Speaker 1: 0:00

My new year's resolution for 2025,. I'm not arguing with any fans within the Panthers fan base about Bryce Young. I'm not doing it. I think one of the biggest mistakes happened early and I was defending it. The best outcome for the team is Bryce Young being the franchise guy, whether you like him or not, but I don't think a trade during the season was ever realistic, because you just never know what can happen, because the stuff that you don't know that can happen actually happened. Nobody could have expected a car accident.

Speaker 1: 0:33

Welcome everybody to another episode of the Panther Banter Podcast. We've been gone for a little minute but we back like to jump off. If you caught that, you know what I'm talking about, but if you didn't, don't even worry about. Worry about it, man, I'll tell you about it later. Regardless, I am your host, aaron duncan, here. This is a necessary bluntness production. We got a little bit new of a little setup. You've listened to the audio. Welcome to the audio experience. Hope you can hear me loud and clear. Uh, this is. This is good to be back.

Speaker 1: 1:01

This is officially the off season. Um, it doesn't feel good to be the offseason because it's just crazy how much stuff can change right, like going into the year you have that excitement as a team. Then reality strikes in because you're not 0-0 anymore. All that hope you built up over the offseason is gone and reality sets in of how bad your team really is. And the Panthers were bad this year finished 5-12. Uh, another double digit lost season for the Panthers. Um, shout out to David Tepper, uh for that. But uh it, it's just the way the year ended, though, like it just is amazing how you dread some of these games ever so often, because it's like here we go again, here we go again, and then, with Bryce Young playing bad and the injuries and the defense being historically bad the worst ever, stuff just drags by. And then, like, you feel like you have this obligation to watch it because it's your favorite team. But you're like why am I doing this to myself Three and a half? But you like, why am I doing this to myself three and a half hours? Every sunday I'm doing this to myself. This feels like punishment, feels like self-hate, like it's crazy.

Speaker 1: 2:16

But once bryce young really turned his play around because it was a roller coaster of a season, like Bryce Young, I was getting rail-rided for 40-something points in the first week, to the Saints at that. Yo, like I couldn't think of a worse nightmare. The Saints are probably my least favorite team in the NFL, definitely the division. The Cowboys are up there too as far as the league, but they're definitely the worst Losing to them on the road in week one. Give it up 40-something points. The way it happened. Bryce Young throwing a pick on the first play, five plays in, they're going a bomb over the top to Rasheed Shaheed. It just was ugly.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Week two Bryce Young playing bad as well, dave Canales not wanting to run the ball, defense still being trash. It's like my God, it's week two. We're getting smoked like this. The point differential was nuts. Then Bryce Gaines bench is really starting to get dark for me. I got three Bryce Young jerseys in my closet. It's really getting dark for me.

Speaker 1: 3:19

So I'm like, bro, there's a reality where Bryce Young doesn't come back for this and I thought that's what it was and that's what we're going to talk about in this episode. We're going to talk about the resurgence of Bryce Young, my theory of what happened, and I didn't think it was going to cause that much of an uproar. But I put out there that I had a wild take that some people take a wild take, that some people take maybe a conspiracy theory that some people may not like, about why Bryce Young played so bad before and why he played so well when he came back. And I didn't think it was going to spark that much attention when I put it out there, but everybody been hounding me about it and I delayed it an extra week. I apologize. I've been doing all kind of other content. I've been trying to move into this space that I'm in right now uh, shout out to my new office and building um and this new podcast set up here a little bit different vibes for UB headquarters.

Speaker 1: 4:18

But I have a theory and everybody loves a conspiracy theory, you know, I'm saying, especially when it comes to sports. So I understand now why people were so, um, curious about what I had to say and, like I said, conspiracy theories, I like conspiracy theories too. You know I'm saying I even love those uber eats commercials. It's a joke, but it's still funny. About the NFL, just a big advertisement For food Refrigerator Perry CJ Ham. Feed Me Jerry's Eating Rice. That's probably my favorite commercial out right now and it's funny because it's like it's a little bit true, but it's also just hilarious, because Matthew McConaughey as an actor is just funny man. But everybody loves conspiracy theory. But we'll get to that. We'll get to that.

Speaker 1: 5:13

But Bryce Young, man like the when him playing ball down the stretch and finally coming back on the field, like I said, I thought it was over. These things usually don't work out this. I think it can't be understated how much of a turnaround even if Bryce Young, even if he doesn't become an upper echelon quarterback, for him to look like a competent football player on the same team within the same season, within a matter of what? Six weeks from when he got benched. That's crazy in itself. I don't think it can be undersold, and so I want to give Bryce Young all the credit. I know a lot of people ask like who do you give the most credit to for Bryce Young just playing so much better? I'm like I'm giving the credit to him.

