The following is an exclusive presentation of the Carolina Panthers and the National Football League Panther Tell and their Tell, and they're to This is Panther Talk on the Carolina Panthers Radio network.

It's consistency, consistency and the product that we're looking for, and certainly starts with taking care of the ball.

Then it goes to eliminating.

Explosive plays and capitalizing when we get our red zone opportunities.

So I think for us as a group, you know, just getting back to that balanced offense that we're used to in defensively taking care of the you know, explosive plays which we're getting used to hear a certain brand of ball, right and we didn't capture that today.

And now, along with Jim Zochi and Eugene Robinson, here's a Niche Shroff with Panther Talk live from the Panthers broadcast facility at Bank of America Stadio.

Welcome to Panther Talk, a Nie Shroff, Jim Zochie, Eugene Robinson, coach of the Carolina Panthers, Dave Canalis.

We are ten weeks into the season, past the halfway point.

Before we move on, let's go back to Sunday, because I think the one thing that jumped out there was you'd be the first to admit and you said it, Hey, that wasn't the best we've seen of the Panthers.

That wasn't us.

And yet this is a team now that has margin for error, because despite all that, it still felt like there were opportunities to win that game.

Absolutely, we were given opportunities a couple of times, and the defense earned a few for us and gave us a chance to get ourselves right back into the game, and we didn't capitalize.

You know.

And when I look back at this season and the games that we've had success, we've played really good complete football and it was offense, defense, and special teams and we took care of the ball.

And we did not get that done on Sunday, you know, with the fumble, an interception.

Really had two of them, but one of them was one of them didn't end up being an interception because of a roughing the passer.

But it was certainly a day where we didn't capitalize on the opportunities that were given.

Even the block kick, you know, and we recover the ball right there in the red zone, and then a couple of plays later give it right back to him.

So and then defensively just given up big plays, you know, And that's something that we've been doing a really good job of, is is either winning the explosive battle or just being you know, pretty even with the opponent.

And you know, we gave up eight explosives.

We only got two on offense.

And you know, this is a part of our football that we have to continue to press in on and make sure that we come alive, you know.

Offensively speaking, coach.

You've missing having a balance attack.

And some of the people with that I've talked to you say, what does he mean?

Does he mean like running inside outside?

So what do you mean by having a balance attack when you see a loaded box?

Yeah, what we've seen is we've seen our run game have success.

While teams are aware of that and so they're going to try to make you one dimensional and force you to pass to throw the ball.

And we got to see more positive results come out of our pass game.

And that's what we're working on as a staff.

That's what we're working on with our group offensively, you know, to try to make these guys come ala live and create some explosives, you know, whatever that looks like, whether it's throwing the ball down the field, getting into the screen game, you know, and trying to scheme some different things up.

But it's something that we have to create a little bit more variety for so that teams can't just you know, hunker down and play us.

Like that general question.

But you know, obviously they take away the run and then the first option they're going to know is tetro.

After that, the other receiving group of Jalen and the rest of the guys, So getting them more involved is that might maybe a priority moving forward, just having all the different options more involved.

Absolutely, Jim.

I mean that's a great point, right we'd love to see these guys show up.

And you know, for a couple of weeks now, we've seen Jalen Cocher make plays when he's gotten his opportunities, you know, and I expect Exavier to make his plays as well, you know, And so having the variety, making sure that we spread it out and really you know, work on our formations, work on the type of passes that we're throwing, you know, two different guys.

But you know, I'll tell you guys this again, it's going to start with t Mac and we're going to count on him.

He's going to get the toughest looks, you know, and so we have to make a job.

We have to make sure that we put him in different situations to create access for him, and to put him on stuff that you know isn't always just the isolated X receiver and we've been mixing some things up like that, but we can continue to do that.

For a rookie wide receiver.

He's come into the league and he's getting the team's number one corner most weeks.

How has he acquitted himself through the first ten games, given that there's no real on ramp.

It's not like, you know, he gets to be the number two or number three.

He was the number one from week one.

Absolutely taking some good wins and some good losses and learning lessons.

And that's the part that I appreciate about t Mac is just he takes in this lesson of how how he got played on the play before, and then he adjusts and he adjusts his feet, he adjusts his hands, and it's this constant learning curve and growth process for how they're going to try to play him with different press techniques or soft catch techniques or inside trail with the safety over top.

He's getting the whole gamut.

You know.

This is something that you know, Mike Evans got really familiar with in Tampa, you know, and and the time that I spent with him down there, you know, trying to troubleshoot different ways, and we have to do a good job of moving him around so that we don't make it too easy on them to really zero in on him.

