Dennis Cox and Chris Lea discuss the Carolina Panthers preseason loss to the Houston Texans, including much left to be desired from the offense and QB Bryce Young.
It was nice to see Derek Brown back on the field, Chris. I will say that. It was nice to see Derrick Brown back on the field. It was a good feeling. It's a good feeling. Princely Umami Ellen looks fast. He is fast. Imagine that. A guy I known for being a speed rutcher looks fast. Let's get this sucker started. Get dialed in Panthers fans. Here comes an in-depth look at your team. Exclusive interviews, locker room insight. Let's huddle up for Panthers Playbook. Here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of Panthers Playbook. That's Chris Lee, Dennis Coxer with you. Leave your thoughts in the comments on preseason game #2. And Chris, let's go ahead and jump right into it. Two things can be true. I think we, I think we, there are 2 things that can be true, and I think this is what we as people that cover the team and people that are fans that watch this team have to keep in mind. Two things can be true. One preseason. It's a preseason game. But second of all, that doesn't mean we shouldn't expect more, especially from the offense. We should have expected more today. We had a drop pass which would have been a first down by Jata and Sanders. We saw Bryce Young with a high pass to Tedro McMillan, who was going up against Derrick Stingley Jr. and he had. Good position. Did Darrell McMillan, but the pass was off target. You expect better. The offensive line, you don't expect to be as leaky as it was today. I know Damian Lewis isn't playing, but Kate Mays was a starter at center last year and was playing along with the four other starters as well. You expected more, at least from the, what we saw early in the game from this Panthers team. Yeah, I think the main thing that I came out of, I've said over the last week, especially since the last game, is that I wanted to see some level of improvement. Uh, wasn't looking for, you know, the Panthers to, to win or to win by 2 touchdowns or anything like that. That's, that's not what I'm looking at. I just wanted to see some sort of improvement and uh they did go against the top 10 defense. So things looked a little, a little different, you know, than what it did last week against the Browns, who's who's not a top 10 defense and who didn't play all of their defensive starters anyway. Um, you know, it just, it didn't look good. Both offensive line, uh, starting offensive line and the starting defensive line that played, uh, today got pushed around. Um, that's not good. Um, some of the replays you see like Taylor Moten legit legitimately getting knocked back on his butt, you don't see that from Taylor Moten, and, and that's something that's a little concerning, uh, that's still one of those like, maybe it's just preseason or whatever, but That's still a little concerning to to watch. Bryce didn't seem to have his uh best stuff. He wasn't horrible, but also it was like one of those like, Yeah, you got the free play, but why throw it up in harm's way anyway? Like that's just, I, I don't want you to get to any part of your game at any point, whether it's a free play or you need to come back from behind and start panicking and start throwing up balls to, to the other team. Yeah, I think it was, it was a lot to be desired here. I think real quick on that play. I think he saw Tta Sanders got held dragged down, saw the flag. He's like, OK, I got a free play here. Let me go ahead and throw this one up. But if you're gonna do that, put it further downfield. Put it further downfield where actually Legette has a chance to actually make a play. Every rep that's something that's, that's the thing on that. Every rep matters. Every rep counts, and I feel you. I'm with you on that. But also, like, you know, seeing that this is preseason. Like, don't just take the risk, you know what I'm saying? Like I don't want him to fall into any bad habits, you know, and I think that's that's more so the thing for me is is that, and um I wasn't a fan of the play calling from Brad Idzik with the first team offense. Uh, it felt as if they fell in love with the pass, specifically passes 12 + yards down the field. It didn't show a lot of variety. So it's not even just the offense and them, uh, not looking as good as I wanted them to look. Also, I don't feel like they were put in the best position. Uh, to succeed. So, I mean, those are the things that I think all around, you can be, yes, it's preseason, I'm not gonna jump off the cliff, but you can be a little concerned with how things looked a little, looked like it regressed a little bit from last week, and you can be concerned about the position that the coaching staff is putting the, the, the, the team in. Brad Idzi is not gonna call plays during the season. But this is still your offensive coordinator. You would hope that it looks a little bit better. I think he got better as the game went along. It wasn't good for the first team offense. And generally the 1st 1215 plays of a game are scripted anyway, so it's not like the team and the offense didn't know these plays going in what they were intending to run. Now obviously if there's a a sudden change situation and you're