Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy half Hour with your friends.
Speaker 1: Kristen Belboni, Will Bryant, and Darren Gamp. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour with your friends, Will, Darren, Kristen and
Speaker 1: producer Matt Guys. Happy Thursday morning. How are you feeling?
Speaker 1: We're happy? How else would we be? You gotta be.
Speaker 1: It's contractually obligated that you're happy for this half hour,
Speaker 1: For this half hour, for this particular half hour, we
Speaker 1: are going to be happy as best weekend. The clock
Speaker 1: has started. We have twenty nine minutes and fifty seconds left. Well,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's uh, it's a tough time to to
Speaker 1: be happy. Um, considering right, like where what's happened the
Speaker 1: last four games? That's that's a fair statement. But we
Speaker 1: are gonna focus on the future, right, I mean in it.
Speaker 1: I think it's the only reasonable way to go. We
Speaker 1: could spend a half hour chopping up exactly what went
Speaker 1: wrong in New York and over the couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: and I think to be fair, we have like I
Speaker 1: have to. I have talked to to Matt Rold twice
Speaker 1: this week, and those interviews are out, whether they're on
Speaker 1: TV or on the website. Or social media. Darren's written
Speaker 1: plenty of articles, we published plenty of articles on them.
Speaker 1: But now at this point in in the week is
Speaker 1: when you turn the page and for what it's worth,
Speaker 1: Darren is perfectly dressed to chop it up right now.
Speaker 1: Based off of this, you could go right now that
Speaker 1: no one can see, no one idea Darren's got. He's
Speaker 1: got a vest with uh like a plaid button down
Speaker 1: um flannel. He's got a perfect flannel in jeans combo
Speaker 1: like he has worn this too. Chopped down a tree
Speaker 1: with an ax? Have you ever chopped down a tree?
Speaker 1: I have chopped down a tree with an ax. One
Speaker 1: time in my old neighborhood we had a Bradford payer
Speaker 1: that ice storm windstorm failed down and rather than actually
Speaker 1: call somebody a professional to remove this tree, I said,
Speaker 1: I've got an AX. I'm going to chop the rest
Speaker 1: of this tree down. How cool did you feel on
Speaker 1: a scale of one attempt about a night team? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You know, I think because then also that the neighborhood,
Speaker 1: like the neighbors are cheering for you, like what a
Speaker 1: hero to You're helping everybody out. You know, It's not
Speaker 1: just like you're in your backyard. You're doing something for
Speaker 1: the good of others and you look cool doing it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it and it felt pretty cool. I'm not gonna lie, ax,
Speaker 1: and chopping felling a tree in your own yard makes
Speaker 1: you feel like a little bit more of a man.
Speaker 1: There's no question felling a tree felling all right. So
Speaker 1: let's uh, let's let's talk about where the Panthers are
Speaker 1: right now. As we said, we've made the executive decision
Speaker 1: that on the Happy half Hour podcast, where we're contractually
Speaker 1: applicated to be happy for twenty seven and a half
Speaker 1: for a minutes, we're not going to go back too
Speaker 1: much to the Giants game. It's out there if you
Speaker 1: want to read Darren's articles or watch my interviews or
Speaker 1: what have you. We're going to talk about where this
Speaker 1: team is right now, which is they're facing Atlanta there
Speaker 1: three and four, and that they've got some issues that
Speaker 1: they've got to get right on before before this game
Speaker 1: that they're working on this week. So do we want
Speaker 1: to start the offense, guys, of of where this offense is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think they're is still in kind of a
Speaker 1: holding their breath moment because you are still a week
Speaker 1: away from Christian McCaffrey being eligible to come back. So
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting the idea of I mean,
Speaker 1: they know they're in a spot right now, they know
Speaker 1: that things aren't perfect. The protection hadn't been perfect all year.
