Panthers Post Game | September 27, 2026

00:00:02
Speaker 1: And welcome to the woulda, shoulda, coulda post-scram show.
00:00:06
Speaker 2: There's a lot of woulda, shoulda, couldas in this one, along with Eugene Robinson, Mike Pacheco, Panthers fall 21-18 to the Cleveland Browns. And, you know, as you look back in this game, Eugene, as I said, a lot of woulda, shoulda, couldas in this ball game. You think about the Panthers get the ball to start the second half after a turnover. You think about the Panthers had the ball at the four-yard line, couldn't get the ball in the end zone. Uh, There's just a lot of opportunities that were missed by the Panthers in this game today. And I think it really comes down to the quarterbacks, both quarterbacks. I thought that earlier Bryce did not play as well. I thought even when he's moving to his left-hand side, there was some overthrows, underthrows.
00:00:47
Speaker 3: It just didn't seem like Bryce-like. You could tell that he was frustrated. And I thought on the flip side, it was Watson. Watson played in an incredible game. He was able to go ahead and and stay alive with his feet and extend the play, extend the play, or.
00:01:04
Speaker 1: Pick up a first down.
00:01:05
Speaker 3: And so I really thought it was really a tale of the quarterbacks and how well the quarterbacks played was gonna determine who was gonna win this game. And then lastly, I'll tell you what, the defense of Cleveland stepped up. That was a really good defensive performance. So whether we think that we should score like 40, 50 points every single time, that defense did a great job of keeping our quarterback at bay and moving him out the park and making him a little bit uncomfortable. And so I thought, hats off, they did a good job. And I thought we did a good job, and it was going to come down to– I thought three points. It was going to come down to, can we find three points just somewhere?
00:01:48
Speaker 1: And you're right.
00:01:49
Speaker 3: Maybe the woulda couldas, those fourth down plays that we missed on, we missed on, we missed on.
00:01:54
Speaker 1: That hurt.
00:01:55
Speaker 3: But I think overall, I don't know, I thought this was a really tough, hard-fought game on both sides.
00:02:01
Speaker 1: And it looks like they came away with a three-point victory.
00:02:03
Speaker 4: And it ended up being one of those games, too. And I even said to Brett, when the Panthers had the lead, just don't give up a touchdown.
00:02:10
Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:02:12
Speaker 4: And, you know, again, to your point, you've got to credit in winning time, the Browns made more plays than the Panthers did. They tried to give the game away with a minute to go, and the Panthers had kind of a last-ditch chance there.
00:02:24
Speaker 5: You know, to me.
00:02:26
Speaker 4: It's probably going to come down to a couple plays, right? But the killer is when Okereke hits the.
00:02:32
Speaker 1: I know that was a killer right there.
00:02:35
Speaker 5: I mean, you had the game won.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:02:37
Speaker 4: And couldn't... And it looked like... I mean, I've seen a lot worse that wasn't called.
00:02:44
Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:02:45
Speaker 5: And I get what it's called, but yeah, I'm not, I'm not, it.
00:02:48
Speaker 1: Was a carrot cage. Jalen Phillips.
00:02:49
Speaker 3: They both rushed into quarterback, getting their hands up, you know, doing what you're supposed to do hands up. And it was a great play by Lee, uh, uh, Will Lee in the end zone to tip it, to tip the ball.
00:02:59
Speaker 1: And I think it was Evans.
00:03:00
Speaker 3: I think he ended up with that. I was like, Oh, the game is over. And I had no idea that it was a rough and a penalty call. And then when you looked at the film, uh, If they would have done that against Bryce, I would have said, that's a roughing call too.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: So I get it.
00:03:13
Speaker 3: You want to protect the quarterback, and you can't hit the quarterback in the face. It's just so egregious. And also, it's a play that you can see immediately. It's a play that if I hold you and hold you at the waist, you may not see that. But if I hit you in the face, you're going to see it.
00:03:26
Speaker 5: And the Panthers got away with one in the first half.
00:03:29
Speaker 1: They did. They got away with it.
00:03:31
Speaker 4: You can't really, yeah, you can't nitpick on that. And the penalties, I mean, the penalties for Cleveland are, More so in the first half.
00:03:38
Speaker 5: It seems like.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: They couldn't get out of their way.
00:03:41
Speaker 4: In the first half, and yet they still were able to go into the half with a lead.
00:03:46
Speaker 5: We talked about this a lot over the years, too.
00:03:50
Speaker 4: Don't get me wrong, it's great that Ryan Fitzgerald makes all those field goals, but you've got to get touchdowns.
00:03:54
Speaker 1: You've got to get some, yeah. And here it is.
00:03:56
Speaker 3: I thought that, you know, I was listening to the announcers. They made a comment that the coach wants their defense on the field. That's the best part of what they do defensively. And so you can hear just the roars of the fans and how loud it was because, you know, that last couple of series that we had down there when we had a chance, I'm like, my goodness, you can't even hear it. They're making it very, very difficult. And Graham's having a full– he's having a Miles Garrett day. He's having that type of day.
00:04:28
Speaker 1: And so.
00:04:31
Speaker 3: They played to their strength, and they wanted to get to their strength, which was their defense. And then their defense in the last minute, the last two minutes, showed up. They really showed up.
00:04:40
Speaker 2: Well, and you think about two of their scoring drives, both in the first half, came after the Panthers basically gave them great field position.
00:04:48
Speaker 1: You know, the Panthers go forward on the fourth down.
00:04:50
Speaker 4: That's it.
00:04:51
Speaker 1: Don't get it.
00:04:52
Speaker 2: And Cleveland gets the ball at the Panthers' 47-yard line.
00:04:57
Speaker 1: And they come down.
00:04:58
Speaker 2: They get a field goal out of it. And then the Panthers give them the ball at their own 40-yard line on the plus side of the field for Cleveland.
00:05:07
Speaker 1: And they go down and they get a touchdown out of it.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: And you had a couple of big plays, you know, 17-yard play. They get down there quickly. And then they score on fourth down, where if they'd settled for a field goal.
00:05:18
Speaker 1: Exactly. Now it's a different ball game, but they went for a fourth down and got it.
00:05:21
Speaker 3: But see, I don't blame Coach Izzik or Coach Canales from going for.
00:05:26
Speaker 1: It on a fourth down.
00:05:26
Speaker 6: I mean.
00:05:28
Speaker 3: I see where they were trying to get something happening, something going, and hoping that Bryce would be able to connect. Because there was one time when they were blitzing really fast, and Bryce knew it, saw it.
00:05:38
Speaker 1: And he just underthrew it, too. I think it was Trimble coming across. Oh, my goodness. But if he hits that play, it's a different narrative. It's a different story. So I'm not. You know, I don't fault the coaches for not being aggressive. I thought they were aggressive.
00:05:52
Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, I'll take that aggression because that aggression, I think, is going to play off in the long run. Because I think if you're not aggressive and you hold back, we're going to be sitting here on the flip side.
00:06:02
Speaker 1: Hey, man, throw the ball. Hey, go for it.
00:06:04
Speaker 3: We're going to be saying that type of stuff. And so I think that. I know it didn't work out on the fourth downs. I totally get it. And maybe we could have done a little bit better.
00:06:13
Speaker 1: Yes, I get it.
00:06:14
Speaker 3: However, I like the aggressiveness about it because that tells me we're a team that we think that we can pick up a first down on four downs.
00:06:22
Speaker 4: And the one thing I think would be interesting if somebody asked Coach Canales this, because it seemed interesting for the most part when they tried, when Bryce went to his left.
00:06:31
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness.
00:06:32
Speaker 5: That's when we saw some of his throws that really weren't on the mark.
00:06:35
Speaker 4: And so I wonder if that was maybe what Cleveland was kind of forcing it to or whether that was extra play design. Because there were a couple times where it looked like maybe if they flipped the play to the other side of the field, maybe it's a better opportunity to get something else.
00:06:48
Speaker 3: And a great observation because I said when he's rolling to his left-hand side, he's a right-handed quarterback, you have to square your shoulders to throw the ball.
00:06:56
Speaker 1: It's not easy. It's not easy.
