One, Chris, there’s only one game back in the lost column for a wild card spot. Only one. Wow. It’s amazing that we’re even here and that there are actual expectations on this team. Well, let’s dive into it. 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 Panther’s Playbook presented by Wake Orthopedics, a wake med physician practice. 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. Panthers Playbook sponsored by Awake Orthopedics. Folks, we need you to do a couple of things here real quick. We need you to hit that like button, hit that subscribe button if you haven’t done so already. But most importantly, Now that the Panthers are 5 and 4, do you expect them to make the playoffs? Now they’re in contention. Halfway through the season, they’re in contention. But Chris, I think the most important thing we need to discuss about what this Panthers team is, or one of the things we need to discuss, is this Panthers team has earned the right to be in the conversation. Maybe they’re not a Super Bowl contending team. Maybe they’re not even gonna make the playoffs this season, but they earned the right to be in the conversation, and that is a major step forward for this franchise. Huge step forward. I mean, right now, me and you were talking about basically somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 to 9 wins for the year, and, you know, depending on what they do to close out the the year in this last stretch of 8 games. They could exceed that, you know what I’m saying? So like that’s, that’s gonna be uh a very interesting thing to watch. And those last three weeks of the season get very interesting. You have the Bucks twice, you have Seattle Seahawks there as well, uh, in, in that mix. So like, which Seahawks team do you get, the Seahawks team that is, you know, still fighting for some sort of playoff position, uh, with the NFC West, or a Seahawks team that’s like, Uh, we’ve already got our position. We can maybe start, you know, taking it down just a little bit, or, or, you know, whatever, like, it just, you just don’t know, right? So like, anything can end up happening, uh, this year, uh, it’s gonna be very interesting to see how everything ends up playing out, but then also, how does the team end up handling the fact that you are now gonna have expectations, and I think that for at least for two games. You’re definitely gonna have, uh, be favorites by, uh, Las Vegas, and that’s for sure the next two games against the Saints. What ends up happening, uh, with some of those other games too. So, uh, a lot of things to kind of parse through and to sift out and see how the team handles. The back half of this schedule is tough. You got the Rams and the Seahawks. Seahawks, like you mentioned, both those teams are tied right now for the NFC West. So those teams are obviously competing for not only just. Maybe a wild card spot, but 6 and 2 right now is the best record in, in the NFC, which is what currently is being held by the, the Philadelphia Eagles. 6 and 2 is also Tampa. Like you say, you got them twice as well. So you’ve got multiple games coming up and you also have the San Francisco 49ers who are only a half game back. They’re 6 and 3, half game back of the LA Rams and the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West. So they’re fighting for a playoff spot themselves. You have 5 games. Against teams that are contenders in the NFC. I say contenders contending for a playoff spot. 555555 from full Harlem Heat once again over here. But that’s, that’s, it’s a tough back end of the schedule. Yeah, you have the Saints twice and you have the Falcons, but overall, this is not a cupcake. This is not a, this is not a cakewalk. This is not, this is not gonna be easy for this Panthers team. And for the first time, Chris, for the first time, this Panthers organization and this group of guys. are like, are truly like supposed to win this game coming Sunday. Like you look at the game between this 5 and 4 team. I, I, I would say maybe against the Jets, they should have won that game. That’s you and I had that belief. But now everyone collectively is looking at it and going, you should win this game. You should. And this is something I’ve said multiple times is this applies to a lot of different sports. You, yes, you got a massive win against the Green Bay Packers. How do you follow it up? If you have a dud and you lose to the Saints, Now you’re 5 and 5 just having lost to one of the worst teams in the NFL, a team that just traded away two players. You know, like a team that is openly admitting, we’re trying to get ready for next year. You can’t lose this game after winning against Green Bay. You can’t follow up with the dud. How do you follow it up is the most important thing. Anyone can be good for one game or for one week. You have to back it up and be consistent. And according, I believe this came from Joe Person, this is the first time that the Panthers have been favored to win a game by at least a score. Right? Since week 3 of 2021. So you’re talking about 4 years. It’s been since the team has been, uh, at this level. Now they of course are favoriteed uh to win that Jets game, but it was only like 1.5. Right now the line is, uh, I think 5.5 as we’re, you know, talking about this game, and I feel like that’s almost a little too low, uh, but maybe they’re factoring in, you know, some low scoring games from the Carolina Panthers and, you know, the way that their offense looks, but, um. As you said, the expectations are there, and I would also hope that now the belief is there, um, not only to just beat the Saints, right? Of course, this is the game that you gotta focus on, but now you can believe you went into the one of the most hostile environments in the NFL. One of the hardest places to win in the NFL. You’re talking about, uh, the ultimate home field advantage for the Green Bay Packers. Like, I don’t know if any other team, maybe besides the Eagles is the next team that kind of pops in my mind that has uh a better or and also the Chiefs has a better home field advantage than the. Green Bay Packers, and they are on a roll this year and you went into that place and got that win. So what’s to stop you from