But at the same time, that means great opportunities for everybody else, and let's let's make sure that we take capitalize on those as well.

Coach is was it a matter of technique?

We saw the play with jac Horn and live down the field.

Was that a matter of technique of turning not turning his back to him or you.

Know the way he was positioned.

Yeah, well you could actually have to we have to look up and now if he does bump into you, it's easy to fall.

I think, so it could be just a leverage thing.

And I know also as you can attest to it, when you get a player who's as fast as Chrystal Lavea and he's running at full tilt and you're moving at the same rate and Jac is really fast and we also understand that, but any little incremental movement, you know, And they had kind of had their hands tied up in jc's feet kind of slipped on him and went down and Tyler shuck through an amazing pass on that play as well, So, you know, to speak of the whole play in general, like they picked up a really good pressure and blocked it well, and then they had the one on one opportunity made a throw and you know, sometimes it's like that, you know, but it does.

It starts with you know, footwork, technique, leverage and all that.

JC to be the first one to tell you'd love to have that one back.

You guys both mentioned, you know, some some explosive plays they were able to accomplish on offense.

But when you only give up seventeen points in the game defensively, pretty scrappy performance to keep it at a low scoring game and give you guys a chance.

Absolutely, And can't say enough about our defense for playing hard all the way through it.

And really they didn't see a lot of success in the run game until the very end.

Well that's the war of attrition, you know, and that's just a result of our offense not being on the field long enough.

We're putting our defense out there over and over again.

With the turnovers and with the punts.

We had a bunch of three and outs.

Those are the things that I take personally.

I got to do a better job putting our guys in situations to have success.

Move the ball down the field, whatever that is, whether that's the quick game, pass game, whether it's empty some of the things that we've used.

In the past.

We just try to use all of it, you know.

And right now we've been leaning on our run game because that's what's worked for us, and I'm not one to just ditch and go away from something that's been effective for us.

But at the same time, we got to protect the best stuff we do, so we got to continue to grow our processes that way.

And to that point, copycat league.

So people may look at the Saints, Hey, let's load up the box stop Rico.

Dwell, see if Bryce and the receivers can beat you downfield.

Is that kind of what you're now expecting to see going forward.

Absolutely, another great opportunity for us to take strides in our past game.

I have so much confidence in this group.

I know that we have talented players all across the board.

It starts upfront, making sure we take care of the protections the right way, and then putting the ball in Bryce's hand and distributing it to this young, talented group that we have.

I count on these guys just banking on all the work they're doing.

They're constantly talking, they're on the side, they're working through concepts and all these things, and I know it's going to break through because hard work works over and over.

I've seen it happen throughout my career, and I have full confidence in this group to get it done.

Yeah, and to that point when you were at Seattle, right there was that consistency of Okay, no one want to take care of business.

In week to week.

This is a young team and there's a lot of guys are who've been here who haven't won on And you're now in that process where you've had some of the big wins and you've had some of those moments even toward the end of last year.

What does it take to kind of unlock that next step?

Like you saw firsthand in Seattle.

It's the constant hunger for growth and improvement it's owning the lessons that we've learned when things happen in a negative way, to fix those things and say, okay, guys, we've resolved this issue.

Let's go find new mistakes to make, and then also to capture the process that works for you.

The positive things, the things that work for us, the things that give us an identity.

Let's replicate these things.

It's about identity, right, That's what this league is about.

And when you can find an identity for how you play football, it becomes a powerful thing.

It all starts in practice.

It's about our processes.

It's about respecting every opportunity we have today on a Monday, having these opportunities to talk through the film, learn the lessons, relearn some and look at the things that worked well.

And let's not lose the positives.

Let's not lose how hard we played, how physical we played, the effort we play with.

Let's not lose that inside of because of what the result was.

The result was what it was.

Because the Saints made more plays than we did.

We got to give those guys credit, but we also got to make our plays and make sure that we own this process so that it becomes us we know how to do this thing.

We know how what a Monday looks like.

We know what a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday looks like.

Here's how it comes to life on Sunday.

We got to capture those things.

Coach, what has ETN giving you?

And also a second question to this is might we see more shots down the fields, those explosive go routes just to keep the defense honest.

Absolutely, we got to have the explosive plays, Eugene.

We got to make sure that we come up with different ways to attack, whether it's go balls, whether it's posts, deep crossers and all that.

Those are all the parts of our system that we're counting on to come alive.

