September 24, 2025 • 17 mins
Anish Shroff stopped by to recap a huge 30-0 win for the Panthers in Week 3.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
McMillan goes up bags the catch for a first down
on the far side forty two yard line.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Thank he's pretty game.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Have you ever jumped on a trampoline?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yes? Can you go on the air that it looks
like he jumping off of a trampoline.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I don't see.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I mean he jumped up and then he jumped again,
and he jumped again, and he just hung in the air.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
The volleyball background are just mom and dad and he
has ups.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh that's rookie receiver Teto and McMillan playing a little
volleyball against the Falcons. And you heard the call there
Jake Delomluke Keikley along with our next guest, the Great
A Nisee Shroff from the Panthers Radio Network. It's game
on John Ellis's Trey Pauli Walnot's Falco. We'll get to
your calls here later this hour. But as I mentioned,
you can hear him on ESPN covering the SEC. You
(00:42):
can hear him every single game day Sunday calling games
for the Carolina Panthers. A Nie Shroff, walcome back to
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
John, I have nothing better to do. I'm sitting in
traffic on seventy seven, actually headed to the stadium with
an event tonight with the great Schuba Hubbard. So nice.
I'm just sitting in traffic until all this clear is
up and I got all day.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh we like that. Okay, we've caught a niche Shroff
in a compromising position. He's stuck in interstate traffic like
many of you are on eighty five right now, and
we're certainly appreciative that you're not road raging right now.
Let's talk about what I believe some Atlanta Falcons are,
unfortunately maybe road raging down on eighty five south of
US here the fans at least a thirty to nothing
(01:27):
win in Charlotte the Panthers. As we were talking off aeronies,
how important is it for this team to fuel this
kind of win because so many of Bryce Young's wins
and Dave Canalys as well have been Neil biders. What
a performance on Sunday. Huh.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's a great point. You go back to Bryce's rookie year,
the two wins against Houston and Atlanta on last second
field goals. Last year, when you look at the four
wins that Bryce was a part of remember Andy Dalton
started the Vegas game. Saints game came down to a
fourth down stop very late in the game. Giants overtime,
(02:04):
Arizona overtime, Atlanta overtime. All this talk in the off
season about how improved the team is and how much
better they are defensively, and all the upgrades that were
made to be dominant, that's something that we really haven't seen,
probably since that Christmas Eve game against the Detroit Lions.
(02:25):
And boy, I thought it was needed, because, you know,
it's one thing John for folks like us to speak
the narrative or the narrative to come from inside the
locker room. Hey, wh're this, where this? Where that? And
you try to get everybody to buy in and believe right,
But then when you actually have evidence to say, look
we went out and did it. And I thought the
turning point was ten nothing game going to the third quarter.
(02:50):
Panthers get the ball first, they don't score, they punt,
and in the back of your mind, I think, in
the back of everybody's mind, you're thinking, Okay, did we
just let the Falcons back in this game? Later what happened?
Shaw Smith Wade picks six and it was kind of like,
all right, there's the killer instinct. Yep, there's the defense
taking the dagger and saying no, no, no, no, no, keep
(03:11):
that corpse in the ground.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, what was remarkable. A nies Schroff is our guest here.
He called the action on Sunday for the Carolina Panthers
radio network, and he does every single Sunday. They've got
New England coming up in six or five days. I
should say, we'll talk about that in a minute. I
think you're exactly right about that. There could have been
a huge turning point punting in the third quarter. And look,
Michael Pennix, we can talk all day about some of
(03:34):
his deficiencies, but obviously he's a very young quarterback. In
this league, they have a multitude of weapons. You have
to credit this Panthers defense not only for keeping and
I'll just say this very slowly, Panthers fans keeping at
Lanta outside of the thirty yard line all day long,
but being opportunistic getting the interceptions. And you're looking at
(03:54):
the secondary right now. I'm going to tell you between
the safety play with Ransom in there, and you've got
some young guys in Smith Wade, you've got scorting in there.