Speaker 1: Now John Miller's gone on IR so you're shuffling the
Speaker 1: offensive line again. Six different combination in eight games will
Speaker 1: be this Sunday in terms of starting five in front
Speaker 1: of Sam Donald. And you know, Sam hadn't been great,
Speaker 1: and they acknowledged that he hadn't been great, and it's
Speaker 1: beyond just missing Christian. I mean Sam as the stuff
Speaker 1: Matt Rule talked about yesterday with Sam's timing and he's
Speaker 1: rushing everything and Sam and Sam talks about it too.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's not in denial. He knows he's been
Speaker 1: poor the last couple of weeks himself. But it's not
Speaker 1: as if Sam's never played decent football here. He was
Speaker 1: competent early. Uh, he was competent in Dallas honestly for
Speaker 1: stretches of that game. So yeah, the last couple things
Speaker 1: have gotten away from him and he's gotten rushed and
Speaker 1: it's one of those technical football things that sounds walky,
Speaker 1: but he's going too fast through his drop. So when
Speaker 1: he's supposed to be at nine yards, he's only at
Speaker 1: eight because his feet are going to do do do,
Speaker 1: And that throws off the timing the routes where he
Speaker 1: thinks guys are supposed to be there, not there because
Speaker 1: they haven't had the time to get to the spot
Speaker 1: they're supposed to be. And Matt just took him back.
Speaker 1: In the film, it's like, let's watch New Orleans in
Speaker 1: week two. You were good, then let's watch that as
Speaker 1: a visual reminder of what you're doing. And and Sam
Speaker 1: owned it. I mean he knows it, and and he's
Speaker 1: got to get it fixed. And they've got to try to,
Speaker 1: you know, simplify everything around him, you know, get a win,
Speaker 1: get you know. And and that was the weird thing.
Speaker 1: Not to go too back, too far back into New York,
Speaker 1: but the first drive against the Giants, it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I don't work, ran the ball, ran, ran the ball,
Speaker 1: chewed up some cock, converted a couple of third downs,
Speaker 1: You get down there, you kick a field goal. It's like,
Speaker 1: all right that, you know, do a couple more of
Speaker 1: those and you might get out of here today. And
Speaker 1: they were in they were in the red zone when
Speaker 1: see him threw that interception, And it goes back to
Speaker 1: what you were saying, Darren, which is just when you
Speaker 1: look at where that ball was thrown, there was there
Speaker 1: was no one really quite there, but the way that
Speaker 1: you just explained it and and a lot of times
Speaker 1: that is what it is. It's just like a couple
Speaker 1: of little things. You know, this this person is not
Speaker 1: quite where they're supposed to be and he's rushing things
Speaker 1: a little bit. Take that a little bit easier than
Speaker 1: maybe you complete that, and it's I mean, they got
Speaker 1: down the field to do it right. And you know
Speaker 1: if you go and you look at the all twins
Speaker 1: of that, you know there I think it was trueba
Speaker 1: or you know there wasn't an outlet like right in
Speaker 1: front of him. You know that was relatively open for
Speaker 1: six or seven yards. You know. Part of it is
Speaker 1: the you know, it's the the chicken in the egg
Speaker 1: of some of this of your rushing because you feel
Speaker 1: like the protection is breaking down. Sometimes the protection is
Speaker 1: there and you rush yourself into a sack because you're
Speaker 1: stepping up into a place where there they've already blocked
Speaker 1: this up and now you've stepped out of it or
Speaker 1: into it. You know, so there's a lot of different
Speaker 1: parts that play there. You know, it might feel like
Speaker 1: a drop, you know when the ball comes out, Well,
Speaker 1: that's because they weren't expecting the ball. You know already
Speaker 1: they were you know, there were still another step on
Speaker 1: the route. You know, there's a lot of different things
Speaker 1: that play into it. And of course there's you know,
Speaker 1: when you're putting the offense and positions sometimes where they've
Speaker 1: got to start on their own four yard line or whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, that's that's a hard place for anyone to
Speaker 1: start to try to get out. So and I think
Speaker 1: we should just go through. We'll talk special teams next,
Speaker 1: Defense next. Well, I know you've got to stay out
Speaker 1: of the week, um. And I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1: It's of course, and I said this to to Matt
Speaker 1: role One. I talked to him on Sunday right after
Speaker 1: the game. You know, it's not just about the offense,
Speaker 1: but of course they were, you know, and he said
Speaker 1: that it was special teams to not put them in
Speaker 1: great positions. Defense started out well, and of course either
Speaker 1: you know, got tired or struggled a little bit late
Speaker 1: in the game. We'll talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1: So there, it's not just on the offense these losses,
Speaker 1: even though that's what I think the majority of fans,
Speaker 1: maybe some media are focusing on. Right, it's the there
Speaker 1: are other other groups need to play well as well.
