Let's bring in Zach Gelb.

It's Monday, Monday without my time?

About is Friday?

It's time for Zach Gelb on a football Friday.

Gelby, help me out here.

What's going on?

Brother?

I'm doing great.

I'm going to guess if I know this show, and I think I know this show.

You know, if you would have told me before the season the Panthers would be in the playoffs and someone would be picking them on this show to beat the La Rams, I would say it's Mac, But I think it's Fitty.

I'm saying Fitty's picking the Panthers.

Am I right on that?

Yeah?

You are.

However, the caveat is he's picking the Panthers eighteen straight weeks.

Every week.

He is a homer.

He actually makes Mac look objective.

That's why I like having him here.

All of a sudden, I seem like a professional Gelby.

Also, I just watched the victory Dan from Monday Bone.

I don't care what's going on with you.

You need to be there.

The Panthers are in the playoffs.

That's a bad job out of you.

Mac looks like his hand strings are about to explode because he wasn't expecting to do eight or nine of these city.

I didn't know Fitty could do a push up let alone fifteen.

Heck of a job by Fitty.

That's a good call.

We had not really complimented you on that, Fitty.

I'm a man gel that once.

I was going to push up challenge with Tony the Hitman to Jakomo, who.

You might know.

You may know he actually tried to get me a job back in the day.

At a super Bowl Oh, very nice, very.

Interesting young in this interesting great that was him at a super Bowl party.

Good dude, great dude.

We used to work with him here and I did that push up challenge and I don't remember bone how many push ups I did?

Was it one?

Two?

One?

Is?

Uh?

Or did I get zero?

I don't want just very low?

One's a strike.

We're still reviewing the we're reviewing the tape right now.

We're gonna have that he was he was a jacks man.

That would be like if Charles Barkley wanted to do like a push up competition against the strongest man in the world.

I gotta bleed.

I got obliterated.

I got like, like most of the country thinks is gonna happen to the Panthers.

I got obliterated in that challenge.

It would be like if Bryce Young wanted to be in the competition to be the tallest man in the world or something.

Okay, okay, you got your point in there.

I duly noted, duly noted, I lose push up challenges.

What do you think, Gilby?

Do you like?

First of all, let's start with this.

It feels like there are I mean, I have seen a lot of people touting the Panthers in the points, but there also is this feeling of like the Panthers have no chance from many in the national media.

They did beat this Rams team before, Like are you in the camp nationally of feeling like, oh, like this there is this is the least likely playoff outcome.

Is the Panthers win?

Like do you believe that?

Well?

I haven't seen a lot of national coverage to be honest, on this game this week.

But also I don't think anyone has brought up that point that you just brought up, that the Panthers beat the Rams not that long ago, so that that makes me hesitate for a second.

But I can't pick the Panthers this week.

And here's the biggest reason.

Like their bread and butter.

When when when I was looking at them and saying, wow, they're moving in the right direction, was running the football and and Hubbard and Dowdell just haven't been all that in what the last four weeks five weeks?

So do I expect up against a Rams defense with fist and burst and Turner and young like a really good defense.

Do I expect them to be able to run the ball in these guys, I'm gonna say no, but they're gonna have That's that's their key to victory.

They're gonna need Dowell and Hubbard to run the ball, manage the clock, and then if you get it into the fourth quarter it was five minutes to go and it's a one score game.

That's how the Panthers ends up putting these games.

But I'd be lying to your audience and I said, hey, I'm expecting the Panthers to win on wild Card weekend.

But who knows.

A few years ago, more than a few years ago now, when the Saints played the Seahawks.

Someone get the Seahawks a chance and they ended up win it with that beast boat run.

The pressure is on the Rams in this game.

No doubt.

But as far as Bryce goes in this game, Golby, how big is this game for Bryce and for the future in the narrative about maybe who he can be in this league.

If Bryce Young on a national stage plays well and beat this Rams team, maybe as a clutch throw to do so, I think people will start to say, Wow, want to turn around by Bryce Young.

I think the jury is still out of Bryce Young.

I know we've had these conversations throughout the year, Like if the Panthers say, oh, we're gonna go give him fifty five million at the end of the year, I think that is just idiotic.

I would just say, okay, you go play out year four.

You know, we'll even pick up the fifth year option when the time is right for that.

I have no problem that they wanted to go that route, but I would not give him a long term contract.

I think Bryce Young still he's clutched, There's no doubt about it.

But I don't look at him right now as the guy that's a franchise quarterback or a top ten quarterback in the league.

I would continue to let him grow.

With Canalis and Morgan has a big off season, maybe go get him another piece.

McMillan has been a good draft pick for them, but go get him a legit number two wide receiver.

But I don't view him as a franchise quarterback.

But he has done a complete on eighty from where he was after your.

One, Gelby, how do you how do you feel a big picture about the Panthers though, because that's my thing.