You've got obviously Princely in the mix. Good to see
the young guys getting it done.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
On defense, well, I think you got to mention Lathan
Ransom too, right. He granted out as the best defensive
back according to PFF. Buy into that as much as
you want, but against the run, PFF had him grated
as the top defensive back from the past week. Mike Jack,
as you mentioned, gets to pick. We know what jac is.
(04:29):
When JC is on the field, he can take away
half the field. He's become a lockdown corner. And we're
starting to see guys like Shaw Smith, Wade Emerge. I
thought Trevin Wallace played his best game of the young season,
made a couple of plays at the line of scrimmage,
end of the backfield. And then again, remember this was
a team that they didn't have Turk Wharton, they didn't
have Patton Jones on offense, Robert Hunt, Xavierly get No
(04:54):
Austin Corbid and to go out and shut out Atlanta. Again.
I'm not saying the Falcons super Bowl contenders, but they
have a pretty strong compliment of skilled players on offense
with Jon Robinson and Drake London. Michael Pannix, as you mentioned,
a merging guy at quarterback. Kyle Pitts was a Pro
(05:14):
Bowl as a rookie. I know the production's been down,
but he was actually off to a pretty good start
this season. Darnell Mooney, they've got some weapons on offense,
and I just thought this was not just a step forward,
but a giant leap forward for this Panther defense.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And you have to feel good for a giro everro
He's under a lot of fire, it seems every single week,
and some of that you earn and you have to
wear that when your defense has consistently been among the
bottom in the league in terms of run fits which
lead to some of those catastrophic long runs. I'll tell
you this from a run defense standpoint. You look at
two runs all year long that stand out, the seventy
(05:50):
one yard are by ETM in Week one, the thirty
yard miracle scramble by Murray. Other than that, it's been
really damn good and it's good to see in this game.
I'd love to get your thoughts on this. The angles
and the tackling. Jackson making that big open field tackle.
He saw a few others on Robinson. You can tell
they're a little more dialed in right now in terms
of the fundamentals, in terms of fitting the run.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
You know, it's funny. I did an event with Derek Brown,
Dave Canalis, and David Tepper shortly after the Jacksonville loss,
and I remember Derek Brown was sitting there sayingly, slowed down,
We're gonna be okay. Ye, There's been a lot invested
into that defensive front. But I do think in the
defense of the Panther fan, the benefit of the doubt
(06:36):
has to be earned. And I thought Derek Brown had
the best assessment when we talked to him right after
the game on the postgame show on Sunday. It was
kind of the same idea, Hey, we played well, yeah,
one game, let's slow down. We got to stack some
of these before people are going to buy in fully
(06:57):
on this defense. But John, it was a really big
moment for a defense that was much maligned last year,
that was historically bad last year. They've heard it all,
they're mad about it, and again I think we're all
excited to see that they took that out and took
it out on Falcons.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, division wins are everything in this league, and you know,
you look at the first loss of the season. It
was not pretty, but it was a non conference loss.
You look at last week prior against Arizona. I want
to talk to you about that game in East Shrow
Panthers Radio Network. Quite a bananza in the second half
against Arizona. And look, you could subscribe to the theory
maybe that I do, that there can be a carryover
(07:36):
effect from a moment like that where you find yourself.
I don't think emotionally so much, but schematically they figured
some things out against Arizona and they clawed their way
back into that game. The final drive was not pretty.
