Speaker 1: Hey, guys, we got together for an additional group chat
Speaker 1: because well, it was a really busy week for the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers. Let's jump right into it. This is the
Speaker 1: group chat. You've been added to the group chat with
Speaker 1: your friends Caroline, can Max Sensen, and Will Brian. Well,
Speaker 1: like all good group chats, when something happens, the group
Speaker 1: chat blows up and you've got to talk about it.
Speaker 1: So that's why we're here. This week at Bank America
Speaker 1: Stadium with the Carolina Panthers has been all but normal.
Speaker 1: And we all agree on that this has not been
Speaker 1: a normal week for any of us. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: this is the first time I've experienced head coaching change Carolina. No,
Speaker 1: you've experienced one before before you got here. But it
Speaker 1: man quite a few days um in and then in
Speaker 1: some many different ways, really emotionally for the people in
Speaker 1: this building from a just work standpoint, and made for
Speaker 1: a long night. Um just a lot on your plate
Speaker 1: all of a sudden. Uh. And obviously, this this new
Speaker 1: owner here in Carolina does things a little bit differently.
Speaker 1: He sat down with the media and there was a
Speaker 1: lot to kind of soak in after that discussion. As
Speaker 1: you start thinking about the future. So just just a
Speaker 1: lot really to digest there. It definitely is is Max,
Speaker 1: as you touched on for all of us, you know,
Speaker 1: just it's a little bit different when you do have
Speaker 1: those personal emotions that you're dealing with as you have
Speaker 1: to continue working. And I think that's from a business side,
Speaker 1: from a football side, from you know, all the way
Speaker 1: around of you know, and and we'll kind of touch
Speaker 1: on this as we go forward. Caroline's gonna touch on
Speaker 1: this a little bit. But just what we did and
Speaker 1: what the last forty eight hours were in this building
Speaker 1: is a little bit unique and a little bit different
Speaker 1: than a lot bit a lot big and and and
Speaker 1: so that kind of led to just some I think,
Speaker 1: some challenges, but also just some kind of weird emotions
Speaker 1: as you kind of went through it. Yeah, you mentioned
Speaker 1: it of of Max. You said, I've been through this before.
Speaker 1: I was in Indianapolis when they parted ways or whatever.
Speaker 1: The terminology has always find that interesting too. There's relieved
Speaker 1: of duties fired, parted ways. That's always a careful consideration
Speaker 1: by the organization. But this one was the Panthers parted
Speaker 1: ways with Ron Rivera. I don't remember what the verbiage
Speaker 1: was when Pagano was um like, oh, but that was
Speaker 1: after the season. It was immediately following the very last
Speaker 1: game of the season, when this did not wait until Monday.
Speaker 1: If I remember correctly, it was Sunday night. It happened
Speaker 1: directly after the game. There was riding on the wall,
Speaker 1: And I think that was such a different experience because,
Speaker 1: like you've heard Ron Rivera say throughout the last couple
Speaker 1: of days, and even I heard Stephanie Rivera say it too,
Speaker 1: this is the business there in and when you go
Speaker 1: into this, you think that this may happen. So are
Speaker 1: they overly surprised by this? No? I think the timing
Speaker 1: is what is surprising everyone. But then when you hear,
Speaker 1: you know, Tepper's reasoning behind it, you can't help but
Speaker 1: respect that. But with Pagano, he did not have that
Speaker 1: abrupt ending. He knew about a month out that this
Speaker 1: could be happening, and the more that the team was
Speaker 1: struggling ended up with a four and twelve record that season.
