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Mac & Bone Show - Trevor Sikkema Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, obviously it's tough, right? When you talk about teams
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: who are the most successful in this league and sort
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of make it the furthest, you got to have a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: little bit of luck on your side when it comes
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to injury. And I would say that in the secondary
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and in the trenches outside of maybe quarterback, those are
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: really the two most important spots. Defensive line, you could
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: obviously argue that as well, but I feel like a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: lot of times you get to have on the defensive
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: line sort of waves of guys that could sort of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: come in and it's a little bit easier to, hey,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: next man up when it comes to that defensive line.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: When it comes to roster construction, it's really hard to say,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: all right, sure, yeah, our starting tackle's down. We'll just
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: sub somebody else out in, especially for the injuries that
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the Panthers already had going into this season, any sort
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: of extra injuries along the offensive line. You know, it's
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: really got the potential to hurt them. And the secondary
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: is interesting because the Panthers under Jiro Ebro have played
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: more off-zone coverage than anybody else in the NFL. Now,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: on one hand, you could say that, hey, it might
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: be a little bit easier to find players that could
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: sort of play that off-zone coverage role and at least
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: keep the floor of this team and this secondary and
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: what's after it a little bit higher. But on the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: other side of things, with zone coverage does come chemistry.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: It comes with demand for being able to play in
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: close continuity with the guys who are next to you.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: And it's hard to sign guys who maybe haven't been
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: on the team for a long time or at least
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: been running with the ones. And so, It's sort of...
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure which one's going to matter more, right?
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: Is it the fact that they need that chemistry and continuity,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: or is it the fact that, hey, it's softer zone
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: coverage stuff by nature. They like to keep things in
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: front of them a lot. They like to sort of
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: run and chase the football and not give up explosives
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: and really be able to sort of control the game
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: that way. Does that make it a little bit easier
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: to replace those guys? So, you know, anytime you're replacing it,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: you're trying to replace a talent like J.C. Hornet, it's
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: never going to be easy, but... I think there are
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: ways to sort of mitigate that a little bit, but
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: it's obviously going to be tough, and any time that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: you have the injuries that the Carolina Panthers have just
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: mounting up in the early parts of the year, it's
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: going to require a lot from some unsung heroes, no doubt.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Trevor, Bryce Young's off to a really good start. Leads
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the league in passing yards, albeit early. Didn't have his
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: best game on Sunday, but nonetheless, a really good start.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: What do you attribute his early success to, and how
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: sustainable do you think this start is for Bryce Young
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in the long haul?
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'd sustain it to just natural growth
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: and progression and maturation of a young quarterback sort of
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: becoming an NFL quarterback. And when I look at Bryce,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I look specifically at the fact that not only is
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: he leading the the NFL in passing yards and a
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: lot of passing categories, it's specifically against zone coverages, something
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: that he really struggled with early on in his career. Now,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: it's interesting because attacking zone coverages was something that he
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: was great at when he was at Alabama. But the game,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: if this is more evidence to people, it's just so
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: different at the pro level when it comes to speed
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and how tight these windows are and how you can
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: second guess and doubt yourself. Even a player like Bryce Young,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: who played with elite anticipation when he was at Alabama,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: When he got to the NFL, he started second-guessing himself.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: And it took him a year and a half. It
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: took him 10 weeks into his sophomore season in the
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: NFL for him to throw a touchdown against zone coverage.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: And he's already got multiple of those and a ton
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: of yards against zone this year. I think that is
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: just a matter of getting a lot of snaps under
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: your belt, really having a lot of confidence in that
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: anticipation and what you're seeing from the defense. And so
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: that's what I love the most about Bryce Young right
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: now and why I can say that I feel as
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: though this is not something that's fleeting. This isn't something, well, oh,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: he had a couple of good matchups early on in
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the season. It's not going to be the same moving forward.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: I think that we can see this sustained level of
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: success from him because I think that it stems from
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: legitimate growth. from Bryce Young. So yes, I think he's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: been playing at a very high level to start the season,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: and I think that they can continue to lean on
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that from him moving forward, especially if teams want to
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: continue to play a lot of zone against him.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: We're talking to Trevor Sykema, NFL Media, about the Panthers, obviously.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: And this week, it does stink. We have all these
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: injuries in a national showcase game. It's been You know,
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: over a decade since the Panthers, Trevor had a Sunday
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: night game here.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: We don't get invited much, Trevor. In Charlotte, yeah.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: We get to host this party. We don't even usually
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: get invited to this Sunday night party. What do you
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: think about the way they match up with the Lions?
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Let's talk about Bryce and the offense. In one respect, man,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: Bryce has to be licking his chops at the wounded
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: secondary of Detroit, but also you got the problem with
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: your backup tackles trying to protect against Aiden Hutchinson. What
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: do you think of this particular matchup?
