REACTION: Carolina Panthers Climb Above .500 for FIRST Time Since 2021 in Gritty Road Win in NY
It wasn’t pretty and some may even say that it was ugly. But a win is a win and the Carolina Panthers have won three straight. You are Locked on Panthers, your daily Panthers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Lockdown Panthers podcast, a part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. I’m your host as always, Julian Council, talking Carolina Panthers with you every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and yes, of course, Friday. Your team every day. That’s our motto here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks for watching the show here on YouTube where I am live as I am live after every single Panthers game. And yes, I know I’m a little later than I typically am on a road game and also whenever the games at home had some NASCAR duty. So, I’m here late with y’all here on this Sunday evening. But either way, check out the show here on YouTube. If you ever miss a live edition, of course, listen wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Today’s episode of Locked On Panthers is sponsored by Prize Pix. Download the Price Picks app today and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. The Carolina Panthers 13. The New York Jets six. The Carolina Panthers have won three straight games for the first time since beginning of the 2021 season. They are above 500 for the first time since they were 3-2 entering into week six of that 2021 season. Apparently the first time they’ve been above 500 this late into the season since 2019. Yeah, it’s been a long time since Carolina has shown to be a competent team. And I told y’all on Friday before signing off here that I did not trust this team to go out there and to win this game. Now, I felt like they would win the game and that they should win the game and certainly could win the game, but I did not have full trust in the Carolina Panthers to do what they did today. And it was not pretty at all. And the way that they played is kind of why I felt the way I felt heading into this game. But damn it, they’re four and three. They got to win. It’s hard to win football games in the NFL. And nobody should know that better than Panther fans over the last couple of seasons. And now they sit here at 4 and three with a big home game next Sunday against the Buffalo Bills. But be happy. You can certainly look at some things. We’ll talk about them here on the show that you’re not happy about ways certain areas of the Panthers performed on Sunday, but a win is a win and the Panthers got it done in particular on defense. And if there was anybody on the field on Sunday, probably two guys that were not going to allow the Panthers to lose to these New York Jets, it was JC Horn and it was Derek Brown. JC had two spectacular interception in this game. And I put this out there over on Twitter at Julian Counsel. You can also follow me on Blue Sky, Julian Counsel, just saying that JC Horn is refusing to let the Panthers lose to these New York Jets. He had in the third quarter the interception on a Tyrod Taylor deep ball as the Jets bench Justin Fields after halftime. Put in Tyrod Taylor. Tyrod the previous play before had an open Al Mazard underthrew him. Trev Trevan Wallace able to knock that ball away. Should have been a touchdown for the Jets. Instead, it’s not a touchdown for New York. The next play, they go deep ball again. That’s also a ball that hangs up too long. JC makes an insane one-handed interception. Brings it down in the end zone. Touchback. Carolina’s able to avoid giving up a score on that drive. Then in the fourth quarter, JC comes up with another interception on another bad throw by Tyrod Taylor. Just floats one up there on the sideline. JC goes up there. He catches it much like he’s the wide receiver than he was a corner on that play. So, two interceptions and two just big drive killers there. One where the Jets were in position to where maybe they’re going to score on that drive. They should have certainly scored the play before and maybe on a better ball there, they maybe score on that play that JC makes in the third quarter, but then in the fourth quarter, while the Panthers offense is doing next to nothing there in the second half outside of their opening drive, he gets that big stop. So, he was awesome in this game. Derek Brown was great in this game as well. Had two sacks, seven tackles. that was tied for a team high on Sunday. He has continuously been the best team player on this team and on this defense and he did that again today in this win. Him and JC, both guys are getting paid a premium the past two off seasons going out there and showing why they are two of the highest paid players at the respective positions of corner and defensive tackle. And how good is it to have DB back out there? And those are two guys too in JC and Derek who said in the locker room this p this upcoming week or this past week rather that they’ve been in a position that the Jets have been in and that they’re not going to overlook a Jets team when last year they were 1 and seven. The year prior they were 0 and six. They have seen a lot of losing during their times here in Carolina. Derek being back in 2020 and then JC coming in 2021 the last time they had won three straight games at starting off that season and then they only won two games the rest of the way. So, they know what hard times look like and they know how the Jets felt going into this game