Stay on Course | Stew and the Crew w/Captain Munnerlyn | Carolina Panthers

Stay on Course | Stew and the Crew w/Captain Munnerlyn | Carolina Panthers

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Stew and the Crew. I’m your host, Jonathan Stewart, and we have a special guest. Uh very um you might become uh normal to the to the to the cast since this is your second time. Oh, yeah. On on the podcast, bro. Uh seventh round pick the 2009 draft. South Carolina’s f finest, you know, as far as what you you call call yourselves the Gamecocks down there. Uh come on, Ste. But Carolina’s finest finest. Um Captain Mundlin, 10 year NFL career. uh wellestablished um not just on the field but off the field, doing amazing things in the community, uh uplifting kids, mentoring, uh and and now a head coach, man. A head coach. Yeah, man. But look, man, good to see you, bro. I Hey, look, the older I get and the further away I get from this game, the more excited I am to see my guys, man. To see the guys that I blood, sweat, and tears with. uh uh you know and just being able to you know just share the platform and give people some encouragement, some inspiration, whatever it is. Um it’s just always a good time. So I just want to let you know I don’t take this time for granted and the the the listeners and the viewers, they don’t take it for granted either. So welcome to the uh the the cast, man. How you been, man? I appreciate it. I’ve been good, man. Appreciate having me, Ste. That’s a that was a a good intro, bro. Um, yeah, I really appreciate that, man. Just for having me on, man. Like you said, I don’t take it for granted also, man. Uh, yeah. To have an opportunity to talk to one of your former teammates and, you know, a guy who you really been, you know, to war with, man, is is always a blessing, man. So, thanks for having me, bro. Oh, man. You already know, bro. Um, let’s get to it, man. Look, you was back in Panther Stadium on a very cl on a on a very uh sluggish day, but needless to say, he was back in the building, right? Um, you got a chance. It was hard. It was hard, Ste. It was hard that day. It was hard. It was hard. You played for the Bills, too. Did you have any mixed feelings? Was Was there any mixed feelings on that day? Uh, no, not really, cuz my not really, cuz my home is already Carolina. It’s always going to be Carolina. This is a team that drafted me. Uh, this is a team that gave me an opportunity, you know, to go pro. So, no, I didn’t have no mixed feelings at all. You know, I seen coach Mcderman and all those guys, guys who coached me here, even Bobby Babage, the DC, you know, from Buffalo. I seen those guys and, you know, I did my Bill W coach university last year in Buffalo. So, you know, I was on the coaching staff for the whole, you know, training camp and stuff. So, I I feelings. Um, yeah. You know him, you know him as a professional. That’s it. You don’t know me. I know them. So, but at the end of the day, hey, at the end of the day, it’s always keep pounding, dog. It’s always keep pounding. I love We love to hear that. So, you was the legend of the game, ladies and gentlemen. He was a legend of the game. And bro, I I read something and it it stuck out to me. Um, you know, you you when you got an opportunity to hit the drum as a legend, it made you feel like you did things the right way. Um, explain what that really means to the listeners out there coming from a professional, coming through coming from a legend, a Carolina legend. What does it mean to do things the right way? Oh man. Um, like when I got that call, man, Steu, I was still in shock like, man, they wanted me, you know, to be the legend of the game, you know? Uh, they could have chose a lot of people, you know, tons of people over me. Uh but like I said, man, that the term of doing things the right way. Um you know, just being a pro, you know, especially in the community, you know, I was a guy who always, you know, went to the bars and girls clubs. Um went to high school when it was time to make an appearance. Uh went to the hospital when they needed, you know, guys to go to the hospital and, you know, sign autographs out to practice. I always been like one of the last guys there. Um so that’s what I mean when I say I did the things the right way, you know. Um cuz my mom always used to tell me, man, one day somebody ain’t going to want that autograph. One day somebody ain’t going to want to see Captain Mon. So I always made myself available, you know, for the fans and for the people. So, uh that’s always stuck with me, you know, as you know, when my mom always told me that. So that stuck with me. So that’s one when I say did things the right way, you know, I always made myself available for the fans and, you know, for the people in Carolina. Man, that’s what’s up, man. A lot of people need to hear that, especially the guys now. You know, you’re playing right now. You got to make sure you cultivate those relationships, cultivate the community. Uh because Carolina, man, it’s, you know, it’s a blessing to be draft here, drafted here, and be to be picked up here. Um because it’s one of the best places to live in general. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So, we we hit the jackpot when we got drafted here. Yeah. Um All right. So the drum keep pounding symbolic right you know it’s res you know it speaks of resilience it speaks of you know the culture of this team and and how they need to operate um you know how do you carry that symbol into your current um you know life right now um postretirement and how did you carry obviously while you played but uh give us you know from playing to retirement and how that left the you know lasting impression on you, man. Um that that that statement, man, keep pounding. Um that slogan is keep pounding. When I played, man, no matter what was going on in the game, you know, how you felt or how any if things weren’t going your way, you always just kept pounding, man. Keep chucking away. And that’s how I did on the field, no matter what, man. I didn’t make every play. I wish I would have, but I didn’t make every play. And I always always put myself in a position and man, hey man, make the next one. Keep pounding. You never know when your number’s going to be called again. So I put that into perspective in my life and also why I played football. So I always kept pounding, man. And post retirement ste life life is hard when you’re done. You know, life be lifingering, man. Um, you know, you don’t have the same schedule that you had when you was playing football. We don’t have those 6:30 meetings. We don’t have those 7:30 meetings. You know, we don’t have that that that that structure that you have when you’re playing football. So life be life and like you said man. So I always try to tell myself no matter what’s going on in the world, what’s going on around you, what’s going on, you know, even playing football, you know, you always got to keep pounding. Yeah. You always got to keep pounding, man. So that’s how I always do. And I tell the kids over here, you know, at at Chambers, you know, me and being coach, you hit a bell now. Yeah. That boy a coach for real. Yeah, man. I’m a coach for real. Hey, what does that what does that bell mean? What’s what period it is? Oh, they going to uh they going to lunch, dude? Oh, they going to lunch early. They going to lunch right now. But I always I always tell the guys, man, always keep pounding, man. Always through life, man. Cuz you know, it’ll be some kids around here going through real life situations. Yeah. You know, I I hear some stories through that. I’ll be like, “Wow, want me to break down and cry and get under my desk and just be like, man, you know, how is these kids are, you know, keeping their self together, you know?” And I always tell them in the slogan I always come, hey man, no matter what’s going on in the world, no matter what’s going on around you, keep pounding. Know that that’s so awesome, bro. Man, know that things can get better. Things will get better. Yeah. You know, it’s awesome that you Hold on. It’s awesome that you able to play for the Carolina Panthers and pick up a slogan, right? Yes. And and for a lot of people that aren’t, you know, Carolina Panther fans that might hear this, keep pounding comes from Sam Mills, um, you know, Panther great that lived his life exactly how that slogan goes, right? And for you to be able to be this in my in my opinion, bro, like you gone you going to uh South Carolina and then getting drafted by the Carolina Panthers, that’s probably a lot of kids dream, right? That’s a that’s a dream come true. And for you to have the prestige that you have, right, as a Carolina Panther legend, NFL vet, and now coaching, you know, at at Chambers High School, do you think these kids realize what they’re getting and how special this is? Oh, Stu, as I look back on it and as you just said that, I don’t think they do. You know, um, they look at me as Coach Cap, you know, Coach Cap. Awesome though. Yeah. And um some of these kids around here, you know, they know about my playing career. I’m at that cuff of age right now where kids they was younger, you know, they was in middle school, they was in elementary school, so they know about, you know, the Jonathan Stewarts, the Captain Marlin, and you know, all these other guys. So, they know about us. So, but as as they little brothers are growing up and as the other people coming from middle school, they don’t know me, you know? They don’t know me. So, it’s it’s definitely different. Uh but at the same time, man, uh I’m just blessed to be in this situation, Ste. I’m just being honest, man. These kids don’t know how much they done blessed me as I’m they head football coach. They look at me, man. Coach Cap, man. Coach Cap played the NFL. You know, Coach Cap is a legend. Uh but I look at as something different, man. I look at these kids are blessing me. I got the opportunity to bless some kids and coach some great kids and help them get to a goal that coaches help me get to. So that’s what I loved in this situation. You know, I get an opportunity