00:06:57
Speaker 3: And as a defensive back, you know what we're looking at? Oh, we're going to get an easy interception. You're going to misthrow the ball. It's going to go over high. It's going to go low. You're not as steady. When he went to his right-hand side, Hit, Humble, Waller. He was hitting guys easily because that's your throwing side right there.
00:07:15
Speaker 1: You don't have to square your shoulders. You can continue to run that direction.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: And so from that standpoint, I was like, okay, get him moving to his right side and now his left side. And I thought that maybe, to your point, Cheek, Was the Browns forcing him to go to his left? Were they doing that, making him go to a point guard, make him go to his left, make him go to his left?
00:07:34
Speaker 1: Was it that type of stuff?
00:07:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, because if it's that kind of thing, it's understandable.
00:07:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, and another thing is, I wanted Bryce to run a little bit more. Now, I don't know if his ankle was bothering him. I don't know what the situation is.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: That's one thing I think we're going to find out in the next, if not today, in the next few days, how hurt he was. Because remember, after he took that sack on that first fourth down failure, Sharon reported that you had your backup quarterback start warming up because Bryce had a knee injury, and he may not be back in the game.
00:08:05
Speaker 4: Remember in the second half, he went into the tent again.
00:08:07
Speaker 7: Exactly.
00:08:07
Speaker 5: He came out pretty quickly.
00:08:10
Speaker 1: Here it is.
00:08:12
Speaker 3: I wanted Bryce to run. There was a time when he threw the ball to Moore way down in the back end zone.
00:08:17
Speaker 1: If he runs... He's going to pick up.
00:08:20
Speaker 3: Easy 10, 15 yards, pick up the first down because there's nobody in front of him. And I thought the fact that he elected to throw the ball, I'm like, okay, well, maybe he's not. Maybe there's something going on more that I don't know about.
00:08:33
Speaker 8: Yep.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: So, well, we do have a Whataburger moment of the game, grilling delicious food for 75 years.
00:08:38
Speaker 1: Whataburger, just like you like it.
00:08:39
Speaker 2: And it was the one touchdown that the Panthers had during the game today.
00:08:49
Speaker 9: Out of a pistol set. The run game has opened up here. Tremaine motions left to right. Fake to Chuba. Young moves the pocket.
00:08:56
Speaker 8: Throws.
00:08:56
Speaker 6: It's all. Touchdown, Carolina. Bryce Young to John Mechie. Cue it up, Alabama.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: All right.
00:09:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a little roll tide action there.
00:09:07
Speaker 1: Don't tell that to South Carolina fans right now. Ooh, I saw that.
00:09:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, that made it 18-13, gave the Panthers the lead. Unfortunately, they couldn't hold it. Now, when we come back, I want to ask you guys, we're now three games.
00:09:21
Speaker 1: Into the season.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: We know how abused the defense was against the Bears. Came back only allowed three points last week. What do we know about the defense now? We went from one extreme to the other between weeks one and two. What do we know about the defense now that we've seen a third performance? We'll talk about that when we come back on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network. Welcome back to the Panthers Post Game Show presented by Marco's Pizza. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marco's Pizza or order online today along with Eugene Robinson, Mike McClendon, Brett McMillan. Glad to have you with us. Panthers fall today on a last-minute drive or a two-minute drive with less than two minutes to go. Cleveland rallies to win it 21-18 over the Panthers after the Panthers had rallied to take the lead in midway through the fourth quarter. So we were talking before the break about the Panthers' defense. Gives up 59 points against the Bears week one, only three week two against the Falcons. And now goes against the Cleveland team, another running quarterback, which they saw week one against Chicago, a guy that absolutely tore them up again. Deshaun Watson, a guy that can keep the pocket alive on a passing down. Today he rushed for 45 yards on 11 carries. And we were talking during the break. Mike, you brought it up. The runs were impactful when he had them, including on their final drive when he had a 20-yard scramble that got him down to the 24-yard line. Now, they needed to get a touchdown, but that got them deep enough in the territory that they became a real threat.
00:11:02
Speaker 1: So who is the Panthers' defense? Is it?
00:11:06
Speaker 2: It's not as bad as we saw in week one, but is it as good as we saw week two?
00:11:14
Speaker 4: I would say better, obviously, than week one. Maybe not as good as last week, but you still held an NFL team to 21 points. And if you score your average, you win the game. So I think this isn't so much an indictment on the defense. I think the defense played well enough to put this team in a position to win.
00:11:31
Speaker 1: And don't forget, it was 10-9 at the half. It's 10-9.
00:11:36
Speaker 3: You only yield 10 points against that team. That quarterback who can actually scramble, move out of the pocket, and he has some guys he can hit. I mean, when he moved out of the pocket and he's extended the pocket and extended the time, he's able to hit fanning on test sounds, a couple of test sounds.
00:11:51
Speaker 7: I mean.
00:11:53
Speaker 3: That's well over a three-and-a-half to four-second play. So that means the quarterback is staying alive, staying alive, staying alive. That is– that's huge.
00:12:01
Speaker 5: And he proved the point that you were making about the opposite, right?
00:12:05
Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:12:07
Speaker 3: So when the quarterback is able to– to run like he ran, impactful runs, and to keep the play alive, it wears your defense. Your defense is told to go ahead and plaster. Plaster means in the secondary, you find the guy and you stay with him. Don't even look at the quarterback. Somebody else has to go ahead and sack the quarterback.
00:12:24
Speaker 4: And case in point is the second touchdown to Fannin. They initially had that. played defended, and then Fanton, because he was kind of off onto the right end of the flat, and then he just kind of snuck in behind the defense.
00:12:34
Speaker 6: He did.
00:12:34
Speaker 4: And then, you know, credit Deshaun Watson seeing him and then threw a nice pass.
00:12:38
Speaker 3: And the fact that Deshaun Watson threatened to go ahead and run, you saw the linebackers both started to come up, and now it's easy for the receiver to get behind you.
00:12:48
Speaker 1: That's an easy play.
00:12:50
Speaker 3: And the fact that he's running to his left, right-handed quarterback, he squares his shoulders and throws the ball back to his right-hand side for an easy touchdown. I mean, everybody's on his left. And so now he got guys running free. So when I'm looking at, when I'm saying all that stuff, I'm like, dude, he stayed alive. And so when you ask me, is this team, the defense, is it better? Yes, I think the defense is a lot better than 59 points. I think the defense is somewhere around those three points because we saw them really keep the offense who struggled, if you will, in this ballgame. There was no doubt about that. So this was a really great, I thought, defensive effort against a quarterback like that.
00:13:28
Speaker 5: And you take a couple of those field goals, tournament touchdowns.
00:13:30
Speaker 1: Oh, absolutely.
00:13:31
Speaker 5: It's a difference.
00:13:32
Speaker 4: So I think the defense is... This is not an indictment on the defense.
00:13:35
Speaker 1: No, it's just not. And this is.
00:13:37
Speaker 3: Collectively, when I'm in that territory, that's a hostile place. You know, I remember you used to throw dog biscuits at people. I remember.
00:13:47
Speaker 1: Dog biscuit? Yeah, that's a dog biscuit. And so.
00:13:49
Speaker 3: In that hostile environment, in the way that we held up and still had a chance, even when we turned the ball over on downs in that two-minute situation, we got the ball back one minute.
00:14:00
Speaker 1: The defense stepped up, dude.
00:14:02
Speaker 3: I know that they only needed 10 yards, but they got eight yards on one play and had second down and two, third down and two, fourth down and one, and we stopped them.
00:14:12
Speaker 1: Got the ball back to the offense.
00:14:14
Speaker 3: And so, yes, I think the defense is way better than what we looked like You know, the only problem is I thought when Mike Jack went out, that hurt you.
00:14:23
Speaker 1: And also now we saw J.C. Hogan go out.
00:14:25
Speaker 6: Right.
00:14:25
Speaker 1: That hurt you. Now, are we the same defense?
00:14:28
Speaker 5: And Devin Lloyd, too.
00:14:29
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Are we the same defense without those guys? No.
00:14:33
Speaker 3: With three of your starters, Devin Lloyd, without J.C., without Mike Jack, I don't think we're the same.
00:14:37
Speaker 1: Defense, but we played well.
00:14:38
Speaker 5: But they still played well.
00:14:40
Speaker 1: We played extremely well.
