Speaker 1: When it's thirteen nothing and the Saints score touchdown to
Speaker 1: get it a little closer. I think everybody in the
Speaker 1: building thought, oh, is something coming. And to answer that
Speaker 1: immediately with score your own, with Laviska making the big play,
Speaker 1: I think that just made such a difference for these guys.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's that time of the week. It's a
Speaker 1: happy half hour podcast with your friends, Augusta Darren and
Speaker 1: Kristen Darren. Happy victory Thursday. I mean, we know victory
Speaker 1: Monday is a thing, but I just think we take
Speaker 1: it all week long, right, carry on the victory constant, victory,
Speaker 1: victory Saturday, victory Friday. Why not so much winning? Winning
Speaker 1: every day? You're always winning when you're in this building
Speaker 1: with these people. Let's put that on a T shirt.
Speaker 1: I love it. I love it. But it is a
Speaker 1: different field than the last two weeks in which we've
Speaker 1: done this podcast after losses. It's undeniable. Yeah, there's no question.
Speaker 1: When you walk through these buildings, you can tell the
Speaker 1: temperature of the place is different. I mean, and it's
Speaker 1: cooler for one. Okay, we've gotta stop on building on Augusta.
Speaker 1: Now they're getting all getting our jokes input, but try
Speaker 1: to deal. Um. But yeah, you can tell a difference
Speaker 1: in the room. I mean, I think at O and
Speaker 1: to everybody, you know, they were trying to push against
Speaker 1: the seven from last year and whether that carried over
Speaker 1: and do you call it a streak or whatever. But
Speaker 1: at O and two it was kind of hard to
Speaker 1: deny that everybody was starting to get a little worried
Speaker 1: about the direction things were going. And you know, when
Speaker 1: they were talking oh and two and talking about things
Speaker 1: are close, it didn't sound normal. But when you win
Speaker 1: a game and then you see, okay, the things they
Speaker 1: weren't doing all of a sudden they're doing better at
Speaker 1: and you see a tangible result, it does. It makes
Speaker 1: a difference in the building. And these human beings that
Speaker 1: do this stuff, um, kind of they try to stay
Speaker 1: as normal as they can, but it's expected to kind
Speaker 1: of go up and down with results. Well. And also
Speaker 1: to see that the the work you've been doing is
Speaker 1: paying off, right, that that is a big thing, whether
Speaker 1: or not you want to say, oh, it's the same
Speaker 1: no matter what. But I think, especially like for this defense,
Speaker 1: they created three turnovers. The game was one, right, they
Speaker 1: had not had any turnovers in those first two games
Speaker 1: as much as of a step that they took from
Speaker 1: week one to week two. You've got to think that
Speaker 1: just for the simple fact that, hey, our hard work
Speaker 1: is paying off the things that we have been trying
Speaker 1: to do an execute on we did and then we
Speaker 1: see the result has got to feel great well. And
Speaker 1: the other, you know, piece of simple fact is that
Speaker 1: they want to know in the NFC South and that's
Speaker 1: like a good, you know, breath of fresh air kind
Speaker 1: of I mean, everything is still in front of us
Speaker 1: sort of mentality that I think I've heard. I've heard
Speaker 1: it buzz in the locker room. I've heard that, and
Speaker 1: I think that's that's extremely valid, and you know that's
Speaker 1: that's a reason to be an important And the Box
Speaker 1: have the Chiefs this weekend. So two and two for
Speaker 1: the Box is reasonable. I Mean, you never know what's
Speaker 1: going to happen in these games, but I I do
Speaker 1: think that having something within reach that you can kind
Speaker 1: of see makes a big difference for these guys in
Speaker 1: terms of the attitude they walked through the building with. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: So let's uh, let's play a little game. Um, we're
Speaker 1: gonna we've done it before. What do we know about
Speaker 1: this team. What don't we know about this team? As
Speaker 1: we um, you know, we're into um, it's almost time
Speaker 1: for Week four against the Cardinals, So let's talk about
Speaker 1: what we've learned and some things that we are still
Speaker 1: trying to figure out. So what, Gust, I'll start with you.
