UPSET: Carolina Panthers Seek Statement Win Against POWERHOUSE Bills | Is Buffalo Ripe for Defeat?

UPSET: Carolina Panthers Seek Statement Win Against POWERHOUSE Bills | Is Buffalo Ripe for Defeat?

It’s a battle between Charlotte’s two favorite NFL teams. It’s Bills Panthers here on a locked on NFL Crossover Thursday. You are locked on NFL Crossover, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Panthers and Locked on Bills. We are part of the lockdom podcast network and it is yet another crossover Thursday here on the network where we talk bananthers and we talk bills every single Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Your team every day. That’s our motto here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Thanks for watching the show right here on YouTube and listening wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Crossover Thursday is presented by our friends over at 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. I’m Julian Councel, the host of Locked On Panthers, and he is Joe Marino, the host of Locked On Bills. And I, Joe, and I’m sure you have been waiting for this game a long time. Now, Charlotte has been waiting for this game for a long time as its two favorite NFL teams, the local team, Carolina and kind of the local team as well, the Buffalo Bills meet up in this week eight matchup between the 4-3 Panthers and 4-2 Bills. How you doing, my man? Julian, as I record this podcast with you from just up the street here in Concord, North Carolina, I know exactly what you’re talking about. There is a large contingency of Bill’s Mafia here in the other Queen City, right? Buffalo is also the Queen City. And I know this is one that’s been exciting for many, including myself. Now, I will say a month ago, I was pretty excited. You know, now I’m a little nervous. I’m not going to lie to you based on some of the recent trends of both of these teams. But we know it’ll be a spirited afternoon here in Charlotte. It’ll be a good sports day, right? And I I think that’s that’s going to be healthy for this town where there hasn’t been that much good sports here lately. And I think this is going to be a good one on Sunday afternoon. No, I know Charlotte FC, they’re in the playoffs at MLS, so that’s great. The Hornets are back in town, which could be a good thing depending upon how the season goes. But as far as looking at this game on Sunday, like, yeah, the energy and the buzz that’s going to be there in Uptown. It was already going to be there because I’m expecting a lot of the locals who are Bills fans to be there at the stadium. I’ll be there covering the game. I know you’ll be in attendance as well. Um, and I’m excited just to see what it looks like around the stadium when all that with all that going on. But also like this is a game for Carolina where it’s actually meaningful football which they have not had in a long time as they sit here above 500 for the first time since October of 2021. So looking at this game from the Bills perspective, Joe, what is the biggest storyline heading into this matchup? Well, this is a Bills team that’s coming out of the buy, riding a two-game losing streak, and that’s not very characteristic of this Bills team under Shawn McDermott. And Shawn McDermott’s been really good at getting wins out of the buy, 8-0 uh so far in his tenure. This is his ninth opportunity to get a win out of the buy. And boy, this team needs it. A couple of losses that were just very uncharacteristic against the Falcons and and the Patriots. And just I mean, look at it like this. the the Patriots scored 23 points, the Falcons scored 24, the Bills lost both games, which is very surprising. They kind of got in their own way offensively with some turnovers with some penalties that put them behind the sticks and it just got a lot harder uh than it typically is. And so, you come out of this buy looking for a win, hungry for a win, and knowing that Kansas City is the next game. You know, you drop this one, you’re looking at 500 potentially if you can’t beat Kansas City in two weeks. So, this is a really important game for Buffalo. And the exciting part for the Bills is that they get some defensive reinforcements and they’ve needed this. This defense has really struggled uh this year and they’re getting Michael Hoy and Larry Aenchobee, two players they signed uh in free agency and they didn’t have a ton of cap space to work with and they prioritized getting these two guys uh to elevate their defensive line rotation. Hoy is an edge rusher. Aenobi a local, right? Went to Ragsdale, played his played his ball at Charlotte, the first ever draft pick out of Charlotte. So, he gets to make his Bills debut here in uh Charlotte, and that’s a big deal. The Bills uh rotate a ton up front, and so far this year, 60% of their defensive tackle snaps have been played by rookies or practice squad players. And so, Larry