Carolina Panthers preparing for the bright lights of primetime on Monday Night Football

Carolina Panthers preparing for the bright lights of primetime on Monday Night Football

Uh, Carolina Panthers play on Monday. It is a Monday night football game on the West Coast playing against San Fran. Uh, Christian McAffrey will be involved in that contest. Um, it’s actually, no, yesterday we did a whole theme show, so we’re not doing the whole theme today, but it could be, uh, reunions, relationships, all that kind of stuff because, uh, Nikolai Eer’s going back up against the the Jets in Winnipeg or the Canes. uh Christian McCaffrey going back up against the Panthers. Like there’s there’s these kind of I don’t even know. Speaking of good relationships, I would I don’t know if I’d describe either of those as a revenge game. No. Like both kind of seemed cordialish. Uh uh Chris McCaffry’s done a lot of talking this week about you know the whirlwind of the trade week and it happened on a Thursday night so he didn’t get to say good uh goodbye to his teammates and everything and he liked his time in Carolina but he’s he’s in happy that he’s been out in San Fran and all of these these other opportunities. Um, I don’t know if there’s bad blood as much as like an appreciation for what was Yeah. with both Eers and the Jets and with McCaffrey and the uh the Ners, but that might even be more confusing to deal with. How so? Like if somebody goes full James Harden and like tanks your team internally trying to force a trade and then you play against him a couple years later, it’s like everybody is very much on just the level with what it like we want to destroy that person. Uh we don’t like them. We feel like they cost us something. Yeah. hate that guy. When when Christian McCaffrey like does his best for the Panthers and a front office that is no longer here, traded him away for too little, it’s kind of like now I still like that guy, right? Like I I want to beat him, but I like him. He He did what he could for us. It’s like more conflicting emotions than just that guy’s the worst. I want to beat him by a hundred. If he if he comes over the middle, we’re taking his head off. Like it’s it’s a different beast there. Yeah. McCaffrey brought it every single day. Exactly. So it’s like I mean we still want to win but you know and not not even to to mention there’s not a ton of guys that he played with left. Oh it’s very few. They’ve turned the roster over which happens when you get new coaches and new front office and everything but it’s I mean it’s only the names you know. It’s Derrick Brown, JC Horn like were very young is kind of right at the end there. Um it’s Taylor Motton. Um Ianuanu was very young. Yeah he was a rookie when that happened. I think Brady Christensen was on the team right now. Some more roleplayery guys. Austin Corbett, JJ Jansen, Chuba Hubard, uh Chuba Hubard is probably the one that has like, you know, they’re in the same running back room. They they probably have a unique relationship, but uh Yeah, but that’s it. But man, my point is it’s not, you know, the same as uh, you know, you saw Cooper Cup for Seattle playing against the Rams this year and it’s like that’s more he knew everybody there and he probably feels a little replaced by Devonte Adams. Like uh Christian McAffrey also dealt with watching the Panthers struggle after he left, which every athlete will tell you feels a little good. Oh, you missed me, huh? Oh, look at that. Your running and passing games are struggling without me. Maybe you should have had the guy that could do both. Uh, so anyway, there’s that going on. I also, uh, looking at Monday Night Football, right, and this is obviously like the real look ahead stuff, right? Monday, tune into the show. We’ll be much more dialed in with matchups and who’s healthy and who’s not and and and all of that. Uh, but I want to I want to talk to the Panther fans because we talk about Bryce Young a ton. Everybody does. Uh, and you you can’t help but get into the debates about is he the guy moving forward? Is he the future of the quarterback position? Should you extend him the the uh long-term contract? Should you pick up the fifth year option? Was the one game an aberration? Right? All of those debates we have had, we will have, will continue to have. There’s also a new coach, right? Dave Canales, for all that he is with the Panthers, uh he is a secondyear head coach, uh he is learning, right? I’ve I’ve made the point a few times that uh like every time we give uh uh Bryce Young the like, oh, he’s young, he’s going to make mistakes excuse, there’s also as many of those for Dave Canales, right? He wasn’t calling timeouts. He wasn’t running uh the the special teams decisions and wasn’t overlooking a defense until uh last year and and and this year is is obviously hopefully an improvement and I think it has been. Uh but if you’re looking for who he can be, right? Uh if we’re doing the comps thing, right, when we’re talking NFL draft, what do we do? Nobody is uh it’s nobody’s just a player who’s like we evaluate them for what they are. It’s all He reminds me a bit of Dan Fouts with the running of of uh it’s always something ridiculous with like Tyler Thigpen’s mobility, right? We we have to Frankenstein these players together. Uh, if I’m looking