Speaker 1: What do we know about the Panthers right now? Sort
Speaker 1: of already mentioned it a little bit, but I will
Speaker 1: say they can create turnovers and I think under the
Speaker 1: pressure undressed. I mean, after the postgame locker room, you know,
Speaker 1: one of the big questions was did you feel the
Speaker 1: pressure coming in the week? Every single question was, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, you're the only team that hasn't gotten a
Speaker 1: takeaway yet. What's going on in the defense? Was like,
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I know we're solid, but we still
Speaker 1: haven't got a takeaway. We still haven't got a takeaway.
Speaker 1: And something so just divine and nice about the fact
Speaker 1: that it was Frankie Lubu that force that first fumble
Speaker 1: after he had dropped the interception the potential pick six
Speaker 1: up in New York. I mean, it's storylines in front
Speaker 1: of your face, right, Um. But it's one of those
Speaker 1: things when you have an offense, you know, just kind
Speaker 1: of that, especially early on sort of struggles to get downfield,
Speaker 1: struggles to stay on the field, um, to get your
Speaker 1: first touchdown on defense on a takeaway, and then to
Speaker 1: have it like they said all week we heard, you know,
Speaker 1: they were like, takeaways are one of those things that
Speaker 1: when they happen, they keep happening. You know, they happen
Speaker 1: in jolts, and they happen in bolts. We saw three,
Speaker 1: We saw the game taking or sealed away by J. C.
Speaker 1: Horren with one, and so I just feel like we
Speaker 1: we learned that and also like they showed us, you know,
Speaker 1: it's not frustration in the weeks before, I wouldn't say,
Speaker 1: but you know, I mean, oh, the defense is good.
Speaker 1: The defense is the strength of the team. And they'll
Speaker 1: say that, but then you're like, well where the takeaways?
Speaker 1: Whereas the numbers? And so they were able to kind
Speaker 1: of get there with that, and um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think I think that's that's a good thing to build
Speaker 1: off of. Like they said, it will happen in in
Speaker 1: in in uh you know, bunches, bunches. Yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 1: And I you know, it's funny you said that about
Speaker 1: Frankie Luvu and and after the one that um, he
Speaker 1: did not make against the Giants, but each turnover had
Speaker 1: its own little story. As I was down there on
Speaker 1: the sideline, Augusta, you put it perfectly with the Luvu
Speaker 1: getting that ball out, Marquis scoop and score like just
Speaker 1: I mean, just bolting down there to the end zone,
Speaker 1: showing off that speed. And then you see Derek Brown
Speaker 1: with the one handed interception. In the play before that,
Speaker 1: he had a legitimate chance to make an interception. We're like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, she's this close. And then he goes
Speaker 1: out and does it. I mean he I mean looks
Speaker 1: some tbs would like to have made the interception that
Speaker 1: Derek made with that one hander. And then J. C.
Speaker 1: Horne with that third one right as the game was ending.
Speaker 1: I saw him and there's a great photo of this
Speaker 1: to Chanelle and Kenny are photographers got it. But he
Speaker 1: was on Crystal Lave towards the end of the game
Speaker 1: and he almost he almost picked him off, and he
Speaker 1: went up to him and he put his fingers up together,
Speaker 1: you know, like this close. And then a couple of
Speaker 1: days later he gets his interception. So, um, it was
Speaker 1: just a fun one, wasn't it. Guys. Yeah, they they
Speaker 1: and and they needed it. They needed to not just win,
Speaker 1: but they needed to be able to close. And because
Speaker 1: I think anybody who's been watching this team for the
Speaker 1: last little bit, when it's thirteen nothing and the Saints
Speaker 1: score touchdown to get it a little closer, and everybody,
Speaker 1: I think everybody in the building thought, oh, is this
Speaker 1: something coming? And to answer that immediately with a score
Speaker 1: of your own, I think, you know, with Lavisca making
Speaker 1: the big play, I think that just made such a
Speaker 1: difference for these guys, and it created a little breathing room.
