Speaker 1: This week on a Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2: There are a stretch of games coming up. I try
Speaker 2: not to get too far ahead, but when you look
Speaker 2: at this first half of the schedule, it t seems
Speaker 2: like Chicago, Washington, the Giants, etc. I mean, there's nothing
Speaker 2: in there that's so overwhelming that you couldn't see this
Speaker 2: team winning a handful of games before that bye week.
Speaker 1: Touchdown, cow Row, It's time for the Happy Half Hour,
Speaker 1: presented by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: Here are your hosts, Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 2: Hello friends, and happy Victory Thursday. I'm declaring it victory Thursday.
Speaker 2: Not because the Carolina Panthers won a game last week.
Speaker 2: They did not. I am declaring it victory Thursday because
Speaker 2: last night our friends at Charlotte FC defeated the hated
Speaker 2: Chicago Fires to four to three, earned four to three
Speaker 2: to clinch a playoff spot for the second year in
Speaker 2: a row. So congratulations to our friends at Charlotte f C.
Speaker 3: It was almost it was really four to two, and
Speaker 3: they snuck a three in there right there in like
Speaker 3: the last minute.
Speaker 2: It's it's no fun if it's ever easy. But congratulates
Speaker 2: it to our friends from FC. And that is how
Speaker 2: we will begin this week's Happy half Hour, Happy about soccer,
Speaker 2: happy about playoffs in the Carolinas, And welcome to the
Speaker 2: Happy half Hour, presented by a Southern Star and official
Speaker 2: bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers. Celebrate the spirit of
Speaker 2: the Carolinas with the playoffs and cool stuff and normal
Speaker 2: football by the Carolina Panthers. How about that gang?
Speaker 3: Maybe this, Maybe Charlotte f C is a good omen
Speaker 3: for the Panthers this year, although you said they made
Speaker 3: the playoffs last year too, they.
Speaker 2: Made the playoffs. Maybe not, but you know they beat
Speaker 2: Chicago last night. Chicago's on deck this week.
Speaker 3: Right, and I think they also play our boss man
Speaker 3: Greg pointed out to me last night they also play
Speaker 3: Washington the same weekend the Panthers played the Commanders.
Speaker 2: There you go.
Speaker 3: So maybe we'll go for a full sweep.
Speaker 2: Let's see, let's see what happens.
Speaker 3: But we'll start by seeing what happens on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, first things first, Let's see what happens this week
Speaker 2: with the Carolina Panthers and the Chicago Bears. Yet another
Speaker 2: Andy Dalton revenge game. Yeah, we're gonna get a lot
Speaker 2: of those. We had Cincinnati last week not so good
Speaker 2: but well not so bad either at the same time.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing about this week. It's been so
Speaker 2: unusual walking the building. It's not like it doesn't feel like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, they lost a game. It's like when
Speaker 2: they came out of that Bengals game last week, everybody
Speaker 2: was feeling pretty good about life, just because there were
Speaker 2: points and they were competitive, and they were down and
Speaker 2: came back a little bit. So it was a lot
Speaker 2: of that progress that a lot of people have talked about.
Speaker 2: And you know, as weird as it sounds, people are
Speaker 2: feeling pretty good about things.
Speaker 3: And it's not even so much like feeling good in
Speaker 3: a moral victory sort of way, but feeling good in
Speaker 3: a hey, we're right there sort of way. That Bengals
Speaker 3: game showed them, you know, especially back to back with
Speaker 3: the win against the Raiders. Even though the Bengals game
Speaker 3: was a loss, there was a lot of Okay, we
Speaker 3: did this part really really well, and we did this
Speaker 3: part wrong, but that part's addressable, so let's fix that,
Speaker 3: and then we've got this all going together again and
Speaker 3: moving forward. So a lot to work with from that
Speaker 3: Bengals game, even though it was a loss. And I
Speaker 3: think they were like a little mad too, to realize
Speaker 3: that they could have won that game, no question. And
Speaker 3: you know, sometimes being a little pissed off as the
Speaker 3: best motivator, especially for a competitor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, and they
Speaker 2: kept talking about very specific things, and that's that sign
Speaker 2: of progress. Dave Canalis keeps talking about wanting to see
Speaker 2: this team progress, wanting to see him take the next step.
