Speaker 1: Happy New Year, everybody Happy half hour? Is it a
Speaker 1: coincidence those two things start with the same word, I think,
Speaker 1: not welcome to it. It is twenty twenty four, and
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are ready for a
Speaker 1: fresh start, aren't they. Cassidy retweet it is. You know,
Speaker 1: it's always a weird time in the NFL calendar because
Speaker 1: you know, you think about seasons ending at certain points,
Speaker 1: and I think if everybody could have punched the clock
Speaker 1: after last week's game at Jacksonville, they might have signed
Speaker 1: up for that. But here we are. There's another game
Speaker 1: to go. I guess we'll talk about that one in
Speaker 1: a little bit, but before we get on, I mean
Speaker 1: we truly do. I think we need to look back
Speaker 1: on last week, Not so much the game itself. I mean,
Speaker 1: the game itself was an abject disaster. They lost whatever.
Speaker 2: Twenty six twenty.
Speaker 1: Six or was it one hundred to nothing?
Speaker 2: At that point, the points don't matter.
Speaker 1: I knew it was something to nothing, so whatever the
Speaker 1: other side of that equation was didn't matter as much.
Speaker 1: But I don't, obviously don't want to spend too much
Speaker 1: time on the game itself because it was dreadful. But
Speaker 1: I do think there are things to take away. I mean,
Speaker 1: the offense was as bad as we've seen it. It
Speaker 1: was Chicago level bad. It kind of went back against
Speaker 1: some of the stuff that had been working, some of
Speaker 1: the run games, some of the move Bryce around. But
Speaker 1: the reason I wanted to talk about the game, and
Speaker 1: you're uniquely positioned to talk about this cast having covered
Speaker 1: the Jaguars and been around Trevor Lawrence. You wrote last
Speaker 1: week about kind of the parallels between his rookie season
Speaker 1: and Bryce's rookie season, and as you watch that thing
Speaker 1: unfold or sink or whatever verb you want to put
Speaker 1: on it, last Sunday, I was wondering, you know what
Speaker 1: you kind of took back to, you know, your experience
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, watching Trevor kind of go through some of
Speaker 1: the same kind of stuff as a rookie.
Speaker 2: It was interesting, especially because of the parallels between the two.
Speaker 2: I mean, these are both guys that were number one
Speaker 2: overall picks. You know, bray Shawn was a Heisman winner,
Speaker 2: Trevor was a Heisman runner up. Guys that won national
Speaker 2: championships while in college, that kind of and they were
Speaker 2: both brought in not only is number one overall picks,
Speaker 2: because not all number one overall picks are created the same.
Speaker 2: There are some teams that just kind of maybe had
Speaker 2: a bad year and at that point it's like, hey,
Speaker 2: let's tank and let's go for it. But these are
Speaker 2: both two guys that were brought in with enormous expectations
Speaker 2: and had an entire franchise put on their shoulders as
Speaker 2: a rookie, and then we're told, okay, save.
Speaker 1: Us, yeah, and that you're that guy.
Speaker 2: Well, you're that guy. Don't let us down. And that
Speaker 2: sort of weight can be crippling. And I think what's
Speaker 2: important to recognize though, is that even though it could
Speaker 2: be crippling, there's a difference between guys that can't handle
Speaker 2: it and guys that might stumble under that their first
Speaker 2: year and then figure out how to carry it. And
Speaker 2: I think that's what we saw Trevor do, and that's
Speaker 2: what you're starting to see Bryce do as well.
Speaker 1: And obviously you were there during the COVID times, you know,
Speaker 1: all the interviews. It seems like we're done by zoom
Speaker 1: and that kind of thing. But how did Trevor handle
Speaker 1: that season? I mean, what was he like going from
Speaker 1: eminently successful Clemson quarterback who has tremendous hair to guy
Speaker 1: in the middle of a you know, he was the
Speaker 1: dog sitting at the table with the alice on fire
Speaker 1: saying this is fine.
