7 and 10, Chris. I’m predicting 7 and 10 as we go into week one. I want it on the record. I’m predicting 7 and 10. Hm. Oh we’re on the record. OK. I think you’re right, but just to do something different than you, something a little bit more positive, go on, because I don’t want to go lower. I say 8 and 9. OK, let’s go. I hope Chris is right and I’m wrong. Let’s go. Let’s get this sucker started. Get dialed in Panthers fans. Here comes an in-depth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let’s huddle up for Panthers Playbook. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panther’s Playbook. That’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cox here with you. Let us know in the comments. Put it on record. What’s the record for the Panthers this season? 710, 89. That’s what I predicted and Chris predicted respectively. Maybe you’re thinking 9 and 8, 10 and 7. Let us know. And also let us know your thoughts on how the season starts this Sunday against the, against the Jags in Jacksonville, Chris. And I’m intrigued to see this Sunday. Against Jacksonville, what the play calling for Dave Canalas is gonna look like because obviously Adam Thielen got traded. Jalen Coker, the guy that was set to slide into his position out with the injury, those two guys had different skill set than Hunter Rembro. Just the, their body types, the what they can do. The skill sets are just different. I’m intrigued to see how Dave Canales adjusts his play calling or or just the game plan going into week one with no feeling, no Coker, and then Hunter Remfro in that slot role. And also how many snaps can Renfro play? Are we gonna see more two tight end sets cause you also have Tommy Trimble coming back into the mix as well. I, I really am curious to see what this offensive game plan is gonna look like because again, let’s not forget, you got a rookie in Tenttarola McMillan starting out there too. Yeah, it’s a lot of moving parts. There’s a lot that needs to be proven, um, you know, with this, uh, wide receiving cops, with this team in general. Um, I will be interested in seeing like how Canalus uses the different parts. Uh, we don’t know who all will be activated or, you know, deactivated on Sunday, of course, was 47 that you can, um, 48. Is it 48 4. Yeah, it’s 48. As long as you have 8 of them are offensive linemen, it can be 48. Yeah. OK, so you can get up to 48. Um, I think that, um, it’ll be with, you know, of course, there’s 7 wide receivers, uh, on the roster. So, you know, outside of, you know, the main guys Xavier Lega, um, Ted Roy McMillan and also Hunter Renfro, like, who gets a chance to step up, who steps up, you, you mentioned it from the, from the tight end. Uh, room, uh, is Tommy Trimble gonna have an impact? Um, how does, uh, JT Sanders, uh, have an impact on this, uh, passing offense, uh, in this game? There’s, there’s a lot to kind of look at and consider. And also, you know, Bryce Young doesn’t have a safety blanket and Adam Thielen, and that was one of my personal concerns with the trade of Adam Thielen, didn’t necessarily mind it, but also before this year, there was nobody proven. Outside of Adam Thielen, he led the team in receiving yards last year, and that was only 6:15. So, uh, you know, what’s gonna happen? So there, there’s still, I think I’m coming into this first game with more questions than I wanted to come into the first game with, honestly. Uh, knowing that they were gonna try to take a step up, knowing that there are things to fix, but the way things have been going the last couple of weeks with, you know, injuries, trades, you know, uh, the way the 53 man roster is constructed, things like that, I have more questions than what I really wanted to at this point. And there’s some guys offensively, obviously the Coker quad injury keeping him out for at least the 1st 4 weeks, but Ikeaquandu had that emergency appendectomy about a week, week and a half ago. So his status going into this game is unknown. It felt like Again, after Wednesday’s practice, it felt like, you know, he worked to the side, was in cleats working off to the side, but he’s really is up in the air. Yeah, I wouldn’t count on him. Just the way it sounds. Yeah, exactly. It’s like if he, if he’s there, awesome, but again, don’t bank on it. But then also Damian Lewis is coming back from the shoulder injury he suffered in the joint practice with the Cleveland Browns. It seems like he’s good to go. But then on Wednesday, we also saw Robert Hunt leave practice with the foot injury, but it also could be, hey, let’s just be cautious with this guy because we know how valuable he is because he did try to come back into drills according to Dave Canales. So it seems like, hopefully he’s good to go, what to just see what the injury report is on Thursday and Friday. So there are a little bit of banged up. In terms of the offensive line, which my question about that as well is that depending on how