Speaker 2: They have taken it the last two weeks offensively, because
Speaker 2: what we've learned is that this team has a little
Speaker 2: bit of an identity. We've learned that they can run.
Speaker 2: We've learned that they do have a good offensive line.
Speaker 2: Even with a guy out with injury. The entire group
Speaker 2: stepped up and maintain that personality of being a physical
Speaker 2: running team. And that's why getting shut down on the
Speaker 2: first drive at fourth and goal at the one really
Speaker 2: kind of bothered those guys. I mean, Robert Hunt talked
Speaker 2: about it haunting him for a long time. I can
Speaker 2: picture Big Rob losing sleep at night, you know, days later,
Speaker 2: over one yard they did not get because that's kind
Speaker 2: of who they want to be. They want to be
Speaker 2: the team that goes for fourth and one and converts it.
Speaker 2: So you know, with Andy Dalton at quarterback, they are
Speaker 2: not going to be a big quarterback sneak team. But
Speaker 2: what they can do is get behind the big boys
Speaker 2: and line up, hand it to Tuba and let him
Speaker 2: do his thing. Right now, you know, I think there
Speaker 2: are things obviously that they want to improve beyond that
Speaker 2: one yard they didn't get. There were drop passes, but
Speaker 2: that's the thing I mean, and they kept going back
Speaker 2: to those very specific things like a drop pass, like
Speaker 2: a failed forth down conversion, And that's so far from
Speaker 2: where we were at points last year and earlier this year,
Speaker 2: where everything looked a little unsettled. So I mean, to me,
Speaker 2: that stands as progress. And I've kind of joked about,
Speaker 2: you know, normal football, but these last two games have
Speaker 2: looked like normal football, normal football games contested by normal
Speaker 2: football teams. So let's see what happens.
Speaker 3: I think the specific things you were talking about as
Speaker 3: well make a difference, because it's less. We've just got
Speaker 3: to get better and more. Okay, we need to focus
Speaker 3: on our wrap tackling. We need to focus on the
Speaker 3: drops again, addressable issues and not just big picture. Well,
Speaker 3: we've got to be a better football team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but there is there is no question things are
Speaker 2: going much better. Andy Dalton is playing well. As I
Speaker 2: pointed out this morning on the social media, Andy Dalton
Speaker 2: has thrown for over twenty two miles in his career.
Speaker 2: Now he is he is rolling.
Speaker 3: I read that number wrong when I first saw your tweet,
Speaker 3: and I was like, twenty two thousand? Is he halfway
Speaker 3: to the moon?
Speaker 2: Like you and numbers are not friends? We are not
Speaker 2: Yill and you and numbers got some messy relationship stuff
Speaker 2: in your past. I don't know what's going on there.
Speaker 3: But listen. I finagled the system so that the last
Speaker 3: math class I ever took was the first semester of
Speaker 3: my junior year of high school, and I never took
Speaker 3: another one again. And the second I walked out of
Speaker 3: that class, I left it all out of my brain. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I said, I'm done. I'm done.
Speaker 2: Boy. Well, every now and then, I'm going to ask
Speaker 2: you to math here at Panthers dot com past, so
Speaker 2: we'll work on that.
Speaker 3: But Jaren's going to sit me back to a high
Speaker 3: school math class and possibly a fifth grade grammar class.
Speaker 2: Yeah, one of my favorite things this week, and to
Speaker 2: the point of Andy Dalton playing well and providing a
Speaker 2: little you know, personality this team. Five hundred and thirty
Speaker 2: nine pass yards, five touchdowns in the last two weeks.
Speaker 2: That's pretty good. Yeah, Andy Dalton's balling out right now.
