How Do The Carolina Panthers Beat The Miami Dolphins? + Carolina Hurricanes Not Signing Michael M…

How Do The Carolina Panthers Beat The Miami Dolphins? + Carolina Hurricanes Not Signing Michael M…

Move your sports day forward. It’s next up with Paul IHander on 999 the fan. It’s a Friday, Friday, October 3rd, 2025. Good morning everybody. Paul Wanderer with you. Alex Gibson this morning on the ones and twos. Alex, you hear from time to time. It’s good to have him back in the chairs as always. What do I want to do on a day like this? Let’s go. Let’s go. Boy, I got all kinds of craziness. And on October 3rd, and by the way, for those of you who know, we’ve been spending a lot of time with Aaron these days. And in October 3rd, he asked me what day it was. He said October 3rd. Uh, also if you’re a Taylor Swift fan, uh, you got to enjoy the, uh, dropping of her new album. Listen, we got to touch on pop culture moments, uh, for the sheer fact that when it comes to, uh, pop culture moments and Taylor Swift, it also comes with a big helping of Travis Kelce. And so, she wrote an entire song about their relationship. And I mean, you know, that’s exciting for those of you who stayed up. But I know there’s kids in the car, right? I totally get it. I mean, you’re you’re riding along. You’re probably going to school. Drop off. School starts at like 9:15 for some of you. And they’re they’ve been they’ve been up since 6:00 this morning, boopping along to Diary of a Showgirl. And so, good for you. Good for you. I think the album is good. It’s not fantastic, but it’s good. And it’s very typical Taylor. So, if you’re a Swifty, you made it to the finish line. And there’s another one coming. I guarantee you after this, after she provides uh a love song after their wedding. So, enjoy the moment. We got lots of great moments coming your way in hopes in hopes that the Carolina Panthers can get things moving. Yeah, this is where I’m starting, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, days and this is this is where we’re starting. Carolina Panthers, where really in a lot of cases, let’s wipe the slate clean as much as we possibly can. And I know that’s going to be difficult for a lot of folks. I know that wiping the slate clean and trying to find some good vibes and trying to find any sort of positivity has been incredibly challenging. And I’m not about to like color it all positive and happy for you cuz I’m not sure I could do the same thing. Like I don’t think for me I could do an amazing amount of convincing to you to suggest that the Carolina Panthers are a better team today than they were after they came off the field last Sunday in Foxboro. I don’t think I could convince myself of that to be fair. A lot of that some of that has to do with injuries. Some of that has to do with some of the messaging that we’ve heard this past week out of the locker room. And it’s not always about speculation from our end. It really isn’t. It’s not about us going, “Hey, you know, if this thing happens, if this thing happens, if this thing happens, you’re hearing it straight from the hor’s mouths.” You’re hearing it straight from Dave Canal. You’re hearing it from the team. Injuries are beating this team up. There’s no doubt about it. Injury report yesterday, Chuba Hubard sat again, second straight day. They called them dayto day. That’s just what it is. Javon Sanders also JT Sanders also did not uh go limited for DJ Wam limited for or not out for Terson Warren out Shia Smith Wait I’m like you’re already thin at 55 53 whatever you want to call it because you’re they’ve moved some practice squad guys around cut a couple guys this week like this has been kind of the um I you know I’m really good at analogies and the only one I can come up with is if we’re trying to pull a yatsi and we’ve got a couple of twos down, but we know that to get the yatsi, we got to roll three more dice. And we just keep tumbling the dice on the Yeah, let’s just roll again. See how many points we can get. I’m like, that’s that’s not a strategy. That’s just luck. And you hope that as the Panthers have gone through this week to get ready to take on Miami, who also remains a one and a half point favorite in this football game, that they are relying a little bit more on strategy than they are about luck. And I want to say there is some strategy being in play, but it sounds like the same kind of execution is going to have to happen again and again and again. And I’m not sure it’s going to be strategy that wins them again against Miami. Miami coming off the win as we know on Monday over the New York Jets in which they lost Tyreek Hill in which they have anointed even though they’re pretty open about the fact that Tyreek Hill kind of wasn’t the number one receiver in that locker room just just based on performance the last year and a half like he has struggled like struggled finding a role in the offense struggled just kind of with himself more than anything else. So Jaylen Wadd’s going to step in and Achain’s going to step in and they’ve got a a a rejuvenated Darren Waller, which is great for the Miami Dolphins, but really bad news for this Panthers linebacking core because Waller is a physical dude. I saw him in Vegas when he first came into the league and he tore that up. And so you hope that there’s a plan. God, see use that word hope, right? Hope is not a strategy. you want a plan for this team. And I keep telling myself, I’m like, this