There's no sugarcoating that. But you look at what they've
done forty seven I believe to nothing over their past
six quarters in terms of scoring margin. That's a big
(07:58):
time deal. The opening possession of Arizona scored in the
second half, but asign from that mid third quarter on
they shut everybody out. I thought that was a big moment,
and I said to my son at the time, Look,
they Phillip short, they got the on side back. Let's
see if they can momentumize that and move it over
into the next week. And I think some of that
did happen.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
I think it did. And you always wonder what the
carryover is week to week in the NFL, but it
was great to see that they were able to take
the second half, especially from a defensive standpoint, Bottle it
up and transferred over to uptown Charlotte on Sunday. And
you bring up that final drive again, Not to make excuses,
but Robert Hunt was hurt on that final drive. Austin
(08:42):
Corbett hurt on that final drive. So now you got
offensive linemen going in off the bench. May's and Zavalla
week of practice. I thought I quitted themselves really well
in the game against Atlanta. So you know, the next
step for this franchise, and especially for this young corners
own these young cornerstone type players. I think it's can
(09:03):
you win on the road. That's been a challenge the
last couple of years. And you got a new England
team that is scuffling a bit. You've got you know,
Miami and Dallas both at home, the Jets on the road.
The next four opponents are all in various stages of distress. Yeah,
coaches and the players will tell you one game at
(09:24):
a time, we can look ahead. I think we all
can kind of see that there's opportunity on the horizon
for the Panthers.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
And Nie Shroff is our guest A Nisha, I agree.
I told my kids last night, who are huge fans,
and I just wanted to give them perspective because they
haven't been around for the glory days like you and
I have seen over the years. And I said, look,
I have no idea what's ahead for this team. Thirty
to nothing feels great for you guys sitting out there
in the stands. It was fascinating from the press area
watching it unfold. You're right, it's time, if it's time
(09:55):
to make the move this year to get into relevance.
And is you know, Bruce aria And said today on
McAfee show, and Belichick has talked about this. You want
to get around of Thanksgiving and be relevant. You want
to have your guys peaking at the right time. The
scheduled ahead is the time to capitalize on that because
you're right, they are in distress. I want to talk
just briefly about Xavier Lagette. Obviously, we have immense respect
(10:18):
for what he's done down here in the game Cox culture,
and it was a tremendous player for that one year
down here in Columbia, and it's been a bit of
a struggle for Xavier. I know the hamstring was reported,
and I know that that's something you have to accept
his face value in terms of injury. Do you think
part of this is also a bit of a reset
in giving him some time not only get the hammy right,
(10:40):
but much like with Bryce last year, maybe get the
mind right. I don't pretend to be a sports psychologist,
but sometimes you can see on the field this is
a guy not playing with tremendous confidence.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Well, I can tell you this, and Dave Canalys has
kind of said this. They wanted to get xavierly get
into the game on Sunday. The hamstring injury happened last
week in practice. It was very real. They really felt, hey,
can we get him back out there, try to scheme
up some plays early in the game like they did
against Arizona, to see if they can get him going.
(11:12):
They still view him as a big potential piece for
this offense if they can unlock it. Yes, he's going
through it right now. I think we all can see that.
And does he have to play better? I don't think
there's any question he's a first round pick. He's a
guy you're counting on to be again a starting wide
(11:33):
receiver for a team that you want to see take
the next step. If they really wanted to get him
out there, they just didn't get the go ahead. The
hamsterring wasn't good to go. I think the hope is
he comes back this week against New England. Wouldn't surprise
me to see some schemed up touches for leaguet early
if he's playing against New England. But I know the
(11:54):
conspiracy theories are all fun. The hamshterring thing was real,
and again they really wanted him to get out there
because I don't think they wanted the optics of a
conspiracy theory. Hey, we're giving him a reset, like this
was not a benching, this was actually injury related.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Well, hopefully he comes back and then the hamm he's
better and he's in the game. In terms of all
the elements for an offense that look, it was thirty
to nothing, but they need to do a little more
in terms of third downs. I thought the avoiding the
takeaways was a big thing in terms of giving the
team the ball like they did against Arizona, like they
did against Jacksonville. One part of the game, I want
(12:33):
to leave you with this in EA Shroth Panthers radio
network that we don't talk about enough, and I had
the pleasure of my little seat mate there in the
press area this year is none other than Bill Pollian.