in red zone, then you adapt as the, you know, in those situations, but generally these plays were scripted going in and we just. Again, it left a lot to be desired out there. The offense had no rhythm. I would like to have seen Legette. Try at least try and set him up for an underneath route, catch and run, because that's what he is physically built to do. I want to see that. We haven't seen that yet. I want to see that from him. McMillan being guarded by Stingley, I think is great experience for him, because Stingley Junior as a corner is one of the best in the entire NFL. It was nice to see him get reps in that regard, but I think, I think it left a lot to be desired because I wanted to see them come out for a 3rd drive, the starters. He had two kind of drives and then that was it. I wanted to see if you can make those adjustments and, and come back and finish strong. As Dave Canal says, we want to finish strong. I wanted to see them finish strong. With a 3rd drive, go get points, even if it's a field goal, go get points. Go get first downs. The only 1st down from they actually had was the penalty on the very first play. But that's it. You, I think it, I think they should have gone out there in my eyes gone out there for another play. Maybe it was intended in the sense of, hey, look, we had a, a very hot joint practices a couple of days ago. We, you know, some guys might be feeling a little fatigued, so let's not put them, you know, the starters out there for a 3rd drive, but. I would have liked to have seen another drive out there for the offense to try and correct and fix some of those mistakes, Chris. That, that is something that again left me wanting more. Maybe the plan is they're gonna play more on Thursday against Pittsburgh, you know, for the 3rd and final preseason game, but They, that offense definitely has a lot of room to grow, a lot of room to grow, and much needed work, much needed work already. Going back to that first drive, uh, without that penalty, um, there, more than likely we would have been looking at 23 and outs. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's not necessarily what you want to see, um, you know, with your starting offense out there in the second preseason game, um. I, I, I do wonder what the, it, it feels, here's the thing, and, and, and, you know, we'll have to wait to the regular season to really look at this. Uh, it does feel as if like Dave Canalis has a bag as far as plays that they are, they have at their disposal disposal that they're able they're able to call. It does feel as if, whether it's him or Brad Idzik, Idzik is clearly not as good of a play called as uh as Dave Canalis is right now. Um, it does feel as if they fall in love with certain things, um, and, you know, I I hate, I know, again, it's preseason, you can't expect them to to keep running guys into the ground, um, but man, I don't wanna hear, you know, we are a team that likes to run the ball because, like, just like last season, I ain't seen it. I'm not seeing it, you know what I'm saying? Like it's, it's not, it's not there. And, you know, teams that like to run the ball use the run to help control the game and there's there's no The Panthers aren't under Dave Canales, aren't trying to control the game at all right now. Um, and look, I'm not out on Dave Canales. I don't want people to go too far with this. This is just uh one criticism from something I saw from this game and then drawing back to last year. I really like Dave Canalis as a coach, but if, if that's the area that I feel like he can grow at, man, like that's, that's it, like the, I don't know what the Panthers do to try to control the game. And that's the part that I feel like is uh a little bit concerning and something that I'll be paying close attention to uh as the regular season begins. Yeah, I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna chalk this one up early in the sense of he wants to get, you, you know what Chuba Hubbard and in the run game is gonna give you. He wants to get more. Targets and touches to the, to the receiving core. I that that's one to chalk it up to you, like, I wanna get these guys as much touches as possible in the preseason because you know what Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dale can provide. That's, that's. That's again preseason play calling versus regular season play calling where you actually are. But even when the third string guys are in though, like, you know, like, we don't expect Trevor UN to get as many carries this year, especially if Dow and Hubbard are healthy. I'm not using him a lot either, uh, when and, you know, and again, you know, I know they're they're they were behind, you can't really use that as an excuse in the preseason when the result doesn't matter. Like, to me, like, you use the time to kind of work on what you're gonna do, like, so, you know, we heard last year, well, you know, they fell behind, so they had to throw the ball. OK, that's that's understandable. It's preseason, what are we doing? Like what are you know, what are we not working on here? I understand holding back doubt on Hubbard. But you're not even using ETN or Blackshear. So it's like, you know, so it's still one of those like, you can't, you know, pee in