Speaker 1: He knew what was coming. And the last show that
Speaker 1: we did together, the last interview we did together, all
Speaker 1: of these things, it was a hug and you know,
Speaker 1: thank you, coach. I sat down with Ron Rivera last week,
Speaker 1: and we had no idea that that was the last
Speaker 1: interview with me and him as the head coach of
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers. So that is an odd piece of this,
Speaker 1: of of why it was abrupt and why it was
Speaker 1: a surprise to a lot of people. But I think
Speaker 1: the reaction from fans, the thank you and response that
Speaker 1: he's gotten from the organization and the players in this
Speaker 1: almost grieving is what it felt like from the players
Speaker 1: of we're losing our leader that we've had here for
Speaker 1: so long. Especially, that's how it felt with Greg Olsen
Speaker 1: and Luke Keickley and these guys that have been with
Speaker 1: him their entire time here for this long time that
Speaker 1: they've been in Carolina, he has been their coach, So
Speaker 1: it has been unique. I think it's been very cool
Speaker 1: to see and the southern hospitality that everyone talks about
Speaker 1: is so true and it's more so of Okay, the
Speaker 1: football piece is why he was let go, but let's
Speaker 1: not make that who all. Yeah, I mean, nine years
Speaker 1: is a really long time, right, was one of the
Speaker 1: longest tenured coaches in the NFL. UM I mean, look,
Speaker 1: we we saw Steve Wilkes get one year. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean like this is this is unusual to have
Speaker 1: somebody here this long. And we all know what made
Speaker 1: Ron so um loved here was how personal personal he
Speaker 1: was and how he connected with people. He was not
Speaker 1: a screamer, he was not an intimidating guy. He was
Speaker 1: a guy who was going to kind of put his
Speaker 1: arm around you and he wanted you to be part
Speaker 1: of the family here. And I think that's why, Yes,
Speaker 1: everybody got very frustrated with how the season went these
Speaker 1: past two years. But I think that's why everybody really
Speaker 1: respected Ron was because he treated everybody that way. All
Speaker 1: of his players vouch for him. He is he is
Speaker 1: what the cliche would be a players coach. I mean
Speaker 1: to a t that that that's who Ron was. Um
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think he deserved and it was fitting
Speaker 1: for him to have a send off. Really, this is
Speaker 1: not a slammed the door, see you later, I'm out
Speaker 1: of here. Ron was fired and he stayed in the
Speaker 1: building to help Harry Fuel get ready, and that's that's
Speaker 1: just not that's not common. Ron was fired, and I
Speaker 1: walked down to his office and did an interview with
Speaker 1: him while they were packing up his stuff in boxes.
Speaker 1: And I'm one, I'll say, extremely proud of the collective
Speaker 1: effort from our digital apartment and covering this. I don't
Speaker 1: think a lot of teams cover the way that we did.
Speaker 1: But I would be remiss if I didn't say that
Speaker 1: Ron is a big part of that. Ron allowed a
Speaker 1: lot of that to happen, and I think it speaks
Speaker 1: to what his tenure was like here. Not not a
Speaker 1: lot of head coaches are gonna sit down with somebody
Speaker 1: like me in that situation and do an interview for
Speaker 1: the team website that was that was uncommon. And then
Speaker 1: of course the next day he has the press conference,
Speaker 1: which is when's the last time you've seen that from
Speaker 1: a guy who's who just got fired? And then he
Speaker 1: does a presser in that building to say goodbye. I mean,
Speaker 1: all of that I think speaks to what Ron's time
Speaker 1: here was, and I think I think it speaks to
Speaker 1: what Dave understood about this situation as well. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you know, Dave didn't say no, no, listen, you
Speaker 1: gotta go, like gave him that chance. Dave gave him
Speaker 1: that chance. I think one of the things that I
Speaker 1: saw in kind of monitoring, you know, kind of seeing
Speaker 1: live comments on all the feeds, and you know, there
Speaker 1: are some fans that are like, man, you guys were
Speaker 1: making him do a press conference, like this man gets
Speaker 1: fired and you're making him do all this stuff. And
Speaker 1: you know, as we understood, like, no, this was an
Speaker 1: opportunity presented to you to Ron, do you want to
Speaker 1: you know, Ron gave his heart and he made a
Speaker 1: pitch for kind of you know, what he wants to
Speaker 1: do next year. He kind of you know, he used
Speaker 1: that as an opportunity for himself, which you know, he
Speaker 1: deserves to be able to do that a little bit,
Speaker 1: which I think that you know, maybe other coaches might
Speaker 1: deserve that opportunity to in in these senses that they
Speaker 1: don't get. But you know, Dave, Dave took it upon
Speaker 1: himself to explain himself, to explain what was going on,
Speaker 1: and then to give Ron an opportunity to have some
Speaker 1: closure and this organization to have some closure. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I think honestly everybody sort of felt like it was time.
Speaker 1: It's these things are hard. But I think even in
Speaker 1: listening to Ron the past few weeks, it kind of
Speaker 1: sounded like he sort of new, I mean, and maybe
Speaker 1: he didn't expect it to happen with four games left. Um.
Speaker 1: But there's like a certain natural life cycle that exists
Speaker 1: for a coach, right, I mean, it just doesn't last forever, Um,
Speaker 1: And I think, as Dave said, sometimes you need some
Speaker 1: fresh blood. I think that could simply be the case here.
