a message to everybody
in the organization.
It's like, hey, man, we love this guy.
We think he's got town.
We know he's got moxie, but he's not ready.
(07:14):
And I know it must have been a gut check for you, Bryce, a real humbling experience on
the sideline on Sunday.
But hey, that shows you that should show you you're not ready.
That should show you that you have some humbling of yourself to do and a lot of work.
(07:37):
And you know what?
Patrick Mahomes sat for a year.
You know, sitting behind a veteran quarterback, learning from proxy is not a bad thing.
These younger quarterbacks that are coming into the league and the younger quarterbacks
in the college ranks that are having so much success right now is because they've stacked
football on top of football on top of football.
(08:00):
You know, Michael Panek's Jalen Daniels, these are guys who were college starters for four,
five, six seasons.
You know, Bryce, two.
And you know, besides being two, three, four years younger than some of these guys.
So he needs more experience.
A lot of them do.
(08:21):
I mean, look at Caleb Williams, who's struggling far more than Jaden Daniels in ways.
He's played less football.
Period.
People with more experience are just going to have a better, better handle on things.
Most of the time.
Anyway, we saw exactly what we wanted to see out of Dalton.
(08:45):
This calm, steady, accurate passer who led the team to a great victory.
And he's got to get all the credit in the world.
Deontay Johnson finally got loose, went over 100 yards, had a score.
Beautiful thing to see.
Ligette had a nice catch and run, you know, got to show off his speed.
(09:09):
Man, he is a bull in the china shop when he gets the ball in his hands.
Look out.
But anyway, we are going to miss Adam Thelen.
He injured his hamstring on the touchdown catch in the first half.
It looked significant right away and he's on short term IR.
(09:30):
He'll be on for four weeks at minimum.
To me, it kind of looks like more than four weeks just because he's a little bit older
and probably won't want to rush him back.
Hamstring injuries tend to linger, especially for receivers.
(09:50):
So we'll see what happens with that.
I am excited to see, you know, some of these younger guys get a little more opportunity
while he's gone and maybe they can progress a little bit faster because of it.
Obviously, Mingo and Ligette there.
But I'm excited.
They brought up Jalen Coker from the practice squad and he was impressive.
(10:11):
You know, kind of as more of a possession type receiver or whatnot in the preseason.
So I'm looking forward to seeing if he gets in the game and what he can do.
David Moore is another one, another solid possession receiver that's going to definitely
get more snagged with Thelen out.
So we'll see what the production is there.
(10:32):
If there's any sort of drop off, you know, we're not going to have his veteran presence.
So experience wise, you know, we might have some hiccups more so with that.
Tight end group.
It was great to see Tommy Trimble back.
And you know, I love JT Sanders.
I think he's going to be a stud.
(10:54):
It's going to take some time, though.
He's still a rookie.
Trimble's been there.
He's got the experience.
He's a fierce blocker.
He's unafraid.
And I love to see Tim and Chuba together, their friendship and and how they fight for
one another and celebrate each other.
And man, you know, yeah, having Trimble's toughness back, being able to get back in
(11:17):
some of those 12 personnel looks with solid starters instead of practice squad guys is
going to be great.
I'm not sure when Ian's getting back, but once Ian gets back, we're going to have three
really solid tight ends for that group, which is exciting.
All right.
(11:37):
Moving on to the defense.
Defense looks great.
You know, especially the run defense.
We were talking about the run defense being porous at best, obviously giving up over 200
yards to the Chargers.
Now they ran the ball over 40 times, but you don't want to give up that kind of rushing
yardage.
(11:58):
I think we only gave up 55 this week, but under four yards to carry, which was wonderful.
And we were able to jump out to a lead in this game.
And so the Raiders weren't able to dictate the running game to us like so many of our
(12:18):
opponents in the last year plus have because we get down so quickly.
And obviously we're able to have our own running game go much further when we're not behind
either.
So running game was great.
You know, guys are stepping up in Derrick Brown's absence.
(12:41):
You can tell, you know, there, there were a lot of new pieces on defense.
Yeah.
Some of these pieces were in EJ's defense before, so they had some understanding, but
you can tell it's taken them a little time to get on the same page as far as their assignments
and trusting each other, especially in the run defense and in the backend.
(13:06):
But it looks great.
You know, Shaq and Josie are flying around.
Trevin Wallace had a couple of nice hits.
The line, you know, did their job and they put up against the run, got three sacks.
The pass rush is evolving.
It is getting better.
It's not great, but I love the improvement.
(13:29):
Even in three weeks, if that's the type of improvement we can have and we eventually
we are going to get DJ want them back.
We're going to get Amari Barno back.
We're really depleted on our frontline and we're improving at the same time.
(13:50):
So I think that spells good things for the future.
We'll see.
Secondary, secondary play is improving every week as well.
The communication on the back end.
Obviously we lost our starting safety.
Jordan Fuller went on our IR, but I'm excited to see Damani Richardson come up from the
(14:16):
practice squad and see what he's got.
You know, he won't start, but he's going to get on the field.
And I think he's going to be a dynamite special teams player too.
So I'm excited about the guys we had to pull up.
And I think it's going to help us in the long run with our depth, which, you know, after
(14:40):
that win, it's all, oh yeah, we can make the playoffs.
We could do this.
We could do that.
Who knows?
Maybe we can.
But obviously we're going to need consistency and we're going to need to develop better
depth.
It's, it's just, if that is going to happen, we are going to need to see that progression
(15:03):
through this season.
Anyway, wrapping up.
It was a great game.
Thank you, Panthers.
Thank you, Vegas.
Thank you, Steph Curry.
I know you were there.
I'm going to go back to my key matchup of last game, which was our offensive line versus
(15:24):
their defensive line.
