Well, the scoreboard’s not showing the win, Chris, but we all know what happened out here today at Bank of America. We all witnessed it. Bro, The Panthers, the Panthers were 500. They almost became 6-7, 76. They became 7 and 6. They became 7 and 6. They’re that 67 crap. Get it out of here. They’re 7 and 6. 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. Folks, welcome back to another episode of Panther’s Playbook, and that’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cox here with you. Panthers Playbook sponsored by awake ortho. Pedics, uh, folks, leave your thoughts in the comment section on this beautiful 31 to 28 win over the LA Rams, where the Panthers continue to keep pace with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC South. And Chris, we’re gonna go into December with the Carolina Panthers still playing meaningful football and it’s a wonderful thing to see. And I will say this, Chris, after that win. That’s probably the most complete Panthers win we’ve seen in years. I’m talking complete team win that we have seen in years where defense had major contributions. Offense was hitting with the run game. Got big plays in the passing game from Bryce Young, especially at key times, 2 4th down touchdowns. That’s that’s a complete team win as we’ve seen in a long, long time. I, I told you that it’s probably the most complete win that I think I’ve seen. I wanna say since, um, you know, the Christmas Eve game 2022 versus uh the Detroit Lions, and that one was just a crazy offensive game, but nobody really talks about how well the defense also played in that game as well, uh, against the Lions, and so that that’s what was needed today. You needed the defense, uh, to step up because if not, that first half could have ended with the Carolina Panthers down 31 to 10 because the Rams, the Rams moved the ball pretty much every drive besides the one. Where they punted at the beginning of the 3rd quarter. Besides that, every drive, they got down there and they were close to scoring each and every time, but the defense came away with 2 interceptions and a fumble recovery. Shout outs to Derek Brown. The first interception ball comes off of his head, ricochets off his head. Nick Scott, uh, gets it, but that was because he’s alert. He gets his hands up, jumps up a little bit, so he gets a little bit in the, uh, the lane of the throw. And then, of course, his pursuit, the, the pass rush, we’ve talked about this. Uh, a lot has not been very good this year for the Carolina Panthers. It wasn’t very good today. It wasn’t very good today, but at the right time, Derek Brown got to Matt Stafford and caused him to fumble the ball and a great pickup from DJ Wanum. The Panthers have the ball, they’re able to hold out, get that first down to Jalen Coker, and all of a sudden, all of a sudden, the Carolina Panthers have beaten two of the top teams in the NFC. Now the LA Rams, and a few weeks ago it was the Green Bay Packers. What a win. What a win. What a win. You know, Chris, as soon as we start to figure out this Panthers scene, at least we think we have them figured out, this happens. I, again, that could kind of just shows, goes to show you the inconsistency of this team because we’ve seen this team on this very field put up 7 points, just 7 against the Saints, not that long ago. We saw them struggle last week. Then you see what they put out there today. Getting points off turnovers is something we didn’t see against the Rams, I’m sorry, against the, uh, the 49ers last, uh, uh, on Monday, yes, against the 49ers, my apologies, but then against today against the. The Rams, they got the early interception like you mentioned from Nick Scott. They weren’t able to do anything with that drive. It was just a 3 and out. Like you want, you want to see him at least sustain something, but then Mike Jackson comes actually gets his first pick 6 of his career, takes it, you know, all the way back and finally gives the Panthers the lead. And this is also something as well is that for the most, most of this game, this Panthers team was playing with a lead. Yeah, you know, or it was, it was a lead or it was at least within one possession if they did trail the game, but they played with the lead a lot in the game which allowed Dave Canales to do something we have been preaching all season long. You got two good running backs, by God, use them both, and I, I said this during the game. I text you to it and I tweeted it out. I said Chuba Hubbard looks like 2024 Chuba Hubbard. That’s exactly what he looked like today. It’s exactly what he looked like, you know, um, it was cool like just watching from home, uh, you know, didn’t have the energy to make it out today to go down there with you, but, uh, watching from home and seeing the two running backs go back and forth. 