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Mac & Bone Hour 3: Panthers/Eagles - Victory Formula · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, oh, oh, it's Mac and Bo on your radio, baby.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: This is my friend Matt. Posh, come on, Posh.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: This is my friend T-Bone.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Let's have some fun.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I can't go to work without listening to Mac and Bone.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Do it live. You talk about expectations, Mike.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: There's no way that we came into the season believing
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: this was a game where we expected this to be
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: either a shootout or exciting. And then the Carolina Panthers
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: started playing some offense. And, you know, we thought the
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: defense was going to be okay. They built it up
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: a bunch in the offseason. That really was the focus.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: They say, oh, we hope Bryce Young takes a little
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: bit of a step. But he leaves the NFL in passing.
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: And that is about as big a step as you
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: can get. And consider the fact he goes around. The
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: only one's getting healthy. Carolina Panthers getting healthy at the
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: receiver position as well. This is a sneaky, really, really
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: challenging game for the Eagles. Jaguars were kind of similar.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Jaguars are really good.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Stress them on all different sides.
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: The Carolina Panthers are going to do the same. Can
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: they stop the Bryce Young passing attack is a very,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: very real question now.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: That's Ian Rappaport. I love it, Bo. And I've seen
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: so many clips and listened to so many different podcasts
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: this week talking about Panthers-Eagles, and they all are talking
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: about how scary Bryce Young is for the Eagles defense.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I just... It's, it's, it's a pinch me situation right
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: now for Panther fans, but it does appear that Bryce
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: has arrived. And I was listening to, uh, by the way,
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Mac and bone with you. Welcome to our three. It
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: is about go time for the victory formula. How did
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the Panthers beat the Eagles? I was listening to Sam
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Monson on that, uh, 30, 13 podcasts that he does
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: with Steve Palazzolo. And he brought up a point bro
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: bone that I brought up a couple of weeks ago
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: and that Bryce Young is probably headed to the category
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: with Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield, like guys who had
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: done in a different way, right? Bryce didn't change teams
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: to do it. But it took him a few years
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: maybe to be at his best. It's a good call.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: It's a different way to kind of take a few
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: years to be at your best. So anyway, I love
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: it for Bryce.
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: Well, one thing that's happened in the league, Mac, over
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: the last 20 years or so, and it was kind
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: of in that Roethlisberger, Joe Flacco area where guys started
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: to play a whole lot sooner. I remember Roethlisberger, Mac,
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: came in as a rookie. Steelers went 15-1. Flacco, a
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: couple years later with the Ravens, led them to great success.
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: It felt like there was a push after that for
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: the highly drafted quarterbacks to not really sit as much
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: and play right away. There's examples going way back of
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: quarterbacks that either weren't good or didn't even play a
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: whole lot their first couple years and ended up becoming
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: great quarterbacks. So There's nothing wrong with a quarterback taking
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: time to get good. I think that in this day
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: and age, people want instant results from the quarterback, and
• 3:10
  Speaker 5: that's not always the case. Every quarterback is different, and
• 3:12
  Speaker 5: Bryce now falls in that category as well. And then
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: you throw in the benching. That's a new one.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: That's a new twist for a highly drafted quarterback, but
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I'll be damned if that button wasn't the right button
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: for Canales to push.
• 3:22
  Speaker 5: Cam Ward might be headed to that path as well
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: here at some point for a few games.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Cam Ward is, yeah, people are using the bust
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: word with him. And it does make you wonder, you know,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: is he going to be a bust? Or is he
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: going to be another guy that it takes time? Canales
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: also hit the right button with this. It's an Idzik call.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Giving up play calling and giving it to Idzik. So
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I think Canales deserves credit for that. All right, so
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: let's talk about it, Bone. And Panther Nation out there
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: on the text line. So many of y'all have said, oh,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: my God, Panthers are now favored in this game. The
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Eagles are seen as this mess. They're injury ridden. They
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: had 24 dudes on injury report yesterday. Saquon might not play.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: The offensive line's in shambles. The feeling is the Panthers
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: should win this game. But it's got us worried because
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: this is the type of game, Bone, the Panthers don't
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: win very often. So how do we do it? What
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: is number one on your list? Victory formula, Bone, for
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: beating the Eagles.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: They either have to contain Saquon Barkley the best that
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: they can or just flat out hope that Barkley doesn't
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: play for an offense that is struggling to the levels
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: that they're at right now, Mac. Not having Saquon Barkley
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: in there or limited or not playing well completely kind
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: of derails everything. So I think if Saquon's in there,
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: the Eagles offense can still be a problem. Without Saquon Barkley,
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: I don't really have too many fears at all of
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: the Eagles from an offensive perspective.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he still has been efficient.