and they made it damn sure that they were not going to be on the bad end of this game and they got it done defensively. The pass rush, if you look at the pressure numbers, we’ll look at them more into detail tomorrow um when we talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly from this game. Uh they weren’t great. The pressure numbers weren’t, but they got home today and that’s really all that matters. The Panthers entered the game with an NFL low five sacks, end up having six sacks today in the win against the Jets. I asked on Friday, if not this game, when will the Panthers be able to have the kind of output that they had today. So, they got it done. They absolutely did that. Dererick again had to Nick Scorton and Princely Mielen. Both those guys having to step up as Pat Jones the second out for the rest of the season after having back surgery earlier this week. Nick went out there had a one and a half sacks in this game. Princely had a half a sack to see both those guys combined for two sacks also huge in this game. Aan Robinson was able to get home in here in the game as well. So the pass rush they got they finally got the quarterback on the ground. Justin Fields held on to the ball way too long when he was out there. Tyrod Taylor, he was under siege. Not a good Jets offensive line at all in the Panthers defensive line and pass rush overall took advantage of it. Jon Merrick had a nice little time safety blood. So good call there by Agerro Aaro. And just overall the defensive effort was strong again. Last week they weren’t going to be forcing Dallas to punt a lot, but they got the stop when they needed it against Miami. They weren’t great and sudden change, but then they forced four straight punts and got the stop when they needed it to ice the game late against Miami. So the last three weeks the defense has had varying levels of success, but they have made the plays when they needed to make them. when the offense was doing nothing in the second half. They were able to get the two interceptions by JC, they forced three and outs and the punts that they needed to get and they were able to salt the way of the game offensively at the end. So, I give a lot of credit to what this unit’s been able to do recently. You look at today, the Jets only had 220 yards. So, the Jets are the worst offense in the NFL. So, I’m not surprised at all about how bad they looked in this game. Only 12 first downs for the Jets. 81 rushing yards, which is more than Carolina’s given up the last two weeks combined. They gave up 50 total to Dallas and Miami, but 81 and Breeing had 38 of those. So, the Jets did nothing on offense. Justin Fields, I don’t know why they gave him the money they gave him. Good luck the rest of the way with that decision. Tyrod Taylor been a fine enough backup and finding enough spot starter in his career in the NFL, but he’s not somebody who’s going to go out there and beat you and the offense look far more competent with him at the helm for New York on Sunday than it did when Justin Fields was in there. But at no point in time did the Panthers ever let the Jets offensively threaten them in this game. They got that short field after the curious decision on third and one and then on fourth and one as well that did not work out there to where they turn the ball over on downs on their second drive. The Panthers offense did that then led to a Jets field goal. But even on that drive, I mean, the Jets needed some penalty help there in order to get in position to where they could even kick a field goal. So, the Panthers defense played well again in this game, stopping the run, getting after the passer finally, and then their two studs, JC Horn, Derek Brown, they led the way, and they played like the top type of players that they are at the respective positions. Carolina again wins three straight. It was ugly, not on defense, but it was ugly certainly in the 13 to6 win up there in New Jersey against the Jets. Now, the Panthers offense left a lot to be desired. Again, if you’re thinking about it, cuz the Falcons game offensively really weren’t that great. This game offensively really weren’t that great, but it was a big day for Xavier Legette. The running back rotation certainly uh some questions there. Bryce Young does go down, but does not appear to be all that serious. We’ll take a look at the Panthers offensive day here in just a moment on Locked on Panthers. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. 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That’s code lockdown NFL for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup price picks. It’s good to be right. All right, back here on locked on Panthers. Carolina Panthers getting a 13-6 win against the New York Jets on the road. Their first road win of the season, improving to 4 and3 on the 2025 season, welcoming in the 4-2 Buffalo Bills next week here in Uptown Charlotte. It was an ugly win. Not my words. Actually, the words that Rico Dowel used in the locker room. And anyone who watched this game on Sunday really was not in for a treat. Now, obviously for Panther fans, a win, you take it. You’re happy about that. The way that they won, wasn’t pretty offensively at all. Um Rob Gronowski, honestly, during halftime, he said it. All that we need to hear is like no one who’s watching this game is really being entertained. This is a bad football game. uh between a terrible team in the Jets and a team that is ascending right now in the Carolina Panthers, but a team that