Speaker 1: But then you still had to close. And so getting
Speaker 1: the late j C pick was that was that was
Speaker 1: the thing they absolutely needed to have happened. Yes, all right, Darren,
Speaker 1: that was what we do know what don't we know
Speaker 1: right now? We don't know how this team is going
Speaker 1: to offense this year. Uh, they are still trying to
Speaker 1: figure it out themselves, you know. Oddly enough for a
Speaker 1: team that can't convert third downs, pretty good at running
Speaker 1: the ball. I mean, Christian McCaffrey's got back to back
Speaker 1: hundred yard rushing games for the first time. So two
Speaker 1: thousand nineteen, now, Christian popped up on the injury report
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. We don't know what his status is gonna
Speaker 1: be for the rest of the week, what's going on there.
Speaker 1: As we should just say this is Thursday morning as
Speaker 1: we are recording this. We will have to practices between
Speaker 1: now and the game. So but we just can't We
Speaker 1: just can't tell the future and we don't know what's
Speaker 1: going to happen. But you are loyal listeners can read
Speaker 1: Panthers dot com for all the latest injury reports and
Speaker 1: updates from the practice field. Um, but yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Christian has played well. I think the running game is
Speaker 1: set up and it's kind of build on the fact
Speaker 1: that all those offensive line investments we talked about all
Speaker 1: offseason are starting to pay off. I think the way
Speaker 1: Ikey is playing, Uh, he gets a lot of attention
Speaker 1: for sacks he gives up. But when you open up
Speaker 1: your career against Myles Garrett, Mark's Davenport and you know
Speaker 1: some of the players he's seen, you're gonna give up
Speaker 1: some sacks. But Ikey has kind of stabilized a little
Speaker 1: bit and there's a little bit fewer of that oh
Speaker 1: my god play each week. And that's the big question mark.
Speaker 1: When the first picking you know your first pick in
Speaker 1: the first round is your question mark going into the year.
Speaker 1: You feel pretty good about things because he's very, very talented.
Speaker 1: You can see him make a difference in the run game.
Speaker 1: But it's how stable they've been in the middle. It's
Speaker 1: Brady Christians and it's Pat Elfline, it's Austin Corbett. That's
Speaker 1: been a huge difference for them, and they need to
Speaker 1: be able to do that because they're not very good
Speaker 1: at passing right now and Baker is struggling a little bit.
Speaker 1: But everybody's being careful to say it's not all Baker.
Speaker 1: It's receivers running routes at the correct depth, it's designed,
Speaker 1: it's play calling, and and when you part of this
Speaker 1: is one of those things that the more reps you
Speaker 1: get it something, the better at it you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: And of course everybody's gonna point to Baker didn't show
Speaker 1: up until just before training camp. But also not having
Speaker 1: third downs when you're not out there on the play.
Speaker 1: They're averaging like fifty five snaps a game of offense,
Speaker 1: and that's not enough snaps a game of offense. So
Speaker 1: until they can or until they can convert some third down,
Speaker 1: stay out there a little bit. It's going to be
Speaker 1: reasonable to expect all these new pieces that are fitting
Speaker 1: together to take some time to get to know each other.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen signs from Baker in training camp
Speaker 1: in the preseason that he can make some plays, but
Speaker 1: right now everything is just a little bit off. I
Speaker 1: know that. Okay, I'm gonna ask you a question that
Speaker 1: you probably can't answer, but for some contexts, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: aren't they um, But but for some context here as
Speaker 1: you talk about just things getting sorted out then playing
Speaker 1: together a little bit more, and and I know that
Speaker 1: you said that we've talked a lot about the fact
Speaker 1: that Baker was not here until a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: before training camp. Uh So my question is at what
Speaker 1: point do you want to see that consistency? If you're
Speaker 1: Scott Fitterer Matt Rule, I feel like usually what you
Speaker 1: kind of know what a team is by week four,
Speaker 1: week five. But with this offense having not gotten a
Speaker 1: chance to play together for um for as long as
Speaker 1: other offensive offenses have, when would you say, Okay, well
Speaker 1: we'll know more about what this offense is. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: correct answer, and this is easy to answer when they
Speaker 1: want to see it is yesterday when they want to
Speaker 1: see it is a week ago. Of course, Um, they're
Speaker 1: still We're going and and I asked Baker after the game,
Speaker 1: I said, what is a reasonable time frame for when
Speaker 1: we can expect this to look like fill in the blank,
Speaker 1: whatever it's going to be. And Baker kind of said
Speaker 1: after the game, He's like, you know, there really is
Speaker 1: no acclimation period. We've got to do it right now.
