Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Half Hour, when Sam Donald
Speaker 1: and p J Walker become better options, it's like, what
Speaker 1: do you do? And he wanted to see if a
Speaker 1: different place could give him an opportunity to reset going
Speaker 1: into free agency again next year. And it's sort of
Speaker 1: like when your third quarterback wants to be somewhere else,
Speaker 1: you say, okay, texta, it's time for the Happy Half
Speaker 1: Hour with your friends Kristen Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's that time of the week. It's the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour podcast and the podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by Prowling Vineyards, Napa Valley. It's the official wine
Speaker 1: brand and wine club of the Carolina Panthers. These premium
Speaker 1: selections celebrate the great people of the Carolinas and the
Speaker 1: Panthers hunger to achieve excellence on and off the field.
Speaker 1: Learn more at Prowling Vineyards dot com. You're here with
Speaker 1: your friends Darren, Augusta and Kristen and guys, it's it's
Speaker 1: been a couple of weeks. We had Thanksgiving which fell
Speaker 1: on a Thursday, of course, our normal recording day. How
Speaker 1: dare Thanksgiving do that? And then we had the bye week,
Speaker 1: So it's nice to all sit here in the warm
Speaker 1: and cozy podcast studio and catch up. Augusta, how did
Speaker 1: you spend your bye week? It was excellent. I went
Speaker 1: back home, celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas all at once, which
Speaker 1: was overwhelming and exciting and joyful and wonderful. So it
Speaker 1: was really great. I will say I drove six hours
Speaker 1: both ways, so twelve hours total, and I felt every
Speaker 1: second of that long drive. But I listened to a
Speaker 1: lot of music and a lot of podcasts got through it.
Speaker 1: So happy to be back in Charlotte. I love it.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's like home. I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: going back home, like coming back to Charlotte, which was
Speaker 1: a good feeling. Yeah, I love it. It's a great feeling.
Speaker 1: How does that sound in your head at this point
Speaker 1: after you've been a Charlotte tean for all six months now?
Speaker 1: I mean it feels great. I I've I feel like
Speaker 1: I have done everything I can to to embrace the city,
Speaker 1: and I feel like the city has embraced me back.
Speaker 1: I love the Carolinas. I feel like it's like, if
Speaker 1: of all places to build a home, it's a great place.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean it's been It's been quick. I
Speaker 1: moved quick. I guess the contractually obligated to say all
Speaker 1: those things on the microphone. We know the real Augustus
Speaker 1: check the box. Yeah, don't run into her on the highway.
Speaker 1: That's all. That'll be a whole another podcast series, how
Speaker 1: about y'all. It was good, my folks. I'm fortunate. My
Speaker 1: parents are about an hour up the road in Hickory,
Speaker 1: suburban Hickory, and you know, I got to go see
Speaker 1: them a couple of times. Um, it's just good to
Speaker 1: be that close and have that availability. I you know,
Speaker 1: always think about you having to do twelve hours in
Speaker 1: the car this time of year, and sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: I'm the one who moved away to the city and
Speaker 1: I'm an hour away, and it's like, so the prodigal
Speaker 1: son has returned. Yeah, but it's great to get back
Speaker 1: and just slow down for a weekend, because when you've
Speaker 1: been going for twelve weeks of regular season and then
Speaker 1: the six weeks of preseason and all the stuff that
Speaker 1: led into this season, you know, with Hall of Fame
Speaker 1: and everything else, it feels like you've been spinning. Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, we were just talking before we started rolling
Speaker 1: about you know all the things that have that have
Speaker 1: happened this season, and Hall of Fame feels like, um,
Speaker 1: years ago, three or four years ago. Yes, yes, it's yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been. It's been a year here for the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers in a lot of ways, a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: has happened. So it's uh, but this is why we
Speaker 1: do the thing. The news business is exciting for exactly
Speaker 1: that reason, because you wake up in the morning you
Speaker 1: never know what you're gonna get. Well, let's talk about
Speaker 1: all of that. Then let's talk about the news that
Speaker 1: we got this week. I mean, of course we got
Speaker 1: to start with the quarterbacks. News came out on Monday
Speaker 1: that Mayfield was released by the Panthers. Darren, do you
Speaker 1: want to talk us through you know how it all
Speaker 1: went down, and it feels like the best thing for
Speaker 1: both sides. Um. But I think the cool thing about
Speaker 1: this podcast is that we kind of get the behind
Speaker 1: the scenes a little bit, a little bit more context
Speaker 1: than is out there just in a tweet or in
Speaker 1: an article. So walk us through it. Well, I mean
Speaker 1: the long and short of it is, they gave it
Speaker 1: a shot. I mean they effectively, when you pull back
Speaker 1: from this thing, they bet three million dollars in a
Speaker 1: fifth round pick in on a former number one overall pick,
Speaker 1: and it didn't work. And that's the short version of
Speaker 1: this story. The much longer version is Baker came in.