I tell you, Max Crosby looks hobbled and I didn't really hear from Christian Wilkins
at all that game.
So we won that one out right.
Okay.
Moving on.
We got the Bengals week four at home.
(15:44):
Bengals coming off a loss.
Monday Night Football to the Washington commanders and Jalen Daniels almost perfect rookie quarterback
performance.
What people tend to miss in that is that Joe Burrow pretty much had a perfect type performance
as well.
They just didn't win.
(16:05):
So I think unfortunately I would have loved to see Cincinnati win that game so they could
be a little bit more confident, a little bit less urgency to get the win, but they're coming
in at 0 and 3.
And Cincinnati is all, since Joe Burrow and especially Jamar Chase have gotten there,
(16:27):
they're a trendy pick to win that division every year.
They went to the Super Bowl.
They're the ones that have given Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs the most problems.
Of course, Joe Burrow can't seem to stay healthy, which is hurt Cincinnati in those years.
They also don't seem to have much of a running game.
(16:47):
They ran for a better average per clip against the commanders.
But really since Burrow has been there, the offensive line play has been poor and the
running game has been poor.
Still he's had a ton of success in it through the air because he's a fantastic quarterback
and he has fantastic wide receivers.
(17:08):
So that is the matchup.
We're going to zero in on this week.
It's going to be Burrow and the pass catchers versus the defensive line slash secondary
of the Carolina Panthers because I think the two go hand in hand.
(17:30):
We got to be able to have some sort of pressure on Burrow as well as being able to limit the
rushing yards to force them into passing situations and the communication and the execution on
the back end has to be tight because Jamar Chase, for my money, I know everybody wants
(17:54):
to talk about Justin Jefferson, CD Lamb, all this sort of stuff.
I think Chase is the best wide receiver in the NFL.
And anyway, it'll be really interesting.
We'll see if J.C. travels with him, see how much, see what kind of stats he's able to
(18:17):
put up and whether it hurts us in winning the game or not.
So that's going to be big.
That's going to be key.
Obviously, to keep Burrow and offense off the field as well, we got to hold on to the
ball.
We did a great job with time of possession this last week as opposed to the first two
weeks.
(18:37):
It helped that the running game went going and that we were converting third downs.
Obviously those are keys on offense.
We got to keep pounding the rock to help us in our pass protection, in our pass reads,
but also to keep the ball in our hands and out of Joe Burrow's hands.
(18:59):
We're also playing at home, so hopefully the crowd can give us a boost, which I'll be interested
to see what the crowds like this week as opposed to week two.
After that big win, will there be a bunch more people show up?
How will we play?
How will the fans react?
We'll see.
(19:21):
So that's another key.
We're at home.
The Bengals are coming off a short week because of a Monday night game.
So I guess we're to prediction time now.
The things I was saying about Dalton and about Bryce and about our team and franchise right
(19:44):
now really are only true if we continue to play well with Andy Dalton.
You know, if we go out here and craft the bed, then we're going to be feeling exactly
like we did a couple of weeks ago because we've been teased over the years.
We've had the Kyle Allens, the Matt Moores, the countless backup quarterbacks that can
(20:11):
have one or two decent performances and you think they're the guy and then they're not.
So obviously Dalton has more of a track record in this league.
He has more success history in this league and there are a lot of older quarterbacks
in recent years, especially because of the offensive rules that have had a lot of success.
(20:34):
Hell, Tom Brady played till 43.
You know, Aaron Rodgers is 49.
So Andy Dalton at 36 is like, oh, he's a young guy.
So we'll see how he continues to play.
Obviously I believe that with solid offensive line play, with solid skill position players
(20:57):
and with a solid defense, which I think that we all have.
Now are we above solid?
Not at this point.
You know, and really honestly, until we win a couple more games, we're probably still
a little bit below solid, but if we can get this win on Sunday, I mean, that'd be huge
(21:18):
to start the season 0 and 2 and to look the way we did.
And then all of a sudden be 2 and 2 with a win on the, a big time win on the road and
beating a playoff team at home.
Those would be huge.
That being said, I am not picking us to win this week.
(21:41):
I think we're going to give a great effort.
I think we're going to get good execution, but now having a week's worth of tape on our
offense and our offensive success, people are going to have more of an idea of how to
attack us defensively.
You know, the Raiders were surprised last week because we hadn't shown the league any
(22:04):
of our playbook because we hadn't even gotten into it in the first two weeks.
So I expect Cincy's defense to come out very motivated, very on fire.
They're 0 and 3.
It's going to be more difficult on Dalton and company.
Remember to rely on the running game.
(22:24):
Pound Chuba, Pound Chuba, Pound Chuba.
If he gets over a hundred yards again, I think we got a really good chance of winning this
game.
I think it's going to be close, probably lower scoring.
We're going to go 20 to 20 bangles.
(22:46):
All right, everybody.
Hell of a week.
First victory Monday of the season.
We're riding high.
Hey, if we can end up at two and two after this week, man, hey, our season's alive, baby.
That's what I'm talking about.
(23:06):
Actually shout out to the two folks in the Casino Sportsbook last week that reminded
me why I love the Panthers and why I love this thing so much.
The one other Panthers fan that was there, of course, saw him and before the game first
quarter he was already moving on to next year's.
(23:27):
Fourth quarter, oh, we're going to win the Super Bowl.
Come on, man.
Little faith, little faith.
You know, what are you going to do?
And then, of course, the Steelers fan that called me over after the game, just like,
oh, did you really think they were going to win?
Hell yeah.
Maybe not by that much, but yeah, we were going to win.
(23:49):
All right, Panther faithful, keep pounding.
Enjoy the game this week.
I'll talk to you later.
Peace.
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