to pull into these kids each and every day and let them know, hey man, you know, look, Coach Cap love you, man. Know Coach Cap want to just help you get out your situation. If some of y’all are going through things, I’m here for y’all guys. And I want to help these guys get to the next level, man. That’s that’s that’s what it’s about. You know, me and Cap uh earlier this year, we were able to talk on the sideline. Uh what was where was that at? Oh. Oh, it was at Panther Fanfest. Panther. Yeah, FanFest. And uh it’s interesting, man, because I find myself learning way more football now that I’m outside of football playing. Yes. And and and and having to articulate, having to explain, having to coach because I’m coaching obviously with Greg and Luke, you know, Charlotte Christian for middle school and you know, and now I’m like way more curious about the game, right? So, I’m on the sideline. I’m talking to Cap. Uh, I forgot who else. Yeah, Leonard Wheeler. And we sitting there talking. I’m like, man, let me ask these guys cuz they DBs. I’m over here coaching DBs and I ain’t play a lick of DB besides when I was in middle school, right? In high school, I played safety, but I was really like a linebacker just in in the box. But as far as like technique and all these types of things, it it’s just awesome to to now be, you know, removed from football, but still in football, being able to have opportunities to be around your guys and, you know, have guys like I look at you as gold. I’m like, well, if I don’t have the answers, I know a lot of guys that do, right? And, you know, and that’s the mindset I think a lot of these young guy the young kids should have. Yeah, this is gold. Captain Monolin is my head coach. If I want to get anywhere in life as far as football goes, I have the key right here. So, all I got to do is just push the knob and and and and it unlocks the door. Yeah. I’ll take that every day. Right. But it’s But it it’s awesome, too, though, you know, the fact that they do look at you like coach. They do look at me like coach and the respect there, right? Because there’s some kids out there that try to try you, right? That don’t know you, that don’t know you as coach, right? Because you know the social media, it blends us so much together to where we if it it feels too accessessible, right? It feels like I’m entitled to your space. I’m entitled to call you however I want to call you. Um I go I’ll take it back to my my rookie year. I won’t say who this is, who this person is, but we went to a football game, high school football game, right? And this young kid comes up to us and they was like, “Yo, so and so,” and gave their first name, right? Like firstname presence and this is a a high schooler and it was like, “Hold on, you got to put mister before you come to me, right?” Yeah. And and I think, you know, that’s what’s awesome about coaching football is because you do get an opportunity to teach these kids how to respect your elders, how to respect your parents, what what it what it’s like to be what what should you do to be a good son first, right? What what should you do to be a good brother first, right? A good friend, a a good teammate. How do how do what does it mean to show up and and and and be consistent, right? because those are the things that you teach in life, right? Because it’s football’s not for long and it’s not for long for a lot of these young kids. So, you do I I find myself really, you know, coaching the the guys that, you know, have heart, right? They they they love being there, right? And and I love investing into those kids because those kids, as you know, the teams that are are successful are the teams that have that glue, right? And the kids that just love being there, that are respectful, that are just team players. Ah, I I just eat that up, bro. Man, what you say, ST? That’s the most best that’s the best part of this, you know, when you can have that glue and have those kids that soak everything up and it’s just like that sponge, man. St. I love coaching those guys. I love coaching those guys, you know, instead of having those guys think they know it all already and things like that. Uh, the guys that come in every day, work their tails off, and they want to soak everything in. I love those guys, man. They can play for me any day. They can play for me any day. So, Chambers didn’t make the playoffs last year. This is your first year coaching. Yeah. What is the secret sauce? What is What’s the secret sauce? Y’all going to the playoffs, man? We’re going to the playoffs, man. Going to the playoffs. I think the secret sauce is these kids buying in. No, I had to come in. Uh Stu, uh this year has been a trying year for me coaching. Um I had to come in and put down my law. You know, I had to suspend suspend a couple guys who was my guys like some guys on the teams that were some good guys. Suspending one of my best players the first two weeks of the season, you know, and everybody looked at me like he can’t we can’t win without him. Still we went coach That boy went