All right, Chris, I’m not sure which is uglier the weather outside or that Panthers win and touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you. Let’s go. Sweet Caroline. What is this? A Boston Red Sox game? Come on. What is this? Let’s get this started. The state of North Carolina covers 53,000 square miles. It is the habitat of the get dialed in Panthers fans for an in depth. Look at your team exclusive interviews. Lock a room insight. Let’s huddle up for Panthers Playbook. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cocker with you. Uh Chris in the intro, I did not know what to do because the Panthers don’t win games 97, this one over the Atlanta Falcons their second win of the season. They improve air quotes to two and 10. Oh, sorry, two and 12. My apologies. Uh 10 game difference between wins and losses. He has saved it. Uh Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below on this, on this Panthers game. Um I think the amount of points scored was the equivalent to the amount of people in the stands, uh, for this one at Bank of America Stadium. Uh, but nonetheless, the 70,000 tickets distributed. Ok, 70,000 tickets distributed. Ok. Way to spin that one. A w uh, but however you want to put it, however you wanna put it, there weren’t a lot of people in the stands in this one and it was ugly. It was ugly and obviously, I know weather had a lot to do with it because neither team really obviously was moving the ball up and down the field. Chris, but the inability of the Carolina Panthers to actually pick up big chunk plays offensively benefited them. Once again in a win, that final drive was 17 plays, 90 yards. Now, granted, you know, 33 of those plays were kneel downs to run out the clock, but a Piero field goal as time expired, their inability actually benefited them. You know what? I, I’d ra I’d rather look at the positive side of this. Um, here’s, here’s one thing that, um, II I like about this entire game. The Panthers were the better team. Uh, they absolutely were the better team on the floor. I agree to that if you, if you look at the offensive stats and honestly, I felt without the, um, without the Bryce Young turnovers in the first game of the season against the Falcons, they were close to being the better team in that game as well. Uh but if you look at it, they outdid, um you know, the, the, the Falcons in every statistical category, uh including passing yards and, um, and then of course, the, the, the ground game was amazing. Amir Smith Smith Marcet, uh kind of stepping up more plays were called for him. Chuba Hubbard, uh 22 carries, 87 yards, uh got a few chunk plays when it mattered for him. But overall, I think the, the biggest difference was the defense, um, be, but don’t break the last two. Atlanta drives, they come up with uh turnover. So it was the first, it was the, uh the fumble, uh from, um, Bijon Robinson and then, you know, Brian Burns gets that and then Xavier Woods ends up getting uh the interception and with more than seven minutes left on the clock, the Panthers able to hold on to the ball that entire time, um, had some help with some penalties from the Atlanta Falcons. But here’s the thing, uh, it was a bad game. Both teams played horribly, but the Panthers were the better of the two bad teams. And so that’s all you needed for a 97 win and they got that today and they’re less awful in this one. Now, we’ve talked a lot about the defense is good. Defense is good. And my, one of my biggest criticisms of the defense for the most part of the season is that they don’t, they don’t generate enough big plays. They don’t generate enough turnovers, they don’t generate enough chaos, splash plays. However, you want to define it first game all season that they’ve actually forced two turnovers. By the way, the Panthers are league worst defensively in terms of turnovers caused. They’re dead last in the NFL coming into this game and they got two in this one and both of those turnovers turned into points, which is something that Carolina Panthers haven’t really done all season that is taking turnovers by their opponent and converting that into points. Now, I know both of them were field goals, but again, they could have scored a touchdown if they wanted to on that final drive, but they did the smart thing and ran out the clock. But nonetheless, the, the, the Troy Hill forced fumble that Brian Burns recovered that you mentioned was only the third time all season that the Panthers have forced a fumble the third time all season that they forced a fumble. And then obviously the, the Xavier Woods interception there late which, hey, you know what Desmond Redder made a bad decision, made a bad throw, but Carolina actually took advantage of it something again. They haven’t done all season, Chris and when your defense actually can do stuff like that for you getting a red zone turnover, which I think might be their first red zone turnover they forced this season, you put your, you, you gave your offense a chance, which is the only thing you can ask for at the end of the game, you gave yourself a chance. It’s not the first. Um, of course, uh, back on a Minnesota game when the pick six by Sam Franklin got the pick six right there. Uh, but yeah, no, this was, um, this was a complete game and, and that’s one of the things that we haven’t been able to say about the Panthers all around, I mean, all