Speaker 2: He does have tremendous hair. Does it really does like
Speaker 2: sunshine hair. The thing that Trevor did that always stood
Speaker 2: out that I have noticed in Bryce Young as well,
Speaker 2: is Trevor took all of the fault, the criticism, the
Speaker 2: responsibility on himself, and not in necessarily even an unhealthy way,
Speaker 2: but in a barrier way. He put himself as a rookie,
Speaker 2: out in front to protect all of the guys in
Speaker 2: the locker room behind him. When everything would go wrong,
Speaker 2: he would fall on the sword whether it was his
Speaker 2: fault or not, and a lot of times as the rookie,
Speaker 2: it was his fault. If we're being honest, I think
Speaker 2: he broke Peyton Manning's record for a number of interceptions
Speaker 2: in a year coming in as a rookie. I want
Speaker 2: to say he threw thirty or thirty two something around
Speaker 2: there that number. And as the season went on, it
Speaker 2: sort of became like a Okay, well let's just see
Speaker 2: what I can get away with. There's not going to
Speaker 2: be anything to get out of this season other than lessons,
Speaker 2: and that's something that I am a little curious to see.
Speaker 2: I want to go back and maybe watch some tape
Speaker 2: and listen to some old interviews to see how Bryce
Speaker 2: handled that, because about three quarters of the way through
Speaker 2: the season, maybe even a little before that, when it
Speaker 2: became imminently clear that that season was a wash, Trevor
Speaker 2: took on a reckless attitude in a way, but a
Speaker 2: good reckless attitude of Okay, all I'm going to get
Speaker 2: out of this year is figuring out what I can
Speaker 2: and can't get away with in the NFL. And that's
Speaker 2: on the field. There's a lot of off the field
Speaker 2: as well. On the field, it was I'm going to
Speaker 2: figure out what I can and can't get away with
Speaker 2: in the NFL. And that's why you saw his interception
Speaker 2: numbers balloon again in those last four games or last
Speaker 2: five games, because he was sort of figuring out his windows,
Speaker 2: figuring out his timing. But that helped imminently the next year.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing that maybe was a little disappointing
Speaker 2: about this game versus the Jaguars for Bryce and this
Speaker 2: offense is because we saw versus Green Bay the offense
Speaker 2: takes such a huge step forward. I kind of wish
Speaker 2: they had kept that aggressive attitude because at this point,
Speaker 2: what else do you have to lose? Kind of let
Speaker 2: Bryce figure it out. Yeah, but off of the field
Speaker 2: was really where I see a lot of these similarities
Speaker 2: where you know, Trevor kind of put himself up as
Speaker 2: the I'm trying to think of vocabulary spelling me the
Speaker 2: name of whatever the statues would be at the beginning
Speaker 2: of a city, at the front of a city, like
Speaker 2: you know, the gatekeepers. And Bryce did that last week
Speaker 2: after the game, and he did that again on Wednesday
Speaker 2: this week of his availability. He fell on the sword
Speaker 2: for a lot of problems that weren't even his funt.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, and we wrote about this yesterday. You know,
Speaker 1: Bryce has been sacked fifty nine times in fifteen games.
Speaker 1: Thank god he didn't play in Seattle, or we'd be
Speaker 1: on the verge of records. Steve Berline. I was here
Speaker 1: for the Steve Berline sixty two sack season in two
Speaker 1: thousand and I think Steve still kind of walks with
Speaker 1: a limp, but he was much older then. So but
Speaker 1: Bryce has done a good job. But even in talking
Speaker 1: about it, Bryce talks about things he should have done
Speaker 1: better or things. I mean, the offensive line at this
Speaker 1: point in the season is bordering on ridiculous. Nothing against
Speaker 1: the guys who were out there giving their best to play.
Speaker 2: Before the season's over. You're gonna play right guard.
