For Carolina Panther fans, this past week still probably feels like a dream and rightfully so, especially after Sunday. As former Panther and current NFL on FOX analyst Greg Olsen said on Friday on the FNZ airwaves, this Cam Newton-Carolina Panthers reunion was something that most never saw coming and that no one could have imagined happening so quickly either. Newton signed a one-year deal with the team on Thursday and traveled to Arizona in a game where most didn't even know if he was going to be active and felt he would be extremely limited if he was. Newton was pretty limited playing just eight snaps in the game, but no one could have predicted the course of how things would happen on Sunday.
Jonathan Stewart shared a backfield with Cam Newton from 2011 to 2017, as the pair combined to run for 8,899 yards and 83 touchdowns while helping lead the Panthers to one of the most successful stretches in franchise history. On Friday morning, Stewart dropped by the Mac Attack to talk about his former teammate's return to Charlotte and discuss the impact that it will have on the locker room. "It makes people want to come to work, man," Stewart said regarding Newton. "The Panthers have guys whose first year of professional football they were locked in quarantine and they have to go through all of these different protocols as rookies and that's all they know. So getting Cam's energy, getting his presence, his wisdom, his insight in that locker room is gonna be a game-changer."
It's safe to say former Carolina Panthers tight end and current NFL on FOX analyst Greg Olsen was a little caught off guard by his former teammate and now new (or old) Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton's return to the franchise. Hot off the red-eye for Los Angeles, Olsen joined the guys over at the Mac Attack on Friday to explain why he was so shocked. "I have to be honest, I did not see this coming. It just seemed too good to be true." Olsen also talked about just how palpable the excitement is right now in the Charlotte area. "You can't really describe it, unless you live in Charlotte, what this means to the fanbase and to the organization. It's a day that no one thought ever might be possible even in a going-away party, you know like a retirement, let alone him being in uniform, under center."
With the struggles that this team was already having, Matt Rhule's job has been made even tougher as he tries to get this season back on the rails. The question now has to be, how important is it for his future with the team that he does get this turned around? As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk told the Mac Attack on Wednesday morning, David Tepper's quick trigger may make it more important than you realize. "With David Tepper, you never know. Look at how he is ripping through quarterbacks. So I could see that attitude being directed to the coach. He has shown as it relates to quarterbacks that he is not patient so why would we think he's going to be patient with everyone else.
Even with the issues the Hornets have had on this road trip so far, though, Farber told the Mac Attack that it's not time to panic just yet. "I still feel good about the way Charlotte is playing overall," he said. "The schedule has not been kind; the Hornets at this point in the season have played more games and more road games than any other team in the NBA, so this has not been an easy stretch. They are going to even out in the end, the schedule will become more favorable on the back end and if the Hornets can weather this storm and continue to play in this manner, I feel good about where Charlotte sits."
The Panthers struggled to move the football in this one, totaling just 240 yards of total offense, including just 78 rushing yards on 23 carries. While the Panthers had their issues offensively, it wasn't as if the Patriots faired much better, as they finished the day with just 273 yards of total offense to their name and averaged just 4.6 yards per play to the Panthers 4.2 per play. As Jim Szoke, one of the voices of the Panther Radio Network explained, though, turnovers were the biggest difference in this one. "In a game like this, that's when the turnovers become so critical," Szoke told the Mac Attack on Monday morning. "Yesterday they (New England) had two, but the three we had were so egregious in terms of why they happened." The Panthers turned the football over three consecutive drives with back-to-back-to-back Sam Darnold interceptions, which resulted in ten points for the Patriots, seemingly putting the Panthers away late in the third quarter.
Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast TV Analyst, Brian Jordan joined the guys on Mac Attack to talk about the Atlanta Braves‘ slow start to the season and his concern around pitcher, Mike Soroka‘s shoulder injury. The Braves loss four of the six games played so far this season. They were close losses […]
Today on the Mac Attack, Mac and T-Bone discuss if it is possible that Duke & UNC both miss out on the NCAA Tournament. UNC had a bad loss to Clemson last night which made them fall to 11-6 overall, while Duke lost to a bad Miami team on Monday night, which made them fall […]
Today on the Mac Attack, Mac and T-Bone discussed the big news of the NCAA Football Franchise returning in 2022. This news was huge on Social Media, and everyone seemed to be overly excited. This led to the topic on the show of whether or not it is the best sports video franchise of all […]
Today on the Mac Attack, Mac and T-Bone discussed the reports of the Panthers having an interest in QB prospect Mac Jones. According to former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum, Mac Jones won’t make it past the Panthers at pick 8 in the NFL Draft. Mac Jones was one of the QB’s for the Senior Bowl […]