17 carries for Chuba Hubbard, 18 carries for Rico Dale. I think this is in a perfect world. This is exactly what you wanted. between the two guys, 35, it was balanced, it was even, but today was uh Chuba’s day. Uh, getting 83 yards, 4.9 per carry. It was a little bit of a down day for Rico Dao, but it, it looks like he’s dealing with injuries and, you know, like a few weeks ago, uh, you know, we could tell that, uh, Chuba Hubbard’s still kind of hurting from his calf. He was dealing with injuries, uh, back then. Now he’s fully healthy and you can see, I mean, those are some punishing runs and even though the the Rams, Rams ran it very well on their side with Borm and uh Karen Williams as well, they looked amazing, but these runs were just so punishing and physical, and you could tell that the Rams’ defense started to wear down just a little bit towards the end. Which was big for the Carolina Panthers. I also said to you, uh, as well, I texted you, uh, during the game that win or lose, I think this was right as the game was going to the 4th quarter. Win or lose, this is the blueprint. This is what it should look like for the Carolina Panthers. Um, you know, Bryce Young and Dave Canalas didn’t try to do too much. In the passing game, they did just enough. Um, until you can kind of, you know, uh, uh, you know, get that passing game better, this is what the game should look like right here. 35 rushes between your two, running backs. And here’s the cool thing I thought was really, uh, a really well done play as well, moving the sticks. I wanna say this was First quarter, uh, when, when Bryce goes for the toss and reverses and goes the other way and the Rams did not see it coming at all. Nobody on that side and he picks up, I think, 26 yards at that point. It was, it was the, the balance and the play calling, keeping the Rams’ defense a little off balance as well, not knowing what’s really coming. And then when it was run and it was obvious it was run, the runs were hard, they were punishing, they were violent. And Bryce Young going 15 for 20, 75% completion percentage, that’s amazing. 147.1 passer rating. Like this, this is it. This is the blueprint. This is literally all we’ve been asking for. This is, this is the model, like you said, this is the model about how they have to win. And then you mentioned that Bryce Young, the, the fake toss where he rolled out. I think it was actually designed like play action. You just decided, hey, tuck and run. I got green grass in front of me. So that was when they were doing 3 tight ends, 1 receiver, so 13 personnel, one back, 3 tight ends, and. Bryson Tremaine was the wide receiver and, and they ran the ball 3 or 4 straight times before that play that you mentioned where Bryce Youngs rolled out to his left. So that’s Dave Canalas setting that play up looking for play action off it, so using that personnel, which is known for being a run heavy personnel. So they get Dave Canalas I thought overall called a really good game, including, he talked about it in the postgame, uh, Dave Canalas did about the 4th. Down calls where we get the 4th down touchdown down the right sideline right over here to my right to Jalen Coker, which we’ll hear from him in a bit in the locker room. And then on the far side of the field where you found Ted Row McMillan, Bryce Young just, you know, moving around a little bit, buying a little bit of time, it to find T Mac both on 4th down for touchdowns like the cojones, Dave Canalas, the Onions, the cojone. I’m like that means those 4th down calls. Those, those are the difference in the game. I mean, I generally don’t like fade calls on 4th and short. I generally don’t, but man, props to Jalen Coer for winning that one on one and actually Chris, I talked to him in the locker room about that 4th down. He told me what he saw. I wanted to try to get speed on them early, uh, you know, use my bigger build to kind of create some separation and then just make a play when it came to me. You know the nuts, right? No, I know, I hope so. I hope they’re, I hope they’re uh. Yeah, Chris the Onions and Dave Canales, all on those deep shots on 4th down. And then, but also as well, Bryce making the play like Bryce making the throws. Like you gotta give credit to both and T Mac and Jalen Coer for coming down with the catches, man. Like they made the big plays when they needed to tonight or this afternoon, whatever you wanna call it. You know, tonight, this afternoon, and you know, they, one of the things I thought was interesting, I believe I have to go back and look at it. I believe both of those touchdowns were on Emmanuel Forbes. 