Speaker 1: But let's talk about the it's um. I do want
Speaker 1: to talk about the offensive line, though, really quickly is
Speaker 1: I think I know this is the happy half hour,
Speaker 1: but I do just want to point out that John
Speaker 1: Miller I think has maybe gone under the radar to
Speaker 1: people who are maybe not or not in this building.
Speaker 1: He's been a huge piece of that offensive line and
Speaker 1: has been able to play through UH injuries are coming
Speaker 1: back off the COVID serve list, you know, stepping up
Speaker 1: when they need him to and UH, and that one hurts.
Speaker 1: It's you know, they've they've had some some pretty bad
Speaker 1: offensive line injuries and now they've got another one. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's probably not a stretch to say John Miller
Speaker 1: was the second most consistent, yasive lineman in the room
Speaker 1: behind Taylor. And you know he's not John Miller is
Speaker 1: one of those guys. If you look at him, he
Speaker 1: doesn't look like the guy you go out and get
Speaker 1: to stabilize things. But he's just kind of what was
Speaker 1: the word Matt Rule use the other week, just solid, durable,
Speaker 1: I mean, dependable veteran guys. You know, solid is kind
Speaker 1: of the word that gets hung on the guys like
Speaker 1: Justin Burrows, guys like John Miller who aren't great a
Speaker 1: star level players, but you've got to have a couple
Speaker 1: of them followed. Independable for an offensive lineman is not
Speaker 1: a bad thing to be. Yeah, but uh yeah, but
Speaker 1: now he's going to be out for at least the
Speaker 1: next three uh, and we'll see, I mean, is that Transcott,
Speaker 1: is it Brady Christiansen? Is it Dennis Daley again? I
Speaker 1: don't know, but it ain't gonna be John. And we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens next. But because cam Irving has been
Speaker 1: in and out and you know, on the other side,
Speaker 1: I mean, they kind of dig on Michael Jordan's and
Speaker 1: what he's been able to do the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: He certainly, you know, from a physical standpoint, fits the bill.
Speaker 1: He looks like what you want your guard to look like.
Speaker 1: He's big and massive and got a little edge about him.
Speaker 1: So you know, maybe that's something. Again, it's it's not
Speaker 1: that we're trying to paper over the fact that they've
Speaker 1: lost for in a row and things aren't ideal on
Speaker 1: the football side. But you know, light a candle rather
Speaker 1: than curse your darkness. Here, Matt Michael Jordan's looks like
Speaker 1: a guy who might be an offensive lineman for this
Speaker 1: team when things turn. You know, Brady Christiansen, even if
Speaker 1: he's miscast as a left tackle or whatever, uh, is
Speaker 1: a guy they think is going to be part of
Speaker 1: an offensive line. Things are better, you know, you know
Speaker 1: that I would say on our radio broadcast. We asked
Speaker 1: Jordan Gross, who was on our call. You know, he
Speaker 1: and jam switch off probably um, I think early fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: He was like, yeah, I think I think Brady Christinsen
Speaker 1: did a good job for the position that he was
Speaker 1: put in, right and so you know, there were positives
Speaker 1: that came out of that game. And listen asking a
Speaker 1: rookie to play left tackle in the NFL the two
Speaker 1: weeks before he played ye and and listen, Jordan knows
Speaker 1: and I talked, you might see him in a different
Speaker 1: position this week. I talked to turn about it before
Speaker 1: the game, and I said, you know, you, how big
Speaker 1: was it for you? Having the benefit of playing on
Speaker 1: the right instead of the left as a rookie. And
Speaker 1: he said, it's good to be able to get your
Speaker 1: feet underneath you. It's good to you know, sort of
Speaker 1: ease into that pool rather than jumping into the deep end.
Speaker 1: So we'll see. I mean, Brady is a guy going
Speaker 1: back to the draft they thought second round guard, third
Speaker 1: round tackle and guard might be the place he lands.
Speaker 1: And and again with John out he might end up there.
