The number is 3, Chris, 33. That’s the number of strip sacks that the Carolina Panthers have over the last two seasons, just 3. Something tells me we have an opportunity to maybe address that. Let’s get the sucker started. Get dialed in Panthers fans. Here comes an in-depth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let’s huddle up. Let’s just do it, OK. Panthers playbook driven by Carolina Ford dealers. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cox here with you. By the way, leave your thoughts in the comment section about this offseason for the Carolina Panthers. There are a lot of different things that need to change for this team this offseason. As strong as the finish was, still a 5 and 12 record. But before we get into that, Chris, Carolina Ford dealer, our sponsor of Panthers Playbook. With a Ford F-150 on your team is game on seat your Carolina Ford dealer today. When you’re in your Ford, you could put on that new LeAngelo Ball song and be like, oh, I might swear, bend that corner, whoa, whoa, have you heard that yet, Dennis? No, I actually I have not yet. Oh boy, you’re missing out. It sounds like because you know I’m a Cash Money fan, I know you are a Cash Money fan. Uh, not as much as me though. It sounds like back in our day in the mid 2000s, uh, it gives you, it gives you that feel. All right, I think you should take a listen to it at some point. Well, I know who’s not the number one stunner, that’s Ciro Ero after what the defense put together this season. I can tell you that. I can tell you that, but before we defense, Chris, the stat that I gave you. Three strip sacks over the last two years for the Carolina Panthers defense. That’s it. It was week one last season, 2023, Adam Lito, the third play of the game. Brian Burns had a strip sack against. Uh, Desmond Ritter, and it looked like it was gonna be a great year for Brian Burns. Hey, I’m just saying, but that was the only strip sack they had in all 2023. Now granted the, the, the Panthers did not recover that fumble. This year, they had two. Week two, it was Jayden Peavey, remember him, and DJ Johnson combined for a sack to strip Justin Herbert in week two. And then in week 14, uh, and they actually, the Panthers actually recovered that one. And then week 14 DJ Wha against, uh, Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles had a sack, scrip sack, but Eagles recovered that one. That’s it over the last 3 years. That’s it. Jaden Peaves, it was good to know you. Such a brief time. Sorry that you played so well that you had to get cut. Hey, you know what, he led the team in Sachs at the time. Uh, but you know what, that’s what the Panthers do apparently. They, you leave the team in Sachs. See, they’re out of here. But before we fully address the defense, Chris, going into this offseason, we know who the head coach is. We know who the starting quarterback is gonna be in 2025, and we know who the GM is. It’s beautiful. The last time we had that. Was 2018 going into 2019 when it was Marty Herney, Ron Rivera, Cam Newton. That’s the last time we had that because we went, Rivera got fired in 2019. So in 2020 you had both Matt Rhule and Teddy Bridgewater come in the next year and Mar and Marty Herney, but you had Rhule and, uh, Teddy Bridgewater come in. Then the next year Hernie’s fired. You also got Sam Darnold, so Fitterer and Sam Darnold came in, and then you went for Baker Mayfield. Rhule gets fired, then going into 2023. It’s, it’s Bryce, it’s Fitterer, it’s Reich, and then Reich is gone. Fitterer’s gone. So now you come in with Dan Morgan, Dave Canalas, and Brycesung into this year, and for once, Chris, we might actually have a quiet offseason. Somewhat of a quiet offseason in terms of stability, and that’s a good thing. Yes, at at at what you’re talking about head coach, defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator, and quarterback all together, and general manager, uh, because that’s, that’s big, and I think it’s needed, um, I don’t necessarily agree. With the defensive coordinator portion, we’ll uh we’ll talk about that later, but it does feel good that it’s it’s stressful from our end, uh, as journalists, uh, you’re on radio, I’m on television here in Raleigh, it’s stressful covering a coaching search. there’s there’s a lot going on, and then It’s stressful for the last few years talking about the quarterback situation. I feel like I have typed the word quarterback as it pertains to the Carolina Panthers, more than any other word in the last 5 years when I put my scripts together. Um, and