Speaker 1: Hey guys, we are back from London and back in
Speaker 1: Bank of America Stadium where we are wrapping up our
Speaker 1: stories from London. When everyone started yelling Luke like the
Speaker 1: entire like, you know, they're like, what is happening? The
Speaker 1: Americans are having a riot, and then we are handing
Speaker 1: out our mid term grades for the Carolina Panthers. He's
Speaker 1: not beating himself. He hasn't thrown interception yet. Yeah, this
Speaker 1: the fumbles were an issue and that's something he's trying
Speaker 1: to clean up. But he's not throwing any picks. All
Speaker 1: of this and so much more on this week's 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. We
Speaker 1: are state side everyone, but we might still be on
Speaker 1: London time. How did everyone wake up today? I did
Speaker 1: wake up, Like Will, journey was a little different than ours,
Speaker 1: so I don't We'll take that one first. Four thirty
Speaker 1: this morning, that was after eleven hours on a plane
Speaker 1: because of the flight. Actually had to get on the
Speaker 1: plane and then was delayed while sitting on the plane.
Speaker 1: Once we got on the plane, we were then told
Speaker 1: the air conditioning isn't working, so sit there in your
Speaker 1: seats on a packed flight while they go to fixed
Speaker 1: air conditioning for however long an hour, and then another
Speaker 1: hour to find the people to do the paperwork. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that was not delightful. And then and then no, I
Speaker 1: think I was on an aisle okay, But then once
Speaker 1: we got going, they said, like the little little screens
Speaker 1: you know with the TVs and movies like that, would
Speaker 1: get going in like thirty minutes, and it just never
Speaker 1: turned on, just never worked the whole flight. What do
Speaker 1: you do? I actually got lucky that I had downloaded
Speaker 1: some Peaky Blinders, so I watched four episodes of the
Speaker 1: Peaky blind Does if you haven't Thomas Shelby, I can't
Speaker 1: what they say on there. I can't say you can't
Speaker 1: say that because we'll get in trouble. But you should
Speaker 1: watch the BBC on Netflix Peaky Blind. I got to
Speaker 1: check it out. It's on Netflix. That just started the
Speaker 1: final season or the most recent season. Yeah. I've never
Speaker 1: seen Christian gets so excited about meeting somebody. Yes, this
Speaker 1: was an interesting fact. Christian asked for this photo. He's
Speaker 1: never like, he's not one to do that, he said, Hey, Finn,
Speaker 1: which fun fact. If you watch Peaky Blinders, Michael on
Speaker 1: the show is who was there in real life. Michael's
Speaker 1: name Finn. It's also a fan So when someone said like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know Finn, Yeah, it's Finn is here. I was
Speaker 1: expecting character Finn and then I looked. I was like,
Speaker 1: that's not Finn, but it looks a lot like Michael.
Speaker 1: That was looked Christian. It was very cool. I love that.
Speaker 1: I love when you see people who people fan boy
Speaker 1: and girl about beIN fan girl boy about someone else.
Speaker 1: So that was a fun, a fun little tidbit. But
Speaker 1: our trip back to the States was not quite as
Speaker 1: dramatic as Wills. However, something that I found funny about
Speaker 1: this trip was so the Buccaneers, because they were the
Speaker 1: home team, they were able to leave first. So after
Speaker 1: the game, what normally happens on an away game is
Speaker 1: an hour after the game ends, you're on the bus
Speaker 1: and you're leaving. That's in a dream world. But this
Speaker 1: time they were saying, you have plenty of time, you
Speaker 1: have plenty of time, and they weren't kidding. About two
Speaker 1: and a half hours after the game and ended, we're
Speaker 1: sitting on the bus, still waiting to go. We finally leave,
Speaker 1: and then we get to the airport, which it was
Speaker 1: like a forty five minute trip to the airport. We
Speaker 1: get to the airport, then we have to go through
Speaker 1: normal security, which all of you out there are like, oh,
Speaker 1: you poor things. We get it, but we're spoiled. So
Speaker 1: we had to go through normal security, and they were
Speaker 1: taking everyone's bag. Everyone like we forgot how to fly.
Speaker 1: And I'll say, when I fly domestically, I don't put
Speaker 1: all my liquids in one bag. They just don't really care.
Speaker 1: Internationally they care, so they were pulling everyone's bag, the
Speaker 1: poor medical bag that the athletic trainers had. They didn't.