Speaker 1: Emmer Trant Scott probably this week. Right now, he's had
Speaker 1: to play where um is necessary. We have not seen
Speaker 1: where they would ideally put him, at least I don't
Speaker 1: think if everyone was healthy and he had a chance,
Speaker 1: you know where it wasn't forced because of need. So well,
Speaker 1: we'll see. We'll see if maybe that is guard. Um,
Speaker 1: like you said with John Miller out, Um. One thing
Speaker 1: I want to touch on before we moved to special
Speaker 1: teams and and defense is um, how did the Panthers
Speaker 1: going up against Atlanta recommit to running the ball, because
Speaker 1: that was an emphasis going into the last game. I
Speaker 1: saw it in the first half a little bit. Um.
Speaker 1: I mean, is it as simple, guys, I think this
Speaker 1: is what the fans would ask, Is it as simple
Speaker 1: as just calling it. I think it's as simple as
Speaker 1: throwing the ball. I mean, in coach kind of said
Speaker 1: a couple of times, in order to run the ball,
Speaker 1: you have to be able to convert third and four,
Speaker 1: third and five, and oftentimes that's a past play in
Speaker 1: the majority of situations. So being able to, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's and that's exactly what they did on that first drive.
Speaker 1: They got themselves is into third manageable, and then they
Speaker 1: converted third manageable through the air, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you can go tempo. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you can run it a little bit quicker, you can
Speaker 1: keep the defense from you know, switching people off the field,
Speaker 1: and you're you're running downhill. It's so much easier to
Speaker 1: run downhill when you can get first downs than it
Speaker 1: is when it's first down in ten you're gonna run
Speaker 1: right at them. It's second and nine, you're gonna run
Speaker 1: right at them. And then now it's third eight, and
Speaker 1: you know, it's really hard to get that first down
Speaker 1: when they know what's coming. And again, going back to
Speaker 1: the Saints game, it's not like they were ripping off
Speaker 1: five yards to carry against the Saints. It was two
Speaker 1: points something. But they ran at a bunch of times,
Speaker 1: which tells you they were converting third and five, third
Speaker 1: and six, I mean eight and fifteen converting against the
Speaker 1: Saints versus two and fifteen against the Giants. That's the
Speaker 1: difference right there. I mean, you want one stat that
Speaker 1: talks about why this worked and this didn't, it's that
Speaker 1: one right there. Um. So, I mean I think a
Speaker 1: lot of it can be intent. And you know, we've
Speaker 1: seen signs that Chuba Hubbard can be enough of a
Speaker 1: back to handle twenty plus carries and get it done.
Speaker 1: I mean, go back to the Eagles game. He was
Speaker 1: one oh one on the ground and caught a few balls.
Speaker 1: I mean he struggled catching the ball, uh lately. And
Speaker 1: I mean when I talked Jeff Nixon about it, he
Speaker 1: was like, it's surprising because he does have good hands,
Speaker 1: he's just not a It doesn't look natural right now.
Speaker 1: So we'll see how that develops. But I think a
Speaker 1: lot of it can be intent, but it only works
Speaker 1: if you convert a third down absolutely. Uh, special teams,
Speaker 1: we know that we will see a new punter. Yeah,
Speaker 1: an Australian punter. Hey, can you do an Australian accent.
Speaker 1: Not I don't do, I mean, but he did when
Speaker 1: we were talking to him. He signed off with no
Speaker 1: worries and everyone when y'all were sitting down there, and
Speaker 1: then he just started talking with kind of like oh,
Speaker 1: you know, like this guy sounds different. It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: you dropped the video Lachlan Edwards into the notebook to
Speaker 1: give everybody an their chance to hear Laughlan about being
Speaker 1: a Carolina panther. It's just I think, you know, you're
Speaker 1: in an Australian accident should make people happy, So maybe
Speaker 1: we'll get him on the podcast. I heard um Adi
Speaker 1: Bryant on Saturday Night Live. She was on a podcast
Speaker 1: one time and she said that their trick at snel
Speaker 1: or someone told her this trick for like dropping into
Speaker 1: an Australian accent is to say the name Gina Fa
Speaker 1: Lopez and then that kind of takes you to your
Speaker 1: vows you're Australia. I can only I mean, and then
Speaker 1: that's awful. So please know what, I know how bad
Speaker 1: that was Ginifa Lopez, and then you can kind of
Speaker 1: drop into like the sounds that you need. Now. I
Speaker 1: can't do anything beyond that, but um you know, just
Speaker 1: fun fact in case you guys were one, I learned
Speaker 1: something here today. That's what we do. I'm the Happy
Speaker 1: Hour podast learning. Darren has felled a treat, ye old
Speaker 1: Barlett pair and I can tell you how to get
Speaker 1: ready for an an Australian accent. So we'll see what
Speaker 1: what Lachlan Edwards can do and if he can help
