On the latest episode of “Processing Blue,” Langston Wertz Jr. is joined by Scott Fowler to discuss Bryce Young’s poor outing in the Panthers’ loss to the Colts in Week 9, whether or not the team would be better off with C.J. Stroud as QB, if Scott Fitterer or Frank Reich is on the hot seat and more.

By Drew Nantais / The Charlotte Observer

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All right guys we're back another Episode of processing blue uh Scott blue Was the appropriate word the panther Bands are probably feeling a little blue Right now yeah uh black and blue you're Right it's uh they've gotten beaten up This season latest example we saw a Sunday night uh in against Indianapolis A really not a good team but the Panthers made the Colts defense look Like the 1985 Bears it was a nasty loss And the Panthers dropped to one and Seven and a lot of questions surrounding This team right now yeah kind of a head Scratcher the the Colts have been giving Up about 40 points in the three-game Losing streak giving up about 28 points For the season and the Panthers did let To your point look like they played this A dominant defense and it kind of leads To my first question Bryce young did not Play well yesterday three interceptions The third interception the stadium Cleared out through two uh interceptions For touchdowns uh you wrote this morning That he might not be ready um what do You Think yeah I I did I wrote a column uh This today about I don't think Bryce Young is ready to win yet consistently In the NFL that doesn't mean he's never Going to be able to win consistently but Right now they are very much learning as They go and it is painful to watch two

Pick sixes Langston uh to put in Perspective in one game super rare way More rare than say a quarterback Throwing four or five touchdown passes In a game it just doesn't happen much And to the same guy I mean this the Panthers have had that happened three Times in their entire history of 28 Years yesterday was the fourth uh and They were nasty both of the uh pick Sixes were were just just horrible Miscalculations by Bry Young I don't want to say Bry young is Pton Manning but pton Manning was one in Seven with early similar statistics to What Bryce has right now and I do notice That you know you see the stats about The Panther's lack of Separation uh he Very you know almost always has pass Rush in his Face some of those things were uh Scott Do you think maybe is better oh for sure I mean His Bryce is it's not all his well let's Just start there the offensive line has Really regress this year the Colts to me Have become you know they made the Colts Look so good they're not a good team They are not a good defense they were 32 In the league in scoring defense he had Little time and then when he did have Time you know what they did Langston They didn't Blitz at all Bryce young can Beat a blitz he's smart and he can beat

A blitz but they rushed four almost Every time and drop seven or sometimes Rush Three exactly that's super big that's a Really bad problem along with the Receiver so all this is you know factors In together but the quarterback is the Head of the snake and the two decisions He made on the picks were you know were Really bad and I and I and he took full Blame full accountability credit to him For that didn't didn't blame anybody Else for doing anything wrong uh said he Should have just thrown both those balls In the dirt which definitely should have Happened yeah yeah the one the second One to Miles Sanders he had pressure in His face there was a lot of traffic Between he and Sanders Sanders said After the game we should have thrown in The dirt as you said first one was late I think over to hubber on the right side Um are those um is that just trying to Make a play you think or just yeah when Rookie mistake I think what you said Trying to make a play I think that's What's happening there is that Bryce is Hesitant to give up on a play um Understandably I mean they're not scor Scoring points he doesn't want to throw The ball away on a third and 10 and as Most quarterbacks don't but in both Those situations the risk and the reward Were all out of whack because even if

Those are completed I mean they probably Go for two yards or something instead of Going 40 or 60 yards the other way so it Was a if you're going to take a risk at Least throw it 40 yards downfield if They intercept it it's almost like a Punt don't you know the the ones in the Flat uh and there were boths are running Backs and as you said I mean they Pressure in his face I mean this was the Entire game this was all last week too Langston how they won that game against Houston with Bryce getting sacked six Times is a little bit miraculous when You think about it but he has been Sacked too many times and the offensive Line Bears a big brunt of blame here That's kind of the frustrating thing Though Scott because like every game There's like a little period when you go Wow that's the guy you know you see it In flashes where he he he'll make a Throw or put it in place even the fourth And two last last week they Adam theing They kept the drive alive I mean he Threw it past his own receiver theing in A little small hole um some of the Touchdown passes he's made this season I Mean he he's thrown some balls where you Just kind of go wow but then there's so Many more instances of you kind of go Man I don't know if they should just Play Andy dton and win a couple Games right yeah you you described it