Speaker 1: I didn't stand a chance. So then we finally get through,
Speaker 1: and you're walking through the airport to do and you
Speaker 1: get to the gate and you're like, all right, we
Speaker 1: finally made it, like three and a half four hours
Speaker 1: after the game, and then you walk outside and there's
Speaker 1: a bus. Yeah, I've got to take the shuttle. Then
Speaker 1: you've got to take the shuttle from the gate to
Speaker 1: the actual plane. It just was like a thank goodness
Speaker 1: we won, because it was this like series of comical
Speaker 1: little steps to finally get on the dad gumplane. And
Speaker 1: we made it. Can you imagine having thrown five interceptions
Speaker 1: and having to go through that process and lost to
Speaker 1: fumble people. People were getting a little testy about their
Speaker 1: liquids as we were going through security. But I'll think
Speaker 1: at least we won. If we would have lost, it's
Speaker 1: a long way to go, a long way ago, and
Speaker 1: just all the little nuances to get back. So good
Speaker 1: job Panthers. That airport experience was cool for the fans
Speaker 1: because a bunch of them ran into the players to
Speaker 1: take pictures and stuff, to which I kept seeing on
Speaker 1: social media. So that, like having to go through the
Speaker 1: normal security, allowed for some pretty cool fan moments. It was.
Speaker 1: That was really neat too. I we talked about this
Speaker 1: on the previous podcast, but coming into Heathrow, how many
Speaker 1: fans they were that was very very cool. I didn't
Speaker 1: we didn't see as many going out. Yeah, so I
Speaker 1: was actually on that flight with all those fans. We
Speaker 1: got in like thirty minutes before the team did, and
Speaker 1: so it's like, you know, it's the back and forth
Speaker 1: of the lanes going through customs, and so they're all there,
Speaker 1: a full flight of however, many several hundred, all crowded
Speaker 1: in one space, and then there's like the further lane,
Speaker 1: the fast lane that all the team just kind of
Speaker 1: walked by everybody, and I was up near the front
Speaker 1: where the customs agents were, and they started getting freaked
Speaker 1: out when everyone started yelling Luke like the entire like,
Speaker 1: you know, they're like, what is happening? The Americans are
Speaker 1: having a riot? You know, like what's going on? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was pretty intense because you guys, I
Speaker 1: guess we're probably behind the players, so they didn't hear that,
Speaker 1: but yeah, they were just screaming as everyone came by.
Speaker 1: It was it was pretty cool, that's all. And that's
Speaker 1: what makes these games so cool is you just don't
Speaker 1: know what you're going to expect when you go to London.
Speaker 1: But thank goodness, it ended in a win. So it's
Speaker 1: all positive news over here, except for the fact that
Speaker 1: I went to bed last night around and I was
Speaker 1: I was like in bed at eight thirty, woke up
Speaker 1: wide eyed and ready to come to work, like five. Ah,
Speaker 1: who wants to come to work? Who wants to do that?
Speaker 1: Although it was kind of nice, I did kind of
Speaker 1: like lay there for a minute thing like get back
Speaker 1: to sleep, and I was like, actually, no, because when
Speaker 1: am I ever this awake in the morning, I'm never
Speaker 1: this away. So I got out of bed, enjoyed a
Speaker 1: nice slow morning. It was in the office an hour
Speaker 1: and a half early, employee of the employe of the
Speaker 1: day except for yesterday because we had an optional stay
Speaker 1: at home workday. I'm not sure if that was officially
Speaker 1: what they said, but that's what I said for myself.
Speaker 1: I don't know that memo. I stayed at home on
Speaker 1: Monday after coming in. I do think there were a
Speaker 1: couple of people came in, but thankfully for me, I
Speaker 1: did not well deserved. I was only in for a
Speaker 1: few hours only, if not deserve for you you. I
Speaker 1: was here for a few and that was it. I
Speaker 1: had to say. I had to Kelly and come back
Speaker 1: and make sure the office was still in one piece
Speaker 1: and we got some cool new posters on the wall.
Speaker 1: She did. She redecorated. While it's like extreme home makeover.
Speaker 1: Oh that's nice. We'll hope you guys enjoyed the weekend
Speaker 1: and enjoyed all that London had to offer. If you
Speaker 1: went or if you were just falling along with our coverage,
Speaker 1: we certainly had a good time over there and sending
Speaker 1: some content back. But now it's the bye and I
Speaker 1: love it. Are you guys fans of these bye weeks?