00:14:41
Speaker 10: All right.
00:14:41
Speaker 2: So, hey, that's the thing. And now you've got Detroit coming in. We know how good their offense can be. They won their game, and we'll talk about the scoreboard here in just a couple of minutes. They beat the Jets today. But, boy, you know, when the schedule comes out and you see a bye week in week five, sometimes you go, yeah, that's kind of early. This team's going to be real happy to see that bye week come into week five, as banged up as they are coming out of this game today.
00:15:08
Speaker 10: Exactly.
00:15:08
Speaker 1: That's the one thing I thought we were banged up.
00:15:11
Speaker 3: Didn't Bobby Brown go down at one point in the game?
00:15:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, he came back.
00:15:14
Speaker 1: So he came back. Darren Lewis went down with an elbow.
00:15:15
Speaker 11: Yeah, D.
00:15:16
Speaker 3: Lou.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: And I thought offensively. Koken went out with a quad.
00:15:20
Speaker 3: There is a lot of stuff that's kind of going on that you're absolutely right.
00:15:25
Speaker 1: That coach is going to say he welcomes that bye week indeed.
00:15:29
Speaker 3: But this team, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
00:15:32
Speaker 1: That was a tough game in Cleveland.
00:15:35
Speaker 6: In Cleveland.
00:15:36
Speaker 1: And let me just remind you, did not Cleveland beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Yep.
00:15:39
Speaker 6: In Tampa.
00:15:40
Speaker 1: In Tampa.
00:15:41
Speaker 3: So, I mean, Deshaun Watson looked like the Deshaun Watson before he got to Cleveland.
00:15:48
Speaker 1: That's what he looked like.
00:15:49
Speaker 5: All right.
00:15:50
Speaker 1: We'll keep that in mind.
00:15:51
Speaker 2: So, it's going to be interesting to see how this team plays, but I think we've got to answer more so on who this defense is after– A 3-3 game.
00:16:01
Speaker 3: After this Detroit game, you'll know because Jameer Gibbs is no joke.
00:16:06
Speaker 4: He almost hit 99 yards today in the rushing in their win.
00:16:10
Speaker 1: Wow.
00:16:11
Speaker 2: And we'll talk about all that. And we'll go over the scoreboard. You ready for the scoreboard, Mike?
00:16:16
Speaker 5: Next segment. Let's do the next segment.
00:16:17
Speaker 2: Let's do the next segment because all the early games are now finished. So we'll let you know everything that happened in the early games in the NFL when we return to the Panthers postgame show.
00:16:26
Speaker 10: This is the Panthers postgame show presented by Marco's Pizza.
00:16:31
Speaker 6: Zone read. Gibbs straight up the middle. Touchdown. Touchdown, Carolina.
00:16:36
Speaker 10: Reaction and analysis to today's game with special guests, highlights, and updates from around the league.
00:16:43
Speaker 6: Complete. Touchdown right side. Makes the catch. Touchdown Panthers. Now what? How about it? Now what?
00:16:50
Speaker 10: Now to Brett McMillan with the Panthers postgame show exclusively on the Carolina Panthers radio network.
00:16:59
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: Panthers fall to the Browns and fall to 1-2 on the year now. 21-18 the final as the Browns come from behind with a drive in the last two minutes. And we're going to take a drive around the league right now brought to you by the Honda dealers of the Carolinas and check out all the early games. So, Mike, what happened around the league today?
00:17:19
Speaker 4: Well, let's start with Detroit since the Panthers will be seeing them next Sunday night. They beat the Jets 31-24. So Detroit now 2-1. The Jets go to 1-2. Talked about Jameer Gibbs. He got 99 yards on the ground, two touchdowns on the ground. Also was 7 of 65 receiving with a touchdown.
00:17:39
Speaker 5: So he had three touchdowns.
00:17:40
Speaker 1: Jameer Gibbs, I watched some highlights. He looked beautiful. He's just that guy. He's that guy.
00:17:46
Speaker 2: But, you know, they did a nice job containing B.
00:17:50
Speaker 1: John Robinson. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm sorry.
00:17:54
Speaker 4: No, I'll continue. Buffalo beats the Chargers. Chargers now 0-3, 24-16. Now, Josh Allen throws two picks in the game, but James Cook runs for 154 yards on 24 carries as a touchdown. James Cook is always a beast.
00:18:11
Speaker 1: Jim Harbaugh had never started 0-2. Ever. Yeah. NFL or college. He's now 0-3. Oh, my goodness.
00:18:18
Speaker 4: Colts get their first win, 19-17. Jones was 24-36, 235 yards. He had a pick and a touchdown. So they go on to win by two. And there's been a lot of pressure on the coach and the GM there by the GM's daughters, the new ownership group.
00:18:36
Speaker 7: Oh, wow.
00:18:37
Speaker 4: They'd start off in that 0-2. So they get their first win. So that's big.
00:18:41
Speaker 5: Bad news for Colts.
00:18:42
Speaker 4: Another bad performance numbers-wise for Drake May as New England loses... On the road at Jacksonville, 35-6. May, two interceptions, 199 yards. Trevor Lawrence, 19 of 29, 182 yards. He throws three touchdown passes in that game.
00:18:57
Speaker 3: There's too much parity in the league. I'm telling you, there is no prohibitive favorite. If you talk about, oh, this team is going to be the team, there is none. There's too much parity.
00:19:06
Speaker 1: Seattle's great. I know, but just what? They just lost 33.
00:19:09
Speaker 5: We'll talk about Seattle in a minute.
00:19:10
Speaker 1: Okay, go ahead.
00:19:11
Speaker 4: But let's start with Kansas City because they're now 3-0. The Chiefs beat the Dolphins 24-10. Patrick Mahomes– 20 of 24, 246 yards in the air, two touchdowns. Did have one pick in the game. He had a carry for one yard, but they're rolling.
00:19:24
Speaker 1: Dolphins. He's going to go down as one of the great all-time quarterbacks.
00:19:29
Speaker 5: I don't think you're wrong about that.
00:19:30
Speaker 1: Just imagine if he was healthy, he could play this year. Great all-time quarterback.
00:19:35
Speaker 4: Jameis Winston gets the Giants to the win category. Now, again, it's the 0-3 Titans, 12-7. The win for New York, Cam Scadaboo had 60 yards on the ground, but Jameis Winston. 14 of 22, 118 yards, no touchdowns. and no interceptions. Kind of a grudge game with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. And the Steelers win by three, 30-27.
00:19:56
Speaker 3: Wow, I thought the Bengals was going to go ahead and upset them, but no.
00:20:01
Speaker 5: Nope, Aaron Rodgers, three touchdowns, one interception. Joe Burrow.
00:20:05
Speaker 4: has three touchdowns and no interceptions. And then Warren rushes for 127 yards on 17 carries. He averaged 7.5 yards a carry.
00:20:14
Speaker 9: Wow.
00:20:14
Speaker 1: Okay. We'll take that.
00:20:16
Speaker 4: And then in the game that we were just referencing, you have Washington and Seattle. That game kind of went back and forth a little bit, but the commander is behind Marcus Mariota, 19 of 31, 183 yards, three touchdown passes for Marcus Mariota.
00:20:30
Speaker 1: Marcus Mariota, who can actually run.
00:20:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, Sam Darnold had two picks in the game, threw for four touchdowns, and had 379.
00:20:36
Speaker 1: He threw for how many touchdowns?
00:20:38
Speaker 7: Four.
00:20:38
Speaker 4: Four touchdowns, had two picks, and 379 yards in the air.
00:20:44
Speaker 1: How did Smith and Jigba do?
00:20:46
Speaker 5: Well, was he in your fantasy team?
00:20:49
Speaker 1: Yes, he is. I'm one of them.
00:20:50
Speaker 5: Okay.
00:20:51
Speaker 4: Well, 10 receptions, 128 yards, two touchdowns, and he also threw a 14-yard pass. It was not a touchdown, but on a trick play, he had a– I wonder.
00:21:03
Speaker 1: How that figures into fantasy points.
00:21:04
Speaker 4: 14 yards and one pass, I think that's one for one. I think he'd probably get something on that. And I think that's everything. So coming up right now, San Francisco is off to a hot start over Arizona, 14-0. Minnesota, a field goal better than Tampa Bay right now.