for a Dave Canales high-end comp, football specific, I think Kyle Shanahan is that, right? If you’re looking for a high-end what he could be, coach, it’s kind of Kyle Shanahan and if we were to Frankenstein somebody together, it’s like Kyle Shanahan with the temperament and optimism of Pete Carol. Uh, like you you rather than the gruff, sarcastic, gosh, why did you ask me that dumb question feeling of Kyle Shanahan, you get the I’m so glad you asked me that question. I would love to tell you more about how much I love football of Pete Carol. But from a football perspective, what is Kyle Shanahan known for? His bonafides. He gets the most out of his offensive skill positions. Oh yeah. Uh, get the most out of any quarterback playing for him, too. The quarterback doesn’t have to be a super alien athlete. Yeah, that’s where I’m looking at Dave Canales and saying your high-end comp is Shanahan. Brock Pury is not height, weight, speed, impressive, right? Like I don’t I don’t know if he was the uh the guy doing the windmill dunks at his high school dunk contest. You know what I mean? Uh Bryce Young is not height, weight, speed, measurables, an unbelievable athlete. Yeah, Kyle Shanahan had it was probably a Brock Pery injury away from having that team in the Super Bowl, right? Remember, actually, ironically, Christian McCaffrey ended up playing quarterback in that game. Yeah. Uh and then he was handing it off one-handed and doing all this this weird stuff because Brock Pury got hurt. Um Kyle Shanahan did make it to a Super Bowl with Jimmy Garopolo. Again, not the height, weight, speed, it’s not Lamar Jackson, it’s not Josh Allen, it’s not the highlight guys. They just scheme open their players in a way that makes their offense dynamic without the super dynamic quarterback. That’s what you have to do if you’re if you’re Dave Canales. You have to take Bryce and say, “We’re going to get the most out of Tedo McMillan, the most out of uh uh Rico Dowel, the most out of the players you have.” And you don’t have to have Bryce Young being Josh Allen, right? You don’t have And Josh Allen’s a bad example because he did not have a good game last night. Uh, but I’m talking Josh Allen, the MVP of last year. Yeah. Or Lamar Jackson MVP of the year before. Like, he doesn’t have to be that when your your offensive coach is so schemed up and so in tune and so cutting edge. Uh, you want a guy that just makes good decisions, executes the offense, gets you in and out of uh, you know, bad situations and and and everything else. So, like I’m I’m looking at this game and saying all eyes are going to be on Monday Night Football because they always are. There is a bit I believe hopefully one day the Panthers can be what’s on the other sideline um from an extended standpoint. I’m not saying you look up to them like you know some JV looking up to the varsity like oh boy it’s so cool just to see them play but if you look at what the the Niners have been the last five six seven eight years they’re pretty consistently playoff team they’re in a Super Bowl window that kind of opens and closes you know year in and year out. They’ve had some weird down years. Uh, but I think that’s where the Panthers want to get and and if you’re going to have success with Bryce Young, you need Dave Canales to be that level of a play caller because he’s never going to be the guy that, you know, breaks records as a running quarterback or is throwing it into windows the size of of a mailbox 50 yards downfield. Question is though with Canales is that how long do you take or do you give him to get to even somewhere near that level? Because let’s not forget that Kyle Shanahan was an offensive coordinator in several spots before becoming a head coach. Dave Canalis called plays for one year before becoming a head coach. And and and you know that’s probably the same flaw with like draft comps. Yeah. you you look at uh Tai Simpson who’s played like nine games with Alabama uh and and that’s all the film we have and we’re going to comp him to you know Kirk Cousins with more mobility and it’s like well Kirk Cousins he didn’t even start as a rookie right and took a couple years he developed and he wasn’t established and then he was the you like that like you know Ty Simpson might take some time and and Canalis might as well here’s the thing and here’s a a you know lesson for athletes and coaches and politicians out there. You don’t have to answer the question asked. You can say whatever you want. You ask me, how long is it going to take? My answer is if you think he’s eventually going to be Kyle Shanahan, you wait as long as it takes. Like I think he’s one of those level coaches. Uh, and if you have to eat some like weird fourth down decisions or you have to eat some weird like I thought that was going to be schemed open but instead we just, you know, went three and out on three incompletions when we had to uh, you know, run the clock would have made sense. If you have to eat some of that to eventually have a Kyle Shanahan level play caller running your team. Mhm. I think you eat that because it’s it’s that much of an advantage, especially because he’s your head coach and you don’t anticipate him leaving. There’s nothing more frustrating for me as as a NFL fan or as you know, I play fantasy if one of my guys are on