so now you don’t necessarily have to worry about that at all. It’s, it really is about just taking that next step. How do you go from 5 wins to maybe 8 or 9 next year? And uh some of those games that you lost this year could have been wins. We talk about small things you could have done like catch the ball, Xavier Ligue versus the Philadelphia Eagles or execute down the stretch at home, uh, versus the Bengals versus the Chiefs versus the Bucks. Oh my God, that’s 3 more. And then you’re late in the game against Atlanta that first time. I was I’m not even 20 with the ball. I’m not even counting that, but the 4 that I just named completely flips what the what the uh what the uh record is, and then you’re 9 and 8, and were the Bucks 9 and 8 or 10 and 7 to win the division? I think they were 10 and 7 to win it all. So you’re literally right there, you know what I’m saying? You’re literally right there and I think that um. If, if you make the, the right, uh, moves, and also health, health is a concern, uh, if you have better health, cause I feel like the Panthers have been kind of snake bitten when it comes down to health, uh, especially on defense the last couple of years. If you can have better health next year, then, you know, NFC South will have another contender next year and it’ll be the Carolina Panthers. So when it comes to health, you can never just like hope’s never a strategy. That’s what I say hope’s never a strategy. This is where the team needs to build depth and really, honestly, they got really reshape their defense in terms of personnel. But in general, Chris, I’m just gonna say this team needs playmakers as a whole. Oh man. They really need playmakers as a whole. And I’m not talking about just Bryce running the football in his scrambling, which he’s been awesome with, something that he’s shown in the last 4 or 5 weeks that we really didn’t know if he was going to be capable to do in the NFL. But if you look at the last 3 years for the Carolina Panthers, Chris, they have 1 play offensively that’s over 50 yards. Over the last 3 years, 1 play over 50 yards, it was Jalen Coker against the Dallas Cowboys at 83 yarder at the end of the first half. That’s it. That’s it. Also, in the last two years, they only have one run of 40+ yards in the last two years. That was Miles Sanders, week 14 at New Orleans. He had a 46 yarder. Now, Cuba Hubber had a couple of 38 yard runs this year. One of them ended up being a touchdown, so the only thing that held him back from good. More yards was the goal line, that game, uh, against the Chicago Bears. But this team has lacked offensive explosion as a whole. That’s, that’s, that’s just the reality of it. That’s where lack of speed from your perimeter guys have, have come in, but also defensively. 0 touchdowns from both your defense and your special teams this year. 0, none. Last year you had a couple pick sixes. Sam Franklin against the Minnesota Vikings had that 99 yard pick 6. And Troy Hill. Troy Hill had won in garbage time. I think it was Matt White throwing passes for the Miami Dolphins at that point. He had a late pick 6. That was it. And then Amir Smith Barset had that punt return against the Chicago Bears. That’s it. Like, so I’m not saying like this team has to get 9 defensive touchdowns over the course of the season, unless you’re gonna do it. But my point is this, over the last few years, this team has lacked truly splash plays, and this is where playmakers need to come in. This is on Dan Morgan, in my opinion, to find these guys that can take this team to the next level. It really helps if you could possibly do that and Uh, we talked last episode about some of the people that we feel like we would like to keep. Of course, for wide receivers, please keep feeling, and of course we have Coker and get coming back. Sure. David Moore, OK, if he’s fine, that’s that’s cool, you know what I’m saying? Like I have the 5th guy, fine. I have nothing against David Moore if he’s your 5th or 6th guy, but also you have an opportunity to maybe get another a speed guy who could take the top off, and then maybe even a #1, right? And maybe that’s those are that’s the same person, be the same person, or those are two different people who can add an extra element to the offense. Um, and you’re right, we, we need that. Shuba Hubbard. Isn’t that, you know, breakaway speed guy or whatever. He’s gonna get you to dirty gritty yards, um, he’s gonna break some tackles and, you know, and have a really solid game. But this is where, you know, if uh Jonathan Brooks was