Speaker 1: 6:00

A lot of guys could have packed it in from this. The circumstances weren't fair, but life ain in from this. The circumstances weren't fair, but life ain't fair. The NFL ain't fair. Fair is a place where they judge pigs. The media was slandering him. His coach was noncommittal in the media, fans Soured on him. A lot was going against him, bro. He could have easily packed it in, but the dude is made the right stuff. Clearly, dug himself picked himself off the mat, put in the work, stayed consistent, kept his head down. Like he always says, control what I can control and he started playing good ball down the stretch. And like that, good ball down the stretch, I'm like man, hell, we got a whole season of this, bro. It could have made the season a lot more exciting. Those last 10 games. Like I said, I was ready for the season to be over before and once Bryce Young started hooping, I said man, I want more. I'm missing football season now.

Speaker 1: 6:57

Panthers fans, we usually look forward to the offseason, man, unfortunately, because the on-field product has been trash. But now we actually was like hey, man, we want to see more Bryce Young. Bryce Young's actually fun to watch. He's small, he's crafty, he's creative, he can run, he can make plays, step, whatever you want to call him plays like step. That's the creativity. Smiling, dancing, pointing first downs. The dude plays an exciting brand of football man. It's actually fun to watch Like from an objective view, bryce Young is actually fun to watch when he's hooping like the way he has been. It's fun, and so we wanted more. It's fun and so we wanted more. And I think the fans it's fun to be mostly on the same page.

Speaker 1: 7:53

Obviously, there's going to be naysayers, there's going to be people that are dug in. There's going to be people that still want to see more. It's fine. Whatever I'm not, I'm not gonna my new year's resolution for 2025. Whatever I'm not, I'm not gonna my new year's resolution for 2025. I'm not arguing with any fans within the panthers fan base about bryce young. I'm not doing it. You're gonna see what you want to see. You're gonna see what you want to see.

Speaker 1: 8:17

You know the circumstances in 2023 were crazy. Coaching staff playing hunger games. Frank writingman changed the playbook five times before the season even started. Didn't even call plays during training camp but didn't want to call plays for week one. Flipped the whole playbook upside down at Thomas Brown. It was crazy. O-line was trash, played seven, eight guards.

Speaker 1: 8:41

Fast forward to 2024, you start seeing the flashes that they were begging for and they're still not convinced. They still don't want to give him a chance. They're still dug in. People care more about being right than about finding the best outcome for the team. The best outcome for the team is bryce young being the franchise guy.

Speaker 1: 8:59

Whether you like him or not, whether you want to see jay stroud or not, he's the quarterback of your favorite team. I hate to break it to you, man. Ikea, ikea kwano ain't my favorite player, but the best interest of the team is for ikea kwano to be that franchise left tackle. We can't afford to restart this rebuild in key positions like that, like bryce young, like ikea kwano. If we ever want to get to where we want to get to, it's for the best interest that we don't have to spend premium capital on quarterback or left tackle. That's just the way it is, unfortunately.

Speaker 1: 9:33

Is Icky my favorite player? No, do I talk about Icky a lot? Yes. Does he make me want to put my hair out? Yes. Is Icky going to have an Icky game full of Icky moments? Yes, but I'm rooting for the dude. I'm rooting for Icky to play well. I'm rooting for Bryce to play well.

Speaker 1: 9:52

It's for the best interest of the Carolina Panthers for these guys to work out. That's just the reality. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Just because you want the team to win your way. You mad about it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry Just because you want the team to win your way. You mad about it. I'm sorry, it's not always going to be like that. First of all, we don't have anything to do with these. We can beg, borrow and we can whine and cry, moan and complain online about the stuff, but it don't matter. For better or worse, they're going to do what they want to do in their front office. We've seen it over the years do what they want to do in that front office. We've seen it over the years. A lot of it has been for the worse, but they're going to do what they want to do. Man, it really is nothing we can do but hope for the best and hope it don't take us 30 years to actually get our stuff together, like the Lions. I'm sorry. All that being said, no matter where you are on the Bryce Young spectrum, come on, man. It's for the best. It's for the best. It's for the best man, it's for the best. You gotta let it go. You gotta let it go, man. The Bryce Young haters. Bro, it's time to lay down your weapons, time to put the guns down. Put up the white flag, it's okay.

Speaker 1: 11:09

I know you didn't think that somebody that was 5'11", 200 pounds could take a hit. You said he would fold. You said he had a noodle arm. You said that he wouldn't last. The brother got sacked 60-something times as a rookie Got smacked around. Even as a sophomore Missed. What one game Do the injury?

Speaker 1: 11:31

Throws the ball down the field Fine, that's not his strength, but he can do it. Makes throws, runs around Is elusive. Showed that he actually belongs in the league. Now, where he is on the tot totem pole, that's to be said. But a lot of y'all said that he would be out of league by 2026.