my face and tell me it's raining, like this is not a run first team. Just just simply based off of what I've been watching, um, you know, yes, you know, Hubbard had 1000 yards last year and that and that's great. You could argue you probably could have had more if you uh if you tried to use the run to uh try to control the game. I will say this, let's get off the offense for a little bit. Um, defensively, uh, Lathan Ransom, quick to the ball, fast, short tackler, Devani Richardson I thought looked pretty good. In uh in certain situations, and Princely Uman Melen is starting to pop off the screen. Like, you know, just you're watching simply what the director is giving you on the screen and all of a sudden there's Princeley right there in the area trying to make a trying to make a play. Um, you know, the the young guys are starting to look good. I'm hoping that once the veterans are in there more in the regular season, they're making more of a push, especially on the defensive line. I didn't see that with those guys yet, but I'm not worried about that right now. But uh those young guys are looking good. That's the, that's the main point I wanted to make. Yeah, some of those young guys are no no Nick Skorton today, remember he left joint practice on Thursday with heat-related, uh, you know. Illness or whatever you want to call it, just issues related to the heat, I guess you could say. So they held him out for precaution today. So, uh, also no Jalen Coker today, uh, which is something that, uh, in my eyes, what I, I said this when I was in radio earlier this week over on 999 the fans. There were, there were a few guys that have said that you were gonna be given an opportunity in this preseason game to show something. For example, Jalen Coker in preseason game number one. David Leguette gets kicked out. Guess who goes in? Coker takes advantage of that. Also no Hunter Remfro. Coker goes in, offense doesn't miss a beat on their, their scoring drive. Ted McMillan drops his touchdown. Jalen Coker catches his, taking advantage of opportunity. Corey Thornton ran with the ones on defense last week, looked great, took advantage of his opportunity, and I said there are a few guys that needed to take advantage of their opportunity this week, and one of them was Shamar Bartholomew. Who's the 2nd year defensive back and I said, look, you're gonna be given an opportunity this week if they decide to JC Horn obviously doesn't play because of the, the hand injury or the, the stitches on his hand from the car accident. I said, you're probably gonna get a lot more reps this week. And sure enough, he ran with the ones to start. And it really wasn't that great of a performance. I know early on he did come up and make a good tackle early on, but CJ Straub missed Nico Collins when Nico Collins got a step and a half on him on a 3rd down play. Yes I know they eventually putt, but Nico Collins beat him. And then on the touchdown play. It's just a simple out route where Bartholomew had just too much cushion. You can't let a guy, you can't be two yards back in the end zone and let a guy just cut across the goal line because you actually, if you go watch the replay, you saw on the opposite side of the field on the top of the screen where they're running the same out route against. Mike Jackson and as soon as the receiver got to the goal line, Mike Jackson was contact on his hip. Bartholomew was 2 yards off and it was just an easy just out route pitch and catch. Might as well not have been there. Again, that's an opportunity that you have had a chance to prove yourself to run with the starters in this game and get overall didn't look great. That's the thing I would talk about with some of these guys that have a chance. Take advantage of the opportunity. I didn't see that from Shamar Bartholomew today. I, I just didn't. You just didn't. And then Corey Thornton plays well again when he actually does get out there. Now Grants against twos, but he looked better. Just as simple as that. You have to, in these situations, take advantage, and we did not see that from some of these guys today. Take advantage of the reps and opportunity. I just didn't see it. I just did not see it much today at all. Yeah, and and you know, there's, I, I don't think that I've I've gave a few things that I'm kind of concerned with, um, as they're preparing for their final preseason game, which is pretty much gonna be uh the audition for, you know, the last. You know, I guess 50 guys on a roster, right? Like there's probably like 40 guys who know they're gonna make it about, give or take a few 45, 48, you know, um, you know, those, those last few spots are are the ones that's really gonna be the ones that's there. So that's what we're gonna really be looking forward to. I I don't know if Dave is gonna play the ones against Pitt Pittsburgh, uh, but mostly just for me, um. I, I, I want the, the Panthers to, um, I I there's certain situations I I feel like that that I I wanna I want them to see work on and then I wanna see more variety um with the ones on offense. Again, it's just preseason, so I'm not jumping out the window, um, but we also said that the last couple of years on this show for them to come out and get their butts whooped on the first game of the