just need to get the monkey out their back to win on the road. And if it had to look this bad to finally get the win on the road, get the confidence, then you absolutely take it every single day of the week. So, we’ll see what they do moving forward, but this is obviously a big win for them to follow up the success they had at home against Miami, against Dallas last week. get this win now, be ready against two pretty good opponents in Buffalo and Green Bay, who the last time I checked was struggling against Arizona. Don’t know where that game’s at at this point in time, but Xavier Lette, let’s give him a shout out. That’s a guy who caught a lot of hell, a lot of flack from myself and a lot of you early on this season for the way that he played. He did not play well against Jacksonville. Not getting his foot down, inexcusable. The effort on that route, that was an interception. Didn’t love that. Not blocking. hated that as well. Then week two, they couldn’t even put him out there on the field on the final drive. That’s just how bad it was. He went down with the ankle injury or the hamstring rather and it took him a couple weeks to get back out there. Had the touchdown as day in the first game back. Dave Canel teared up there. He came in today and I think he had his best day as a Carolina Panther. Nine receptions on 11 targets for 92 yards and a touchdown. Two plays in particular stand out. The touchdown that he had, Bryce Young just scrambling around. I was watching XL the entire time on that play just continue to move to get open to work with his quarterback on that scramble drill and then be able to get open get catch that touchdown. So great job not just by Bryce but also by XL in that situation. Then the play that ice the game the 33 33 yard reception on that third and eight. And Annie Dalton finding him down the sideline. Obviously a big play there. So the way that he played in this game and he’s also the last couple of weeks he’s helped out in run blocking. That was one thing again we mentioned week one. I just mentioned a moment ago that he just had a loaf. Did not do that the last couple of weeks. Did not do that today. he gets rewarded in a big way offensively and Dave said he believed in him that it was just going to take some time for him to get that confidence for it to really explode and he had that day today. Not a ton of explosives, 33 yard one. I think there was another third down where he maybe had like an 18 yard reception that was big. The touchdown only a three- yard touchdown but he moved around got open on that play. So a lot of credit to Xavier for what he he was able to do today in this game. as far as everything else offensively, not a ton of positive things to talk about if we’re really being honest coming out of this game. So, wanted to start off by uh tipping my cap to XL and the way that he played, I believe, was the best game he’s played so far as a Carolina Panther in his second year. The running back rotation, big question that people have had over the last couple of weeks. I’ve been asked about on the mailbag. uh we’ve talked about here on the show outside of that and we finally got our answer as far as how the Panthers would utilize both Chiba Hubard and Rico D. Chiba Hubard got the start. Is it surprising? Not necessarily. They are paying him four years $33 million potentially 37 mil. So that’s the guy they’re spending a lot of money on. Or Rico D is the guy that they have bought for one year and he’ll likely be elsewhere next year. I know you want to hear that. let’s get through the next 10 games and we can have a more serious conversation if that’s a conversation that we really need to have about paying another running back, which is an absurd thing that people want to do. Um, but either way, you looked at it, I didn’t think it mattered who started and who didn’t start. I think what matters most is like who finishes the game. And if you look at it, yeah, like Rico D very clearly through the first six weeks of the season has been the better back, but the politics of the NFL, Chuba is someone that they paid. Chuba is a leader in that locker room. They went with him at first. Today you did see that Rico was clearly again the better back. 17 carries, 79 yards, 4.6 yards per carry. Chuba had 14 carries, 31 yards, 2.2 yards per carry. The numbers, they don’t lie. Just overall touches, 18 for Rico for 96 yards, 16 for Chuba for 55 yards. Rico’s been better. he was the last two weeks when he got to be the guy he was today when they split carries and touches. And we’ll just see how this continues moving forward. For me, I’m fine with them going out there and deciding Chuba gets this series, Rico gets this series, Chuba’s back, Rico’s back. But if one guy is very clearly better than the other on that day, then ride the hot hand. It’s nice though to have them both be fresh in the second half and in particular the fourth quarter. Let’s not forget that Rico was cramping up the last couple of weeks and could not finish the game. Then Trevor Eten came in. Rico probably should be starting based off of if this is a meritocracy. Who’s been the better back so far this year? It’s been Rico Dael now. Is it fair to Chuba Hubard as far as he just got back this week? Is it fair to judge his performance because he’s not played the last couple of games? Maybe not. But certainly he was able to go. If he’s healthy, then you’re going to have to evaluate where he’s at. and where he’s at right now as far as performance this season