Speaker 1: 11:49

It's time to lay down your weapons.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Put him down. Put the gun down. Put the gun down, son. Put the guns down because y'all, like I said, y'all called that man everything but a child of god and it was deeper than just ball, it was real hate, for overall seem to be a pretty good dude. Lay the guns down, man. Lay the guns down. Come to the front of congregation and ask for forgiveness. We're a merciful fan base. We're a merciful fan base. You were wrong. You were wrong about Bryce. It's okay. Life goes on, but it's okay. But anyway, it's just fun, man. It's fun having A guy that you think is the guy, who's starting to prove he's the guy and it only feels better Because it feels like it's only on the up and up. We have a clear message Of what the team needs to do. It's a beautiful thing when you think you have that franchise guy and things come together, but the turnaround cannot be ignored Like bro.

Speaker 1: 12:56

Let's get to my theory. So obviously Dave Canales was brought in because he's the quarterback whisperer, air quotes. But he had done it with vets Geno Smith, vet Russell Wilson, vet Baker Mayfield, vet Brock Shum wasn't a rookie but he wasn't an experienced vet like some of the other guys dave canales had worked with. So it was going to be very interesting to see how that dynamic would shake out from the beginning. But some of the things I want to just kind of paint a picture and give a full narrative, just my thoughts. It's not going to be anything direct or like me drawing on a chalkboard about my theory, but just some thoughts I had about the situation.

Speaker 1: 13:43

So I think Dave Canales, being an inexperienced coach, is really being underrated in this equation of Bryce playing bad, initially as a rookie head coach, second year as the play caller. There's a lot on your plate. Even he admitted it. He admitted it early in the season that there was a lot that he didn't expect to happen. Being a head coach. You got decision making on a day by day basis. You got game planning. You call it plays for a young quarterback. I mean we even saw from a procedure standpoint just being on the headset with Bryce that it was a work in progress. I mean people see Bryce Young struggle but they ignoring the Dave Canales struggles. He even admitted that sometimes he got plays in late to Bryce Young or might have called the wrong play and Bryce Young bailed him out.

Speaker 1: 14:34

I'm looking at delay of game penalties. The Carolina Panthers were number one in the NFL with 13 delay of game penalties. 13 delay of game penalties, pre-snap that's that's. That's an issue with getting a play in Procedure-wise motions, the shifts breaking the huddle. That's on coaching as well. The coaching plays a factor in that. Seven of them was at home. So it's not like the crowd noise played a factor. Most of your delay of games came at home. So there's nothing procedure wise and operational wise and functional wise. That happens with a rookie coach, but it people sweep it under the rug. They don't think about that because, because dave canales has that quarterback whisperer history, he gets a cloak of protection. It. It all fell on Bryce Young so I don't think him just like. From an operational standpoint, him being new really really played a factor in some of Bryce Young's struggles early on. There was just things that they needed to get used to together being on the headset, hearing his voice in the ear, getting it in on time, getting in and out of the huddle. He's a rookie head coach as well, so it's two things working against each other.

Speaker 1: 15:51

My other theory about the benching is Bryce was just playing bad. I don't want to chalk it up to. Like I said, people have their theories about why. I don't want to get personal. Obviously the publicized not publicized breakup publicized Breakup, but it came to light about Bryce Young and his ex Ex popped out with an NBA player and it's crazy because I mean Maxie is okay but like the tax brackets is just so different. And sure they moved on.

Speaker 1: 16:22

But to me personally, I was at training camp. Bryce's parents came to practice pretty much every training camp practice. I did not see Shari at training camp. Rookie year she was there. She was there nine times out of ten with the parents at training camp in Spartanburg. She was not in Charlotte like that. So my theory is they had been broke up. Maybe it affected him seeing her out like that For everybody on NBC head on the Jumbotron on the Summer Jam screen in the suite, but I think they had been broken up. That's just me, I don't know, but I didn't see her at training camp and she was there rookie year, so I think the breakup had happened way before then. But it's fun to blame it on that right. I mean, women do have a lot of power, for sure, for sure. But I don't know if that's the thing, I would just completely yep, put my finger on block yep.

Speaker 1: 17:18

He had a broken heart. He was down in the dumps, he couldn't get his head right. It might have been a, it might have been a down in the dumps, he couldn't get his head right. It might have been a factor in the equation, but I don't think it was the factor. But he was playing bad. But you can clearly see that he wasn't comfortable in the system and he said it. People asked him what was his resurgence about? Bryce Young gives a lot of sugar. He does a lot of sugar coating. A lot of culture. Speak a lot of nothing, burger. A lot of culture speak A lot of nothing. Burger answers, but for him to keep saying he was comfortable in the system, I believe him. I believe him. You can tell he really looked unsure Out there.