00:21:21
Speaker 5: That's in the second quarter.
00:21:22
Speaker 4: Actually, both those games are in the second quarter, as is Las Vegas trying to go 3-0 to start the year. They're trailing 6-3 right now to New Orleans. And Baltimore, we should have drawn the assignment for this one. In Rio de Janeiro, Dallas leads Baltimore 10-7.
00:21:39
Speaker 1: Is the field held together tomorrow? I don't know if it's still.
00:21:41
Speaker 5: I don't know. Some issues on the field there in Rio.
00:21:46
Speaker 3: And the thing that we need to talk about, and we will, is that the injuries. I mean, the one thing that will derail any team.
00:21:54
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
00:21:55
Speaker 1: It's injuries. I don't care.
00:21:57
Speaker 3: At any position, particularly if you've got a receiver, a Jalen Coker, a guy that you really kind of depend on to be that guy to, he's not on the field, right? If he's not on the field, T-Mac's not on the field, you've got Waller, you've got some big guys. But Jalen Coker's the guy that you depend on. And so now you've got to find another guy. And don't forget, he's a big receiver. All your receivers are really big.
00:22:17
Speaker 5: And sure-handed and stretches the field.
00:22:19
Speaker 1: Exactly. Just absolutely.
00:22:21
Speaker 3: There were some times where Bryce just absolutely missed people. And Bryce, that's on Bryce. He should have been able to make those throws. But when you lose a receiver or we lose a defensive back, and by Jack, we lose a defensive back, and J.C. Horn, you have to shuffle positions and figure out, okay– How can we shore this up? And the guys that you put in, you want them guys to perform at a high level.
00:22:46
Speaker 1: You just do.
00:22:47
Speaker 3: And so from that standpoint, injuries is one thing that would derail a team. And we got some injuries. And hopefully Coach Canales addresses that too with the guys to see where we are with that because we have to get healthy.
00:23:01
Speaker 1: Well, that's like you said.
00:23:03
Speaker 2: I think having the bye week coming up after the Detroit game is going to be huge for this team to have that bye week. to try to get this team back to health, or at least somewhere towards back to health.
00:23:14
Speaker 1: And that's a Sunday night game, is it not? Next Sunday night. That's next Sunday night. Absolutely, right here at Bank of America Stadium.
00:23:20
Speaker 2: All right, still ahead, we'll hear from Coach Dave Canales, hear from players as well, get the final thoughts from Jim, Anish, and Kurt up in Cleveland. So you want to stay with us on the Carolina Panthers Radio Network.
00:23:31
Speaker 8: We'll be right back.
00:23:35
Speaker 2: And welcome back to the Panthers postgame show presented by Marco's Pizza. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marco's Pizza or order online today. Coming up, we'll have some highlights from today's ballgame. But first, let's pause 10 seconds for station identification on the Carolina Panthers radio network.
00:23:52
Speaker 10: WRFX, Kannapolis, Charlotte, Panthers football, and rock from the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
00:23:59
Speaker 5: This is 99.7 The Fox.
00:24:02
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back.
00:24:03
Speaker 2: Panthers fall to the Browns 21-18 in what was really a pretty solid defensive battle on the day. Panthers went for it on fourth down twice early in this ball game. But after the second failure, which was at their own 40-yard line, Cleveland was able to drive down in just a few plays. And on a fourth down, got the first touchdown of the game.
00:24:27
Speaker 9: A glove went off the right hip of Watson.
00:24:31
Speaker 6: He's in the gun. Two receivers right. Concepcion in the slot. Here's the snap. Watson looking left. Backpedaling. Nobody open. Throws to the end zone. It is caught by Fannin. But hang on.
00:24:43
Speaker 9: There's a flag down. Caught for a touchdown by Fannin.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, the flag was defensive holding. And, Eugene, we talked about this. And, you know, it's one of those things. A lot of times defensive backs get beat on a lot. People say, hey, how come you didn't have this guy covered? But the fact is, if you can't get pressure on the quarterback and he's got a lot of time to the throw, guys are going to get open because how long is a defense designed to cover a guy?
00:25:12
Speaker 3: So typically we always say you have about 3.2 seconds to go ahead and throw the ball as a quarterback because typically you're going to get sacked if you don't get the ball off in that time. Or you're going to have to move out the pocket and you're going to have to go ahead and do some little scramble to improvise. And when you're doing that, your receivers are told, hey, scatter, scatter. I want you to get open. We're playing Sandlot right now to get all routes. And so what the defensive backs say, plaster, plaster, plaster, plaster. You find the guy and you stick with him. Don't worry about trying to get to the quarterback. That's somebody else's job. You got to get next to the receivers. And so you plaster. That's what you do. It's hard because now it's sand like there's no design routes. Guys are just, you know, doing basketball moves, you know, baseball moves. They're just trying to get open. And when they're trying to get open, you're trying to keep your eye on the quarterback and trying to keep your eye on the receiver. It's hard to do. So we say plaster. Don't worry about the quarterback. If he runs for a touchdown, he just beat us. But if you take your eyes and put them on the quarterback, Just for a second, you're going to lose a guy, and he's going to come wide open, and the quarterback will find him. He will find him. He fouled Fanning twice.
00:26:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, and a competent NFL quarterback, you give him five, six seconds. Most of the time, he'll make the right play as long as the guy makes the catch, right? But, I mean, if he has time to make that throw, nine times out of ten, he's going to make a really good throw.
00:26:37
Speaker 3: And don't forget, he's running– And he has a chance to go ahead and run the ball because you can't come off coverage. And so now you got maybe one person to beat, a linebacker maybe, maybe a safety you have to beat. And if you got a quarterback who can run, who's accomplished like Watson or like Bryce Young, Dude, that's very, very difficult. So typically we want to keep that quarterback corralled. We want to contain him. We want to put pressure on his face. We want to get him bloody his nose legally in the dirt. Get him on the ground. Get him on the ground. That's what you want to do. But if he gets outside the pocket, all bets are off, man. You got to go cover the best way you can.
00:27:14
Speaker 2: And Deshaun Watson was very good at buying that time and getting the receiver's time to find some kind of opening someplace. Well, the Panthers trailed 10-3 at the half, but The momentum seemed to change at the start of the second half because of this.
00:27:29
Speaker 6: Fitzgerald now kicks off from his own 30.
00:27:31
Speaker 9: This one is fielded by Corley inside his own four. Running on the number is 10. Far side 20. Cross the 25.
00:27:40
Speaker 6: Lost the football. Came out. Loose near the 30-yard line. Who's got it? Yeah!
00:27:47
Speaker 10: Football!
00:27:48
Speaker 1: That's how you start the half. I like the penalty.
00:27:50
Speaker 6: Special teams to the rescue.
00:27:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, the penalty they were referencing was actually on the first kickoff, the Panthers got penalized for an illegal formation. That was the second kickoff, and the Panthers made it work for them.
00:28:02
Speaker 3: And we used to always say that nothing good happens when you have to do a play twice. Typically nothing happens because you've been running down there. You're like, now you're just tired. Or the returner, you're kind of tired. You just expended energy that you didn't have. Now you're doing the play again. So that was a great play for us, and I was hoping that we could capitalize in getting– Six points out of that as opposed to three points.
00:28:26
Speaker 1: But guess what?
00:28:27
Speaker 3: I'll take three points because we weren't expected to have those three points anyway. And I said, that's going to make me enough to go ahead and get us back in the game. And I thought I got it back. Yeah.
00:28:35
Speaker 1: Settled for three points. It was Mumat Njigba. Yeah.
00:28:40
Speaker 2: Mumat Jongmeta made the hit. And Thomas Nkun made the recovery there. So the Panthers had to settle for three. The Panthers got it to 12-10 lead in this ballgame and then made a great drive early in the fourth quarter and came back down 13-12 and with 425 in the game, took the lead back.
00:29:09
Speaker 9: Out of a pistol set. The run game has opened up here. Tremaine motions left to right. Fake to Chuba. Young moves the pocket.
00:29:16
Speaker 6: Throws. It's all. Touchdown, Carolina.
00:29:19
Speaker 4: Bryce Young to John Mechie.
00:29:21
Speaker 6: Cue it up, Alabama.
