All right, Chris, if I told you that the Panthers would score the most points on offense on offense that they had since week five, what wouldn’t you think that they still lost? Well, you’re correct, sir. Congratulations. Congratulations. Uh Sun came up today as well. Let’s get the sucker started. The state of North Carolina covers 53,000 square miles. It is the habitat of the feared Carolina. 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. 21. 18, Carolina Panthers lose this one. And as I said off the top, Chris, the 18 points are the most points the offense has scored since week five against Detroit. Now, I’m not gonna cut the Miami game because you had the Troy Hill pick six that came at the end offense really only scored 14 in that game, but that’s where we stand right now. Well, here’s the thing. Uh, the Panthers are on pace to, uh, make some history because, um, since, uh, we’ve gone to the 17 game format, no team was going one and 16 so the Panthers could become the first team to do that. Well, look at that. Congratulations to them. Congratulations to them. Um, they’re on track for, by the way, let, let us know your thoughts in the comments section below on today’s or tonight’s 2118 loss. Uh, just your thoughts on the Panthers, Thoughts on the game because Chris for a moment, they had a lead. They were up. I was like, wait, hold on, wait a second. Carolina Panthers are winning this game. They were ahead 10 7 and then in one place 75 yards there goes Mike Evans like, oh yeah, the get right game, there’s the get right game for Mike Evans. Yeah. Um You know, it’s, it’s uh it’s par for the course. I mean, uh Baker Mayfield and uh and Bryce Young had very similar numbers. Uh Baker was 14 of 29. Bryce was 15 to 31 and the difference is is that Baker Mayfield has Mike Evans and the price Young has Jonathan Mingo and DJ Chark and Adam, th you know what I’m saying? And so it, it, I think and practice and practice squad squad. Mike and Nelson practice squad, Mike, that’s one of those other things where you just kind of look at it and you just kind of see like the problem isn’t Bryce like people, I felt like the announcers today were kind of tough on Bryce. You know, you should be tough on Bryce, you know. But in a way where it’s like, he’s got to get rid of the ball when you’re running for your life. How do you, how do you stop, set your feet and get rid of the ball and there’s nobody open, there’s no one open, you know, and it’s, and there’s a Jay Feeley played football. I mean, he was, he wasn’t, you know, running a quarterback, but he’s got to know, you know, a little bit like, hey, the guy doesn’t have time. So, um, you know, I, I thought it was just kind of a, it was an interesting game. The, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not a good team. Uh, so, uh, it really just shows you how bad the Panthers are and the main thing that really sums it up. Um, and it’s not just, this is partly personal. I’m not gonna say it’s not personnel 3rd and 1/4 and one and you have an opportunity to keep the chains moving so you can have a drive to potentially go win the game or go tie the game up to see what could happen at the end. This is the final offensive drive at the end of the game for the Carolina Panthers. This with about 211 left now where you’re going with us and you, uh, decide to throw it both times. Now you can make an argument that, uh, you know, if you could find maybe Adam th on something short or whatever, that’s probably the Panthers best play on offense. But this kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier on in the season right before we knew the Panthers were gonna be this bad. I had concerns about short yarded situations and I’ve had concerns about the Panthers short yarded situations over the last few years because, you know, I, as much as I loved Christopher mccaffrey, he’s not that guy, right? Like he’s, he’s still 5 ft 10, £210. And if you’ve got Vita Villa or somebody comparable right there that he has to bowl through to get that one yard, I’m not confident in that and you have a bunch of Panthers running backs who have the same athletic, you know, profile as Christian mccaffrey as, as far as their size, uh Tuba Hubbard is the bigger back of everyone. 