Aenovi is a welcomed addition as a veteran with some knowhow uh to this group. And there’s also a dynamic at safety where Taylor Rap has been a very disappointing player so far this year. and uh there’s been a knee injury and uh they’re not sure when he’s going to be back. Uh Julian, that screams soft benching to me and uh potentially the opportunity for Jordan Puyer, longtime Bill that’s kind of come back uh to get another opportunity to start there. So, this is a Bills defense that needs to play better and they’re getting some reinforcements which gives you some hope that it can uh come together in ways that it needs to for the Bills to be the team they’re supposed to be this year. Yeah. And man, life in the AFC gets so real. Like you mentioned there, if the Bills somehow dropped this game on Sunday, Kansas City next week. And that’s not the Chiefs team that we saw the first couple weeks of the season. They look like the full-fledged Chief team that Buffalo has beaten the last couple regular seasons. Just when in the playoffs, things haven’t gone your way at this point in time. So, we’ll see how that plays out next week. But looking at this game from a Panthers perspective, it will be interesting to see who’s out there for Buffalo defensively because Carolina not sure right now who their quarterback’s going to be. Now, this has been interesting to me. We saw on Monday all the NFL insiders like Tom Pelisero, who was first, Ian Rapport and Adam Shaper report that Bryce Young sustained a high ankle sprain in that win on Sunday against the Jets where he was stepped on late in the third quarter, walked off to the locker room under his own power, had a slight limp, didn’t look to be something that was going to be significant that would keep him out for a long period of time, maybe a game, nothing more than that. So those reports come out that Bryce Young is not going to play. On Monday, Dave Canales tells us that it’s a day-to-day situation with Bryce Shong, and he does not want to say what the severity of the ankle injury is, even though all the reports and people that we trust and know to be right when these things were reported are saying he’s not going to play. Fast forward today on Wednesday as we’re recording this, Bryce Young did not practice. He was off to the side. And for the folks who don’t understand that when you see someone off the side of practice during the media viewing portion where they’re typically just stretching, doing individual drills once, maybe some special team stuff, that guy ain’t gonna play. And that was the case today on Wednesday with Bryce Young. So Dave saying it’s still dayto-day. I’m anticipating that Andy Dalton’s going to be the starter on Sunday and that his backup will likely be Henden Hooker. Now Mike White, who was in Buffalo last year, has been brought to the practice squad trying to get a little information there about the Bills. Certainly Dave Canal said they would not shy away. He said, “Hey, he’s a Panther now.” So, no for him not to tell us all the knowledge he has about the offense that former Panthers OC Joe Brady has up there right now in Buffalo. All the Panther connection, Shaq Thompson, Bean, Sean McDermott, we used to call it Panthers North. I think that’s kind of a pjorative for Buffalo fans at this point in time considering how well the Bills have gone the last couple of years and looking down here in Carolina. So, there’s a mystery, and I put that in quotes as far as whether Bryce Young’s going to play. Uh, news flash, he’s not playing, guys. So, Andy Daltton will be out there on Sunday. And I think Andy can get the job done. We’ve seen the last two years, the first time he started against Seattle two years ago. Last year against the Raiders, he’s thrown for 300 Bills. The only time his Panthers done that so far this season was week two in that comeback attempt in Arizona. Outside of that, Bryce Young has not been able to throw for over 200 yards in any of their games, including their last three wins against Miami, against Dallas, and against New York on Sunday. So, possibly the passing offense might see a a boom, at least for one week of Andy out there. So, yeah, that’s the main story line. Will Bryce Young play? The answer is no. Yeah, and I think that makes this game a little bit more interesting. I I think Bryce Young certainly had his moments high and low, but Andy Dalton, I think you kind of know what you’re going to get. He’s a veteran. He’s seen every defense and I think he can keep the offense on schedule and we know Carolina’s going to want to come in and run the ball, which I’m sure we’ll talk a lot about here the rest of the way. But Andy Dalton as a veteran that can hit his back foot and know where to go with the football against a Bills defense that’s offered a lot of space in the secondary, you know, I think there’s a level of concern that it is Andy Dalton on the Bills side