three phases of the ball kind of showed up and did their jobs when they were supposed to. Of, of course, it’s not for special teams. The Panthers don’t have points and, you know, the defense, uh, you know, only gave up that one touchdown. Uh, they gave up a couple of long, um, you know, uh, passing plays, but ultimately they were b but don’t break, uh, in the game and did an amazing job, I think, kind of setting the tone, especially upfront with stopping the run because I think if Atlanta got off to a good start running the ball, then you would have had receivers a little bit more open. Um, I do commend Atlanta though for keeping Desmond Ritter upright for the most part because in that first game, uh the Panthers defense was able to get to him, but also that was the last time the Panthers had their full complement of guys on defense, uh, as well. Um, only one quarterback hit only one quarterback hit no sacks. Not the Atlanta still did a good job. And, uh, I think their whole right side of that line was our, you know, replacement guys too because they came in with some injuries. So, um, you know, it’s, it’s still good, even though the Panthers weren’t able to, you know, get sacks, uh, even though they weren’t able to, you know, stop a few co, you know, long plays overall, they made the plays when it mattered. And in all three phases of the ball, things worked out. I think this was for the most part. Uh I will say a pretty good called game as far as, uh, Thomas Brown is concerned probably the best offensive called game uh this entire season. And I think that’s thanks to the rain because I think the rain forced them to do what works best for them and that’s running and a different compliment of runs. I remember we were texting during the game and when the, when I saw the, uh, the Jet Suite, the first jet sweep, uh hand off to Amir Smith Marcet. I’m like, where’s this been all season? Like you, you get this guy in from the Kansas City Chiefs that you got, got off of the, the practice squad and you would think that this would be the guy that you would try to use for those types of plays to try to, you know, take the top off and we really hadn’t seen much from Amir Smith Marcet as far as offense is concerned. We’ve definitely seen him on punt returns. Um, but we haven’t really seen much from him and finally, uh, they called more of those plays and it worked, they did it a few times in this game and so, uh, hats off to, to everybody with the Panthers. One of the things I do think is interesting though because I was, it was something I was thinking about heading into, uh, this week Panthers lose six in a row, win one, lose six in a row, win one. So even if the end of the season, if, if their record r uh, looks at like two and 15 as bad as it is, they never lost more than six games in a row off the place. They’re gonna lose the first three games next season. You’re already calling it, got it. So that’s within the, within the season. There’s carryover, there is carryover, but I’m just talking about within the season when you look at this season. But, uh, good job to, uh, to everybody in that organization this week. II, I can’t even hate them. We, we’ve said so much negative stuff that was deserved this entire season. It was deserved that. I, you know what, I don’t want to say anything negative today because they, they got the win needed to get the win and they got the win. They found a way to get it done at the end. Now. It’s, it’s, it’s amazing like we’re, we’re, we’re heaping praise. I don’t wanna say heaping, but, uh, we’re, we’re putting praise on a team that still only scored nine. You know, like, let’s, let’s be honest, the offense still only got nine now. I mean, there’s still plenty of criticism to go for the team. Like there’s, I mean, the offensive line still wasn’t great in terms of pass protection. There was some missed stuff by Bryce stuff that we’ve seen all season from this offense. And there’s times where we offensively, they’re moving the ball down the field and it’s like penalty, a false start moving things back. I mean, Bryce Young got strip sacked and luckily he was able to jump on the football, but like we saw that multiple times in this game as well and I still don’t like, I know they got it to 7 to 6. I still wish Chris Tabor would have gone forward on fourth down there. It was fourth and four. You’re inside the red zone. The like Bryce Young through that pass to th were a little bit behind it, but still a catchable ball by th what you think he would make, I don’t know how much the rain factored into that, but I still wish they would have gone for it on fourth down there. Like, you know what, just go, just go for it like 4th and 4th, you didn’t have to score on the play. You just need to get four yards. I wish they would have done that. I want them to go for it on fourth down as much as possible. You know why? Because we’re not gonna miss a two win team, but you know what, go for it, go for it. Um, I, I don’t think that, um, I don’t, I don’t think that there are any bad coaching calls in this game. I, I, I’m, I’m pretty ok with all the coaching that happened. Like I didn’t, there’s nothing that stood out to me that was just like, you know, what are they doing? Um, I will say this though, uh, shout outs to Gabe Jackson. I thought he did a good job coming in at right guard that holding call against