Speaker 1: He looked good at times, especially in training camp, and
Speaker 1: there were moments where you think, okay, yeah, I see
Speaker 1: where this works. But when the regular season started, it
Speaker 1: was almost like when Cam came in after the Arizona
Speaker 1: game last year, after that brief flash, you look at
Speaker 1: it and it's like passing offense not really working, and
Speaker 1: the inability to complete passes, as it turns out, is
Speaker 1: kind of a big deal for quarterbacks, and he wasn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he wasn't able to pass the ball at all effectively,
Speaker 1: and so at a certain point is insane as it
Speaker 1: sounds when you say the words out loud. When Sam
Speaker 1: Donald and p J. Walker become better options, it's like,
Speaker 1: what do you do? And he wanted to see if
Speaker 1: a different place could give him an opportunity to reset
Speaker 1: going into free agency again next year, and it's sort
Speaker 1: of like when your third quarterback wants to be somewhere else,
Speaker 1: you say okay, and again that's all perfectly normal until
Speaker 1: you pull back and realize Baker Mayfield, former number one
Speaker 1: overall picking Heisman Trophy winner who came here in July,
Speaker 1: was then released in December because he was the third
Speaker 1: best option behind Sam Darland p J. Walker. Make it
Speaker 1: all makes sense. And that's the third craziest thing that's
Speaker 1: happened to the Carolina Panthers this year, after firing a
Speaker 1: head coach in October, and then trading Christian McCaffrey, oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, which was three years ago in October,
Speaker 1: and and by the way, um not out of the
Speaker 1: playoffs in this season. And despite all that, we could
Speaker 1: have an actual conversation about playoff chances this week. And
Speaker 1: it's not as as as insane as it sounds. There
Speaker 1: are two games behind the Buccaneers, but the Buccaneers still
Speaker 1: got a forty nine ers game left on their schedule
Speaker 1: and a little bit tougher road according to strength of
Speaker 1: schedule numbers than what the Panthers do. But it all,
Speaker 1: but it all starts this week at Seattle, it does.
Speaker 1: And what what a season. As you said so far,
Speaker 1: it's what a season. It's going to be exciting the
Speaker 1: rest of the way with with all of that going on,
Speaker 1: I think one thing, you know, we're talking about how
Speaker 1: this podcast gives a little bit behind the scenes as well.
Speaker 1: And one thing I was talking to Wilkes yesterday about, um,
Speaker 1: you know, releasing Baker, and he started with this and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, I just want to say what
Speaker 1: a good person he is. And we heard Sam Donald
Speaker 1: say that as well, and I think we can all
Speaker 1: attest to that. Fans, of course, you you like or
Speaker 1: dislike players a lot of times based on their performance
Speaker 1: on the field, and we all forget the human aspect
Speaker 1: of it sometimes. And of course it's more noticeable when Darren,
Speaker 1: as you said, you have a number one overall pick
Speaker 1: who gets released. There there are guys who get released
Speaker 1: all the time, practice squad guys, you know, their trades
Speaker 1: that are made. There so many things that are out
Speaker 1: of these players control. And what they can control is
Speaker 1: is who they are. And I just want to say,
Speaker 1: for the record, for anyone listening, uh, Baker Mayfield, his
Speaker 1: wife Emily, Uh, great people and I wish them nothing
Speaker 1: but the best. And I think sometimes that gets lost.