is behind Rico Dattle. Where he’s at as far as where he stands in the franchise moving forward. Well, clearly he’s going to be their back. Well, Rico, there’s a lot of questions what he’s going to be doing after this season, whether he has a role here in Carolina, which I mean, they just drafted Trevor. They paid Chuba. Who knows what Jonathan Brooks is going to bring. Do you really need to be paying another running back? That’s just my thought. Especially when people are asking me, “Oh, should they trade for a pass rusher?” Yeah, maybe you could pay a pass rusher in free agency. Oh, but maybe just go spend money on a running back instead. Just that doesn’t make any sense to me. Y’all already know how I feel about it. It doesn’t make sense. And why I feel the way I feel is you pay Hubard and then you have a guy who’s been a better back for you and he’s making nothing. But we can talk about that another day. Rico Dattle clearly to me it’s a better back right now. I do think she was going to have good games this season once he finally gets healthy and really gets going. He hasn’t gotten going at this point in time. I think Rico is going to continue to run hard and that it’s a positive for Carolina to have both these guys in the back field, continue to rotate, but get to a point though where especially in the second half, you got one guy who’s looking better than the other, then ride him. You don’t have to be trading off series after series after series. Chuba has three more years left in Carolina. Rico shouldn’t really have another year left in Carolina. So, use him, abuse him, then lose him. That’s the way I feel about the situation right now. Bryce Young, he gets injured in this game, and that would typically be a headline, but it didn’t really look to be all that serious. And of course, Carolina gets the win. So, he exited at the end of the third quarter. He got sacked. Uh, apparently, it’s a right ankle injury. Looked like he got stepped on. I didn’t think it was intentional at all. Just seemed to be a play that was made on late in the game. So, he was able to walk off, limp to the locker room, didn’t need assistance. So, I looked at that as a positive. Took an X-ray. That’s negative. So, no break there. They’ll look at an MRI on Monday. Uh Dave probably won’t tell us anything until Wednesday for competitive advantage, yada yada yada. Complete bull that people do. Um so, we’ll find out. Doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal. From some of the locker room quotes have come out. They talked to Bryce. Seems like he’s gonna be okay and hopefully he’ll be good to go against Buffalo. That’s just one thing that we’re going to have to monitor throughout the week. I thought overall, um, Bryce is fine. Another day where he throws for less than 200 yards, another day with a passing game leaves a lot to be desired. He was 15 of 25, 138 yards, that touchdown, 88.4 passer rating, and like the offensive rhythm throughout the day just was off. Was it the trading of running backs? Was it bringing in some new guys like Coker who didn’t have a reception, had two targets but zero receptions on the day in his debut? Was it JT Sanders coming back? I I don’t know what was going on. Uh maybe we should have expected that Steve Wilks who arguably should have got the job a couple years ago that he was going to pull out all the stops there defensively um to try to stick at the t the temper in the organization. Maybe we should have expected that, but this was not a Jets defense that’s good. They came into the game 28th in EPA. They were 20th in success rate, 20th in total defense. This is a bottom third of the league defense so far through the first six, seven weeks of the season. And they went out there and they held Carolina to a field goal, punt, punt, punt, punt, and then end of game. That was the second half drive chart for the Panthers offense. So, if you’re not having success against the Jets, who again have not been a good defense, then you’re gonna be kind of worried moving forward against I mean, Buffalo, they can’t stop the run. So, Carolina really shouldn’t throw the ball at all next Sunday. They will obviously, but they shouldn’t really be focused on trying to to throw the football. Maybe they can get some play action stuff going. Green Bay, I think, is a solid defense. Um, but overall, like this was an offensive performance that is not good. And I’m wondering if ever the passing game is going to get going this season. Again, Koker’s first game back this year. JT’s coming back. Mitchell Evans been a nice little piece there at tight end in the last couple of weeks. He got the opening reception of the game on that little bootleg. Tommy Trimble’s been out there as well. T-Mac didn’t really have a big game, but XL did. Of course, Jimmy Horn Jr. was involved as he got the the call above Hunter Renfro to be the number one number five receiver in the game today. I just I don’t know. I look at the offense, the passing game in particular, and I have my concerns. You need to be able to run the ball, especially as the weather turns, you get late into it, and you need to be able to control the line of scrimmage, something that Carolina, I think, can do with the offensive line even where it’s at as Austin Corbett came back and they had Damen Lewis out today. But still, you got to be able to throw the ball. And right now, when I look at this team, Bryce has made the throws you need him to make them. when it was fourth down, gotta have it against