Speaker 2: He is on one, as the kids say. But I
Speaker 2: started getting into kind of the historical perspective on Andy's numbers,
Speaker 2: and it's amazing. I mean, I don't think people realize
Speaker 2: where Andy Dalton is on these all time lists. He's
Speaker 2: tied for twenty fourth all time in touchdown passes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of quarterbacks that have played in
Speaker 3: the NFL.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of all the quarterbacks who have ever played, he's
Speaker 2: got more of the things than all but twenty four
Speaker 2: of them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you put together a list to the twenty
Speaker 3: four that are ahead of him, Like, I think six
Speaker 3: are already in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Nine are already in the Hall of Fame. Two are
Speaker 2: going to be as soon as they're eligible. In Tom
Speaker 2: Brady and Drew Brees. I mean those two guys are
Speaker 2: one two and both the touchdown and yards list.
Speaker 3: And then the ones there's a few that are still playing.
Speaker 2: There's a handful there also, six still playing, some of
Speaker 2: whom are going to be Hall of Famers. So I
Speaker 2: just think I am not suggesting that Andy Dalton is
Speaker 2: a future Hall of Famer. He is probably not. I
Speaker 2: think he's more in line with guys like Carrie Collins,
Speaker 2: Vinny Testaverdi, you know, Carson Palmer, Drew Bledsoe, guys who
Speaker 2: were just pretty good at football for a long long time.
Speaker 2: And that's okay right now. I think that's what the
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers need to create that sense of stability. But
Speaker 2: when I asked Andy yesterday, you know, if there were
Speaker 2: quarterbacks he looked up to, he mentioned being a Texas guy,
Speaker 2: that Troy Aikman was one of those guys. Andy Dalton
Speaker 2: has eighty six more touchdown passes and six thousand, one
Speaker 2: hundred and eight more passing yards than Troy Aigman.
Speaker 3: Is there a cat let me? Okay, numbers are impressive.
Speaker 3: There's probably a small caveat there because Troy Aiateman played
Speaker 3: with him at Smith, right, but still, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 3: That's it.
Speaker 2: Andy Dalton played with Cuba Hubbard. Those two things are
Speaker 2: effectively the same, right, Basically, maybe.
Speaker 3: Not Chuba Hubbard is now I think fourth all time
Speaker 3: on the rushing list of Canadian born NFL players. There
Speaker 3: you go, it's not bad, but yeah, Andy, if nothing else,
Speaker 3: provides a higher floor to kind of you know, rising
Speaker 3: tides lift all boats and so let's raise the floor
Speaker 3: and it'll raise the play of everyone around him.
Speaker 2: And we've seen that, no question about it. And you've
Speaker 2: seen progress from Deontay Johnson. You've seen, Okay, here's what
Speaker 2: plays look like. You see Legat getting open it and
Speaker 2: making plays and he's a big, go get it guy.
Speaker 2: And that's why I think it's going to be interesting,
Speaker 2: especially in this time where Adam Thielen's not on the field,
Speaker 2: You're going to see things evolve because it's an opportunity
Speaker 2: for Mingo, it's an opportunity for Lega to get out
Speaker 2: there and make those plays. Because everybody knows that. I mean,
Speaker 2: the book is already out on Deontay Johnson based on
Speaker 2: the coverage he saw in second half of that game
Speaker 2: and what he'll probably get moving forward. People are on
Speaker 2: it and know that, Okay, that's the first read, and
Speaker 2: they don't mind saying that out loud.
Speaker 3: When you know he's the first read and you know
Speaker 3: he's going to be a primary target that opens everybody
Speaker 3: else up on the field. Though yep, and granted, like
Speaker 3: you said, that means at I'm feeling is not one
Speaker 3: of those that gets opened up. But you know, you
Speaker 3: draftedly get in the first round for a reason. You
Speaker 3: can use Cuba Hubbard out of the backfield on swing
Speaker 3: passes and will the wheel route is always open, so
Speaker 3: you can use him on those little plays too. Having
Speaker 3: Deonte on the field, like I said, it just you
Speaker 3: can trust him with fifty to fifty balls and if
Speaker 3: there's a ball where it looks like it might be okay,
Speaker 3: more sixty forty for the defense. Now you've got another
Speaker 3: wide receiver who's probably running a little more open.