Things that we're talking about and working on.

Trevory ten has done an amazing job as our primary returner.

You know, with two really good backs, it's hard to kind of get him going, you know, in the backfield there's just not enough touches to go around.

But he certainly is showing us that he's ready to go.

Last week.

I got to say he looked fantastic in practice on Thursday, just running our scheme and pressing the runs, taking care of the ball and seeing it with vision, so I know at some point we'll need them and we'll be counting them to be ready.

Folks always want to know about the quarterback, and hear about it here.

You talk about it as well, and de Bryce was a little more demonstrative in his postgame and the anger after a few minutes after the game yesterday, not asking for anything as far as you know, schematic or any kind of competitive stuff, but the tone of your conversations anything different as far as a game like that, and try to get him in the right mindset moving forward off a game like yesterday.

Let's just take the lessons and learn.

Let's go through the film just like we always do and look at the grades and you know, see where we can be better, and just evaluate how we're throwing to our guys.

And you know, there's always those little tweaks that happen of like hey, in this situation, you could get hit him on this leverage, different things like that, but just working through the process, you know, and there's going to be emotions, there's going to be frustration in games like that, and it's important to make sure we take lessons, we move on, and we go attack the next week.

Coach.

We saw Trevin Wallace go down during that game.

What can you tell us about Trevin?

Yeah, went down, couldn't get back in.

You know, he's been working through some stuff and getting himself back out there.

You know, really applaud Trevin for for being being able to get out there and continue to help us.

You know, but we're gonna have to evaluate this one and and see what is available.

Availability looks like after we have a full evaluation.

If for some reason he's unavailable this week, would Rose boom then go back to being the green dot.

Yeah, Christian will do that.

Claude Cherlis, who actually played really well in the game at the end, again talking about not losing things just because of the outcome, but Claude played downhill, he played physical, he was smacking lineman, he was smacking ball carriers, and really felt like he looked comfortable out there.

So I'm excited for him to have an opportunity if Trevin can go this week.

Luke brought up a great point.

There was that fourth down play where chery List was matched up on Kamara on the slot and his coverage there allowed you guys to make the play.

Absolutely, he's a fantastic athlete.

You know, he can really run.

He's been he's been amazing for us on special teams, you know, covering kicks and all that.

And you know he's continuing to grow in our schemes, in our system, and so you know, really counting on Cloud if he has to go this week, you know so, and I trust him.

I trust him to do it.

He's tough enough, he's smart enough.

So and coach, as you pivot to the Atlanta Falcons, what's the message to the team.

I mean, you can easily think about a thirty point bow out win, but this is a divisional rival.

So what is the message to the team as you move forward?

Other than the film that's valuable to us because it's scheme on scheme, you can't even think about that that game.

I expect this to be a totally different Atlanta Falcons team.

I know what type of rhythm that Michael Pennix can play with with the skilled players that he has, Drake London starting with him, you know, and then of course Bejon Robinson and the different ways that can employ him.

If you flip on the other side to this defense, this is a this is a really fast, hungry defense.

They got ballhawks on the back half with Xavier Watson, with Jesse Bates.

These guys are fantastic players.

Aj Terrell somebody that I really respect, you know, and you talk about their front seven.

They got some.

Young young speed on the edge.

And you know, Ellis is one of my favorite players just to watch because he plays the game the right way.

So I really respect this group, I respect their coach.

I think this is a great opportunity for us to get back on track and to play a really good team, a division opponent, division rival.

They're gonna be ready to go.

We got to be ready to go and make sure that we prepare this week for this matchup.

And last thing, you guys have shown resiliency this season after New England, after buffle, immediately coming right back from those kind of games.

Really coachable team.

It looks like as far as what you guys are presenting that they figure it out pretty quick.

Absolutely.

And you know, this game is about finding and owning your identity and getting back to work and how quickly can we learn the lessons and how quickly can we move on, And that's what this week is going to be about as well.

Let's get back to the basics.

Let's get back to our process and trust that it'll lead to good results.

On too, Atlanta, Thank you coach.

All right, thanks guys.

This is the Carolina Panthers Radio network.

This is Panther Talk on do you buy the Bank of America?

What would you like the power to do?

This is a Monday where you're trying to separate macro from micro and the macro is ten weeks into the season.

Ten games into the season, the Panthers are a five hundred team, five and five.

They have the same amount of wins as they did a year ago.

They have shown you that they can go on the road and beat a team like Green Bay, a team with Super Bowl and NFC Championship aspirations.

Clearly, it's an improved roster.