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: That's the one guy that I think is, oh, man,
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: he could really gut the Panthers. But without him, I
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: don't have much fear of the Eagles.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: He didn't practice yesterday, which is a good sign, not
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: for him, but for the Panthers, to your point. Because
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: if he's over there on the sidelines collecting splinters, that
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: could help, a victory formula. I will say this, Bone.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: They ran for 22 yards last week without him to
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: your point. Um, but they only average 80 yards a
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: game rushing the last four weeks combined. They have not
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: rushed it a lot. Um, but he still does average
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: over five yards of carry. I just think it's contain
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: contain hurts. I just think that's the first thing I
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: would say for the defense is don't make this a
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: game like will, will Williams and Watson, where you rush
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: and get pressure only to see them escape and make plays.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Jalen Hurts seems like he's a little dinged up, too,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: with a calf injury bone. I wouldn't take it for
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: granted that he's not going to run. It's got to
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: be contained, rush, rush lanes, integrity. Prince Lee, do you
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: hear me, baby? That is a huge, I think, factor
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to this football game. Because if you keep Jalen Hurts
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: in the pocket, Devontae Smith might not play bone. His
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: top receivers are Wicks. Goddard's been out. Goddard's back, though. Oh,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: he's back. But his top receivers are Wicks. And who
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: am I? I know the kid. Darius Cooper's been there.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Cooper's been making plays downfield. But, like, I don't think
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Hurts is beating us from the pocket. Mekhi Lemmon's in there.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: I don't think he's beating us from the pocket without.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: You know what I mean? I think it'll be. I
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: think he'll have to use his legs to beat us.
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: I think grabbing an early lead goes into the formula,
• 6:31
  Speaker 5: whether it be 7-0 or whatever it may be. Because, Mac,
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: when it comes to the passing game and needing to
• 6:37
  Speaker 5: score points, the Eagles are giving up. They are 28th
• 6:42
  Speaker 5: on the offensive side in passing yards. But the Eagles
• 6:46
  Speaker 5: are giving up 239 yards per game passing. They're 26th
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: in that category. So if it gets into a game...
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: where they're going to need to score, that's not what
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: Philly wants. Their defensive numbers really aren't great either. But
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: the other part of grabbing a lead is it goes
• 7:02
  Speaker 5: into the mental side. It goes into the you've got
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: a team that's doubting itself. You have a fan base
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: wanting to jump on that team at home. If the
• 7:10
  Speaker 5: Panthers get up 7-0 right away, all of a sudden
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: that crowd's going to turn. Eagles might turn on themselves
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: for crying out loud. Sirianni's on the hot seat. You
• 7:19
  Speaker 5: grab an early lead against this team right now. That
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: may not be a normal early lead because that franchise
• 7:26
  Speaker 5: is ready to falter right now.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: This is the third time we've said this this season, right? Atlanta.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: They're angry. Turn them against their own. And they did.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: My God, poor Cooper Rush must have cried to his
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: mama that night. Then, Boney, against Cleveland, we didn't do it.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: My God, those dudes were chanting Deshaun Watson's name in
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Cleveland by the end of the damn game. We did
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: the opposite there. So, yeah, I think it is. I
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: think if you can get the Philly fans grumbling... and
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: irritated and you can get that team doubting themselves bone
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: i i forgot about how the rams game played out
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: the eagles have lost three straight games remember how the
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: rams game played out they had a two score lead
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: bone in the fourth quarter we're at the one yard
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: line got stuffed at the one and blew the lead
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: to the right so they have had two devastating losses
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: jump on them early and they will start to feel
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: like here we go.
• 8:19
  Speaker 5: Again Future Redemption's mocking us, saying, oh, yeah, as opposed
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: to an early deficit. You're not listening to the reasons why, though.
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: Like I said, yes, early leads are important, but we're
• 8:28
  Speaker 5: saying specifically in Philadelphia, with that fan base, with that team,
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: what they're coming off of, their confidence is low. You
• 8:36
  Speaker 5: can drive that dagger into them early. That goes a
• 8:39
  Speaker 5: long way. Future Redemption.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: I agree with you. How dare you, Future Redemption? Get
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: a lead, score more points than the other team, run
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: the ball, stop the run. We're allowed to say all
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: these things without being mocked, sir. We should be allowed
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: to say all these things. Future Redemption is the guy
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: that wanted to fight me at a bank once. Uh-oh,
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: let's get it on, baby. Let's get it on. Nothing
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: like a good bank fight, Mac. Is the teller the announcer?
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: The whipping? Weighing in in this corner. The whooping at
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the Wells Fargo. That's what they call that one when
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: bone gets done with you, sir. All right. Anyway, what
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: are other people saying? This dude says, Mac, you forgot
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: the cliche. Don't turn the ball over and force turnovers.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Win the turnover battle. Can I say that, though? Can
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: I drop that in? It's got to be in there.
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: You've got to say it. Panthers are fifth in forcing turnovers.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: And we said earlier in the show that without your
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: two corners, Boney, that you're going to give up yards.
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: But you've got to get red zone stops. Turnovers is
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: another way. If you give up yards. But you can
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: take the ball away. Yeah. You know, that's another way
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: as a defense you can bend but not break it
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: when you're missing your starting two corners.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: Abstay Hice, Abstay Finn, obviously, he wants to take the
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: ball first because of what we're saying. He wants to score,
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: get the lead, and have them get the ball already down.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: That's what he wants. I like that, too. Good job,
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: App State. I like ice. I like it. App state, whatever. Yeah.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Happy.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I just think bone. I think our defensive front, we
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: don't know yet if Phillips is going to play. They
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: listed him as limited on that injury report yesterday. I
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: think our defensive front's got a wreck shop. I like, yes,
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: I said they got to contain Phillips or, or hurts,
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: but that offensive line is a wounded mess. In Philadelphia. Yes.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Only one dude, Maelotta, the left tackle, is the only guy, Bone,
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: that is a starter on this football team. All other
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: four positions aren't starters. Derrick Brown, can you wreck shop, sir?
