What’s going to be the biggest challenge for the Carolina Panthers against the NY Jets?

What’s going to be the biggest challenge for the Carolina Panthers against the NY Jets?

right? Two in a row and it was impressive against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Darren Gant, Panthers.com. Uh, and if I may ask you, like I’m I’m not going to accuse you of being a fan uh of the Panthers. I am certainly not a fan of the Panthers. Uh, you I mean, you certainly have been covering them for uh as long as I know. So, let me just ask you this question. Is there a better visiting fan base to beat than that of the Dallas Cowboys? Well, if there is, we’ll find out in a couple weeks, won’t we? Oh, when the Buffalo Bills roll into town. Although, I don’t even know if they count as visiting fan base because hell, they all live here now. I know. We’re we’re we have plenty. My wife is from the Buffalo area. So, uh just one of our uh one of our staffers here, our uh our our social media director. She was just up at a wedding. But yeah, but but like we get it. It’s a cool place to live. Um what impressed you? The center of the universe, Charlotte, North Carolina. And I understand why people want to come here. I just don’t appreciate them telling me how to drive. Ah, yeah, they will do that. There’s no there’s no doubt about it. Uh, what impressed you the most about 30 to 27? Um, here, well, I can say about 30 to 27, but also just about what they’ve done in general. The Carolina Panthers might be a brand new football team full of analytics and new people and young head coaches and all this kind of stuff. They’re playing old school football right now. That team is top 10 in the league in defense, ninth against the run. They’re fourth in the league in running the ball. Run, stop the run is not going to get you invited to the Sloan Sports Analytic Conference, but it sure does work at football, don’t it? Yep. I mean, and when you can do those things, it’s very basic football stuff. And you know, whenever anybody gets into trouble, as a coach, I always say, “We’re going to go back to basics this week.” The Carolina Panthers are doing those quote unquote basic things, but they’re not basic because not everybody can do them. Not everybody can do them in the way they’re doing them right now. And it’s giving them a chance to do all the other stuff. When you can stop the run, when you can make the Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys onedimensional, then you’ve got an opportunity to win a game against two offenses that either are explosive and among the best in league or have the opportunity to be. And it’s just it’s a stability that it offers to the entire rest of the operation that allows all the other stuff to grow. Darren Gant, Panthers.com is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. We’re asking the old guy questions. So, it does bring me to um a well, I’m going to wait to for it’s not really a negative question, but I’m going to wait to talk about why they haven’t been doing this uh until the last couple of games. Let me ask you this because I I also think in the last two games after a very we’ll just call it less than ideal start against Miami for Bryce Young, the did the touchdown pass against or rather the touchdown pass to Xavier Lee get uh in the first half of the game against Miami. Yeah. Did that when he threw to a place that Excl was running in the opposite direction of at the time he threw it? That one. The trust throw. The trust throw. Did that repair Leette and Young at the same time? Well, I mean that the the framing of your question assumes that those two were broken. And and again, part of the part of my deal here, and we joke about Ask the Old Guy, but having stood around and watched a lot of football for a long time, you understand it’s a long season. So, we we overreact to things as the media. That’s what we do. That’s how we keep the lights on at our respective homes. And, you know, I I guess if you had to say, “Oh my god, what’s wrong with Xavier after two weeks of a season?” Um, you know, I guess sure, but you know, these are the plays he’s capable of. And and I keep going back to conversation I had with Dave Canales about XL back in the offseason, probably before they probably before they drafted T. Yeah, it was before they drafted T-Mac. And and Dave is an old receivers coach. So, he starts talking about XL and he’s like, “And here’s what we want him to here are the landmarks we want him to hit year two. Here are the landmarks we want him to hit in year three.” He’s thinking two and three years down the road with this guy. So, it’s it’s not as if the Carolina Panthers were about to give up on anybody or anything like that. XL’s XL is a big fast guy and big fast guys who have shown promises. Receivers tend to get a lot of chances and you know, I think there’s a recognition it’s a long year. I I think for Bryce, you know, sometimes it takes hitting that one to make the next one easier. You got to get a little, you know, we’re all human beings. You need positive reinforcement of your habits. And when you know things go poorly, you begin to question the habits. But when you do things the right way, the same way every day, things tend to work out for you. And Bryce is certainly a creature of habit. And you know, he’s kind of bounced back. I I love the fact that, you know, I I think there’s some people who try to turn this into a negative, but the guy has won nine games in his career. Eight of them have been on gamewinning drives in the fourth quarter, and six of those in the last 16 games