Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristen Balboni, Will Brian and Darren Gamp. It's that time
Speaker 1: of the week. Welcome to the Happy Half Hour podcast
Speaker 1: with your friends Will, Darren, Kristen and producer Matt Guys.
Speaker 1: Before we started recording, we were just talking about everything
Speaker 1: that has happened since we last recorded this podcast, which
Speaker 1: was like two years ago and two years ago a
Speaker 1: k a. Last Wednesday, Darren, will you give us a
Speaker 1: rundown of all the things that have happened in a
Speaker 1: one week span. Yeah, since we recorded this podcast a
Speaker 1: week ago. Mick Jagger found the Thirsty Beaver. The Rolling
Speaker 1: Stones played a concert in Bank of America Stadium, which
Speaker 1: was amazing. The Panthers went to Dallas and kind of
Speaker 1: got knocked around pretty good down there, and oh, by
Speaker 1: the way, they came home and traded for Stefine Gilmore,
Speaker 1: the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Other than that,
Speaker 1: not too much. We're gonna tell all Panthers in just
Speaker 1: a second, but only because Darren has been scooting around
Speaker 1: Bank of America Stadium NonStop the last week covering all
Speaker 1: those stories. Did the Rolling Stones play any of your
Speaker 1: favorite songs, your deep cuts. They have not had a
Speaker 1: chance to ask you did. Actually, the old, the old
Speaker 1: Keith Richard's classic Before They Make Me Run was part
Speaker 1: of the Keith section in the middle of the concert there.
Speaker 1: So that was great and it and as it turns out,
Speaker 1: one of the the internet, it's an amazing place full
Speaker 1: of all kind of neat stuff and many terrible things.
Speaker 1: But there's a website I go to a lot called
Speaker 1: cent list dot fm, and it had the cent list
Speaker 1: from the ninety four concert I saw in Columbia, South
Speaker 1: Carolina with the Rolling Stones. And as it turns out,
Speaker 1: they played twenty three songs that night. In four twenty
Speaker 1: seven years later they played nineteen so four or fewer
Speaker 1: songs from twenty three to nineteen and twenty seven years.
Speaker 1: Those old guys are really slowing down. So I have
Speaker 1: a I have a scoop for you. I've heard from
Speaker 1: an inside source that before the concert, when they were
Speaker 1: going over you know, oh yeah, we you know we
Speaker 1: played here in um in ninety seven, you know, the
Speaker 1: first concert here. Uh, the Mick Jagger was the one
Speaker 1: that remembered that they played here in nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 1: Nobody else on the crew or the people working here
Speaker 1: had any idea that they were here in sixty five.
Speaker 1: And he's like, oh yeah, I remember the old Charlotte
Speaker 1: colisseum down independence, No, no, no, no, don't give me shelter,
Speaker 1: and that's all I gonna get. But anyway, we should
Speaker 1: take the thirsty beaver. Now I founded a little German.
Speaker 1: If I'm not, I can't do any accents at all.
Speaker 1: I really outside of Darren. I can do Darren's act. No,
Speaker 1: don't know, Well, well, we'll save that for later. I'll
Speaker 1: do the I'll do the um special things to do
Speaker 1: in Darren's accent at the end of the show. Well, okay,
Speaker 1: no one knows what that means except for well's got
Speaker 1: a segment coming and he'll do all right, I'm holding
Speaker 1: you to that map. Please clip off the well Mick
Speaker 1: Jagger impression. Let's all right. So now that we've gotten
Speaker 1: to the important news that everyone came here for, which
Speaker 1: was Darren's review of the Rolling Stones concert, let's let's
Speaker 1: talk about Stefan Gilmore. I mean, yeah, what a whirlwind
Speaker 1: last couple of days, at least for us, you know,
Speaker 1: as we started to find out about it, and Darren
Speaker 1: especially for you, What have you gleaned from from walking
Speaker 1: around the building making your rounds, Like when you see
Speaker 1: Darren on a mission, like I said, at the stadium,
Speaker 1: you see him headed down to the second floor. You
Speaker 1: know what's on. He's going down to get some really
Speaker 1: good information. So what have you gathered? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: this thing came together fairly quickly. They had been interested
Speaker 1: in Stefan over the course of the summer. I mean,
Speaker 1: at different points had made calls and it was kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, exploratory at that point. But this thing ramped
Speaker 1: up in a hurry. And and the short version is
Speaker 1: as after the Patriots put out word that they were
Speaker 1: going to cut him. You know, that's like dogs flushing
Speaker 1: birds out of the underbrush. I mean they you know,
Speaker 1: they weren't they were going to try to do exactly
Speaker 1: what they did, and put out word that they were
Speaker 1: going to cut him, and got a bunch of phone calls,
Speaker 1: and rather than wait and hope that Stefan we just
Speaker 1: want to sign with his hometown team, they went ahead
Speaker 1: and gave up that sixth round pick in three, which
Speaker 1: is as close to nothing as you can actually give
Speaker 1: someone to, you know, acquire a player of this caliber. Now,
Speaker 1: you know, I think there are reasons to be interested
Speaker 1: in how Stefine comes in. I mean, obviously hadn't played
Speaker 1: this year, he had the quad injury last year. But
Speaker 1: in two thousand nineteen, not seven years ago, not ten
Speaker 1: years ago. Two years ago, this man was the NFL
Speaker 1: defensive Player of the Year and you got him for
Speaker 1: a sixth round pick in Yeah, and just in case
Speaker 1: any Panthers fans, which I'm sure you have if you're
Speaker 1: listening to the podcast, you're obviously dialed in with you know,
Speaker 1: the best information, But just in case anyone um isn't
Speaker 1: up to date, the Patriots cut him from everything that
Speaker 1: we're hearing or wanted to cut him, uh for for
Speaker 1: cap purposes and for contract purposes, not because they think
Speaker 1: anything is Um is wrong with him or they don't
Speaker 1: want him to contribute. It was they were what like
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars under the salary cap, needed to make
Speaker 1: some moves, and he couldn't come to an agreement contract
Speaker 1: and he and he won't be able to play until
Speaker 1: Week seven, and he was going into the final year
Speaker 1: of his contract, so they wanted to extend. They wanted
Speaker 1: to do something to spread out cap Hit couldn't come
Speaker 1: to any kind of agreement on that because he still
Speaker 1: wants to get paid at the level commensurate with his abilities,
Speaker 1: and they weren't able to reach common ground on that.
