Speaker 1: This week on the Happy half Hour.
Speaker 2: This one carried a little emotional freight or frank because hey,
Speaker 2: it was his first one to b It was because
Speaker 2: it was a week after he had empowered Thomas Frown
Speaker 2: to call his plays. He kind of yielded that part
Speaker 2: of the job and become more the head coach, more
Speaker 2: the CEO of this operation, which I think, honestly, in
Speaker 2: a lot of ways you can look at and say
Speaker 2: that's what he needed to be.
Speaker 1: Tut's I know.
Speaker 2: It's time for the Happy half Hour with your friends
Speaker 2: Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone and Darren Gannon.
Speaker 1: And welcome to the Happy half Hour.
Speaker 2: It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas or something.
Speaker 1: It's cold outside all of a sudden, when did that happen?
Speaker 3: The day after Halloween, which means it's Christmas time. I
Speaker 3: will go ahead and say I'm not one of those
Speaker 3: people who skips Thanksgiving except when it's going to be
Speaker 3: thirty five degrees. Then I can tell myself mentally, Okay,
Speaker 3: Santa's coming, and then I'm not as upset. But I'm
Speaker 3: wearing my joys to the Carolinas hoodie from last year
Speaker 3: fun event, and I am in the festive spirit. I
Speaker 3: haven't listened to any songs yet, but jingle bells husband
Speaker 3: in my head, so I might be pulling the November
Speaker 3: second Christmas time vibes here.
Speaker 4: I can't lie.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I am also not one to skip over Thanksgiving.
Speaker 2: It is my favorite holiday and is loyal listeners of
Speaker 2: The Happy Half Hour know well from listening to this podcast.
Speaker 2: I never digress. I always stay right on topic, and
Speaker 2: I want to talk about something that's bothering me for
Speaker 2: the last little bit.
Speaker 4: Let's go.
Speaker 1: I was watching the World Series the other night.
Speaker 2: Congratulations to Bruce Bochie and the Texas Rangers, by the way,
Speaker 2: on a job well done. Today is not the day
Speaker 2: I'm going to tell my Bruce Bochie story on the podcast,
Speaker 2: but that day may sometime come. The thing I wanted
Speaker 2: to talk about was there was a commercial for a
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving horror movie. No one in the world needed this.
Speaker 2: There was some mass murderer who's killing people in and
Speaker 2: stabbing them with the little corn holders, which would be
Speaker 2: the slowest and most ridiculous way to be killed by
Speaker 2: a mass murderer.
Speaker 1: You know, those little things you poke into the end
Speaker 1: of you're talking about.
Speaker 2: You know, unless you're one of those weirdos who eats
Speaker 2: corn long ways. Everybody has a set of those, and
Speaker 2: it's like, what do we do with those? We bring
Speaker 2: them out at Thanksgiving and they apparently are a tool
Speaker 2: for murder in the hands of this madman. But I
Speaker 2: was asking myself, who was really asking for the Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: horror movie?
Speaker 4: I am not in favor. That is really, really, really odd.
Speaker 3: I guess it's the people I do know, people who
Speaker 3: are Halloween year round types. Maybe I don't know. I
Speaker 3: will say not to bring Christmas back. But I saw
Speaker 3: on Twitter that Grandma got worn over by a reindeer
Speaker 3: was celebrating anniversary. That movie came out on Halloween when
Speaker 3: it came out, I know, which is also kind of like,
Speaker 3: is that a well? The song, there's a everyone's like,
Speaker 3: what's a Thanksgiving song? The Thanksgiving song? It's like that
Speaker 3: Grandma's House over the River and through the woods.
Speaker 2: No, the Thanksgiving song is Alice's Restaurant by our Low God,
Speaker 2: don't make.
Speaker 1: Me do don't make me do this again.
Speaker 2: It's nineteen and a half minutes of American heritage that
Speaker 2: everybody should listen to on Thanksgiving Day when you're driving
Speaker 2: to wherever you're driving. So a lot of times I'll
Speaker 2: put my headphones in and I'll listen to it two
Speaker 2: or three times through while I'm running in the Turkey
Speaker 2: trot or something on Thanksgiving morning. But there will be
Speaker 2: a day when we play Alice's Restaurant as the music
Speaker 2: bad under this entire podcast?
Speaker 1: Can we do that, Matt? Would that be a copyright issue?