coach Carter on Yes. And we went two and 0 without him. Yeah. So everybody like all the other kids respected him more. They start buying in. still we go we six games in and I had suspend five starters because of what they did on the bus. So I suspend suspended five starters and we go in the next week. I’m sitting there my AD tell me, hey coach Cap, you need to win this game to win, you know, to make the playoffs. And I’m sitting there like, “Okay.” He was like, “You know, she’s suspended five guys.” I was like, he was like, he’s like, “All I’m saying if you win this game, you’re in the playoffs. So you might want to think about it.” And I’m sitting there like, “All right, you know, I got you.” But he said, “I’m riding with you. Whatever you do, you know, he rolled with me, whatever do I suspended those guys, too. We still won the game.” Hey, so now that now the team looking at me like, “Yo, Coach Cap is not playing.” You know, Coach Cap is doing it his way. And the young men that I suspended, they came back. They respected me more and like, “Coach, I understand why you did X, Y, and Z.” And I and one of the kids, man, came in my office break down and crying like, “Coach, this going to help me be a better young man.” And I was sitting there like, “Wow.” Yeah. You know, and then senior night rolled around and one of the kids quotes was they asked him what’s what his favorite moment of his senior year and he said this dude. He was like being able to be coached by coach captain Monley and it was like wow. And this this was a kid that I just suspended ste like wow. Yeah. G. He was like, “Man, being able to been coached by Captain Mland, you know, Coach Cap has really made me a better person.” And I’m sitting there like, “Wow, my job is, you know, it’s been it’s been it’s been done over here, man.” You know, job is still not done. We’re in the playoffs and I still got a whole bunch of, you know, coaching experience like that I want to experience before I, you know, take the next step. Uh, but just being over here, man, with these kids, they bought in like a sponge. Like I told you, man, you want those kids like a sponge and they’re like a sponge over here. And to get these kids to the playoffs, uh, was my goal. You know, my goal, everybody say, “What’s your goal in year one?” You know, everybody say the cliche answers. You want to win a state championship. Yeah, you do. Everybody does. But my goal was to was change this program, get it to back what they’re known for, and do it my way, and make a playoff run. That’s what I said. I wanted to make the playoffs in my first year and make a run at it. So that was my goal. But I my first goal was to change the culture over here. How these kids think, you know, how everybody view these kids. You know, you hear Chambers, you know, some people here and they, oh man, you know, oh man, they have this and XYZ going on. No, these are some great kids over here. They just need some foundation. They need some structure. They need some guys like me and yourself, Ste, to just be like, “Hey, man. This how you going to do it. This is how you get there. And this is what we gonna do.” And they’re going to follow your lead. And I think that’s what’s really helped us over here, Steu. They follow my lead and it got us into the playoffs. Now we playing on Friday and we got an opportunity to play in a playoff game and win a game. Yeah. You know, that reminds me of this verse, bro. Bib Bible verse, uh, Isaiah 6 and8. And it talks, you know, he’s saying, “Whom shall I send, right? And who will go for us?” And Isaiah replies, “Send me. I’ll go.” That’s that’s what you remind me of right now. Because wow, you know, a lot of people, you know, don’t want to take the the underwhelming jobs, right? They don’t want they don’t want to, you know, and and quote unquote, you know, do the dirty work. But we both know that if you do the dirty work and it ends up getting cleaned up a little bit, shine it a little bit, you might have some gold. Yes, man. You know what I’m saying? And and I just think man, you know, the more people have that mindset, the better off, you know, the legacy becomes, right? Yeah. Pouring into the kids that need, you know, pouring, right? You know, the f, you know, father the father, fatherless, you know, father, you know, and and and feed those that need food. Give those that need water. And and and you know, a plant can’t grow without water. Yes. or sun or shade. You gota you got to be all of those things, right? And it does come with a price and a sacrifice, right? And so I I just want to say I commend you for taking a job that you know, I’m pretty sure you going into it, you were like, man, you know, this is my first head coaching job, my first head coaching experience. I don’t know what, you know, um, is is ahead of me, but, you know, I’m gonna trust God and put him first and let the let these kids be everything. You know, you put it like that, man. The sky’s is the limit for anything, right? And sir, and I just and I also want to, you know, you know, tie this back