Speaker 1: 17:57

When you start making mistakes, mental mistakes, that you've never really done before Outside, like it's really outside of your character, some of those sacks he took, that Chargers game was bad man. The Chargers game was bad. I mean, this dude was air mailing and grounding swing screens to Miles Sanders. He wasn't stepping up in the pocket when it was clear lanes there. He was holding on to the ball and not throwing it away. He's one of the last year he would throw the ball away more than anybody and he still does now. But he was holding on to the ball, taking sacks when he had plenty of opportunities to throw the ball away and taking unnecessary hits as well. So that's what I knew. Bro was in his head when you start making those stupid mistakes. Dude was really in his head. He was pressing. He didn't feel comfortable in the system. The system was new.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Dave Canales is still trying to figure out the system. He had a system that he had in Tampa, but he didn't choose the personnel, he didn't choose the quarterback. He had a lot more say-so on that personnel and stuff in Carolina obviously to a lesser extent because you inherit a lot of the roster, but they made the free agency moves. Obviously they drafted players and you know what you signed up for coaching Bryce. So he was still trying to figure out his system too early on and I think having Deontay Johnson as the focal point as well and being a diva was a detriment.

Speaker 1: 19:33

Bryce Young is described to be as a point guard and when I think point guard for him, I'm thinking like everybody eats. Obviously adam theelin is the favorite. He's gonna get his looks and some weeks he didn't. Some weeks david moore led the team in targets, some weeks jaylen coker led the team in targets, but a lot of times it was adam theelin. But even the last game against the falcons, nine players caught passes. You see a lot of gains and box scores like that for the panthers. Bryson literally distributes the ball around, and so to have a diva wide receiver that does do work and gets open. But you know, wants the ball. You want to keep him happy. The coaches want you to give him the ball. You want to keep him happy, the coaches want you to give him the ball because they want to keep him happy.

Speaker 1: 20:23

I think it was a detriment to the rest of the offense and the Bryce Dave Canales, he talked about it on Camp Confidential, all the preseason stuff that they wanted Deontay Johnson to be the focal point. They brought him in here. They were going to try to run everything through him. The offense starts with him and when they started with him they're going to try to figure out ways to get him open and when the defense starts to rotate coverages to him, they're going to use that to open up things for everybody else. In theory it makes sense, but in practice, when it's a guy like Deontay, it may not be the best thing, especially, like I said, when you have a point guard like Bryshun who typically doesn't really discriminate.

Speaker 1: 21:07

He spreads the ball around, everybody eats, and so I think having that little voice or gnat in his ear, knowing that he had to get Deontay the ball, it took him out of thinking about his progressions, it took him out of understanding what we're trying to accomplish on this play, because every play, you know, I got to get it to Deontay. I'm looking at Deontay first. It ain't necessarily boom. I'm looking at my first read and then come off of it and it sounds the same when I say it like that, that. But there's a difference, because then you start forcing it to Deontay and that's what you saw on certain interceptions. Time revealed that Deontay was also a problem, because when you see him and Andy Dalton falling out because Deontay stops on the route or not in the same spot and Andy Dalton is definitely force feeding Deontontay as well, then you start to realize it's a problem.

Speaker 1: 21:59

And I think the removal of Deontay Johnson forced Dave Canales to spread his wings a little bit and get outside of his comfort zone and actually think about how to design an offense. That isn't what you're used to. As far as, hey, we're going to try to get this one guy to the ball, get him to the ball, get him to the ball, get him to the ball, get him the ball, get him the ball, get the ball. Maybe we go back to those ways. If we get a wide receiver one off season, maybe he goes back to that type of philosophy. But I think it also helped him as his growth as an inexperienced play caller to remove that number one guy. He had that number one guy in tampa with mike and so removing that from the equation forced him to come up with more concepts offense that Bryce was comfortable with. Leaning into Bryce Young's skills, leaning into the running game and the personnel that we have. It helped. It forced him to grow as an offensive coordinator as well.

Speaker 1: 22:54

But I also think there were there were demons from last year as well that affected Bryce. You can't ignore that. I mean he's running from clean pockets instead of stepping up. We know the guard issues. As a short quarterback, you have to be able to have that guard protection and we saw that this year how much of a difference it makes. Your tackles can let guys go around them and get smoked, but if Bryce can step up and avoid, he's fine. So the guard is crucial and I just think not having that last year hurt and then not having receivers create separation hurt.