Speaker 1: Oh my god? How could you not be? Some people
Speaker 1: who doesn't like it? Give me names? Well I don't
Speaker 1: work with any, but give me names. I will go
Speaker 1: after it. You know, it's really just the fans, which
Speaker 1: I get you your team's not playing, but yeah, we
Speaker 1: need them. I love it. This one chance and the
Speaker 1: entire fall winter for those of us who are you know,
Speaker 1: attached to an NFL schedule to have an actual weekend?
Speaker 1: So yeah, how could you not? Would you not be
Speaker 1: excited about that? Players? I'll tell you what. The players
Speaker 1: are excited about it too. No one looks more forward
Speaker 1: to it than the players, that is true. What are
Speaker 1: you guys going to do? Well? I think I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go hiking on Saturday. It's the weather. We came back
Speaker 1: to some nice weather here in Charlotte and try to
Speaker 1: go get out hopefully the weather it's not raining, but
Speaker 1: get outside. Well. Last year I think I went to
Speaker 1: like a Clumpson game, but I think they're on the
Speaker 1: road this week, so cool. Wife and I are going
Speaker 1: to take the dog down to Charleston. He's never been
Speaker 1: to the beach before, so we're gonna go down for
Speaker 1: a nice family vacation weekend solvents. Uh. First question, it's
Speaker 1: about the dogs. Sorry, sorry, sorry that one, and then
Speaker 1: I'll get to you. He's a Cocker Spaniel poodle mix,
Speaker 1: otherwise known as a cockapoo. Uh. He's twenty seven pounds
Speaker 1: of pure adorable cuteness. He's the best. His name is Cooper.
Speaker 1: And your question was yes, we'll be Sullivan's Island. That's exciting, awesome. Well,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm one of those people that technically doesn't
Speaker 1: love the bye because I'm still going to go watch football.
Speaker 1: I'm going to visit my boyfriend in Indianapolis and watch
Speaker 1: the Colts play during our bye week. I'm that person.
Speaker 1: They are playing the Houston Texans. Oh, you're gonna set
Speaker 1: so I will see Houston again. I since we already
Speaker 1: played them. This is a technically a scouting report, but
Speaker 1: so we're you gonna watch from This will be a
Speaker 1: unique experience for you, right after being on the sideline
Speaker 1: all those years. This is so I actually went our
Speaker 1: Thursday night game. I went to Nashville to watch the
Speaker 1: Colts play the Titans. So I did do some pre
Speaker 1: that was pre scouting. That's what the trip was. Um.
Speaker 1: But I was at the sideline pass for a pregame
Speaker 1: and then sat in the stands, and that was my
Speaker 1: first experience of being able to drink a beer in
Speaker 1: the NFL football game. Like I didn't realize it until
Speaker 1: I went to go sit down. I passed the concession
Speaker 1: stand and I was like, whoa, I can get a beer.
Speaker 1: This is this is very cool. So in Indy, I've
Speaker 1: never been to a game game just as a fan.
Speaker 1: So I will be on the sidelines for a pregame
Speaker 1: to say hello to everyone and all my former co workers,
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna sit in his seats. A girlfriend
Speaker 1: and I are going to go and just be fans.
Speaker 1: It's gonna it's gonna be cool. I'm excited. But let's
Speaker 1: go into mid term grades here for this team, because
Speaker 1: we are not quite halfway. Although it does blow my
Speaker 1: mind that after this forty nine Ers game, we're halfway
Speaker 1: through the season. Did anyone just did we get that?
Speaker 1: Just blink? And here we are? Really if you count
Speaker 1: the preseason, we're over halfway. Um, But I think this
Speaker 1: is a really fun team to look back on and
Speaker 1: see the difference between when the sky was falling of
Speaker 1: O and two and then they've gone on this four
Speaker 1: game win streak. All that has happened and all the
Speaker 1: depth that is being used and that will have to
Speaker 1: continue to be used. Or we're coming up on this
Speaker 1: interesting debate of this Cam Newton Kyle Allen, which we're
Speaker 1: not going to completely dive into today because that deserves
Speaker 1: its own podcast. So we've got Will's dating life in
Speaker 1: a Cam Newton Kyle Allen episode on that one coming
Speaker 1: up for you. But let's just go first with overview
Speaker 1: of this team. When you thought back at the end
Speaker 1: of training camp, preseason had ended, we're looking at the
Speaker 1: regular season. Were you expecting a four and two team?