Dallas, against Miami, made the plays. Uh just but consistently through the game, the passing game hasn’t been there. And it’s got to get better if this Carolina Panther team, now sitting at four and three, is going to do anything more than just be a seven or eight win team this season. Um so we’ll see where that goes. Dave had some questionable decisions. again like that’s basically every week with this guy at this point in time. The third and one in the first half. I don’t necessarily like hate the idea of trying to throw it there, but why not just run it? Especially when you I think Rico maybe it was Cuba, but why not run in that situation? Uh they run it on fourth down. Don’t get it. Okay, not great. That leads to a Jets field goal later on. The only points Jets scored all day and then later on it’s third and two. didn’t hand the ball to Rico and then decided to punt after that. Just things where you could have salted the game there. You could have really stayed on the field early on in the game and put that game away after two drives because clearly New York was not scoring any points had they not had that turnover on downs there uh early in the game in the first quarter. So yeah, you still look at some of the decisions that he makes as far as play calling goes and just wonder is he doing good enough? So, the offense was bad if we’re being honest. It wasn’t good. Uh Xavier Legette was good. Uh Rico continued to do his thing, but overall field goal punt punt punt end of game as your second half drive chart against a Jets defense that hasn’t really stopped that many people. That’s not encouraging. But the Panthers won and that’s all that really matters. And it’s good to see that. Bad offensive performance against Atlanta, W. Bad offensive performance against New York, W. Can they do that against better teams moving forward? Probably not. But we will find out over the next two weeks against Buffalo and against Green Bay. Special teams Trevor Ezian a couple of key returns and again a win is a win. We’ll talk about that here in just a moment on Locked on Panthers. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. From footwork to breath work, athletes sweat all the details. Mazda brings this same intention to how they craft every model you can feel. Japanese craftsmanship in every detail. From the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery, you can make everyday drives feel like anything but. From smooth handling to intuitive controls with all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our players, Mazda sweats every detail because when you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda move and be moved. The NFL season is here and FanDuel has an offer you don’t want to miss. 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Even if it didn’t look good. A win is a win. And the Patriots, of course, they dragged the team a couple weeks ago, but looks like they’re pretty dog on good. Not 29 points better than Carolina, but they’re a good team. Now, Panthers next week will face off against the team that everyone expected to be and probably still expects to be the AFC East winner. We’ll see how that plays out next Sunday. But looking back at this game, Trevorian um he was a key, I think, to both of the scoring drives that they had or at least two of the scoring drives that they had in this game today. The Panthers gave us our answer as far as who was going to be the punt returner and how they were going to figure out that fifth wide receiver position. Going into last week, I figured it’d be Jimmy Horn Jr. because he made a big play against Miami and that he had been incorporated in the offense and Honey Rford really hadn’t done anything aside from that second half against Arizona, but then Hunter was returning punts last week against Dallas. So, I had no clue at all who they were going to have as a punt returner and who they were going to have as fifth wide receiver and well, they answered that question as Trevor got the nod after a couple weeks where he wasn’t the guy. DJ Dallas was back there uh some a couple weeks ago, but then he was inactive today. Trevor gets the opportunity after he had mult one a couple of weeks ago and then made some poor decisions there, at least one poor decision against New England. But I thought he was really good in returning kickoffs and punts. And the Panthers, they won the middle eight that last four minutes of the first half, first four minutes of the second half. That’s an important part of the game. They won it because of Trevor. He had that nice punt return that was returned from the 33 of Carolina to the 48 of Carolina right there on the edge of Jets territory that then led to the Panthers capping that off of a touchdown before the half. Uh they had a kickoff return uh to start off the half that went into Jets territory. Panthers kicked a field goal and that’s all that they needed. I they were already uph 10 nothing but then 13-3 at that point in time or guess they were up 10-3 but then 13 to three at that point in time that was enough to win this game. So kudos to Trevor for being able to make those plays and to be a positive impact. Really the first time I think this season they’ve had a positive impact in the punt or kickoff return game in a game on special teams. So good job to Trevor. Congrats to Jimmy Horn Jr. for winning over that job. And I would think he was involved in a run game again today. Made I think one catch. I would expect that he’s going to continue to