00:29:24
Speaker 1: Sweet home, Alabama. Sweet home, Alabama. We better move along before Eugene keeps singing. All right.
00:29:31
Speaker 2: But Cleveland was able to bounce right back, drove down the field, and with less than two minutes to go, Deshaun Watson went to work again.
00:29:41
Speaker 9: Watson again in the gun. Motion's Concepcion. Shotgun snap. Watson looking around. Ducks under pressure. Rolls to his left. Throws toward the end zone. He's got Fannin for a touchdown. Second touchdown of the game for Fannin. It gives Cleveland.
00:29:56
Speaker 6: A 19-18 lead.
00:29:59
Speaker 4: You know, we didn't have a stopwatch on it, but I bet it was over 3.7 seconds.
00:30:02
Speaker 2: It was definitely about four seconds. So he bought the time. They got the two-point conversion. Panthers could not get back down the field.
00:30:10
Speaker 1: Had two opportunities to get back down the field to get into field goal range. Were not able to do it.
00:30:14
Speaker 2: And 21-18 was the final score. Hardest working player of the game, presented by Sunbelt Rentals, the official rental equipment partner of the Carolina Panthers. Eugene, you're going to give it to one of the unsung heroes of the game.
00:30:28
Speaker 1: Who do you got?
00:30:28
Speaker 3: I thought Damian Lewis did a great job of blocking. He got hurt in the game, came back in the game, and was playing. And typically, when we started actually to run the ball in that second half, at the left guard spot, you saw him blocking. Double-teening, coming off to the linebacker. You saw us moving the ball. Now, it wasn't just Chuba. It was that blocking by the offensive line to get things happening and get some movement.
00:30:54
Speaker 1: So I'm looking at the offensive line. I'm going to pick out D.
00:30:57
Speaker 4: Lou. And I'd say Ryan Fitzgerald, and not just because of the four field goals, but his kickoffs.
00:31:02
Speaker 1: Oh, that's right.
00:31:03
Speaker 4: Were pretty, you know, he had some really good kicks, and he just makes it look so easy.
00:31:07
Speaker 1: I know. He's not even trying to kick the ball, and he knocks it like 60 yards.
00:31:11
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:31:13
Speaker 1: So break the tie. What do you got?
00:31:15
Speaker 6: I don't know.
00:31:15
Speaker 1: I'll let you. We'll have co-hardest working players of the game. Okay.
00:31:19
Speaker 6: There you go.
00:31:20
Speaker 1: He was working.
00:31:20
Speaker 2: I would like to have seen Brian Fitzgerald have a chance to at least tie the game and put it in overtime, but it didn't happen. Still ahead, we'll hear from Coach Dave Canales. Also get the final thoughts from the guys up in Cleveland. So stay with us.
00:31:32
Speaker 10: Back to the Panthers postgame show presented by Marco's Pizza. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marco's Pizza or order online today.
00:31:43
Speaker 2: And we're welcoming you back from Bank of America Stadium along with Eugene Robinson, Mike Pacheco. I'm Brett McMillan, and we now begin the Panthers Locker Room Show brought to you by Marco's Pizza. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marco's Pizza or order online. Today, we're going back to Cleveland where our Sharon Thorsland has caught up with the head coach.
00:32:02
Speaker 12: Coach, a tough one out there today. This team battled all the way through. What was your assessment of things?
00:32:09
Speaker 11: Not surprised at the fight in this group. We know we can do that. What we're trying to figure out is playing consistent football from snap one to the end. The red zone opportunities on offense coming away with field goals. Credit to the Browns, first of all, for executing a really good plan and making it challenging on us, making us have to play ball and take it. Defensively speaking, we had some great opportunities for turnovers, probably four of them at least. We weren't able to take advantage of those. Those are game-changing plays, so we can do a better job. I thought our defense settled into some really good football there in the second half, and unfortunately the penalty, the rough in the passer, giving the Browns another chance to Sean Watson, a fantastic player, being able to buy time and, and, you know, find Harold Fennan for that last touchdown, but we gave him life. And when you got a team that's building momentum, that's starting to find really good football, you give them a chance. You all of a sudden you open the door, still credit the defense for giving us one more shot at the end, about a minute to go. Let's go tie this thing up or let's go win the game with a touchdown. And we weren't able to execute. So, um, We've got to make sure we address those things and attack them, and that's the next step for us.
00:33:15
Speaker 12: Defense in particular did a great job considering you had so many injuries already without a couple of starters and then J.C. Horn there at the end as well. What do you have to say about their play?
00:33:23
Speaker 11: Unbelievable, the young guys stepping in there, Will Lee, Latham Ransom, Zig Wheatley, Lee Hunter, who's been playing the whole time, Aaron Hall, throwing his plays out there. But the guys stepped up, they made enough plays, and the Browns made one more play than we did.
00:33:40
Speaker 12: The offense looked a lot different than it has the past two weeks. Bryce looked like maybe he was struggling a little bit, especially after that sack when he got a little nicked up there. What was the difference today.
00:33:49
Speaker 1: In the offense? Yeah, proud of Bryce, the way he battled through.
00:33:52
Speaker 11: Got back out there, settled in and found a rhythm, and we were able to put some successful drives together and starting to score points. I don't think we start off the way that we wanted to in terms of just the connection and some of the plays that we've been hitting, but it all starts with the run game. And that's the part that we have to address as a group all together. Let's talk through this thing. What can we do well? What are the things that are not working for us right now? Let's look in the mirror. Let's get the fundamentals down. Let's understand our opponent. So that can be a part of the way we live is second and medium, second and short, and being able to open up the playbook for us.
00:34:30
Speaker 12: All right. Thank you, Coach.
00:34:31
Speaker 6: All right.
00:34:34
Speaker 2: That's Sharon Thorson with Dave Canales. Your thoughts on what you heard, Mike?
00:34:38
Speaker 5: I think, well, obviously he was spot on.
00:34:40
Speaker 4: I mean, I think overall it wasn't as consistent a performance at times as we would have liked, but guys stepped in and made plays when they needed to, and I think the running game was 100% accurate. I mean, I think in the second half, when they were able to get some of those drives that they were able to get field goals, Chuba Hubbard was able to get some success there.
00:35:03
Speaker 10: A.J.
00:35:03
Speaker 5: Dillon had a couple of good runs.
00:35:05
Speaker 1: But overall.
00:35:07
Speaker 4: We saw too many situations where it was second and medium to second and long and third and medium and third and long. You want to have those really second and third down. You really want to try and have under five yards in those two downs.
00:35:24
Speaker 3: And I can hear it in his voice a little bit. The same play that you referenced too, that fourth down, I mean that third down, second down play, second down play where we roughed the quarterback. It's an interception. I mean, a great play by Will Lee, a great interception by Evans there. I mean, great eyes and great hands to get that. And then just unfortunately, unfortunately you had– You had the guys pursuing the quarterback, and here's where the quarterback stayed alive. He stayed alive to throw the rock, almost completed a pass, if you will. It gets intercepted, and then... Something that's unforeseen because they didn't, like, knock him down and this and that. They just put their hands up and then put their hands down, hit him in the face. And when they hit him in the face, I get it. That's passing the ferrets. I mean, that's roughing the passer. Totally, totally get that. But it just shows you that the fact that the quarterback, Deshaun Watson, extended the play. We won that play, and if we– Get that play? Well, it's a moot point, I think, because we run the clock out a little bit or we kick it down there. It looks like it'll be very difficult for them to recover from that standpoint.
00:36:34
Speaker 1: So from that standpoint, I'm like, that fourth down play? Critical.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: I thought it was the most critical play. It was just as important as the kickoff we did when we forced a fumble and got that to get three points from the board.
00:36:48
Speaker 2: It was just as critical as that play. Yeah, watching the replay of it. Mike and I were watching it together. We said if he'd kept his hands up, And if he hadn't dropped his hands, you wouldn't have hit him in the face.
00:36:59
Speaker 3: You wouldn't have hit him in the face. And now it's a moot point. It really is a moot point. And so I get it. And you can tell that it was an onus on the defensive lineman.
00:37:11
Speaker 1: Get to that quarterback. I need you to get to Deshaun Watson. That was the emphasis.