Speaker 1: Darian, It's entirely possible. I mean, I might be out
Speaker 1: there if I'll show you the picture of me at
Speaker 1: Cataba Middle School later on. But I was pretty fierce
Speaker 1: and I could probably jump out there. But I mean,
Speaker 1: if JD. Dorenzo or somebody gets in a snap on offense,
Speaker 1: you know they've they will have reached ridiculous stage. Seven
Speaker 1: guys have played left guard this season. Eight different guys
Speaker 1: have played right guard. Have I mentioned They've only played
Speaker 1: sixteen games. They've gotten five games out of their projected
Speaker 1: starting guards this year because of injury. Brady Christian pops
Speaker 1: at biceps in in the first game of the season,
Speaker 1: and Austin Corbett's coming back from last year's new injury
Speaker 1: or knee injury, gets a new win in mid season
Speaker 1: after he's back for a minute, and it's just when
Speaker 1: that blows out the middle of your line. So much
Speaker 1: of the pressure on Bryce has been straight up to shoot.
Speaker 1: So I just think it's reached kind of ridiculous levels.
Speaker 1: But Bryce continues to say, well, I got to communicate better,
Speaker 1: I got to get the ball out quick, blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just he keeps it about himself, which
Speaker 1: a leader is supposed to do, and that's admirable. But
Speaker 1: the kid is also proving that he can take a hit.
Speaker 1: He keeps getting up. Guys talked about it. I asked
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton yesterday, I said, what's the lesson in this,
Speaker 1: and he said, he keeps getting up. You know, last
Speaker 1: Sunday when he Roy Robinson Harris lands on him, he
Speaker 1: said that was the first time he even stayed on
Speaker 1: the ground for a second. So and then he got
Speaker 1: up and continued to play, went to the tent for
Speaker 1: a bit, but he was all right. I mean, Bryce
Speaker 1: is a tough kid, there's no doubt about that. There's
Speaker 1: no doubt that he's an accountable kid. I just hope
Speaker 1: that he's not a broken kid by the time they
Speaker 1: get things right around him.
Speaker 2: And there's a caveat that goes here too. They were
Speaker 2: playing against one of the leading sack getters in the NFL,
Speaker 2: in Josh Allen, who set a new franchise record versus
Speaker 2: the Panthers on Sunday, broke Kalis Campbell's old franchise record.
Speaker 2: And so this was not for the faint of heart
Speaker 2: for any rookie quarterback to be playing against Josh Allen.
Speaker 2: And that's that's something. And we did see in the
Speaker 2: second half they started rolling Bryce out a lot more,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of getting him out of the pocket,
Speaker 2: letting him roll. I'll say this just for you and Darren.
Speaker 2: They let him roll on a few naked book boots
Speaker 2: there you go, just get him away from Josh Allen.
Speaker 2: And so we did see some adjustments to that and
Speaker 2: there were far fewer sacks in the second half.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little bit, a little bit, but you're right,
Speaker 1: I mean this just in Josh Allen good at football,
Speaker 1: both of them. And it's it's tough, I mean, and
Speaker 1: it's it was one of those you just kind of
Speaker 1: got to get through. Uh. Obviously, it's not an ideal situation.
Speaker 1: And and they'll finish it up this week and you
Speaker 1: know they'll be going out there, I'm assuming based on
Speaker 1: just sheer availability at this point. Cad May's broke a
Speaker 1: finger the other day, and wasn't able to finish the game.
Speaker 1: He's out there with the hand kind of clubbed up
Speaker 1: the other day in practice, and so I don't know
Speaker 1: if we're going to see Caid. So sure, Nash Jensen
Speaker 1: start a game on the other side, let's do that.
Speaker 1: Uh why not? What could possibly go wrong? But here
Speaker 1: we are. So anyways, it's it is not all doom
Speaker 1: and gloom because it is a new year. Uh. There
Speaker 1: was some moderately good news last night when Pro Bowl
Speaker 1: rosters were announced. The Carolina Panthers did not have any
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl per se, which when you go to and
Speaker 1: fourteen is not necessarily a surprise. But Derek Brown is
Speaker 1: a first alternate, and there is a reasonable chance that
Speaker 1: Derek ends up a Pro bowler because one of the
Speaker 1: people he is behind on that list is one Javon
Speaker 1: Hargrave of the San Francisco forty nine ers. And if
Speaker 1: they do what I anticipate, which is go to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, Derek will suddenly find himself a Pro bowler.