Speaker 1: And maybe some hot takes that you remember that we
Speaker 1: either took or other people talk about what this team
Speaker 1: was going to be. I think that we were cautiously
Speaker 1: optimistic about this defense. I think all of the moves
Speaker 1: in the off season to bring these guys in, the
Speaker 1: Burns draft pick, the Bruce Irvants signing, Gerald McCoy signing, like,
Speaker 1: I think there's definitely optimism about what this this new front.
Speaker 1: All the stuff was gonna look like and then it
Speaker 1: kind of like fell down a little bit and like, oh,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it's not as good as we all thought.
Speaker 1: And now they're pretty much second in most defensive categories takeaways, uh, sacks,
Speaker 1: quarterback pressures, all that kind of thing. So there, they've
Speaker 1: they've been stepping up, and I think that they're now
Speaker 1: on a level they're on a track of like when
Speaker 1: is this going to stop? I've been kind of waiting
Speaker 1: for them not to be able to do it, and
Speaker 1: it's like each week they keep living up to it.
Speaker 1: You know, they keep putting more pressure on, they keep
Speaker 1: getting to the quarterback, and it's pretty incredible. Yeah, the defense,
Speaker 1: I think that that's where you start when you look
Speaker 1: at what an O and two football team, how it
Speaker 1: became a foreign two football team. The sacks, as you mentioned, well,
Speaker 1: they lead the league in sacks right now and the takeaways.
Speaker 1: And when you get when those two things are happening
Speaker 1: and you're so disruptive on defense, it's making things easier
Speaker 1: for the offense. And in in other cases they're they're
Speaker 1: they're scoring. I mean, we've seen some defensive scores and um,
Speaker 1: you know, the position, shorter fields, I mean, it's just
Speaker 1: setting the table for Kyle Allen in that offense. Um,
Speaker 1: So there's no there's no doubt what the defense has
Speaker 1: done is kind of spearheaded things. And then of course
Speaker 1: the focus is going to be on the quarterback position.
Speaker 1: Cam was owing to Kyle is four oh. Um. What
Speaker 1: Kyle is doing is exactly what you would ask a
Speaker 1: guy in this position to do. He's not be be himself.
Speaker 1: He hasn't thrown interception yet. Yeah, the fumbles were an issue,
Speaker 1: and that's something he's trying to clean up. But he's
Speaker 1: not throwing any picks, he's not taking unnecessary risks. He's
Speaker 1: spreading the ball around. He's doing his job and allowing
Speaker 1: this offense to function the way it's intended to. With
Speaker 1: an m VP candidate in the backfield. I mean, it
Speaker 1: makes things a lot easier when you can turn around.
Speaker 1: You've got Christian Vicaffrey back there to hand the ball
Speaker 1: off to or use as an outlet in the passing game.
Speaker 1: So you combine this defense and how disruptive it's being
Speaker 1: with what Christian is doing offensively, and as long as
Speaker 1: you don't beat yourself, you're going to be in position
Speaker 1: of win ball games and that's and that's what we're seeing.
Speaker 1: I over one didn't see it coming at Owen two.
Speaker 1: I'll admit I felt victim to the panic. I thought
Speaker 1: this could have gone off the rails pretty quickly. But
Speaker 1: credit to this coaching staff and this team for kind
Speaker 1: of and you heard it. It's kind of sounded like
Speaker 1: coach Ben cliche. But we just got to continue to
Speaker 1: ride this out. We can't, you know, overreact. Things are
Speaker 1: going to work themselves out. We just gotta correct a
Speaker 1: few things and look to be forward to at the bye.
Speaker 1: You could not ask for anything more as a Panther
Speaker 1: fan and with you, I thought what was interesting when
Speaker 1: we started this regular season is there were a lot
Speaker 1: of questions for this team. And I think that's true
Speaker 1: for indie team in the NFL, but you know, some
Speaker 1: of the top tier teams there are questions. Is aren't
Speaker 1: quite as pressing as I thought the Panthers had. It
Speaker 1: was is your quarterback good? What are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: You know? On defense? And the dB is the very
Speaker 1: first question I was asked. I say this all the times,
Speaker 1: can you play safety? Because you know no one out
Speaker 1: there liked our safeties and then you have this defensive
Speaker 1: line that looked great on paper, but you know, they
Speaker 1: were struggling a little bit. They didn't have really the
Speaker 1: preseason that we thought they were going to have. So
Speaker 1: all the big questions going into this were big questions,
Speaker 1: and they were maker break type questions. What I love
Speaker 1: is that we've already gotten answers on pretty much all
Speaker 1: of those except for the quarterback one. But what Kyle
Speaker 1: Allen has done is allowed for some time for that
Speaker 1: answer to come. I think I think, like you're, you've said, Max,
Speaker 1: he's doing exactly what you want your backup quarterback to do.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't always happen like that. You have a
Speaker 1: lot of backup quarterbacks in this league that can't do
Speaker 1: what Kyle is doing. But when a team signs a
Speaker 1: backup quarterback, this is what they're looking for. Now, him
Speaker 1: going you know four O is spectacular of what he's done,
Speaker 1: but he still has his fumbles. He's you know, little
Speaker 1: things here and there that he's struggling as a backup quarterback.