00:37:16
Speaker 3: And there were two free people around Deshaun Watson trying to go ahead and make a play on him.
00:37:20
Speaker 1: So they were doing what they were supposed to do.
00:37:23
Speaker 3: It's just unfortunately that they– hit him in the face and got a roughing the passer call on it. And so I heard that in coaches voice that man, if we, if we eliminate that play, it's a different story. Yeah.
00:37:35
Speaker 4: And when you do something correct the first time, you don't want to give the opportunity to try it again on a second time. No, we saw that for the Panthers on the, on the kick when they got the golf, when it worked in the Panthers favor in that case, when it was a penalty on, um, on the, on the Browns. But in this situation, in the, in the diet, down the distance time of the game, uh, You can't give a guy like Deshaun Watson an extra dollar.
00:37:57
Speaker 3: We always say if you have to do a play all over again, it's a different story.
00:38:01
Speaker 1: I mean, you have to be better. You've got to be better than what you.
00:38:05
Speaker 3: Were on the first play that you were able to go ahead and have a freebie with.
00:38:09
Speaker 1: So you have to be better.
00:38:10
Speaker 3: And so we weren't, and Deshaun Watson improvised and found some time and found Fannie Jr.
00:38:17
Speaker 1: For a 14-yard touchdown.
00:38:18
Speaker 4: It's like me making the same putt the second time. First time it doesn't go in, but when you put the ball back and you put it again, you make it.
00:38:24
Speaker 1: It breaks to the left a little bit right there. Okay, I got it. Get a mulligan. Everybody gets a mulligan.
00:38:29
Speaker 7: All right.
00:38:30
Speaker 1: When we come back. Not that I ever do that.
00:38:32
Speaker 2: It'll head back to the locker room and catch up with one of the players on the Carolina Panthers radio network. Welcome back to Bank of America Stadium. Along with Eugene Robinson, Mike Pacheco, Brett McMillan. It's the Panthers postgame show presented by Marco's Pizza. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marco's Pizza or order online today. Panthers fall to the Browns today, 21-18 in a defensive battle. And we're going back to Cleveland where Sharon Thorson's caught up with the gentleman who caught the Panthers one touchdown pass today.
00:39:07
Speaker 12: John, tough loss out there for you guys today. What was working and not working for this offense?
00:39:17
Speaker 13: I mean, things were working and things weren't working. I can't really point to yet. That's kind of something I've got to watch the film and see.
00:39:24
Speaker 12: You got your first touchdown as a Panther. It looked like you had that old Alabama connection going. there with you and Bryce. I know that it comes in a loss, but how exciting was it to get that touchdown?
00:39:35
Speaker 13: It was good, but it was at the end of a good drive. The offense drove down really well. We were running the ball well, throwing the ball well, had good action. It was great to finish the drive that way, but that was a good drive by the offense as a whole.
00:39:51
Speaker 12: You guys sort of got off to a slow start it seemed like in the first half were able to like you said start picking things up there later in the game what adjustments did you make at halftime to make that work?
00:40:00
Speaker 13: Just sticking with it we didn't really change like we didn't come in and change much just sticking with our game you know maybe we were missing a couple things like little things out there but we came in we didn't really change anything we just went out and continued to stick with our same game plan our same game.
00:40:18
Speaker 12: Bryce got a little banged up when he took that sack. He just kept going out there, kept battling the rest of the game. What do you say about his performance and the way he was able to stick in there?
00:40:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's tough, you know.
00:40:28
Speaker 13: He's a tough quarterback.
00:40:29
Speaker 10: He's a tough player.
00:40:32
Speaker 13: He, of course, you said after that sack looked banged up, but it just shows how tough he is as a quarterback in that position, you know.
00:40:40
Speaker 12: What do you guys do now and get back to work? Obviously this week got a big game Sunday night coming up against the Lions. What's the outlook here going forward?
00:40:47
Speaker 13: Yeah, just watch the game, fix the things we did wrong, look at the things we did right, correct the things we did wrong, and then just keep moving forward.
00:40:57
Speaker 6: All right.
00:40:57
Speaker 12: Thanks a lot, John.
00:40:58
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:41:00
Speaker 2: And that John Meche, who had the one touchdown catch today for the Carolina Panthers. As a matter of fact, take a look at the stats. He was one of multiple receivers who had catches today. As a matter of fact, I didn't even count it up. Three, six, nine, ten guys had catches today for the Panthers. And the leader was Tremaine, had four catches for 83 yards. Waller, five for 51. Trimble had three for 41. Evans had three for 36. Hubbard had four for 28. Mechie had two for 19, including the touchdown. Coker, two for 18 before he went out injured. McMillan just had two for 17.
00:41:41
Speaker 1: David Moore had, well, he actually was targeted twice, but no catches. And A.J. Dillon had one for minus two. How many yards did Bryce throw for?
00:41:51
Speaker 2: Bryce had 26 for 48 for 291 yards. One touchdown and then one interception, which was the interception he threw at the end of the game when they were trying to get down into field goal range.
00:42:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the ball was tipped, too. The ball was tipped, yeah. The ball was tipped, too.
00:42:09
Speaker 2: Chuba Hubbard had 19 carries, 82 yards.
00:42:12
Speaker 1: A.J.
00:42:12
Speaker 2: Dillon had four carries for 16 yards. Panthers had two sacks on the day. Pruncy M. Allen had one, and Gibson had the other one.
00:42:23
Speaker 1: Yes. So, Mike, what do you got?
00:42:25
Speaker 4: Well, what I thought was interesting, the Panthers, because of Bryce Young's passing, actually had more total yards, 360 to 259. The other thing that was interesting, at the half, Panthers only had 18 yards rushing. They finished with 98. So they actually ran the ball better in the second half. And they went from 1.8 yards per rush in the first half to 4.3 overall for the game, which was almost... even with what the 4.4 that the Browns had for the game. So the running game, the Panthers ran the ball less. It was 30 rushes, 132 for the Browns. But in the second half, the running game was certainly– It picked up, right?
00:43:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was more effective in the second half.
00:43:09
Speaker 3: And that's what I was talking about, the blocking, because sometimes that gets really lost. You see Chuba do a nice cut, and there were some nice cuts that he made indeed. But he made those nice cuts because there was double teams and then the double team off to the linebacker. And I'm like, man, okay, D. Lee, do your thing, man. Okay, I can see that. You're doing your thing. They were doing a great job of opening the holes. And then after you do that, it made it a lot easier to throw the ball for Bryce because now you got guys up at the box trying to stop the run. Can't stop the run. You can't stop the pass. And so I thought that we really moved in concert. This is what we looked like when we were able to run and we were able to throw the ball because now we were able to move the rock.
00:43:50
Speaker 1: And so we were able to do some really good stuff.
00:43:52
Speaker 4: And one thing Cleveland did really well was clean up the penalties in the second half. They had 10 for 74 in the first half. They finished the game with 12 for 84 yards.
00:44:00
Speaker 13: Wow.
00:44:01
Speaker 4: And I think the Panthers were 4-37 in the first half, and they finished 7-63. And, of course, the big roughing the passer that negated the interception is one.
00:44:11
Speaker 3: Of the stories. That's one of the stories that we're going to be talking about. That is definitely a story, yeah. And it's unfortunate, but that's football.
00:44:21
Speaker 1: Because here it is.
00:44:22
Speaker 3: We could be talking about in the very first half, hey, man, we missed a lot of those fourth down plays.
00:44:27
Speaker 1: We shouldn't even put in that situation.
00:44:29
Speaker 3: But don't forget, we were already ahead of the team, and we make a play that looks like it's going to be an interception on our point, and then we can run out the clock or whatever we need to do, and it doesn't happen. So those plays in the fourth, we overcame those plays.
00:44:47
Speaker 1: We overcame them. And so that's what I mean. I'm like, you know what?
00:44:51
Speaker 3: I'm not going to fault Coach Izzik from being aggressive, trying to go ahead and make something happen on fourth down because if you look at the narrative here, we overcame those plays and we were actually.
00:45:02
Speaker 1: Winning the game.
00:45:03
Speaker 2: And there was one time in the first half where the Browns had that long drive. It was like a 13-play drive.
00:45:08
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:45:09
Speaker 1: Where they actually converted a fourth and three at the 38.