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: Their whole interior is guys that aren't supposed to be starters.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Go in there and wreck some damn shop this weekend.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: and let your buddies do it maybe we get turk
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: wharton back interior pass rush if phillips does play princely
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: but you got to contain i just think that's a
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: matchup we can win in the run game and the
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: pass game just beat their ass in the trenches.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: I i have a question for you meg i know
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: you study these things in the lab here but it's
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: a legitimate question i have what exactly are the eagles
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: good at Because they're 29th in points per game. They're
• 11:06
  Speaker 5: 31st in yards on offense. Their offensive numbers are horrible.
• 11:10
  Speaker 5: You would think that, oh, they've been in some rather
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: tough physical games. Their defense must be really good. But
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: they're also 19th in rush yards allowed per game. They
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: don't handle the pass very well. What exactly, Mac, is this?
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: So it's no wonder they're a mess. What are they
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: exactly good at right now? If they weren't named the Eagles,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: would there be a giant fear of them? Or is
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: it because of their pedigree and who they've been? I
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: don't know what they're exactly good at right now.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: Defensive numbers are definitely better than offensive numbers. But they're
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: not out of this world, though. But they're 24th in
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: yards per game, 14th in points per game on defense,
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: 19th against the rush, 26th against the pass to your point.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: By the way, Cooper DeGene has been, I don't know
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: if he's staring at that cowboy cheerleader girlfriend in the
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: crowd watching him, but he has been struggling in the slot.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: He's given up the third most yards in the slot,
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: so you know what that means, Bo. Give me some
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: T-Mac in there. Give me some Coker in there, and
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: let's go after this cat. You know what I mean?
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: I know he's a card-carrying member, Bo, of what used
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: to be known as the Exciting Whites. in their secondary.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: I believe one of the exciting whites is now left. But, like,
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: you can go get them. Teams have been having success
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: throwing on them this season. They're 29th in turnovers forced. Yeah.
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: Third down defense. They're 14th in. I guess that's pretty good.
• 12:36
  Speaker 5: Red zone... They're they're pretty good red zone defense. But again,
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: this is if they weren't named the Eagles and they've
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: had that recent success. I don't think we're looking at
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: them as some, you know, insurmountable foe here.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: No way. People are. Do you know what I mean?
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: It's not if they were if they were the Arizona Cardinals.
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: We're not thinking twice about that. I think the I
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: think there is that. Hey, are they going to rise up?
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: Not to use the Falcons' stupid marketing term. I hope
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: they play like the Falcons do.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: But are they going to give you, hey, we were
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: champions not that long ago. Are they going to give
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: you that moment? I would argue, Bone, did they have
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: that moment last week and blew it when they didn't
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: kick it out of the end zone and into the
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: end zone and allowed that kick return? Can they come back?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Because that was a pretty spirited effort. that they had
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: against Jacksonville on defense especially. Bone, their offense, though, they
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: averaged 202 yards a game the last two weeks. Yeah. Like,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: they are not– I'm telling you, man, we are better
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: than this team right now. I saw a tweet. It
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean we're going to win, but we're better than
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: this freaking team.
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: I saw a tweet yesterday, and I don't know if
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: it was fake or not, that on the way back
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: from London, they made Sirianni fly underneath the plane where the–
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: where the dogs go.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: But I don't know if that was real or not,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: so I have to double-check that.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Oh, no.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: No. I believe, hey, that's better than Lane Kiffin, though,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: at an airport. Yeah, he got on there. They actually
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: let him on the plane. 704-570-9610. How do we beat
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: the Eagles? Cookie Monster says the Exciting Whites are now
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: the Struggling Crackers. Oh, jeez. All right. Oh, my God. No,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: didn't Blankenship leave, though? Wasn't it Cooper Dijon and Blankenship? Yes.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: The Exciting Whites? And Blankenship's on another team, right?
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: So now it's one Exciting White. Yes. And he hasn't
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: even been that exciting. This texter says, that's what you get.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Blankenship's on Houston now. That's what you get for dating
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: a cowboy cheerleader while being a member of the Eagles.
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: Mm.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: I thought he was dating Nikki Bella. Where'd that go? No,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: that's way gone. You're Mr. Celebrity Gossip. That didn't last long.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: That's way gone. What was that, earlier this year, I think.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: That's a long time ago. That's longtime news. If you've
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: seen the lovely Abby Summers, I believe you would understand
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: why he is dating a cowboy cheerleader. I'm just going
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: to throw that out there, Bone. This texter says, Mack
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: on here acting like their offensive line's a mess, ignoring
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: the fact that R.O. line's a mess. Their defensive line
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: will kill our O-line. How do you feel about that, Bo?
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: I mean, certainly if you're going to list concerns in
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: the game, Jalen Carter is the problem. Of all the
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: problems here, Jalen Carter wrecking shop, of course, would be
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: Saquon on offense and Jalen Carter on defense are the
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: biggest problems.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Are we going to lose? Are we not at the
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: point as a team where we're going to be beat
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: by two people? that's the that's the thing i would
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: hope not yeah i just i just to your point
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: i just don't feel they're so wounded right now the
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: strength like that the strong play their team used to
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: be the o-line and now it's the biggest weakness on
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: the team and we're about i have a feeling knock
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: on wood to get taylor moten back i expect our
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: o-line to be in a better place and i would
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: ask you who is faring better bone under pressure bryce
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: young who has the most passing yards in the league
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: and is doing it while being the most pressured quarterback,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: or Jalen Hurts, who is the third most pressured quarterback
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: in the NFL and has a 40 PFF grade when
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: under pressure. So if it's a handle the pressure situation,
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: that's advantage us.