Speaker 1: 23:33

It took him some growing to do to get comfortable in the pocket. It took him some growing to like hey, if I have a guy one-on-one, let me give him a shot, learning that the NFL, when guys are one-on-one, they're actually open. You know Not. Hey, he has to win automatically for me to give him a shot deep Even guys. These guys are good. These receivers are good. They're going to get interferences or they're going to make plays If you put the ball in the right spot. Even David Moore in contested catch situations, if he's one-on-one, even he can make a play downfield. That pass against the Cardinals was beautiful. But I'm not sure if Bryce Young makes that throw as a rookie, because that's not, that's NFL rookie, because that's not NFL open, that's not college open, and so I think that's also a step he had to take and learn, and I think him being benched actually helped him learn that. And I don't know if Andy I guess Andy was there the whole time, so Andy probably said some stuff Obviously was talking to him about it. But being able to watch Andy, whose time to throw was super fast I mean he only had a couple starts but still had one of the fastest time to throws in the NFL I think it's still top five, if I'm not mistaken.

Speaker 1: 24:53

Andy Dalton does a lot of his work pre-snap. He makes the reads. This is a very first progression. If he's open, throw it. We've heard Canales say that type of offense and that's what Andy does. He leaves some plays on the field because of that, but he's not going to try to take sacks. He's not going to try to buy too much time. He's going to get rid of football we heard about 2.7, but it's quicker for Andy. He gets rid of the ball, makes decisions quick, take what's there.

Speaker 1: 25:23

I think there's limitations to that, but I think Bryce Young, seeing that, seeing the priest, that work, identifying where the safety is, so I know where my one-on-one matchup is if I want to take a shot, I think seeing that helped Because sometimes when you're in it it's hard to see the forest from the trees. It's hard to see the forest when you're in the trees. And I think the same thing like it, I think, being able to see that he, whatever he did on the practice squad or scout team, he started putting that stuff into motion. He, he took advantage of those reps Not having that pressure, being able to take a breath, I think it helped.

Speaker 1: 26:05

But I think Dalton, the other thing Dalton needed, he was needed for Dave Canales. Dave Canales needed Andy Dalton and they said it. They needed to be able to evaluate the roster for one, like Bryce Young, was not even able to operate a functioning offense, like you didn't really know what you had because we couldn't get the ball to excel. We couldn't get the ball to JT Sanders, we were from behind. So Dave Canales refused to run the ball to know if, hey, were we a good quality run team? They had to get Andy in there just to make it a functional offense.

Speaker 1: 26:36

Even if Andy wasn't running to the highest level, we had to at least get somebody in there that was going to be able to run the play. That way Canales can see that hey, maybe I am messing things up. Maybe in week one against the Saints when they send a nickel blitz, I don't have checks, I don't have balances, I don't have answers to throw hot routes. They're not built in. I don't have the protections in place that Bryce Young needs and Bryce Young hasn't seen enough football to be able to tell you that that's the case. Andy Dalton has seen a lot of football. So if there's flaws in your system or flaws in the functioning of plays because of that pressure and stuff, andy can identify that. Andy can show you on tape. When it happens, andy can tell you as well, because if you don't have answers for the blitz in this, in this league, you're lost. And I think andy also.

Speaker 1: 27:26

Like I said, it helped identify the strengths and weaknesses of some of the players. So while bryce shum was on the bench, they were able to put those guys in better position to make plays and know their strengths and weaknesses. And I think, like I said, it exposed that fact of being hyper-focused on Deontay, cause if Bryce having a problem getting the football to him yeah, andy, for what? The Bengals game and the Raiders game they really have a problem getting the ball to him had a good game. But when we play the commanders and you got Deontay running bad routes, quitting on routes and he's throwing certain places and they even have a falling out on the sideline, the common denominator was Deontay and I think they realized that this guy's a problem.

Speaker 1: 28:10

I think they wanted Deontay to work so bad because Dave Canales needed a guy like that. Like I said, they wanted to be able to find ways to give him to football and then, once the defense reacts to that, build the offense based off of that. He needed a guy like Deontay. They needed Deontay to work. They needed a bona fide wide receiver, one to make things go. So they were going to do everything in their power to make him happy, keep him happy and get him to football.

Speaker 1: 28:37

But it got to a certain extent like once the vets are having issues at quarterback with you. You're starting to infect the locker room because, in my opinion, the wide receivers they're the only ones that said that Deontay wasn't having issues. But we hear reports about issues him practicing when he wants to, him getting into a shouting match with Andy. That's because the wide receivers felt the same way Deontay did. They were pissed off that Bryce Young couldn't function in the offense and they weren't getting the ball. That's why nobody really was throwing shade at Deontay. They felt like how he did about Bryce and I don't think Deontay liked Bryce at all. You can see him talking about it. Just feels good to get back out there and catch footballs and have a vet out there. I'm better with a vet. They felt the same way. I'm not gonna. They felt the same way.