Speaker 1: And I mean that's not to say that there's I
Speaker 1: mean everybody here that we work with. I think on
Speaker 1: the players side, there are really really good people and
Speaker 1: we're lucky to work with them, and so I I
Speaker 1: wish them nothing but the best, because, um, I've just
Speaker 1: always enjoyed my interactions with both of them. And that's
Speaker 1: the weird thing about Baker. He did. He comes in
Speaker 1: because he's Baker Mayfield. Because he has been a celebrity
Speaker 1: for the last seven or eight years, going back to Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: going back to his days in Cleveland. He's been in commercials.
Speaker 1: We feel like we know him. These are great commercials,
Speaker 1: by the way, commercials, but we feel like we knew him.
Speaker 1: And there was a certain image in everybody's head when
Speaker 1: he walked in the door. What I saw in the
Speaker 1: five months he was four and five months he was here,
Speaker 1: he did everything right other than played the football, which
Speaker 1: is an important part of being a football player. But
Speaker 1: from the way he operated in the locker room, the
Speaker 1: way he built relationships with guys he had never met
Speaker 1: before on the fly, the toughness he showed I was
Speaker 1: and again you want to talk about behind the scenes
Speaker 1: when he sprained that ankle and was trying to come
Speaker 1: back and play the next week against the Rams. That
Speaker 1: Friday afternoon before we got on the plane, to l
Speaker 1: A on Saturday. He worked out in the bubble and
Speaker 1: they were about seven or eight people in there watching,
Speaker 1: including Steve Wilkes, and I was standing about three paces
Speaker 1: behind Steve watching Baker rolled out, watching Baker do the things,
Speaker 1: watching him throw on the move, take drops, and you know,
Speaker 1: Steve just kind of shaking his head because a guy
Speaker 1: with the injury he had wasn't supposed to be able
Speaker 1: to do all those things. The toughness he showed all
Speaker 1: that stuff was exemplary. And I remember running in Baker
Speaker 1: in the hall after that work out that day when
Speaker 1: everybody was reporting, you know, that he was going to
Speaker 1: be out for a month or six weeks, and he
Speaker 1: just walked by me and he kind of laughed and
Speaker 1: he said, six weeks, my fill in. And that's just
Speaker 1: kind of who he was. He lived for the fight.
Speaker 1: And that's why I think people believe that players are
Speaker 1: just saying the right thing when they say, like Shaq
Speaker 1: Thompson was talking about all he's always going to be
Speaker 1: a brother's when you've been in this locker room. I
Speaker 1: like him, I'm gonna keep up with him, support him whatever.
Speaker 1: That's real because he did all this stuff correctly, other
Speaker 1: than play the football exactly. I think about the human
Speaker 1: aspect of things. Um. It's it's funny. It feels like
Speaker 1: we're just having like a like a post mortem on Baker.
Speaker 1: But he was really nice. I remember like all the way. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: he I just UM, I think, especially talking about the
Speaker 1: locker room, just how quickly he was able to build
Speaker 1: those connections. I I really was surprised almost by Um,
Speaker 1: especially early in the season, and how like on the
Speaker 1: practice field it felt like there wasn't a guy on
Speaker 1: the team that he wouldn't come up to and be like,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, what's up, or like shake hands or
Speaker 1: or bump helmets or just everything about it and Um,
Speaker 1: and that's one thing when christ and you're talking about
Speaker 1: the human aspect of it. I feel like so many
Speaker 1: locker room interviews. We got the open locker room on Monday.
Speaker 1: We talked to a couple of the guys after UM
Speaker 1: Baker was released, and it was, you know, it the
Speaker 1: amount of times that they've been like, well it's a business,
Speaker 1: but like he was my brother, and all the things
Speaker 1: like they've had. There's been a lot of coming and
Speaker 1: going from people who were very prominent figures in the
Speaker 1: locker room, people who made an effort to talk to everybody,
Speaker 1: get to know names. I mean, Baker new names on
Speaker 1: the staff, Like he would always say hi to me
Speaker 1: by name, which I thought was really nice and polite.