Speaker 2: Matt's giving us the thumbs up thereby saving our listeners
Speaker 2: from nineteen and a half minutes of Darren talking about
Speaker 2: what Alice's Restaurant means to him. That's a different podcast
Speaker 2: and exclusive if you will. Anyway, the Thanksgiving Murder movie
Speaker 2: is really bothersome to me. I mean, if you think
Speaker 2: about it, the only real niche of people who should
Speaker 2: fear Thanksgiving are the turkeys of the world. The turkey
Speaker 2: population I can see being a little paranoid this time
Speaker 2: of year, being a little looking over their little turkey shoulders,
Speaker 2: wondering what's coming next and around the corner. But for
Speaker 2: the rest of us, I did not realize Thanksgiving was
Speaker 2: something to be dreaded or terrified of.
Speaker 4: No, I don't think so. That's wild though. I actually
Speaker 4: was not.
Speaker 3: Watching the world series, because once the Braves were out,
Speaker 3: I was no longer interested. Although I will say I
Speaker 3: love that the team that beat the Phillies did not
Speaker 3: win because the Phillies beat the Braves and the Phillies
Speaker 3: were upset. Not I will always pull for whatever's against
Speaker 3: the Phillies. But no, I'll have to check out that trailer.
Speaker 3: Do you remember what the movie was called.
Speaker 2: I think it was just called Thanksgiving, but there was
Speaker 2: like a knife instead of the eyes or something like
Speaker 2: that Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4: That's so odd.
Speaker 2: The budget for this movie must have been about twenty bucks,
Speaker 2: so I don't know, and I got a real problem
Speaker 2: with that. We won't even get into what the Gusta
Speaker 2: Stone Spencer Strider Thanksgiving meal would be another day perhaps,
Speaker 2: But anyway, it is feeling a lot like Christmas. There's
Speaker 2: a little nip in the air. There's a little breeze
Speaker 2: blowing that's brought some frigid temperatures here to our beloved Carolinas.
Speaker 1: And there's also a win.
Speaker 2: So people were happy again after last week's game, and
Speaker 2: we could talk. I feel like we could talk for
Speaker 2: three hours about the multitudes that last Sunday contained. But
Speaker 2: I think probably if we were going to be organized
Speaker 2: of thought and mind. You probably got to bring this
Speaker 2: back to about five things, five people or five groups
Speaker 2: of people.
Speaker 3: Okay, five things, five groups.
Speaker 4: I'm ready.
Speaker 2: First of all, Hall of Honor weekend, Absolutely Musim Mohammad
Speaker 2: and Julius Pepper's come back to be adored by fans
Speaker 2: who loved them.
Speaker 1: It was an amazing weekend. The Hall of Honor dinner.
Speaker 2: I got to experience that from right behind the table
Speaker 2: where Steven Jake and Jordan and Wesley Wallace were sitting
Speaker 2: and watching watching the guys come back, watching the reverence.
Speaker 2: You know everybody has for Pep Jordan in some of
Speaker 2: our pre production stuff we did in advanced some of
Speaker 2: our Hall of Honor videos, I asked him what adding
Speaker 2: these two guys into the Hall of Honor means, and
Speaker 2: specifically as it pertains to Julius, who he's had so
Speaker 2: many battles with over the years, He's like, well, honestly,
Speaker 2: it puts a lot more shine on the Hall of Honor.
Speaker 2: It makes a Hall of Honor a little more legitimate
Speaker 2: because it's got Julius.
Speaker 1: Peppers in it.
Speaker 2: So it was just such a neat event, and I
Speaker 2: think one of the things the organization has been very
Speaker 2: mindful of the last couple of years, is to bring
Speaker 2: those veterans back home, to bring the legends back into
Speaker 2: the building, re engage with the former players, because you know,
Speaker 2: I know things have not been outstanding on and off
Speaker 2: the field for the Carolina Panthers always. But when you
Speaker 2: start thinking about Jake and Jordan and Steve and Wesley
Speaker 2: and Sam Mills and now Moose and Pep and one
Speaker 2: of these days Luke and TD and Greg and Ryan
Speaker 2: Khalil and who knows else in maybe one day camp,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of stuff here to celebrate. Gang this
Speaker 2: franchise really should be mindful of how fortunate it has
Speaker 2: been to have such a cavalcade of stars, if you will,
Speaker 2: to kind of bring people back, bring the nostalgia back,
Speaker 2: get people feeling good about this franchise no matter what's
Speaker 2: happening on the field in the current moment.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, it was exciting moments. I think the whole celebration.
Speaker 3: I got to see the halftime bit of it. It
Speaker 3: was absolutely awesome hearing those guys talk, and we had
Speaker 3: talked about it so much.
Speaker 4: But I think it's a really exciting thing.
Speaker 3: And I also agree the Legends Affairs department that we
Speaker 3: have here just deserves all of the parties in the world.