going to the 49ers and possibly getting a win? We’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, but these are, these are things that you have to think about. Then also we talked about the Rams and the Seahawks. Both of those games are at home. So, you’ve been great at home besides the Bills game, and now maybe Dave Canalas, I think Dave Canales is starting to understand what the team is. He’s starting to understand how to control the game as a head coach, um, you know, coming in with the strategy of, you know, where do we want to take the ball, when because of the. Other things like that, the strategy of making sure that we’re feeding Rico Dale the ball, and we’re not gonna switch and alternate, you know, who’s gonna have the ball on which possession was a huge, huge call uh in my in my mind. So, if this team on all facets. Within the uh the offense, defense, special teams, also coaching continues to get better as they see better teams, you might see possibly those blowout games start to go away, and I would hope for their sake, if they want to become a playoff team, that they do go away. No, yeah, I 100% agree. It’s one thing to earn the right to be in the conversation, it’s another thing to earn the right to stay in the conversation. Cause right now, again, we, as I said, they earned the right as of right now, again, de facto halfway through the season. They’ve earned that right to be, hey. Watch out. Watch out for that team. You’re not gonna push them around. I know Dave Canales, I remember, uh, it was a JC Horn at the beginning or before the season even started, said. Not a lot of teams are gonna want to play us. We’re not, we’re not gonna be an easy out. And now they show the rest of the league that you’re not sneaking up on anybody. You go like you said, Chris, you go into one of the toughest places to play in Lambeau Field and you come out with a win. You put the rest of the league on notice. You’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore. You’re not. Simply, simply put, you’re not gonna sneak up on anybody. Everyone’s gonna look and go, wait, Panthers are. He’s a winning record, and I do think that that was a factor in in that game because it felt to me watching the game versus Green Bay that Green Bay felt like we can come back at any point in this game and get this win. Like, you know, it shouldn’t have been this close, you know, things are happening, you know, whatever, they’ve done a good job coming in and controlling the ball and, you know, making sure uh they’re getting the ball out quickly and Micah Parsons isn’t getting, you know, isn’t feasting the way that we thought he was gonna feast or things like that, right? Um. But now that you’ve gotten that win, now that the Carolina Panthers, if you’re looking at the playoff standings are literally right below that that cutoff line. Now, you’re right, San Francisco is not gonna sit back and say, oh, we got the Panthers, this is an off week. No, they’re they’re probably gonna end up giving you your best. Uh, the, the, the Rams are not gonna come to Charlotte and say, oh, we just got the Panthers, you know, we can go get a quick dub and see some of our old friends and pals who are on a coaching staff and who are on the roster, and we go back to LA with the win. You’re gonna get their absolute best. Now, there are gonna be special schemes against Rico Dale. They’re gonna be special schemes to keep, you know, the ball away from uh uh JC Horn like there already has been, uh, but, you know, you’re gonna see that even more. So how do the Panthers uh deal with that? And if the offensive line continues to, you know, have some injuries, what are they gonna start scheming up to try to, you know, confuse guys on the offensive line, take advantage of that, and try to get some more sacks and cause more havoc. So we’ll we’ll just kind of have to see how that ends up happening from other teams standpoint, but now, Panthers, you have to be ready for this, that you’re no longer just the the pushover team that’s the automatic dub. You’re, you’re not just gonna be the team that somebody is gonna have a get right game against you anymore. Now people are gonna go into this, making sure that we’re gonna give you our best as well, because we don’t wanna be like what the Green Bay Packers just did. We don’t want to be like some of these other teams, Atlanta, who lost to you. We wanna make sure we come away with this victory. I think something that’s gonna eventually lead into that. I think it’s this team finding a level of consistency. Yeah, cause I think this, yeah. Because if you look at the 4 losses that they’ve had this year, it wasn’t a close game against Jacksonville. It really wasn’t. Arizona, you’ve kind of made it interesting, but for 50 something minutes of that game, it really wasn’t that close. They get blown out by New at New England. You get blown out at home by the Bills. And then you’ve had 4 close wins, you know, 4 3-point wins, and then you had the kind of an outlier of a game, I guess you could say in terms of the 30 to 0 win. There hasn’t been much consistency with this team on a week to week basis. I think that’s something that you and I want to see is a consistent Panthers team where all aspects of the game are clicking on all cylinders from the run game continuing to do what it’s doing. The defense getting stops in the red zone. Yeah, you might be getting a bunch of yards, but getting stops in the red zone and the passing game evolving and growing as well. We want to see all aspects and faces. of this game, clicking on all cylinders. So that way they’re not having to just grind out wins. It’s good to know that you can grind out wins, but I would like to see a comfortable 31-17 win. I would like to see that from this team. I really would. I think that’s the next step in the evolution of this team. And guess when they can do that? This weekend. It’s possible. You gotta make sure you put it together now. Like the, the Saints still have a really good front seven, you know, on defense. They got a couple of guys out there. Demario Davis is still there, you know, and you have some guys that, you know, could possibly break the game open on the offensive