healthy, maybe he is that guy, and I think he still could potentially be that guy. It was interesting to hear from players uh as he was getting healthy and coming back before those three games, saying, Coming off of this ACL, he’s a little bit faster than Chuba Hubbard, and they see it in practice. And so, uh, if he’s able to retain some of that speed still after after the second ACL tear, uh, that’ll be great and it helps out that situation with the Carolina Panthers. Um, a few times this year, I said I wish that the run game was a little bit more creative, um. And um maybe there there are ways you could do that. I remember when the Carolina Panthers uh would inject, um, you know, Ted Ginn Junior into their run game or back when Curtis Samuel was there, he’d be injected and and and Curtis Samuel had a pretty good year running the ball, uh, when he was asked to do it, it wasn’t often in 2020, um, but when he was asked to do it, it almost felt like he was getting, you know, 1112 yards every single time. Um, that’s what it felt like. So, you know, maybe you can figure out new new ways and new wrinkles to to throw in there to, you know, have people kind of uh use their skill sets on defense, um. I, I think Shaw Smith Wade is maybe a guy who could potentially be a game changer as he is, uh, kind of developing in the game. I can’t remember the exact opponent, but when he got the um the the interception and he was saying against the Bucks, and he said, I was actually out of position and I had to come back and and come back and make that play. That that told me a lot about him right there. That tells me that. If the scheme would let him be a playmaker. He’ll be a playmaker, and that’s the thing I I’m thinking about on defense, is does the defensive scheme allow the playmakers to make plays? If if JC Horn can’t rove around on the other team’s best player because he has to be on this side. And he has to do things in this particular position, instead of, you know, breaking some rules a little bit. If he happens to see something that he can break on, then um we’re we’re probably gonna see the defense continue to be the way it is, even with this particular scheme. So, I, I think it the defensive side is probably gonna be scheme dependent. So you’re talking about splash plays and big plays defensively. I think this Carolina Panthers defense needs obviously a massive overhaul when it comes to personnel, but when’s the last time they actually had like a real ball hawking safety that that quarterbacks had to make sure like, where’s number whomever in the middle of the field? Like, like that truly puts fear like I can’t throw that scene out. There’s the answer. There’s 2020, the guy who was, uh, you know, on our bench in 2023 that never actually never played when he couldn’t find a use for him at all. But yeah, no, you’re right, him and then before Chen, it was probably uh Kurt Coleman. Those are the guys, but they need someone that actually the quarterback and say, I can’t throw this seam route right here because that guy’s. In the middle of the field, like you, you have to make sure that you have someone like that. I think they need that for sure. Obviously, the defensive front is gonna get a big boost with Derek Brown coming back. I think Eshaw Robertson should be kept, but you still need to add more and improve on your defensive front. But we actually look at the last couple of years for the Carolina Panthers. Last season. They averaged 0.6 takeaways a game as a team, 0.6 takeaways per game as a team. That’s dead last in the NFL. This year as a team, they averaged one turnover forced per game. That’s tied for 20th in the NFL. Even go back to 2022, even before ever got here. One turnover per game, which at the time was 26 in the NFL. You go to interception percentage, talking about playmakers on defense, and JC Horn had one interception this year, Pro Bowl season. But this team doesn’t get a lot of turnovers. 2024, this season, 1.7% is the amount of, is the interception thrown percentage by opposing quarterbacks. So the amount of passes that they throw versus or interceptions versus number of passes thrown, what’s that percentage? 