Speaker 4: For all the things that they do. I mean, there's
Speaker 4: guys walking around all the time. You see him. I know,
Speaker 4: we had a bunch on hand.
Speaker 3: I saw the roster. I mean it was long of
Speaker 3: just people here to help celebrate the weekend and have
Speaker 3: the Legends Weekend. It was really exciting and it's awesome
Speaker 3: hundred dudes. They're so engaged and I think it's really
Speaker 3: great to see and I think it's awesome for the
Speaker 3: current players to just kind of see, you know, the history.
Speaker 3: We talk about the Nostalgic franchise and the Young franchise
Speaker 3: and it's really really really cool to see kind of
Speaker 3: the living history aspects of it. And I know it's
Speaker 3: awesome for the guys in the locker room too.
Speaker 1: Yep, no doubt about that. And you could just tell.
Speaker 2: We were talking to Frankie Luvu last week and he
Speaker 2: was like, I hope I get to meet Julius Pepper.
Speaker 4: That video was awesome on social.
Speaker 1: And just seeing, you know, the way guys.
Speaker 2: Julius Moose is almost an abstract concept for most of
Speaker 2: these guys because as we wrote about last week. There
Speaker 2: are cats on this roster who were born into two thousands,
Speaker 2: so they don't really have a concept of what nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety six moves in Mohammed was about on the field.
Speaker 1: So Julius is a little more present.
Speaker 2: He was just on the field last, you know, a
Speaker 2: few years ago, so he's a little more accessible to
Speaker 2: a lot of these guys. But because he's this larger
Speaker 2: than life figure literally and figuratively, he just kind of
Speaker 2: creates an awe in people in other large people in
Speaker 2: other people who play at a high level and are
Speaker 2: adored by thousands every week. So it was very cool
Speaker 2: to see all those guys come home and to just
Speaker 2: be able to honor those guys. I mean seeing the
Speaker 2: names around the rim of that stadium. You do a
Speaker 2: lot of times. I'll come into the press box and
Speaker 2: work during the week and you kind of look out
Speaker 2: over the top of that stadium and you do realize
Speaker 2: this team has been incredibly fortunate to have that level
Speaker 2: of star power at every iteration of this team.
Speaker 4: Very cool, very cool.
Speaker 3: It was a beautiful weekend and a great way to
Speaker 3: start off what happened in the game, which was.
Speaker 4: Very exciting because they got to win in front of
Speaker 4: all those legends.
Speaker 2: I know, right, Frank Number two is Frank Reich. Frank
Speaker 2: Reich gets his first win. A guy who knows a
Speaker 2: little something about comeback says, finally the seen a team
Speaker 2: come back to win a game in the fourth quarter
Speaker 2: for the first time in this franchise's.
Speaker 1: History since twenty eighteen. Don't tell anybody I said that,
Speaker 1: but it's been a minute since they've had one like that.
Speaker 2: And I think you know, this one carried a little
Speaker 2: emotional freight for Frank because A it was his first one,
Speaker 2: but b it was because it was a week after
Speaker 2: he had empowered Thomas Brown to call his plays. You know,
Speaker 2: he kind of yielded that part of the job and
Speaker 2: become more of the head coach, more of the CEO
Speaker 2: of this operation, which I think, honestly, in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways you can look at and say that's what
Speaker 2: he needed to be. After giving the play calling to Thomas,
Speaker 2: the offdense didn't look markedly different, but there were moments
Speaker 2: where it's like, Okay, you can see Frank working on
Speaker 2: other stuff. There were some of the things, I think
Speaker 2: some of the game operation stuff cleaned up. I think
Speaker 2: you know, Frank talked about after the game fewer pre
Speaker 2: snap penalties. I think there were only three penalties on
Speaker 2: the entire day, which was tied for a season low.
Speaker 2: That kind of stuff is all helpful and good, but
Speaker 2: you could kind of see it in his eyes, and
Speaker 2: especially in that locker room after the game, just the
Speaker 2: there was a mix of relief and joy because if
Speaker 2: they lose that game in arrow and seven, you know,
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, the Avalanche is right back
Speaker 2: going again. After a bye week, you come back, hit reset,
Speaker 2: you win that game.
Speaker 1: Now it's like, okay, what's next.
Speaker 2: If the bad thing had happened, Lord only knows what
Speaker 2: it would have been like around here this week.
Speaker 1: But that's why there was that mix.
Speaker 2: I mean, for every bit of just unbridled joy, it
Speaker 2: was also a who we're in?