Speaker 1: But uh, you're, you have kind of your answer ish there.
Speaker 1: But then the defensive line answered the thieves, and the
Speaker 1: you know, the secondary answered. I think the playmakers on offense,
Speaker 1: they have answered, but there's still a lot of room
Speaker 1: to grow there. And then Christian McCaffrey, what's that workload
Speaker 1: going to be on him? Is he going to have
Speaker 1: as many snaps? Well, that's been answered for us of
Speaker 1: how they're going to use him, and I think when
Speaker 1: you're you know, six weeks in, that's a pretty good
Speaker 1: measuring stick. A lot a lot of times teams don't
Speaker 1: get that until you know, past the midpoint in the
Speaker 1: season or when you get into November and you're losing
Speaker 1: some guys because this long season takes a toll on
Speaker 1: their bodies. But you've seen the depth on this team
Speaker 1: and you start to get some of these bodies back. Um,
Speaker 1: now the questions are, Okay, if you get some guys
Speaker 1: back on the offensive line who's not going to play
Speaker 1: because they've been playing, well, that's a really good question
Speaker 1: to have. Another one is Christian McCaffrey. Can he handle
Speaker 1: the workload that he's been getting and being so productive.
Speaker 1: That's a good question to have, especially when Reggie Botafon
Speaker 1: has proven what he can do with his opportunity that
Speaker 1: he got. So I like where this team is, but
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Max, I was definitely with everyone else
Speaker 1: when this guy was falling, hitting the panic button of oh,
Speaker 1: goshen to where is this thing going? You starting two
Speaker 1: and you put yourself in a back into a corner
Speaker 1: like that. They lost the first two games at home,
Speaker 1: they had to go on the road. Um And, like
Speaker 1: I said, I mean, you just gotta give everybody a
Speaker 1: lot of credit for just kind of sticking to it.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned it. I think another group that deserves
Speaker 1: and praise. That offensive line was a huge question coming
Speaker 1: into the year. Everybody looked back at what happened to Can.
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, they gotta they gotta protect the
Speaker 1: quarterback hell of a lot better than they did. And
Speaker 1: things were not made easy for them. The injury to
Speaker 1: Trey Turner, their Pro Bowl right guard. You're shifting around
Speaker 1: Darryl Williams to left tackle and putting him over a guard.
Speaker 1: Great little the second round pick, it's you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of concussions, and now you've got a sixth round pick,
Speaker 1: Dennis Daily starting a left tackle. And yet in spite
Speaker 1: of it all, the offensive line is playing as well
Speaker 1: as it has quite a while. Um, And I think
Speaker 1: that group deserves a ton of credit and that was
Speaker 1: a huge question coming into the year, and to Caroline's point,
Speaker 1: now it's another one of those good problems to have.
Speaker 1: It's we've got too many guys now who are deserving
Speaker 1: a playing time and we can only can field five
Speaker 1: offensive lineman typically at a time. So that's something that
Speaker 1: I'll get sorted out after the bye week. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: what that group is doing, I think it's been has
Speaker 1: been huge for this team because everyone looks at the
Speaker 1: skill players and you know, you know, really wants to
Speaker 1: delve too far into the offensive line. But when you
Speaker 1: really look back at what happened last year, that was
Speaker 1: that was a big area that this team needed to address,
Speaker 1: and you saw two draft picks bringing in Matt Paradis.
Speaker 1: It was something that they really honed in on, and
Speaker 1: especially with the injuries they've suffered, that's come in hugely
Speaker 1: clutch to have Dennis Daily ready to go in there
Speaker 1: and play when you've got down to your third left tackle. UM,
Speaker 1: so kudos those guys big time and Greg Van wrote
Speaker 1: and Taylor Moten have been doing their job, have been fantastic.