It's a deeper roster.

We've seen a team that has a margin for error.

Now, they didn't really have that the last couple of years.

Sunday in the Micro, there's no way to sugarcoat it.

That was just a bad loss to a bad team, and the Panthers played down to the level of the Saints.

And we bring up this margin for error, Eugene, because there have been games where the Panthers have been able to overcome some mistakes and some turnovers battle back against New Orleans.

There were a lot of mistakes, whether it was penalties, turnovers, not capitalizing on field position.

Even in the first half, forget the turnovers and the block field goal.

Late in the first half, they had a couple of short fields.

Started at the thirty eight, started at the forty seven, couldn't score, went three and out, Like those are things when you let those continuously slip away.

Not a lot of teams have that kind of margin for error.

And then they got beat by the Saints of one and eighteen, but they played down to their level.

But I still do think at the end of the day, if somebody said five and five after ten games and tangible progress, yes, if you look at a snapshot of one game, yeah, it stings and it's painful because I think we all saw the Saints as two wins on the schedule.

You know, that's the frustration what you are describing as the frustration that somebody Carolina Panthers fans feel because they recognize that margin, recognize that they played down to an opponent that they should have beat, and it's like, hey, you got seventeen points on us, and we had chances after chances after chances after chances to go.

Ahead and win the game.

We really did when we should have gotten blown out basically by like thirty plus points, and that didn't happen.

That's the margin, and that's also the frustration that everybody's feeling here as fans and also in the locker room because they're sitting there going, dude, how.

Do we how did we lose these guys?

What do we do?

Why didn't we take advantage of this?

We're in the red zone?

How many times?

Why didn't we take advantage here?

Why wasn't there inter sept?

Why didn't we put the quarterback in the dirt on the ground?

We had mistackles, we had all that stuff.

So when you talk about the big macro, it's like, oh, now, I'm happy that we're we're a lot, we're improved, we improved.

But we look at the micro.

I'm going like this, dude, we're taking our margin zone and we're throwing it away.

That's what we're doing with the margin, and that we have.

The macro is that we're disappointed with a five and five record and not a one and eight record, This is what you want to make that kind of progress.

So that's the big picture.

That's good.

But to Aniche's point, that was a rough game to watch, and I will say this, if Tyler Shuck can play like that, Wow, going forward, that's not a one in eight team because they've got some talent on that roster on both offense and defense.

So I think we may look back later by the end of the year and go that was not the worst team in the NFL, despite the fact of what the record was coming into it right now, because he could be a difference maker for them, having that piece right now for the Panthers, we got to make sure that we're doing all the right things because, as we talked about with coach, everybody's recipe is now going to be blowed up the box, try to beat us with the pass and until proven otherwise and maybe several times otherwise, that's going to be the formula.

Because Rico Dowdle's one of the best running backs in the league and this offensive line is done a great job.

But blocking form, we've got to take advantage of those pass opportunities when they're out there and recognize them and make good throws and have receivers run the right rounds.

And anisa I would love to see, really, I would love to see more explosive plays.

And the reason why I'm saying this is that I want to see Jimmy Horn Jr.

Flying down the field.

What it does, so if I'm just being a defensive back, what it takes is you take the free safety, the strong safety, who may be back, who up is in the middle, in the corner, and now you're gonna have two people running with one guy down the field.

And you know that if something goes.

Awry just a little bit, that's an easy touchdowns.

It's a concern.

So to have some explosive places, even if you don't even do it, even if you just send them down the field and keep the guys honest, you've gained something because now you don't have a couple of guys in the box.

They have to plan for that mystery play down the field.

And what we've done, We've just thrown the ball so short.

And so why do you think that is?

I think it is because.

The fact that we were we couldn't run the ball, and the fact that they were getting to the quarterback that I bet you.

The coaches are saying, let's get this ball out your hand really quickly.

Let's get out your hand really quickly.

We can't afford another sack, we can't afford a quarterback.

Get it out your hair quickly.

But the rouse didn't compliment that.

And even you know, because you think about how good McMillan is, he was getting covered and then okay, I want to say this gently.

I want to see Legett use his big man size and just dominate someone.

I would love to see him post people up like Greg Olsen would do, and put him behind him and catch the bar in front.

He's a big man and he's going against the fist of backs who are smaller, and I would love for him to use the size that way.

I would love to see even more jaylen Kocher out there getting getting some touches and getting some more eats.

And so there's a lot to go around, and I think in that wide receiving room, I think there's a lot of discussion that they're gonna have to have just to really up their play, to bring it up to the level that needs to be because right now I think that's somewhat.