Speaker 1: 29:27

But I also think that, like I said, it just exposed the flaws. He got out coached twice and he admitted as much against dennis allen. Dennis allen, somebody he faced before when he was in Tampa. He got outcoached About them having blitzes and them not having answers for it. I think that the fact that Dave Canales Was unprepared and he got outcoached he was too pass happy, undisciplined, sticking with the run To take pressure off of Bryce, who was new in the system. He made mistakes and that's kind of my big theory. He made more mistakes than people want to give. I want to admit he's more responsible for Bryce Shum playing bad than almost anything, and I think it's easy to put it all on Bryce. But, like I said, people are ignoring the fact that Dave is a rookie coach. I'm bullish on Dave. I made my preseason Panther Banter episode talking about why he was the anti-Rike and I'm bullish. I am bullish, but it's a learning process for him as well.

Speaker 1: 30:32

Just like Bryce Young, I feel great about the potential that Daveade Canales going forward, but he made mistakes this year. He was not flawless. A lot of those mistakes really were to the detriment of Bryce Young. Unfortunately, I'm not a Bryce Young apologist where I'm saying that Bryce Young is blameless. I told y'all about him playing bad. We went over that section. So for all y'all that might get triggered by me passing some blame off To anybody, that's not Bryce. Like I said, put your guns down. Put your guns down.

Speaker 1: 31:04

I think one of the biggest mistakes happened early and I was defending it and it was not playing Bryce enough in preseason and I said that there was no evidence that playing Players in preseason Is better or worse In terms of your record, because Andy Reid, he plays his guys, but Sean McVay doesn't. We see where these guys are in the playoffs right now. But in hindsight and me not being afraid to admit I'm wrong crazy concept for a lot of times in terms of the things that have to do with Bryce Young, it was a bad decision, not wrong to defend it, but I was wrong. It definitely was for the better to probably play him in preseason. I went to 80% of training camp. I thought Bryshon looked pretty much good, pretty much the Bryshon you're seeing. I thought Bryshon was fine.

Speaker 1: 31:59

The joint practice against the Jets that was just the icing on the cake. I was nervous like it was the actual game. I'm not going to lie. I had butterflies like I was playing when I was at that practice because it was really the first measuring stick to see how we were going to be. Deontay was hurt, I think what Thielen was hurt too. So it was Mingo, tmj, david Moore as your top targets and I think everybody in that moment that played tight end was hurt, except JT Sanders at that point as well.

Speaker 1: 32:27

But Breshaun legit cooked. The Jets have, or had a top flight defense under Robert Sala and they cooked them. Legit cooked them. This was the Breshaun that we've been seeing. The past. What I mean? Braces play solid over the 10 game stretch, but the last what five games outside of the cowboys? That's the bright young I saw during joint practice and people try to say that training camp don't matter.

Speaker 1: 32:52

This is the stuff we saw. It's typically a preview. Last year, when the guards were getting smoked in training camp I I saw that it ended up being the theme of this year. Bryce Young cooked in training camp Him cooking that early. Let us know that the defense wasn't that good. But to do it against the Jets, it let us know that the Jets weren't going to be that good. But it also showed that Bryce Young had that in him at some point and he ended up playing like that.

Speaker 1: 33:19

So sometimes you got to believe your eyes. You got to believe your eyes when you see that stuff and that's why I try to report that training camp stuff to y'all, because I see it. I don't get to lay my eyes on team at practice any other time of the year. I watch the film. I watch film on every game but I don't see the behind the closed, I don't see the meetings, I don't see the practices. Training campus is candid as it gets. But I thought that after that joint practice and the intensity I thought that I was like, hey man, I'm comfortable with Bryce not playing no more. He got that little funky, little nice drive and preseason against the Bills and I was fine with it. But in hindsight they needed more time on the headset. They needed more time with Dave Canales getting in plays to Bryce Young getting in and out of the huddle to try to avoid those 13 delay of game penalties that we had. They needed more experience together. So Bryce Young could actually, hey, check some plays. Slide protections, change protections.

Speaker 1: 34:13

The Saints were the perfect storm of things to go wrong. They do a lot of blitzes. They're exotic At home, they're fast and they were fresh. They're old as hell now, but that's later on in the season when they started playing garbage. But week one when they could put it, they spent all offseason putting in new blitzes. They brought nickel blitzes. The front four that we haven't seen with Chase Young was getting after it Got six pressures against Icky.

Speaker 1: 34:44

We just didn't have any answers. They play fast, they speed you up, they play a lot of man coverage, so they knock you off your rhythm, all that rhythm that you've been working on doing routes on air in training camp without nobody. No, it goes out the window when you're playing the Saints because they're playing man. They're bumping you around. You have to be perfect. When you play man coverage, you force the quarterbacks to have to be perfect. You have to put the ball right on the money, otherwise it's getting broken up. Then you got tips and overthrows and somebody's getting a pick In zone. You can run freely, you can be on the same page a lot because you running freely finding those voids, but man playing man coverage, and then you got a blitz speeding up so you can figure out. You got to find your matchup and get to it. Or, if you fail a blitz, find your answers and get to the hype.