him was horrible and, uh, I will say there was a few times, uh, where, and that was one of those situations where the Panthers had gotten it, you know, close to the red zone and all of a sudden they start backing up a little bit and that was one of the things, he’s also the guy that got beat on that strip sack too. Yeah, but I will say on that particular play he was, that was, I did, I wouldn’t call that a hole like he had, he had the guy on the inside or whatever that would have been the Panthers back into the red zone. Maybe more points could have come out of it from there. I, I think the referees took that away from them and then on the other side of the ball a couple of times, Bryce, uh, I’m not, uh, Brian Burns was running free. It probably would have gotten to Desmond Redder if it weren’t for a little tug and never was called. And, uh, so I, I really thought that despite even those because Brian, Brian Burns was losing his mind a couple of times, uh, because of those calls or noncalls, um, even with all of that, everybody kept their composure for the most part, you know what Atlanta was trying to do at the end, they’re trying to get somebody to get upset so they can get a 15 yard penalty, pushing back a little bit and, um, everybody, you know, kept it cool. And today I thought we saw and this is what I said, the last time they got a win, I thought we saw a very well coached team every time the Panthers have lost this season, there’s so much that goes back to coaching. Um, you have sometimes where you look at a team, it’s like they’re very well coached, they just came up short every single loss, all 12 losses. There are some coaching missteps throughout this entire season right this game and the Houston Texans game though, this is the most solid, I feel like the coaching has been and it, I think it really showed up on tape. It really showed up, uh, with what the Panthers, what the players were able to do. And II, I wish there was less p penalties, but for the most part, I thought they really kept it together on both sides of the ball when it came down to the penalties. I mean, o overall only four penalties against the Panthers in this game, overall, only four, what’s, you know, most coaches you’ll probably take over the course of a game. Um, I will say this, the, the one play that stood out to me on that final drive, the game winning drive again, that was a 17 play drive that was, uh, 90 yards is again after the Xavier Woods interception, it was 90 yards that chewed up the last seven minutes and 35 seconds. Um, it’s crazy, but here’s the thing that’s the only way the Carolina Panthers have scored offensively all season is by these long drives, but 68 of Bryce’s 100 and 67 yards passing came on that final drive and the throw that he threw down the right sideline to DJ. Chark was really one of the first times all season that we actually saw Bryce really step into a throw, put velocity on it, put it on the back shoulder where it needed to be to the sideline where only the receiver could get it. And Shark actually made a play. It took till the 14th game of the season, but it’s about time like there, it was like, there’s that throw. Now, the consistency. Can you do that on a consistent basis to be determined? But it’s just like that was arguably one of his best throws that Bryce has made all season. I’ll, I’ll say this, I’d say it was one of the best throws he’s made all season and it was a game changer of a throw. I’ll say this, Bryce has made other really good throws, especially early on in the season and he has had the opportunity to make that same throw in plenty of other games if receivers didn’t drop the ball. So a lot of it does have to do with, uh, the receiver because, you know, I, I think a lot of Bryce’s missteps has come since after the Atlanta game, I would say, um, and that’s when we’ve kind of seen him regress and go back and I think it’s because based off of, you know, the receivers and, and he’s reacting to them and what they don’t give him. But, uh, but shout outs to him for that throw. But ultimately, I just want to give it up to DJ shark, like, kept himself with the body control, kept himself in bounds. I was able to tap those 2 ft and control the ball and coming down, uh, with it. And, and that was one of those things where, uh, I just thought like man, like everything is coming together after you see a play like that, you start thinking they have to win this now because those are just the little plays that you didn’t see them make before and now they’re making these little plays, uh, in this game. So I’m glad it’s coming together for them, uh, right now. I mean, obviously nothing can come of this. It’s not like we’re gonna be talking about postseason or anything like that. But, uh, you know, this is at least, uh, something good on tape for the next coach to build on. Well, here’s the thing. Don’t go blowing it. I still want that 33rd pick. Don’t go blowing it now. Panders. All right, I want you to keep winning all of a sudden, I want that 33rd pick. They still have, it’s, they’d have to what, when two more to, to threaten. I mean, I know he was in that spot, right, because there’s still, there’s, you know, let’s go to, let’s go to NFL standings. I mean, New England has three wins. Um, uh, Cardinals have three wins. Carolina has two now. I don’t know how the tiebreakers and all that kind of