100% on Emmanuel Forbes. So like they saw something within within that in the coverage, and they picked on him. And uh and that’s what, you know, when’s the last time. The Carolina Panthers was like, haha weak spot, we’re gonna pick on you and get two touchdowns off of it. I mean, it’s, it’s amazing to, to really sit back and and look at what was Think about that, that usually happens to the Panthers. It’s amazing to sit back and really look at what happened in this game, and this is versus one of the best teams in the league. Like this is the team that I think probably is gonna win the Super Bowl. Oh, they’re heavy favorites, and should be. As they should be, by the way, I think it was this, I think it was that rookie corner for the Falcons were, were the couple weeks ago. I think it was the last time they were like that guy, um, where I, I can’t remember his name, but he wore number 35 because I just saw the back of his jersey a lot chasing guys, uh, for the Falcons, uh, who, who lost again today, go figure, um, but to the Jets to of all to the Jets to the Jets. Or jets, um. Thinking back to the last time we had a complete game like this, I don’t think we’ve seen a com this close to a complete game in the Dave Canal’s era. Because some of the games last year, like we saw, like, for example, the, the win against the Atlanta Falcons late in the season last year, the very last game of the year, you saw the offense explode, but the defense was still giving up a ton. You saw the win against the, like, for example, you go on the road to, to Germany, you play the New York Giants. The defense was actually the one that carried you through most of that game, including Cuba Hubbert. The passing game just wasn’t quite there. You had to go win that one in overtime. This is the opportunity I think that the Carolina Panthers have been looking forward to say when we put it all together we can literally beat anybody when we put it all together and then the vibe anybody can beat us. That’s also very true. Like when you don’t have it all clicking, anyone can beat you. Now it’s easy to say, well, you could say that about any team in the league. I don’t necessarily say that because sometimes the team might, hey, we don’t have our run game today, but the team can throw the ball over the field or vice versa or the defense can carry and you’re and you’re good, you can consistently win that way. But to me this Panthers team going into a bye week where you came off a short week, you’re without your top defensive at least in the secondary, your top one of your top defensive players in JC Horn and Trayvon Barry because Merrick was suspended and you get a bye week to rest up. This team’s playing meaningful football going into December. In the year of our Lord, Chris, 2025, entering the month of December, the Carolina Panthers will be playing meaningful football with a winning record. In this economy, you texted me. And in this economy that who would have thought, who would have thought, especially at the beginning of the year also as well, Chris, this is also a testament to the team as well. I want your thoughts on this. This team has not lost back to back games since week 1 and 2 of the season, and games. They very well could have had that happen again this week. Um, and, and here’s something I wanted to bring up when we talked about the defense. Uh, you, you mentioned the guys that’s out, no JC Horn, no Travon Merrick, of course, Christian Roseboom not playing. You have a lot of replacements and practice squad guys and new guys who are signed off the street and stuff like that, all helping out in the middle of all that. You remember back uh at the beginning of the season when I interviewed Mike Jackson and he said, uh, I’ve gotten my hands on a lot of, on a lot of balls. I just haven’t been able to catch him and I wanna, you know, actually catch him and actually take some to the house. He got his first pick 6. He could have had, uh, maybe a few more picks earlier this year. He probably should have had a few more earlier this year. He got his first pick 6 of his career. In a spot where there’s no JC Horn, in a spot where there’s no Trayvon Merrick, and you know that Matthew Stafford, what we just talked about with Emmanuel Forbes, Matthew Stafford and uh Sean McBae probably came into this game and said that guy. And they got a couple, I mean Pua Nua, listen, that one-handed catch, you can’t do anything about that right there. You can’t like, I mean, Mike Jackson got his hand on it. You can’t do anything about that. But he. He stepped in the right moment and was able to score points for the Carolina Panthers, which also meant that he kept points off of the board for the Los Angeles Rams. I want to, like, for me, I know that there’s other guys who had a big time game, but for me, I want to say I’m Proud of, of Mike Jackson. He’s the guy that stands out for me in this game because he had probably the toughest assignment. When you don’t have uh uh JC Horn and you got Devonte Adams and Puka De Cool walking up in here and you did that? Yeah. Against against the quarterback who had taken over 800 attempts without an interception and threw 2 