Speaker 1: I think that one question that has now emerged in
Speaker 1: the last couple of weeks is special teams. Is you
Speaker 1: know the Panthers today released Ray Ray McLeod. We couldn't
Speaker 1: tell you right now, tournament, you don't you don't know, um,
Speaker 1: so that that's something that has to be stored out
Speaker 1: the next two weeks. I mean, Joey Sly, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of questions about him coming in and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden we thought he was a pro Bowl kicker,
Speaker 1: hit ten in a row, hit fifty yards, fifty yards
Speaker 1: like it was nothing, and now he's just a few couple.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like getting him back on track
Speaker 1: and kind of making sure that he's doing what he
Speaker 1: needs to be doing. But yeah, there are some still there.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a great sign. For the past
Speaker 1: few weeks. The Christian m v P talk has been
Speaker 1: really the focus around here, right you know, Cam hasn't
Speaker 1: been out there and everyone everyone's been making the jokes
Speaker 1: when when Christian's back injury popped up, and this is
Speaker 1: something I wrote about it. How many times did you
Speaker 1: see the joke gurgitated? Well that's Adams when you're carrying
Speaker 1: the whole team, you know. But what I thought was
Speaker 1: really impressive was against Tampa Bay in London, they held
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey at one point four yards per attempt, had
Speaker 1: twenty two rushes for already one yards. They weren't going
Speaker 1: to let Christian beat them. Of course, Christian, being the
Speaker 1: player he is, is going to make his plays regardless.
Speaker 1: He had that amazing yard touchdown catch, but on the whole,
Speaker 1: the Buccaneers pretty much shut him down and they forced
Speaker 1: Kyle Allen and the rest of the Panthers to beat them,
Speaker 1: and they did. And I think that's what it was
Speaker 1: a great sign for this team going forward, because as
Speaker 1: good as Christian is, teams are going to try to
Speaker 1: do what the Bucks did and make Kyle and make
Speaker 1: these other weapons beat them. And the fact that Kyle
Speaker 1: was able to spread the ball around for over two
Speaker 1: or twenty seven yards and two touchdowns, fact that the
Speaker 1: defense is helping him in that effort setting up those
Speaker 1: short fields, I think that tells you that this team
Speaker 1: is more than Christian McCaffrey, and it's going to have
Speaker 1: to be throughout the course of the season. I really
Speaker 1: did love the fact that the other playmakers on offense
Speaker 1: were able to get involved because it wasn't it wasn't
Speaker 1: Christian carrying this team. Now the ways that he did
Speaker 1: carry the team was that he was such a big
Speaker 1: decoy for that Tampa Bay defense to follow it was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: I've never seen such blatant following of a player like
Speaker 1: I did in London. And there were times where Jordan
Speaker 1: Gross and I on the broadcast, we're kind of going
Speaker 1: back and forth when you know, when I wanted to
Speaker 1: say something about it, he was saying something about it.
Speaker 1: When I said something, he would you know, kind of
Speaker 1: pop in and be like, oh, I was gonna say
Speaker 1: something about that, because he would go one way and
Speaker 1: three Buccaneers would go with him and the play would
Speaker 1: go the other way. Like that. There was one in
Speaker 1: particular we were two bit and then one you know,
Speaker 1: kind of chased after Oh crap, I was supposed to
Speaker 1: go with him. But I mean that's the kind of
Speaker 1: you know, pick your poison that this offense can be that. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're gonna put all your you know, eyes and
Speaker 1: and effort on Christian McCaffrey, we have all these other weapons,
Speaker 1: or if you're going to pick on them, Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: will absolutely go off and run all over you. So
Speaker 1: I think when you have that type of balance. Just
Speaker 1: on the offense, it's huge, but this defense, holy cow.
