Carolina Panthers: Surging as NFC South Contenders

the Carolina Panthers all of a sudden. Turns out that patience might actually be exactly what young quarterbacks need here. And say what you want, Dave Canals, the head coach of the Panthers, a lot of, didn't even have Coker, didn't have all his weapons available. But you tell me, did that look like, I mean, Bryce Young all of a sudden now looks like maybe top three, top four passer in the NFL this year. I'm still trying to figure out how he couldn't throw against that secondary of the Browns on the road, but at home, I don't know. Maybe we should really start considering Carolina as a contender in this division here, Craig. Agreed. I think so. You could go a step further and say that they're a possible NFC contender. I think you got to say it. I mean, look, I don't think Detroit is that good. They're going to win next week, of course, and then lose the following week and then win next week and then lose the following week and do this all season long because they're a 500 team and not much better. Carolina is better than a 500 team, though. And offensively, I will tell you another thing, too, is that I forget the other running back that was there in Carolina. You guys got to remind me that had the great year last year. No, no, not Hubbard. They had another running back and he's on Pittsburgh now. I forget Hubbard is the better guy. Hubbard is great. I don't know what they were thinking last year, and I know they've tried a lot of different things and they drafted McMillan and McMillan has been great. I'm buying in. I think Carolina, look, any team that can keep putting up 30s like this, two out of four games, you got to start to think, OK, this is the beginning of something here. Look, it's a long way to go to, say, Super Bowl or NFC Championship, but division? Absolutely. I think they are very live to win the division right now. Tampa's not winning it. I don't love Atlanta. New Orleans may be a little bit better, but Carolina, to me, is doing what they need to do. Joe, they play a team at home. They're not even a favorite. They win the game pretty handily. OK. And yeah, I'm starting to think that if they're not going to adjust the odds, they got to stop making Carolina a dog at home. That's for sure. They had, once again, no business on that. Why Detroit keeps getting these favorable lines, Joe? I have no idea. What has Detroit done to keep getting these good lines for two years ago? How they played two years ago? I don't get it. Against a ridiculously decimated Carolina defense as well. They don't even have half their guys there, Greg. J.C. Horn's down. Two of their linebackers are out. Their best pass rusher got hurt. It's amazing to me. And by the way, Jameer Gibbs, how many yards did he have yesterday? I'm just curious. 45? So the Carolina Panthers have the defense. And then what's up with you there, Jared Goff? Just no excuse at all across the board there. They scored 26 points. It's never enough for them. It didn't feel like they were ever in it, though. I know, never enough. It just didn't feel like they were ever in it. He threw for 400 yards. Yeah, well, because they have a choice. Their defense is so bad. Is there a worse defense than them? Maybe the Dolphins, other than them. Do they have the second worst defense in the NFL? Well, I think the Dolphins' defense is actually getting better. I think the Dolphins now is that they can't score. But that defense, I think, is actually getting better. And don't forget, Halfway is a defensive guy. They're going to get better. They're going to get better. I don't ever see them getting better on offense, which is going to make the defense look worse than it is.