1.7%, 24th in the NFL. Last year, 2023 was 1.66%, 24th in the NFL. So very, very similar. Go to sacks. We mentioned how the only one who had 3 strip sacks over the last 2 years. You had Brian Burns last year. You had Derrick Brown last year. You had Frankie Louu last year. He always talk about the personnel was so much better last year. Well, they still couldn’t get to the quarterback. Last year in sack percentage. So not talking overall sacks, sack percentage. Carolina Panthers were 31st in the NFL. This year, 29th in the NFL. Actually, their sack percentage this year was better than it was last year. Yeah. Sack percentage is all based on number of drop packs and number of sacks. It’s a percentage, not an overall total. My point is this, you people can argue about the personnel and stuff from last year. Yeah, it was better last year, but statistically, still wasn’t great overall. Don’t throw me out yards. That don’t mean anything. Yards don’t mean nothing in this league if you can’t get stops in the red zone, and if you can’t make turnovers on defense. Those are the key things that this defense has struggled with over the last couple of years. It’s just straight facts. Yeah. And I think, um, you know, when it comes down to what we need as far as pass rush, that helps out a lot. I, I think that, um, when you’re, when you have a line, 4 or 5 guys, hopefully 4. Um, guys who can get after the quarterback and also make some movement at the at the line of scrimmage. That’s the other thing that I, I, I want to see from the defensive line is that in every other teams, you know, 4th and short or 3rd and short situation where you just need that yard or it’s goal to go, um, the Panthers get pushed back every time, every time. Like, I never have faith that they will get the stop, and so, How do you, and and of course that’s in Derek Brown’s absence. So with Derek Brown now, how do you, you know, create a situation where now you have guys who can move that pile the other way and, you know, create havoc in the backfield, and that’s another thing we don’t see a lot, tackles for loss. You don’t see a lot of tackles for loss or folks meeting, um, you know, running backs or or uh wide receivers off of a screen in the backfield a lot. You don’t see that a lot for the Carolina Panthers. So if you can get that, that to me helps out coverage a lot better and it gives the uh the linebackers and the and the DBs chance to make some plays. Um, I think that if we have, again, I’ve I’ve said this before. I like the 43, yeah 4 guys engaged on the line if they can kind of control, make some havoc. You have two other guys, uh, like a Thomas Davis and a Shaq Thompson, uh, makeup, who can go out there, short tackling machines, and somebody like a Luke Kuechly in the middle who’s just diagnosing the play, and they can just go straight to the ball and make that play in their short tackler. That is It, it, it, it makes all the world of difference, um, at the end of, at the end of the day, and so, um, I’m hoping Trevon Wallace, uh, can, you know, step up and, and kind of improve. I think he had a decent year. I want to see him take that next step. I like Jozy Jewel. I also like Shaq Thompson. We’ll see if he’s gonna end up coming back, but he is getting a little long in the tooth, so I do think that there’s there’s another. There’s probably another guy they can bring in there, and maybe that’s draft, or maybe that’s from um from um uh free agency, but um fixing that front seven is gonna be very much so key to helping out the guys in the back, and then we just need new safeties. Yeah, I’m I’m, I’m cool with rolling the ball out there with Mike Jackson and JC Horn and also Shaw Smith Wade coming in on a nickel package or being a backup or whatever, and then having solid backups after those guys. I’m cool with the corners, right? I really want to have all new safeties like like a whole new set, right? I keep Damani Richardson, but that’s about it. Keep Damani Rich I’m talking about as far as starters, as far as starters. If he plays himself into being a starter, cool, um, but I do like him. Um, but add something when it comes down to uh a linebacker, to, to that linebacker room, and then that, that defensive line needs work. Yeah, needs work. It really does. It really needs an overhaul, uh, as a whole, like Shy Tuttle, to me at best is, is a rotational piece. Like it’s a rotational sub-piece, but he’s been a starter for the last couple of years, and guess what? There’s a reason why this season, again, no Derek Brown, I fully understand that, but. 5.1 yards allowed on the ground per game. 5.1. Last year was last year was better was 4.1, which is kind of more middle of the pack, but You mentioned the tackles for loss, this team got pushed back a ton. Did you know, Chris, that the Carolina Panthers were dead last in 3rd down conversion percentage by their opponents, defensively in 3rd down conversion percentage they were