I mean, I just want I just want Panther fans tomorrow it's gonna be a party.

Cam's gonna come back for the first time since he played, and he's gonna hit to keep pounding drum and that's gonna make fans go crazy tomorrow.

I just want everybody to enjoy this.

Because Gelby, I don't need to tell you we brought you on here for years on Fridays, talk about this Panther team and my hostage.

So he calls it a hostage.

Yes, here, we had your hostage years.

This thing is headed in the right direction, and I am with you.

I hope they get more aggressive in the offseason and say let's go for it now.

But like, what do you think about the big picture right now with the Panthers.

What I'm gonna say right now, Panthers fans.

Sundays takes a total opposite approach, like go to the game and expect your team to win.

Expect your teams to win by like ten points, like be crazy Viet Nuts fans, and if you guys win, that's an awesome day for the franchise.

But a big picture, I don't want to get too high.

I don't want to get too low on this Panthers team.

Like I'm of the line of thinking that regardless of what happens coming up tomorrow, that this is the most positive and what five years, six years that you'll be about a Carolina Panthers team heading into an off season.

Yes, so now it's like up to Morgan to go to go payoff what this team did this year, which was okay, we're not great, we're not special, but we were better than what people thought.

Even though they're eight to nine, they were slopping down the stretch.

We still bade the playoffs, and this division is up in the air for the foreseeable future.

Like we don't know to s coach the Falcons next year.

You know, shuck, look, okay down the stretch, but we don't know what the Staints are gonna be.

So and the Bucks they were I know, they just beat the Panthers, but that's a total reset or or you know that team's gonna look drastically different next year.

So there's an opportunity for the Panthers next year to win nine or ten games that win the division.

But they got to put the work in the offseason.

But I'm not gonna sit here and tell me, Hey, if you tell me next year the Panthers just the playoffs, like, I'm gonna be shocked.

So I don't want to get too positive or too negative here with this team, but they really got to put in the work this offseason to make those.

Improvements delby In the other two NFC games, Bears, Packers, Eagles, Niners.

Who do you like in those matchups?

Oh boy, I'm gonna pick the Bears.

I don't feel confident about it, but that Packers team have been just futrid to watch, like they're just there and with Michael Parsons out for the year, they're not taking that next step.

So I will leave Ben Johnson and also Caleb Williams, even though there's still a part of me, even though Ben Johnson's a really good coach, which is how arrogant.

He could be that.

I wouldn't mind if Matt Lafleur kind of stacked him around.

And a few weeks ago, the Packers should have won that game and they blew it.

Saw slightly lean and take the Bears Eagles forty nine ers.

I think this is gonna be a dogfight.

I almost want to take the Niners, but the Eagles being home in the postseason, it's so tough to go into Philadelphia and win, So I think the first one to twenty three in that game is gonna win.

And I know the Eagles offense has been great this year, but I will I will slightly take both the home teams.

And I'll tell you, if you look around all the wildcard games, if you were to tell me that that all the road teams would win this weekend, I don't think it's a crazy thing like I think we're in for what's going to be.

I know it's now bleeding into Monday, an incredible wild card weekend.

We're truly besides the you guys don't like this, Besides the Panthers Rams game, I truly think they're fifty.

To fifty unbelievable.

People saying nice things about you on the text line, Galby, you messed it up.

You messed it up with that one.

What's before we let you go?

Well, I apologize for absolutely.

Nothing before we let you go.

What's this?

What's your super Bowl pick?

Oh?

Boy, we got half of it.

So I've been I've been avoiding this question all week and any show I went on because I truly don't know what this thing is wide old.

I'm gonna say the Bills, the Bills up against the Rams, the Rams.

I don't like the I don't love the way that Dave been looking uh to end the season.

Uh.

But I will say the Bills in the Rams and we'll get Josh Allen up against Matthew Stafford, and you know what, I'll say, the Rams win, and then you guys can spit it as the Panthers lost to the eventual super Bowl.

Very nice of you, that's very nice you to handle there at the end.

And also beat them in the regular season.

So you guys say we need a best of three and need to play it one more time for the right for the super Bowl.

It's not fair that the playoffs are one and done.

It should be a series.

Gil Well, no.

Way, the text line could hate me after.

That one not at all know us very well because that is the stuff we would be spinning.

There is no doubt about it.

If that happened, that is like a good.

February eighteenth topic.

If the Rams win the Super Bowl and w FNZ for the Back and Bone show, no doubt.

What would happen if they played a third time the super Bowl champions?

We split with the super Bowl champs.

That trophies half our saying that someone said Zach Gelbore like Zach clown there going oh god, Oh that's hurtful.

That's hurtful.

All right, Galby, we love you anyway, even if everybody's turning on you.

We love you anyway.

Man, Uh, enjoy the playoffs.

We'll talk to you.

You got it into that texture.

It takes one to no one.

Oh what a witty coming by the galvestern.

Oh snap,