Roundtable time!!! Carolina Panthers & ACC Football

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I did two football bets today. Right. And we have the Madrid El Derby and of course the North London Derby. You're talking about pigskin football. Exactly.

I don't know what a soccer ball is made of. And to do our little group discussion in the round table, we've got two really good friends. Camelot. Camelot.

It's only a model. And they're both right like close to the Atlantic Ocean. Although that's a little dicey right now, I think. Randy Slack from ESPN Wilmington is joining us, as is Josh Graham, who's from Sports Hub Triad. Wait a second.

The Triad's not close to the Atlantic Ocean, but for some silly reason, Josh is in Hilton Head and still talking to us on the phone. You have a you have a screw loose. You should agree. It is a silly reason. Just trying to be a good husband.

My wife's like running a conference out this way. It's silly. Football's going on. What am I doing out here near the beach? No, no.

You should be just enjoying being in Hilton Head. But I appreciate you. What? It should be noted that since I'm on the phone right now, I rewarded Willow the dog who's sitting here to be good in case I was doing video and such. But since I'm not, Willow the dog gets her treat anyway. Usually when I'm doing phone interviews, she doesn't get any treats, but she has like two sitting at my feet right now.

Dogs always deserve treats. Understand that. All right, let's get right to it. Let's talk about the Panthers who will be without Bryce Young this week.

I will start with you, Randy Slack. Your thoughts, two weeks of the Bryce Young experience. It's too early to really make a judgment call on this guy.

He has really no weapons that have really shown to be worth a lot. And if we're being honest, I think Atlanta and New Orleans are two of the better defenses in the NFL. You combine that with them being divisional opponents.

Those are going to be tough games anyway. So for people that are ready to say this guy stinks, it's entirely way too early. I don't think we need to be Kenny Pickett forgiving like they are in Pittsburgh, but we should give Bryce a little bit more time. A little bit more time. Yes, we should give him a little bit more time because the second part of what you said, I think is the most important. He needs help. Bryce needs help. Wouldn't you agree, Josh Graham? Yes, he does need more help. And if it wasn't for trading away, Krista McCaffrey and DJ Moore, they wanted to pad the Capitol in order to trade up and get the guy they feel is their franchise quarterback.

All of that can be true. And it can also still be concerning on Monday night and last week too, when mental mistakes are some of the reasons why Bryce was struggling in the Panthers locker room, there were a handful of guys who said they weren't lined up right. There was like a, there was difficulty with communicating like communication calls with the line of scrimmage.

Some things were disjointed. Remember the pitch for Bryce being the number one pick was because of his big old brain. It wasn't because of his physicality, the way we saw with cam a long time ago in 2011, it's because of the mental side of the game that people wanted this guy despite his size and such. So you can say all of what you guys just said.

And I agree with that. He does need more help and it's way too early to start making any judgment while also saying it is concerning that he has three turnovers through his first two games and also without with an ankle. I think he has more than three turnovers, doesn't he? Uh, maybe he only has three turnovers. It seems like more and he is out with an ankle injury.

I don't see that as the, an issue of being too small. I think, cause I have no idea when that happened. I mean, Anthony Richardson is also out. He suffered a concussion. My sources tell me Anthony Richardson has ankles too.

I'm sure he does. Here's the thing about it. I don't think that the brain was the selling point on Bryce young. I thought the ability to, uh, to play the position to throw accurately, uh, that the moments were not too big for him, uh, because he has always been a winning quarterback. Uh, I thought that was the selling point. He was just good at being a quarterback. Here's where, uh, I mean, I'm not concerned.

I thought game one was significantly better than game two. And there was a time where I think it was Miles Sanders, uh, pushed Bryce over behind the center because he was getting ready to take the snap from the guard. And that's never good. The guard doesn't have the ball. He can't get it for you, Bryce.

You're really going to need it from, uh, from the center in this, in this particular case. But I, I was disappointed in game two. I thought it was a step back from game one, but I also think that part of that is the fact that they just have nobody on offense that scares you. Zero players. Uh, so let me ask the question this way, and I'll start with you, Josh. How many of Carolina's receivers, and I'll throw the tight ends in here as well. Do you think if you gave the option of all of the teams who are legitimate playoff contenders in the NFL, how many players on Carolina's roster among their receivers would any of those teams take DJ shark and Adam Thielen.

I think we saw them. We, I mean, Hayden Hearst was the starting tight end for a Super Bowl contender last year. And Adam Thielen was the starting, the receiver or X receiver on a playoff team last year in a division champ with the Minnesota Vikings. I think the point that Randy made a second ago is a point that needs to be emphasized that the saints and Falcons are really good. And also Carolina, the place that they need the most help right now is not the wide receivers who are struggling to separate against good defenders. It's the offensive line where they're missing two starters and they weren't even all that impressive in preseason when they were healthy.