of things and maybe there was a better chance to win this game with with Bryce Young at quarterback. So I I Carolina’s four and three and it’s less to do with their quarterback play, right? It’s it’s been about running the ball. It’s been the the improvements on defense and um you know, I think a veteran like Andy Dalton might be the right ticket for Carolina and give him their best chance to win on Sunday. Yeah. And Rico Dattle was excellent in those wins against Miami and Dallas when Shuba Hubard was out with a calf injury. But I will give Bryce Young credit to some of the throws that he made in that comeback against the Dolphins and then in that win against Dallas. So he may not put a put up goddy numbers or really be efficient throughout the game, but in the fourth quarter and that’s really been throughout his career when they’ve needed him to make plays. He’s made those game-winning type of plays. Just the problem is can you get it down in down out in the first three quarters and not just at the end when you got to have it. It’s nice that you can have it at those point in times, but at some point in time he’s going to have to be a little bit more consistent moving forward. And I’ll be curious to see how the play calling adjusts with Andy Dalton as a starting quarterback, at least the presumed starter from my perspective and what’s been reported. And we’ll see whether Bryce will be able to go. My expectation is that will not be the case. Now Joe, there’s some matchups we got to look at. And you mentioned one about the Panthers rushing offense against the Bills rushing defense. And we’ll talk about that. We’ll talk about more of those here in just a moment on this Locked On NFL Crossover Thursday edition of Locked on Panthers and Locked on Bills. This episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. Every day we make decisions. But on Prize Picks, being right can actually get you paid. Don’t miss the excitement of this football season with Prize Picks where it’s good to be right. Playing prize picks is such a fun, simple way to add more excitement to football. You can just pick more or less on player projections. Like, I’m sure Bills fans do this all the time. 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You’ll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So, the price you see is the price you pay. And that’s important this week because this is an expensive game. So, Game Time is a place you want to go. And it’s an app that’s made super simple. I could see the view for my seat, which I love. I also love zone deals, too. Pick the section. Game time picks the seats and you save big. Honestly, it’s faster, cheaper, and less stressful than any other way I’ve bought tickets before. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that’s promo code L O C K E D O N L for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download Game Time today. Back here on this Locked On NFL crossover Thursday edition of Locked On Panthers and Locked On Bills. Julian Council, host of Locked On Panthers. Joe Marino, host of Locked On Bills, talking about this big game here on Sunday between the 4 and3 Carolina Panthers and 4-2 Bills coming off of their week seven buy. Joe got some match ups to look at. What’s a matchup you’re looking at in this game that could swing the tide in Buffalo’s favor or potentially have them losing a second straight game? Well, before I I mention a matchup, I do have to say that before it was Carolina North, it was Buffalo South in 1995 when Bill Polon and Frank Reich and Pete Metsar, Carlton Bailey, and myself uh moved to the Charlotte area. So, we we got to we got to clarify that you they did it first. Uh but obviously it’s been uh it’s been really cool to see that connection continue in some ways. In some other ways it’s been frustrating. But when I think about this game on Sunday, we got to talk about the Bills run defense against the Panthers rushing offense. And we know the style of game that Carolina’s going to want to play. They’re want to pound the rock. They got Dowel, they got Hubard, they got a physical offensive line. The run game’s been cooking against a Bills defense that has given up a ton of rushing production. And when you just compare metrics about the Panthers and yards before contact and miss tackles force per attempt and yards after contact, they’re really good. Meanwhile, the Bills are really bad at not allowing explosive runs and yards after contact and they get displaced in the run game and they can get creased and give up some big plays on the ground. And so the Bills are going to have to have a commitment here to uh defending the run. And certainly the reinforcements are a big part of that where you’d like to believe that the defense will be better with those players, but they have to prove it. There’s a lot to prove with this run defense. And for a Carolina Panthers run