Well there I mean he had a play like That yesterday where they went for it on Fourth down and he made a Dart to Tommy Tremble on a fourth down play that was One of his best throws of the day U Again though they're just so not Explosive and this isn't all on Bryce But even that long drive they had for a Touchdown Sunday I mean do they ever get 10 yards In a play it's always plotting eight Yards here seven yards hurt before it Thre the pick six I mean it did I mean It's so hard to get yardage for this Team it's just it it is a it's a cringe Worthy process to watch that offense Work even when it is working there's so Rarely the oh wow 35 yard gain they did Have one yesterday to Hayden Hurst that Was 48 yards and that was a great play But there's just not a lot of that and That's something they're going to have To work on in the offseason because he's Off last year's off season I mean it's Not worked out the main sightings They've had to improve the offense have Have done nothing to you know to I mean DJ Moore's absence Christian caf's Absence have been felt every single Sunday no you got to get guys can can Create separation you got to get a t the Guy chance to to pass the football and Going you know they had a 15 playay Drive I think last week to win I mean

That's going to be very rare in the NFL It seems like almost every time the Panthers have the ball they have to go 13 14 15 plays to to score that's just Going to be impossible something's going To happen somebody's going to you know Slip through four sacks somebody's gonna Get pressure on you they have to get Some some chunk plays I don't know they Have the right Personnel right now to Get chunk plays but yeah I want to ask You a question the question this on a Lot of panthers fans Minds because Everybody saw what CJ stra did yesterday Um lost his kicker still Won no five touchdown passes Uh naturally you know he was here last Week the Panthers beat Ben Bryce beat Him uh with a great final drive but if CJ stra had been the pick Scott do you Think this Panthers team be better than What it is uh at the moment yes I do I Think if you're just looking at a short Sample say okay CJ strout play these uh Eight games would they be better than One and seven I think so right now I Just think CJ Stout is coming to the League a little bit more ready uh he's Throwing a little better ball he he just Looks I mean yeah okay Houston maybe They've got some better skill players But they stj strout is 14 TDS and one Pick and Bri PR is eight and seven and Not all that is attributed to skill so I

Mean that's some of just the quarterback Now the question is that we don't know Is long term in three years and four Years uh you know there's been a lot of Other slow starters in the league uh you Mentioned Payton Manning 28 Interceptions in his rookie year Justin Herbert didn't start off very well I Mean Trevor Lawrence struggled in his First year these things happen but also So did Jimmy Clawson Jimmy Clawson was Really rookie quarterback and he turned Out to be a really bad quarterback so That's yeah you know that's the worst Rock Bottom scenario Bryce won't be B of Course but right now yeah I mean CJ Strout's gonna be Rookie of the Year you Can't say that he wouldn't be better if He was here at this moment uh I don't Know long term yet but I mean the early Debate is no debate at all CJ strads had Just an incredible uh first half of a Rookie season yeah well yesterday uh the Panthers held the coasta 13 points the Colts had been even though they've been Losing they've been scoring a lot of Points uh they had two two the uh the Number two rusher in the league Zach Moss got 26 yards former uh NFL rushing Champion J the T got 47 the panis Defense did his job and they've not Played terribly all season I what do you Think played well enough to win Absolutely you're right Langston um the