strong and how close these guys are 100% are, Dave Canals always talked about being a physical run the first football team. How does that impact as well? That’s, that’s a major question as well. I have no doubt that. Chandler Zavala or some of these guys can slide in and things can be OK, but they might not be at the top level that we saw when the Panthers run game was at their best last year if these guys really aren’t 100%. Yeah, um, you know, it’ll be interesting to see kind of how all that plays out and, you know, I know that we didn’t see everything that the Panthers, uh, have to offer on offense in the preseason. Uh, one, you keep, keep it vanilla for the most part, wo, uh, your starters played what a combined, you know, 1718 snaps, uh, with one another in that preseason from, you know, two games essentially. Um, so we don’t know exactly. I, I would love to see. Uh, Canales, if there are issues with the offensive line, um, use the jet sweep a little bit, you know, maybe that’s David Moore, maybe that’s, um, you know, Jimmy Horn, uh, or whoever else, maybe Xavier Legat as well, uh, if he feels like they can stretch those, those edges, uh, a little bit more to maybe open up some holes in the middle. Uh, but there has to be a steady diet of, of Cuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdo for sure. And I, I think the, the number one thing here is, uh, and I think we talked about this a few weeks ago, is, uh, you know, win or lose, the main goal offensively, I think, in this game has to be. Try to keep the ball as long as possible. Try to win that time of possession battle, because that’s gonna give you your best chance, um, to, to win this game, uh, just in general, and Because of the issues that we talked about on on the offense, that means that there’s gonna be some pressure on the defense. And the best way to uh alleviate that pressure on the defense. is to keep them off the field as much as possible. Honestly, keep them off the field as much as possible. So if you can win that, you know, time of possession battle, maybe, you know, 35 minutes to 25 minutes, something like that, that helps, you know, the defense stay a little bit fresher and uh gives you, I think your best chance to come away with a win from the road. I always say this about about when it comes to time of possession, that to me, time of possession is a true team stat because not only is it the offense holding onto the ball, converting their downs and all those things, but if it’s, get off the field. Like if you have a chance to get off the field, get off the field. I mean, that’s just as much time of possession as anything else and the drive yourself. I mean, defensively, you want to go out there, you want to be out there for 3 plays. That’s it. Because you could be out there for 3 plays and, and that’s it. And then the offense is right back out there on the field. That’s, so to me, I think defensively, I think that there is a little bit, obviously. The way they played last year as a whole, yeah, not good. There is pressure on that defense to elevate or at least try and get as close to matching the offense as possible. This offense for the Panthers might be somewhere in the middle of the pack, 1415, 16, depending on what metric you want to use. But they should be somewhere in that range at least early on this season, you hope, at least. The defense can just get to like that. Average, like, you know, 21, 22, this Panthers team’s gonna be in a lot more games than not. I mean, granted, they were in some games last year, but the defense couldn’t sustain. I’m excited to see. What Derek Brown healthy is gonna look like next to AShaw Robertson and Turk Wharton and Bobby Brown and Cam Jackson, those 5 guys in a rotation up front. I want to see those guys wreak some havoc because we haven’t seen that in a long time from this defense where that interior of the. Defense, not just the linebackers, but the guys up front. Let’s not forget when Luke Kuechly was running around sideline to sideline, he had Star Lotule and KK Short in front like causing havoc up front and let Luke Kuechly eat and Thomas Davis eat. That’s what those guys need to be upfront for this Panthers defense. And it’ll be great if if they’re so good up front that it causes a sack or two, in this game, you know, because that is, that’s also one of those, uh, spots of weakness for the Carolina Panthers that we’ve been talking about for the last couple of years, like, you know, they, they just, they’re not getting to the quarterback at the rate that you would like them to. Um, another part of that is that teams can just run at the, you know, the, the second half because they have these sizable leads and they just need to protect leads so you can’t grind no opportunities to get to the quarterback, um, you know, and then also if you’re playing the worst run defense in the league. Why not run the ball, right? You know, because it, you