defense last year that gave up over 3,000 yards, if you can believe it, the Bills are giving up more yards per carry right now this year than that Panthers defense did last year by a half yard, Julian. So, the Bills have a a big test here with their run defense, and there has to be a commitment to not allowing Carolina to play the style of game that we know they want to play on Sunday afternoon. Yeah. And let’s dive deeper into some of those numbers, both offensively for Carolina when it comes to rushing in Buffalo’s run defense. You mentioned it, yards per carry allowed, their last in the NFL, allowing 5.8, which yikes. And I cannot believe it’s worse than what Carolina gave up last year. Uh Buffalo has allowed the fifth most rushing yards through seven weeks. Now understand the four teams below them, the Bengals, Titans, Cowboys, and Dolphins have all played seven games. So Buffalo’s only played six, which I think has gone to them not being last in that category. Uh you look at also defensive total rush EPA, second worst for Buffalo. They’re fourth worst in defensive rushing success rate. They’re tied for the third most rushing touchdowns allowed this season. Juxapose that with Carolina offensively, they’re second in the NFL in rushing yards. eighth in yards per attempt. Looking more in depth at the advanced stats over at True Media, they’re third in EPA per rush. They’re second in total rush EPA, fifth in rushing success rate, and 10th in explosive run percentage. That’s runs over 12 yards. So, they have been really good. And it’s funny, Joe, you hear those numbers and you would think that Panther fans are excited about what they have in the backfield over the last couple weeks. I’ve been like, well, hold on. What’s going to happen when Chuba Hubard comes back? And Rico Dattle has to be the guy, right? Like Chuba can’t touch the ball. Never mind the fact Carolina gave him a fouryear $33 million deal 11 months ago. Like it’s just funny to me cuz like instead of being excited about what you have here and potentially having another D’Angelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart kind of deal at least for this season because I don’t think Rico has a future past this year because of the fact that they drafted Trevor Etian back in the spring. They signed Chuma last year, extended him last year and oh yeah, Jonathan Brooks don’t know what his future is but he’s still around for a couple more seasons potentially. Just be excited about that. But instead, people are like, “Oh, now Rico’s got to get all the touches.” Y’all, Chuba is one of the leaders in the locker room. He’s a guy that they felt good enough about during when they I think they were one or two and seven at the point in time when they extended him when they were going to Germany that week to face off against the Giants. This is a culture guy. He’s not going to not be a part of the game plan. And Dave Canal has said as much. So, this has been a good rushing attack and we’ll find out just how good they are as you’re facing off against, I think, a talented Bills defense. just a Bills defense that has, as we mentioned, really struggled against the run so far. Yeah, no doubt. And you I mean, you can’t hide from the numbers. They are what they are. It’s they are what they are. And the Bills, you know, like I said, there are reinforcements. There’s certainly an emphasis. You know, Shawn McDermott’s coached a lot of defense in his career. Um they’re coming out of the buy knowing about this and this is their first big test. So, there’s hope, but they got to prove it. And obviously, Carolina’s hot run of the football. And look, Chuba Hubard, Rico Dael, it don’t matter. Kendra Miller’s ripping off runs against this defense. Tyler Alier, it don’t they’ll both have plenty of opportunities if the Bills don’t make the improvements they need to with their run defense. Yeah. And uh RIP to Kendrick Miller towards ACL for the rest of the season. Finally had some life, right? Yeah. Um and another thing I’m looking at, we have gone like 17 minutes into this show and I don’t believe we’ve even mentioned the name Josh Allen, which has to be a record. pretty good for you, Joe. But that’s that’s no shade at all because he’s an outstanding player. When I look at a matchup, it’s just the Panthers defense overall versus Josh Allen. Like this is the list of quarterbacks Carolina’s gone up against so far this season. Trevor Lawrence, Kyler Murray, Michael Penn Jr., Tao Tungoa, Dak Prescott, Justin Fields, then Tyrod Taylor in the second half last week and there was one drive of Kurt Cousins that were not going to really count. Dak right now is second in the NFL in EPA per play among quarterbacks with at least a hundred attempts. So, he’s been awesome this year. The rest of those guys are ranked 19th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, and 30th. They have not been playing a murderers