The Colts got I think it was 198 yards That almost always wins the game y and And they only gave up 13 and you could Argue it shouldn't have been that many Because they got a kind of a gift Touchdown because Xavier Woods uh hit That was not a penalty and uh Pitman Indianapolis's receiver said as much After the game he said it was a clean Hit but Xavier because it looked so hard It was really shoulder to chest not Shouldered in area um got flagged I'll Review did appear to laun launch the Launches in the NFL is different from College launching does not mean an Automatic flag you can launch but you Can't launch into the head uh but I Think I mean Pitman ultimately saying he Hit me cleanly and I figure that's where It should have you know yeah that we got Lucky on the penalty to me very rarely Happens so obviously that that should Have probably been three points instead Of seven and that would have been nine Nevertheless they would have lost Because they gave up 14 on offense Panthers defense has turned a corner you Know they gave up 42 a couple of weeks In a row and now they've gotten down to You know had a winning performance Against CJ strad I should mention our Last little thing lexon thank God for Bryce young that he beat CJ strad right I mean that's the one thing you he can

Really hold on to I mean he beat a Head-to-head batch up you can't say he Did I mean he he beat him CJ stret very Pedestrian against the Panthers a week Ago so he did you know he does have that It's uh you know they will'll always Have Paris or whatever that old line is They'll always have that win over CJ Stra this year they can't go worse they They're not going to go 0 and 17 but Yeah uh but yes Panthers defense playing Well special teams got a big turnover Eddie Panero is very steady I mean it's Just it's really all about the offense Right now that's the that's why this Team is losing games well offense had 138 yards rushing yesterday so that was You know that was something that they Have not been doing as well I mean they Did a lot of the pieces would think to Win the game and Indianapolis also got That first field goal after an alliz Penalty on the punt when the Panthers Should have gotten the ball back yeah There was that as well but you know they Do have some things to clean up but I Think airo is doing pretty decent job After giving up 84 and back toback weeks Of of kind of directing and maybe they Can turn around the offense as well um And that kind of takes me to my next Question let's talk about Chicago Bears A little bit he got a short week um Brian B and CJ Henderson both suffer

Concussions they likely not to play on Thursday how would that affect that Defense plan against the Bears it'll be Tough um that's yeah I mean Burns even Though he didn't have a sack yesterday Makes such an impact just because the Way you have to tilt your offensive line To block uh CJ uh excuse me CJ Henderson They can they can get along without if They have to they did you know for large Portions of yesterday and of last year But it's not ideal you know that's not That's not what you want I think the big Question here Langston besides how if The Panthers offense can rebound on Thursday night since this is a short Week is who the Bears will play at Quarterback they have you know a real Quandry there and that Justin Fields has A dislocated right thumb so he's missed Some games and if he does play he might Be compromised he may wear a glove which You know some quarterbacks do to throw Or they may just go with Tyson bent who Nobody had heard of Right and who's now actually played Pretty decently they lost uh Sunday but He threw a couple of touchdown passes He's a undrafted rookie free agent from A place called Shephard University do You know where that is no IIs I'm Guessing I I I don't either I didn't Look it up I'm sorry we should up yeah But yeah I mean Shephard University he

Was like the high school player of the Year in West Virginia or something and Yeah I mean this is the guy who's the Quarterback for the Chicago Bears say He's been playing okay uh the Bears are Bad though they're two and seven this is A winnable game for the Panthers uh but You know without without Burns I mean I Think the defense is going to Cobble it Together a little bit bent had four I Think it was four turnovers Sunday Several picks he had a strip sack I mean He'll turn it over some so the Panthers Defense shoot they may have to score That may be the way you win this game You you get a Defensive yeah yeah get your own pick Six get it back Uh that may be the shot that they have With the Bears you can't imagine that uh Amazon Prime uh loves the fact that They've got a two and seven and a one in Seven team playing on National to America that's a hard sell For Al Michaels exactly they're gonna Have to work really T really hard on uh You know building up rice young and Justin Fields will the Bears be Incentivized to beat the Panthers Knowing if the Panthers have the worst Record in they'll probably have cayb Williams instead of Justin Fields next Year maybe or Drake May um I you know The Bears I mean I think players they