to the Panthers, right? because you talked about culture and and and you know one year in and being able to like lit literally give a whole different you know perspective for these kids these these parents uh the school the the staff there and you know energy I’m pretty sure is just a breath of fresh air for everybody but you look at Dave Canel’s right y and you see what he’s been able to accomplish you know I look back at last year when he benched Bryce Young. That was a that was a heavy decision. Yes, it was, man. Hey, that was tough decision. Tough decisions. Yeah. So, I think building culture is all about making tough decisions and and even and and even for the kid to decide, okay, I got benched. How am I going to how am I going to respond? Right? I have a decision to make. I can go in the tank or I can humble myself, right? You know, and I look at guys like Bryce Young and how he was able to just go through, you know, his career so far in the NFL with so much humility and so much grace. Um, and being able to have Dave Canel as that perfect pairing of a guy that can, you know, challenge his guys and and stay true to his word. You know, you look at Chuba Hubard, you know, the last couple weeks and all the stuff that, you know, everyone wants to make up, you know, make this whole hoopla of of a situation, uh, making it more than what it is. But Dave Canelis said, “Hey, you were the starter. So, you were hurt. You come back and I’ll give you an opportunity to to be the starter, to get your job, to get your job.” And I respect that. and and as a as a player, as a guy in that locker room, we’re watching and we’re saying, “Okay, I respect that, right?” And then eventually, okay, we took an assessment and Rico Dattle is the head guy. Yeah, he’s our guy. But I gave you an opportunity to get your job back and show us that you still, you know, the guy, but you know, it didn’t work out like that. You know, Rico is just having a a better season. And that happens. You know, that happens. the hot hand, right? Yep. And and at at every point in a guy’s career, they’ve experienced that whether they’ve been whether they got their take their spot taken or whether they were taking another guy’s spot. Y and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re done with, you know, it just means that you just have to support the hot hand because the hot hand, if it’s cooking, the hot hand will cook. Let it eat and you will eat. The whole team will eat. Everybody eats, right? And then your number, Ste, not to cut you off, but your number will be called back again. Oh yeah, it’s it’s going to be called. So be ready. So you need to be ready. Yep. You can’t go into the tank. You can’t go in the tank and get all down like, man, forget this this and that. So when your number is called again, you got to be ready. If you’re not ready, that’s when the problem is. Yeah. That’s where the problem is. And I don’t think we have that problem here in the Carolina Panthers because the the the cadence of this team, how they moving, how they shaking, it seems all too familiar, right? We we’ve seen success be developed. And that’s the reason why I I’m, you know, obviously we’re Panther fans, like we played for the Panthers, but I’m like I’m like real life fan. Yeah. Listen, I say that all the time on my podcast, Ste. And like people be like, “Oh yeah, you this.” I was like, “Listen, I was the player.” Yes. But I’m a real fan now. Yeah. Like, I want us to win like every single game. And they was like, “Oh, yeah, but you said this and this and that.” Yeah, I said it. I know what I said, but I’m a fan. Yeah. Yeah. And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, he has a podcast uh No cap and what cap. And basically, what he gonna do is tell you the absolute truth and and truth set you free sometimes, but it also lock you up. But go going back to that that adjustment for a guy’s career, right? And where you know it’ll be a hot hand and then you’ll have a cold hand and you’ll be a hot hand, right? There’s been times for you that I’ve seen in your career where you’ve taken leaps, right? And then there’s been times where a coach challenges you a and says, “Hey, look, he gonna play because right now you’re not playing that good.” Right? And that happens to all of us. And that and and if if you respond the right way, that’s what really shapes you as being a pro. Yes. Yes. Yes, dude. I I’ve definitely been in that situation before and like you said, that’s what really helped me get to the next level of my game. And they helped me shape to be a real pro. You know, you have guys that say, “Yeah, you went to the NFL.” Uh but that real pro is the guy that you are talking about when they say, “Hey, man, this guy’s going to go out there this series.” And you like, “Huh?” And like it’s how you respond. Are are you gonna go in the tank? Are you going to call your agent and say you need a trade? Or are you gonna say forget this and just not show up no more? Are you gonna come to day come to work each and every day and say, “Hey man, this