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: In my opinion, big time. Thanks to the Tex audience
• 16:18
  Speaker 5: for their participation. The Ask the Audience questions, courtesy of
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: QC Mechanical, your local HVAC experts. Shout out to Walk
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: Em Down with QC Mechanical. It is his birthday today.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: Happy birthday, Walk Em. When we come back, Tom Lugenbill, ESPN,
• 16:35
  Speaker 5: ACC Network. He joins us for the latest in that
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: sport and a preview of the big games this weekend
• 16:41
  Speaker 5: on Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: We are the champions, my friends. And we'll keep on
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: fighting till the end.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: We are the champions. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. Mack and
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Bone with you here. Now, we may not be champions ourselves, Bone.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: But according to the great Tom Lugenbill, we do get
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: up and start working in the champion's hours, baby.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Hold on.
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: Speak for yourself.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: I told you I won that bowling title when I
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: was 10.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: Okay. I forgot about that one. Forgot about that one.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: So you are a champion. We rise in the champion's hours, baby.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: Those are early morning hours when the real champions get
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: their workday started. Tom Lugenbill is one of those champions.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: And he joins us here from ESPN. He joins us
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: to talk some college football. Lugz, how have you been, man?
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: What's going on?
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: I've been good, guys. My question for T-Bone, was that
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: bowling tournament at 6.30 in the morning?
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: No, it was in the afternoon, yeah. Oh, okay.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: They got him.
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: I also had an average of about 30 and some
• 18:06
  Speaker 5: kid had about 120, so I did nothing for the team.
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: I'm not even sure, Tom, how you would think that
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: a great athlete like me wouldn't have time to.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: Be bowling at a young age, but I guess I
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: was for some reason. All sports, Boney. All sports. You're
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: the Jim Thorpe of youth athletes in Winston-Salem. All right.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Jim Dork. All right, Lugz. Hey, Lugz. It was good
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: to hear you on the call. The Duke-Georgia Tech game
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: this week. I want to start by asking you about Duke.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: And their game against North Carolina, Shepard is listed as questionable.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: You could tell he was banged up in that game.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Got bottled up a bit by his standards in a
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: run game, but still had almost 200 yards total offense.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: What do you think about the Duke-UNC matchup?
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Well, they've got to get him healthy because the entire
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: offense runs through him. And with the amount of carries
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: that he takes, the amount of shots he's taken, you're
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: going to get banged up. It's a long season. But
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I think what the good side to Duke, and I
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: know there's never a good side to losing, but they
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: haven't had to rely on the passing game. They've been
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: trying to build up the passing game with a bunch
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: of new faces out wide while they've been able to
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: rely heavily on Nate Shepard. And if they can't do
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: that this week, you know, Walker Eget's going to have
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: to play and play well, and they're going to have
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: to create some of the explosives that may not be
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: there on the ground to And so, you know, North Carolina,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: it's interesting because if you watch that game the other day,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the first half, they couldn't stop the run. The second half,
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: they completely shut down the run. And so, you know,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: which defensive side for North Carolina? arrives and how healthy
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: if he goes is Nate Shepard. That changes the game
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: for Duke. I think obviously it would give advantages to
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: North Carolina. But that was a big win for North Carolina,
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: particularly how they won it and the resiliency and the
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: perseverance they had to show to get that thing into
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter and and come up with a big
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: explosive play to change the game and ultimately win the game.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: But I think it's going to be a very evenly
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: matched game. I would not be surprised one bit if
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: that thing goes into the fourth quarter as a one-possession game.
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Luz, how much more comfortable does Belichick appear in year
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: two at the college level? And how much is the
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: way this Heels team plays resembling a Belichick-type team when
• 20:33
  Speaker 5: we think of it that way?
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: Well, it's so glaringly obvious when you watch them how
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: much better organized they are, right? Yeah.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: You know, they.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Last year, it was very sloppy, very undisciplined. The players
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: they thought they had weren't the players they actually had.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: The offense was in disarray. At times, they showed enough
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: flashes defensively where you said, OK, there's some foundational pillars
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: there that you can build upon. But now when you
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: watch them, there's an organization and a rhyme and a
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: reason and Uh, and I think a lot of that
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: comes from Bobby Petrino on the offensive side of the football,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: because he's, you know, they is Billy Edwards, a great player.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: He's a great player. Is he an improvement over a
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: year ago? Yes. Do I think that they can win
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: with him as long as he protects the football? Yeah,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: because they're, you know, they want to run the football.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: That's what they want to be. But, you know, eliminating
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: a bunch of, you know, discipline penalties, pre-snap penalties, uh,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Penalties when you've created an explosive play and then all
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: of a sudden it gets called back. Those have been
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: so drastically minimized that, yeah, I think they're starting to
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: look a little bit more like what you would expect
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: this team to look like. And again, they might be
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: catching Duke at the right time if Duke's not 100% healthy.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: We're talking with Tom Luganville, ESPN, chatting about college football. Lugans,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: let's go to Raleigh and NC State. Listen, I don't
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: want to act like I'm someone that doesn't appreciate what
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Dave Doran's done there over his 14 years. There is
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: really something to be said about the consistency that they
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: have developed there. And beating the crap out of your
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: rival all the time doesn't hurt either. But this season, it's...