Speaker 1: That's the that's the time constraint. But I think it's
Speaker 1: fair that And the longer I've done this, the more
Speaker 1: I think about it, the things we see in September
Speaker 1: very seldom hold up to the scrutiny of a sixteen
Speaker 1: game season when we look back on it in December
Speaker 1: and you individualize those first three games. I mean, certainly
Speaker 1: last year, the first three games of the year, we're
Speaker 1: not indicative of the way season was going to go.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I think it's fair to say it's gonna
Speaker 1: take a little bit of time. I think by the
Speaker 1: time we've seen five six weeks of this thing, you know,
Speaker 1: certainly you don't want to just give away three weeks
Speaker 1: or anything like that. But I think it's fair that
Speaker 1: it's gonna take a minute for Baker to set on in.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take a minute for him to learn what
Speaker 1: this protection is like. It's gonna take a minute for
Speaker 1: DJ and Robbie and the tight ends and the backs
Speaker 1: and everybody to kind of get on the same page.
Speaker 1: So I think if we're still asking these questions in
Speaker 1: week eight or week nine, and that's a problem. But
Speaker 1: I think in week three, it's or week four, it's
Speaker 1: probably two soon start pushing panic buttons and saying, oh
Speaker 1: my god, they're never gonna figure this out. All right, Well, Darren,
Speaker 1: our intrepid reporter, has gone and tracked down our very
Speaker 1: own Panthers stats guy. What does will have for us
Speaker 1: this week Ficks of the Week? Okay, as promised, here's
Speaker 1: our very own from his undisclosed location here in Bank
Speaker 1: of America Stadium. It's Panther stat Guy with his data
Speaker 1: the week. We already know Frankiluvu does everything right, Darren,
Speaker 1: everything everything. I have numbers of the last two seasons,
Speaker 1: which is last season. In three games of this season,
Speaker 1: he has fifty five tackles, twelve tackles for lost, three
Speaker 1: fumble recoveries. The force fumble heard around the world last
Speaker 1: week all in four hundred and thirty snaps. Now, as
Speaker 1: Darren wrote on the website, those snap numbers are going up.
Speaker 1: But that is a zero point one four e p
Speaker 1: A per snap that stands for expected points at it.
Speaker 1: It's one of those new fangled fancy moneyball stats, which
Speaker 1: I really like. I don't know what an e p
Speaker 1: A is, but I'm assuming more of them is better.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's pretty good. It just means that he
Speaker 1: does a lot of things in very few snaps. His
Speaker 1: e p A per snap is eleventh among all defenders
Speaker 1: and third among linebackers of two years. Frankie Luvu, the
Speaker 1: Panthers stat guy of football players. Yeah, we talked about
Speaker 1: him a lot of. Frankie Luvu. My goodness, man, what
Speaker 1: a player. Yeah, and uh, if you want to read
Speaker 1: more about Frankie Luvu, there's a story this morning on
Speaker 1: Panthers dot com where de teases over to the website
Speaker 1: already I like it. Derek Brown calls it oos behavior
Speaker 1: when Frankie Luvu does a thing. He said, it's oos behavior.
Speaker 1: Us IS is short for the Samoan Usso, which means brother,
Speaker 1: and that's what they call him in the locker room.
Speaker 1: So Derek and the guys down there just have started
Speaker 1: calling it oust behavior when Frankie Luvu does Frankie Luvu thing.
Speaker 1: So he I mean he is, He's a tangible shot
Speaker 1: of energy for those guys, and he's always been an
Speaker 1: energy guy. The differences. Now he's put in plays with it,
Speaker 1: and that's what they need more than the jumping around
Speaker 1: the yelling. I have to say, there's nothing um more fitting.