a team to see an offensive coordinator just click with a with a team where the quarterback understands him. He’s getting the most out of his players and then he goes and takes a head coaching job somewhere else and I’m like, “No, basically what the Lions are going through right now.” Uh, right. Ben Johnson was awesome. Now he’s the head coach somewhere else and it’s like, goodness gracious, that won’t happen with Dave Canal, right? He’s a head coach. If things are going well, if things are improving, he ain’t going anywhere. So, if you have one of those ones, I think you let it rock. Uh, which by the way, that fourth fourth down attempts comment there was not random. Uh, this stat surprised the heck out of me. This is just a fun fact for Panther fans out there. All right. Right now, the Panthers lead the league in fourth down conversion attempts. They have gone for it. Left their offense on the field, showed confidence in the group more just quantity than anyone else in the NFL. 27 fourth down attempts this season. Uh what have they played? 11 games. 11 games. So you’re right. I mean, you’re over two a game. Yeah. Uh two and change. Giants second and 25th. Jaguars 23rd. Lions also 23rd. So they’re tied there. Uh Chiefs, Colts, Browns 21. But uh but the Panthers are the most aggressive team on fourth down this year. And we’ve seen the Panthers go for it even like first quarter. Like hey, we’re at the 47 yd line. It’s fourth and one. Go for it. And that could be motivated by a bunch of different things. It could be they just so happen to get a lot of fourth and half of yards and you’re obviously more likely to go for it on fourth and super short than fourth and nine. Could be because they were so runheavy. I three runs is probably more likely to leave you in a second and short or fourth and short, excuse me, than three passes, right? Because three passes could leave you incomplete or you pick up the first quicker. Uh or how about this? You know, dime store uh therapist. How many times did we scream about you have to show confidence in Bryce Young, you have to show confidence in Bryce Young, which I think in play calling, it’s not like front of mind, right? You’re just trying to call the play that you think’s going to work. Uh, which is where I think the lack of confidence was shown up until this last week. But fourth down going for it is very much like, no, I said before the game, I’m going to show confidence in Bryce. That’s it’s like more yes, no, than it is like shades of gray. uh like all those little fourth and fours that he completed to Hunter Renfro or Bryson Tmaine or whoever it was. Those could have been conscious I said before the game I’m going to show confidence in Bryce Young. This is how I do it. And then you know the play calls that were all run plays and short passes and nothing downfield were more of his subconscious going I’m not actually that confident in him. Like his conscious was being trying to force himself to be confident when his subconscious wasn’t. I think it’s also some of it’s a byproduct as well is that this team has gone on a lot of game-winning field goal drives late in game. So, you have to go for it on four. So, they’ve been in that situation. But the fact that at 27 I me I I’m love just the aggressive mindset in general. Like that’s just I was actually thinking about it last night watching the first half of the Thursday night football game is that you know if I’m especially if I’m a you know a quarterback like Josh Allen or whomever it might be. So if if I’m at second and one and I’m at my opponent’s 43 yard line, I’m already thinking I’m in four down territory at second and one because I’m like that’s a long that’s like a 60 yard field goal, but punting I might only net 20 yards. I’m already in four down mindset at second and one at the opponent’s 43. So you know what I’m going to do? Play action deep shot and I might even throw the ball again on third down because I trust I’m going to pick it up fourth and one. Uh do you know who you sound like? Who and this is a compliment? Greg Olsen. Greg Olsen, who I respect that who he he’s done, and you can go find it on online. I’ve listened to it. He’s done some really deep dives into uh basically hating field goals. Uh I I heard the conversation he had with Ryan Rillo about it. Yeah. Uh hating field goals. He’s he’s done it a few different ways. Um he doesn’t like taking the points. Basically, the only field goals he like are like fourth and a mile. Uh so it’s fourth and 26 and you’re at the the 42 yard line, kick it. And game-winning field goals. Other than that, with how far the kickoff is now returned or taken out on touchbacks, uh, three points, but almost putting your opponent in the edge of field goal territory by giving them the ball back is kind of a net, you know, one point gain on uh on on the big scale. Meanwhile, a touchdown is obviously worth more. So, I do think you’ll start seeing less and less field goals. Uh, but more and more high leverage field goals and more and more Brandon Aubrey field goals where you’re kicking at 7,000 miles. That helps.

Tim Donnelly & Dennis Cox discuss the Carolina Panthers’ upcoming primetime matchup with the San Francisco 49ers and former Panther Christian McCaffrey.

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