he’s played. I mean, that’s that’s a vibe is what that is. And the fact that he’s shown his ability to be resilient within the course of games that haven’t gone well. I I think that’s nothing but a positive for this bunch. And and again, it works in concert with what I was talking about early with the run game and the way the offensive lines play. And that allows time for all the other stuff to grow around it. And you know, it’s good. It’s they’ve gotten back to that normal place. So Darren Gant is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. Um I I personally thought that Bryce and Leette were broken as a as a as a tandem. I loved that throw and that throw made me go all right now. There’s something we can work with back in the trust tree. Uh we know Tedar Owen McMillan is going to be an elite receiver. Still has a few too many drops. uh the the pass that went through his hands was the only interception for Bryce in the game against Dallas. But let me get to the run game because it was so good for the last two games. Uh and it won’t be as good against the Jets cuz the Jets are much better at stopping it than were the Cowboys or the Dolphins. But, uh, it did seem like they committed to it in these two games as opposed to maybe the games prior to this. Was that about doubt or was it about all right, we’re going to have to do this the right way? I mean, I think that’s the offense Dave Canales has always wanted to run. I mean, I I don’t know that Dave’s ever met Dan Henning, but the offense he’s running is very old school, you know, Joe Gibbs, Washington. We’re going to run it a bunch behind a good offensive line and throw it downfield and get our yards in chunks when we have to throw it. And I just think it’s it’s such a stable platform to build from that that’s what a lot of coaches want to do. Dave talks about wanting to stubbornly run the ball and you know it’s not even stubborn when you’re wheeling off five and six yards at a right at a time. So when you’re never in third and long, it gives you a chance to sustain drives, helps the defense, all that complimentary football stuff that everybody loves to talk about. Um, and and it’s a good thing, but I I just think that’s who he is as a coach and a play caller because he knows that creates more opportunities for all the other stuff to grow. And you know, when you get somebody on a heater like Rico’s on right now, you you just turn around and keep handing it to him. Again, Dan Henning famously said, “Feed the stud.” when Steve Smith was the stud and you know Dan probably threw it more than was in his nature but when you got a Steve Smith on a heater like he was on in 03 to05 you you continue to give it to him and you know that’s what they’re doing and that’s why I think you know I’m sitting here going through mailbag now writing it for later this afternoon at panthers.com and there’s a whole bunch of versions of what are you gonna do with Chuba and Rico now so what are you gonna hand it to both of them I mean I’m old enough remember the black and white television days of Steven Davis and Shawn Foster and Jonathan Stewart and D’Angelo Williams and the reality is in a 17g game season especially one of them’s not going to be available for a minute right and and so you hand it to the other one and let him carry the load and you know there’s going to come a point I I think it’s also worth remembering that as well as Rico’s played the last two weeks there have been stretches in the fourth quarter where he’s cramped up and had to come to the sideline and let Trevor Eten do it. And so I don’t think that necessarily happens if Chuba is well and carrying half the load. I mean during the early part of the season that snap split was something like 6535. I think that’s going to normalize a little bit. That’s probably going to come back closer to I don’t think there’s ever going to be a situation where it’s only one of them and then the other one’s not really doing anything. I mean, it’s smart business to let them both go and, you know, when it’s working with one, you know, and then let the other guy sit and get a drink of pickle juice so he doesn’t cramp up in the fourth quarter. I look, I think the the one advantage D definitely has, he seems more comfortable catching the ball out of the back field than Hubard. Um, and that I thought was a noticeable part of how Carolina approached the game offensively. And I I think you need that. Um, I watched it was such a contrast, Darren. I watch the uh the Jets and the Broncos first and it is a rarity for me to like have a pallet cleanser be the Panthers uh especially offensively. But after watching 13 to 11, which was I think objectively the worst football game I’ve ever watched, NFL football game I’ve ever watched, and I’m I’m talking about fog games, snow games. There was no excuse for that game to be that bad, but it was. I thought the the Panthers and the Cowboys was just a super entertaining and the right team won. Um the the mission against the Jets, like I don’t know if Garrett Wilson is going to play. I’m not sure it matters because they can’t get the ball to him. I don’t know who JC Horn’s going to cover. Uh so the Panthers are road favorites now. When was the last time the Panthers were favorite on the road? That’s, you know, since I don’t invest in those markets, that’s a tough question for me to answer because gambling’s illegal here at Bushwood and I never slice. But I uh it’s it the challenge for the Carolina Panthers this week is to, you know, here’s that word again, normal. Be normal on the road. You know, carry that good football