Speaker 1: I was doing an interview with Frankie um and we
Speaker 1: were talking to the crowd right it was on the
Speaker 1: big board in the State Dum because after the preseason,
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, I just my job is
Speaker 1: to bring the energy and he pointed to the side
Speaker 1: of his neck and August, I don't know if you've
Speaker 1: seen this, he has the full battery tattoo right there.
Speaker 1: And I just thought, oh my god, Oh, that's the
Speaker 1: perfect encapsulation of who you are as a player and
Speaker 1: as a person, someone that is always bringing the energy
Speaker 1: and you just you feed off of it. Super cool,
Speaker 1: super cool. No, I totally have noticed the battery charge
Speaker 1: and I cannot remember who it was. Someone in the
Speaker 1: locker room this past week was talking about, you know, oh,
Speaker 1: how is he such a high energy guy? And they
Speaker 1: were like, have you seen on this? I was, I
Speaker 1: don't know if it was Brian Burns or J. C.
Speaker 1: Horns someone in that same corner. I'm like visualizing the
Speaker 1: locker room and they're all in the back there. But
Speaker 1: someone back there was like, have you not seen the
Speaker 1: tattoo of the battery? Like that's just that's that's the guy,
Speaker 1: that's the juice you're gonna get from from us. And
Speaker 1: he's probably one of those people to you ever noticed
Speaker 1: the most high energy people like don't drink coffee or whatever,
Speaker 1: you know, and they just wake up like that and
Speaker 1: you're like, oh my gosh, Evan Cooper cornerbacks coaches just
Speaker 1: like that too, you know. And you're like, I just
Speaker 1: would take a little bit, like if I had a
Speaker 1: battery tattoo on my neck, it would be like twenty
Speaker 1: five percent. You've got a reason for that, and I
Speaker 1: think that's fair. Um. But yeah, And and the other
Speaker 1: funny thing to me about Frankie is when you talk
Speaker 1: to Frankie, Frankie's kind of so spoken. Yeah, Frankie sort
Speaker 1: of eases into it when you're talking to him. You
Speaker 1: don't pick up the fact that he's hair on fire,
Speaker 1: constant intensity and all that kind of stuff, because the
Speaker 1: voice when you're talking to him doesn't match the product
Speaker 1: you see out there on the field. It's true. It's
Speaker 1: right under the surface though at any given time. Which
Speaker 1: is so fun. All right, Let's talk about Week four
Speaker 1: Cardinals coming to town. And there's a lot going on
Speaker 1: in this game, around the game, in the game. Um
Speaker 1: so let's talk about it. Let's go through something that
Speaker 1: each of you are looking for in this game. Darren,
Speaker 1: We'll start with you, I think first and foremost. I mean,
Speaker 1: they they've done a decent job in the past on
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray and the Cardinals in general. But Kyler Murray's
Speaker 1: a problem, and Matt talked about it yesterday. I mean,
Speaker 1: going back to the game he played against him at
Speaker 1: Bay Or when Kyler was at Oklahoma and put six
Speaker 1: touchdown passes and a and another rushing touchdown on the
Speaker 1: board against him. He just does so many things, and
Speaker 1: he's a he's a hard problem to solve because he
Speaker 1: is little, he does run around, he's hard to lay
Speaker 1: eyes on him, he's hard to find, and he's hard
Speaker 1: to catch out in the open field. But Kyler is
Speaker 1: just that kind of um guy. You almost have to
Speaker 1: umbrella out your defense and keep everything in front of you.
Speaker 1: I think back to the old days with Michael Vick. Um.
Speaker 1: I was just Thomas Davison were just talking about this.
Speaker 1: It's on the on the huddle and h TD was like, hey,
Speaker 1: I think you need a spy situation like I used
Speaker 1: to do with Michael Vick. And Thomas was drafted to
Speaker 1: be the Michael Vick stopper back in the day and
Speaker 1: it worked out pretty well once he got here, So
Speaker 1: I think they do. It's a different challenge when you're
Speaker 1: last week was all about attack and chase and blitz
Speaker 1: and put pressure on. And if you put too much
Speaker 1: pressure on and it's not discipline pressure, that guy can
Speaker 1: get out on the edges and make things happen. So
Speaker 1: you've got to be I don't want to say passive.