row of quarterbacks to start off the season in what has been the the easy portion of their year minus they’ll play two games against New Orleans later on this year. Josh right now ranked fifth in EPA per play. Guy’s an absolute monster. MVP from a year ago. MVP favorite right now. Looking over at FanDuel, he’s incredible. And I talked to Derek Brown in the locker room about this on Wednesday. He just mentioned that he’s just such a good player. And just talk about how physically imposing it is. I’m looking at Derek like, “Buddy, like look at you. There’s nothing.” And the guy across is he’s insane, too. But man, it’s going to be really interesting to see just how good this defense is because there’s some numbers. That’s a really good defense. I am really skeptical, though, because they still have to play Josh Allen this week, Jordan Love next week, and he’s up and down. I understand that. Matthew Stafford, there’s some Baker Mayfield twice. There’s some good players out there remaining uh on the schedule for them. But Josh Allen, different kind of animal that that dude is incredible and that will be a matchup I’m absolutely looking at on Sunday. Yeah, I think it’s huge, right? To me, the best way the Bills can help their run defense is for Josh Allen to go out and be Josh Allen and score points and get Carolina out of that game script that they want to be in. And look, I the Panthers deserve a lot of flowers for their rushing offense. The Bills are actually better in terms of EPA per run than Carolina. So, there’s a there’s a big assignment for a much improved Carolina run defense against Buffalo, not to mention the Josh Allen factor. And he’s had two down games. You know, he’s hungry. He’s going to want to go out there and do his thing and and get this ship right. So, I I think that’s obviously the big part for Buffalo. Can we can talk about how good Carolina’s rushing offense is and how bad the Bills rushing defense is. And we should and we have, but that Josh Allen factor and what he’s capable of doing in terms of scoring that’s that could potentially get Carolina out of that script that they that they’re going to want is to me the the big X factor for Buffalo. Yeah. And then James Cook who’s been a big piece obviously of the Bills rushing attack has been fully unlocked over the last year and a half by Joe Brady up there, the OC and play caller for Buffalo. And that will be something to look out for as well as you mentioned. I mean they do statistically in some categories look are better than Carolina. Um and the Panthers they gave up 81 yards rushing last week to the Jets. 38 of those were from Bree Hall. So they contained him. They held down Dallas to 19. Miami had 31. So they’ve been good lately. But they have Dallas I think they were pretty up they were pretty high up there in EPA like total rush EPA offensively. So that was a good performance. But this will really be the test of how much that defense has improved after going back to the end of last year, the week one this year, seven straight games of 200 yards allowed on the ground by the Panthers defense. That has now come to a halt and we’ll see that continues on Sunday. Those are some of the match ups you’re looking at on Sunday in this week match up between the Panthers and the Bills. We’ve kind of talked about it, but what does each team need to do to win on Sunday? We’ll go over that here in just a moment on this locked on Panthers. Locked on Bills crossover Thursday here on locked on NFL. 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 the Japanese craftsmanship in every detail. From the metallic accents to available Nappa 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 moves. All right, back here on this locked on Panthers locked on Bills locked on NFL crossover Thursday presented by our friends over at prize picks Julian Council of Locked on Panthers. Joe Marino host of Locked on Bills both Charlotte area locals and Joe you’ve been here since 95. So I I’m not going to count you because having been born raised being from the soil I just can’t count anybody who wasn’t also from the soil. But I mean hell you’re a charlatan at this point in time. And also, what do you call someone from Buffalo, Bill? Uh, Joe, what do you call someone from Buffalo? Oh, you’re muted, but it’s okay. A Buffaloonian. A Buffaloonian. Yes. No. False. You call me Charlatian because they all live here. Oh, there it is. All right. Hey, I was a little ahead of the curve. In my defense, I was like 11 years old. You know, my family moved. What was I supposed to do? Stay behind? I couldn’t stay behind. So, Well, you could have. You could have. No. Um, it’s cool though because you go around the city and you look at all all the Bills, bars, tab on a tracks is going to be probably an apocalyptic scene all weekend long cuz it’s already like the people from Buffalo who have moved down here. Then