Speaker 1: I mean it was. There were just so many different elements.
Speaker 1: But they've been doing that all the year. They've been like,
Speaker 1: oh man, you know, it's the business. It's business. Things
Speaker 1: have been going in and out and and that's a
Speaker 1: that's a lot too, that's a lot like And that's
Speaker 1: why it feels I think like five six months has
Speaker 1: felt like a year because so much has changed. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you keep that core and you keep that kind of
Speaker 1: you know, I guess when you go through so much
Speaker 1: with so many the same people there, there's something about
Speaker 1: the great point. They've been through a lot. Locker room
Speaker 1: has been through a lot together this season, and they
Speaker 1: seem to just all really care about each other. Past
Speaker 1: present members included you know, um, which is that's that's
Speaker 1: a really good point, Augusta. And one thing, you know,
Speaker 1: I talk a lot about it on the radio broadcasts
Speaker 1: and sometimes you go like, I know, you guys have
Speaker 1: heard this before, but as we have a different quarterback starting,
Speaker 1: so so stop me if you've heard this before, but
Speaker 1: I do think it's important again to to tell people
Speaker 1: that that aren't here every day. That quarterback room now
Speaker 1: as it should be. Every quarterback room should be supportive
Speaker 1: of each other. But gosh, they really care about each other.
Speaker 1: And you know, when Sam got his first start, PJ
Speaker 1: was like beating his chest. You know, He's like, oh,
Speaker 1: let's go it. You know, it's so cool. All three
Speaker 1: of them, Um Baker included when he was here, just
Speaker 1: really rooted for the other two. And it's fun to
Speaker 1: watch each of them um as they've started, like their
Speaker 1: different styles pregame warm up, like Sam is you know,
Speaker 1: he's laid back, right, He's he's nothing. He's not gonna
Speaker 1: get too high, too low. I was just thinking what
Speaker 1: you guys were saying about when he's I don't you know,
Speaker 1: it's a business. Want the best for him. Like every
Speaker 1: day he's you know, I'm living my dream, whether I'm
Speaker 1: um hurt like he was earlier in the season, like
Speaker 1: he just got that real California cool, real steady. Baker
Speaker 1: of course has the the fiery personality and PJ is
Speaker 1: kind of in the middle, right, Um you know, he
Speaker 1: gets really fired up for things. But it's it was
Speaker 1: just fun to watch the three of them support each
Speaker 1: other all throughout training camp and um through the regular season.
Speaker 1: And I know that that's going to continue with Sam
Speaker 1: and PJ, who are the starter in the backup, respectively
Speaker 1: for this game. UM and and that's where the Panthers
Speaker 1: are at quarterback right now. And I gotta say it,
Speaker 1: I feel pretty good about it, right Fan Shapfield, pretty
Speaker 1: pretty good about I mean, and again a month and
Speaker 1: a half ago when they last played a football game
Speaker 1: against the Broncos in here, you know, we got good Sam.
Speaker 1: We got first four games of last year. Sam. He
Speaker 1: was careful with the ball, He hit a shot or
Speaker 1: two downfield, got to d J Moore. Uh And even
Speaker 1: when you know, the finding characteristic of his career has
Speaker 1: been whether he makes the turnovers or not, whether he's
Speaker 1: throwing interceptions or putting the ball in the ground. And
Speaker 1: against the Broncos, even when the ball ends up on
Speaker 1: the ground, it kind of works out and it turns
Speaker 1: into this new Holy Roller where where Sam falls on
Speaker 1: his own mistake and and takes it into the end
Speaker 1: zone just because nobody's touched him. And you know, if
Speaker 1: you can keep Sam from that big disastrous game, change
Speaker 1: the mistake. Now, if the Broncos fall on that ball
Speaker 1: on the one yard line, everything might have been different.
Speaker 1: The other night, everything might have been different for Sam.