is a challenge to find a way to convince you that the Carolina Panthers can win this football game when many of you have checked out now. And I was lamenting the fact a couple of weeks ago that some were out there suggesting, and remember the Carolina Panthers were the darlings, the darlings of the unsung. This is the team that’s going to sneak up on folks. I’m like, the only way they’re going to sneak up on folks now is the fact that they are the underdog and everything that they do moving forward in the next couple of weeks, regardless of outcome, would be considered an upset. And that’s crazy to say going into a game at home against the Miami Dolphins, but I don’t know if I can convince you. I’m not sure if I could within my heart of hearts say that this is a team that’s capable of getting another victory tonight. And you’re all going to have your ideas. I promise you. And I’m gonna have my own, too. Rico Dattle, by the way, Rico Dattle talked yesterday to the media, talked about what he sees from the Dolphins defense. Guys, uh, physical. They got a lot of playmakers. You know, they got Bradley Chub, uh, number 15, Minka Fitzpatrick back there. They added this off seasonason. Um, but, you know, they got a lot of playmakers, um, on that defensive side of the ball, but they’ve definitely given up some stuff on the ground game. So, definitely want to take advantage of that. Okay. And if you happen to be the man, Rico Dattle, like you know, you know the job. You know the role. It’s going to be more also carriers for ETN who knows the role and knows the job. Like there’s a reason why you were professional athletes. There’s a reason why you’re on this football team. They see something in you. It would be great if they could just decide kind of on one and a two-headed running back for the amount of money that’s being paid. And yes, I’m going to go back to paycheck on this one. the amount of money that’s being paid to Chuba Hubard and it sucks that he’s hasn’t been able to practice. Like he should be the one back, but this is what you pay Rico Dadd 6 mill for. You all right, dude. Let’s run it out there. You’re going to be the guy. I hope that it’s just a one back system at this point. Let him get his reps because everything that D has shown has shown that he can get that work done. Like he can tote the mail and he knows he can tote the mail. He did it for a thousand yards last year for the Dallas Cowboys. But he’s only one cog in this crazy machine that is the Carolina Panthers. Are there fixes coming on defense? I don’t know. I mean, I would hope that something will suggest that they can stop Tua in whatever Tua does. And Tua is so confident. Like, it doesn’t matter what we think. Like, he throws shade right back at what y’all think about the Miami Dolphins. He throws it right back at you. They know they’re capable of doing a lot more. They have underachieved much like the Panthers. But the difference is the difference is is that sometimes when you’re out there, it looks like you’re just kind of checking in. Like when the Panthers just go out there and go to work, they’re checking in. And at the end of that New England game, and it may have been pretty much that second half, they were just clocking in, clocking out. It was like, h, do we need points? Yeah, I mean, we could use some points. I mean, but we’re already down 42 to6. All right, let’s run out Andy Dalton, see what we can get. I’m like, that’s mopup duty. Mop-up duty in a loss is the worst kind. That’s cleaning up the puke after you just clean the toilet. And that’s the puke on the floor. And right now, the play makes you want to throw up, doesn’t it? It makes you want to throw up. Here’s the problem right now with this football team. One of the many issues with this football team right now, the Carolina Panthers. Here’s Dave Canales yesterday speaking about Bryce Young and talking about the idea that he is still developing chemistry. I’ve seen a lot of confidence, a lot of confident play. I believe that this is a group that’s continuing to try to find chemistry. Of course, beyond T-Mac, who we seem be a viable target for him and in some other guys kind of flashed for us in different ways. But finding that rhythm, finding that chemistry is really critical and it it starts in practice and just making sure we’re continuing to throw the right concepts, give the put the guys in position to be successful in routes that they can really execute, you know, and uh this week is is a little bit different now because we’re getting Xavier back and, you know, Jimmy Horn’s getting ready to play, you know, but we’ve gotten to see Bryson Tmaine in a certain role. So, um just continuing to find ways, you know, to to see how we can use Bryson as well. He said there’s this is the one thing about a coach and I and I call Dave Canalis the golden retriever, right? He has been more positive than negative more than anything else. But sometimes that positive spin turns into be a negative. And throughout that entire comment from Dave Canales, he kept using the word we. We’ve got to get him in the right routes. We’ve got to get these guys in the right position in the right ways to make sure they can be productive. He kept using the word we. But Dave Canales, the way the Carolina Panthers offensive system is set up, and this is no fault of anybody, but it does have to be the sword that the head coach has to just slide a little bit deeper into the