dead last. 50% of the 3rd down attempts by opposing teams, the other team converted. But it was just 50%. It felt like it was just like 75%. It felt like 75% of the time. That also factors in 3rd and 1 and 3rd in like 17. So you’re you’re factoring all that into into existence, but they’re the only team still because we saw against the Falcons, a smooth 3rd and 20, and they score off of that. Yeah, 3rd and 20. Now, last year, they’re at 38%, which was about 14th in the NFL. So last year they’re middle of the pack in 2023 season. And again, that 2023 season, you didn’t have Shaq Thompson either, like he didn’t have this year. Actually, he played more games this year than he did last year, and also you missed the JC Horn a bunch in 2023 as well. So my point wrapping up on this. Dan Morgan, you gotta be aggressive with turning this defense over in terms of personnel. You really have to defensively. And, and if you’re keeping Evero, if you’re keeping Evro, find guys that actually do fit the outside linebacker role, not guys like Jadeveon Clowney, who’s an edge rusher dropping into coverage because he’s a quote unquote outside linebacker in this system. We saw Brian Burns dropping into coverage last season. That’s not their skill set. That’s not what these guys do. So that’s the whole point of either find the guys that truly fit your scheme or just the scheme to fit the guys that you have. That’s something that we have not seen. That’s the last part because how do you have Jeremy Chen and you can’t find a spot for him on the field. That’s, that’s the part for me and that’s also one of the, I, I didn’t, um, articulate well the last time we talked about Ero. One of the reasons why I feel like he should go, but that is another one of those reasons. I don’t feel like he makes the correct adjustments, right? And we’ve talked about that before. I think as of late, he started doing more stunts and twists, but still not. To a level that, you know, you would, you know, want to see on your defensive line, um, and I also just don’t, don’t feel like he puts guys in position to do what they’re best at doing. I do feel like there’s another level of JC Horn that could be unlocked that we just have not seen. Oh yeah, I agree, and we noticed that it’s probably the same for Shaw Smith Waite, uh, just based off of what happened in that Bucks game. So what else are we not seeing from other folks out there? Um, because of this game. That’s one of the reasons why I’m just like, ah, I just don’t know, you know what I’m saying? Like, I just, I don’t know if this guy is capable of getting the most and the best out of the guys that he has available to. That’s something they have to figure out. You have to figure it out fast because if the offense, which we hope improves, which most of the guys starting offensively should be back. Yep, there might be a couple tweaks in terms of another receiver, maybe another depth running back, maybe another tight end to go along with possibly Tremble, and obviously JT Sanders coming back, maybe a new starting center, but the offense for most part is gonna be coming back intact defensively. If they just get to average, that’s all I ask. If they just get to average defense, this team probably win a lot more than 5 games next year. Simple as that. Simple as that. It’ll be interesting to see. And then as far as them, uh, saying that is coming back, um, I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna hate on it. I’m not gonna sit back and sulk or, you know, try to put the team down or anything like that, right? Um, they clearly know what’s going on inside of that facility more than what I do, right? Um, I just hope that um I just hope that Canalus is making the right decision, and but they’re here though. They’re here, they’re right here, but I also hope that they’re here. They gotta be here. We gotta be here, like we, we were, we’ve been here too much, and Louisville, way too much. You know, we gotta be You know, we gotta be jello. I might swerve in that corner, whoa, whoa, you know what I’m saying? He’s from Chino Hills. We gotta get that W. We gotta get some Ws next year. You can get a W with Carolina Ford dealers with a Ford F-150 on your team is game Mosi or Carolina Ford dealer today. Chris, we’re gonna roll into next week. Don’t worry, folks, make sure you stay subscribe because we’re gonna have another episode for you on Thursday next week. I wanna hear Xavier Legette sing that song. Right. I might swerve in the corner whoa.

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