Greg Olsen, Jon Gruden ‘shocked’ by Panthers’ big victory against Falcons
Greg Olsen spoke about his NFL team’s big win Monday morning.
The Carolina Panthers’ legendary tight end is complimentary of the dominance that highlighted Sunday’s 30-0 victory against the Atlanta Falcons.
Discussing the most shocking Week 3 result on FS1’s Wake Up Barstool with Dave Portnoy, both Olsen and Jon Gruden, the former NFL coach and Barstool Sports personality, pointed to Carolina’s beatdown of its NFC South division rival in Charlotte.
‘That’s a division game that you’ve got to win’
Gruden is critical of the Panthers’ opponent after it dropped to 1-2.
The longtime NFL head coach appeared on Monday morning’s episode virtually alongside Portnoy and Olsen, and feels Carolina’s rout in Charlotte was by far the most surprising outcome on Sunday’s NFL slate.
“The Falcons getting beat 30-0 completely shocked me,” Gruden said. “I was really impressed with Atlanta on Monday night against Minnesota. You don’t go to the Dome in Minnesota and put a performance like that together, and then go lay an egg. I mean, 30-0, it looked bad in all three phases. They couldn’t convert on third down. It was ugly. And that’s a division game that you’ve got to win.
“I know Greg is an ex-Carolina Panther, he’s probably loving it. That was really bad. ... I was really shocked and disappointed with the Falcons.”
Big energy in Charlotte — and a big Panthers win
Olsen understands the importance of Sunday’s victory for Carolina.
The main worry? Potentially dropping your first three games in a row. But behind the local crowd at Bank of America Stadium — Olsen coaches middle-school ball at Charlotte Christian — and motivated by the importance of getting into the win column, he saw his team deliver a critical victory in unexpected fashion.
“I paid close attention to the Panther games the first two weeks,” Olsen said. “Didn’t look great. I thought they showed a little life into Week 2, they fell behind big to Arizona, tried to put a comeback together, obviously fell short. I think the home opener, there was a lot of interest in Carolina, in Charlotte. Obviously, I’m there, my friends, guys I know around the organization, the concern was: ‘Do they fall to 0-3?’ ‘Where are the wins on their schedule?’ I don’t know if I’m so much shocked they beat Atlanta, but I’m with Coach. You just don’t see a lot of games in the NFL that are 30-0, let alone a team that hadn’t won yet.
“Happy for Canales. I was probably equally if not more so shocked — see, I was shocked at the Green Bay loss. I thought through the first couple weeks, Green Bay offensively, defensively — Micah Parsons makes a big difference — I thought they were a really top-tier NFC team here with a chance to make a run here by the end of the year.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM.