Speaker 1: It's interesting to me watching this season unfollowed. I mean,
Speaker 1: Derek has been the most consistent, the best player on
Speaker 1: this roster from start to finish. I mean he's he's
Speaker 1: there every day. He's playing a ton of snaps. I
Speaker 1: rode early in the year before you arrived, Cassidy. I mean,
Speaker 1: the guy's playing basically eighty percent plus of the snaps
Speaker 1: in every game, which is cool when you're a cornerback
Speaker 1: or somebody like that, or somebody who doesn't have to
Speaker 1: move very far. But when you are Derek Brown and
Speaker 1: you're three hundred and thirty pounds and throwing dudes out
Speaker 1: of the club left and right, to play the number
Speaker 1: of snaps he's playing and to play him at the
Speaker 1: level he's playing is amazing. He's sitting there on ninety
Speaker 1: six tackles, which is three tackles short of the record
Speaker 1: since they started counting these things in nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 1: which is amazing on its face. But Derek had the
Speaker 1: kind of season that you would only hope more people
Speaker 1: would follow along with, because I sat here weekend and
Speaker 1: week out and it's like, oh gosh, he just threw
Speaker 1: Zach Martin the you know, the Cowboys All Pro guard. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he just flung him out of the way. You know,
Speaker 1: he grabbed Alvin Kamara and just tossed him down the
Speaker 1: alley like a bowling ball, which we had some fun
Speaker 1: with in a video here a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just been impressive watching Derek blow up
Speaker 1: offenses from the inside out. Ninety six tackles over the
Speaker 1: course of the season.
Speaker 2: But he is tackling here for the interior alignment.
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, leading all defensive linemen in the league in tackles.
Speaker 1: He is just doing the thing at a very high level.
Speaker 1: And you know, I would anticipate, no matter what other,
Speaker 1: you know, changes happen around here this offseason, this is
Speaker 1: going to be the year Derek Brown gets extended. And
Speaker 1: you want to keep that guy here for a long
Speaker 1: long time because not only is he good at football,
Speaker 1: he's he's accountable. He shows up, he works hard, he
Speaker 1: does all the things the right way. So he is
Speaker 1: not a pro bowler by definition, just yet. He could
Speaker 1: end up one. But again, look at the guys he's
Speaker 1: up against. That Aaron Donald guy also good at football,
Speaker 1: Dexter Lawrence. You know, Dexter Lawrence is a different kind
Speaker 1: of of defensive tackle than Aaron Donald. Obviously, he's a big,
Speaker 1: wide body, but he's still got four and a half
Speaker 1: sacks this year nineteen quarterback hits, so he's played at
Speaker 1: a high level himself. And then Hargrave, who's out there
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, likely to go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So no real shame in being behind those three guys.
Speaker 1: I think you could divide it up and have your
Speaker 1: argument however you want to. But the one thing you
Speaker 1: can't question is has Derek Brown been amazing this year?
Speaker 2: Yes, he has, totally agree And when I realized that
Speaker 2: he was the like we said, leading tackler for defensive
Speaker 2: Plumban's that's so hard to do from that spot. Sure,
Speaker 2: some of that too, is because you draw double teams.
Speaker 2: I would imagine Aaron Donald's tackles numbers are pretty low
Speaker 2: because he's consistently getting double and triple team event at times.
Speaker 2: But when you affect the game, that's what you're asked
Speaker 2: to do as a defensive lignement, and that's what Derek
Speaker 2: Brown has done. And so a great point. You know,
Speaker 2: it's kind of hard to argue slash who could argue
Speaker 2: either way, but he's very likely going to be there
Speaker 2: and well deserved.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I hope, So Derek deserves that. And among the
Speaker 1: other alternates that were announced, Brian Burns after making the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl. The last two years, Brian's had a down
Speaker 1: year by any account. He would be the first to
Speaker 1: tell you that he is a second alternate, and then
Speaker 1: Johnny Hecker and JJ Janssen are third alternates at punter
Speaker 1: and long snapper for the Bowl, which is now a
Speaker 1: flag football game. I have questions as to what a
Speaker 1: long snapper and punter do during a flag football game,
Speaker 1: but uh, you know, we'll we'll see. Maybe if enough
Speaker 1: long snappers and punters get injured, they can join in
Speaker 1: and tell us about that. But both of those that's
Speaker 1: what they do. Yeah, exactly. They stand around and eat
Speaker 1: snacks and tell jokes, which is kind of what they
Speaker 1: do a lot of days anyway. But you know, Johnny
Speaker 1: was in an unusual position last week. Speaking of unusual,
Speaker 1: We've seen some things here with the Carolina Panthers in
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, and last week I saw
Speaker 1: something that I would say I've never seen before. But
Speaker 1: I have a kicker getting hurt in pregame warm ups
Speaker 1: when Eddie Pinero comes up tight and isn't able to kick.