Speaker 1: again that was that was a big deal in in
Speaker 1: that game as well. It's just the the poor field
Speaker 1: position that the offense was starting from. So we'll see
Speaker 1: if if this is an improvement. Yeah, when you're punning,
Speaker 1: average is something other than a Ford per you know,
Speaker 1: forty something per Ford. If it starts with a three
Speaker 1: or a two, that's bad, not what you want. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so you make a change and you get another
Speaker 1: guy in here, and we'll see I mean again to
Speaker 1: Charlton if he and he was struggling a little bit
Speaker 1: on his own, but he's another week away from coming back,
Speaker 1: so we'll see what Lachlan Edwards. He's gonna have a
Speaker 1: week or so to see if he can be the guy.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the defense. Um and well
Speaker 1: I think this is happier, that's true. Um, Well, I
Speaker 1: think that the question from Darren's mailbag and your stat
Speaker 1: of the week pretty much sums up the all encompassing
Speaker 1: question of the defense. Do you want to do? You
Speaker 1: wanna take it away, but only if you do that
Speaker 1: voice that you were doing earlier ITAs the week the
Speaker 1: Panthers defense on Halloween. Now, um, in a world where
Speaker 1: the Panther's defense holds a team to three points in
Speaker 1: the first half, are they tired? Um? I think the
Speaker 1: question is is this defense just tired? You know? Quite simply?
Speaker 1: Is that why they're giving up points in the second half?
Speaker 1: Is that why they're not first in the NFL and
Speaker 1: every conceivable category the way they were ten years ago
Speaker 1: when Darren wrote that article? Can I just tell you?
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think that this is the only reason,
Speaker 1: but I would say just being on the sidelines around
Speaker 1: them every week, especially the last few weeks, they are tired.
Speaker 1: There's I mean, you can see it. There's no doubt
Speaker 1: about it. When it comes to second half. Now, that
Speaker 1: may not be all there is. Let you go ahead,
Speaker 1: and I mean you can confirm they are tired. And
Speaker 1: you know, for people to say, oh, how are they
Speaker 1: so tired against? I mean, I think you just throw
Speaker 1: out the giant second half completely like that that was
Speaker 1: just a I I think that was just a statistical anomaly.
Speaker 1: But even then, in the first half, they're still the
Speaker 1: number three past defense in the league. They're giving up
Speaker 1: just uh five point five nine yards per pass attempt
Speaker 1: in the first half, which is third in the league.
Speaker 1: In the second half, that's up to eight point six,
Speaker 1: which is twenty six in the league. But here's the
Speaker 1: thing that they're struggling with a little bit is that
Speaker 1: first half run defense. Teams are able to establish the run,
Speaker 1: and you know, and that's that's what's a little bit
Speaker 1: scary is because you know that rush defense is you know,
Speaker 1: like fifteen right now in the first half, four point
Speaker 1: four yards per attempt. You know, in the second half
Speaker 1: it goes up to five point five, which is thirty
Speaker 1: one in the league. So obviously there's obviously they're getting gassed.
Speaker 1: And when you know, when a team can't convert their
Speaker 1: downs and it's eight three and outs, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're taking their helmet off and going right back
Speaker 1: out there. So obvious that plays a partner. But I
Speaker 1: think you look at the return of shack, you look
Speaker 1: at what the middle of the defense could look like
Speaker 1: in the next couple of weeks, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: maybe that first half they're able to get more three
Speaker 1: and ounce because they can, you know, make it a
Speaker 1: third and seven, because they can shut down the run.
Speaker 1: You know, Dallas kind of put that out there. They
Speaker 1: put that template on how to run on the Panthers
Speaker 1: in week four, and teams are trying to copy it
Speaker 1: each week. Well, and I think, I mean, we've talked
Speaker 1: about Christian to death almost it feels like, and how
Speaker 1: big of an impact he is on the offense. Getting
Speaker 1: Chack Thompson back in the middle of the defense is
Speaker 1: potentially huge because they didn't. There's not a Shack Thompson
Speaker 1: replacement on the roster, so you're trying to replace a
Speaker 1: great inside linebacker by scheme, and part of that is
Speaker 1: putting Jeremy Chin closer to the box, which leaves you
Speaker 1: a little bit exposed in the back, especially with Justin
Speaker 1: Burrows not back there. And you're talking about taking Shack
Speaker 1: off the field on run downs, and instead of having Shack,
Speaker 1: you've got Jeremy Chan and some collection of backup defensive backs,
Speaker 1: so it's it's less it's it's lighter, it's not as
Speaker 1: stout against the run by definition because of that absence.