Like and I think the way some of these games of God.

Listen, this is a young make no mistake.

It's a young team.

It's growing, it's ascending.

There's gonna be growing pains, and you're gonna have maybe some outcomes that leave you scratch in your head, like how do you go and beat Green Bay at Lambeau and then lose to a one and eight Saints team.

But go to the Buffalo game for example, Jim, It's a Buffalo team that knows how to win, knows how to put people away.

When they saw that the Panthers were staggering, this wasn't about getting a twelve round decision.

They went for the knockout, and they knocked the Panthers out.

They got the win.

I thought this game was lost in the first half, not the second half.

You score on the opening drive, right, you got the Saints in third and twelve.

You had Tyler shuck dead to rights three times and then he's able to find Juwan Johnson for fifty something yards.

They end up with a field goal.

Then Sam Martin with an incredible coffin corner kick pins New Orleans inside the five.

You get the ball back with a short field instead of even getting a field goal, you go three and out.

Then you get the ball back short field again, just inside the forty you go three and out.

Like those are areas where you know, again the Buffaloes of the world, the Kansas Cities of the world, they kind of see that they may have turned that into a two or three score game.

By that point it's twenty one to three at halftime, or twenty one to ten, or you know, seventeen to three.

We're down ten seven, And I think those are some of the growing pains.

Yeah, we've we've shown we can hang and we can kind of stay in this and make it a four quarter fight.

But outside of the Atlanta game, you know, that kind of dominance that I think some of us were hoping to see on Sunday, you know, that's kind of the next piece in the evolution of this thing.

Yeah, and I think, you know, we were a little bit of a victim of our own success with Rico Dawdle, because when you have back to back two hundred yard games and then you're you're off game is one hundred and thirty yards and two touchdowns, You're thinking, all right, we got something nobody can stop.

And I'm not saying they didn't have Plan B, but the Plan B wasn't nearly as good as Plan A was.

And so when he runs at eighteen times yesterday, which is a good number, and doesn't you know, crack three yards per carry in the game, I think that's that's the difference, is like what was next on the menu wasn't as good as that.

And I think now we know that teams are gonna load up and really go after that, We're gonna have to have other things that are just as attainable as.

What we had with reco running the ball previously.

And you mentioned the downfield passing game.

So Tedo McMillan has twice as many catches as any other Panther.

He's got forty six catches.

No other Panther has more than twenty.

McMillan's got six hundred plus receiving yards.

No other Panther is even north of two hundred.

We need to find that number two target.

Absolutely, and I want some speed down in the field.

Jimmy Horn and I would love to see Jaylen Coker.

I think he is.

He's that guy dude.

He can catch the rock and he plays big, and so I think Coach Canalis.

I think moving forward is like, how do I get these young guys involved?

Still ahead On Panther Talk, Jim Keats, which is up with our good pal Mick Mixon, former voice of the Panthers, and we will go around to the NFL circuit with the always entertaining of Mike Coolick Junior.

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Today we talk with the voice of the Carolina Panthers for seventeen years, and the voice of that very important season twenty fifteen when the Panthers nearly did the impossible and still had one of the great.

Seasons in the history of the NFL.

We're gonna reflect on Super Bowl fifty, the twenty fifteen season with our friend Mick Mixon.

Today.

Thirty seasons of Panther football.

A celebration of the players, coaches, and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.

All right, that's all the open you get at Mick.

It's your opal gym.

Here and we think back to ten years ago, the Super Bowl fifty season, and as star as a broadcast team went, it was yourself and Eugene and me and Jordan Gross and we had a lot of fun, a lot of great road trips and traveling together there.

And little did we know when that season began what we were getting into, because the year before, of course, was when they rallied and won four to a row and then won a playoff game and seven eight and one was good enough to win the division.

We thought that was an accomplishment.

And then this team goes fifteen and one, starts out fourteen to zero on their way to Super Bowl fifty.

And we're certainly like a game by game, but big picture, as you look back, is it almost surreal that that team went seventeen and one heading into that Super Bowl game?

And just if you go back again the year before, winning the last four regular season games to get ready for that one, I mean you think about how things have been buying large since and that's an amazing accomplishment.

Yeah, I think that team zoke had.

That team won and I generally and it's great hearing your voice, brother, I share start time together.

Man, We had so much fun, And one of the great joys of working with you is when people would come up to me and say, man, I cracked up when you and Zochie said X y Z and I could not remember, and I really thought that we had said that off air.