Don't care about that stuff I mean that Half of them aren't going to be there The next year the the GM and of course The officials they care they really want The Bears to win that to knock the Panthers further down since they do have That number one pick now got like DJ Moral care of course uh you know because He he was here and he would certainly Want to show something to the Panthers But yeah yeah that's another I mean the Panthers right now I think they would Pick number two if they except they Don't have their pick but they would be Number the number two slot right only Arizona I think has a worst record right Now and so the Bears want to keep them Down keep them down they one more game Yeah right only because they've had one More game um Scott at at one and seven Um you know we got to start thinking About the hide seek question is is Frank Reich or Scott fitter on the hi seat or Both on the hi Seat uh good question I think fiter more So than Frank Wright um feder has been Here longer he's had a longer time Period to try to build this thing and The while Bryce young you'd say that's An open question how well that trade is Ultimately going to work out the big Trade they made to move up to to get Bryce at number one what has not worked Out so far is really the offseason

Acquisitions this especially this past Year you know guys like mil Sanders and Hayden hir uh were brought in to sort of Help solve the DJ Moore dilemma that you You know you traded away your best Receiver uh and th you you could say Well that one's worked out pretty well Uh but but Hurst and Miles Sanders have Really not been a factor much at all Sanders had a little bit of a one good Drive yesterday and Hurst had one good Play but it's just it's not been enough And they also have not done well on Really their second and third day draft Picks they haven't gotten enough help There so fiter I think would be the one That you know I would feel that seat Getting warmer Frank Reich in the first Year of a four-year deal knowing that He's kind of a quarterback Whisperer and That's why you hired him I just don't Think unless they just bought him out Out linkston look awful go one and 16 And David teer just goes oh I just can't Take it anymore I got to start over Again I think terer knows in his heart That's not what you do you don't you you Fire a coach after one year and you're Just I mean you're you're further behind The eightball than you were you know You're going two more steps backward I Think you at least get Frank re two Years and then after that who knows Asked you early about CJ stra versus BR

Sh which one if if CJ stra was here how Would the Panthers do if Steve wils had Been the choice instead of Frank Wright Do you think the Panthers would still be Where they are would they be better Off well I they certainly could be Better off they wouldn't be worse off Because it's been you know such a Horrible start um with wils you know They would have had a very different Offensive philosophy one that we did see Worked um last year when he went six and Six as the interim head coach they Probably you know would have kept Uh you know some powerful running backs And tried to ground and pound the ball Had a more conservative you know rushing Attack that maybe fits the Personnel a Little bit better um defensively you Know they might have been a tad better I Mean I wrote at the time I thought they Should have kept wils I thought he did a Heck of a job they didn't decide to do That they went with Frank Reich and I Think that was largely because they want The offensive to offense to be more Exciting spectacular productive you know Scoring 30 points a game which is really The way you ultimately have to win most Of the time in today's NFL I don't fault That idea but it has not paid off so Yeah Steve wils had coached eight games Right now I don't really think they'd be One and seven I think that'd probably be

A little better than that long-term Future again sort of like the Bryce Young question it's it's to be Determined you know how well but the Frank Reich era has not started well and I'm sure he would be the first to to Tell you that all right you Tes on this Earlier Thursday night the Panthers are Plan on Amazon Prime you know if I don't Have Amazon Prime can I just not see the Game am I just shut out from the Panthers have to be radio guy this week This is a question that comes up every Time the Panthers ever uh play on a Thursday night game which is every year And so I'm glad you asked it uh it's Actually our new partner WSOC Channel 9 Will have the game locally in Charlotte So most people yeah they probably have Amazon Prime because you probably order Stuff from Amazon Prime but if you don't Uh WSOC Channel 9 it is on free overthe TV in Charlotte you can get it there uh They'll have a pregame show I think 7 to 800 pm and uh and they're good there That is our news partner and and we're We're happy to plug them because they do A really good job then it's switches to The National broadcast and Al Michaels Uh the game kickoff is 8:15 on Thursday night so you can watch It for free yeah that wslc did like a 4H Hour pregame show yesterday they did the Newscast live at bank oh my