Speaker 1: And that's why, you know, we'll see how they always
Speaker 1: say shack practice yesterday looked okay. The hope is that
Speaker 1: he's going to respond, be able to go today and
Speaker 1: and be okay by Sunday. But man, as well as
Speaker 1: he was playing those first three games, I think that's
Speaker 1: also small sample size, but you could argue that he
Speaker 1: was playing the best football. So even if he comes
Speaker 1: back in his different dude, the shock from last year,
Speaker 1: you know, and and doesn't make these because he was
Speaker 1: making some explosive plays game change. But that's when the
Speaker 1: Panthers need those, right, especially if the offense isn't functioning
Speaker 1: at the level that you would like. You need takeaways,
Speaker 1: you need um just just absolute stops. And he was
Speaker 1: he was like all over the first three games. And
Speaker 1: it sounds corny and it sounds like thing that shouldn't
Speaker 1: be a real factor for professional football players. But who
Speaker 1: do you look to when things get weird? When that defense,
Speaker 1: I mean, there ain't but one day Kwan Jones on
Speaker 1: that on that line and everybody else is young Morgan
Speaker 1: Fox to a lesser degree, but day Kwan is kind
Speaker 1: of the old head up there. You look in the
Speaker 1: secondary and they're relying on the second level of the
Speaker 1: defense in the secondary, they're relying on Shock and Justin
Speaker 1: Burrows to be the adults in the room, and they're
Speaker 1: not there. So when stuff gets we should say and
Speaker 1: Jermyn Carter has done a good job to the best
Speaker 1: of his ability, but there's only one of him, one
Speaker 1: of him, so it's it's hard and it was always
Speaker 1: going to be hard to replace those two guys, and
Speaker 1: it has been and that thesis has been proven correct. Um,
Speaker 1: So we'll see what kind of difference they make this
Speaker 1: week coming out because again Atlanta is a different kind
Speaker 1: of run game. I mean, Corderyl pat rock Hills, Cordarrel Patterson.
Speaker 1: That's easy for me to say, um is a different
Speaker 1: sort of problem to solve in the run game. And
Speaker 1: Mike Davis is back there, and we know a little
Speaker 1: bit about Mike and what he's capable of, soa it uh,
Speaker 1: it will be I think a good thing to have
Speaker 1: Justin and Shack or at least one of them out
Speaker 1: there on the field. It's sort of stabilized things and
Speaker 1: just to clarify, who do you think or if you
Speaker 1: put odds on who you think is coming back, Just
Speaker 1: in case anyone's like, oh did I miss something, it's
Speaker 1: Jack definitely back. We think there's a good chance Shack
Speaker 1: will come back. I think if I had to put
Speaker 1: him in order, it sounds like it feels like, you know,
Speaker 1: Gilmore's probably going to play this week. That Shack He's
Speaker 1: practiced yesterday, so this is Thursday morning. He practiced yesterday
Speaker 1: and Shacks like a high medium probability, and then Burrows
Speaker 1: is a little bit underneath it. So I mean Burrows
Speaker 1: may not get back this week, but Miles Hartsfield's close.
Speaker 1: He'll be out there playing with a club on. But
Speaker 1: that wrist has healed enough to allow him to play.
Speaker 1: The timeline moved up considerably. Mean they were talking about
Speaker 1: that as a ten twelve week injury when he went
Speaker 1: down in week one with that dislocated wrist, and now
Speaker 1: here it is week eight and he is back out
Speaker 1: on the field in a club. So I think it's
Speaker 1: probably Gilmore, Shack, Burris Um, but Hertsfield sounds like he's
Speaker 1: pretty close to go into Well that's good news. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I and I was gonna say in part of
Speaker 1: the something we've been talking about how things are related,
Speaker 1: you know, and things that you don't quite see or
Speaker 1: relay to other things. And one of the things that
Speaker 1: everyone keeps talking about when they keep asking Hassan and
Speaker 1: Brian is how where are the sacks? Where the sacks go?