is my job. It’s my job. It’s a competition. Let’s get it. Make the best man win.” And when that guy’s balling, you still say, “Hey man, good job, bro. Let’s go.” Because the better we are as a football team is the better those two guys are. If those two guys can work together and take a pressure off each other, that’s the best version of the Carolina Panthers that we need. And you was a part of something like that before, Ste. You know, you twice. Yep. You part of that twice. Then when we got Christian McCaffrey, you saw Christian when I saw Christian coming here, I was like, “Oh yeah, he running he running all the routes.” Oh. Oh, he gonna run this play. He gonna run this play. Yeah. So you twice because you have toice you have to be a realist at some point in your life. Listen, Ste, listen. As I think about your careers too, too. Also, you was the guy they brought in to have a change up guy on with D’Angelo and that was a younger, bigger, faster guy. Then all of a sudden, you became the guy that was D’Angelo and they brought in a stew. Yeah. So, you part of the cycle, man. It’s part of the cycle, bro. I’ll never forget that. So, you was part of that and look how you handled it and you was a Listen, man. one of the best to do it. Especially wearing that wearing that blue right there. That Carolina blue. Carolina blue. That Carolina blue is through and through. You feel me? Um, speaking of Carolina blue, man, look, we got the Saints coming in. We got We got the Saints this weekend, dog. I can’t stand them. You know that. I can’t stand them. Can’t stand the rights. We ain’t messing with you. All right. But y’all coming in to the Bank of America Stadium. What’s the mindset? All right, let’s take ourselves Let’s take ourselves back in time and and and we the Carolina Panthers and we have our second division game. We’re five and four and we are prepping for this game, this opportunity to take a leap forward. What is your mentality like right now in comparison to the weeks before? Oh man, uh we can’t have a letown. We just came and we just had beat a Green Bay team. uh that nobody gave us a chance to win. Nobody said we can go into Lambo Field and win. So now we got a team that’s coming in our home and think they can win. And this is a division opponent. They always told us divisional games almost worth two games. Two. Yes. So we got a divisional opponent that coming into our house thinking they can win. And everybody think we all we all high and mighty right now because we just beat a team that everybody say is going to the Super Bowl. So now we have to nip this in the bud. So now we need to go out there and dominate these boys. We know the Saints record. We don’t care. And when it comes to division of play, nobody cares about your record. The Saints do not care that they only won one or two games. They’re going to come into the Bank of America stadium and they’re going to try to beat us. Yeah. So how you beat a team while they down, you keep putting you keep putting them down. You get that sledgehammer and you kill us a ant with a sledgehammer. Ste, you keep pounding. You keep pounding, man. You got to keep hitting them. So, you got to keep hitting them. So, uh, our mindsets, if we was in the locker room, still, you know, our mindset is, “Hey, bro, let’s keep them down and let’s go two and 0 this division because we need to stay relevant in this division. We need to win this division.” And a part of that is to be the Saints. They’re in our way in the next game. And we at home, Ste, we at home. We at the crib. We at the crib. We play We played good at the crib instead of the last The last home game. Last home game was a little flute. Yeah, it was a little flute. We play we play well at the crib. Yeah. You know, and and Stu, we’ve been part of a game, you know, like the Buffalo game before, too. And you remember we ran off seven, eight in a row. We went to New Orleans and got embarrassed. Got embarrassed. Good lord. Listen. But but two weeks, two weeks later, they had to come back to us and we end up winning. Molly wed them. Molly wpped. Molly wpped. So we we we remember we’ve been a part of that. We’ve been a part of that, man. You have those games in the season. I remember uh talking to a couple guys around here about it. Um, and I was telling him, man, you have a couple games in the season that just get away from you and it just happened. You know, it’s the NFL, bro. It’s going to happen. But it’s how you respond. It’s how you respond. How you respond. Yeah. And look how we respond the next week. We went into Lambeau Field and won that game, bro. I don’t care how we won. I don’t care that Bryce sto for 102 yards. I don’t care. He took care of the football. We did what we need to do on defense and we ran the ball effectively and we got out of Green Bay with a win. That’s the only thing that matter. We stuck to the game plan. Yes. You know, and if you have a coach that knows his game plan through and through and he sticks to the game plan, that’s how you develop trust with the players, right? If