So I think for both of us, the line between our on air and off air comfortability with each other and what we said our filter became was a little gray.

So I think hopefully that was an okay thing for the listeners and the people that were along with us for those journeys.

But Zoke, I remember when I first started working with you guys in five I remember Marty Hernie and John Fox saying in Foxy's office, you'd rather not go to a super Bowl than you would go and lose.

And I thought, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

It's still a great accomplishment to get there.

You can't win it if you don't go.

I thought, these are two guys, I respect their football pedigree, but they don't know what they're talking about.

Then comes the after party.

After Super Bowl fifty and as you and I have talked about over the years, a ten piece horn band that doesn't really realize that the Panthers have lost that nobody's wanting to hear cool in the gang and you know, get up and boogie shrimp the size of bananas, this ice sculpture, this huge hotel ballroom, and it was like a durned death.

And I reflected back to Coach Fox and Marty Hernie, and I thought, you know what, I kind of see now.

I still think.

I still think it's fantastic to go.

That team will be remembered as one of the all time great teams in Panther history.

Even if the Panthers win five straight Super Bowls, that fifteen team will have a special place in the Panthers, Panther fans, hearts, and in the team's history.

But dang man, it was.

Had the Panthers won that game, now people would talk about that twenty fifteen team as one of the greatest teams in the history of the NFL, don't you think.

I actually had that conversation recently with Brad Nortman, who was the punter on that team, and he said he remembers watching ESPN like it was either the morning of the day before the game and he's just walking through, you know, in the hotel.

They always have the meal rooms and all that kind of stuff, and the TV's playing, and they literally said at one of those talk shows on ESPN, if the Panthers win, are they the greatest team ever?

Because obviously the seventy two Dolphins would be in that conversation, but kind of in a more modern era of a more balanced competition, if you are the way the league is set up, you know, would this be the greatest team in the history of the NFL?

And that's what they were playing for.

And you know, again, you go seventeen and one heading into that game and then you lose by two touchdowns.

The game it wasn't a two touchdown game.

I mean, people will also forget it was basically a one score games most of the way.

But I think we all agree and talking with the players and coaches and all the different people we've been talking to about it this year, it just was flat and it was just like a little.

Bit of everything.

It was a little bit of a miss kick on special teams, fumble by a guy who doesn't normally fumble, it drops pass by a receiver that you could argue maybe caught the ball.

Just those little Nixon bruises that led to it being what it was, and in the end just not quite good enough to win because if you look at the numbers, the defense held Peyton Manning to nothing.

I mean I threw for I don't have the stats it from me, but he threw for about one hundred and thirty yards with no touchdowns and a pick.

That was Peyton Manning's last game, and they still won the game because of course their defense played really well at times.

At the training camp the following summer, so summer of twenty sixteen, training camp high hopes to go back to the super Bowl.

You still got a powerful team, rock stars everywhere you look.

But lunch one day after a morning practice really hot, and about two weeks into training camp, Luke Keighley sits down at the table where or I happen to be sitting, and several others, and somebody brings up the game and Keithley puts his salt shaker down and looks at all of us and he said, I will never forget.

I had studied Peyton Manning for two weeks.

I knew every down, every distance, every substitution pattern, every personnel grouping, every shift, every motion.

And they come out in middle of the third quarter, they come out in exactly the formation I'm looking for.

I know the play, I know where Peyton Manning is going to go with the ball.

He cocks his arm.

I jumped the route.

It's going to be a pick six, and we're going to have the lead in Super Bowl fifty.

Zoke.

All of us listening to Luke Keighley.

I mean, we're just not even on the edge of our you know, any cliche.

We're just it was so we're just listening to him tell the story.

He says, I jumped rout.

Manning's gonna throw it right to me, and in that instant, KK Short comes around from behind and tips Manning's elbow and the ball lands five yards off to the right incomplete.

It was a great play.

But I was already I had in my mind.

I had already scored, we already had the lead.

I was playing my end zone celebration, and oh gosh, it just hit all of us like a just like a.

Bank safe had been dropped on our heads.

We just went ugh.

But it just shows you how.

Thin the margins are in any any NFL game, but in that game in particular.

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Panther Talk continues in a sharp Jim Zok Eugene Robinson.

Our next guest is one of the hosts of Golick and Golic.

I'll let you guess who know.

It's Mike Golick Junior does the show with his dad, Mike Golick.

Great show, check it out.

Joins us now to kind of go around the NFL, and I guess we got to start with the news of the day, Mike, which is Brian dable letting being let go by the New York Giants.