Speaker 1: You never want to be passive on defense. No coach
Speaker 1: has ever said we will have passive on game plan
Speaker 1: this week is to be passive on defense. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: you do have to make sure your eyes are right
Speaker 1: and you you're in the place you're supposed to be
Speaker 1: so because he can burn you, he can do it
Speaker 1: in a hurry, and he can heat up fast. I
Speaker 1: mean we saw in the overtime of that Raiders game
Speaker 1: and getting them to that point. I mean, the Cardinals
Speaker 1: have been slow starting on offense themselves at points this year,
Speaker 1: but they've been able to heat up in a hurry
Speaker 1: a couple of times. So you gotta you gotta keep
Speaker 1: an eye on it. Augusta. What's one thing that you're
Speaker 1: looking for? Okay, I'm going to give a shout out
Speaker 1: to the special teams units because they're so fun to watch,
Speaker 1: and I think in the last game we kind of
Speaker 1: saw saw like all of it kind of come together.
Speaker 1: First of all, the blocked field goal from Henry Anderson,
Speaker 1: who he was so fun to talk to him about
Speaker 1: that after the game, because um, you know, I asked him.
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, what's that like? And he goes,
Speaker 1: you go for it every single place, So when it
Speaker 1: actually happens, it feels almost surreal. It's like, wait, I actually,
Speaker 1: He's like, at first, didn't even process that I blocked it.
Speaker 1: It was like, like, you know, and no one made
Speaker 1: contact exactly, and he was like, no one was coming
Speaker 1: towards me because no one knew I did it, and
Speaker 1: so he was like it didn't feel real. It was
Speaker 1: like all this happened, but like no one was celebrating.
Speaker 1: Everyone was like, what's going on? You're like, did that
Speaker 1: actually happen? Can I tell you? I can tell you
Speaker 1: who was celebrating. We talked about this on the radio broadcast.
Speaker 1: Was my favorite report of the day, and I talked
Speaker 1: to him out Rule about it as well. Chris chamber
Speaker 1: let me tell you what. His headset fell off because
Speaker 1: he was so excited. And he's one of those people too,
Speaker 1: this very soft spoken when you talked to him in
Speaker 1: the office, and and then it has a different intensity
Speaker 1: when he's on the field, especially in a game. And
Speaker 1: then he went over to Rule and they had the
Speaker 1: most aggressive high five I've ever seen. Um. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it was on the TV broadcast. It was amazing, you know,
Speaker 1: and it's just the sideline it was. It was just
Speaker 1: such a great moment. It was akin to that that
Speaker 1: Marquis Haynes touched out with the momentum that it created
Speaker 1: um for this entire team. I actually saw it was
Speaker 1: right in front of where I'm positioned in the press box.
Speaker 1: That was where Tabor was, so I saw him and
Speaker 1: I wish I had like a video right now because
Speaker 1: the way he was just jolting his hand back and forth.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it was so fun. I totally saw
Speaker 1: that too. Um. But then you have Johnny Hecker, who
Speaker 1: is just very clutch punter, I think, and I would
Speaker 1: want to write a story about this at some point too.
Speaker 1: But just like knowing that you have a punter that's
Speaker 1: going to be able to pin the opposing offense as
Speaker 1: well as he can, I mean, that's a defense. It's
Speaker 1: going to be great. And then Eddie Pannero has it
Speaker 1: missed a field goal yet not trying to drink some
Speaker 1: knock on wood seven of seven. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: think we all kind of tightened up a little bit
Speaker 1: when Zannzalez got hurt, and Eddie Pannero has totally stepped up.
Speaker 1: He had some tough kicks in last game two, like
Speaker 1: forty two. I mean, it wasn't wasn't great. So I
Speaker 1: think I think wind was blowing too. Yeah you go,
Speaker 1: oh can he do? We had not seen him go
Speaker 1: um longer than in the thirties, So you're you're absolutely right,
Speaker 1: agust I think I think that is just you know,
Speaker 1: you don't talk about him until they mess up. It
Speaker 1: feels like sometimes when they're good, they're good, and then
Speaker 1: they're kind of in the background. It's one of those things,
Speaker 1: you know, you only notice it whenever it's bad, when
Speaker 1: you miss a kick or you know. But um, I
Speaker 1: think I think it's one of those things. I think.