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I mean, you mentioned it a little bit there.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Detroit's had a lot of troubles in the secondary, not
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: just this year, where they're averaging the most yards, passing yards,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: excuse me, against them per game. But also, you go
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: back to last year, too. I mean, it's tough for
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: them last year. So this isn't a new change or
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: something that you expect Detroit to just snap their fingers
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: and get better at, especially with the injuries that, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch in the secondary at the
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: safety spots. I mean, they are not the same team anymore.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: with those guys out there. Now, an interesting part of
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: this is I just talked about how good Bryce Young
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: has been against zone. The lions don't want to run
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: a ton of zone. Now, everybody in the league runs
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: more zone than they do man. But when it comes
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: to just overall percentages of man coverage in the NFL,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Detroit wants to be more in that top five, top
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: 10 conversation of how often they're able to run man coverage. So,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Bryce should see a good amount of man coverage in
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: this game, but for how poor the secondary has played,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: I don't have a lot of faith that they're going
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: to rattle Bryce in any way against that man coverage. Instead,
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: I think it could be a really good day at
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: the office for Bryce Young, especially if it's anything from
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: what we have seen lately. Obviously, you mentioned being able
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to hold up with those tackles is going to be really,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: really important, and Aiden Hutchinson's one of the best in
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the NFL at getting after the quarterback, but I still
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: think as though Detroit's sort of searching for that second
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: fill to him. Now, They're playing a lot better, I think,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: as a group along the defensive line, specifically on the interior.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So it hasn't been as strong of a start to
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: the year for the Panthers' interior offensive line as well.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I've noticed that from that group. And you kind of
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: need those stars to be able to step up, right?
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, like you look at Robert Hunt, and he's
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: got to have a much better start to the season.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: And I just think that the interior offensive line has
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: got to continue to play really, really well, or even
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: step up and play really, really well amongst all those injuries.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: So I think it's going to be a shootout, right?
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I mean, you talked about how Sunday night football in
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Charlotte for the first time in over a decade. I
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: think it's going to be, I think it's going to
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: be a light up the scoreboard type of a game.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: So it's going to be really exciting. And obviously Panthers
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: fans just hope that no matter what the score is,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: whether the numbers start with a three or a four,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: or I don't know, I don't think it's going to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: start with a five.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Please don't.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: You just hope that the Panthers are going to be
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: on top. I know the fans are thinking of that,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: but I think that they're going to have an exciting
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: game no matter what.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: We already saw the 5-9. We don't need to see
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: the 60s or anything close to that again. T-Mac's off
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: to a slowish start this year. from what we thought.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Do you think on Sunday night, Trevor, Coker's been banged up,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: you're going over the line in secondary. Is this a
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: spot for McMillan to really maybe get going for the
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: first time this year in full?
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I think it should be. The recipe is definitely there
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: for it. When you're facing a lot of zone coverage,
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: it's not always easy to just identify, like, hey, here's
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: the superstar wide receiver on the team. Let me feed
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: him the ball. Sometimes your game plan can be predicated
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: around that, but I think a lot of it is
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: instead giving Bryce a lot of different passing options to
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: give you the ball to and being able to attack
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: zone coverages in the correct way there. I think that
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: that's left a little bit of meat on the bone
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: when it comes to what Tetra O. McMillan can do.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: But I think that it's a great matchup, especially, again,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: since if Detroit's going to try to play that man
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: coverage a lot more, well then, okay, you have a
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: guy who you want to bet on one-on-one in man
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: coverage at all times in McMillan. I know it's been
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: a little bit slow for him, but I still feel
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: as though he's going to be a major factor in
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: this game. Coker, I know he's been banged up as well,
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: but I think this could be a big, great game
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: from him if he is out there. I think that
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: those two guys, they're in for much more of those
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: early week standout performances and maybe even at the same
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: time here against this struggling Detroit defense.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: All right, last thing we want to ask you, Trevor,
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: when you're watching the Panthers so far, only three weeks in,
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: but there's some notable things that look different, and I
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: wonder if it has to do with Brad Idzik calling
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: the plays. I wonder how much it's in. his influence.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: Have you noticed things differently with Idzik? They're clearly throwing
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: the ball downfield more. What do you see differently maybe
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: from a play calling or schematic standpoint from this offense
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: this year?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I do think that they are trying to
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: throw the ball deeper. I think that they still want
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to get the tight ends involved quite a bit, and
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I wondered if, you know, with them kind of moving
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: away from Jatabian Sanders, hey, are they going to continue
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: to try to be a multiple tight end team. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: they are, they're still trying to get the tight ends
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: involved quite a bit. And they've got those guys on
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: the field. And I just think that it's really just
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: the next evolution of the offense. I don't know how
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: much they're doing like schematically that I didn't see last
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: year that you could kind of tell like, Hey, they
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: want to get into this a little bit more, whether
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: it's the tight end passing game or, you know, taking
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: shots deep down the field, they just didn't have the
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: reliability in either of those areas. And this year, it
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: just feels as though, uh, whether it's a Bryce Young
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: evolution or maybe just how they've designed some of these
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: plays this year, it just looks a lot more confident.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: So to me, the difference this year isn't like, oh,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: they're trying something new that they've never tried before. It's
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: a lot of the same philosophy of what they want
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to do. They're just genuinely doing it better. So I
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: think that that's really how I identify it is whatever
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: it is with Izzik and sort of the plays that
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: they're calling, Bryce just has a lot more confidence, and
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: these guys are executing at a much higher level to
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: start the season than last year. And I think it's
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: just that evolution of what they wanted to do last
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: year that they felt like they couldn't.