So it was fascinating for the past twenty minutes of
that game to sort of ask him a few things
about special teams. And I'll tell you he doesn't like
the kickoff rule. A lot of people don't, but a
(12:54):
lot of people are seeing it on tape, and I
think you'll agree. This is a tremendous weapon they have
right now, not which is Fitzgerald kicking off, but the
tire coverage unit. They're mastering the very finite details in
terms of gaining hidden yards in the special teams department.
Plus Fitzgerald has been great in terms of field goals.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
You gotta give Tracy Smith, a special teams coach, a
ton of credit. I don't think any of us knew
what we had in Ryan Fitzgerald just giving the nature kickers, right,
We've seen this movie. Guys sometimes get into the NFL.
They had success in college, but for whatever reason can't
hack it. Sometimes it's there it goes. You make a
(13:37):
kick here and there in preseason, but what do you
do when the lights are on and the pressure is on.
I think Fitzgerald has answered the bell. He hasn't missed
the kicks so far. In fact, and this is a
good little trivia question. The guy hasn't missed a kick
in almost two years. He was perfect at Florida State
last year. He's perfect with the Panthers this year. The
last time he actually missed a kick with the Accchampionship
(14:00):
game in twenty twenty three against Louisville at the Bank
of America Stadium. Full by the way, but the way
he's kicking off, those are hidden yardage. Those are hidden yards.
You talk about that knuckle kick that he's got going on,
that knuckleball. We saw this in the preseason a little bit.
(14:22):
We're seeing it now. Teams are having trouble fielding the ball,
and again, those are hidden yards. You kicked that balling
to the ends on the ball to the thirty five
yard line. And let's say you got five kickoffs during
the course of the game, four of them. The team
is starting inside the twenty five and let's say on
(14:42):
three of those kicks, you're inside the twenty, you can
live with one of those kicks maybe not hitting the
landing zone and going out of bounds and giving the
team the ball the forty yard line. So I just
think whatever they're doing on the kickoffs, and I got
to talk to Tracy Smith about it because copycat league,
other team is going to start doing this. But it
(15:04):
is working, and teams are having a hard time field
and go kickoff.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Look at the opponent's starting position in Atlanta game, the
twenty seven to twenty six on their own side of
the minus side of the field, the twenty, the twenty one,
the ten, the twenty, the ten. Again, it's sensational to
the point where you know, people made fun of the
Atlanta returners balking into each other and tackling one another.
That's a byproduct of all of this positioning and placement,
(15:28):
and they're screaming downfield and making big plays. It's been
a lot of fun to watch any Shroft Panthers play
by play voice who has been kind enough to join
us as he's trucking up I seventy seven at a
sales space and look good luck this week.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Moping by seventy seven now now I'm I'm off by
seventy seven. Now I go, I'm the eggs that I'm
about four minutes from the stadium now. So the traffic
did clear up.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
John Well, good, Hopefully that's an omen that our traffic
on eighty five will be clear in about an hour
when we get out of here. Good to see the
other day man. Looking forward to seeing you for the
Miami game in a couple weeks and bring him a
dub against New England.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Then, I'm telling you, I think this team is unlocked
a little bit of its mojo with the win against
Atlanta and New England's a team. They had some turnover
issues in the Pittsburgh game. Remandre Stevenson has from malitis
right now. He's humbled eight times since the start of
last season, lost a couple of fumbles against Pittsburgh over
(16:23):
the weekend. Yet Drake may right, guy who's familiar to
a lot of Panther fans, North Carolina guys, Charlotte native.
But that's a gettable game. Miami's a gettable game. Dallas
looks gettable. The Jets certainly look gettable again. There's a
chance here to maybe string a few victories together and
(16:44):
break some juice back to the Carolinas.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I'm pumped up now, I'm running through the brick wall tray.
I'm excited. Anie Froth play by play voice from the Panthers,
also on ESPN. Good luck this weekend, man, safe travels,
and I can't wait to see if you know what
we're talking about. Here comes from wishing to spend a
long time coming for Panthers fans.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Brother sounds good. John always good to child with you
se him.