What was your immediate reaction in the aftermath of that fourth quarter debacle against Chicago.

Yeah, it seemed like kind of the last straw at this point, right, And this is the paul hanging over this entire season for the New York Giants, whether or not this decision was going to come, and it likes so many headquach coaches on the hot seat before him.

At Brian Davells saw the glimmer of hope that comes with a rookie quarterback who showed the kind of promise initially that we saw from Jackson Dart.

But I think, as you know, the Cam Scataboo injury kind of feels like a tipping point of the season now where the offense hasn't quite looked as instinct since then, And you throw the Jackson Dart injury on top of the mismanagement at the end of that game, and I think it all adds up to the same question that ends up damning a lot of these coaches who inherit these rookie top picks, which is, hey, we've seen enough to know we think we got a quarterback that we can do something with.

Now we want to figure out are you the one that we want with the hands on the wheel?

And it appears in the New York Giants.

Despite Brian daboles history with that position, it saw enough this year to kind of question that.

And you know, I think looking in the last few games, Brian Daveall did his best to meet Jackson Dart where he was at coming from the college level, But I did have some reservations about how much they were working him into the design run game, especially the way they did.

And it's not to say the injury made that ultimate decision, but it was something that kind of felt inevitable given the play style that we had seen so far from him and now Jackson Dart Jones a laundry list of recent quarterbacks who are going to be going into their second year trying to make that jump with a new offensive voice in their ear.

Well, let's stay with the Bears and whatnot and just talk about the quarterback because now everybody's singing the praise of Caleb.

Yeah, listen, it's been a steady improvement from Caleb Williams, what feels like all season long to the point about you know, young quarterbacks who lookten Kayla's first year had three different voices in his year at play caller, and then got to this year with Ben Johnson, who is one of the most coveted prizes in the last few coaching cycles.

But finally made that move and it was a little rocky out of the gate, but I think he's someone that is finally starting to hit that middle ground between hey, still busting out that fastball every once in a while and showing people the gifts that made the number one overall pick, but also playing more within that structure of Ben Johnson's offense.

You know, the continued development of the relationship between him and Romadunza that I thought towards the back end the last year really started to show you flashes of what it can be.

Colson Loveland their top pick out of Michigan's come on some lately.

So I think you're starting to see exactly why Ben Johnson was so covetive for them offensively, even if defensively, I think they've still got plenty of work to do in Chicago.

Yeah, just give a little credit to Roman Dunesday's dad that too.

Yes, hey, listen, even Rome game in the shout like as tough as that's gonna be, having your dad become a story of the week in the media.

Squeaker Wheel gets the grief sometimes, you know.

How that works?

Like any it's like an aau paarad out there.

No, hey, Mike, Jim Zochi here.

So the Panthers play the Falcons coming up this week, and I'm actually stunned that Atlanta's three and six.

We beat them thirty to nothing earlier this year.

But you look at all that talent they have and and you know all the names there, but what's missing.

They worked hard on their defense this offseason.

Is it Pennix just isn't quite there yet or what's the number one reason why their record is what it is.

Yeah?

I think that there's a couple of things.

You know, One defensively, For as much as they overhauled and really hit on the pass rushers on that group, and we've seen some of those dividends paid already, it's a group that still struggled some against the run.

God, we saw that to the umpteenth degree against one of the best rushing teams in the NFL in Jonathan Taylor and the Indianapolis Colts.

But I think on the other side of the ball, it's a very right now, it feels like predictable offense.

We know they're gonna lean heavy into the outside zone stuff with the John Robinson and dare you to stop him there?

The offensive line when healthy can be one of the better ones in the NFL when it comes to run blocking.

And yet right now, outside of Drake London, I don't know if the passing game has always felt very you know, creative or dynamic and so you know, combine that with Michael Pennix junior, who is still really in his first full year as a starter, and should I think be allowed some room to grow.

I just think that group right now hasn't quite been firing on all cylinders, quite honestly, in the way that I expected going into this season, given the amount of former first round talent they've got on that offense.

Would that be.

Also be your assessment of the Carolina path is wide receiving group as you mentioned about London and.

Pass Yeah, no, I think so.

I mean, I think for Carolina it's really interesting and we're kind of hitting the crossroads of that conversation around the quarterback again too, of Hey, you know, how much of not being able to push the ball down the field or not suc cecily pushing the ball down the field falls on Bryce Young falls on you know, the receiving war that yeah is young still and trying to get these guys to step up.