So that's where I think they need the most help. I bet you this weekend in Seattle, you're going to see some of those receivers separate. Andy Dalton's going to have some success moving the ball because this Seattle defense is 29th and total defense through the first two weeks while the saints allowed one touchdown through the first two weeks. And that was in present at the end of the game, Carolina, their offense is not as bad and their skill position players aren't as bad as they're being framed through the first two weeks of my opinion.

I think they are. I think the answer is maybe none of those receivers would be attracted to a playoff team. Randy, how many? Yeah, I'm with you, Adam. I don't really like any of the past catchers that the Carolina Panthers have.

I'm excited to see what T Higgins looks like in Carolina next year to be that number one receiver for Bryce. Yeah, they but Josh's other point is really the most important one. Because if if they if the Panthers could develop some semblance of a running game, then the passing game would have a better chance. But right now, they really can't run it. And I know somebody pointed out, well, they ran for 150 yards against Atlanta. They did. I'm not arguing that.

Okay. But against the Orleans, they did nothing. They could not account they had in and the end of last year is not there. The bully ball where they were able to just punch people in the mouth with their running game with their offensive line isn't there. And if they had that, it's a totally different offense for Bryce to work with. Let me just ask Josh this question.

Yes or no answer. And then we're going to move on to college football. Do the Panthers regret not drafting not drafting Justin Fields. Hey, Carolina Panthers fans Chris Lee and Dennis Cox here. We're excited to offer you all the inside information on your team with the newest member of the capital Broadcasting Podcast Network Panthers playbook twice a week. We'll keep you updated on your Carolina Panthers.

We're talking about locker room insight, exclusive interviews, and of course, in depth looks at all of the Panthers wins touchdown Carolina Panthers playbook download and subscribe today at WRL sports fan.com or wherever you discover your favorite podcasts. Wait, are you gaming on a Chromebook? Yeah, it's got a high res 120 hertz display plus this killer RGB keyboard and I can access thousands of games anytime anywhere. Stop playing. What? Get out of here. Huh? Yeah, I want you to stop playing and get out of here so I can game on that Chromebook got it.

Discover the ultimate cloud gaming machine a new kind of Chromebook. It's so interesting you say that I'm just I'm just kidding. They don't they do they do regret taking JC horn. But as you're saying that about the offensive line, I'm thinking don't draft Justin Fields draft the tackle that the Chargers took four picks later. So that way you're not drafting Icky Aquano with the number six pick a year later. Yeah, we're hasn't looked the part so far.

I agree. I you know, it's the thing about Aquano that keeps sticking out in my head are all the people who said he's a guard, not a tackle. They might be right now. In terms of analytics, the end of last year, they say he turned a corner and was getting good at pass protection. We have not seen it yet. I have not seen it in the preseason.

I have not seen it so far in the regular season. Let's talk about the wolf pack and the Virginia Cavaliers real quick. I want Victoria to play the soundbite from Dave Doran today. I want to get both of your thoughts on this. This is Doran and I'm not I'm not slamming him for this. The question is about Brennan Armstrong going back to Charlottesville and Doran points something else out. But he's playing for our team and he knows that and he's going in there to win a football game and to make it about us, you know, and how he has to play and that's kind of where it is.

I think you can get into these types of games and you guys are asking all the questions about the things that don't matter. You know, it doesn't matter that he used to go to school there. It doesn't matter that we have coaches that used to coach there.

They have coaches that used to coach here. What matters is can we execute? Can we win the ball security battle?

You know, can we strain harder than them? Can we finish plays better than them? That's what matters and we want to go win a football game.

So we're going to focus on the things that matter. All right, my question is in this particular case with Brennan Armstrong going back to Charlottesville to play his old school University of Virginia, doesn't it matter this week, Josh? I mean, it matters to your quarterback. All these coaches are talking about how you need to care for your student athletes and these guys are like our sons and things like that. I mean, Brennan Armstrong, I think he owns a degree from Virginia and that guy, he's Virginia as it gets. He's beloved the same way in Winston-Salem where I live.

Sam Hartman's beloved even though he's wearing another jersey. So if it matters to your starting quarterback who is the central point of your offense, then yeah, the game really does matter especially when you do factor in the emotional piece of it where he's going back considering what happened at the end of last football season and how that affected him. That's why I think it matters. I don't think it matters that he's going to play his old school. I think it matters that he's going to share an emotional moment for him for the first time with his old friends. I think this really matters on a level that has nothing to do with football. I think it's a proper question to ask.

Randy, your thoughts on this game? Yeah. I mean, in a world where the catchphrase in college football is it's personal, this is personal. He means a lot to that school.

The school means a lot to him. Yeah, it is a question worth asking. I understand if you're the coach of NC State and you want to be like, this is just another game and we're trying to focus on us as a team. But it's something that obviously anybody is going to be thinking about and why a media member would bring it up.

It's a fair question, absolutely. Imagine if Dave Cloughton had this play two months from now. It's like, you know what? I don't know why you guys are asking me about Sam Hartman going back to playing Wake Forest. And you know that's going to be brought up and not even going back to Winston-Salem. Dave Doran's been around long enough to have the awareness to know why we're asking and why that's a story. I want people to understand I'm not slamming Dave Doran for that. He's trying to take the going back to your old school out of it and I get it.