Speaker 2: Because of it. It just opens a lot of things up.
Speaker 2: And having that guy who has seen it, has done it,
Speaker 2: has the experience, you know, it kind of creates those
Speaker 2: lanes and creates the opportunities for a lot of other guys.
Speaker 2: So right now, the Carolina Panthers offense is doing some
Speaker 2: good work. On the other hand, it gets a little
Speaker 2: dicey on the other side of the ball, and I
Speaker 2: think some of the one of the things I've said
Speaker 2: about this team is. You know, we went through two
Speaker 2: really rough games at the beginning of the year, change quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: The last two have been a little bit better. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm the guy who tries to take the longer view
Speaker 2: of things. The things that were true about the Carolina
Speaker 2: Panthers in July and August remain true. This team is
Speaker 2: not overburdened with pass rushing weapons. They are still trying
Speaker 2: to figure that out, and that showed up in a
Speaker 2: big way Sunday against the Bengals. When you're playing against
Speaker 2: a Joe Burrow and there's a t. Higgins and a
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase on either side of the field, you can't blitch,
Speaker 2: you can't create pressure. And then when you're not getting
Speaker 2: it from the traditional organic sense, you know, that makes
Speaker 2: it tough to move people around. So it's it's kind
Speaker 2: of rough sledding. The other day. I mean, when the
Speaker 2: Bengals go four straight touchdown drives boom boom, boom, boom boom,
Speaker 2: especially to start the third quarter, that was kind of it.
Speaker 2: So it's, you know, it's one of those things. I
Speaker 2: think some of that stuff's going to be a little
Speaker 2: more available this week going against the Bears. You know,
Speaker 2: even though Caleb Williams has had an up and down
Speaker 2: start to his own career, he is not Joe Burrow,
Speaker 2: so I think because you're playing a rookie that loosens
Speaker 2: a few things up offensively, he.
Speaker 3: Is still someone that likes to scramble around. That's just
Speaker 3: a little bit of hangover from his time at USC
Speaker 3: where he had to be superman. He had to win
Speaker 3: every game. He didn't have a defense he could rely on,
Speaker 3: so it was all on him, and he still has
Speaker 3: some of that in him. But we saw last week
Speaker 3: with the Bears in one of their two wins, that
Speaker 3: was Caleb's worst stat line of the season, but in
Speaker 3: a way it was it was still his best completion
Speaker 3: percentage and he didn't turn the ball over. So he
Speaker 3: did what he needed to do as a quarterback of
Speaker 3: a team with a good defense. But you almost kind
Speaker 3: of hope that you get them into a shootout a
Speaker 3: little bit to force him to run around, because then
Speaker 3: as a rookie, maybe you can get him into some coverage,
Speaker 3: sacks and things like that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, how weird is it that we're talking about the
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers hoping to get in shootouts right now?
Speaker 3: I said last week, I thought it was going to
Speaker 3: be a shootout and it wasn't quiet, but it wasn't
Speaker 3: quite a shootout, but it was inch and right up
Speaker 3: towards it.
Speaker 2: It is moving in that direction. So it's been interesting.
Speaker 2: And we started a show talking about, you know, Charlotte
Speaker 2: FC and playoff atmospheres and last night being here in
Speaker 2: the building when they clinched that playoff BIRTHDA that was
Speaker 2: pretty cool. I think the other thing that really stood
Speaker 2: out to me about last week's game against the Bengals
Speaker 2: is this crowd was into it.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean you've got people out in the park lot
Speaker 2: spray painting their hair orange before the game. They're coming
Speaker 2: in there hollering and being loud at all the right
Speaker 2: times in the fourth quarter, and it's like, Wow, this
Speaker 2: is what it's supposed to feel like. Yeah, people are
Speaker 2: into this thing. You know, people like points, people are
Speaker 2: into the scoring stuff. So it's it's good times right
Speaker 2: now and it's kind of interesting to see these guys
Speaker 2: develop a little bit of that personality as a football team.