Speaker 3: Not a one seven exactly, And there were some amazing
Speaker 3: snapshots and videos taken. I mean you can just see
Speaker 3: him all over the website, all over the Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 3: One of my favorite ones was the video where you
Speaker 3: can see Frank Craig putting his arms up when he
Speaker 3: realized that the kick sailed through and that.
Speaker 4: It was finally true.
Speaker 3: Even though it had been true before because he got
Speaker 3: to kick it three times, so you know, whenever, Like,
Speaker 3: I love what you said about the relief because I
Speaker 3: think you could see that wash over him. And then
Speaker 3: my favorite locker room moment was when he get the
Speaker 3: game ball to Thomas Brown and I don't know the
Speaker 3: whole time he's like, was he gonna get choked up?
Speaker 3: And then the way they're like a little handoff, it
Speaker 3: was just so cool, so so awesome to see kind
Speaker 3: of I guess the first of the labor finally come together.
Speaker 3: And I mean we saw a lot of good things
Speaker 3: from Bryce, which I'm sure we'll be mentioned at some
Speaker 3: point of this. You know, it's like we've been talking, okay,
Speaker 3: the developments there, they're putting it together. That last drive
Speaker 3: was exactly what they wanted to happen for a million reasons,
Speaker 3: and it's big. I think it's really big for momentum.
Speaker 3: I think it's really big for Frank, and it's exciting
Speaker 3: to see kind of what will be ahead because the
Speaker 3: energy is really good right.
Speaker 2: Now, right And you mentioned that if you look at
Speaker 2: that locker room video, Frank gives that game ball to
Speaker 2: Thomas Brown, he's literally handing off if Frank Capra was
Speaker 2: making this movie, we'd have all said, yeah, it's a
Speaker 2: little on the nose, Frank, I don't know, maybe a
Speaker 2: little bit over the top, but it was a genuine moment.
Speaker 2: And you talked about that game winning drive, and that
Speaker 2: leads us directly to number three three, Bryce Young. We
Speaker 2: have talked since Bryce Young got here about his poise,
Speaker 2: his calm, his composure, his being in big situations and
Speaker 2: never letting it rattle him. Sunday kind of became that
Speaker 2: first real evidence that Bryce was that guy.
Speaker 1: We've kind of joked here.
Speaker 2: Internally at Panthers dot Com and in our digital department
Speaker 2: about when you see all these cute Bryce moments, like
Speaker 2: the fist bumping training camp and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just looked so young and so cute.
Speaker 2: And we kind of joke one of my coworkers had said,
Speaker 2: one of these days, we're gonna have to start stop
Speaker 2: treating him like a puppy, and it kind of is,
Speaker 2: because we're watching him grow up before our very eyes.
Speaker 2: But on Sunday, Sunday was like the first disobedience class,
Speaker 2: that puppy started turning into a dog right before our eyes. Instead,
Speaker 2: and you saw that cold eyed killer that Bryce Young,
Speaker 2: you know, in the fourth quarter leading the drive. Again,
Speaker 2: it's been since twenty eighteen in the Philadelphia game since
Speaker 2: his team's come from behind in the fourth quarter to
Speaker 2: win a game.
Speaker 1: So I think it carried a lot of emotional.
Speaker 2: Freight for him, for them, for everybody to see him
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: That's why they drafted this kid.
Speaker 2: That's the one they kept talking about all March, in
Speaker 2: April and May after they take him first.
Speaker 3: Overall, I was exciting too, because it felt like for
Speaker 3: one of the first times he was kind of stepping
Speaker 3: out of his Adam Felen Shell.
Speaker 4: I mean, we saw other guys get involved in the
Speaker 4: passing game.
Speaker 3: Jonathan Mingo caught Bryce's longest completion in that game. And
Speaker 3: then I also wanted to give a shout out on
Speaker 3: that last drive to Chuba Hubbard, who absolutely just I
Speaker 3: mean did everything he needed to do and just completely
Speaker 3: whittled away at the Texans timeouts, kept the clock going
Speaker 3: exactly how the Panthers wanted to do, just kept that
Speaker 3: so methodical, and that's what he does. That's the type
Speaker 3: of runner he is, and they're kind of using that
Speaker 3: in this Thomas Brown led offense, and he was.
Speaker 4: Doing exactly what he needed to do. It's really cool.
Speaker 3: The story that I got Tray yesterday about his relationship
Speaker 3: with Tommy Trimble, who also caught the games loan at
Speaker 3: touchdown or the Panthers loan touchdown of the game. But
Speaker 3: how Tommy said that whenever Cuba converted, I think it
Speaker 3: was a third and two that kind of helps set
Speaker 3: them up for that field goal, keep the clock going down.