6 ft 1 6 ft two, something like that, but still only 215, 220 ish. Right. He’s not the guy that’s gonna hit Vita Vela and be able to drive him back for a yard. And so that play is indicative of the fact that one, the Panthers have horrible play called. Uh you know, I I’ve been trying to be nice with uh Thomas Brown, but there’s a few head scratching moments and today he’s learning he’s learning. But also, you know, that the system is still bad. Like, even though Frank Reich is, is out, the system is the system, you can’t really change too much and then you also don’t have offense, you don’t have the personnel to get you one yard when you need it. You just don’t because do you trust Miles Sanders in that situation? Do you trust Raheem Blackshear in that situation? I mean, you know, Giovanni, any of the running backs in that situation, not just because it’s the running backs are bad, but their offensive line sucks. I don’t care who. Here’s the thing. It could have been Sanders or whoever called issue. This is a, this is a system issue. It’s also a personnel issue. That’s the reason why the Panthers cannot get one yard to try to win a game. Yeah, that’s simple as that. Simple as that. All right. So you’re talking about personnel, I think you hit things spot on because a lot of heat now, right? Frank Reich is now gone. A lot of the heat and attention is now going towards the general manager, Scott Fitterer. Hey, you put together this team, you assembled this team, right? You’ve been the general manager for a couple of years now. This is again, a byproduct’s out there on the field. You still can’t get 20 plus points on offense and like you said, Chris, they can’t get a yard. I’m wondering now when like when the clock’s ticking for Scott Federer? When does that, when does that news drop? Is it tomorrow? Is it Monday? We hear, hey Scott Federer’s gone. Do we hear that? It wouldn’t shock me at this point is it’s nice that you bring this up right here because, uh, there, there has been some talk, there’s some mixed, um, I guess reports online earlier today. We, we heard that, you know, he’s gotten assurance that he’ll be back for 2024. Uh, and then Adam Schefter says there’s no assurance that he’ll be back for 2024 even though it doesn’t seem like the Panthers are in a rush to get rid of him. So, uh, we’ll see what happens. But if you look back over the time that Scott Fitter has been here, he’s had almost three full seasons. What has he done to make the team better? His, his best acquisition by far is Johnny Hacker because when the Panthers are punting, which they do a lot. They did the Panthers punt a lot when they are punting, boy, they can flip the field. It doesn’t, I mean, the defense doesn’t really use it to their advantage a lot, but they can flip the field on, on special teams. And so Johnny Hecker, bro Fitterer, you put your foot in there. Hey, what’s up? You did that? You did that? You did that. But everybody else, bro, this is a bad team, man. And if I’m David Tepper. And if I do not fire Scott Fitterer by the time this season ends, right? Like I don’t need, you don’t need to go now if you do. Ok, sounds good. Whatever. But he needs to go. At least after that last whistle blows at the end of the season. If you don’t fire him, you keep him on for the next season. Tells me one thing about David Tepper, what that tells me that he will always be in control when he just needs to step back, he needs a puppet. And I’m not saying that Federer is the, is, is being played, but clearly, there’s a reason why you’re sticking around and you are, you, I don’t see a good reason. I just don’t, I wouldn’t, I don’t see a good reason right now. I, I don’t either and it’s just, they haven’t drafted, well, they spent a lot of picks to move up to get Bryce Young. They just, all the picks that they’ve wasted, just wasted. We’ve talked about this a lot, all the picks. They’ve wasted the fact that they’ve used 11 draft picks and DJ Moore to just fill one position that starting quarterback and one of the guys you traded for last year was the guy starting for the other team that just beat you. Like that’s the thing like you traded a 2024 5th round pick to Cleveland. You haven’t even paid for the guy that just beat you today. You literally haven’t even given up the pick yet for the guy that just beat you on the field today. And Baker Mayfield, like that’s where we are right now, Chris, that’s where we are. The personnel stinks the scheme as a, as an offense. I terrible. Now, I, I get the field conditions out there were crap because it was pouring down rain. But guess what, the other team had to play for it too. You know, it’s what it is. You had to deal with it, but the personnel still isn’t great, like you said. And I, I’m just, I’m just waiting for that shoe to drop. I really am. I’m waiting for that shoe to drop. Chris. It’s just a matter of time. Uh, speaking of personnel did notice a few things, they definitely made Tuba Hubbard, they treated him like a feature back like the true number one back wasn’t like right now right now because everyone knows, shut down feeling and you’re good to go. I notice Amir Smith Marcet out there on the field a lot today