Gosh well that might have been a little Bit of overkill for that one yeah but Yeah more power to them I guess bonus on Amazon Prime if you have one of those New fangel streaming boxes the the Picture quality is phenomenal they Brought in a higher quality picture Format it's not like 4K like you see but It's it's really really good it looks a Lot better than your standard football Broadcast although I'm sure Al Michaels As you said earli is probably not that Excited about calling a one to two inam Um all right Scout before we got of here I want you to rub on your crystal ball What do you see for these Panthers the Rest of the year what do you see Happening in the Offseason rest of the year is all about Ryce young and getting this offense Better Langston I think record is Secondary obviously right now to what They because they're not make you know They ain't going anywhere so and they Don't have the number one draft pick so Record is as irrelevant as it's ever Been for for a Panthers team they have Nine more games whether those you know Whether they go two and seven or four And five uh or one and eight doesn't Matter too much what does matter is Getting Bryce young familiar with what You want and then next year and you say Offseason it's all got to be about I

Mean not you know 80% of it has to be About rebuilding the offense and scoring Some points so that you know even the Game the Panthers won they only scored 15 points I mean this has got to be a Team that's got to double that they've Got to be a team that's you know they're Number one pick or whatever you know if They trade back into the first round Which I ultimately think they will do if I'm rubbing on the crystal ball I bet You they will have a number one pick in April of 2024 not number one but you Know like they'll trade into the teens Or or something end up picking and That's going to have to be a wide Receiver or a stud tight end or running Back or something a skill position I Think that's the biggest problem I see Right now besides you know the offensive Line is bad too but if I had to pick one It's those skill position spots that They just are not good enough and you Know just like in basketball Langston We're both very familiar with basketball And you got to have some people who can Put it in the hole I don't care how good Defense you play somebody's going to Have to go get you 25 or 30 a game in The NBA if you're going to win and they Don't have that guy uh and so Bryce is Really more the point guard the Distributor he's not the Steph Curry Point guard he's more the you know I'm

Gonna get you I'm gonna get the ball in Places that you want to leave but you Got to get some separation first so That's where a lot of the offseason has To go and again who's making those Decisions I mean is it Scott fiter and Dan Morgan I don't know I mean that's That's open for debate will Frank Wright Be the coach I yeah I think so will Bryce young be the quarterback Absolutely they're wetted to Bryce young Right now um but you know the the next Nine games Panther fans buckle up it is Going to be a rough ride I'm Sorry there'll be a few moments hey L There might be one Thursday they may win Thursday honestly it's one of the most Winnable games they've got got pick them To win Thursday Mr I haven't decided yet I've Got a pretty good lead in our contest Because I picked him uh to lose every Single game which is which is made it Seven- one I might pick him Thursday Yeah I'm thinking I'm thinking hard About it because I think it's the kind Of game that Chicago and them are really Probably a coin flip the game being in Chicago probably hurts them a little bit But uh you know Chicago is not very good Either it's going to be it's going to be Probably a good 19 to 16 uh slugfest of Some sort with a defensive touchdown in There give me all right give me a number

Scott I know you you said it's going to Be a rough ride to buckle up what's the Win number what's the record over the Last n Game if I had to choose right now I'd go Two and seven three and 14 for the year You're going three and 14 season well P Fans that he have from the guy who see Just about as much p is anybody that's Ever follow the PS look thanks for Watching us um be watching us on YouTube Make sure to like follow subscribe be Watching us on any social media uh Services make sure you like and share Follow us on charl observer.com and We'll catch you next week on processing Book

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