Speaker 4: He said he felt because they're so close Tommy and Chuba.
Speaker 3: I mean, they've been working out together since they were rookies,
Speaker 3: Like they talk about each other like they're brothers, like
Speaker 3: literally brothers. And he said, you know, I felt his
Speaker 3: joy like it was my joy, Like it was equal
Speaker 3: as like when I succeed he succeeds. It was so
Speaker 3: sweet and they both were like, I'm so thankful for him.
Speaker 4: It was awesome.
Speaker 3: And so I mean just the genuine bond, but also
Speaker 3: just on that drive. I mean, this team one hundred
Speaker 3: percent place for each other. They play for their coach,
Speaker 3: and you could see all that. Not to be too corny,
Speaker 3: but that togetherness and that sweetness and hearing them talk
Speaker 3: about it was really real. So for that drive specifically,
Speaker 3: Tuba deserves his flowers and you know, and not like
Speaker 3: he lit up the score sheet or anything, but or
Speaker 3: the stat sheet rather, but but he absolutely.
Speaker 4: Did what he needed to do.
Speaker 3: And yeah, if you look back, we have some great
Speaker 3: photos of their kind of I asked Tommy.
Speaker 4: I was like, we have some photos we all celebrate.
Speaker 4: Was that at your touchdown? He was like, I think
Speaker 4: it was after that third down? So just just big deals.
Speaker 4: I mean it was.
Speaker 3: It's really sweet and you know, catching the joy where
Speaker 3: they can. They've talked about all the things that they've
Speaker 3: been through since they've been here, and it's really cool
Speaker 3: to kind of see that.
Speaker 4: So shout out to boll Awes someone.
Speaker 2: And as loyal Risks, as loyal listeners of the Happy
Speaker 2: Half Hour, note, we never digress here. So you been, Tommy,
Speaker 2: are like number five and a half. Yes, you know
Speaker 2: these two guys and we talked about this, Agusta. Those
Speaker 2: two cats are the buddy cop movie we didn't think
Speaker 2: we needed, but we do. I mean they are attached
Speaker 2: at the hip. I mean from day one they've been
Speaker 2: and I thought you did a good job of capturing that.
Speaker 2: I mean, they've been out there on the jugs machine.
Speaker 2: Every day after practice, they do extra stuff together, and
Speaker 2: they have since coming in in the same draft class,
Speaker 2: you know, and it's hard to imagine Tommy and Chuba
Speaker 2: being three year guys. I mean, it's just it feels
Speaker 2: like yesterday when they walked in the door. But those
Speaker 2: two are connected at the hit Man.
Speaker 4: It's so cool.
Speaker 3: It's so cool, and it's even funnier because, I mean,
Speaker 3: you kind of know their dynamics were around the team
Speaker 3: a lot, but they kind of admitted that Tommy's more
Speaker 3: of the goofball tuobas like the serious guys. If you
Speaker 3: think about like the buddy cop aspect of it, like
Speaker 3: who would be you know. I think Tuba himself said
Speaker 3: it's like good cop, bad cop, and he called himself
Speaker 3: the bad cop and Tommy the good cop. So I
Speaker 3: feel like, if you want to like create a movie
Speaker 3: poster in your head, think about that Tommy is like
Speaker 3: the kind of happy, go lucky type. Tuba He's like
Speaker 3: he can be more goofy, but I can totally see it.
Speaker 3: He's more of the straight lace serious one.
Speaker 4: It's funny. So it's a cool little dynamic though, something
Speaker 4: to something to look out for, for sure.
Speaker 1: No doubt about that.
Speaker 2: And as we work down our list in this well structured,
Speaker 2: well organized, happy half hour, we get to the fourth
Speaker 2: guy I wanted to talk about, and this is your guy,
Speaker 2: Eddie Pinero. Eddie Eddie is he is a guy who
Speaker 2: has been kind of this emotional touchdown for a lot
Speaker 2: of people because you know, there was the Atlanta game
Speaker 2: last year and then he forgets how to miss kick
Speaker 2: for the second half of last year, and then you
Speaker 2: know he's had his ups and downs over the course
Speaker 2: of the year.
Speaker 1: For that last.
Speaker 2: Sequence to come down to Eddie and to see Eddie
Speaker 2: be that steely eyed missileman. Also, it's just it's so
Speaker 2: cool to see, I mean, because that created that moment
Speaker 2: of unbridled joy where Eddie's riding Johnny Hecker downfield piggyback,
Speaker 2: which is something they planned out in advance apparently, but
Speaker 2: it was such a cool moment for Eddie and he
Speaker 2: really has Chris Taber tells us this every week. He
Speaker 2: you know, everybody remembers the misses, but he remembers all
Speaker 2: them aches and he's like, Eddie's that guy. So and
Speaker 2: you've probably gotten to know Eddie as well as anybody
Speaker 2: on this roster over the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: Absolutely know and Eddie got here. We just we have
Speaker 3: like very similar spirits. I think I love talking to
Speaker 3: him about pretty much anything.