Speaker 1: Uh you never know. Maybe PJ is starting again this week,
Speaker 1: who knows. But the point is he was able to
Speaker 1: avoid those big calamitous mistakes and turnovers. And when Sam
Speaker 1: Donald does that, as we saw the first three or
Speaker 1: four games of last season, they've got a shot and
Speaker 1: things are very different now. I mean, there is no
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey now for Sam Donald, but there's a better
Speaker 1: offensive then he's probably ever played behind in his life.
Speaker 1: And last year it was a revolving door. You know,
Speaker 1: we joked about it throughout last season. Fourteen different starting
Speaker 1: lineups in seventeen games, which is ridiculous. And this year
Speaker 1: it's basically been two and those two lineups, other than
Speaker 1: swapping out pad lf Line for Brandley Boseman, those five
Speaker 1: guys knock on Wood have played every snap of every
Speaker 1: game they've played in, so things have been stable up front.
Speaker 1: They're running the ball well with Deonte Formant. It's a
Speaker 1: good situation for Sam to walk into because the things
Speaker 1: he needs to succeed are all right there. And we've
Speaker 1: seen some some creativity with that offensive line, especially the
Speaker 1: last couple of games of something we've talked a lot
Speaker 1: about on the radio broadcasts with Thomas Davis for the
Speaker 1: TV show. We're seeing that unbalanced line, you know, camera
Speaker 1: ving at at tight end, reporting as eligible cade May's
Speaker 1: fullback extraordinaire and uh and they've been able to keep
Speaker 1: defenses on on their toes with with that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: And as you said, it's it's helping Sam Donald. You know,
Speaker 1: we are calling on the radio broadcast, Jack Deloom, Luke
Speaker 1: Key Clear calling for a cad Mays touchdown as soon
Speaker 1: as possible. They have been um lobbying Steve Wilkes several
Speaker 1: times that I have heard to to make it happen.
Speaker 1: I don't want to give away any game plan secrets,
Speaker 1: but that is something that we on in the broadcast
Speaker 1: booth would would very much like to see. You talk
Speaker 1: to Kate about that actually before the bye and he
Speaker 1: was like, your boy can run with the rock. Don't
Speaker 1: get my goodness. I mean, Caid's like got some confidence
Speaker 1: about his own ability. But I sort of joked with
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys on the line and and
Speaker 1: other than Bradley Bozeman, they all kind of deep down
Speaker 1: in their hearts believe they can be a playmaker with
Speaker 1: the ball. Um. Although Corbett Austin said, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: I topped out as a running back at seven years old.
Speaker 1: After that they were like, you're too big, go be alignment. Um,
Speaker 1: but all those guys deep down their heart believe they
Speaker 1: can be a playmaker. And and you know what, it's
Speaker 1: almost this sounds flip, but what do you got to lose? Yeah, game? Um, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, in all honesty, when you can't,
Speaker 1: when you haven't had a lot of success passing the ball,
Speaker 1: what do you do? You stick an extra offensive lineman
Speaker 1: on the field and you run and then maybe you
Speaker 1: mix it up. So it's uh, it would be something
Speaker 1: to see. It would be another wrinkle in this season
Speaker 1: to see the ball in cam Irving or cade May's
Speaker 1: his hands. Why not I know, I asked him, I said,
Speaker 1: who do you think we'll get the touchdown first? He's like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say Cade because then maybe it'll be me right,
Speaker 1: Like it's trying to put like the reverse jinks. I
Speaker 1: guess out there. Um, a little Bertie, this will be
Speaker 1: something fun for you guys. A little Bertie to tell
Speaker 1: me that cade May's um in the offensive line room
Speaker 1: recently during a meeting, got fined because he was bragging
Speaker 1: too much about his I believe a Little League World
Speaker 1: Series stats went on way too long about him and
Speaker 1: he got a fine for that too. Maybe that'll be
Speaker 1: an article on Panthers Dot comment somewhew. And if we
Speaker 1: do content about a rookie offensive lineman, that's another fine
Speaker 1: I can come up earlier in the years. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about Seattle. We are all headed out there on Saturday
Speaker 1: for the Sunday game. First things first, most important things. First,
Speaker 1: how are you guys occupying yourself on a five plus
Speaker 1: hour flight? Don't say Darren's gonna say work. I was
Speaker 1: writing articles, which I think is like a cardinal. I
Speaker 1: don't do that. But I'm going to catch up on sleep.