offensively as well. I think it’s probably the most snaps he’s had on offense this entire season. And as we saw practice squad, Mike Michael strong, I know he’s officially on the active roster now, but he’s still always gonna be practice squad, Mike, uh, but practice squad, Mike got a lot of, uh, a lot of reps and stuff out there. Uh, even um, Stefan Sullivan got a lot of reps out there today because of the fact that Tommy Tremble was out. So, some of these young guys, all right, let’s see what you got. Let’s see what you can do and kudos on those guys for trying to take advantage of their opportunity, I guess. I mean, it is, it is a tryout for next year and, um, you know, maybe not for the Panthers but somewhere, yeah. You know, it’s a tryout somewhere. You’re getting more on tape and it gives you a little bit more opportunities and, you know, I, I still think that, you know, uh the Panthers could use a little bit more pre snap uh, movement. We saw that a lot early in the game, you know, II, I feel like, uh the Panthers have done very, a very good job of early scripting, but after that, it just like, there’s not a lot of creativity after that. There’s not a lot like, you don’t really have a lot of answers for what defense can throw, the defenses can throw at you. And it’s just so weird to find a team that a defense can, like change the tide with whatever and the Panthers can’t adjust to them. And so therefore, the defense is never ever in a compromised position against this team. Uh, and it’s just, it’s just weird to see, um, it, it’s just not, it’s not a comfortable position to be in if you’re an offense. One thing that the Carolina Panthers sorely lack. I mean, obviously among all the stated things, but we’re talking about with personnel is that they don’t get big plays. Like you notice how it was one game completely flipped things back to for Tampa Bay when they lost the lead. Tampa Bay one play, Mike Evans gone like Carolina can’t do that. Like they don’t have the playmakers really on either side of the ball, they give it up. Domingo, he had that, uh what was it, 30 yarder or whatever it was he got. Yeah, but I’m talking like, boom, 75 yards touchdown. Come on, I’m talking game changer like game changer. Ok. Yeah, they picked up a chunk play but I’m talking, they don’t have any game changer really. And I even throw Brian, like I don’t even throw Brian burns into this because Brian Burns is as good as he is. Hasn’t had many game changing plays much this season. You know what, for, for, for a guy that we say is a premier edge rusher. He doesn’t have that many game changing plays. Like he has one strip sack and it came on the very first drive of the first game of the season. That’s it. Let’s talk about him for a little bit because he got ejected, he got ejected from, from the game. And, you know, typically I’d, I’d be upset with a player who kind of loses it like that. Um, and I still think that, you know, he could have handled himself better, uh, that he, he, you know, he deserved to get ejected. Uh, and I’m not gonna fight anything with that. However, it’s to a level to where, like now, I’m sorry, Brian, I understand. You know what I’m saying? You, um, you’ve gone through a lot with this team. They’re not, uh, it looks like they don’t want to pay you. But also at the same time though, like, he’s not giving them a reason to up that amount of money for them to pay him. Like he had a really strong first game, as you said against, uh, the Falcons. Yeah, I think he had two sacks in that game, including that strip sack and it started off very hot and everybody’s like, yo pay that man since then. I mean, he, he does have, what, six or seven sacks or something like that around, uh, for, for the season. But again, you’re right, he has not changed any games. He, it’s, it’s, he hasn’t pinned his ears back and just said, you know, the offense stinks, let me go get this one back for us. And, um, you know, probably a lot of that’s because he’s the only real threat to get to the quarterback on the Panthers defense on Panthers, uh, defensive line. So, um, you know, everybody else can get one on ones, we can chip Brian burns to get double teams and so he can kind of stay there, but at the same time he really hasn’t changed uh, many games. So it’s, uh, that doesn’t mean I want to get rid of him though. I want him on his roster next year. But bro, it’s, uh, you know, it’s, it’s sad when you see somebody that talented almost completely take themselves out of it because of their frustrations, not only just on the field but off of the field with the entire organization. And you would think with Derek Brown in the middle, it’s like Derek Brown should be able to command double teams. You