from home where you run the ball and stop the run. You know, Justin Fields did not have a great game last week. That’s just in. But Justin Fields is a guy that can run around and create problems for people because of the way he plays. Now, you know, if you don’t play disciplined run defense, can Justin Fields create problems for you? Of course he can. You know, and is Steve Wilks and what has been a pretty salty defense capable of giving a team problems? It is. Um, and don’t think for a second Steve’s not, you know, lthered up for this game. He wants to prove to people those guys don’t want to be 0 and six. So, um, the Panthers aren’t at a point in their development as a team to take anybody lightly in the NFL. Nobody is at that point really. So, um, I mean, look at last night’s game. Buffalo’s the team we all had penciled into the Super Bowl this year and they got worked by Atlanta who lost 30 to nothing here a couple weeks ago. So, it’s, you know, it’s the circle of life in the NFL and that stuff all rolls around. But I I think this is a big week for them. Not from a win loss standpoint, but from a just play the same way you did the last two weeks. There’s a responsibility in a different building in a place you don’t live. So, you know, I think we’ll we’ll see how it all goes. But this team is getting to a place of stable and normal that it hadn’t been for a minute, and that’s a good thing. So, now I just got to keep building on it. We’ll see what happens. Yeah. I I personally believe that uh winning a game that you’re supposed to win and I’m look it it that’s probably a stretch for you talking about the Panthers any I mean this is not this is not disrespectful any game saying that they’re supposed to win this game and they are a very very slight favorite on the road by the way November 14th 2021 in Atlanta last time the Panthers were road favorites in a game and I have to go They didn’t win that game either, did they? I have probably not in Atlanta cuz 2021 was when they won the first three, got the five and five in the Cam Newton, I’m back game in Arizona, and finished the season by losing seven straight. That one. That one. Probably not. Probably not a win. So, um, but I’ve always thought that when you when people think you’re supposed to win a game, those games for a team that is trying to break through and establish something, those are the hardest games to win. It’s easier to pull off an upset than it is to win a game that you are theoretically supposed to win. And I think that will be the biggest challenge uh for this group. Final thing for you. And we only have about a minute. Um cuz I think the bigger story of the game, and you mentioned it earlier, was their defense making Dallas one-dimensional. Uh Dak Prescott and George Pickkins could not beat them. They got enough pressure on the quarterback. Uh but ultimately it was Derek Brown and the run defense doing work. Um what what have you seen on that side of the ball? Well, I’ve seen a lot more people and I’ve seen a lot more Derek Brown and that makes big difference in anything. We got a picture on Panthers.com the other day of Derek Brown towering over Terrence Steel, the Cowboys tackle. Terence Steel’s 66 320 and Derek was standing over the top of him the way I would stand over a small child. I mean, it’s like, holy cow, that’s Derek Brown we’re talking about. I mean, you listen, Dan Morgan did this intentionally. He played on them old John Fox teams that were run stop the run. So, the fact that he built his team by investing in offensive lineman last year, defensive lineman this year, and adding a Derek Brown to the mix, I mean, that’s on purpose. That’s what he knows, and that’s what he’s trying to create here. So, the the run defense to to have set all the records they set in that area last year, to have been 32nd in all the defensive stuff, and now to look up and see them ninth in the league in run defense, that is not a statement I thought I was going to be making. I mean, I I thought if this team could get to decent at defense, if they could be 16, 17, 18 somewhere in that range, that’s kind of that would be a good thing. That would be a good step considering where they were building from a year ago. And they’ve surpassed that already. Now, you just got to keep doing it. And again, as you said, that’s a challenge for a young team. You got to learn how to do those kind of things. You got to learn how to win on the road. That’s a that’s a thing. You’ve got to learn how to play as a favorite. That’s a that’s a skill you’ve got to learn as much as, you know, wham blocks or whatever football jargon you want to throw on it. I mean, it just, you know, it’s it’s a muscle you’ve got to exercise and they haven’t built it up quite yet, but you know, we’ll see. They’re doing a lot of stuff they hadn’t done in a minute. Uh Darren Gant, ask the old guy. Uh Panthers.com, Darren Gant on Twitter, two T’s for extra talent. real quick. Uh don’t believe everything Google AI tells you because the information I just gave you uh about uh the opponent was wrong. It was actually that game at Arizona uh when they were the last favorite. Uh but I have to go back and double check that because Google sucks. Uh listen, don’t trust artificial intelligence. Trust actual intelligence. The the real AI. Uh Darren, thank you man. I’ll talk to you soon. Absolutely. Seal. You got it.

Darin Gantt, Panthers.com, joins the Adam Gold Show to discuss the Carolina Panthers win against the Dallas Cowboys and their upcoming game against the NY Jets.

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