Speaker 1: You know, Johnny Hecker was sitting there as the emergency
Speaker 1: kicker for field goals and I asked Johnny after the game.
Speaker 1: I said, Johnny, what what was your range? Range? Unlimited?
Speaker 2: Now I say that when you don't have to kick.
Speaker 1: Exactly, other others may disagree. Asked Chris Taber the other
Speaker 1: day whether he trusted Johnny throwing a pass or kicking
Speaker 1: a field goal more, and he kind of thought about
Speaker 1: it for half a second. He said, Oh, yeah, throwing
Speaker 1: a pass. So it's not an ideal situation, but it
Speaker 1: feels kind of normal considering the way this season's gone down.
Speaker 1: So in the spirit of in the spirit of finding
Speaker 1: people who can do other things. Since Cassidy is new here,
Speaker 1: this is exactly. This is your fifteenth day as an
Speaker 1: employee of Panthers dot Com, so we're still getting to
Speaker 1: know Castiy Hill. So I want to know, in addition
Speaker 1: to all the things we know you're good at, like
Speaker 1: covering football and those kind of things, what is a
Speaker 1: hidden skill that Cassidy Hill has.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I have no idea.
Speaker 1: Can you juggle?
Speaker 2: No, I can't, but I did make somebody do that
Speaker 2: for a story. Once took him some tennis balls in
Speaker 2: the locker room.
Speaker 1: That's better with eggs because it increases an element of
Speaker 1: risk in that because you don't want to break anything all.
Speaker 2: I took just enough piano lessons growing up to think
Speaker 2: that I can play piano, but other people might disagree.
Speaker 2: Grew up on a farm, so I can ride a horse, okay,
Speaker 2: And I spent an ill advised year and a half
Speaker 2: and sometimes still do this for family and friends. As
Speaker 2: a wedding planner, let me tell you that takes a
Speaker 2: special set of skills and delusion to talk yourself into
Speaker 2: doing that. That was.
Speaker 1: Who's worse at a wedding? The bride or the mother
Speaker 1: in law?
Speaker 2: Let me tell you who the Oh I'm glad you
Speaker 2: said mother in law, because the worst person at the
Speaker 2: wedding is hardly ever the bride. It's usually a mother.
Speaker 2: But it's not even the bride's mother. It's the mother
Speaker 2: of the groom when she does not have a daughter, because.
Speaker 1: She goes full Mama bear on the entire process and
Speaker 1: gets to fulfill the unrealized wedding.
Speaker 2: Fantasy and it's like, you know, okay, you get to
Speaker 2: do the cake. Well, that cake is the center of
Speaker 2: the wedding, and yeah, the mother of the groom, which
Speaker 2: she does not have a daughter, is the worst person
Speaker 2: to deal with during wedding planning. So let that be
Speaker 2: a lesson to any of you. If you have a
Speaker 2: son and no daughters and he's getting married, take some
Speaker 2: pity on that poort wedding planner.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, we could just continue this trend, turn
Speaker 1: this into a bit three questions with a newcomer. We
Speaker 1: know you can ride a horse, play a piano a little,
Speaker 1: and you are a wedding planner at points in your life.
Speaker 1: You have been here again, this is fifteen days. You've
Speaker 1: been a Charlotte Tian all of a sudden.
Speaker 2: What is not the word?