Speaker 4: He's always a joy to be around.
Speaker 3: One of the first big stories I wrote last regular
Speaker 3: season was about him and his dad, and we just
Speaker 3: had a really good talk then and ever since then
Speaker 3: it's been really good. So, you know, I will say
Speaker 3: one thing we talked about kind of casually during the
Speaker 3: bye was his miskick at Miami and how like that
Speaker 3: kind of like stuck with them a little bit. I'm
Speaker 3: not saying that that, you know, it was. It was
Speaker 3: just something he was talking about because it was in
Speaker 3: front of his families from Miami. And he also missed
Speaker 3: that extra point at the beginning of the Texans game,
Speaker 3: so he had to kind of overcome a lot of
Speaker 3: maybe something going on in the head or you know,
Speaker 3: oh goodness, But he's not that type. I gotta get
Speaker 3: down by that kind of stuff. I mean, we saw
Speaker 3: it after Atlanta and the comeback that he had. I mean,
Speaker 3: after those kicks in Atlanta, like you mentioned, he literally
Speaker 3: forgot how to miss kicks for like the whole last
Speaker 3: chunk of last season and a decent chunk into this season.
Speaker 3: But yeah, no, it was so exciting to kind of
Speaker 3: see that for him. And I love his relationship with
Speaker 3: Johnny and then their relationship, you know, the three specialists, JJ,
Speaker 3: Johnny and Eddie. They are truly the odd trio. I
Speaker 3: guess you could call not an odd couple, but an
Speaker 3: odd trio. They're so fun to kind of see together.
Speaker 3: They're always messing around with each other, making these plans,
Speaker 3: and yeah it was. Johnny campletely mentioned that they had
Speaker 3: written together from the team hotel that they stayed out
Speaker 3: before this game, and they were like, okay, so game
Speaker 3: winning kick, jump on my back.
Speaker 4: So it wasn't the kind of it looked like a
Speaker 4: plan moment.
Speaker 3: It's because it was, but I mean execute perfection, I
Speaker 3: must say, And yeah it was.
Speaker 4: They were joking with Johnny and.
Speaker 3: In the locker room afterward, they were asking him how
Speaker 3: many piggyback rides has he given recently or is that
Speaker 3: the first one, while he said he had tons of
Speaker 3: practice with his young children, which was very sweet.
Speaker 4: So just a good group of people you want to
Speaker 4: root for.
Speaker 3: And it was an awesome moment for Eddie and like
Speaker 3: I mentioned before, he had to do it a bunch
Speaker 3: because of all those penalties and all those jumping off
Speaker 3: sides and unabated to the kicker and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was it was one of those games
Speaker 3: where we saw a bunch of calls we were like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's a rule, you know what I mean. But yeah,
Speaker 3: he had to make it twice and he did, and
Speaker 3: heck there was a penalty on the last one too,
Speaker 3: but it wasn't the cop that's going to make him
Speaker 3: kick it for a fourth thumb. But just awesome for
Speaker 3: Eddie in a great moment for the locker room. And
Speaker 3: I know, I mean, I think I think he deserves
Speaker 3: it because you know, kicking is one of those things
Speaker 3: I think where you, like you mentioned, you'll remember the misses,
Speaker 3: and there's gonna be misses, but to see him get
Speaker 3: that moment. And he also kind of mentioned that the
Speaker 3: game winner last season, which granted, in that Saints game,
Speaker 3: it was kind of you know, last game wasn't any
Speaker 3: playoff hopes on the line or anything, but he did
Speaker 3: sell the game winner in that and so for him,
Speaker 3: he was like, you know, it was our first game
Speaker 3: winner since then he got to kick that one too.
Speaker 3: So he has last two Panthers wins were game winning
Speaker 3: kicks from Eddie Pinero, and he remembered that, so I
Speaker 3: wanted to give that some shine.
Speaker 4: He has won the game the last two Panthers wins, no.
Speaker 1: Doubt about that. And here's the other thing that was
Speaker 1: neat about Sunday.
Speaker 2: And I don't mind using a corny, innocent kind of
Speaker 2: word like neat about this guy. But Austin Corbett is back, everybody.
