Carolina Panthers
Explaining how the Panthers have pulled off their three-game winning streak
Chris Lea and Jared Fialko join Kacy Hintz on WRAL Sports Xtra after the Panthers defeated the Falcons 23-16.
I don't know guys who saw this one coming. The Panthers picking up their third win in a row, 23 16 and snapping that streak down in Atlanta to help me break it all down, as usual, is the rest of wrl sports team, Jared Falco and Chris Lee. Gentlemen, these guys have rattled off three straight now, albeit against a O on four Falcons team. But how in the world that this three straight wins have this come into play for these guys? Panthers just wanted it more today, and they're starting to get better and better as a team. That's the thing that they've been talking about consistently during the week. And what they talked about today after the game is just how they're getting chance to know each other more. They're playing for each other more, and that there's nobody selfish on his team. Whenever people go down like Brian Burns went down today, the next man steps up, and so they're really buying into whatever Matt Rule is putting into their heads, and I absolutely love it, and I'm gonna give it this because this is some beautiful football that the Carolina Panthers airplane today it is absolutely gorgeous in my eyes. Yeah, we talked about it last week in terms of the lack of a preseason and maybe how that stifled their growth, their development. We're seeing it on full display right now. This would probably be, uh, if you do the equation Week one of the regular season. If you had your four previous games. Canada's exhibitions. This is where they are right now. They have come along quite nicely and there well ahead of the curve in terms of doing it with a brand new staff, many key components and without their best player. By the way, Well, you mentioned their best player, Christian McCaffrey. It's gonna be dangerous. We do get him back in the lineup and maybe just a few weeks. But let's hit on Mike Davis, who has been filling in issues nicely. Ah, 149. All purpose yards stay. He can run. He could catch. I mean, this guy he has, he said. In the post game, he is playing angry, and every single week he keeps up and he just keeps bringing Mawr to this Panthers offense. What do you guys see from him today? He's just doing exactly what you said. He's playing tough. He's playing angry. He wants to run through people. Like he said in the post game press conference. Um, this is exactly what Matt Rule was telling us about all offseason before we came in. Remember, Mike Davis came to the Panthers last November after he claimed him off waivers when he was cut from the Chicago Bears, and he stayed on the team. And so Matt rule the whole off season and said, Hey, we also have Mike Davis. Chris McCaffrey is very, very good. He's our number one, but we have another guy behind him who is also started caliber, who can catch up the backfield, who can run very well. And this is exactly what you're getting. And I just want to give Matt rule nice little wink right here because you told us this all off season. And now that Chris McCaffrey's down, we're seeing it for ourselves and the Panthers able to win games with tank body Ferrari engine. That is what I'm seeing from Mike Davis right now. And the thing that impressed me most, not just with him, but with the entire Panthers team today that Pin Ultimate Drive is a thing of beauty that should be studied. 14 plays, 76 yards, most importantly of all 7.5 minutes off the clock. And they made the Atlanta Falcons expend all of their time outs. Now we joke about their red zone problems. It only resulted in three. They didn't need more than three because that was a clock killing fourth quarter drive that made it a two score game. Ah, lot of the credit for that goes to Mike Davis because they only hit third down twice on that entire drive. Well, we got to talk about some positives for the Falcons. Todd Gurley, a former extra effort award winner. He had himself a big game. Good to see him back out there after battling some injuries. I think this was his 1st 100 yard plus game in two years. So would you guys like out of him today? You could really see how the Falcons are trying to limit his touches through five games so far this year. And that's probably not the worst thing for a guy with a recent history of knee issues. This was the most involved. He's been in the passing game all year long, which is really a shame considering some of the tremendous work he did out West with in L. A. But four receptions today, a season high for Todd Gurley. Which is really odd to say, considering how involved he had become in that passing game with the Rams. You know, when the Falcons let go of Devante Freeman, it was a little bit of a head scratcher for me, But once they picked up Thai girl and and got him for cheap, that was an upgrade instantly. And so if they end up getting this guy, uh, you know, to a longer term deal thing, what they have and he's gonna be a force for them this is exactly what this team needed. And I think that he did an amazing job. I think it was, what, 150 total yards from from scrimmage today. Amazing job from him. This is not a surprise. Glad to see that he's back and looks like he's the old Todd Gurley already. Guys, that will do it tonight. Thank you so much. Probably break it down. We'll do it again next Sunday. Have a good night, everyone