if you’re if you’re a player and you’re going through practice and you’re going through plays throughout the week and you run the stuff that you actually running in practice and you show up on game on game day and you can be locked in and and in the visualizations that you had the night before the the dream that you had the night before knowing that okay I’m about to run toss and it’s going to look just like this right man Ste is you pre boy you’re preaching right now boy listen I was just telling the guys Ste and I told the coaching staff you know I was it’s playoff week so you know playoff week things get a little tight. You can’t lie. You know, things get a little tight. So, I told the guys, I said, “If we haven’t ran a play in practice, do not call it in the game. Let’s have these guys comfortable as possible.” And I told the guys, I said, “Players, listen. When we call these players that we’re going through practice on this practice script, I got it right here, Ste.” Okay. All right. Don’t show us too much. And the plays are we’re going through on this practice script, we need to perfect it. We need to execute it and visualize yourself making these plays. We know the style of defense this team run. We know where we’re going to run on defense. Visualize yourself making these plays. It makes you play faster. It makes you play with most confidence and it makes you feel like coaches trust you. But if you run plays that we haven’t ran through the week and we start and we start calling it, it mess up these guys. It’s mess up your mental. You be like, man, we ain’t ran that since week two. Why are we doing it? But if you trust the process and trust the game plan, bro, you will be successful. And that’s what the Carolina Panthers has been doing. They didn’t go into all shambles and say, “Oh man, we need to bench this guy. We need to bench that guy. Uh, we need to do this. We need to do that.” When we lost to the Buffalo Bills. No, they took their butt back to work on Monday. And on Wednesday, they was back on the field practicing, ready to roll. And look what happened. They didn’t change course. They ste they kept going to straight. They didn’t go left. They didn’t go right. They kept going straight. And good things that happen to people when you just stay on course. And that’s what happened. I love that. stay on course. Just like a golf analogy, right? If your golf swing is is on the right path, it’s gonna connect with the ball. Okay. And it’s gonna go straight. Yes. But if you off path, you going to go left, you going to go right, and you might go up. Okay. But whatever you doing, just keep moving forward. Right. Yeah. Stay on course. Stay on course, man. Yeah, man. Uh quick little little rapid fire and then I’ll get you out of here, dog. Okay. Um, if you could, let me see. Oh, I got one. If so, like you being a coach now, like we get all these questions about what what is football like, what is the NFL like, right? Yeah. Yep. If you could, you know, get rid of a myth right now about what it’s like to play in the NFL, what would that be? Oh man, the myth I’ll get rid of still. Uh I I I think the myth of just thinking it’s all glamour and all being famous and things like that that it’s really, you know, no hard work and God’s really just making a tons of money and they don’t see the results or they see they don’t see what we put out there each and every day. They don’t see the time that you miss away from your family. They don’t see the times that you missing your daughter dance recital because you’re on the road. You know, they don’t see the time that you, you know, had to be there from 7:30 to 6:30 at night. Or they don’t see the time when we used to be at training camp for 21 days straight. Yeah. You know, and everybody think the glimmer that I I that and all the stuff that they see is, oh man, Jonathan Stewart signed a four-year deal for $28 million. Man, he making so much money, but they don’t see the time that you really have to put in. that is your job now. Yeah. And I and I have to tell people that, you know, all these guys and they always say, “Oh man, coach, you made this and this and that.” But that was my job. Like I couldn’t be like and I tell the kids like if I tell you to be here at 7:00, you can’t be walking through the door at 7:01 and say, “Man, coach, I’m here.” Ste, they don’t realize that. They don’t realize that you get fined for things like that. Oh yeah. They don’t realize if your sock dropped down ste for more than three plays and you’re not picking it up that you going to be fined $5,000. They don’t know that Jerry used to be on Stew and say uh Stew, you can’t come in at 235. We need you at 230 and it’ll be $600 per pound. You know, I’m being honest. Guys don’t know that. So that the myth I think, you know, everybody want to say, “Oh, you made all this tons of money. You made this, you made that.” But they don’t see the time that we really put in. You know, they just see us play one game on Sunday and they think and that’s it. No, it’s a lot of time during the week that