Speaker 1: 35:32

They had not really figured that out just yet and they didn't have enough experience in training camp in preseason to sort it out as well. So I think not playing in preseason was a huge mistake that affected Bryce Young. They were experienced in that Dennis Allen system. They were experienced in that Dennis Allen system. They were experienced against Canales' system. They were experienced against Bryce Young, but Bryce Young was experienced against them but him and Dave Canales together weren't experienced against them. So they're figuring each other out while they're trying to figure out a team that they played separately but not together. It was a perfect storm. They didn't have answers to those blitzes. They didn't have check downs or hot routes or him able to bring in protection like we see him doing, motioning guys in tight. They didn't have that.

Speaker 1: 36:21

That was his first game as a head coach and play caller, but I also think that the big turnaround had to do with them building trust and I think their second saints game at home was the big thing with bryshon and I'm thinking that I think we had like a third down. It was like a very, very conservative drive. We were kind of up and it was like the game was kind of waning a little bit and the dave canal is called like three lane plays and on third and medium he called like a swing screen to Miles Sanders and Bryce Young came out the sideline with his helmet off. You could see him looking very dejected. He had some words for Dave Canals. He didn't cuss him out, but you could finally see Bryce unbutton a little bit. The yes man, the company man that Bryce Young is, started showing some emotion, was like coach, come on, man, take the training wheels off. It was that type of moment and I don't know what clicked from there. But it feels like after we got that win and Bryce, don't let the game win in drive, of course that things started to change, because I'm thinking about the Chiefs game.

Speaker 1: 37:22

I went to the Chiefs game and early on I tweeted. I was like bro, it feels like Dave is really putting the ball in Bryce's hands. Third and short. Fourth and short we're throwing the ball. Especially, he wants to be all stubborn, he can be with the run. We were throwing the ball, bryce was making plays, rewarding him, and I don't know if it was just like Dave like hey, you talked to that trash. You whined and complained. You got mad at me here. Show me what you can do, I'm going to give you a shot, show me what you can do. And Bryce Young rewarded him. So once he rewarded him, he started believing that, okay, let's give you more. Show me this, show me that. And we all know how Bryce gets down in the clutch scenarios.

Speaker 1: 38:08

But to be passing on third and fourth and short that much, you have to have a lot of trust that your quarterback is going to make the right decision. Because you spent a lot of money on that offensive line. You could have easily run the ball, but you decided to put the ball in your quarterback's hands and with Bryce playing that turnover-free football over that stretch. That's why we were pretty competitive. Our defense sucks but we weren't putting them on the field for extra possessions. That they didn't have to be, because Bryce was playing fairly turnover-free. Obviously he had that pick against the Eagles, but it still actually ended up being a close game. But not turning the ball over builds trust because they've talked about it. If the play ends with us having the ball whether it's a sack, a completion or a throwaway or even you scrambling is, we end up with the ball. It's a win. Don't turn the ball over. It's a win. You can hear him talking.

Speaker 1: 39:03

After the falcons game, dave said that he felt like he could call anything in the playbook. He could call plays with no limits Because he knew Bryce Young would make him correct. Like I said, whether a scramble to running in the end zone when nobody's open, throwing it away to not lose yards, or making a miraculous play and getting a touchdown. He felt like he could call plays with no limits. But when you say that, that lets me know that you had limits before on Bryce Young, you had the training wheels on. You wouldn't have brought that up if there weren't limits before. So that lets me know that there were limits. And so it took Dave Canales growing and building trust with Bryce. And that relationship growing and bud trust with Bryce and that relationship growing and budding is a beautiful thing and it's still going to be a work in progress.

Speaker 1: 39:54

I think Dave Canales needs to get a lot more versatile with his running game. We can't just run zone all the time. I think he lost us a couple games by not going to some of the gap schemes to the Cowboys game. I think he could have did a little bit more running right at them because they're smaller, instead of trying to run the zone stuff and finesse. We have a big offensive line. I thought we could have leaned on them a little bit more.

Speaker 1: 40:15

I think some situational stuff Dave needs to get a bit better. He has some tendencies that I've identified so I know smarter defensive coordinators have identified and I also want to see him get a little bit more creative. Bryce has a unique skill set Lean into that stuff and I also want to see him get a little bit more creative. Bryson has a unique skill set, lean into that stuff and I think they kind of did with the scramble drill things. But I want to see them get more creative with the play designs as well, because Bryson has that type of skill set. He has that crafty, unorthodox style that makes it hard on defenses. So lean into that.