it’s going to be like their cousin S and everybody else staying on their couch all weekend. It’s going to be an insane weekend. So that’s great for all those area bars. Bzante’s great pizza spot like for them to be able to have an opportunity to have a lot of people from Buffalo be there and really enjoy this weekend, but it’s also a big weekend for Panther fans as they’re starting to believe in their team and they’re facing off against a team where none of the guys in the locker room want to say that it’s just like a measuring stick game and that they’re going to really make more out of this than any other game. We know deep down inside they have to understand that like, okay, they beat Buffalo. These guys are going to really feel good about where they’re going moving forward, especially with Green Bay on the road next week. But looking at this game, what are the three things that Buffalo must do in order to win? Well, number one is, as I’ve said repeatedly, you have to get Carolina out of the game they want to play. And so, stopping the run and committing to it, right? Whatever you have to do, you to commit to it, you should. I think you can live with the idea of Andy Dalton throwing to some very, very young receivers. I think T McMillan is going to be awesome. I really like Leot coming out last year. Uh, Coker’s back. He’s a nice player, but ultimately it’s it’s a a quarterback that the NFL has said no to as a starter against a very very young group of receivers. Stop the run and live with it if Andy Dalton is able to hit some throws against the run. You cannot just get gashed for 60 minutes in this football game. And um I think the other side of that and getting Carolina out of the style of game they want to play is you have to aggressively chase points offensively. The best way you can help your your defense is to score. and you have Josh Allen and you have James Cook and that should be a good recipe and a good offensive line for scoring points. So that’s number one. Get Carolina out of the game they want to play. Number two, the Bills have to have the right pass rush plan. Um I think the the Panthers have a good offensive line, but Andy Dalton, you know, heat them up, blitz, do whatever you have to do. You have Joey Bosa and Ed Oliver and Greg Russo when you get Michael Hoy back and Dion Walker looks like a good rookie. You got to be able to affect Andy Dalton and not allow him to have comfort back there, finding that space in the Bills zone coverage, which has been very kind at allowing space. And then number three, you know, one of the underrated storylines here is Joe Brady going back against Carolina. We know he was kind of that fall guy in year two, that rule. Not really sure why he got fired, and he probably doesn’t know either. And, you know, this is probably a big revenge game for him. We saw Dennis Allen and how much it meant for him as the defensive coordinator uh for Chicago going up against the Saints last week or Mike Vrabel against Tennessee. Now, this is Joe Brady’s opportunity to, you know, maybe make a statement here uh for his dismissal and I think he’s got a good opportunity here to work the passing game to attack the second level of the Panthers defense where Christian Roseboom, Trevan um Trevan Wallace at at linebacker, Chow Smith Wade at slot corner. You know, I I think those are some matchups where the Bills can use their tight ends, running backs, and slot receivers, which is the best part of their passing game to kind of go after some of those matchups and and see what type of success you can have throwing the football and really targeting those second level players. So, it’s getting Carolina out of the script they want. You got to have the right rush plan to affect Andy Dalton and then really use your best offensive weapons against where I think there’s some some holes in this Carolina defense on the second level. Yeah, the Panthers have had six different starting offensive line combinations in seven weeks, and they have not fallen apart. They brought back all nine of their top guys from a year ago, so the continuity obviously has helped them out. Austin Corbett came back after missing four weeks on IR with a grade three MCL sprain. Now, Damen Lewis, he missed last week, the starting left guard. He should be back this week. He was out of practice on Wednesday. So, it seems like he’s progressing there with his shoulder. But yeah, Andy far more of a statue than Bryce Young, who may be small in stature, but is a guy who’s able to scramble out a lot of times to pick up some yardage with his feet. So, that will be one area to look at on Sunday. And it is interesting you bring up Joe Brady, maybe a revenge factor. Second straight week, uh, that would be an opposing coordinator revenge game. Steve Wils last year, last week, the DC of the Jets, and that Jets defense has not really been good this year, and they played