Speaker 1: What if you? Yes, we are not Charlatan's, although sometimes
Speaker 1: we can be. We are. We are, in fact Charlotteans.
Speaker 1: What do you call Green Bayons? Green Bay Heights?
Speaker 2: Cold?
Speaker 1: That's funny. Is there a name for that? What do
Speaker 1: you call residents of green Bay?
Speaker 2: Green Bayons?
Speaker 1: Green Bayons? Green Bay?
Speaker 2: I don't know if I ever really heard that come up?
Speaker 2: Maybe green once or twice, the.
Speaker 1: Green Bay hive, like you say, maybe something like that,
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Good reference.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go. So, yeah, you're a Charlotte Tin.
Speaker 1: You've been driving around our fair city for fifteen days.
Speaker 1: Now what have you learned, what have you seen? Knew
Speaker 1: that you weren't expecting here in Charlotte that.
Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting.
Speaker 1: Hmmm.
Speaker 2: Uh. This may be just because I have lived in
Speaker 2: an area without them for the past like ten years.
Speaker 2: But there are so many interstate connectors here and I
Speaker 2: keep getting them confused. I missed my exit coming into
Speaker 2: work this morning.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 2: I had to take like a ten minute round about.
Speaker 2: So that's getting used to that the other thing. And
Speaker 2: maybe it's just because, like I happened to notice this
Speaker 2: on a broadcast right before I moved, But I've always
Speaker 2: thought of Charlotte as the Queen City. Like I knew
Speaker 2: that was a nickname for Charlotte, but I didn't realize
Speaker 2: how many other cities also liked to claim that nickname
Speaker 2: until I was watching I think it was a Bengals
Speaker 2: game right before I moved, and somebody called Cincinnati the
Speaker 2: Queen City. Yeah, And I was like, why, that's what
Speaker 2: makes Cincinnati the Queen City. But then you get here
Speaker 2: and you realize this is not just a nickname. It's
Speaker 2: like a whole identity. Because there's crowns on everything.
Speaker 1: There's crowns on everything, our statue is inside the airport.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I realized this the other day flying to Jacksonville. Our
Speaker 1: statue has been moved from out in the pns of
Speaker 1: Queen Charlotte. Oh Charlotte her own self is standing.
Speaker 2: Watch Queen Charlotte on Netflix.
Speaker 1: No, I did not. I'm terrible at Netflix. I'm terrible
Speaker 1: at streaming shows. But anyway, you are a Charlotte tean.
Speaker 2: I feel like it should be mandatory to watch the
Speaker 2: Queen Charlotte Show.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe that's on my list for the off season.
Speaker 1: I've got I've got a big to do list and
Speaker 1: a big to read list.
Speaker 2: And I will pay five dollars for you to come
Speaker 2: back on this podcast during the off season and give
Speaker 2: us your review of Queen Charlotte on Netflix.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this could be a challenge, This could be a bit.
Speaker 1: We'll keep doing that so anyway, So all right, we're
Speaker 1: getting to know you a little bit of a time
Speaker 1: here on the Happy Half Hour. We will continue that
Speaker 1: process over the course of the year. We got one
Speaker 1: more game to talk about next week. It will be
Speaker 1: a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that needs this one to
Speaker 1: make the playoffs. The Carolina Panthers could screw things up
Speaker 1: for somebody else. Burns has been talking about being the
Speaker 1: grinch all off season, so he might enjoy that. A
Speaker 1: lot of people might. We'll see how that goes. Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield's all beat.
Speaker 2: Up, Baker Mayfield return game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Baker Mayfield revenge game. There's a lot of Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield content to explore. Maybe we'll do that next week,
Speaker 1: but I have a feeling we're gonna be talking about
Speaker 1: a lot of other stuff next week, because as we
Speaker 1: get into an off season, it's gonna be different. Gang.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be a lot of change this offseason, as
Speaker 1: everybody anticipates when you go to and fourteen plus. Whatever
Speaker 1: happens this week, we will take a deep breath. We
Speaker 1: will get into all that next week on the Happy
Speaker 1: Half Hour. See all then
Speaker 2: Then