abdomen. He is the play caller. So when he talks about we and we getting these guys into better positions, it is him. It is nobody else. And he’s talking about well, he’s already figured it out with T-Mac. You have according to yourselves and according to many of us and according to fans and according to popular belief, right? Because it is the popular belief of the masses that gets things done. It is not about fact. So we have to agree on that. It is the popular belief that this was a deep wide receiver room and that they would be able to get through things like this. This is what this team was built for. When you start seeing guys fall off by the wayside and all of a sudden you look at your wide receiver room and man it got thin real quick. IR IR cuts. IR IR. He’s excited about getting Xavier Leette back. I hope Xavier Legette can actually turn on any jet sweep that’s called for him. You know what jet sweep is when you can’t make it to the corner? A loss of two. That’s all it is. That’s all that jet sweep is. And Jimmy Horn’s going to play it. And I hope Jimmy Horn I said this yesterday. I hope Jimmy Horn balls out because they said he was one of the dogs. Like this the guys on the team say he’s a dog. He’s got that dog in him. And I’m like, the problem was he’s been locked in the damn kennel and the pound for the last four weeks. Healthy dog. Nothing wrong with the dog. He’s looking up at that camera, right? You see all those photos of those dogs at the local shelters and stuff around here. He’s looking up at the camera. Go, someone, please adopt me. Someone look at me. I’m good boy. I’m trained. I’m potty trained. I say sit. I go fetch. I will fetch you anything. I will fetch you a win. and it took injuries to get him into the lineup. So, what does that tell you about this team that maybe all the guys were all pretty much at the same level and for them to get a win at Miami and this is where we dive into what we call the Panthers paw print. The Panthers paw print is presented by Wake Orthopedics. It’s our two keys to getting you a win. And I will ask my producer Alex Gibson to chime in on this as well because I know he’s got some thoughts for sure. But for me in terms of the Carolina Panthers trying to get a win, it’s about getting something unexpected from somebody unexpected. And that’s going to have to be from that receiving crew. Dave Canal just said Ted McMillan and and Bryce Young can hook up all they want. So Bryce Young’s going to have to hook up with somebody else. Not in a bad way, in the best way. And I’m hoping to be honest that it’s Hunter Refro. That Hunter Refro when I saw him play in Las Vegas when he was with the Raiders and I advocated for his return to the NFL. And I’m absolutely glad that it came with the Carolina Panthers that he needs more than three targets. He needs about seven because you know Miamiy’s best defenders are going to be loaded on T-Mac. T-Mac earned that nickname. So he’s got to go somewhere else. It’s not about building a package for Leette. It’s not about building a package for Jimmy Horn, which is what was said by the Carolina Panthers coaching staff this past week. It is about getting the one guy that was supposed to be the least durable on this entire team to get more looks. And I think for me, I think to help your team out knowing that Chuba Hubard might not be a go either is that you got to get somebody else involved in that offense. And it’s Hunter Refro for me. Alex Gibson, what do you think? What’s it going to take for the Panthers to get over the one and a half point underdog status that they have on Sunday? Well, offensively, if they’re if the if the Dolphins are trying to win the game, they’re going to be trying to get the ball to Devon Aan, Jaylen Wadd, because obviously you have Tyreek Hill out. So, I think you want to you want to turn to a into a quarterback. You want to turn him into a passer. I’m I’m not a big to a guy personally. So, I want I want him throwing the ball. I don’t want Devon Han running it. I don’t want him I want to keep him away from screen passes. I want to make Tu throw the ball and turn the ball over. I think they’ve played I think only one game this season Tu hasn’t turned the ball over. So if you could turn offense into defense, defense into offense, you can get a win. Improvisation, right? Tua Tua thrives on some of that stuff, but if you could take away some of the options, he becomes a lot less effective. I agree with you there. Absolutely. The Carolina Panthers and the Miami Dolphins. I I I don’t know if Alex and I were able to convince you that that’s going to happen. They they beat the Jets. I’m a Jet fan, so there it’s I wouldn’t buy too much into into the Dolphins, but obviously Carolina’s been pretty inconsistent this year. 30-0 against the Falcons, and then you go 42 and six against the Patriots. So, which Panthers are we really looking at? Truth. You know, Bryce Young has one more passing yard than Tua. One more. And one fewer interception. That’s the difference between these two quarterbacks. Well, I’m sorry I said that then. and maybe and maybe a maybe a few uh maybe a few uh rushing yards as well, which we know two is a little bit better at that than that. All right, 1:00 kickoff uh from Bank of America Stadium. You can listen to that game noon pregame on our family station, Mix 101.5. Again, 1:00 kickoff Miami and Carolina. Our Panthers paw print, which presents you the keys to getting