Speaker 1: I can almost guarantee I'm going to catch up on sleep.
Speaker 1: I will probably nap on that plane at some point. Um,
Speaker 1: I wish I'm not a good plane napper. I wish
Speaker 1: I was. I do I am. That's one of my superpowers.
Speaker 1: It is absolutely a superpower and the one that I
Speaker 1: do not possess unless I'm very, very tired. I will
Speaker 1: carry a book along with me. I will attempt to
Speaker 1: read that book. I will inevitably get drawn into a
Speaker 1: conversation by Rob or Bill or Ryan or somebody on
Speaker 1: the plane, and which keeps me from reading that book.
Speaker 1: And so it's I always have goals of just relax,
Speaker 1: read a book, sit back, take a nap, and it
Speaker 1: never quite works out that way, because there's always the
Speaker 1: one thing I'm going to be doing on the plane,
Speaker 1: honestly is looking for the WiFi so I can watch
Speaker 1: England France in the World Cup quarters on Saturday. Game
Speaker 1: you have? Are you rooting for one over the other? Um?
Speaker 1: England tends to be the second team of most American
Speaker 1: soccer fans because we watched Premier League. We're familiar with
Speaker 1: most of those guys, and and plus Harry Kane's a
Speaker 1: Tottenham guy, so I have to I have to root
Speaker 1: for him. Of course I'm gonna I sit behind Darren
Speaker 1: usually on the plane, so I'm just gonna be, you know,
Speaker 1: shout at go France in a year and just a
Speaker 1: few times, like I gotta occupy myself on this flight too,
Speaker 1: So that's what's gonna happen. So Augusta is a big
Speaker 1: killion inbop a fan and she's so she'll be who
Speaker 1: is it? Yeah? Huge, huge, can tell you I made
Speaker 1: a very off colored joke about the real football yesterday
Speaker 1: in front of Darren and I gotta react and it
Speaker 1: was pretty fun. I'm not a soccer fan. I'd love
Speaker 1: to be. I think it's so fascinating. I love like
Speaker 1: I'm almost like a fan of the soccer fandom. That
Speaker 1: makes sense. It's so cool. They get so excited, Like
Speaker 1: I know when USA played, which I get, I know
Speaker 1: what happened, but like there were people going out to
Speaker 1: like breweries at ten am. I'm like, man, what a
Speaker 1: culture Like? That's not I was at home and we
Speaker 1: were just chilling out. My family's not into it, but
Speaker 1: I was like my friends were texting me from you know,
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, we're getting free beer tickets like it's
Speaker 1: ten can I tell you? Um So that first game,
Speaker 1: I want to say it was maybe the weekend of Thanksgiving, right,
Speaker 1: um and we there was also um U NC n
Speaker 1: C State playing. I went to un see uh my
Speaker 1: dad did, my husband did so we decided my dad said, well, hey,
Speaker 1: you wanna go watch the game. You're home my hometown.
Speaker 1: We said, all right, and we decided would be a
Speaker 1: great time to take my son, who was almost one,
Speaker 1: to his first restaurant. Now we knew that USA was playing,
Speaker 1: but didn't think about, you know, just that the random
Speaker 1: ace that we decided to go watch the game would
Speaker 1: be filled with I mean, we had the US a
Speaker 1: chance and my my kid had never been in an
Speaker 1: environment like that. So we walk in and his eyes
Speaker 1: are like saucers because it's it's it's USA World Cup fandom.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's like it's like twelve, it's it's noon,
Speaker 1: and we're like, oh, just give him some lunch, Like
Speaker 1: it'll be a great way to use him into going
Speaker 1: to a restaurant for the first time, you know. And
Speaker 1: then we had and then we had you know, football
Speaker 1: going on, and I mean, the little guy held up well.