McMillan goes up bags the catch for a first down
on the far side forty two yard line.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Thank he's pretty game.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Have you ever jumped on a trampoline?
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yes? Can you go on the air that it looks
like he jumping off of a trampoline.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I don't see.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I mean he jumped up and then he jumped again,
and he jumped again, and he just hung in the air.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
The volleyball background are just mom and dad and he
has ups.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh that's rookie receiver Teto and McMillan playing a little
volleyball against the Falcons. And you heard the call there
Jake Delomluke Keikley along with our next guest, the Great
A Nisee Shroff from the Panthers Radio Network. It's game
on John Ellis's Trey Pauli Walnot's Falco. We'll get to
your calls here later this hour. But as I mentioned,
you can hear him on ESPN covering the SEC. You
(00:42):
can hear him every single game day Sunday calling games
for the Carolina Panthers. A Nie Shroff, walcome back to
the show.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
John, I have nothing better to do. I'm sitting in
traffic on seventy seven, actually headed to the stadium with
an event tonight with the great Schuba Hubbard. So nice.
I'm just sitting in traffic until all this clear is
up and I got all day.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh we like that. Okay, we've caught a niche Shroff
in a compromising position. He's stuck in interstate traffic like
many of you are on eighty five right now, and
we're certainly appreciative that you're not road raging right now.
Let's talk about what I believe some Atlanta Falcons are,
unfortunately maybe road raging down on eighty five south of
US here the fans at least a thirty to nothing
(01:27):
win in Charlotte the Panthers. As we were talking off aeronies,
how important is it for this team to fuel this
kind of win because so many of Bryce Young's wins
and Dave Canalys as well have been Neil biders. What
a performance on Sunday. Huh.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
It's a great point. You go back to Bryce's rookie year,
the two wins against Houston and Atlanta on last second
field goals. Last year, when you look at the four
wins that Bryce was a part of remember Andy Dalton
started the Vegas game. Saints game came down to a
fourth down stop very late in the game. Giants overtime,
(02:04):
Arizona overtime, Atlanta overtime. All this talk in the off
season about how improved the team is and how much
better they are defensively, and all the upgrades that were
made to be dominant, that's something that we really haven't seen,
probably since that Christmas Eve game against the Detroit Lions.
(02:25):
And boy, I thought it was needed, because, you know,
it's one thing John for folks like us to speak
the narrative or the narrative to come from inside the
locker room. Hey, wh're this, where this? Where that? And
you try to get everybody to buy in and believe right,
But then when you actually have evidence to say, look
we went out and did it. And I thought the
turning point was ten nothing game going to the third quarter.
(02:50):
Panthers get the ball first, they don't score, they punt,
and in the back of your mind, I think, in
the back of everybody's mind, you're thinking, Okay, did we
just let the Falcons back in this game? Later what happened?
Shaw Smith Wade picks six and it was kind of like,
all right, there's the killer instinct. Yep, there's the defense
taking the dagger and saying no, no, no, no, no, keep
(03:11):
that corpse in the ground.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yeah, what was remarkable. A nies Schroff is our guest here.
He called the action on Sunday for the Carolina Panthers
radio network, and he does every single Sunday. They've got
New England coming up in six or five days. I
should say, we'll talk about that in a minute. I
think you're exactly right about that. There could have been
a huge turning point punting in the third quarter. And look,
Michael Pennix, we can talk all day about some of
(03:34):
his deficiencies, but obviously he's a very young quarterback. In
this league, they have a multitude of weapons. You have
to credit this Panthers defense not only for keeping and
I'll just say this very slowly, Panthers fans keeping at
Lanta outside of the thirty yard line all day long,
but being opportunistic getting the interceptions. And you're looking at
(03:54):
the secondary right now. I'm going to tell you between
the safety play with Ransom in there, and you've got
some young guys in Smith Wade, you've got scorting in there.