interceptions and picks all year coming into today, had 2 interceptions within, uh, you know, 3 plays, and you were one of them and it was a pick 6. Congratulations to those guys because that was what what a hell of a game, and he hadn’t thrown a pick 6 in 2 years, and that was against the Cowboys and Deron Bland. Crazy. Yeah, I, I will, my final thought on this again, the resiliency of the defense again short week without some of their top guys, but also the drive that the Panthers had at the end of the 3rd quarter going into the 4th quarter. So they use up the last 6 minutes and 58 seconds of the 3rd quarter. Field flips are actually going to the far side of the field from where I’m standing right now. The Gian Sanders gets called for a holding penalty. Fake, which was a crap call. Fake news. Fake news. That was not, that was not a whole. That was a great, by the way, uh, I, I, I wanted to take to Tavian Sanders in the locker room. I said that wasn’t a hole. He goes, I’m glad one someone noticed. That’s what he said to me. Um, so you had the holding call, but then you had a sack right after and then you also had an incomplete pass, which actually took you out of field goal range. I was like, man, that was a missed opportunity for this Panthers team to extend their leagues. They’re up 24-21. At the time I was like, man, at least get a field goal and put the pressure on the Rams to go down and get a touchdown to to take a lead as opposed to even just a field goal tying it. Sure enough, the Rams marched right down the field. They score a touchdown now it’s 28, 24, but the Panthers didn’t let that get them down and they got right back to it with an offensive drive and then 4th down you saw the the pass attaro McMillan. The resiliency from the Panthers did not let that drive. Crush their spirits to have that long of a drive and walk away with nothing. That shows some resiliency from this team as well and that’s part of the growth. We talked about, we’ve mentioned this term growing pains a lot, Chris. Last week was some pains, this week was some growth. I love to see it. 5 games left in the season. They get a chance to rest up. I’m sorry, 4 games 4 games left in the season. They get a chance to to rest up now for a week and come back. You gotta beat the Saints at the Saints. You gotta get that lick back. You should have, you should have beat them at your place. and and we’re in a completely different situation too. If you want to win the division, you have to beat the Saints. You gotta beat the Saints, then you’re gonna have the Bucks at home, right? They’ve only had 13, 33 game winning streak this entire season. After that, they’ve been basically trading back and forth. Great opportunity here, don’t want to look too far ahead, but this is literally what you’re gonna have to do for the division. You’re gonna have to get the Saints on the road on the 14th. You’re going to have to get the Bucks at home on the 21st. You have to. And after that, Try to get one of the last 2. Yeah. Simple as that. Simple as that, man. 7 and 6 heading into the biweek. 7 and 6, Dennis. If you have told me that after they were 1 and 3 to start the season, I’ve been like, nah, you crazy. They’re 1 and 3 to start the season. Now they’re 7 and 6. Hopefully they continue, hopefully they continue to go in this direction because we’ve seen this team do up and down. The inconsistency we’ve, we’ve talked about it a lot. But let’s see them continue to rise. That’s what we wanna see continued growth. They might not make it this year, but we wanna see them get closer. He’s one thing that we’ve noticed with this team this year, right? They may make a mistake a lot of times they don’t make that mistake twice. They, they go beat, uh, the Packers. They were filling themselves, didn’t have a good week of practice. They came back, they lost to the Saints, OK? You gotta buy a week so you can get whatever out of your system you you want to get out. Go rest, go party, have this win in your system for 3 days. You normally can’t do that cause you gotta move on to the next team. But then you gotta focus. We have a business trip to go to New Orleans and come back with a win, our 8th win of the season. That is a must win game for the Carolina Panthers at this point. Do not make the same mistake twice after beating a top NFC team. Do not go and lay an egg versus the saints once again. Don’t lose the damn saints. Don’t, don’t, don’t lose the damn saints. Don’t do it. Don’t. Don’t do it. All right, folks, again, leave your thoughts to the comments. Shout outs to Wake Orthopedics, the sponsor here at Panthers Playbook. How are you feeling after this one? Should be feeling good. Doing all right. I’m feeling good. Playoffs? They making the playoffs? Tell us. Playoffs, playoffs. Playoffs. Chris, let’s get to the playoffs. I’m gonna put the spotlight on you. You’re the man.