Speaker 1: That's the product of this too. You know. It's so
Speaker 1: much easier for those guys to get pressure and to
Speaker 1: get in and to go untouched the way they were
Speaker 1: at the beginning. When you can stop the run, when
Speaker 1: you can have people like Shack in the middle, you know,
Speaker 1: all of it works together. Um, and and I think
Speaker 1: you know they're kind of looking around like we just
Speaker 1: you know, we've got to keep doing our jobs. You
Speaker 1: gotta do better. Well, that's that's what you can say,
Speaker 1: you know, each week. But it's a part of when
Speaker 1: we stop the run, we can get after people. Absolutely. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to just touch on something that does not
Speaker 1: have to do with the Atlanta game, but it was
Speaker 1: a really it was a really cool experience earlier this week,
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know, we always try to give
Speaker 1: you the behind the scenes as much as possible, and
Speaker 1: so on Tuesday, the rookies continued an incredible tradition. I
Speaker 1: think it's like the seventeenth year that they have done it,
Speaker 1: where traditionally, in a normal non COVID world, the rookies
Speaker 1: will dress up in varying levels of ridiculous Halloween costumes
Speaker 1: and go over to Adrian Health Levine Children's Hospital to
Speaker 1: just make these kids smile, to go visit, spend time
Speaker 1: with them, and and just make these kids day right.
Speaker 1: It's a Halloween tradition that I absolutely love. So the
Speaker 1: past two years it has been virtual and it's been
Speaker 1: almost like a show format because obviously, um, it's it's
Speaker 1: not safe to to go into the hospital, so um,
Speaker 1: so I hosted it this year. I co hosted it
Speaker 1: with Marcus Haynes, and we had all the rookies come
Speaker 1: in and um and model their costumes and it was
Speaker 1: just so much fun. I watched it last year, and
Speaker 1: of course i'd heard about it as a fan in
Speaker 1: the years past. Um, and I just I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: getting to be a part of it and how much
Speaker 1: fun they all had and what like. I didn't think
Speaker 1: Chewba Hubbard would come out in a Woody from Toy
Speaker 1: Story costume, but he owned it. And he was like
Speaker 1: riding an imaginary horse he had. You know, he he
Speaker 1: confirmed that he felt comfortable in the cowboy had after
Speaker 1: his time at Oklahoma State. Uh, it was just a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Um to Phil Hoskins was he was
Speaker 1: a clown and it was very much like red Nose,
Speaker 1: multi colored rainbow. But he brought he brought a lot
Speaker 1: of coolness to it, Like you wouldn't think that a
Speaker 1: clown could look that cool, and Phil Hoskins made it
Speaker 1: look cool. But I just I have to tell you
Speaker 1: my my one behind the scenes, just overachiever, And it's
Speaker 1: not going to be a surprise we all, you know,
Speaker 1: given the stuff that we all know about Keith Taylor.
Speaker 1: Darren's written a great article about it on Panthers dot com.
Speaker 1: Just overachiever. He always prepares. He's a big NoteTaker. He
Speaker 1: graduated at the same time he was getting drafted. So
Speaker 1: does this come as any surprise guys that Keith Taylor
Speaker 1: brought his own costume for the events? I mean, how
Speaker 1: cool is that? Yeah, that's pretty cool. He was Spiderman.
Speaker 1: By the way, if you'd told me that Keith Taylor's
Speaker 1: the guy who owns his own Spider Man costumes so
Speaker 1: he can go do this on the part of the moment, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can see that, and another one I love. I mean,
Speaker 1: all of the rookies were great. There's no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: J C. Horne was there in uh in a power
Speaker 1: Arranger costume, which I gotta say, it's a one piece,
Speaker 1: so you know, he's on his scooter and he's he's
Speaker 1: still recovering from surgery. To show up for that, um,
Speaker 1: it was just awesome. And he didn't only show up,
Speaker 1: he played a game against Keith Taylor after the fashion
Speaker 1: show was over, so you know, it's scooter and all,
Speaker 1: and I just I you love to see those moments
Speaker 1: and you could tell how genuinely happy. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think all of us on this side, which we were
Speaker 1: in the studio at UM at Bank of America Stadium,
Speaker 1: just as happy as all of the patients. And and
Speaker 1: that's the cool thing. And those are the kind of
Speaker 1: things that really you know, this, this losing streak has
Speaker 1: been been hard on this team and on the fans
Speaker 1: and on everyone, right, like those guys feel it. But
Speaker 1: to be able to step out of what you're doing
Speaker 1: on a daily basis for like thirty minutes and make
Speaker 1: other people smile, um and just have a silly time.