Speaker 1: There was a joke on the bench during the game
Speaker 1: that there was like a magic seat on the bench
Speaker 1: and a defensive guy just had to go sit in
Speaker 1: the seat and then a big play was coming that like,
Speaker 1: come on, like you that is the type of attitude
Speaker 1: you want to have for your defense, because every single
Speaker 1: time they went out there, a big play happened. The
Speaker 1: very first play, I thought, told me we're gonna win huge,
Speaker 1: very very first play. Okay, yeah, we're good because too
Speaker 1: and when you go over to London and the timing
Speaker 1: is all off, your your week was weird. You're in
Speaker 1: a completely another, you know, different country. You want to
Speaker 1: go explore, but you need to stay in the hotel
Speaker 1: all these things, and then to go out there and
Speaker 1: we're good. Yeah. I felt the same way when Brad
Speaker 1: Ray picked that pass off. I think we all sort
Speaker 1: of felt like this was gonna be a good day
Speaker 1: for the Panthers just going into it. And then when
Speaker 1: that happened, it was like, yeah, this is gonna be
Speaker 1: a good and and you you wrote about it, and
Speaker 1: we all put it on Twitter, and you know, the
Speaker 1: guys posted about it. But in that moment, and in
Speaker 1: the moment's leading up to it, you know, we kind
Speaker 1: of talked about how, you know, this is a home
Speaker 1: game technically for Tampa. You know, all the things that
Speaker 1: they were doing in stadium to try to try to
Speaker 1: promote it as a home game. They had Tampa's on
Speaker 1: on on field reporter like trying to pump up the crowd,
Speaker 1: and then she was getting booed by like all of
Speaker 1: our fans. But in that moment, you know, like right
Speaker 1: after kick off, when everything kind of is you know,
Speaker 1: at that at that level, and then it's just the
Speaker 1: roof blew off. I mean literally there was no roof left.
Speaker 1: There's a big hole in the middle. I think we
Speaker 1: got to give a huge shout out to the Panther
Speaker 1: fans who made their way to that game, and really
Speaker 1: just like London football fans in general, that that was
Speaker 1: a special atmosphere Sunday the There was not a single
Speaker 1: mptcat to be had. It was so packed before even
Speaker 1: the coin toss, I mean, everyone in their seats loud.
Speaker 1: There was just like a buzz in the air, and Caroline,
Speaker 1: you get to experience the atmosphere on the sideline for
Speaker 1: us that was an open air press box, so we
Speaker 1: were literally like able to kind of feel what the
Speaker 1: energy was like in that building and the electricity it was.
Speaker 1: It was spectacular. I mean, I honestly can't say enough
Speaker 1: about it. And talking to the players afterwards too, they
Speaker 1: all came off the field saying the same thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's not not a knock on what they experience here
Speaker 1: in the States, but I think there's a novelty factor
Speaker 1: to it. But when you're playing there's only a couple
Speaker 1: of games out there in London, those people get a
Speaker 1: very few chances to see it, so they're gonna go
Speaker 1: maximize their time out there. Over here, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe I'll say the tailgate a little bit longer. I'll
Speaker 1: get in there at the start of the you know,
Speaker 1: halfway through the first quarter. You know, I've seen enough games.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to be all that invested into this one.
Speaker 1: Over there, it felt like from beginning to end, there
Speaker 1: was excitement through and through, and that was a pretty
Speaker 1: pretty special I also felt like the Panther fans that
Speaker 1: traveled had something to prove. I almost felt like that
Speaker 1: those that were there, you know, they were wearing literally
Speaker 1: their gear everywhere in the airport, in on the plane.
Speaker 1: Literally in central London, every two blocks you sound someone
Speaker 1: knew with panther gear and they're like, oh, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: from New Jersey, I'm from Georgia, I'm from South Carolina,
Speaker 1: I'm from North Carolina. From Ireland they were from. And
Speaker 1: when they got in the stadium, at every opportunity they
Speaker 1: were trying to start keep pounding chance they were. They
Speaker 1: were doing everything to say hey, we're here, we're allowed,
Speaker 1: You're gonna know that we're here. We're going to prove
Speaker 1: this to you. It was really cool. Another thing I
Speaker 1: noticed in the third quarter really was so if you
Speaker 1: go to a game in the States, there's the video
Speaker 1: boards that would tell you, you know, big third down
Speaker 1: or get loud, you know, kind of prompt you on
Speaker 1: what to do. There was none of that in the stadium.
Speaker 1: The stadium experience. In the stadium show was very I
Speaker 1: mean they were playing commercials at one point, like real
Speaker 1: commercials that you would see on TV UM and it
Speaker 1: wasn't the prompting of fans. And that impressed me because
Speaker 1: they were being loud and that they may not you know,
Speaker 1: a big situational third down maybe not as loud as
Speaker 1: you would expect a Bank of America when they're prompting
Speaker 1: you to be loud. But they were extremely loud, extremely engaged,
Speaker 1: and even you know the I kind of I thought,
Speaker 1: all right, I've even said this. They get excited for
Speaker 1: kicks and they get excited for that. I think the
Speaker 1: fan base over there maybe that was true in the
Speaker 1: first couple of years that American football was played, but
Speaker 1: they're a very knowledgeable fan base now, and so they
Speaker 1: get it, like they know when to get excited. They
Speaker 1: know when you know it's a big score or Yeah,
Speaker 1: they still get loud on field goals, but so like
Speaker 1: so do we we you know, are clapping and cheering
Speaker 1: for those. So I was really really impressed by the fans.