You've got obviously Princely in the mix. Good to see
the young guys getting it done.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
On defense, well, I think you got to mention Lathan
Ransom too, right. He granted out as the best defensive
back according to PFF. Buy into that as much as
you want, but against the run, PFF had him grated
as the top defensive back from the past week. Mike Jack,
as you mentioned, gets to pick. We know what jac is.
(04:29):
When JC is on the field, he can take away
half the field. He's become a lockdown corner. And we're
starting to see guys like Shaw Smith, Wade Emerge. I
thought Trevin Wallace played his best game of the young season,
made a couple of plays at the line of scrimmage,
end of the backfield. And then again, remember this was
a team that they didn't have Turk Wharton, they didn't
have Patton Jones on offense, Robert Hunt, Xavierly get No
(04:54):
Austin Corbid and to go out and shut out Atlanta. Again.
I'm not saying the Falcons super Bowl contenders, but they
have a pretty strong compliment of skilled players on offense
with Jon Robinson and Drake London. Michael Pannix, as you mentioned,
a merging guy at quarterback. Kyle Pitts was a Pro
(05:14):
Bowl as a rookie. I know the production's been down,
but he was actually off to a pretty good start
this season. Darnell Mooney, they've got some weapons on offense,
and I just thought this was not just a step forward,
but a giant leap forward for this Panther defense.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
And you have to feel good for a giro everro
He's under a lot of fire, it seems every single week,
and some of that you earn and you have to
wear that when your defense has consistently been among the
bottom in the league in terms of run fits which
lead to some of those catastrophic long runs. I'll tell
you this from a run defense standpoint. You look at
two runs all year long that stand out, the seventy
(05:50):
one yard are by ETM in Week one, the thirty
yard miracle scramble by Murray. Other than that, it's been
really damn good and it's good to see in this game.
I'd love to get your thoughts on this. The angles
and the tackling. Jackson making that big open field tackle.
He saw a few others on Robinson. You can tell
they're a little more dialed in right now in terms
of the fundamentals, in terms of fitting the run.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
You know, it's funny. I did an event with Derek Brown,
Dave Canalis, and David Tepper shortly after the Jacksonville loss,
and I remember Derek Brown was sitting there sayingly, slowed down,
We're gonna be okay. Ye, There's been a lot invested
into that defensive front. But I do think in the
defense of the Panther fan, the benefit of the doubt
(06:36):
has to be earned. And I thought Derek Brown had
the best assessment when we talked to him right after
the game on the postgame show on Sunday. It was
kind of the same idea, Hey, we played well, yeah,
one game, let's slow down. We got to stack some
of these before people are going to buy in fully
(06:57):
on this defense. But John, it was a really big
moment for a defense that was much maligned last year,
that was historically bad last year. They've heard it all,
they're mad about it, and again I think we're all
excited to see that they took that out and took
it out on Falcons.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, division wins are everything in this league, and you know,
you look at the first loss of the season. It
was not pretty, but it was a non conference loss.
You look at last week prior against Arizona. I want
to talk to you about that game in East Shrow
Panthers Radio Network. Quite a bananza in the second half
against Arizona. And look, you could subscribe to the theory
maybe that I do, that there can be a carryover
(07:36):
effect from a moment like that where you find yourself.
I don't think emotionally so much, but schematically they figured
some things out against Arizona and they clawed their way
back into that game. The final drive was not pretty.