Speaker 2: I mean, we had him miked up and it turned
Speaker 2: into some video gold. I encourage everybody to check out
Speaker 2: the video on Panthers dot com and the written component
Speaker 2: to that store if you choose. But I've written a
Speaker 2: lot about this cat over the last ten months from
Speaker 2: coming back from his ACL.
Speaker 1: Austin was generous enough with his time through the off
Speaker 1: season to.
Speaker 2: Kind of walk us through that process and to show
Speaker 2: fans and readers what it's like to, you know, have
Speaker 2: doubt cast on your professional career. And you know, even
Speaker 2: though Austin's still a young guy at the top of
Speaker 2: his game, he's now in peak physical condition. But he
Speaker 2: had to rebuild that knee from the ground up basically
Speaker 2: and start over and to see him and to see
Speaker 2: the emotion in his face. I mean, when that kick
Speaker 2: is going through once, twice, third time, Austin's down on
Speaker 2: one knee on the sidelines, not knowing how this thing's
Speaker 2: gonna go, and everybody was sort of giving him some space.
Speaker 2: And when it went through the third time and everybody
Speaker 2: kind of realized it done, he wasn't jumping up and down.
Speaker 2: He was like head down, because he admitted after the game,
Speaker 2: it all started pouring out of him. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: it's rare to see. It's rare to see a football
Speaker 2: player get that carried away with that kind of emotion
Speaker 2: on the field in that moment, especially in a regular
Speaker 2: season game that got you to one and six. If
Speaker 2: it's after the super Bowl or something like that, understandable,
Speaker 2: but I think it kind of encapsulated. That became the
Speaker 2: moment of everything he's been pushing toward for the last
Speaker 2: nine plus months, not only to get back on the field,
Speaker 2: but to get back and be such a part of
Speaker 2: this thing. Because Austin has become, in his own way,
Speaker 2: one of the real leaders around here because of the
Speaker 2: way he does his business and telling the story. Over
Speaker 2: the course of the offseason, you talk to the athletic
Speaker 2: training staff and they're like, Austin's always on time. He's
Speaker 2: always doing everything the right way. He's very meticulous in
Speaker 2: his rehab. He's always asking if there's anything more that
Speaker 2: can be done, is he doing it the right way?
Speaker 2: Just very careful about every step he takes in that process.
Speaker 2: You go to the weight room, they say the same thing.
Speaker 2: He lives weights the right way. You go to nutrition,
Speaker 2: he eats the right way. I mean they talked about,
Speaker 2: you know, over the course of this rehab that Austin
Speaker 2: Corbett sleeps the way you're supposed to sleep. So to
Speaker 2: see someone who is that meticulous and when he's well
Speaker 2: and you see him on the field, he's the guy
Speaker 2: in OTAs who's out there sprinting and leading the offensive
Speaker 2: line from group to group, from drill to drill kind
Speaker 2: of thing.
Speaker 1: He's always out in front.
Speaker 2: So to see that moment and to see Bradley Boseman
Speaker 2: come up and hug him, and then you know, bless
Speaker 2: her heart, Katie Rogers, the assistant athletic trainer who's kind
Speaker 2: of been his guardian angel. That picture was one of
Speaker 2: my favorite things we've had on this website in a
Speaker 2: long time because you know, Austin's down on one knee
Speaker 2: and Katie is the one with the red ponytail right
Speaker 2: over his shoulder, and that's literally where she's been since
Speaker 2: the day flew to LA for his surgery in January,
Speaker 2: you know, and she's been shepherding him through this entire moment.
Speaker 2: So to see that hit, that field goal hit, to
Speaker 2: see Austin kind of overcome with emotion and he stands
Speaker 2: up and he just kind of hugs Katie and all
Speaker 2: he can get out is thank you.
Speaker 1: It's like, are you kidding me? Again?
Speaker 2: With the Frank Capra, this is a little I mean,
Speaker 2: if this was a script, you would not have believed it.
Speaker 3: I know, I know, And I feel like you've you've
Speaker 3: just done such a good job encapsulating kind of his
Speaker 3: journey from you know, one of my favorite introgies since
Speaker 3: we can kind of do a look back on the
Speaker 3: Austin Corbett series now that he's he's better and he's
Speaker 3: out there, I mean, encapsulating everything from you know, first
Speaker 3: surgery and you know, learning to stand again, walk again,
Speaker 3: work out again, but even the boredom phases, and I
Speaker 3: think about the picture that we needed to use at
Speaker 3: the top there where he was chewing gum and blowing
Speaker 3: a bubble and it was genius, and like everyone was
Speaker 3: working out and he couldn't do nothing at that point.