be active. And I don’t really know what role Hunter is gonna have. If he’s not gonna return punts and if he’s not really giving you much offensively and Jaylen Coker’s not coming out of the lineup, just give him some time to really be a part of the passing attack. And with him and JT, Bryce, we’ll see what his health is. I think Bryce will be fine. There’s going to just still be a little bit for it to get really going passing wise, but I still have concerns over whether that passing offense can ever be what a lot of people um would hope for it to be. And when you look at the talent level that they have, if it’s ever going to be that. So, we’ll find out. Again, 10 more games. Uh time to evaluate all of that. But sitting here after a win, certainly happy about where things are at. And again, a win is a win. The Panthers are above 500 for the first time since entering week six of the 2021 season. A first three-game winning streak since they start off 2021 3 and 0. Uh there’s certainly things to be concerned about. Talk about those, but be happy. Absolutely be happy about where this team sits right now. This is their seventh game. They’ve had six different starting offensive line combinations as Damen Lewis who had been the only starting offensive lineman to start every game did not go today with a shoulder injury and they have not fallen apart. A couple of years ago they went really two and 15 because their offensive line was terrible. That season in 2021 where Carolina had started off 3-0 fell apart because the offensive line fell apart. They were 13 13 out of 17 games. They had a different offensive line combination. This year it’s been different almost every week. And yet this team sits here with a winning record. They’ve won three straight games. You see the promise there with the young receivers in McMillan. We’ve seen what Xavier Legette did today. Jimmy Horn Jr. some of the plays that he’s been able to make so far early on in his career as a Panther. What you have at running back, whether it’s going to be Rico or Chuba, you have a good running back tandem here in Carolina. And you have certainly a guy in Rico who’s looked great so far. We’ll figure out, they’ll figure it out as far as how that’s going to go, the balance of the carries and touches moving forward. But you have two solid options. You have a quarterback who can make big plays in crunch time, and we’ve seen that over the last two weeks. Not today because they didn’t need it and Bryce was out, but you saw it against Dallas. You saw it against Miami. Yes, he can make mistakes, but you know, he can also bring you back to win some of these games late in the fourth quarter. A defense that has found a way to stop the run that got to the passer today. still looked at the numbers dead last in the NFL in pressure percentage, but we’re not going to worry about that today as they had six sacks and they made the most out of their opportunities, which you’ll love to see. But Derek Brown’s a great player. JC Horn is a great player. They have something that they’re building on. We’ll find out moving forward though against Buffalo, against Green Bay, just how good this team is. But we know what they’re not. And what they are not is a bad football team. They are not a mess. They’re not a part of the drags of the NFC or in the NFL, period. That’s not who the Carolina Panthers are in 2025. They are at least a middle of the road team. And that is a massive improvement to where they have been over the last couple of seasons and really since David Ter has bought this team. They’re finally headed in the right direction. So, be happy about that. Be excited about this upcoming week and all that’s going to come with it. For a team that’s won three straight and for a team that is excited about what they have, seems to truly like each other in that locker room, get behind them. Get behind them. Be excited because it’s been a long time that this city has had anything to really cheer about. And yeah, it could go sideways very quickly because it’s a week- toeek league. But over the last couple weeks, they’ve given me reason to believe. And isn’t that really all that you were asking for in the beginning of the season when I asked y’ what’s your expectations? You just wanted a competent football team. You want a football team that you can believe in, have some hope. Well, there’s hope. Finally. All right, it’s going to wrap up this edition of the Lockdown Panthers podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, hosted by yours, Julie, Julian Counsel. Again, y’all subscribe and follow the show free over on YouTube or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. And be sure to follow me, Julian Counsel, over on Twitter and Blue Sky, Julian Counsel right now at me or DM me over on Twitter or over on Blue Sky with your weekly Wednesday mailbag questions. I’ll be back, of course, in a couple of days on Wednesday answering those questions. At me, DM me over on Julian over at Julian Council on Blue Sky and on Twitter to get those questions into me right now. But in the meantime, be safe, be happy, be whole. As always, keep pounding and I will be back with y’all on Tuesday where we’ll look back at the good, the bad, and the ugly from this win. We’ll also review the three keys victory that I gave you on Friday, and we’ll hear what Dave Canals had to say after reviewing the tape. possibly get an update there on Bryce Young. All that more coming up here on Tuesday’s edition of Locked on Panthers.