you put in. And another thing with Stew is taxes. Guys don’t realize. They look at it and say, “Oh, Jonathan Stewart made 70 million in his career.” Not knowing that you can chop that in half. Then you can chop it then you can chop it again because you have to pay your agent. Then you can chop it again because you got to live life. Yeah. Then you can chop it again because we gonna take care of our mamas. That’s one thing we gonna do, Ste. We gonna take care of mama. Oh yeah. Mama. Yeah. You know what I’m saying? I’m just being honest. They don’t see that. So, that’s that’s one thing I would ste. That’s what I put put down, man. Yep. All right. Five years from now, what Panther headline would you love to see? Oh, man. I would love to see uh us holding that trophy, Ste, Super Bowl champs, you know, all these other franchise, they feel like, you know, it’s some a lot of franchise that don’t have them. Uh, but I want to see because I feel like we always had the talent around here, Ste. We just fell a little short. Yeah. You know, and like even when I left in 2013, how like how short you are, huh? See, Ste, we didn’t have to go that now. You know, I got little man syndrome real bad. I knew I knew you couldn’t help yourself and I knew you was going to do I Listen, Ste, this conversation was going so well. I couldn’t believe you was letting this go so well. I knew it had to hit me at some point. I knew it. Boy, you ain’t nothing, man. I knew you had to get me at some point. You couldn’t just throw yourself off, man. Hey, control yourself. But but let’s go back to what I was saying, man. Going back to falling short, man. I can’t stand you, bro. But I love you at the same time. But no, man. I I just want to see that, Ste. I want to see us really holding that trophy, man, and the city back on fire, man. Uh, even when I left, man, in 2015 and come back to the city when we lost in the playoffs when I was in Minnesota and I came back, man, just to see how happy you guys was. Uh, just to see I even came to the Arizona game, man. Like, for real, cuz I wanted to support y’all, my boys. Yeah. And just to see how happy y’all guys was and how the city of Charlotte was on fire, you know, no matter where you went, man, everybody seemed like they was having a good time and, you know, everybody seemed like they was just so happy about, you know, what the team was producing and things like that, man. So, I want us five years from now to have have one of those trophies, man. That’s blessings, dog. I hope we have them trophies, too. And I think we on the right path. Yes, sir. Dan Morgan and Dave Canelas and the Carolina Panthers. I feel like they are back, man. Yeah. And I’m going to go out there and just say it. They back. We winning 10 games. We going to the playoffs, ladies and I told people, listen. So, so on my podcast, D, that we say things like, so one week, um, I said, “All right, my the my one of my co-hosts, he told me, go against the Panthers.” He’s like, “Let’s go get the Panthers and see what happened.” They won. So, ever since then, I had to go against the Panthers, right? And people be like, “Oh man, you’re not with us.” I said, “If you watch the show, you will see.” I’m trying to I’m trying to really I want us to win. You’re doing your part. You doing your part. Cuz soon as if I pick us, that feel I feel like we might lose. So, hey, I got to do what I need to do. Yeah, man. So, you picking the Saints this weekend. It’s going to be tough to do it, but I guess I have to because we got to win, bro. We gotta win, bro. I love it, man. You a man of the people. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Mland Chambers, head football coach. Four and four. Got playoffs this weekend. Wish them luck. Show up to the show up to the game, right? Hey man, we playing. Hey man, we playing two and a half hours away. St. Steve, if you live in that area, where y’all playing at? Where y’all playing at? Oh, Pinerest, man. We got to go up. Oh, Pinerest. They got some good golf courses out there. I knew you was going to say that. But look, ladies and gentlemen, if you in that area, please show up for Captain Munan and his Chambers High School football team as they make their journey to become hopefully champions. Um, I think I hope I I hope to see that that opportunity, man, because that would be a beautiful story for you uh and just the Carolinas in general, dog. Yes, sir, man. I appreciate that, Ste. Thanks for having me, bro. And make sure you um make sure you hit Charles Johnson in the stomach. All right, dog. I appreciate this. Ste and the crew. Thanks for listening. Uh tune in to the next episode. Like, share, subscribe, do all those things. We out. Yes, sir. [Music]

This week on Stew and the Crew, J-Stew is joined by Panther legend, Captain Munnerlyn to praise the way Dave Canales has handled the RB situation, talk about how much they hate the Saints, react to the Panthers 5-4 start, reflect on how “Keep Pounding” has impacted their lives, and so much more!

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