Speaker 1: I think Ron could go somewhere else and have great
Speaker 1: success again. I think sometimes it's just in a specific place,
Speaker 1: it's time for a change. And after nine really good
Speaker 1: years he leaves as the winning is coach and franchise history,
Speaker 1: took this team so close to the ultimate prize, it
Speaker 1: was time for a change here. And I think that's
Speaker 1: that's a healthy natural part of sports, as tough as
Speaker 1: it is, as tough as as it is to watch
Speaker 1: that happen to a guy, Um, with how much he
Speaker 1: meant to this place, and these players, coaches get hired
Speaker 1: and fired, and that's just that's the reality of the business.
Speaker 1: And we we are fortunate and that we haven't seen
Speaker 1: that here in a long time. One of the things
Speaker 1: that stood out to me in his press conference he
Speaker 1: was asked or he talked about the conversation you had
Speaker 1: with Jerry Richardson when he was first hired and Richardson
Speaker 1: asked him, do you how long do you want to
Speaker 1: be here? And he surprised him by saying eight, ten,
Speaker 1: eleven years and said, you know why, you don't want
Speaker 1: to be here forever? And you know, he said, I
Speaker 1: think that's I think that sounds about right. That just
Speaker 1: seems you know, if if you've been here that long,
Speaker 1: it means you've done some things right. But that that's
Speaker 1: kind of that's kind of what the NFL life cycle is.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, I don't want to put
Speaker 1: words in his mouth, but I think Ron didn't necessarily
Speaker 1: want to be here another four or five years. He
Speaker 1: wanted these years to be able to compete for Super Bowl. Well,
Speaker 1: he even said that. They said, would you want to
Speaker 1: stay for the rest of the season, He said, only
Speaker 1: if I could guarantee me win all of them. I
Speaker 1: think that's it. I think another piece of this though,
Speaker 1: that that I this is a personal opinion for me,
Speaker 1: and this is not something that Ron has come out
Speaker 1: and said blatantly. But this was an opportunity for him
Speaker 1: to get his next job, So we can say it
Speaker 1: was a wonderful thing for him to be, you know,
Speaker 1: for Temper to give him this opportunity, and it absolutely was.
Speaker 1: But Ron over is a competitive man and he instantly
Speaker 1: flipped the switch to go find his next job, as
Speaker 1: he should. There should be no ill will about that.
Speaker 1: He's absolutely putting himself out there because a lot of
Speaker 1: times these coaches you don't hear from them, and the
Speaker 1: question does become when he's had the you know, but
Speaker 1: thirty three years of being involved in the NFL, of
Speaker 1: is he done? You know? Is this is this it
Speaker 1: for him? Is it? Is he going to retire? No?
Speaker 1: And he got to say that that's when thing you
Speaker 1: always wonder, and then you know, maybe they take a
Speaker 1: year off and then they come back. I remember that
Speaker 1: with Pagano, No one everyone kind of thought that he
Speaker 1: might retire, and then he did take that year off.
Speaker 1: His daughter was getting married, he got to spend some
Speaker 1: time with his family. He was still getting paid in
Speaker 1: his contract, so he got to take that year off
Speaker 1: and then he got back into coaching. No, Ronevera has
Speaker 1: made it very clear that in a month that job
Speaker 1: cycle begins and that's when they start hiring. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have been shocked if ron said, like, I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: some time, you know, I don't know. But to your point, Karl,
Speaker 1: he came right out and said, and he gave himself
Speaker 1: like a really good pitch. I thought, Um, so, I
Speaker 1: don't know what's next for Ron. I do know this though,
Speaker 1: It's why isn't any profession to keep your options open?
Speaker 1: And I think what Ron just did was kept that
Speaker 1: option open. And if somebody he wants to pick up
Speaker 1: the phone and call Ron and his Asian and and see,
Speaker 1: he's made it very clear he's open to that. If
Speaker 1: Ron wants to be choosy and maybe take some time
Speaker 1: in Tahoe, he can do that too. I mean I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: as you said, Ron set himself up pretty well for
Speaker 1: the next chapter, and obviously Dave Pepper and the Panthers
Speaker 1: are going to try to do the same on their in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it has been a crazy week, as many of you know.
Speaker 1: But what has been also interesting about this week is
Speaker 1: that for the past two days we have gotten to
Speaker 1: know more about Perry Fuel than we ever thought we
Speaker 1: would know, including his hot yoga schedule, You've got that correct.