00:45:12
Speaker 4: Yep.
00:45:16
Speaker 1: Because they were not in field goal range yet.
00:45:17
Speaker 6: That's right.
00:45:18
Speaker 1: That's right.
00:45:18
Speaker 2: So they got a first and 10 at the 34. But then the penalties bit them. And they ended up punting the ball when they had a fourth and 14 at the 43. So they converted the fourth down and then ended up five yards further back when they punted the ball.
00:45:36
Speaker 4: And it was a 13-play drive that ate up almost nine minutes of the clock.
00:45:40
Speaker 5: And they came away with nothing.
00:45:42
Speaker 1: Yeah. There was... To your point, you asked me, what was his defense? Where did they stand?
00:45:47
Speaker 3: This was a really good defensive effort for a team that was really good, that was really predicated upon their quarterback being able to make plays, and he was able to make plays.
00:45:56
Speaker 2: At Belk, you can score game day gear from your favorite teams, shop brands like Adidas, Nike, and Under Armour, and bring home the win. Big deals and exclusive coupons. Belk, proud partner of the Carolina Panthers and your hometown favorite in the fashion game since 1888. When we come back, we'll get the final thoughts of Jim, Anish, and Kurt.
00:46:16
Speaker 10: Back to Brett McMillan with more of the Panthers postgame show presented by Marco's Pizza. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marco's Pizza or order online today.
00:46:29
Speaker 1: And welcome back. Panthers fall to the Browns, 21-18.
00:46:32
Speaker 2: And now get ready for a big Sunday night feature against the Detroit Lions. But first, let's go back to Cleveland and get the final thoughts of Jim, Anish, and Kurt.
00:46:43
Speaker 7: Back in Cleveland, a heartbreaking day for the Panthers as they lose a tough game that was a struggle offensively for both teams for much of the way. But then both teams found a way to get a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. But the Browns, of course, had just enough to hold off the Panthers. 21-18. Tough way to lose it for a Panthers team. They got four field goals from Ryan Fitzgerald. Finally got that late touchdown. But then Deshaun Watson was able to counter with his second touchdown pass to Harold Fannin. And Denise, we'll talk about the loss, but also the attrition we'll have to hear about as the days go by as we lose both starting cornerbacks in this game.
00:47:18
Speaker 6: J.C.
00:47:18
Speaker 7: Horn along with Mike Jack. Jalen Coker left the game, didn't return. There were a number of injuries on top of a difficult loss.
00:47:25
Speaker 9: Yeah, the injuries are now piling up and We're fortunate the bye week comes pretty early in week five, but there's still one more game to get through. Damian Lewis got banged up a couple of times in this game. Jonathan Brooks last week put on IR. He's going to be out six to eight weeks. Coker out. He got hurt in this game after being questionable going in. Legette was out. Bryson Tremaine had to come out on the last drive. You mentioned the corners and then No Devin Lloyd, no Nick Scott, no Claude Sherilis. Nick's squirting out for the season back in training camp. Those are a lot of names. Those are a lot of players that you expect to play pivotal roles on your offense and defense. And this isn't college football. The gap between the good teams, the average teams, and the bad teams, it's not a whole lot in the NFL. And to Cleveland's credit, they made more plays, but Even with all those injuries, Kurt, it still felt the Panthers had opportunities. They had a first and goal at the four-yard line late in the first half. Couldn't get in the end zone. Had to settle for a field goal. They had a couple of fourth downs where if they convert, they extend the drives. They don't convert.
00:48:36
Speaker 6: What happens?
00:48:37
Speaker 9: Cleveland takes over in plus territory. That's ten points right there. That's the difference in the game.
00:48:42
Speaker 8: Yeah, this will be a game that they will look at the film and say, oh, we did not make or capitalize on the opportunities we had. Now Cleveland had a good defense and they presented some issues for us up front but when it came down to just making the plays that we need to make you started off the series or start off the game with a punt, punt, turnover on downs, turnover on downs you start off being down 10 points and then you have an opportunity to go ahead and score. Last week we were 3 for 6 in the red zone and then you have an opportunity to punch it in and you can't and you don't know when you're going to get back And the field goals were good, but they weren't good enough. And when you got the touchdown. they answered on the next series with a touchdown of their own. This team is good enough to win not just tight games, but any game of that matter. But we got to be able to do the little things right. And we will look back and say, did we do enough little things right? And obviously the answer is no. And I think when Dave Canales looks like this, should I have gone for it? when it was fourth and one at our own 40 yard line. Maybe I should have just punted the ball and made them drive. And this, this game could have looked a little differently. Those are things that everyone has to look at themselves and reevaluate and say, we got to get better and we got to get better very fast.
00:49:51
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:49:52
Speaker 9: The way the game played out, it turned into more of a field position game.
00:49:57
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:49:57
Speaker 8: It's, it's one of those things where you don't know how it's going to look when you, when, especially that was still earlier in the game, but you knew this offense being the Cleveland Browns could, couldn't, and they didn't have the firepower to go all the way down, especially the way this defense was playing.
00:50:12
Speaker 1: Let their defense play.
00:50:13
Speaker 8: But I respect it in the same sentence because he trusts his team, and that's how you empower your team. You give them opportunities to show you who they are. And I said, this team has to show you what kind of identity are they. Are they somebody that's going to stay strong after a win, or are they going to go up and down? And obviously, this is a situation where he took a step back.
00:50:33
Speaker 9: And Jim, what do all coaches say Where does the game begin? It begins with running the football and stopping the run. And I think if you're being honest, you can point to those two things. The Panthers, in all three games this season, they have struggled to run the football and they've struggled to stop the run. Those are fundamental things they're going to have to figure out if they're going to be a playoff team this year.
00:50:55
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:50:55
Speaker 7: And as I say, whoever's out there representing the number jersey they're wearing out there, it doesn't matter the number of injuries they've got to carry on through four quarters. Unfortunately, While the Panthers led late, they don't lead at the end. And again, that was tight throughout. 21-18. Cleveland wins it over Carolina as we send it back to Charlotte.
00:51:15
Speaker 2: All right.
00:51:15
Speaker 1: Thanks a lot, Jim.
00:51:16
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. And so there we go. The thoughts of the guys from Cleveland. And I think they pretty much summed up, I think, what we've been talking about here.
00:51:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just so synonymous. We've been talking about it. You can hear it in Kirk Coleman's voice. He's like, yeah, you know what?
00:51:31
Speaker 1: We didn't play badly at all. So I don't want– it's so easy to jump on and off the bandwagon.
00:51:38
Speaker 6: It really is.
00:51:38
Speaker 1: I mean, people were falling off the cliff when we lost to Chicago. Oh, okay, we're back. Okay, well, you know. All right, but it's only the Falcons.
00:51:46
Speaker 3: I mean, you go into a place that's really a hostile environment, a very good quarterback, People forget how good Deshaun Watson is and able to make things with his feet. And anytime you go into somebody else's stadium, you typically say that team should beat you by three points. You think they got a home field advantage? There's something to that with the crowd, the crowd noise. Well, we lost by three points when we didn't play our best football in the first half. And so when I'm looking at this offense and how much they can score, They proved to me that they're the offense that we've been seeing because in the second half, they started moving the ball and scoring points. And so that was a really good thing to see. And defensively, I thought that we showed out, man. We did a good job.
00:52:27
Speaker 4: And sometimes you don't necessarily understand in the moment when a play happens the significance it's going to have later in the game. But, you know, in winning time, you've got to make winning plays.
00:52:37
Speaker 1: Exactly. No doubt about that.
00:52:38
Speaker 4: And sometimes you might not know exactly in that moment when that is. But, you know, we've talked about the one– defensive uh roughing the passer call that was tough and you know so many things have to go right uh you can do you can do 100 things right but you do one one thing wrong at the wrong time or bad at the wrong time and it's a different outcome.
00:52:57
Speaker 2: Well and we talked about going forward on fourth down at your 40 yard line you know if you if.
00:53:02
Speaker 4: You put the ball again but Kurt made a good point though um it was early enough in the game that you like you could over like you're thinking your defense is playing good.
00:53:13
Speaker 5: If we don't get it, we can still overcome it.
00:53:15
Speaker 6: Exactly.