know, it’s like someone is someone, one of those guys is eventually gonna get a one on one, right. You know, but they’re not even, even Derek Brown is not even winning a whole bunch of pass rush one on one as well. So it’s just kind of, it’s frustrating to see that Carolina, at least for the defense, the defense will keep it close for you. They’re not gonna give up a lot of yards. Generally, they’re gonna keep you in it. They’re not gonna give up a ton of points for the most part. At least there was like a stretch in the middle of the season where there were all the injuries and stuff kind of mounted up. But after this, like, for example, the Xavier Woods had the interception, Carolina goes with three and out, like right afterwards they go backwards. You know, it’s like, it’s just, they, they didn’t take advantage of what they were, they gave themselves like you have to reward yourself sometimes for what you did. And this, this team just can’t do it. It’s unfortunate they just can’t do it. And it’s like, you know, where, where do we go from here? Uh, this, this wasn’t, um, even with that interception, that was just a club with Baker Mayfield, it was through an interception. It wasn’t this team doing something amazing. And so, um, you know, it’s, it’s hard to come up with new things to, to talk about with, with this team because everything that we’ve ever talked about this entire season, all of it for the most part was on display, um, in today’s game and, and that’s the frustrating thing because it was still a winnable game. It was a very winnable game and when you look back at a lot of these games that they’ve lost, right? A lot of them were winnable games because they’re still playing AAA very, I guess, a bad last place schedule. Um, you know what I’m saying? Like the, the schedule isn’t, you know, full of just these world beaters. You got winnable games here. Saints was a three point loss. The Vikings was an eight point loss. You look at the Bears was a three point loss last week was a seven point loss. This was a three point loss. So, yes, and Colts and, and, uh, you know, if you don’t give up two pick sixes to the Colts, maybe that’s a little different, you know what I’m saying? Like, you have the two interceptions to Atlanta, that, to me also, a winnable game, the interceptions go straight to touchdowns just, you know, just, yeah, Atlanta had 17 points off turnovers in week one. So it’s just, exactly, it’s a thing, but that’s the difference in this league though. You know, like that’s the, that’s the difference in this league. Is that like almost, oh, we were almost right there. But here’s the thing if you count, let’s say all those games, we just mentioned that you flipped and let’s say they ended up winning. You’re still a 500 team. You know, that’s the thing. You’re, you’re almost almost to being a 500 team. You’ve, you could almost your way to saying that you’re 505 100 ain’t getting squat in this league. Let’s be honest, Chris, like you said, not a whole lot more to talk about other. Again, everyone here, thanks for watching and subscribing. Um The numbers are good but yeah, again, serious. Thank you to everyone out there that contributes. I know it’s been a rough, rough season for the Carolina Panthers and it’s not been the most fun thing to talk about, but here we are, but here we are. But you know what though? We are family. Uh shout outs to uh Trey Boston. I don’t know if you’ve seen this, but, uh, he’s trying to create a little bit of morale amongst the Panthers fan base. So next Sunday in Charlotte, he’s got a meet and greet where Panthers fans can get together with him and watch them, you know, lose to the Saints. And so that’s really cool that he’s gonna be doing that and bringing everybody together so that we’re not just sitting alone on our couches doing it. We can be together and, and hug each other and be there to wipe tears and, and all of that and um have a former Panther comfort. You beat each other’s shoulders, beat each other’s shoulders to cry on. Yeah. New episode coming out on Thursday, we might be discussing Scott Federer getting fired. We’ll find out then, but you gotta make sure you subscribe, make sure you subscribe, hit the notification bell. That way you don’t miss any of it. Shout outs to security guard Dre too, my man Sean Dre for listening. And uh he was at the Ashe wrestling event that me and you were on this past Friday, which he did a good job of security by the way, the best event I’ve seen in Charlotte all, all season. Yeah, that includes the Hornets. We will see you next time, might include the Duke’s Marable because UN C is playing that. We’ll see you guys next time here on Panthers play for you.

Source: wralsportsfan.com