Speaker 1: We know that this man enjoys waking up on game
Speaker 1: day and if it's an away game, putting a towel
Speaker 1: under his door and hot boxing his room to do yoga. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's what he's doing, and he is. He is sweating
Speaker 1: it out, being all sin, firing up the YouTube just yep,
Speaker 1: just sin the YouTube before becoming crazy. So we've learned
Speaker 1: a lot about Perry Fuel and I've been in practice
Speaker 1: watching a little bit just because I knew what was
Speaker 1: going to be different. There's a different demeanor at the
Speaker 1: press conference, there's a different demeanor walking around the hallways
Speaker 1: because Perry feels a different man than Ron rivera both
Speaker 1: defensive minded coach. I think that's an important piece that
Speaker 1: that keeps this team rolling. Is not much changes as
Speaker 1: far as you know. The offense is still intact and
Speaker 1: they they have their staff and yeah there's some personnel
Speaker 1: changes that will we'll get into, but they're still rolling
Speaker 1: in this way that they know. And I remember talking
Speaker 1: to Scott Turner earlier in the season. I was walking
Speaker 1: out at I think it was not close to nine
Speaker 1: o'clock on a Monday night, walking out to my car
Speaker 1: and he's walking out to his car and I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: Monday night, nine o'clock, this is not what I'm expecting
Speaker 1: you to leave. And he said, we've been doing this
Speaker 1: together for so long. We have it down. We we
Speaker 1: know how to flip that, you know, report over very quickly.
Speaker 1: And and he said, We've got some more work to do,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna go see my kids, you know, before
Speaker 1: they go to bed. And so they have this this
Speaker 1: going on on the offensive side, they can roll the
Speaker 1: defensive side. Now it is different, obviously, and the team
Speaker 1: is different, but Perry Fueld just brings a different energy
Speaker 1: and it's it has been a different practice. I'm excited
Speaker 1: to see Perry Fuel on the sidelines for the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: He he has not been down there this season. I
Speaker 1: will be down there and watching him very closely see
Speaker 1: if that zin has worn off. And as he put it,
Speaker 1: he's become ornerary and very cranky. So I'm excited to
Speaker 1: see this. I think I think it is a new chapter.
Speaker 1: And like you said, it's it's new blood down there,
Speaker 1: and that's what that's what Dave Pepper wants, and he
Speaker 1: it may not be the blood that sticks around, but
Speaker 1: this is certainly an opportunity for Perry Fuel to add
Speaker 1: to his resume as this is the second time being
Speaker 1: an interim head coach. Yeah, I think he's a logical
Speaker 1: choice for this, as you just mentioned there, and he's
Speaker 1: done this before with Buffalo in two thousand nine. He's
Speaker 1: been around the league of a long time, coordinated for
Speaker 1: a long time, has been an interim head coach, So
Speaker 1: I think this was the logical choice. I think people
Speaker 1: may be wondering North Turner is a guy who has
Speaker 1: head coaching experience would have also maybe been a candidate
Speaker 1: for this. But I'm excited to see what Scott can do. Um.
Speaker 1: He's never called place before ever, so this is his
Speaker 1: first opportunity to do that, and that's a big opportunity
Speaker 1: for a guy, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: Everyone in this league right now wants to see who's innovative,
Speaker 1: who's doing something new, What new wrinkles is he gonna add?
Speaker 1: Um And and obviously the personnel is the personnel. He's
Speaker 1: not gonna make wholesale changes. But I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: how Scott handles the offense. And look with Perry on
Speaker 1: the defensive side, I think he's been here long enough
Speaker 1: now we kind of know what we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: see from that group. I'm mainly curious to see if
Speaker 1: what the energy is from the team, this has been
Speaker 1: an emotional week, right, How are these guys going to
Speaker 1: get themselves up for this game? I mean, it's one
Speaker 1: thing to say we've got to win, We've got to
Speaker 1: fight for our opportunities, we're fighting for our job. It's
Speaker 1: it's now can they do it? You know? I think
Speaker 1: that's what you want to see after a team that's
Speaker 1: gone through something like that, is is are they going
Speaker 1: to look like a team that just lost his leader?