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I wonder if both parties could use
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: a separation. They've had this frustrating trend, Lugz, of as
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: games go on in the second half, just getting dominated
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: as the game goes on. He hasn't helped his messaging
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: to the fans in some of these press conferences. Do
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: you think it might be time for a divorce, or
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: do you feel differently?
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Well, listen, I think no matter how long you're out
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: of place, unfortunately in this business, you know, fatigue sets in.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: And when you are responsible for raising the expectations of
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: what the program's capable of, which he is, and then
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: you don't meet the standard of the expectation and you've
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: been there for a long, long time, you know, that's
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: when all the criticism and the doubt and the fatigue
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: starts to set in and you become a little bit
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: of a victim of what you've built. And I think
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the criticism this year is fair. I think Dave Doran
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: would tell you it's fair. They They came into the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: season with maybe one of the best schedules that you
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: could possibly ask for. Despite the opener, even despite the
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: disastrous end to the Vanderbilt game, everything was still right
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: in front of them because they don't play Miami, they
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: don't play Clemson, and they don't play SMU on the schedule.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: So you're sitting there and you're looking at it and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: you're going, okay. And then guess what? They go out
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and they beat Louisville. So now you're saying– this team's
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: right where they wanted to be four weeks ago, but
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: nobody's looking at it like that. And then you go
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: out and, and you're right about the second half of, of,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: of the weight game. I mean, at one game, I
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: think CJ Bailey at NC state was 16 of 17.
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: They're, they're, they're, they're leading. It's a tight back and
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: forth game. And then wake forest just comes out in
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: the second half and completely dominates the football game. And
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: I think that's, what's most disappointing because it's, The players
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: in the nucleus that you need to have to win,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: I think, are there. They have not played exceptionally smart.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: They have not, I don't think, made the inroad defensively
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: that they thought they were going to in terms of
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: getting off the field on third down and limiting explosive plays,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: which was a problem for them a year ago. And so, yeah,
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: are we to a point where you have to start
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: asking those questions? Of course, I think we are. It's fair.
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: It's the nature of the business. Dave Doran knows that.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: The entire athletic administration knows that the question is, and
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: I hate to say this because it's, it's the same
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: question that they're asking down in Tallahassee is do they
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: have the money?
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Lose one of the biggest store. I should say
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: the biggest story locally. And one of the biggest stories
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: nationally is the rise of wake forest here in 2026.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: What has impressed you the most about the job that
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: Jake Dickard has done and how high is the ceiling
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: for this Deke's team?
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Well, first of all, he's obviously done a phenomenal job
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: in player identification and evaluation through the portal of the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: guys for Wake Forest. Doesn't mean they could be the
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: right guy for Syracuse or the right guy for Cincinnati
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: or North Carolina, but for Wake Forest... He has found
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the right nucleus of players. And then they're so vastly
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: improved at quarterback from what they were a year ago.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: The thing about them that impresses me the most is
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: they don't beat themselves. It's hard enough to beat somebody
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: else when you're going out there and you're pulling 10
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: penalties a game or eight penalties a game and you're
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: turning the ball over two or three times. I mean,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: you make it really difficult to win. They don't put
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: themselves in that position. They are as consistently steady as
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: outside of Miami or probably more so than any other
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: team in the ACC right now, I think it's been
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: a phenomenal job of getting a team to not only
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: play hard but execute at a high level. And maybe
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the most important thing they've done, and this goes back
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: to last year, is college football, with the talent being
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: dispersed the way that it has been, everybody's better, right?
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: There really are no more gimmies on the schedule because
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: everybody can compete at a higher level because others can't
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: stockpile players anymore. And so what does that mean? That
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: means that more often than not, and you guys can
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: check it out at the end of every Saturday night,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: go look into the box scores and look at how
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: many one possession games are being played. At the end
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: of the game, it's 31-28. It's 35-31. It's 24-21. This
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: is all across college football. Well, guess what Wake Forest
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: has done? They win one possession games. And it's not
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: an easy thing to do, and it's not an easy
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: thing to carry over either. And they've done that from
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: last year to this year.
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: That's a great point. No, that is. And how many
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: times do you hear the analytics folks in football? NFL,
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: they say it a lot. Oh, they won so many
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: close games last year. That's not guaranteed to happen again.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: They found a way. They did. I love the way
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: Gio's playing. He's so much fun to watch in that offense.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you who's been fun to watch the last
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: two weeks. Lenore Sellers. Before that, not so much. And
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: Gamecock fans weren't enjoying watching him. But I feel like
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: the last two weeks has been damn good, especially against Florida.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Sounds like Beamer challenged him in front of the team.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: What do you think of this Gamecocks team? Can they
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: like finish the season strong? Can what they did against
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: Florida kind of be a springboard for them? Or are
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: you skeptical if they can sustain this the rest of
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: the season?
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: That's the thing. I want to see them string it
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: together for two or more weeks in a row because
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: they too have been a team that has found ways
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: to lose games. You know, you, when you have back-to-back
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: weeks where you're up 17, nothing to 16, nothing, you
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: lose both of those games. That takes a toll on
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: your locker room. It takes a toll on your psyche
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and your confidence. And that impacts the quarterback probably more
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: than anybody else. But, again, you know, Florida goes into
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: that game, turns the ball over three times. Guess what?