a win, is brought to you by Wake Orthopedics, your winning team for orthopedic care. Proudly serving the triangle with multiple locations. Find your location at wake ortho.com. All right, Paul Ehander here for FanDuel. Hey folks, if you’re ready to fire up your Saturdays, that is tomorrow. FanDuel’s got a boost you don’t want to miss. It is called Boosting with the Boys. It’ll give you a college football profit boost, and it does so every single week. Here’s how it goes. Each week, you get a profit boost to use on College Football. No opt-in gymnastics, no invite only nonsense. Everyone will score the boost. That’s a heck of a way to start out your Saturday, right? Real teams and real games with an extra payout on the line. Some good matchups coming up this weekend. Looking forward to that Miami Florida State clash Saturday night. It’s easy, it’s fun, and it’s only on FanDuel. Visit fanuel.com/paul p a l. Download your app, check out the boosting with the boys offer, and get in on the action. 21 plus and present in North Carolina. Optin required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms at sportsbook.fanuel. fanduel.com. Gambling problem. Call 8777185543 or visit more than aame.nc.gov. All right, coming up next, the Canes for some of you very happy about this. They’re walking away from what you called unwanted help. Next up on 999 the fan. I’m Alex Gibson with three things you need to know right now from 999 the fan. The remaining three MLB wild card series were decided in game threes yesterday. The Detroit Tigers defeated the Guardians 6-3 to advance. The Yankees shut out the Red Sox 4 and the Cubs shut down the Padres’s and came away with a 3-1 victory to clinch the series. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Los Angeles Rams 26-23 in overtime last night. The 49ers pulled off the upset win while missing many offensive weapons, including starting quarterback Brock Birdie and star tight end George KD. Duke men’s basketball coach John Shier signed a six-year contract exp extension that will keep him with the program through the 2030 2031 season. The deal comes after Shire led Duke to a final four appearance in 2025 and compiled an 8922 record over his first three seasons, including two ACC tournament titles. Find these stories and more on wportsfan.com. [Music] Yeah, she’s back. Taylor dropped a new album. So, you get a little bit of a break from whatever it is you’ve been jamming to and it’ll be Taylor all over the place. By the way, the Cooper Flag in Alex’s update, Cooper Flag is the new poster child, or I guess he’s I guess you could call him the cover athlete, the cover athlete for uh Tops basketball card, the new series for the 2025 season, the new one that’s coming out. Uh Cooper Flag right in front of it with his new Dallas Mavericks uniform on it, which is not strange to see. It’s a little bit. It’s still blue, right? It’s still blue. There’s that. Paulander, not blue as in You know what? You know what I mean. You know what I mean. Get your heads out of the gutter. Paulander with you. Alex Gibson, uh, producing today. Appreciate Alex’s efforts this morning. Um, so late last night around 9:00 Eastern time, news dropped in. For those of you waking up to it this morning and have been ringing your hands and calling your friends and marching on whatever it is you march on and signing online petitions and online petitions don’t mean anything to be fair, y’all. I mean it it’s great for performative art, but an actual action does speak a little bit louder. I’m saying I’m not discounting an online petition, but you know, it’s what it is. Uh, the Carolina Hurricanes reportedly will not be signing either Michael Mloud or Carter Hart. Mloud and Hart were part of a trial in Canada that involved the alleged assault of a woman. They were found not guilty of this assault. And those two along with three other hockey players were eligible for signing contracts in the NHL and reinstatement to play in the NHL. the more attractive of the of the two just in terms of playing style. I want to be very clear. Carter Hart as a goalender, Carter Hart will sign somewhere else in the NHL. Right now, it looks like it’ll be the Vegas Golden Knights. That is where all the signs are being pointed to for Carter Hart. Michael Mloud, a center in his mid to late I think he’s 28, 27, 28, uh could find another spot in the NHL. It’s unclear. could end up playing overseas, which is where one of the other uh players are right now. But that is where you’re at. So, you got what you got. Now, if you’re going to stand on your actions, those of you who threatened to cancel season tickets or those of you who already canceled season tickets, you need to go get them back. You don’t have an excuse now. You have to go back. Also, if you’re going to stand on it, Carter Hart, Michael Mloud, you don’t get to say that they made good plays at any point, even if it’s spectacular. And on Sports Center top 10, you don’t get that. You also don’t get to not boo them when they come here. You get to voice your displeasure every time they come. And you have to do it with full throat. That is the followup that has to happen to this. You don’t get a relief and then go, “Oh, thank God it’s done.” No, you have to follow up. You have to keep pushing forward on this. If you’re going to stand on your moral principles when it comes to sports, then it has to be across the board. And it can’t just be with this