Speaker 1: But I know exactly what you're talking about, Augusta, because
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, I did not expect this level
Speaker 1: of just you know, there were chance he's like his
Speaker 1: head's I decide, like, you know, he's watching tennis. It
Speaker 1: was it was a great definitely unforgettable being born there
Speaker 1: like that story when he's older, a lifelong aversion one
Speaker 1: of them two, you know, depending on how it settles
Speaker 1: in there. Let's talk about this Seattle game. Um So,
Speaker 1: I was talking to Steve Books yesterday and you know,
Speaker 1: he just said, they're look, they're trying to build that
Speaker 1: playoff mentality from here on out. Everything. They need a
Speaker 1: view everything as a playoff game. And I said, well,
Speaker 1: what does that mean to you? What is a playoff mentality?
Speaker 1: And he said, look, it's all about execution, you know,
Speaker 1: not beating ourselves going out there, which is which is
Speaker 1: a great coach thing to say. But but Darren Augusta,
Speaker 1: you know, as you guys dive in and talk to
Speaker 1: the players and and look at this game, what needs
Speaker 1: to happen from here on out, because, as we said,
Speaker 1: not out of it right, I mean, they've got to
Speaker 1: tighten up on defense. I mean, the Seahawks can throw
Speaker 1: the ball around, believe it or not. Of all the
Speaker 1: insane things that we've said during this podcast, Gino Smith,
Speaker 1: m VP candidate, is playing really good football right now?
Speaker 1: And are you laughing? Because it's just so beyond me.
Speaker 1: I just like a picture of a World four months
Speaker 1: ago where you're saying this, and I'm like, this is
Speaker 1: the point of the NFL season where things just I
Speaker 1: was saying this before we started rolling. It's like every
Speaker 1: year about this time I'm watching the NFL. We got
Speaker 1: to say. I sit home and watch Red Zone last
Speaker 1: week and I'm going, what is going on in some
Speaker 1: of these games? Or you know, you look at the
Speaker 1: headlines and for year, I think this is this is crazy,
Speaker 1: like what's going on? And then I forget that this
Speaker 1: happens just about every time this year, Gino Smith being
Speaker 1: one of those stories former Jets Geno Smith and Sam
Speaker 1: Donald playing against each other with NFC playoff implications of course. Um,
Speaker 1: but you've got to be able to shut down two
Speaker 1: pretty productive receivers. And the Panthers have We've talked about
Speaker 1: all year, pretty deep at corner. They've done some different
Speaker 1: things in the secondary. Miles Hartsfield's coming back this year.
Speaker 1: This week it looks like he's back on the practice
Speaker 1: field after missing sometimes, so that helps a little bit.
Speaker 1: But you gotta be tight. You gotta run the ball,
Speaker 1: and the Seahawks are not very good at run defense.
Speaker 1: They've you know, blown some tires against teams. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you can look back at what Oakland did to
Speaker 1: him over two yards on the ground, including the big run,
Speaker 1: and over time, I mean, it's just they've sprunk some leaks.
Speaker 1: So it's a thing that kind of plays into the
Speaker 1: Panthers advantage and you see some of those little things
Speaker 1: where you think it could work. But I think to
Speaker 1: me mentioning that playoff mentality. Watching yesterday's practice, they were
Speaker 1: in the bubble because it's been Seattle weather here all week. Um,
Speaker 1: I think I'm on the injury report with mildew um,
Speaker 1: but it's it's just been damp and cool and gray.
Speaker 1: So they went in the bubble and there was a
Speaker 1: little I don't want to be corny, but there's a
Speaker 1: little extra something in the air, a little I don't
Speaker 1: know how to explain it, but guys were locked in
Speaker 1: and J. J. Jansen said after practice, he said, I
Speaker 1: had a couple of guys come up to me and say,
Speaker 1: this is different. This is you know, they know, they
Speaker 1: understand that if they want to keep talking about playoffs,
Speaker 1: if they want to have something to play for the
Speaker 1: rest of the year, it starts this week. They haven't
Speaker 1: won a road game yet, they need to do that.
