Carolina Panthers
Hintz and Lea: Panthers finally get their first win of the season
Kacy Hintz and Chris Lea talk about how the Panthers earned their first win of the season by defeating the Houston Texans, 15-13.
Welcome back into sports extra. Let's bring in debut Orel Chris Lee who joins us from Bank of America Stadium. Chris in a battle between Young and CJ. Stroud, the first two picks in the 2023 NFL draft. It was young who emerged victorious. You know, people were asking it before this game even happened. So this is kind of like solidified that the Panthers really got their guy. You know what? I think we have to let their careers kind of play out to see if they got the right guy, but I know that Panthers fans have been almost on a ledge and one even tweeting me during the game like man Stroud sure does look nice and he was available during with the first overall pick, which I think is very interesting, right? Because people look at the team stat with the win and losses as a quarterback stat. And it's really not before this game, of course, CD Strout three and three and Bryce Young was 0 to 5 and the Panthers 0 to 6 as a team before this game, but CJ Stroud will never be able to say that he beat Bryce Young head to head during their first time going against each other in the NFL. Bryce Young can say that and here's another thing that Bryce Young can say he is only the third NFL quarterback in history as a rookie to complete 20 plus passes in his first six games. Bryce Young has been playing exceptionally well, but he has a different set of circumstances than what CJ Strout does. His offensive line is not really protecting him. His receivers aren't getting a lot of separation and of course, it doesn't seem like this play calling scheme is really working to his benefit most of the time. CJ Strout has a better situation, but Bryce Young has definitely, definitely looked better in the bad situations that he's been in. That leads me to my next question. Really last week, Frank Reich announced that he was turning over those play calling duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. He gets the first win here today, but just overall, what did you like about the way he called the game? You know, it felt a little bit more fluid in this game. And also Bryce Young, he's really good when you can go on the move and he can pass that way and kind of get out of pocket, kind of create a little bit of havoc. Now, his offensive line has to protect him a little bit better, giving up six sacks to a team that was last in sacks in the NFL before this game, that wasn't good. But one of the great things about this is that Bryce Young looked comfortable. He looked, looked like he was in control and in command, there were so many different times during other games of the season that Bryce could get to certain parts of the game and maybe looked a little confused or looked like he was upset with himself or even with some of the play calling today, you didn't see any of that and I don't think it was just because of the win because he looked really like he was in command and in control. And part of that is probably because of his relationship with offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. But half time there was a special ceremony, Julius Peppers and Mason Mohammad inducted into the Carolina Panthers Hall of honor. Of course, Peppers has built his football career right here in our own backyard of Southern Nash guy, North Carolina Tar Heel while you were there, you got to see that ceremony. But you also had a chance to talk to him, Chris before he got inducted and just kind of talk about those emotions and the excitement from Julius Peppers. Yeah, it is great. Julius Peppers is a quiet guy. He doesn't really like a lot of media, but he felt like he was excited to do this with us. We got a chance to talk to him and Mohsin Mohammed, you know, after they were inducted into the Panthers Hall of honor. And both of them looked like they were emotional, emotional over this. And, you know, because they're both pioneers of this franchise, Julius Peppers, you said, coming from Southern Nash and then of course, Un C Chapel Hill and then coming here to play professionally for the Carolina Panthers and being the franchise leader in five different statistical categories. Julius Peppers, of course, has a special place here, but because this is home and he was able to do all that here. I think that's what meant a lot more for him and he was able to leave and come back and retire a Carolina Panther. And then also Mousa Mohammed, he's a businessman here in the Charlotte area and he's able to go up as one of the greats and he's second in different statistical categories behind Dave Doran's best friend, Steve Smith s so he's one of the Panthers greats as well, being a wide receiver. So it was great to see both of them. They both were emotional and they both were very excited to come back to be a part of the Hall of Honor, you know, and I think the biggest thing is, is maybe kids, you know, from whatever school, maybe, especially Southern Nash can see a guy like Julius Peppers. It doesn't matter where you come from, you can always make it to the top. All right, Chris Lee, thank you so much.