There's no sugarcoating that. But you look at what they've
done forty seven I believe to nothing over their past
six quarters in terms of scoring margin. That's a big
(07:58):
time deal. The opening possession of Arizona scored in the
second half, but asign from that mid third quarter on
they shut everybody out. I thought that was a big moment,
and I said to my son at the time, Look,
they Phillip short, they got the on side back. Let's
see if they can momentumize that and move it over
into the next week. And I think some of that
did happen.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
I think it did. And you always wonder what the
carryover is week to week in the NFL, but it
was great to see that they were able to take
the second half, especially from a defensive standpoint, Bottle it
up and transferred over to uptown Charlotte on Sunday. And
you bring up that final drive again, Not to make excuses,
but Robert Hunt was hurt on that final drive. Austin
(08:42):
Corbett hurt on that final drive. So now you got
offensive linemen going in off the bench. May's and Zavalla
week of practice. I thought I quitted themselves really well
in the game against Atlanta. So you know, the next
step for this franchise, and especially for this young corners
own these young cornerstone type players. I think it's can
(09:03):
you win on the road. That's been a challenge the
last couple of years. And you got a new England
team that is scuffling a bit. You've got you know,
Miami and Dallas both at home, the Jets on the road.
The next four opponents are all in various stages of distress. Yeah,
coaches and the players will tell you one game at
(09:24):
a time, we can look ahead. I think we all
can kind of see that there's opportunity on the horizon
for the Panthers.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
And Nie Shroff is our guest A Nisha, I agree.
I told my kids last night, who are huge fans,
and I just wanted to give them perspective because they
haven't been around for the glory days like you and
I have seen over the years. And I said, look,
I have no idea what's ahead for this team. Thirty
to nothing feels great for you guys sitting out there
in the stands. It was fascinating from the press area
watching it unfold. You're right, it's time, if it's time
(09:55):
to make the move this year to get into relevance.
And is you know, Bruce aria And said today on
McAfee show, and Belichick has talked about this. You want
to get around of Thanksgiving and be relevant. You want
to have your guys peaking at the right time. The
scheduled ahead is the time to capitalize on that because
you're right, they are in distress. I want to talk
just briefly about Xavier Lagette. Obviously, we have immense respect
(10:18):
for what he's done down here in the game Cox culture,
and it was a tremendous player for that one year
down here in Columbia, and it's been a bit of
a struggle for Xavier. I know the hamstring was reported,
and I know that that's something you have to accept
his face value in terms of injury. Do you think
part of this is also a bit of a reset
in giving him some time not only get the hammy right,
(10:40):
but much like with Bryce last year, maybe get the
mind right. I don't pretend to be a sports psychologist,
but sometimes you can see on the field this is
a guy not playing with tremendous confidence.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Well, I can tell you this, and Dave Canalys has
kind of said this. They wanted to get xavierly get
into the game on Sunday. The hamstring injury happened last
week in practice. It was very real. They really felt, hey,
can we get him back out there, try to scheme
up some plays early in the game like they did
against Arizona, to see if they can get him going.
(11:12):
They still view him as a big potential piece for
this offense if they can unlock it. Yes, he's going
through it right now. I think we all can see that.
And does he have to play better? I don't think
there's any question he's a first round pick. He's a
guy you're counting on to be again a starting wide
(11:33):
receiver for a team that you want to see take
the next step. If they really wanted to get him
out there, they just didn't get the go ahead. The
hamsterring wasn't good to go. I think the hope is
he comes back this week against New England. Wouldn't surprise
me to see some schemed up touches for leaguet early
if he's playing against New England. But I know the
(11:54):
conspiracy theories are all fun. The hamshterring thing was real,
and again they really wanted him to get out there
because I don't think they wanted the optics of a
conspiracy theory. Hey, we're giving him a reset, like this
was not a benching, this was actually injury related.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Well, hopefully he comes back and then the hamm he's
better and he's in the game. In terms of all
the elements for an offense that look, it was thirty
to nothing, but they need to do a little more
in terms of third downs. I thought the avoiding the
takeaways was a big thing in terms of giving the
team the ball like they did against Arizona, like they
did against Jacksonville. One part of the game, I want
(12:33):
to leave you with this in EA Shroth Panthers radio
network that we don't talk about enough, and I had
the pleasure of my little seat mate there in the
press area this year is none other than Bill Pollian.