season, right, under, you know, Frank Reich and under, uh, you know, Dave Canalis. So, um. You remember that first game under that first preseason game that Bryce played under Frank Reich, and we're just like, ah, this doesn't really look that good and it's like, oh, it's it's just vanilla, it's just vanilla, and everything looked exactly the same the entire season that I will say this, vanilla is a flavor at least, that was just plain bland. I, I, that's the part that I'm A little worried about. I, I just, I just, I'm I'm praying that it looks just different once it starts counting against Jacksonville, but we'll see, we shall see what ends up happening. We shall, and you know I I I hope that we see more from the offense. That 2nd, I'm sorry, the 3rd preseason game. I just need to, I, I think it's good for their confidence in order for them to go down against, hopefully the Pittsburgh Steelers are playing their starters. I would like to see Brayshawn go against TJ Watt. I doubt TJ I mean TJ Watts a veteran, but I don't know. I want to see him if Cam Hayward is gonna play and all these guys. I wanna see if those guys will actually. Handle the pressure that that defense can give them. I want to see Jalen Ramsey guardedroll MacMillan or or Joey Porter Junior guard McMillan, or you know, guarding Xab get. They need those reps against those guys because we, from what we've seen through two preseason games so far overall, again, leaves a lot to be desired, a lot to be. I think I, and I'll close my, my final thought on this, Chris. I have said temper expectations because we we project to be the growth and the ceiling of a Tero MacMillan and some of these other players, doesn't mean that's what they're gonna be right away, even this season as rookies, or especially week one. That's why I say temper expectations for this team. They just showed today that they still have a lot of room to grow on both sides of the ball. Way too early outlook for uh the 2026 offseason, right? Um. Few things I I I want just based off of what I'm seeing so far, right? Uh. You're probably gonna have to address, for sure, right tackle, um, maybe left tackle. We'll see what Icky ends up doing. I'm not out on Icky yet, but you're gonna have to maybe figure that out and also have a a something sure at center, um. I think I also want to see another backup quarterback, someone who can actually push Bryce at this point, like Andy with his um experience level is there to teach a lot, and these guys have been together for a while, so it's, you know, it's it's cool, you know, that type of thing. But like, it, I'm not saying these guys in particular, but these are the type of guys I'm thinking about, like a Tyrod Taylor, a Tyler Huntley, guys who, you know, like, If Bryce were to go down, could get in there and possibly steal a couple games for you, um, and who could actually, you know, push him like, like, oh man, like if Bryce is not his on his A game, we know Bryce is better, but those guys can actually push him uh and practice a little bit more. Those are things I'm definitely looking at, and then for sure, um, inside linebacker, um, is gonna be something and I and I would even say. Maybe one more piece on that interior defensive line, maybe. We just gotta see how everything shakes shakes out this year, um. You know, course corner safety, that's always gonna be, it feels like that's always a revolving door, but like those, those few positions, I think that's the early outlook, just from what I'm looking at already so far, what could possibly be a weakness uh on this team, but, you know, hopefully, um, you know, hopefully what I'm seeing is just preseason Moten, hopefully regular season Moten comes back around and uh, you know, hopefully, uh Corbett is healthy and Uh, can be an anchor right there at center and then, you know, hopefully Bryce doesn't go down because I don't like the team's outlook without that. So yeah, even Andy Dalton got a little injured today, you know, on the, you know, he got all got deflected, elbow injury. We'll see how the, you know, prognosis is on him eventually. But Chris, uh, the questions about the roster and the questions about this team, they, they still remain. I think that's what we've really concluded and boil it down to one sentence. The questions that we had about the Carolina Panthers coming into this season, those questions still remain. I still think they'll be a little bit better than last year. They're better than 5 wins, but let's not, let's not expect 9 or 10. I'm, I'm, I'm in the 7 to 9 range. I think 7 to 9. That, that's where I am. Like 7, I think 7, truly I think 78 is where they're gonna be, but you could talk me into 9. But that's, that's kind of my range of 7 to 9 wins. This team is a long way to go and hopefully we continue to see some growth. We want to see growth next week. Again, leave your thoughts in the comments on this preseason game, your thoughts on it, who stood out, whether that's a good way or a bad way. And Chris, um, Thursday next week's the next preseason game. We should go ahead and drop another episode Thursday morning to get ready for that game against the Steelers. We'll, we'll we'll double it up, double up on Thursday next week, yeah. We'll see you all next week.