their ass off last week. Now, that might have been a lot about the Panthers offense and where it’s at with the passing game when Bryce is in there. But still, they came out and played well. So, we’ll see with Joe Brady. And it is interesting because he was then replaced by Jeff Nixon who is up in New York as well as the OC for Fran Brown at Syracuse. So, both those guys in the state of New York as OC’s. He’s one still in the NFL. The other one not in the NFL. And yeah, Matt Rule did him dirty. Had the by-week and didn’t didn’t fire him until that Sunday. Had him out there all week working. just what was that just the fall guy? Like what do you when you think back on that because this has been a topic in in the Bill’s world lately, you know what what do you remember? It felt like it felt like this was firing somebody just to fire somebody because things weren’t going well under Matt Rule and they gave him, you know, they sold their soul to get him as their coach. Yeah. And the interesting thing too is like that was a splashy name in the college cycle because LSU had signed him took like a new deal where he couldn’t go like take another job. It had to be like a head coaching job. was going to leave there and he came up here and everyone was excited which I mean it was awesome. We all know about that 2019 team with Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Jeff Justin Jefferson, what those guys have become and what they were. Um so with Joe the one thing about him when he came here that I always caution people was he wasn’t calling the plays there at LSU. That was Steve Enminger. Yes, on third down he might say, “Hey Steve, this would work.” He was coaching those wide receivers, so give him a lot of credit there. But he didn’t recruit any of those guys. He wasn’t calling the plays. Like a hot shot kind of guy who really did help re elevate that offense, which always had talked all about, oh, we’re going to change the offense. Didn’t really happen till he did that. So I told people, okay, he hasn’t really been a play caller at any level. So just caution you there. But that year in 2020 when Teddy was here and they had Mike Davis and they had Curtis Samuel and Robbie Anderson, the one good year, Robbie Anderson, DJ Moore, that was a really good offense. All four of those guys went thousand yards from scrimmage, which there has not been very many teams that has happened and certainly not many very many teams that have had that happen and didn’t have a losing record. So that if you look back on it now, that’s the best offense Carolina has had consistently over the last couple of years, whether it’s been rule, Reich, or now Canales. So I think he’s more of a fall guy. I also think that maybe it was a little bit too early for him to have that job and just the the status of the roster, offensive line injuries, just talent leaving. I just don’t think it was ever great position for him and I also think maybe it was a little bit too early for him. Fun fun quick story before we get your keys uh for Carolina. Uh I hosted one hour of Charlotte Sports Radio for WFNZ. One hour. I was the I was the only guy. I was filling in for KB. He needed some help. And I get in there 10 minutes before I go live. I’ve never done this before. I’ve never hosted. I’ve been a guest. I’ve been in the studio, but never was the guy. 10 minutes before I start, I have all my notes ready to go. They hire, the Panthers hire Joe Brady to be their offensive coordinator. 10 minutes after I close, Luke Keequley retires. I’m like, this is a signature moment in the history of Charlotte sports and I’m the guy that has to get through it. I’m like, boy, I don’t think I’m the guy for this. But that was a that was a whirlwind of a moment. But yeah, that was that whole off season was insane because I mean Cam Newton is um given the the uh option to seek a trade or whatever that all that mess. So yeah, crazy things have changed over the last couple years. But yeah, Joe Brady happy to see he’s having success. Um one of those things I just thought maybe a little bit too early for him and then the whole Matt rule of it all that was probably a big issue as well obviously. But as far as the Panthers, what they need to do, their keys, uh, number one, if you’re here in Charlotte, drive over to Park Road shopping center, go to Onward Reserve. They have a hat there that says run the damn ball. That’s what Carolina needs to do in this game against a what has been a bad statistically run defense for the Bills so far. Uh, contain, you’re not going to stop him, but contain. Josh Allen was looking over at the numbers. He is first in offensive scramble EPA. Not really surprising. So, you got to find a way to contain him, not allow him to extend some of these plays. He’s an outstanding player. And at number three, forced turnovers. The Bills have turned the ball over six times their last three