Speaker 1: I still love the fact that every single NFL team
Speaker 1: is rep it did because it's not like their team
Speaker 1: may not be one of the eight that's coming over
Speaker 1: to play, so they're just gonna go watch with their
Speaker 1: One guy had on a Raiders jersey and a Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay hat. Definitely bought those like this year, Like he
Speaker 1: bought the Raider's jersey the weekend before and then bought
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay hat that weekend. And I almost think
Speaker 1: that I almost got the sense that, you know, at
Speaker 1: first we kind of think, oh, they're just you know,
Speaker 1: this is how they are. They just like different players.
Speaker 1: I almost think they're kind of living up to a stereotype.
Speaker 1: You know that there's the stereotype in American media that yeah,
Speaker 1: they're gonna cheer for kicks and have these crazy jerseys.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think they went to go find crazy
Speaker 1: jerseys to live up to the idea that that's what
Speaker 1: they do, you know, Like I mean, as you said,
Speaker 1: they just bought them this year. Oh, I'm gonna wear
Speaker 1: something really random because this is gonna be fun to
Speaker 1: wear something random, like a Bobby Boucher Waterboy jersey, which
Speaker 1: I saw. There were some really great ones. One guy
Speaker 1: had on Andrew luck culture jersey. Yeah, like I got something.
Speaker 1: I don't know who wants to tell him's gonna tell him.
Speaker 1: But now, but you saw that all over the place
Speaker 1: of older players are retired players, different teams, the guys
Speaker 1: no longer on that team, that's their jersey and they're
Speaker 1: gonna wear that jersey. I loved it. I think Bill
Speaker 1: got a picture. Who did he get a picture of?
Speaker 1: It was a great Jersey like and I'll look it
Speaker 1: up our going, but it was a great like old
Speaker 1: school jersey where he was like, okay, Matt Max and
Speaker 1: I saw Jeremy Macklin at the Tower of London. That
Speaker 1: was pretty cool. Yeah, so Joe Montana, Jerome bettis trying
Speaker 1: to think of the other ones that I saw. We
Speaker 1: saw Randy Moss Titans Jersey. Yeahs to come off the
Speaker 1: clearance racks somewhere. But those are the good ones, Like,
Speaker 1: those are the ones that I'm like, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: there were there were some good ones. And I mean
Speaker 1: because you have to imagine if you're an NFL fan
Speaker 1: out there, you know you're not gonna get to see
Speaker 1: maybe whatever your team you've chosen is that I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go to ya. I'm gonna wear my jersey, right, I
Speaker 1: don't care what it, what will Brian on the Panthers
Speaker 1: Group Chat podcast has to say about it. I don't
Speaker 1: know where would I want to wear? It was very
Speaker 1: cool and we did we already talked about this, but
Speaker 1: just the entire like London experience was just so spectacular
Speaker 1: and honestly reminded me of the Super Bowl um being
Speaker 1: out there in fifteen just you know, you're there for
Speaker 1: an extended period of time. The additional media. I mean
Speaker 1: there were seventy media members at that practice at Harrow School. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, all the players are there, that got family,
Speaker 1: everyone's doing some sightseeing and trying to mesh all that
Speaker 1: with trying to win a football game. That's kind of
Speaker 1: it's kind of what it felt like. And I mean,
Speaker 1: London is just such a spectacular place to visit aside
Speaker 1: from going out there to play football. Uh, it was.
Speaker 1: It was very cool and it's it's up there as
Speaker 1: far as that was some of the coolest experiences I've
Speaker 1: had cover in this game for sure. But it is
Speaker 1: now the buy and we get to enjoy a very
Speaker 1: not super slow week, but a slower week around around
Speaker 1: the stadium with players. They have a very short week
Speaker 1: and they're going to get a long weekend before returning
Speaker 1: back for Monday to get ready for the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine is another long trip um to the West coast,
Speaker 1: but it will feel a lot shorter than that flight
Speaker 1: to Larning, especially for or Will Will with his flight
Speaker 1: back his nine hour flight turned into eleven hours. But guys,
Speaker 1: we appreciate you joining us for this week of the
Speaker 1: group chat. We will see you again on Tuesday, recapping
Speaker 1: all of our very fun by Wee Flans