But it just seems like the consistency in that element is going to be the thing that ultimately decides this season.

Because we saw that, I mean, the game plan from New Orleans was pretty clear.

Rico dwell on this running game aren't going to beat us today.

You're going to have to put it over the top.

And you know, one side with the rookie quarterback and Tyler Schuck on the other end, was able to do that and hit on a couple of big plays that made that happen.

And unfortunately Bryce in this Panthers offense, it was kind of the same deal.

Mike.

You live in Los Angeles.

What travels further in January the Chargers defense or the Rams offense.

Oo, Man, I mean I going back to like the preseason, and you guys know, I mean covering this far more closely than I do.

Like when you see the second third, you know, multiple guys down in the roster spots going out and executing at a high level.

That's indicative of the coaching you're getting.

And my god, Jesse Minner has had that whole group top to bottom pretty ready now Listen.

Having Khalil Mack come back and healthy after that elbow injury in the season has certainly helped the production some there.

And that's a group when fully healthy and you've got you know, Derwin James in the middle, and the way that back ends connected, it's as good as any out there.

But man, call me biased as a guy that played offense in college on the offensive line seeing what Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford continue to do after all the worry in the preseason that seems like a diftant memory about Matthew Stafford's back and what was gonna happen there.

This is just a group that can morph into so many You know, you go back a few games when the Rams were over in London and you don't have your top receiver and Pooking Nakua and so they go three tight ends and they figure it out and they get back to the downhill stuff that since Karen Williams came over there has become more of a steady diet for Sean in this iteration of his offense.

And I just feel like you combine what they've got personnel wise with hey, Davonte Adams, who I got a little shaken up with the back last night, but him Pooking Nakua Kyron in the backfield and Matthew behind an offensive line that seems a little bit more solid, And I'll take the unit that's got the grizzled veteran quarterback who's been there, done that, and still has the kind of arm talent to push it anywhere.

All right, Mike, before we let you go, I think I'm contractually obliged to ask you this question.

Michael Olick Junior, you're the biggest Taylor Swift fan I know.

So if the Carolina Panthers are a Taylor Swift song, they would be.

I think they would be out of the woods right now trying to figure out where exactly they are in the journey, especially when it comes to figuring out securing the future at that all important position of quarterback.

Thought maybe after last year we're in the clear, avoided having to be in the quarterback rat race this spring, but I think still may be trying to find their way out right now, out.

Of the woods.

Love it, Gojo, Appreciate you.

Always a pleasure.

Thank guys.

Mike Golick Junior.

You can listen to him on Golick and golic you're listening to the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.

Panther Talk continues on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network and each.

Jim Eugene week eleven Panthers head to Atlanta.

We know the Panthers can run the football.

We know teams are going to try to stop the run and be aggressive the way the Saints were, but it's hard not to have watched that Colts Falcons game Jim and say, wait a minute, Indy ran for three hundred and twenty three yards, Jonathan Taylor thirty two for two forty four.

We've seen Rico Dowdell put up some crazy numbers this season.

I'm sure you want to throw the ball downfield and you want to get those explosive plays you can run on the Falcons like that.

I mean, we got a guy like that.

Yeah, as you said, Rico Dowdles.

So I think I would say, though, if they if they throw the kitchen sink at it, though, you do have to have any another alternative to that.

But you're right, and maybe, Eugene, maybe you start by doing something a little bit unpredictable when maybe you come out throwing to set up the run like you come out throwing just a little bit more.

I'm not saying, like, you know, change your whole culture of what you are, but maybe not on first down and ten like necessarily do the obvious thing there.

But I think to Aniche's point, they have trouble stopping the run.

We're pretty good at running the ball, but you have to pick your spots right.

You can't be always predictable when that's going to happen.

You know.

I would love to say the Saints had problems stopping to run just as well too.

And they come in here in one and eight and they embarrass the paths.

They go ahead and eight man front.

Expect the eight man front and expect them to say that they're don't have the same formula that the Saints did and try to stop the Carolina Panthers.

Is going to be imperative that Bryce is able to throw the ball downfield and have a battlest attack.

If not, you're gonna be watching the same thing you watch with the Saints.

Yeah, and something to remember Week one last year, the Saints beat the Panthers forty seven to ten.

We saw what happened the second time round, exactly what Dave Canalis said earlier in the show, thirty to nothing don't mean nothing, doesn't mean anything.

Division game, a lot of pride at stake.

I will say this, the last time Bryce played in that stadium, best game of his career.

Bryce Young three and one, all time against the Falcons.

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