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: South Carolina didn't. You know, guess what? South Carolina didn't
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: just beat themselves up with penalties. So a lot of
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: it has to do with can you carry over that
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: consistent defense error-free level of football because I think we've
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: seen that talent-wise they can compete with anybody they play
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: with on the field. But if you self-destruct and you
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: allow people to linger and hang around, it's really tough
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: to compete at a high level.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: All right, Lugz, you are the man. You've got Utah
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: and Colorado this week. If you find in the hotel bar,
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: if you find one of Colorado's coaches' playbooks, please return
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: that to Coach Prime. Don't let that get out there
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: to the opponent this week.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what. They scored on the first drive,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: so I don't know how much of a difference it mattered.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you another thing, guys. I'll tell you another thing.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Utah is the real deal.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: They are... Holy smokes.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: Do you think it's possible they're the best team? I
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: was kind of wondering. I know they haven't played a
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: big opponent yet, but could they be the best team
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: in the conference?
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I think they are the best team in the conference.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I know right now they're ranked number 11. I would
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: put them at 7 or 8 or 9. I think
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: that they are, every component to their football team is really,
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: really strong. And Morgan Scali, first year head coach, done
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: a great job.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Also, why does Mac assume you're at the hotel bar, Woogs?
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: That's not right, is it?
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Say that again. I didn't hear you.
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: Mac assumes you're at the hotel bar. That's not right.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Well, it's probably, you shouldn't be assuming the coaches for
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the team should be at the hotel bar. You should
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: definitely be assuming I'm at it.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I figured you'd be there. I figured you'd be there.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: That is a fair point about the coaches, though. Coach
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Prime seemed very not bothered that one of the coaches
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: left the playbook before the Texas Tech game in a
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: hotel bar. Wouldn't you just be bothered if your coach
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: was in the bar? I don't know. There could be
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: something there. Anyway, Luke, have a good broadcast of that
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: one this week, and great to catch up with you, man.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: We appreciate you.
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: We will, guys.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you, too. Have a good rest of the week.
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: Thanks, folks.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Be good. There you go, Tom Lugenbill. Salt of the earth.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Great dude. The man rises in the Champions Hours, ladies
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: and gentlemen. He does.
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: When we come back, we're going to talk about the Hornets'
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: exhibition game last night against Boston.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: The loss.
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: Some good numbers and some real bad numbers. And we
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: also ask, what will the Hornets' rotation look like in
• 30:21
  Speaker 5: the season? Mac Bowen, Sports Radio, 92.7 WFNZ.
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: Is it a bad sign or a good sign for
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: the Hornets, Zach? That if I ran an NBA team,
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: I would have played it exactly like the Hornets did
• 30:45
  Speaker 6: the last two years. Every single move.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: So this is about you.
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: I'm judging you.
• 30:52
  Speaker 6: Is that a bad sign or a good sign for
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: the Hornets and their fans? That I completely agree with
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: every single thing they did.
• 30:58
  Speaker 7: So you're all in on Christian Anderson and Hannes Steinbach?
• 31:01
  Speaker 6: I did love the Christian Anderson one, but they... The
• 31:04
  Speaker 6: Okori I would have liked more for them.
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: I would have taken Phylan.
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: So I guess I didn't completely agree because I would
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: have taken Phylan.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: I think it's a good sign.
• 31:13
  Speaker 7: Objectively, even as someone who likes LaMelo Ball, they clearly
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: decided last year was semi not that real. And what
• 31:24
  Speaker 7: we're being offered for him, for Miles Bridges, is just
• 31:27
  Speaker 7: too much to turn down. We'll take a slight step
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: back to take a bigger step forward down the line,
• 31:32
  Speaker 7: see what Brandon Miller can do. see what can do
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: in the meantime, we have like 13 decent rotation players.
• 31:38
  Speaker 7: That's going to be helpful in the regular season.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: So no, I don't think it's a bad sign. That
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: is the Bill Simmons BS podcast. Bill Simmons and Zach
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: Lowe chatting about a subject they still love, the Charlotte Hornets.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: They still love us, Boney. God, it's almost a one-year
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: anniversary of us being together. Even without LaMelo, man, they
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: still can't quit us. Although I do think that was
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: in their over-under thing where they went through the whole league,
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: in fairness. So it wasn't like they were just talking
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: about us. We've got to talk about the Hornets. They
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: used to just skip us completely. That's true. That is true. Over,
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: under on the Hornets.
• 32:14
  Speaker 7: Under.