Speaker 1: They need to put two together back to back for
Speaker 1: this to be anything with any legs. So I you know,
Speaker 1: I think they've got guys attention. And when Steve talks
Speaker 1: about playoff mentality means focus, it means attention to detail.
Speaker 1: Seeing those guys has kind of locked in as they were,
Speaker 1: it kind of speaks to that. I mean, he's gotten
Speaker 1: their attention, They understand the message. Now they just got
Speaker 1: to go out and do it. Was one of the
Speaker 1: things too, that I find so interesting and kind of
Speaker 1: building off of that. The playoff mentality, like you said,
Speaker 1: is like kind of like attention to detail of those things.
Speaker 1: But one thing that Steve Wilks has talked about a
Speaker 1: lot is not letting it get in the way. And
Speaker 1: this seems like a really big it game. You know,
Speaker 1: they have all the playoff stuff going on. They're going
Speaker 1: up to Seattle. It's a long trip. The weather is
Speaker 1: going to be Seattle weather. I think I was looking
Speaker 1: like thirty eight and rainy, So it's gonna be lovely
Speaker 1: and wonderful there. It's gonna wait to be out there
Speaker 1: for five hours and I'm just getting perfect perfect. But
Speaker 1: like you have all of the nous of it, you
Speaker 1: know not and then even like you know, oh, two
Speaker 1: wins in a row, went on the road. And I think, what,
Speaker 1: while like those big storylines are like what we talk about,
Speaker 1: I think the what Wilkes is trying to instill in
Speaker 1: the players and what they're kind of giving back to
Speaker 1: us is that like all of the the it nous
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, is like that that
Speaker 1: has to kind of go to the wayside, and it's like,
Speaker 1: just play the game, even though they'll be in the
Speaker 1: hostile environment. I was talking to a lot of them
Speaker 1: yesterday about kind of playing in Seattle and how loud
Speaker 1: it is and and a lot of them haven't played
Speaker 1: there before. Some of them were trying to relate it
Speaker 1: back to college college experiences. Um Brady Christians and I
Speaker 1: talked with him. He went to b y U and
Speaker 1: he was like, I haven't really played in a lot
Speaker 1: of places that were super loud, like you know, when
Speaker 1: I was in school. He's like, I went to Tennessee
Speaker 1: in the SEC and that was different. And he like
Speaker 1: looked over to cad Mazes Locker and it was kind
Speaker 1: of funny. But um, there's just all sorts of different
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing. It's like the not
Speaker 1: letting it get in the way. And that's such a
Speaker 1: big Steve Wilkes thing, and he has a lot of
Speaker 1: them bought into that, so like you try to ask
Speaker 1: them about the trends and things like that, and and
Speaker 1: I really do think like that kind of like translates
Speaker 1: into like the snappy practice. I feel like snappy is
Speaker 1: a good way because it felt like everything was moving
Speaker 1: very quickly, very efficiently. It was almost like a very
Speaker 1: well oiled machine. Not that every practice isn't like efficient,
Speaker 1: but there's something different. I agree, like something in there
Speaker 1: was like boom boom boom, boom boom, and it's a
Speaker 1: it's a good point, Augusta. With professional athletes, there's this
Speaker 1: this fine line of you need to focus in and
Speaker 1: be UM, be attentive, UM, have great execution, know the stakes,
Speaker 1: but not so much that it gets in the way
Speaker 1: of your mental thing. And it is that it is
Speaker 1: this tightrope that you're walking, which is I think what
Speaker 1: both of you were just saying. It's to know how
Speaker 1: important this is to do your job, to be tightened up,
Speaker 1: to to execute, but also to not let it get
Speaker 1: so big that you. It gets in the way of everything,
Speaker 1: which is why they're professional athletes and I'm not because
Speaker 1: I couldn't figure that out. N wouldn't say be quick,
Speaker 1: but don't hurry. Yes, exactly. Well, that's a perfect place
Speaker 1: to leave it with some of Darren's wisdom. Take no
Speaker 1: credit who I'm saying. It's all you Darren. All right, everyone,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening. We'll see an next
Speaker 1: week on The Happy Half Hour podcast. Wow