So it was fascinating for the past twenty minutes of
that game to sort of ask him a few things
about special teams. And I'll tell you he doesn't like
the kickoff rule. A lot of people don't, but a
(12:54):
lot of people are seeing it on tape, and I
think you'll agree. This is a tremendous weapon they have
right now, not which is Fitzgerald kicking off, but the
tire coverage unit. They're mastering the very finite details in
terms of gaining hidden yards in the special teams department.
Plus Fitzgerald has been great in terms of field goals.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
You gotta give Tracy Smith, a special teams coach, a
ton of credit. I don't think any of us knew
what we had in Ryan Fitzgerald just giving the nature kickers, right,
We've seen this movie. Guys sometimes get into the NFL.
They had success in college, but for whatever reason can't
hack it. Sometimes it's there it goes. You make a
(13:37):
kick here and there in preseason, but what do you
do when the lights are on and the pressure is on.
I think Fitzgerald has answered the bell. He hasn't missed
the kicks so far. In fact, and this is a
good little trivia question. The guy hasn't missed a kick
in almost two years. He was perfect at Florida State
last year. He's perfect with the Panthers this year. The
last time he actually missed a kick with the Accchampionship
(14:00):
game in twenty twenty three against Louisville at the Bank
of America Stadium. Full by the way, but the way
he's kicking off, those are hidden yardage. Those are hidden yards.
You talk about that knuckle kick that he's got going on,
that knuckleball. We saw this in the preseason a little bit.
(14:22):
We're seeing it now. Teams are having trouble fielding the ball,
and again, those are hidden yards. You kicked that balling
to the ends on the ball to the thirty five
yard line. And let's say you got five kickoffs during
the course of the game, four of them. The team
is starting inside the twenty five and let's say on
(14:42):
three of those kicks, you're inside the twenty, you can
live with one of those kicks maybe not hitting the
landing zone and going out of bounds and giving the
team the ball the forty yard line. So I just
think whatever they're doing on the kickoffs, and I got
to talk to Tracy Smith about it because copycat league,
other team is going to start doing this. But it
(15:04):
is working, and teams are having a hard time field
and go kickoff.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Look at the opponent's starting position in Atlanta game, the
twenty seven to twenty six on their own side of
the minus side of the field, the twenty, the twenty one,
the ten, the twenty, the ten. Again, it's sensational to
the point where you know, people made fun of the
Atlanta returners balking into each other and tackling one another.
That's a byproduct of all of this positioning and placement,
(15:28):
and they're screaming downfield and making big plays. It's been
a lot of fun to watch any Shroft Panthers play
by play voice who has been kind enough to join
us as he's trucking up I seventy seven at a
sales space and look good luck this week.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Moping by seventy seven now now I'm I'm off by
seventy seven. Now I go, I'm the eggs that I'm
about four minutes from the stadium now. So the traffic
did clear up.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
John Well, good, Hopefully that's an omen that our traffic
on eighty five will be clear in about an hour
when we get out of here. Good to see the
other day man. Looking forward to seeing you for the
Miami game in a couple weeks and bring him a
dub against New England.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Then, I'm telling you, I think this team is unlocked
a little bit of its mojo with the win against
Atlanta and New England's a team. They had some turnover
issues in the Pittsburgh game. Remandre Stevenson has from malitis
right now. He's humbled eight times since the start of
last season, lost a couple of fumbles against Pittsburgh over
(16:23):
the weekend. Yet Drake may right, guy who's familiar to
a lot of Panther fans, North Carolina guys, Charlotte native.
But that's a gettable game. Miami's a gettable game. Dallas
looks gettable. The Jets certainly look gettable again. There's a
chance here to maybe string a few victories together and
(16:44):
break some juice back to the Carolinas.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I'm pumped up now, I'm running through the brick wall tray.
I'm excited. Anie Froth play by play voice from the Panthers,
also on ESPN. Good luck this weekend, man, safe travels,
and I can't wait to see if you know what
we're talking about. Here comes from wishing to spend a
long time coming for Panthers fans.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Brother sounds good. John always good to child with you
se him.
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