Speaker 1: It was great. It was really great. That's awesome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well as the news we needed this week because I
Speaker 1: thought we probably should have started earlier, right right off
Speaker 1: the top, I thought we were going to have to
Speaker 1: go thirty minutes on the wedding. We went to last
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, how was the wedding? How was Conete? Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was fantastic. We uh were so we we kept
Speaker 1: going past Knita Canita and went through Alligator Lake, over
Speaker 1: Manio and out to Nag's Head. And yeah, so I
Speaker 1: had some time. Went to the Wright Brothers memorial, so
Speaker 1: got to see where flight was invented, which was pretty cool. No, Ohio,
Speaker 1: it's not Ohio. They got it wrong. Did you hear this?
Speaker 1: You know that story? Yeah, so Ohio tried to do
Speaker 1: some commemorative license plates and they put a picture of
Speaker 1: the plane, except the plane has essentially this like flap
Speaker 1: thing or whatever, and it's in the front. It's not
Speaker 1: in the back the way you like a normal do
Speaker 1: you think like the little smaller flap. Again, this is
Speaker 1: great audio because I can barely follow this and I'm
Speaker 1: looking at you right, So it's you're using your hands
Speaker 1: as a diagram. In Ohio, put the Right Brothers plane backwards.
Speaker 1: They put it on backwards, and then yeah, and then
Speaker 1: North Carolina tweeted at them, It's okay, we know you
Speaker 1: weren't there. They're like, are these like the state of
Speaker 1: Twitter accounts? So it's like now moved beyond sports teams
Speaker 1: jabbering at each other, although I would guess we might
Speaker 1: see a little panthers falcons back and forth. Now we're
Speaker 1: just going to the states. Now we're just arguing about
Speaker 1: license plates at Ohio. That was really cool. And then
Speaker 1: the wedding was great too. That's awesome. All right. I
Speaker 1: want to end with one your question of the week
Speaker 1: before we wrap it up. Halloween. We already know from
Speaker 1: like let's say a month ago, that Darren does not
Speaker 1: want to put up any decorations at any point. What's
Speaker 1: the appropriate age to stop dressing up for Halloween? And
Speaker 1: like trick or treating? Well, you dressed up yesterday right
Speaker 1: for the kids. I didn't go trick or treating, you know,
Speaker 1: at a certain point where you go, But like, at
Speaker 1: what age did you stop? Did you say, like I
Speaker 1: gotta pack this in but yes, I would say, I
Speaker 1: I dressed up for the children nine. Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: might have gone eleven or twelve, you know, definitely middle school.
Speaker 1: I think by the time you hit teenage, you're just
Speaker 1: candy harvesting at that point. So, yeah, you're if you're
Speaker 1: doing if you're like, let's call it like pre algebra. Like,
Speaker 1: if you're in pre algebra, it's probably time to packing in, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: get a job and buy a candy with your own money, kid,
Speaker 1: I mean, and don't even stop by Darren's house because
Speaker 1: he's got no decorations and the lights are not on.
Speaker 1: It's very spooky. Don't come up here. Thing and there's
Speaker 1: a candy bar on the Darren's block is either something
Speaker 1: very quaint or something out of Stranger Things, depending on
Speaker 1: depending on the angle. I think Darren's block, knowing where
Speaker 1: Darren and his wife moved, it's probably lovely. I'm just
Speaker 1: Darren has said that he's not participating in it. I'm
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, that's true. I have any excuse we will be.
Speaker 1: And are you dressing up for the car for the
Speaker 1: ride down? I thought it seemed like the thing that
Speaker 1: you do. Darn you do not own your own spider
Speaker 1: Man costume in your closet. But there's still time. But
Speaker 1: I've got a rid clown knows in my pocket that
Speaker 1: you always carry that around, right, So all right, all right,
Speaker 1: We will talk to all of you next week on
Speaker 1: the Happy Half Hour podcast. Thanks for listening.