Speaker 1: I I always appreciate watching it, and I love a
Speaker 1: good special teams. You know. I came from cover in
Speaker 1: South Carolina where you know beamer ball ha ha ha.
Speaker 1: So I love it. But you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: I love it, and you mentioned wind. I I feel
Speaker 1: like Kristen, you've probably kept an eye on the forecast
Speaker 1: this weekend. I I tell you what, I have been
Speaker 1: checking the forecast. That is the thing that I'm looking for.
Speaker 1: And I would just like to say, of course, the
Speaker 1: disclaimer is if we get rained on if if there
Speaker 1: is a delay, that is nothing compared to what is
Speaker 1: going on in Florida with you know where where Hurricane
Speaker 1: Ian is. Absolutely However, I have been checking the forecast,
Speaker 1: which which like the coaching staff is as well. That is,
Speaker 1: that is something that is going to affect this game
Speaker 1: if it is a day loose, you know, and so Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I've got my trash bags ready, That's what
Speaker 1: I keep in my book bag. I put the trash
Speaker 1: bag over my book bag so that I have a
Speaker 1: place for my equipment. Um, Darren, don't look at me
Speaker 1: like that. You know you can't see it. I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what it's worked before. How else do you put
Speaker 1: your equipment away? I mean, I guess you'd get a
Speaker 1: fancy case, but I just go good old trash bag
Speaker 1: right there down on the sidelines. There are a few
Speaker 1: things I love better in the world than being prepared
Speaker 1: and improvising on the spot. So you nailed at Kristen. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: thank you very much. But it will be a factor
Speaker 1: in this game for both of these teams if the
Speaker 1: weather comes into play, right, and I mean and look
Speaker 1: at the Cardinals. Weather doesn't come into play at least
Speaker 1: when when they're at home, So we'll see what happens. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's going to be interesting. And again watching this thing,
Speaker 1: I mean, you hope and again, as you said, well, Kristen, obviously,
Speaker 1: the thing we hope not is that our football game
Speaker 1: has impacted, but that everybody's gonna be okay, and that yes,
Speaker 1: you know, we're able to push through and get the
Speaker 1: people to help they need when they need it. And
Speaker 1: you think about all the people in Florida. Stanley Thomas
Speaker 1: Oliver's got family in Puna Gorda who were there and
Speaker 1: had to ride it out yesterday, And as soon as
Speaker 1: he comes practice field, he's calling to say, Okay, how
Speaker 1: is everybody wrote a very beautiful article about the players
Speaker 1: that have family down there or Florida ties and I
Speaker 1: write it yesterday and it puts it all into perspective,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. Yeah, stand, you know he's worried about being
Speaker 1: a gunner on special teams and getting down and you know,
Speaker 1: doing his Stanley things on the field, while also wondering
Speaker 1: how the folks are back home. So these are human
Speaker 1: beings also, and you hope all the human beings are okay,
Speaker 1: because that's the most important part, absolutely um And the
Speaker 1: last thing that of course we are all looking forward
Speaker 1: to and and watching out for in this game has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with the actual game, but also has
Speaker 1: everything to do with the actual game and the franchise.
Speaker 1: And of course there's nobody better to talk about it
Speaker 1: than Darren Gant keep pounding weekend. Yes, I love it.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be great. There are a lot of things
Speaker 1: going on this weekend, throughout the whole weekend to kind
Speaker 1: of celebrate the legacy of Sam Mills. And and you're right,
Speaker 1: I can set push the Darren button on his shoulder
Speaker 1: and make him talk about Sam Mills for fifteen minutes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can do that. Um, you can't say enough about
Speaker 1: the legacy the man left on this organization, on everybody
Speaker 1: who's ever walked through this building, uh in twenty seven years.