Speaker 3: It was like June or July, Darren OTAs or mini
Speaker 3: camp or something, and he was just sitting there and
Speaker 3: he was just blowing a bubble because I mean there
Speaker 3: was boredom involved, you know, and there was him making
Speaker 3: these little milestones and almost like, you know, entertaining himself.
Speaker 3: One of the things that I found so entertaining throughout
Speaker 3: his entire rehab process where his question on social media,
Speaker 3: what's your favorite sauce?
Speaker 4: You know, what's your favorite thing to do in a hotel?
Speaker 4: Like things like that.
Speaker 3: I mean, it was just so fun and he really
Speaker 3: found a way to keep himself entertained. But Darren, you
Speaker 3: did a great job entertaining the Panthers fan base with.
Speaker 4: His story and appreciate it.
Speaker 1: It's all there.
Speaker 2: It's a rare kind of thing, and I tell people
Speaker 2: all the time about what we can do here at
Speaker 2: Panthers dot com. We can take fans where nobody else
Speaker 2: can take them, and I hope fans appreciate those little
Speaker 2: peaks behind the scenes, and that's what you try to do,
Speaker 2: and I really did. It's you know, I try not
Speaker 2: to get too corny and choked up at moments like
Speaker 2: this because Sunday reminded me so much of the Arizona
Speaker 2: game two years ago. Cam Newton comes back, he does
Speaker 2: see I'm back. Think everybody's feeling good again about life
Speaker 2: because Cam was back and smiling and it reminded him
Speaker 2: of the old times.
Speaker 1: And that lasted exactly eight days until.
Speaker 2: The following week when Ron Rivera comes in here with
Speaker 2: Washington beats him and it kind of dashed some water on.
Speaker 1: A little bit of that party.
Speaker 2: But man, those eight days were a cool eight days
Speaker 2: of making content that made people happy. And Sunday with Frank,
Speaker 2: with Bryce, with Eddie, with the Hall of Honor, guys
Speaker 2: with Austin, the whole nine yards.
Speaker 1: I mean, the people who play music in.
Speaker 2: This stadium were like, man, it's been a while since
Speaker 2: we played Sweet Caroline after one of these, so it
Speaker 2: was just a moment.
Speaker 1: I think that was cool for a lot of people
Speaker 1: to bring that all together.
Speaker 2: So now the only challenge is yo it again because
Speaker 2: the Colts are coming to town, and you know, Frank
Speaker 2: being Frank he ain't getting all wrapped up in the
Speaker 2: Colts revenge game storylines that kind of stuff, because he's
Speaker 2: so dead level and moving on.
Speaker 1: But this is an.
Speaker 2: Important stretch, as we talked about prior to the first win.
Speaker 2: You know, the Colts coming in without their number one
Speaker 2: pick quarterback, you know, Anthony Richardson unfortunately lost for the
Speaker 2: year to a shoulder injury, and Gardner Minshew is bringing
Speaker 2: kind of a runs hot and cold offense in here,
Speaker 2: followed up by the Bears in Chicago the following week,
Speaker 2: and then it's almost like a reset. I mean, those
Speaker 2: three games, I think in a lot of people's mind
Speaker 2: sort of operated as a unit.
Speaker 1: So we'll see how it goes. But it's going to
Speaker 1: certainly be an interesting stretch of games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it's a stretch I think that they've kind
Speaker 3: of been waiting for. We've talked about it, but you know,
Speaker 3: you get through the Detroit game, the Miami game, and
Speaker 3: then on the other side of it, you do have
Speaker 3: you know, the Texans and the Colts and the Anthony
Speaker 3: richards Unless Colts nonetheless, and then going up to the
Speaker 3: Bears on Thursday night, which I think you know, Thursday
Speaker 3: night football. We're not till too far ahead, but always
Speaker 3: kind of always kind of wild in and of itself,
Speaker 3: and then up in Chicago and all things going on there.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a decent stretch I think for this
Speaker 3: team to feel not more confident, but you know what
Speaker 3: I mean, feel like, you know, Okay, we're not going
Speaker 3: against the top five offense. We talked about it before
Speaker 3: the Texans game, but I think it's a I think
Speaker 3: it's a good time to kind of start these good feelings.
Speaker 3: And who knows what will happen, but I mean, this
Speaker 3: is a matchup I think that they like, so we'll see.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 2: But that game and this stuff that's coming up, it's
Speaker 2: just like the holidays. You appreciate it while you got
Speaker 2: it because you never know how long it's gonna last.
Speaker 2: On that On that note, we will see you again
Speaker 2: soon on the happy half hour. And who knows what's
Speaker 2: coming next.
Speaker 3: Mmmmmmm