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: On to the next one. That's how it used to go.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: All right. Let's talk about the Hornets now. Last week
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: or last night, the game was not on locally. I
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: was a little bummed to hear this. Maybe it's a
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: good thing, Bone, because the local audience would have watched
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: them turn it over 30 times. against the Boston Celtics
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: in a 21-point loss. Listen, they're starting point guards out.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: Conn Knipple's out. Grant Williams is out. Grayson Allen's out.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of guys missing. I don't want to
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: put too much stock in it. But 30 turnovers, Bone,
• 32:46
  Speaker 2: for a team that turned the ball over. Yeah, it
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: was one of our... you know, kind of bugaboos last year.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: It definitely is far from ideal. Brandon Miller is four
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: of 17. I'm not going to get on here and
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: act like I care. He started one of 11 bone
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: from the field before a 12 point third quarter when
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: he started heating up.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: This is a guy that's also, you know, working himself
• 33:05
  Speaker 5: back from the shoulder stuff in the off season. So
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: it may take a little bit of time and to
• 33:10
  Speaker 5: get into some rhythm here until we get the full
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: brandon miller experience here that we.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Expect to have they did get christian anderson on the
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: court for the first time the kid scored 10 his
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: debut hit a couple of threes um so seems like
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: a pretty good debut for him a couple of steals
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: as well um uh now the the steinbach thing is
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: very interesting you brought this up the other day it
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: has been it is very interesting and this will take
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: us right into the conversation i want to discuss and
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: i want to ask y'all uh bugs fans to Like,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: what do we think the rotation's going to be? They
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: have such depth. It's very interesting to figure out. Heck,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: there's also a conversation of, does Tijon Salon make this team? Like,
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: who is, they've got to cut one more or trade
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: or get rid of one more roster spot. Let's start
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: with Steinbach, who didn't come in, Bone, until there were
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: six minutes and ten seconds left in the game yesterday
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: and played the rest of the way.
• 34:04
  Speaker 5: And I've been monitoring his minutes because he came in
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: late the first game. Only played what? 12 minutes the second.
• 34:11
  Speaker 5: 12 minutes the second game. Then last night, I was
• 34:13
  Speaker 5: monitoring on my phone the stats. I thought maybe he
• 34:16
  Speaker 5: wasn't playing because he had zero minutes for a while.
• 34:19
  Speaker 5: So I thought, oh, he must be not playing tonight.
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: But it turns out, no, he was playing, but he
• 34:23
  Speaker 5: just wasn't in the game.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: So can we say that they just don't view him
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: as ready for the rotation right now?
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's going to be Moussa, Kockbrenner, Royce O'Neal at forward.
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: I guess that he's not, they're going to bring him
• 34:35
  Speaker 5: along slowly, more slowly than we thought. I thought he
• 34:37
  Speaker 5: might buy for starters minutes, but I guess there's something
• 34:40
  Speaker 5: there where he's going to be brought along like Christian
• 34:43
  Speaker 5: Anderson is, I guess.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: I thought he had a chance to be the backup
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: inside to Moussa. Like I thought he had a chance.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: Now the, the backup power, you.
• 34:52
  Speaker 5: Would think that his game would translate physical, tough rebounding
• 34:55
  Speaker 5: gets in there early. Then you see skills develop over time,
• 34:59
  Speaker 5: but I guess he's not ready yet.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: I mean, listen, I don't know if that's going to
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: anger people. If both our first round picks are not
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: in the rotation, I do think it's a sign bone
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: of having so much veteran depth on the team. Like
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: I do think if you think backbone to past Hornets teams, like, yeah,
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: rookies would be right there in the rotation, but maybe
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: that's not always the best thing. Right? Yeah. As far
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: as the rotation goes, I guess we'll start with when
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: they're healthy. Unfortunately, we don't know. The starting backcourt could
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: be out next Wednesday night. We don't know about Khan.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: That one seems to have a better chance. But we
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: certainly are worried about Kobe White with that calf injury
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: for the start of the season. But when they're healthy,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: the starters would be Kobe, Khan, Brandon, Nas, and Moussa.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: That's pretty easy. The healthy starting lineup. Who are your
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: next five, Bone, when they're healthy? Well, it's also easy
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: to say who the backup. the backup guards are instead
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: of Schroeder and Grayson Allen. So there's seven right there.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: You're starting five and you're two in the backcourt. Now
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: up front is where it gets interesting.
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: We'd have to say Royce O'Neal, one of the backup forwards,
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: and Kalkbrenner, based off of what we're seeing right now.
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: So Schroeder, Allen, O'Neal, Kalkbrenner, and then And Grant Williams
• 36:19
  Speaker 5: is the backup four, right? Yeah, so then Sean James
• 36:22
  Speaker 5: is in there somewhere, I guess. So, yeah, I mean,
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: that seems to be it, right? What about McNeely? See,
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: that's why it's so fascinating to me. He didn't start yesterday,
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: but he played 22 minutes. McNeely's a mystery when it
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: comes to that. That's what we've said all summer. Like,
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: where does he fit into this? They made it a
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: point to start him, Bone, in both of the first
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: two games. And he has done some good things, not
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: necessarily defensively, but offensively.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: So it's a crowded rotation. It's a good problem to have.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: And listen, we might, you know, you're going to have injuries. Hell,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: we've freaking got them already. Grayson Allen's hurt right now, too.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: But I don't sense that serious. I kind of feel
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: like it is, I feel like the backup five, like
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: if you were to do a depth chart, the second
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: line bone at each position, I feel like would be Schroeder,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neal over McNeely. Grant Williams over Steinbach.
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: and Kalkbrenner and Kalkbrenner over, you know, Steinbach too, I guess,
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: but I think that would be it. They played him
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: a lot in the preseason and his shot, his shot
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: has looked good in the preseason so far.
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: So basically Mac, the mystery is going to be, it's
• 37:26
  Speaker 5: not the guards. We can see what that is. We
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: can kind of see the big man path right now
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: with Kalkbrenner and then Steinbach maybe getting a few minutes here.
• 37:36
  Speaker 5: It's really that log jam at Ford. It's, it's see
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: on James and his role. It's, Although you'd put Seon
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: with the guards, though, wouldn't you? This depth chart here
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: I'm reading on ESPN has him listed as a small forward,
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: but because of Schroeder and Allen as the backup guards.