Speaker 1: And it's just gonna be neat to celebrate that. The
Speaker 1: folks from the Hall of Fame are coming. They're bringing
Speaker 1: his bust, which we saw when we were up in
Speaker 1: Kenton in August. And there are gonna be a lot
Speaker 1: of folks here. Family is gonna be here, a lot
Speaker 1: of former teammates, a lot of friends are coming into
Speaker 1: town for this celebration. It's gonna be a neat moment.
Speaker 1: I mean you can see. It's been interesting to me
Speaker 1: having known Sam documented the story for so long, seeing
Speaker 1: new guys react to it, seeing the keep pounding shirts
Speaker 1: in the locker room. This week, j J. Jansen did
Speaker 1: a neat thing down at training camp, and j J
Speaker 1: didn't personally meet Sam because he didn't get here until
Speaker 1: after Sam was gone. But JJ is kind of like
Speaker 1: the keeper of the flame of all things Panthers history
Speaker 1: in that locker room, and he can talk to people
Speaker 1: about what it was like and what I heard from
Speaker 1: and what carries on. So I think it's going to
Speaker 1: be a neat uh weekend at a lot of levels. Again,
Speaker 1: you hope all the conditions are perfect and everybody gets
Speaker 1: to enjoy it, but there's a lot of cool stuff
Speaker 1: going on this weekend to honor the guy who Steve
Speaker 1: Smith flatout says is the greatest Panther of all time.
Speaker 1: And of course, Darren, you were in Canton as you
Speaker 1: were just saying, Um, we were down at training camp
Speaker 1: and you're talking about the way in which it has
Speaker 1: affected the current players on this team. I don't know
Speaker 1: if we've ever told this story, and just this it
Speaker 1: always has stuck out to me. When they were doing
Speaker 1: the inductions and it was being broadcast, we were all
Speaker 1: down there. I guess I don't know if you were
Speaker 1: in there, but in this little you know, where the
Speaker 1: cafeteria is, and there's TVs um and kind of like
Speaker 1: a lounge area and everyone all the players who were
Speaker 1: walking through, stopped, sat down and watched the induction together.
Speaker 1: And you know, if if JJ is the longest tenured
Speaker 1: Panther and he didn't meet Sam Mills, these these guys
Speaker 1: that are currently on the team, of course, um have
Speaker 1: even less of a personal connection or probably don't know,
Speaker 1: you know, the family or anything personally. And they all
Speaker 1: sat down and watched and you know, glued to the
Speaker 1: TV and really taking it in. And I just thought
Speaker 1: it was incredibly beautiful. And I We'll get to see
Speaker 1: more of those great moments from from everyone in the
Speaker 1: Panthers community this weekend. Yeah, I've used this line a lot.
Speaker 1: I feel like I've probably used it too much. But
Speaker 1: you know, twenty seven year old NFL rookies who were
Speaker 1: teaching shop at a New Jersey high school aren't supposed
Speaker 1: to get to the Hall of Fame. Nothing about this
Speaker 1: story is normal. Sam Mills was undersized, he was overlooked. Uh.
Speaker 1: He got to three different places Philadelphia, New Orleans, and
Speaker 1: Carolina where nothing had ever been done or could be
Speaker 1: expected to be done, and they all succeeded. And it
Speaker 1: was in a large part because of him. Sam Mills
Speaker 1: isn't one of the best reason the history of football.
Speaker 1: Samuel is one of the best stories in the history
Speaker 1: of stories. I mean, just none of this was supposed
Speaker 1: to happen, and yet it all did. And I think
Speaker 1: because the way um he faced the adversity late in life,
Speaker 1: because the way he impacted people, because the way he
Speaker 1: treated people, That's why it resonates, and that's why at
Speaker 1: the beginnings of games, that's why it started four quarters.
Speaker 1: You still hear people in this building yell keep town
Speaker 1: because it means a lot to a lot of people
Speaker 1: at a lot of level. Beautifully said, I think that's
Speaker 1: where we should leave it. Yeah, um, Karen, thank you
Speaker 1: for that. That was That was beautiful and thank you
Speaker 1: all for listening. We'll see you next week. I'm the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour Podcast.