I get why you want to take it out. But in this particular case with all the circumstances surrounding it, it is such a more of a more sensitive topic for Brennan Armstrong. There are going to be emotions that Sam Hartman would not ever have experienced going back to Winston-Salem if that game was there.

So this is a completely different beast that has nothing to do with football but it has everything to do with how a young man might perform. I hope Brennan Armstrong and company get it done. Let's pick some games and they'll let Randy Slack and Josh Graham go.

Randy Slack, ESPN Wilmington, Josh Graham, Sports Hub, Triad. Caroline is not going to screw this up are they Randy? The Tar Heels I mean.

This is exactly the kind of game they screw up. You're playing a team that stinks. You're playing a team at a building where nobody cares about the Pitt Panthers. There will be 500 people at Heinz Field or whatever it's called now. This is 100% a game that if Caroline wins I don't know what the spread is on it. I'm taking Pitt in the points that's for sure.

Wow they're gonna be way over a thousand people at this game. Josh the Tar Heels aren't gonna blow this are they? When you're looking at the ACC Big Four as a whole this weekend like it feels like the horror movie where you hear like the ominous music in the background and you have the four teenagers in the house and you just know one of them is gonna get stabbed out of a closet or something. That's gonna happen to Wake, Duke, NC State or North Carolina this weekend. We just don't know which one it's going to be as all four are favored this weekend and North Carolina is favored by a touchdown. The team I am most concerned about out of the four even as Wake Forest is only favored at home by like three and a half or four against Georgia Tech.

That line stinks is North Carolina because of all the reasons Randy was talking about. This is the type of game that you're worried about and this is kind of crazy too. This is the first road game North Carolina has had this year and they only have one more road game between now and mid November. Like they're going to be favored in every single game they play between now and perhaps the Clemson game the second to last week of the year. So it's scary to start projecting that far ahead but first road game Pittsburgh looked bad last week. Literally every single game in the history of the series between Pitt and North Carolina games played in Pittsburgh have been decided by a touchdown or less.

I think this is a scary spot for the target. Oh they're all I mean I agree I don't think Duke's gonna I think Duke might struggle a little bit but I think Duke is significantly better than Connecticut and I think you're sleeping on the fact that the Blue Devils will be favored at Canaan Stadium the third to last week of the season. Which of those four games Randy? Georgia Tech is at Wake, Duke's at Connecticut, State's at Virginia and Carolina's at Pitt. Which of those games is most likely to disappoint the locals? Most likely to disappoint the locals. Okay sorry sorry it's raining really hard here I lost my trade up out there first.

Quite all right so did I. Randy might be waiting. I think you probably already said the answer uh and that is North Carolina. All right uh Josh your confidence level in the Orioles to stay atop the division and go deep in the American League playoffs is? If they win if they hold on to win the division then they're World Series champs. If they don't they're not World Series champs. They are World Series contenders. Let's be careful I'm wearing an Oriole shirt right now.

I'm drinking all the orange Kool-Aid. Yeah I'm all in um if they don't if they don't hold off the Rays over the next week and a half they're not going out of the wildcard and making it to the World Series. But when you look at the slate you got a lot of games at home after this uh series against Cleveland this weekend. It's Cleveland it's the Nats it's the Red Sox who aren't making the playoffs.

These are teams that have nothing to play for and most of these games are at home. I'd like to think after the last five months six months that we've seen of Orioles baseball that they're eventually they're they're not going to fall apart and that they're going to make it. Yeah they're they almost made it through the end of this interview with Willow the dog.

Shouts to Willow give her another bone. By the way the magic number for the Orioles to clinch the division is eight. They're going to win the division. Randy your level of confidence in Joe Burrow's calf?

Uh about five percent. I don't know why he's even playing they should like this is a week I understand oh and three is really really bad but they need him healthy for Buffalo they need him healthy for Kansas City they need him healthy for the Pittsburgh Steelers twice the San Francisco 49ers. You're playing an eh Rams team you should be able to play without Joe Burrow and hope that you can get this done without him this week that's why you have a backup quarterback.

They're better the Rams are better than eh I think the Rams are good uh but I agree with your other point is that Joe Burrow shouldn't play you could argue that Joe Burrow shouldn't have played in week one uh but uh they rushed him back and I hope they're not going to pay the price because Joe Burrow and the Bengals are too much fun to watch. Randy Slack uh from ESPN Wilmington Josh Graham from Sports Hub Triad uh batting them down I know you guys are at the coast I hope everything's okay I will talk to both of you very soon thanks thank you and shouts to Willow uh give Willow all the treats. From iHeart podcast Supreme the battle for row tells the story of the unlikely champions behind the landmark case Roe v Wade starring Maya Hawk as 26 year old lead attorney Sarah Weddington. We're challenging the Texas abortion laws in federal court. And academy award nominee William H Macy as Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun.

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