Speaker 2: And on to Chicago, we'll see what we'll see what
Speaker 2: it looks like. Because there are a stretch of games
Speaker 2: coming up. I try not to get too far ahead,
Speaker 2: but when you look at this first half of the schedule,
Speaker 2: it teems like Chicago, Washington, the Giants, et cetera. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's nothing in there that's so overwhelming that you couldn't
Speaker 2: see this team winning a handful of games before that
Speaker 2: bye week. Yeah, and or an amount of ball games
Speaker 2: handful implies five, I suppose, but that that may be
Speaker 2: pushing it. But this team's in a position to win
Speaker 2: some games right there.
Speaker 3: They're definitely capable of winning. I almost think this may
Speaker 3: be a bold take that may cut this out to
Speaker 3: save me. I think the I think the Washington game
Speaker 3: will be tougher than the Chicago game.
Speaker 2: With the I mean Jayden Daniels on a heater right now. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there ain't no doubt about that. It's uh, well, we'll
Speaker 2: see how that develops. But we take them one week
Speaker 2: at a time. Here at the Happy half.
Speaker 3: Hour, So that's in Dave Canalis, that's what he's that's
Speaker 3: what he's about.
Speaker 2: No doubt. We're all about that grind. We're also all
Speaker 2: about the happy half hour jukebox. You had me listening
Speaker 2: to Spotless by the Lumineers. I forgot what song Zach Brian.
Speaker 2: Here's a you know that song's kind of dark too,
Speaker 2: you know, speaking of messy relationships like you and math.
Speaker 2: That was practically a Taylor Swift song there just happened
Speaker 2: to be saying.
Speaker 3: It's more about like neither one of us are perfect,
Speaker 3: but that's okay because we don't. We can't try to
Speaker 3: be perfect just to be with each other.
Speaker 2: Let's go be not perfect together, so it's perfect. It's
Speaker 2: an interesting style. Here's the funny thing about Zach Brian.
Speaker 2: When Christian McCaffrey was hosting a fundraiser a couple of
Speaker 2: years ago, Zach Brian came here and played it for
Speaker 2: Christians Foundation, and Christian was all into it. And to times,
Speaker 2: Zach Brian was still kind of this h YouTube star
Speaker 2: before he had gone mainstream. And when I was talking
Speaker 2: to Christian doing some stuff for the website about this concert,
Speaker 2: I said, Christian, man, I didn't think you'd be into
Speaker 2: Zach Brian. He kind of got this hurt look on
Speaker 2: his face and he was like, why would you think that?
Speaker 2: And I was like, I don't know, I just kind
Speaker 2: of thought of you as a little more. But yeah,
Speaker 2: Christian McCaffrey, our old friend is still uh is still
Speaker 2: in Zach Brian. I dig him. He is he is authentic,
Speaker 2: he is genuine, and those are all good things. Speaking
Speaker 2: of genuine and authentic, I had you listening to John
Speaker 2: Prime last week. Uh.
Speaker 3: I always liked John Prime, but I had not heard
Speaker 3: that song before. That was a fun, little ditty, fun
Speaker 3: little love story. Yeah, it took me. I had to
Speaker 3: listen to it a second time to make sure that
Speaker 3: he did end up with the dancer from the first
Speaker 3: two verses, and then I got distracted again in the bridge,
Speaker 3: so I went and listened to it a third time,
Speaker 3: and I was like, Okay, yes, that is who the
Speaker 3: woman was. But that was fun. I liked the the
Speaker 3: course of that.
Speaker 2: That song includes one of my favorite lyrics ever. Can
Speaker 2: you guess which it was?
Speaker 3: Let me let me google the lyrics.