games. And Carolina is not high up there in havoc rate, which means tackles for loss, force fumbles, interceptions, all that. But they have an opportunity if Buffalo if Josh is loose with the ball, which has been kind of an old narrative a couple of years ago. That went away, especially last year. That’s kind of creeped up its ugly head with some bad mistakes across the board for them offensively the last couple of games they played there. Like that’s a key as well. You can win a turnover battle really in general in football across all levels. You typically will win the game. So run the damn ball, contain Josh Allen, and force turnovers. I don’t know if you’re going to give a pick here, but the Bills are 7 and 12 point road favorites. Going to put that one in in quotations because I don’t think it’s going to be a road environment at all for Buffalo on Sunday here in Charlotte. Just any final thoughts, prediction, maybe save that for Friday. What do you got for me, Joe? I I’ll save I’ll save my prediction for my last show of the week. Um, yeah, but I will say I think you’ve highlighted the right stuff. And from the Bills perspective, that’s got to be the stuff they’ve been thinking about all bye-week long. How do we make sure that we don’t get mistaken prone on offense? How do we stop the run on defense? And so, I think we’ll find out how useful that byee was for the Bills. But, uh, until they prove they’ve corrected some of that stuff, Carolina’s going to come out and challenge it. Yeah, absolutely. And a couple weeks ago, I had this one chocked up as a loss. I would still favor Buffalo at this point in time because I do think they are a better team. I mean, they certainly have a massive advantage at quarterback. Um, and we’ll see how it plays out. But I do think that Carolina could win this game because of the emergence of Rico Dattle, Chuba Hubard now being healthy, the way the offensive line has been able to maintain the standard despite all of the changes and all the injuries. I think they can win this game. I I don’t necessarily want to pick them at this point in time, but I I do think, and you kind of said at the top of the show, like this is a more interesting game than we thought it was going to be. 100%. There’s a pan for the Panthers to win this game. I think seven and a half is kind of kind of crazy to be honest with you. Um, we’ll find out. We’ll find out. But, uh, this doesn’t A month ago I would have said, “Oh, perfect. Out of the buy. A tuneup ahead of Kansas City.” Now, it’s like, “Boy, you better win this one or else you’re going to be 500 uh after you get done with Kansas City in two weeks.” So, big stretch for Buffalo here out of the buy. Yeah. And I don’t know where the line opened up, but uh, Vegas is not loving Carolina. They had them open up as underdogs at New York last week before they became favorites. So maybe Vegas will turn things around for as far as their perspective on the Panthers if they get this win. And of course, big game for them to show who they really are and how good they actually are this season as next week they go to Lambo and they’re not the best road team. So this is a big one to get at home. That’s going to wrap up this edition of Locked on Panthers and Locked on Bills. Julian Council, Joe Marino. Again, we’re part of Locked On podcast network. Check us out again on Friday where I’m going to go more over the keys of victory, look at the injury report, and I’m sure Joe’s got plenty of great things for y’all as he always does there on Locked on Bills. As I always say, be safe, be happy, be whole. As always, keep pounding and Bills Mafia. Love you, too. And we’ll be back on Friday with more on the Panthers and more on the Bills.

Carolina Panthers vs. Buffalo Bills: Can the Panthers make a statement in Week 8?

Julian Council and Locked On Bills host Joe Marino discuss the key storylines, including Andy Dalton’s likely start for the Panthers, as Bryce Young nurses a high-ankle sprain, and the Bills look to bounce back after their Week 7 bye.

Julian and Joe also analyze the key matchups leading into this game. Can Carolina’s ground game exploit Buffalo’s struggling run defense?

They also examine both teams’ paths to victory. Will the Bills’ returning players strengthen their defense? Can Carolina’s rushing attack keep them competitive?

Tune in for expert insights on how the Panthers plan to contain Josh Allen, force turnovers, and pull off an upset against the 7.5-point road favorites.

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro: Panthers vs Bills preview
5:12 Bryce Young injury and Panthers QB situation
9:01 Analyzing Panthers rushing offense
12:28 Key Matchups: Bills run defense vs Panthers run game
16:55 Can the Panthers defense contain Josh Allen?
21:30 Keys for the Bills to win the game
30:00 Keys for Panthers to win the game

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