00:53:16
Speaker 3: I mean, that's what I mean by even the fourth. I'm saying the same thing that Kurt said. There was two fourth downs that people are going to.
00:53:23
Speaker 5: They're going to harp on that.
00:53:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're going to say, hey, man, we should do this because that's hindsight. I get it. It's hindsight.
00:53:30
Speaker 3: I would rather you be aggressive and get after it and then instead of just being conservative and say, okay, well, I want you to go for it.
00:53:39
Speaker 1: And so those fourth downs.
00:53:41
Speaker 1: I don't got a problem with it at all. We went for it. Yeah, we... Okay, we turn over. I totally get on and down.
00:53:47
Speaker 3: Totally get that. Understand the argument. However, we overcame it. We were winning the game. We are winning the game. So when you look at that... It negates all that stuff talking about, well, we shouldn't have gave the ball.
00:53:59
Speaker 6: Well, hold up.
00:53:59
Speaker 1: We're winning. We're winning the game, okay?
00:54:02
Speaker 3: And the aggressiveness that we show there is the same aggressiveness that we needed to show on that drive down the field, moving the ball, throwing the ball deep down the field.
00:54:11
Speaker 1: I mean, that was still aggressive play, so.
00:54:13
Speaker 3: I'm glad Coach Izzik didn't take his hand off the throttle and said, no, no, you know what, I better play this thing conservative.
00:54:20
Speaker 1: They were playing to win. It's just that they made one play better than we did.
00:54:24
Speaker 4: And I don't know what the analytics would say in those spots at that time of the game, but when you think about the risk-reward, to me the risk-reward was worth the risk.
00:54:33
Speaker 1: It's worth the risk.
00:54:34
Speaker 4: It is definitely worth the risk. And even though the second one, you could probably say, okay, On our own 41, OK, maybe that wasn't the best idea.
00:54:42
Speaker 5: However, you make both of those 4,000s.
00:54:46
Speaker 4: That extends the drive in mid, you know, it could lead to momentum and all.
00:54:51
Speaker 6: Of a sudden.
00:54:52
Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:54:53
Speaker 3: We don't know what the plays are going to do, but we do know what the plays yield and what were the results because after those two fourth downs, we still are winning the game.
00:55:01
Speaker 1: And here it is.
00:55:03
Speaker 3: We have another second down play where we hit the quarterback on a rougher to passer.
00:55:07
Speaker 1: Do we negate that? Do we say what?
00:55:10
Speaker 4: No.
00:55:10
Speaker 1: You take off the baby with the bathroom. You take it all. You take it all.
00:55:14
Speaker 3: And so it doesn't demean your team because I think we are a really good team. And I think we showed it today in a hostile environment. And even though we didn't come out with the win, I'm proud of the way these guys played. And by the way, Cheek, there's a lot of guys who are hurt.
00:55:29
Speaker 1: Yeah. There's a lot of people who are missing breath. Yep, absolutely. And we'll talk about that when our three and out, when we come back.
00:55:36
Speaker 10: The Panthers postgame show presented by Marcos Pizza continues. Ready for your game day dinner? Visit your local Marcos Pizza or order online today.
00:55:48
Speaker 2: And before we get to our three and outs, Mike, why don't you do a quick check of the late games?
00:55:53
Speaker 6: All right, Brad.
00:55:53
Speaker 4: We've got San Francisco over Arizona at the half, 17-6. Tampa Bay at home, also at the half, trails 17-10 to Minnesota. Minnesota's trying to start the season 3-0. We were talking about the field issues in Rio de Janeiro. Right now Baltimore has a touchdown lead over Dallas. That's with 33 seconds to go. in the second quarter going into the half. And I've seen a couple guys slipping a little bit. So I think it's still an issue, but it looks to be still holding up to some extent.
00:56:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:56:30
Speaker 3: Being on turf and making sure that grass is not slipping, you've got to have the right shoes and make sure you have the right equipment to do the right job.
00:56:38
Speaker 4: And Dak Prescott just threw incompletes, and that'll be 3rd and 6th. with 27 seconds to go going into the half there. Las Vegas and New Orleans all even at 13. That game, 30 seconds to go in the second quarter there. L.A., the Rams are at Denver tonight. That's the 8 o'clock Sunday night game. And then Philadelphia is at Chicago for the Monday night game.
00:57:01
Speaker 1: Oh, that's going to be a good game. That should be interesting. All right, three and outs, Mr. Robinson.
00:57:06
Speaker 3: You know, I think do not throw the baby out in the bathwater with the bathwater. I would love for Bryce to go ahead and to run a little bit more. I think he could use his feet. But what I saw, I saw a lot of resilience on this offense. And so we're going to need to keep that resilience. What I'm concerned about is the injuries. The injuries, whether we're talking about Coker, whether we're talking about J.C. Horn, whether we're talking about Mike Jack, we've got some significant injuries of people who are, Devin Lloyd, who are starters, who are guys that you count on. And so from that standpoint, Coach Canales, you've got to go ahead and do your thing. You've got to find the right group to put out there for a Detroit team that is hitting on all cylinders. And they have Jameer Gibbs, who is an absolute beast.
00:57:50
Speaker 1: The injuries concern me. Defensively, you kept talking about the defense.
00:57:55
Speaker 3: I'm thinking this defense is a lot better than what we saw against Chicago, and they've proven it once against the Falcons and then against this team with a quarterback that was really elusive who can actually run. They're going to face a quarterback next week who can throw the rock. and who is really accurate. They're going to have to put pressure in his face and get people in his face. But I think that they're up for the task, and I think they can do it. And the way we were able to handle B. John Robinson, I think you need the same thing against Jameer Gibbs. You've got to be able to keep him corralled, not let him out, not let the quarterback out where they can do their thing. You've got to keep him in front of you.
00:58:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I think the young guns, I think the depth on this team has been tested. And some of these guys are going to have to step up. But on the other hand, they're getting valuable experience. And that's the best way to learn. I mean, you can practice all you want, but it's really in games where you make those leaps.
00:58:47
Speaker 1: There's no doubt. You got three and out, though. That was only one.
00:58:49
Speaker 5: That's one. The game is the other one.
00:58:52
Speaker 4: I think Ryan Fitzpatrick mentioned him as a hard-working nominee for that.
00:58:58
Speaker 5: If not for those kicks, you know, this game looks a lot worse.
00:59:01
Speaker 1: Yes, it does.
00:59:02
Speaker 5: And it was interesting.
00:59:03
Speaker 4: The first three were kind of in descending order or ascending order, right?
00:59:08
Speaker 5: And then the last one was.
00:59:09
Speaker 4: a shorter kick. But he made all four kicks. He did great in the kickoffs. And I like the fact that this team played. I think the offense got better in the second half. But moving forward, the running game has to be established.
00:59:22
Speaker 2: I'm going to start off with Bryce Young. I felt like at times today he fell in love with a long ball.
00:59:27
Speaker 1: Yep.
00:59:28
Speaker 2: And missed some open receivers shorter. You know, instead of just getting the first down, he kept just falling in love with it. I'm going to throw it deep, throw it deep. But I think when he goes back and looks at the game film, he's going to see that. Like we talked about the defense, I think we've got a better feel for what the defense is, and I think it's a lot closer to what we saw last week in Atlanta than what we saw the first week against Chicago. And we're going to see a different type of offense next week without a running quarterback, but with.
00:59:51
Speaker 1: A quarterback that can throw the ball. You know that's right.
00:59:53
Speaker 2: And a running back that can run the ball. And finally, fire up the training staff. They've got a lot of work ahead of them over the next week.
01:00:00
Speaker 1: Yes, they do.
01:00:01
Speaker 2: Try to get guys back to health and have a healthy 53 to put out there against the Lions. And speaking of the Lions, they will be here at Bank of America Stadium next Sunday night. Stadium show starts at 5.30 on the Fox. Then the countdown to kickoff at 7.30 on the network. Kickoff just after 8 at 8.20. And then the Panthers postgame show will start around 1130, and I believe, Mike, you'll be here with Sharon and Eugene for that.
01:00:23
Speaker 10: Yes.
01:00:24
Speaker 1: So look forward to that.
01:00:26
Speaker 2: Final score today, Cleveland 21, Panthers 18.
01:00:30
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