Speaker 2: Well, I can just spoil it for you while we're
Speaker 2: we can pretend and through the magic of editing MAC
Speaker 2: act like you're googling right now. But when John Prime sang,
Speaker 2: I sat there at that table and and acted real
Speaker 2: naive because oh ye, that topless lady had something up
Speaker 2: er sleep gang. That's writing right there, that's just writing.
Speaker 2: And as a writer. The first I remember the first
Speaker 2: time I heard that, I was like, whoa, So just
Speaker 2: the uh painting a word picture as we like to say.
Speaker 3: See topless lady had something up er sleeve did catch
Speaker 3: my ear? The yeah every single time.
Speaker 2: That is that is good stuff. So anyway, all right,
Speaker 2: what do you got for me this week?
Speaker 3: Well? I actually went back and forth between a couple
Speaker 3: of songs, and I sat in my car this morning
Speaker 3: and listened to one and I tried to listen to
Speaker 3: it as Darren and I was gonna go with that one,
Speaker 3: and then as I was walking in I changed my mind,
Speaker 3: specifically because the song I changed my mind to I've
Speaker 3: listened to probably over one hundred times. And to your
Speaker 3: point about writing, there are still a few lyrics in
Speaker 3: that song that, after listening to it this many times,
Speaker 3: still make me sit back in my seat. So we're
Speaker 3: gonna go with what has actually become a mainstream hit,
Speaker 3: but I think started out as a very good indie song,
Speaker 3: stick Season by Noah Khan.
Speaker 2: All Right. I saw Noah Khan at the uh is
Speaker 2: that how you say it? Is it? Con? We just
Speaker 2: go con saw him at the eleven Life Festival here
Speaker 2: in town.
Speaker 3: Eight then you probably heard him play sticks.
Speaker 2: I probably heard it. I'm not sure off the top
Speaker 2: of my head which one that is right now, but
Speaker 2: we will give it a listen.
Speaker 3: Uh, there is one thing he does with his writing
Speaker 3: that I'm not super crazy about where he times it.
Speaker 2: But you know, we'll give it a shot. We'll give
Speaker 2: it a shot. Speaking of writers, the United States of
Speaker 2: America lost one of our great heroes last week, and
Speaker 2: Chris Christofferson Rhodes scholar, former Army helicopter pilot, singer, songwriter, actor,
Speaker 2: renaissance man. He is one of he's one of the
Speaker 2: most influential writers that have ever lived. He just happened
Speaker 2: to do it to the tune of music, and I
Speaker 2: just it was one of those things that floored me.
Speaker 2: You say bad words when you hear that he had
Speaker 2: passed last week at eighty eight. This man has lived
Speaker 2: a life. He was a unique individual in every sense
Speaker 2: of the word, and a hero to a lot of people,
Speaker 2: including me. So I've been listening to I've been depressing
Speaker 2: everybody around me all week listening to Chris Christopherson songs
Speaker 2: because a lot of them are a little dark, Because
Speaker 2: this man lived a little bit of a dark life
Speaker 2: in a lot of ways. But you know from songs
Speaker 2: like Me and Bobby McGee that everybody's heard to. You know,
Speaker 2: Sunday Morning coming Down that Johnny Cash turned into a hit.
Speaker 2: He wrote, whether you realize it or not, some of
Speaker 2: the most influential songs in the American canon. So we
Speaker 2: will listen to some Chris Christopherson this week, specifically the
Speaker 2: Pilgrim chapter thirty three. There aren't actually thirty two other chapters,
Speaker 2: but you can listen to the Pilgrim. I will listen
Speaker 2: to a little Noah con. We'll come back next week
Speaker 2: and talk about Panthers Bears and see if the Carolina
Speaker 2: Panthers get their first ever win in the city of
Speaker 2: Chicago in the regular season. They have one there before
Speaker 2: when Steve Smith had like a million yards in the
Speaker 2: playoffs in five but it's been a minute since that happened.
Speaker 2: So we'll see what happens in Chicago, and we'll see
Speaker 2: you guys next week on the Happy Half Hour.