stuff work out. So, I, I know, I mean, the Bears fans might be like, hey, cool, we’ll let you have one cut it off here. All right, we’re trying to get, you know, Kayla Williams or something. Don’t win too much guys. Yeah, I know. It’s like, hey man, chill out over there. But nonetheless, um, I’m not sure how to react overall just because we’re not used to seeing the Panthers win games. That’s really what it comes down to. Uh, but you know what, enjoy it, enjoy it because it doesn’t come often, even though they won, it still doesn’t change anything. This is not a very good football team. It’s, it’s not. But, but I think you see a lot of you, you see some of the building blocks that could be there. I will say this, this was a concern of mine actually going into this game. Really the last really since they fired Frank Reich is because we saw what led to the firing of Frank Reich, where coaches were going to either to general manager Scott Feder or to David Tepper, you know, finger pointing, basically trying to point out problems somewhere else as opposed to actually, you know, trying to be part of the solution. And my concern was that we would still have that not just among coaches but also with players as well because there are guys that are still trying to get a second contract with the, either with the Panthers or another franchise, whatever it might be, everyone’s looking out for their future. I was afraid that that was going to lead to a lot of selfish play and, you know, pointing fingers or whatever it is and, and a lot of dysfunction and fracture on the team because people are looking out for themselves individually. I totally get that by the way. But in this game, we didn’t see that, especially when they needed that drive late. As you mentioned, guys were coming together, people weren’t doing any boneheaded stuff, no selfishness out there and they rallied together as a team to get the win. That is something that really actually does stand out to me in this regard. I will say this though. Um Despite, you know, the lack of leadership that I think that this team has, there’s still, that doesn’t mean that there’s, there aren’t leaders on this team. Uh And so whether it’s Adam Thielen, I’d assume he has something to do with that. Brian Burns, I assume he has something to do with that and I’ll keep it real the last couple of times I was down uh at the Panthers. Obviously, I’m not down there today because wro was like, uh you could just stay home today um With this rain, I don’t, I would see, I would see uh Shaq Thompson in there, you know, with his walking boot, with his walking boot, you know, in the locker room talking to guys and things like that. And so he is still from uh behind the scenes still uh there as a leader for these guys. And, and so I, I think that’s probably part of why this thing hasn’t totally fractured and pulled apart. And let’s give it up with Chris Tabor. He was absolutely the, the right choice um for this particular uh assignment um to, because he’s been with this team, uh he was with the last regime. He’s, of course here with, uh you know, this regime under Frank Reich. And, you know, he’s been there as an interim before. He knows mostly everybody on the team because as a special teams coach, you touch almost everybody on the team. So he can probably talk to everybody in a unique way. Um, the way that nobody else, no other coach in that team probably could. So, um, you know, shout outs to just everybody there doing that and whoever are the leaders, I’m, I’m assuming it’s stealing burns. Uh, Shaq Thompson from, uh, from behind and Chris Tabor. If those are the four guys, maybe there’s others. If those are the four guys, shout outs to them for helping to hold this thing together and that, you know, I mean, it’s only two wins, it’s not good, but at least it didn’t fall completely off the rails, you know, and it really could have, it could have, it easily, could have, I’m not sure if they’re on rails to begin with the way the season’s gone. But, you know, there is that, uh, we’re gonna have another episode for you all on Thursday. I know everyone’s, you know, a lot of people are gonna be traveling for Christmas and stuff, but we are we are gonna have another podcast for you all on Christmas Eve after the Pan, the Panthers host the Green Bay Packers. I guarantee there’s gonna be more people in the stands for that one than there were today uh against the Atlanta Falcons. A lot of green. You see green and yellow out there, a lot of cheese heads, but we are gonna have another episode for you all this coming Thursday. So make sure you smash the subscribe button here on youtube again. Leave us your thoughts and comments down below. Hit that like button. You can also get follow us on your favorite podcast platform as well. Just look up Panthers Playbook podcast and we will be there for you all. Leave us that beautiful five star review. We appreciate you all. You, you didn’t participate last time. What? And touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you with consent. Sweet Caroline. Bye bye. Um Good times. Never seem so good. So good, so good, so good. All right. I don’t know the part after this, but yes, let’s go. I’m feeling fine. Bump Bump Bum. Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox. We’ll see you guys on Thursday.

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