know, it’s, it’s, you can, you’re more than likely gonna move forward. I expect Jacksonville to do that, by the way, as well, like test them away from Jacksonville. It’ll be interesting to see what you know Pat Jones looks like along with DJ Wanum. It’ll be interesting to see what Nick Skorton looks like uh uh uh Princeley Uman Melen, um, you know, so those are the things that I’ll be looking for as well. Uh, what changes are being made to this defense, um, but then, you know, it, it, I think a lot of this is ultimately gonna come down to coaching. Uh, because every week you’re gonna have something not go right, whether you’re dealing with an injury, uh, whether, you know, somebody is, is gonna be limited because of something or whatever it is, uh, ultimately, this is gonna come down to coaching, and I’m looking directly at Dave Canales, because here’s the advantage that he’s gonna have in this game that he’s never had in his coaching, his head coaching career. He’s gonna be the experienced head coach in the matchup. Liam Cohen, this is his debut game as the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach. Uh, if he’s um. If I know that he’s in this position, he’s not a, he’s not a bad coach, right? But he’s never been a head coach before. So Dave, what are the things that you learned last year that you know that you can take advantage of that maybe others took advantage of with you, uh, you know, last year is that, you know, clock management, is that play calling? What is it that, you know, you probably didn’t have as good of a grasp on. That you can use to your advantage from the sideline to squeeze out uh a win on the road. And so that’s also with everything that we’re talking about, it’s gonna be a lot of pressure on Bryce, it’s gonna be a lot of pressure on Xavier Lit, it’s gonna be a lot of pressure on the defense, but ultimately, this all boils down to Dave Canalis, how how ready are you gonna have this team, uh, and do. Oh. What a cornball, man. Like, what a corn ball. All right, but and and also. With, with Cohen, let’s, let’s also keep this in mind as well. He was the offensive coordinator for Tampa last year. So he has the experience of going against Evro’s defense, which there’s, I guess for him, there’s a maybe a little bit of comfort in that in terms of understanding the scheme. Now, the personnel, obviously there’s been a lot of overturn, but he, I mean, so it’s. It’s vastly different, but also, yeah, he has Brian Thomas Junior now. He doesn’t have Mike Evans, but he’s got Brian Thomas Junior. He doesn’t have Chris Goblin, but he has Travis Hunter. He has Gay Brown now, you know, so different, different group of personnel that he’s also dealing with as well. And this is something I’m talking about pressure on the defense. I mean Bryant Thomas Junior, fantastic wide receiver. No matter what side of the field he’s on, Mike Jackson, JC Horn, you’re gonna have your work cut out. But don’t forget on the other side. You get Travis Hunter. Now, Travis Hunter, you never know, they might line him up in the slot because he might use Diomy Brown on the outside as well. We’ll see how they use and deploy Travis Hunter on, on both sides of the ball. But I mean, Shawsmith Wade, if Travis Hunter’s in the slot and it’s man to man coverage, that, that’s your guy. Yeah, like that’s a tough, tough, it’s a tall task to go guard the #2 pick in the draft. I mean, let’s be honest, Travis Hunter is an a leader as a receiver coming out of this draft as anybody was, and he was a lead of a defensive back is coming out of this draft as anybody was. I’m, I’m curious to see how Liam Cohen decides to deploy him on both sides of the ball, but the, the, the secondary is gonna have their work cut out for him as well. But Chris, like you said, if, if the defensive front can get some pressure on Trevor Lawrence, Trevor Lawrence. He ain’t lit it up since he’s been the first pick in the draft. He ain’t lit it up. Let’s be honest, like whole throw picks. I mean, he had in 10 starts last year. He had 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Like, get your hands on the ball if you’re Carolina. Flip the field in that kind of way. Like set things up for your offense. That’s what I wanna say the defense like, let’s, let’s see the improvement. There, there’s also a microscope. You brought it up just briefly here on Ezeiro Evaro. Um, one of our big complaints last year, uh, was, uh, JC Horn not traveling with the best. If, if you’re the Carolina Panthers, and, you know, hey, if they figured it out, they figured it out, doing it their way or whatever, but if you’re the Carolina Panthers and you just paid this man $100 million he’s clearly one of the best, uh, you know, quarterbacks in the league to you because you dedicated that much money to him, uh, for the 5 years after the season. Mhm. Why not let him travel the field with Brian Thomas? Because if They know that you’re gonna keep, you know, let’s