• 37:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd probably put him vying for time with those guys.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: But the mystery guys are Seon, McNeely, right? I guess
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: that's the real thing here. Yeah, do they break in
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: over some of these veterans like Grayson? I can't imagine.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: See Grayson and Royce O'Neal. I think they wanted, first
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: of all, they wanted shooting. Both those guys deliver shooting.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Grayson Allen's also a guy like we lose Lamello. Like we,
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: we are looking for guys. Kobe's hurt right now. We're
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: looking for guys bone that can put it on the
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: floor and create looking for guys that get into paint.
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: Grayson Allen can do that too. I think they want
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neal out there, but what are
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: they doing with McNeely? What is with the The amount
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: of minutes he's been... They're seriously looking at him, right? Well,
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, you could go.
• 38:38
  Speaker 5: If he forces his way in, the second unit then
• 38:41
  Speaker 5: could be Schroeder, Allen, McNeely... Kogbrenner at the five, and
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: then Royce O'Neal or Grant Williams at the four, maybe?
• 38:53
  Speaker 5: Maybe they split time there?
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Something like that?
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: You put McNeil at the small forward spot, and then
• 38:58
  Speaker 5: you put Grant Williams and O'Neal at the.
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: Four, I guess? They started Royce last night. Yeah. I
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: just find it hard to believe they don't want Allen
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: and Royce playing major minutes on the wing. uh this
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: texter says what about salon dude was filling it up
• 39:10
  Speaker 2: last night uh that's he had a rough first two
• 39:14
  Speaker 2: games but he did hit like four threes or five
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: threes last night or something about 16 points i think
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: he ended up having i.
• 39:21
  Speaker 5: Don't think i don't think anderson tijon and steinbach will
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: be in the early rotation i think some some guys
• 39:27
  Speaker 5: have to be out.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: Of this is tijon on the team like it seems
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: like most people that cover the Hornets think that that
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: final roster spot, like full-time roster spot, not two way
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that is down between Tijon and our guy.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: We affectionately call Patty claps, Pat Connaughton, the director of
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: more morale. Do you think, who are you keeping? Are
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: they at the point where they trade Salon and try
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: to get an asset for him?
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: That's what I was going to say. I think it
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: might be Patty Clapped because if anybody calls with a
• 40:03
  Speaker 5: second round offer for Jeff Peterson, that's like a local
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: sub shop offering free subs to Finney.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: There's no way he's turning that down, right? That is true.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: We've got a second rounder in 2037 for T. John Dundee.
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: It may be way down the line. But if he
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: can get anything back asset wise, I think that he'd
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: rather get something for Tijon, have, have the veteran experience
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: of Connaughton on the team. And if you offer, you
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: offer him a second round pick, that's like a model
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: of lingerie for Jeff Peterson.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: He doesn't love them second round. I just wonder, this
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: dude says you can't give up on salon. You drafted
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: him so high, but here's the thing. If you have
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: this rotation that has all this veteran depth, uh, I
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: just don't know where he fits in. Like, what, do
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: you send him to the G League again? Like, is
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: it time to just say it's best for you to
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: go elsewhere? To Bones' point, you probably can add to
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: your draft asset, you know, pot. It's just I don't know.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: I wonder if it's time for that.
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: There's also been a lot of roster turnover in the
• 41:13
  Speaker 5: short time since Tijon's been here. It's not the same
• 41:16
  Speaker 5: roster build. It's different than it was. So how does
• 41:19
  Speaker 5: he factor into that? He may have factored in early
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: when they drafted him, but things change. And now they
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: they don't know what he is as a player or
• 41:26
  Speaker 5: where he fits into this equation. And also, what does
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: Dijon do well? Like, what is his skill that defines him?
• 41:32
  Speaker 5: We still don't know that.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: He's supposed to be three and D. That's ideally what
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: he does. Right. Rebounding defense threes. And it's still kind
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: of some timey on that mountain. I cannot believe. Salon Nation, Bone,
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: has risen up on the text line. I didn't even
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: know it was still a nation. Mountaineer Gordon says Salon
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: still has good upside. Bebop is a member of Tijon Nation.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: So let me get this straight. This dude's been bashing
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: Bryce for years, loves him some Tijon? Says, why do
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: you need another veteran in Connaughton? If you have all
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: these other veterans, maybe you don't. You can get something
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: for Tijon. He also called him Tijon Salami, by the way.
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: So Bebop's spelling is still on point here. Even the
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: guys you like, apparently. You can't get the names right.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Maybe they added– they've got O'Neal. They've
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: got Grant Williams. They've got Grayson. I don't know. Maybe
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: they feel like they don't need Patty Claps on this
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: team anymore. I'm just saying, I think we've hit a
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: point with Tijon where it's like, if they trade him,
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: I ain't going to– I got no complaints about it.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: Five more deodorant. Good point.
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: The Hawks traded the number one pick of that draft already. Yeah,
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: I mean, seriously. It's a fun name to say, isn't it?
• 42:46
  Speaker 5: When we come back, Jones Angel, Tar Heel Radio Network,
• 42:49
  Speaker 5: recaps the Pittsburgh win and the huge Duke game for
• 42:52
  Speaker 5: the victory bell on Saturday. Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ.
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back.