Julian Council analyzes the Carolina Panthers gritty victory, highlighting Jaycee Horn’s game-changing interceptions and Derrick Brown’s disruptive presence. The discussion covers offensive struggles, Bryce Young’s injury, and Trevor Etienne’s impact on special teams. Key topics include the running back rotation debate, passing game inefficiencies against a weak Jets defense, and the team’s first three-game win streak since 2021.
Don’t miss this in-depth look at Carolina’s road to success. Will the Panthers build on this momentum against tougher upcoming opponents?
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro: Carolina Panthers win third straight game
5:05 Defense shines, led by Jaycee Horn and Derrick Brown
10:00 Was this Xavier Legette’s best game as a Panther?
16:48 Does the RB rotation make sense?
22:53 Dave Canales’ questionable play-calling decisions
28:28 Trevor Etienne’s special teams impact
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20 comments
Offense hasn't changed if we aren't rushing 200+ yards. Bryce managed the game, but that's not gonna cut it next week. Rico has got to be the bell cow, I love Chubba, know we paid him but you gotta let the big dawg eat.
I won’t be mad at a 7 or 8 win team.
Even if we lose the next 2, after that we should shellac the Aints, and hopefully handle ATL like we did the first time. If they can pull that off they are 6-5. If Bryce is ok, and they let Rico do his thing, they can actually pull off a win against BUF since it's a home game and their run defense is trash. That would give a little cushion in case ATL gets revenge at home. The realistic among us predicted 8 wins as the likely outcome, with anything more being a bonus since they'd be over .500. The playoffs are kind of a secondary concern this season, because I don't think the team is ready for a deep run yet. Anyway TB is probably well on the way to a 10+ win season unless the wheels fall off, so they would get any postseason spot over us, even if we somehow managed to take the division.
Let’s make it 4 😤
Super excited, but we are playing some teams in the coming weeks who will show us where we really stand. Defense is gonna hang in there I think, but if the run game is mid (compared to what it has been) again like it was today I worry about the offense. Should've beat the brakes off this team today, especially with that defensive performance.
Chubba never deserved it in the first place. He isn’t dynamic, has no burst, he finally got over his trip on a flower syndrome, but running straight into a DB and falling forward isn’t good enough.
I don't care how ugly it was …its a win on a possible trap game….Keeppounding
Bring in Hooker
No! It's hard for mediocre teams to win
Derrick Brown is a real prpblem! He's putting NFL on notice #KEEPPOUNDING
But damm you dnt realize how important bryce is to this team..the entire team looks different different
Panther rag tag oline held up against a top defense. Wait till lewis gets back. I dont have alot trust in corbett staying healthy
I love the reactions to every time we beat any team "OMG we lost to the Panthers!!" BTW If Bucs lose to Lions we are 1 game out.
An ugly win is still a win
We’re gonna have to give it 4-6 weeks before we’ll really know if dowdle is worth hanging on too. He’s clearly the better back but unless he proves to consistently be a top 10 rb in the NFL there’s no point in holding on to him while we’re paying Chuba that much and have two younger RBs in the mix.
The final score could be 3-2……a win is a win.
XL shocked the shit outta me this week 😂. I was wondering if he ever had it in him!
Chubba came back to early. Rico shouldve had more reps. The dude practically beat two teams himself. I dont think Chubba runs like Rico. The team flows better.
EVERY SINGLE ROOKIE has improved game to game. They are playing very well!Things may be starting to come together, we will know next Sunday .Thank you for all you do for Panther nation
Panthers Defense kicked butt!