side. Chris Olave. I mean, Alvin Kamara is still there, and, and I know they traded Rashid to he, but I’m glad to a couple of guys. I’m glad he’s gone because they could not. Contained that guy last year. Um, but the thing is with that game, you have that opportunity to do that and we kind of lightly touched on it, um, this past Sunday when we did the postgame. Not only if you win a game, you go 6 and 4, but then you carry extra momentum to Atlanta where you could possibly go 7 and 4, leading into your game. I believe that would be right before the, the Rams game. So right before 49ers, right before the 49ers. Right, I got that flipped. I got that flipped. Um, but the reason why that is important, as you just pointed out right there, is to be able to have that confidence that one, we can win anyway. As you said, that Atlanta game right now is the outlier, and this is no disrespect to the Panthers or anything like that because I know people don’t really listen to what we say with nuance, um, but The winning 30 to 0 versus Atlanta is more indicative of what was going on with Atlanta that day versus anything that was happening with the Carolina Panthers. Now, they definitely deserved to win, and I think if Atlanta had scored, uh, in that game. And the Panthers still would have won, um, but Atlanta really shot themselves in the foot in that game overall, which is why the score ended up looking the way it did, just like the Panthers often, you know, have often shot themselves in the foot in the past, which is why you see these blowout losses. It’s not really indicative of how good. The Arizona Cardinals or the Jacksonville Jaguars are, even though those are still pretty good teams. Um, you have that opportunity to, to do that today, to assert your will, uh, on, on this Sunday, and to have that extra momentum, and I think that is, that’s what That’s what’s needed right now. Dennis, I know I’m kind of long-winded here, but I just, I just spoke to NC State’s, uh, football team earlier today as we’re recording this, and I asked, we saw that upset one that they had at home versus Georgia Tech. After losing to Duke, after losing to Virginia Tech, right? You’re not expecting NC State to go in there and get that type of a win, and they were able to beat the #8 team in the country. And so I asked a few players. Uh, cause I know coaches aren’t gonna answer this, but what is the room like? What is the atmosphere like after winning that type of a game? And they all said, practice has been better, there’s a pep in everybody step, there’s more juice, people are paying attention a little bit more, uh, things are clicking a little bit more. And when you continue to win, when you have these uh big time wins and you’re putting yourself on a roll like that, all of a sudden, practice looks better. Then all of a sudden you show up on Sundays just a little bit better, and all of a sudden, when things get hard where you floundered before, all of a sudden, you know what to do in that situation and you succeed. It’s very, very much so important that they get this win on Sunday. This is probably one of the first must-win games that the Panthers have had in a long time. Yeah, it validates what you did on Sunday against Green Bay. Yes, it did. That’s the thing you need to validate it for yourself and You get the sense, Chris, we hear Canalas talk during the week and hearing players. There’s, there’s something special in that locker room brewing. And when you and I was, I believe it was last week when we did our midseason grades, when you and I talked about coaching, you, you specifically hit on when it came to Canalas about how he really has changed the culture of this program or this, this franchise. You’re noticing that he and Dan Morgan, they have found the guys that fit what they want to do. They really that fit the identity of what they want their culture to be. And then not just from a physical standpoint, what they do in the field, but in an intangible way in terms of how they carry themselves in the locker room as well functional locker room. It really is because you and I go in the locker room postgame at home games. You and I are fortunate enough to be able to go in the locker room. Even after losses, you can still feel there’s the cohesion there. Early on last season, during that week two loss against the LA Chargers, oh, didn’t quite feel that even though there’s a lot of the same guys, but that doesn’t mean that it was all perfect and Kumbaya. It took time. It was the worst time in 2023 and 2022 and 2021. Yeah. It was, it was. There’s something special going on down there on Mint Street. There really is, and they can validate that even further with a win. Like, like go blow out the Saints. Go blow them out. Don’t even like make it 27 to 7 at the end of the first half. Like, go blow this team out because you can, let’s be real because you can. Let’s be realistic, at least by 2 scores, like, and that could be 10 points. That could be 10 points, but like they as a comfortable, but still a comfortable win and I think that’s, that’s enough of an ass kicking is, you know, if you want to get that. Um, I, I don’t know, I don’t know if the Panthers are the team to be leading 27 to 7 at the end of the half. Make it happen. We’ll have to see. But they’re getting there. That’s the thing, we’re getting there. We’re getting there. Say there’s no limit to our offense. Call us cash money. Make them say. OK. There’s a lot more things I could say. But I can’t, but I can’t. I can’t. You know what? You’re right. That is the New Orleans team. You bring up the New Orleans stuff, uh, they should also play, the DJ should play that great Snoop Dogg record featuring uh C Murder and Fiend. Can’t see the lyrics right here, but you know what I’m talking about da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. Yeah, saints, if y’all. Cause I’m down with my Panthers. If you’re down with your Panthers, we got two words for you. Leave comments. Hoo hoo. Those are the two words. Panther’s Playbook is sponsored by Wake Orthopedics. Then subscribe if you haven’t already. We love y’all. We appreciate the comments. Go ahead, Crystal. We’ll see you guys on Sunday after the game.