Speaker 1: Or are they going to look like a team that's
Speaker 1: kind of rallying behind the new guy? And we'll find
Speaker 1: out that there is a lot of pride involved here.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that I think some of those guys,
Speaker 1: like Christian McCaffrey in the locker room, you know that
Speaker 1: one of the things that I thought was somewhat unique
Speaker 1: about what he said was you know, yeah, obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: we're really heartbroken where you know, we're kind of bummed
Speaker 1: about this, But you know what, if I would have
Speaker 1: gotten a couple more yards, if we would have gotten
Speaker 1: in that end zone there a couple more times, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe this hadn't happened. You know, this is I feel
Speaker 1: some personal responsibility, a lot of two very person and
Speaker 1: you you kind of think like, okay, like how what's
Speaker 1: what's that response going to be? Like it is? That's
Speaker 1: why I'm excited to see it. I think practice has
Speaker 1: been a little bit more up tempo. They switched some
Speaker 1: things up, even in the individual open media part where
Speaker 1: in defensive drills they're they're changing drills with a quicker
Speaker 1: pace and and I think I get him go ones
Speaker 1: on ones too. I mean it was a competitive period,
Speaker 1: which is different. He is a old school he said today,
Speaker 1: what do you say? He's old school? And he will
Speaker 1: get after him and he will be fiery and get
Speaker 1: in their face, but it's in a loving way. I
Speaker 1: will scream as will counted, he said. He said the
Speaker 1: word but four times in that in that little spield
Speaker 1: he gave right. You know, I gotta gotta kick some butts,
Speaker 1: kick some butts out there, and you got a hug
Speaker 1: on love on them when they do it right. Well,
Speaker 1: either way, when we're watching these next four weeks of
Speaker 1: Panthers football, history is changing here. There's a new tide
Speaker 1: that is turning a new chapter for this team, a
Speaker 1: new chapter four. Potentially a lot of guys on the
Speaker 1: team now, the coaching staff that is here. We know
Speaker 1: this league never looks the same year to year, and
Speaker 1: that is now certainly true here in Carolina. So thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us for this. I wanted
Speaker 1: before the shows that I wanted to share one round
Speaker 1: of story. I think people will enjoy this. So this
Speaker 1: was during like the two thousand fourteen or fifteen season,
Speaker 1: before Ron was going into a press conference. And Ron
Speaker 1: always thought he was really funny. I don't know that
Speaker 1: he was as funny as he thought he was, but
Speaker 1: he thought he was hilarious. So he had just come
Speaker 1: out of the office to line meeting room and he
Speaker 1: was like, I need somebody to do something for me
Speaker 1: real quick, and like I was the only one in
Speaker 1: the hallway. So it's like, Max, I need you for something.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh God. So it's like, I need you
Speaker 1: to go into the old line meeting room. Okay, and
Speaker 1: Andrew Norwell is gonna be sitting in there. I need
Speaker 1: you to say to him, nor will you really think
Speaker 1: you can pull that shirt off and then walk out?
Speaker 1: And um, okay. The offensive line meeting room the most
Speaker 1: intimidating of meeting rooms. The gigantic human beings. It's the
Speaker 1: one that's like their most protective about too, like they
Speaker 1: don't let anybody in there, especially then that group. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is the Ryan khalil Oh line meeting room. So
Speaker 1: I am like already sweating, but like the head coach
Speaker 1: just said, so I'm like, what am I gonna do?
Speaker 1: I have to do this, And I was also kind
Speaker 1: of like, well, what if this goes great, then I
Speaker 1: can like to be like a hero. It did not
Speaker 1: go great. I walk into the old line meeting room
Speaker 1: and I'm so nervous because like if everyone every alignment
Speaker 1: is in there, and like as soon as I walk in,
Speaker 1: of course everyone looks at me and you can hear
Speaker 1: a pin drought like so the pressure. So I try
Speaker 1: to deliver the line. I look at Norwell, who's again
Speaker 1: the scariest of all of them, and he's wearing this
Speaker 1: like graphic t that I guess they were like getting
Speaker 1: on him for wearing before I was. I missed that part,
Speaker 1: so I said, I said, Norwell, you really think you
Speaker 1: can pull that shirt off? And nothing, just like everyone
Speaker 1: is staring at me, and Ron was like watching this
Speaker 1: from the back. And so then not like I get
Speaker 1: out of there, I'm just like, I got what can
Speaker 1: I do? I'm out? So I get out and Ron's like,
Speaker 1: you didn't deliver it, right, man, And I'm like, and
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say. I was like, I don't I
Speaker 1: just don't think it was funny. So I go back
Speaker 1: in and I tell the old linement. I'm like, guys,
Speaker 1: Ron just told me to say that, and then they
Speaker 1: started laughing. So it's like kind of saved me. But
Speaker 1: my my always, I'll never forget this obviously, and Ron
Speaker 1: the last thing he says to me was like, hey, Max,
Speaker 1: do you ever get in the old line room? Don't
Speaker 1: blow it this time. So it's like become a running
Speaker 1: joke for all the years. But I I contest to
Speaker 1: this day that the lion he asked me to deliver
Speaker 1: was not funny. It was never funny. Ron thinks it was.
Speaker 1: So he put me in a huge position to fail
Speaker 1: in front of the most intimidating group in the team,
Speaker 1: and he never let me hear the end of it.
Speaker 1: That was I missed opportunity. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: listening to the group chat. We are out of here.
Speaker 1: We are excited for this week of paying their football
Speaker 1: with Perry Fuel leaving the team. We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: guys next week. No