Hurricanes team, which clearly understood that they were facing a nightmare when it came to answering questions and the heat that some of the players are taking across the NHL. And it’s not their fault. It’s not their fault. I want to be clear about that, too. If a player stands and says, “Hey, we’re a locker room and we’re going to bring in who we’re going to bring in.” It is not our choice who gets to bring in. Now, it’s not always about Rudy, right? We don’t get to take the jersey, put it on Rod Bindmore’s desk, or put it on Eric Tolski’s desk and say, “Yeah, this is for Carter. This is for Michael.” This is not the real world. That is the movies. If a player is introduced into a locker room, the players have tried to embrace it as much as possible. You saw it earlier this year with a gentleman by the name of Miko Rantin. They tried. They tried their best. And if you ask any one of those guys in that locker room, they tried and it just didn’t work. And there’s some hard feelings about that one still. And there should be. There should be a lot of hard feelings about that. But you got to stand on it because this is what it is. And it’s not their fault for the reactions to what they made. regardless if it was a past experience and Jordan Stall is the name that’s out there. I’m not gonna hide that from anybody. Jordan Stall came out and said, “Hey, they they made mistakes. They got to have their careers. They’re going to do what they’re going to do.” And some of you like, “Oh, we’re not going to forget that. We’re not going to forget that.” It’s not Jordan Stall that makes that decision. The NHL players have a players association. And the players association has to play by the rules as do the NHL franchises. There will be another player that you will not like that will try to or be rumored to or whatever it is that will come here and you may have the same guttural reaction. And I’m not here to say whether it’s right or it’s wrong. But if you do it now, you have to consistently do it moving forward. And not just with this team. And you cannot blame the Hurricanes team for kicking the tires on guys that they have to kick the tires on. They’re required to. It is an agreement between the teams and an agreement with the players association. They have to at least make the call. They can say they’re not going to sign them at some certain point and they could come out and say that now. Eric Tolski could walk out here on Wade Avenue with a bullhorn and actually say this out loud. Right now, we haven’t heard that from the organization. Maybe that would be the seal the deal for a lot of folks out there because it’s like, “Oh, thank goodness. Woo! Sweat. Oh, now we can just focus on the team and the regular season and making sure that Jacob Slavven, the 40th rated player in the NHL right now, and Sebastian Ao, the 31st player in the NHL right now, stay healthy and don’t slide. They don’t slide with their new linemates in Nicolage Eers and Seth Jarvis. They don’t slide with a new partner on defense because it’s not Brent Burns that you don’t see that slide. That’s the stuff you now get to worry about. But as you’re waking up today, for those of you who again are cheering this and rightfully so cheer, feel the way you want to feel about it. It does. It’s not angry from me. This is not an anger thing. But I want to make sure that that anger now is channeled into different places as you start reading the things that are being talked about about your team. how this team in the worst case scenario when the regular season starts next Thursday may find themselves out of the playoffs because of the moves that they made and not because of the moves that they made or didn’t make. There’s where you have it. The Canes play tomorrow. It’s their final preseason game taking on the Nashville Predators. Predators have two wins in the preseason. The Carolina Hurricanes have one. Not a lot going here except everybody just stay healthy. Four o’clock puck drop live tomorrow from Nashville. Radio only call at 3:30 in the afternoon with Adam Gold and Storm Watch. Again, Mike and Trip will be on the call. All right, coming up next, we do have a very special guest for us. The golf community here in the Triangle is coming together along with others throughout the world and they’re going to come to Raleigh on Monday to recognize a community issue and honor a friend at the same time. That’s next up on 999 the fam.

Paul Ihander and Alex Gibson discuss how the Panthers matchup with the Dolphins and the Canes not signing Michael McLeod or Carter Hart.

The Carolina Panthers are set to face the Miami Dolphins this weekend at home. The Panthers are dealing with a number of injuries, including running back Chuba Hubbard (calf), tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders (ankle) and more which could impact their game plan and overall performance. The Dolphins are also facing significant challenges, most notably the loss of star wide receiver Tyreek Hill for the season due to a dislocated knee with ligament damage. How can the Panthers win this game? Will they?

The Carolina Hurricanes are not signing Michael McLeod or Carter Hart. How should Canes feel? How does this affect the Hurricanes? The Carolina Hurricanes play their final preseason game tomorrow at 4PM before their season opener against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, October 9.

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