say, you know, uh uh uh JC on the left side of the defense. We’ll put Brian Thomas on the other side and and make Mike Jackson do all the hard work the entire time. You know, and, and we’ll see, like, you know, and you made a good point, maybe it’s Diami versus JC and then we can put Travis on the inside versus Shaw Smith Wade. So now there’s a lot of pressure on Shaw Smith Wade and and uh and Mike Jackson to make sure that those guys are are are not catching balls. And so I think if you’re the Carolina Panthers, hopefully this has been worked out. JC needs to travel, man. Like it’s, it’s very. Just have those guys switch flip sides of the field, have them travel. But, you know, we’ll we’ll see what they end up scheming up, but that’s something that I would wanna for sure watch, um, and and hopefully an adjustment that that’s been made, and it feels like, according to what they’ve been saying in offseason, that they’ve made some, some scheme adjustments. So what will those be and what will those look like on Sunday? That’s something I’m gonna be looking for as well. Let’s not forget again, Cohen coached Tampa last year, at least it was the offensive coordinator. There were definitely, definitely times where we saw Mike Evans, their number one receiver, big body guy lining up in the slot. In order to get a better matchup, and there are times where we’ve seen even CD Lamb for the I’m sorry, for the Cowboys lining up in the slot because they were getting favorable matchups on safeties and they cooked at times. I don’t be surprised if you see Brian Thomas Junior lining up in the slot. Yeah. I don’t be surprised to see that in order to generate a favorable matchup, whether it’s against the safety, whether it’s against Shaw Smith way, whatever it might be. Don’t be surprised to see that on Sunday as well. Like that’s something that we saw Liam Cohen do against the Panthers last year. I would not be surprised to see that at all, would not be surprised to see that. And I mean, But you mentioned something, Chris, about this is Liam Cohen’s first time being a head coach. It’s different when you’re a coordinator. There’s a lot more things you have to take into consideration, clock management, timeouts, all those things. You have to manage a whole team. Sometimes as a head coach, I used to coach college lacrosse. I remember my first game as a head coach early on in my coaching career, I overthought stuff a lot. I really did overthink things. I wonder if we might see that from Cohen. I don’t know. We’ll find out on Sunday. Yeah, uh, you know, you, as you mentioned, you’re going from managing one phase of, uh, the team to literally 3. You, you have to oversee offense, defense, and special teams at this point, so. Um, how does he handle that? And, you know, Dave Canal isn’t the most experienced head coach out there, but you have a full year in the NFL, you’ve seen it, you, you get, you have enough tape and an offseason to not only study the opponent, but also, you know, take a deep look inward and see what you did wrong and how you would want to re-approach some things, and we’ve, I think we’ve seen some uh adjustments so far. I still would want. Um, the offense to play a little bit more in the preseason, like, you know, Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, some of the greats who wouldn’t necessarily, you wouldn’t think they wouldn’t necessarily have to play much in the preseason, played a lot more in the preseason than what Bryce did, a lot more. You know, I think Patrick Mahomes had more snaps in one preseason game than Bryce had the entire preseason. So, like, you know, it’s, I, I would wanna see. Um, you know, how he’s kind of learned from, from those mistakes, um, you know, uh, moving forward. Uh, but ultimately, I’m just ready to see some football and something that counts, and, and ultimately see how they build on the momentum from last year. You, especially with this offense, you have a lot, most of those same guys returning, and they know the the how great it felt to win a lot of those games at the end of the year. They know what it takes. To win those games like they did at the end of the year, 2 overtime wins towards the end of the year, right? So they, they know how to pull it out, uh, when things are tight, um, and, and the They know how to uh pull it out, pull out a win when things are tight at the very end of the game. Uh, so, um, you know, how, how do they, you know, adjust to that and make that better, um, uh, this season, so. Uh, I’m just excited, bro. Me too. Me as well. That’s why we’re gonna have another episode for you guys after the game on Sunday. So if you have not subscribed already, make sure you do. It’s a little notification bell. It’s a little notification bell as well. That way when the episode drops, you’re right there. Again, leave your comments down below. What is your prediction for the Panthers record this season? Oh man, we’re out.