Speaker 1: 40:47

But if you made it this far're probably like don't, what's your theory? I guess my conspiracy theory is that dave canales was the problem, along with bryson. I don't think dave canales really had the answers. I don't think dave canales could actually fix bryson's problems with him in the game. It wasn't a work these kinks out on the spot. He needed bryson to be removed. He needed dandy dalton to be in there to expose some stuff about his system. He needed Andy Dalton to be in there to expose that Deontay needed to get up out the paint. He needed Andy Dalton in there so Bryce could see about that decision making. Andy Dalton going in there was actually great for both of them. It wasn't just about Bryce sitting back and taking a breath, it was for Dave Canales to sit back and take a step.

Speaker 1: 41:29

One random Tesla accident later and a broken finger and Bryce Young got back in again. Who knows what would have happened? This is why I say that Bryce Young deserves the credit, because I don't think Dave Canales, I think he was out on him. Kudos to them for not trading him during the season, because I would have hated for Bryce Young to be hoisting a Lombardi trophy with the Rams in 2026. But I don't think a trade during the season was ever realistic, because you just never know what can happen, because the stuff that you don't know that can happen actually happened. Nobody could have expected a car accident to be the reason why Bryce Young's career turned around.

Speaker 1: 42:05

It gave him much opportunity to get back in there. The deck was stacked against him. He was going against one of the top defenses in the league with the Broncos, with a bunch of guys hurt, played pretty decent even in garbage time, had some turnovers, but you could see the flashes Pushing the ball down the field, attacking all parts of the field. But even the garbage time helped them build some momentum and build some confidence to build on. And then Dave gave his all week to week speech until Bryce Young forced him to make it undeniable he was taking care of the football. He was building that trust. We were competing, we won a few games. It forced Dave to down with his hand. And once Bryce started getting better and better and they started figuring out stuff that works, the game plan started getting better. We were attacking that Philadelphia Eagles defense, moving the ball in that final drive, seeing Bryce be clutch, knowing what Bryce likes, starting to learn each other a lot more and have his success.

Speaker 1: 43:06

Dave did what good coaches do. He adjusted and he saw enough. It's like, hey, maybe I wanted to get rid of him and I think that's what Dave was. Dave was ready to move on, maybe get a vet this offseason to compete with Bryce. But Bryce was inevitable. He forced their hand and here we are. It's all worked. I mean I don't even know. This is crazy. It's going to be. They're going to put this in a storybook. If Bryshun ends up being that franchise guy, it's going to be a storybook.

Speaker 1: 43:36

And I made my Panther Banter podcast about number one overall picks. How, like what? 70 something percent of them that play quarterback end up working out and I mean working out. They end up getting a second contract with their team. So I'm excited about the ride. I think Dave Canales and Bryshun both have some growth they can do, but they also laid a great foundation in year one that they can build up on. We know what the problems are with the roster. We know we don't have to go into it looking for a quarterback. We know we don't have to go into it looking for a coach. We know we don't have to go into the offseason looking for a GM. There's general legit excitement in this fan base about what's going to happen next.

Speaker 1: 44:15

You won the season on a good note. End of the season on a good note, beating your division rival, dropping 44 points. I don't know when the last time it scored 44 points, but you win a shootout On the road in division rival in overtime Bryce Young clutch. Shootout on the road in division rival in overtime bright shun clutch. Once again career numbers with five touchdowns. Had a blast really. Was in command really, really, kind of, really really felt like a coming of age moment and that's the type of momentum you want to take it to the offseason because the league is starting to notice. Obviously you got xavier Leggett, but Bryce Young redemption story was the best non-playoff NFL narrative and story in my opinion.

Speaker 1: 44:56

I think people generally like wanted Bryce Young to be good. Lebron James was tweeting about him. I think people they were haters, of course, and I talked about, but people wanted Bryce Young to be good and for him to actually turn around having a good time. It's a good dude man. You love to see it, but players are noticing. So hopefully this helps build some momentum, help helps in free agency. People notice what's being built and they want to join the party. Because I'm excited about the future. Uh, it feels good, man, you sleep better at night knowing your team got that guy. Sleep better at night knowing that you ain't firing no coach again. Sleep better at night knowing your owner team owner is minding his business and just signing checks 2025. Man, I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1: 45:40

But I appreciate you guys watching and make sure you are subscribed to the channel. If you have not, also make sure you are subscribed to the panther banter podcast. This has been another episode, episode six. The audio version will be dropping first and then the video is going to be premiering after that. I'm trying to do something different. I know people love audio. If you're in the gym, you're walking on your treadmill, you're on the elliptical, you're jogging around the block, you listen to me. You got me in your ear. I appreciate you. I appreciate you. 2025 is going to be a good year For For necessary bluntness. We're going to get this Panther Banter Podcast Cranked up Again, consistently my New Year's resolution. I'm going to hold me to it. Y'all hold me to it as well. I'm out of here, though, man. I appreciate y'all. Love y'all. Like the video on YouTube. If you have not, subscribe to the channel. If you have not, I'll see you guys next time. Peace.