Speaker 1: I would love to know he's a hometown guy. How
Speaker 1: much does that matter to Panthers fans? I think it's
Speaker 1: amazing he's a rock Hill guy. He lives in the
Speaker 1: Charlotte area when he's uh, when he's not in seas
Speaker 1: And what does it mean to to Panthers fans or
Speaker 1: especially you know, the South Carolina portion of Panthers fans
Speaker 1: to have a guy like this joining the Panthers. I
Speaker 1: think it's huge And and having spent fourteen years of
Speaker 1: my life working for the rock Hill Herald, I can
Speaker 1: tell you the other hometown guy in Football City, USA
Speaker 1: is pretty excited about this, and they should be. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's one of their own. And rock Hill has a
Speaker 1: long history of of pumping guys into the NFL. I mean,
Speaker 1: Stefens far from the only you know, first round pick
Speaker 1: to ever come from such a small town, but they've
Speaker 1: got a culture of it down there, and and it matters,
Speaker 1: and it's a huge deal. And I remember I was
Speaker 1: looking back through my files and I sent Will a
Speaker 1: copy of the story this morning before I put it
Speaker 1: on Twitter, before Stefan was drafted. That was right before
Speaker 1: I left the newspaper in two thousand twelve. Um before
Speaker 1: he was drafted by Buffalo in twelve. I talked to
Speaker 1: him in a bunch of the other rock Hill NFL
Speaker 1: people and just about this latest link in the chain,
Speaker 1: the guy eyes from that town who we're gonna make good.
Speaker 1: A lot of defensive backs, great names, I mean, from
Speaker 1: Rick Sanford to Jeff Burrows to Sheldon Brown, I mean
Speaker 1: so many guys. Jear Old, Gerald Dixon, Ernest Dixon. Ernest
Speaker 1: Dixon was actually here briefly, I think in ninety eight,
Speaker 1: maybe in training camp from Fort Mill, but at you know,
Speaker 1: never been a guy from York County on this roster
Speaker 1: prior to now. And you asked what does it mean
Speaker 1: to Panthers fans? I mean, also what does it mean
Speaker 1: to him? You know, I think that's important to be
Speaker 1: especially as you know this year goes on and you
Speaker 1: know what sort of contract negotiations go on for the future.
Speaker 1: You know, how how much does that factor into uh,
Speaker 1: you know, what he can do to stay here versus,
Speaker 1: you know, go somewhere else as a free agent. So
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean he lives right next to
Speaker 1: Scott Fitterer and w Will I wasn't I wasn't going
Speaker 1: to say it, and we'll just put that out on
Speaker 1: the podcast and Dan Morgan. Apparently they all live on
Speaker 1: the same block. Their their car pool and work. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, from now, that'll be fun during contract negotiations, right,
Speaker 1: we need we need video of that. I wonder if
Speaker 1: they'll sing when they car pool. I think they might.
Speaker 1: I think they received sources close to me tell me,
Speaker 1: but uh, we'll see. I mean it's gonna be interesting.
Speaker 1: I think it obviously matters. One of the things I
Speaker 1: thought was kind of funny. There's a perception outside of
Speaker 1: Charlotte that no one would want to come here, and
Speaker 1: that the Patriots had somehow done this man a disservice
Speaker 1: by trading him to a place rather than allowing him
Speaker 1: to choose his next destination. It's like, listen, he might
Speaker 1: have chosen this anyway. This is home. And it's not
Speaker 1: like the team's awful or anything. I mean, they're they're
Speaker 1: playing okay right now. They could certainly use somebody likes
Speaker 1: to find Gilmore, but every team in the league could do.
Speaker 1: Somebody likes to find Gilmore. Let's not kid ourselves. Um,
Speaker 1: but I thought it was kind of funny when they
Speaker 1: said they did this man wrong, and he might have
Speaker 1: actually preferred it come down this way than get in
Speaker 1: a situation where a place not Charlotte was going to
Speaker 1: be calling and and making the offer to bring him in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are worse places to be, That's darned sure. I
Speaker 1: want to just go back to Darren talking about the
Speaker 1: article he wrote on Stefan Gilmour in two thousand twelve.
Speaker 1: I saw it on Twitter, he said it to Will
Speaker 1: It didn't send it to me beforehand, but that's okay.
Speaker 1: I just thought I saw it on Twitter, and you
Speaker 1: know what I thought. I was like, gosh, how good
Speaker 1: do you have to be to just dig up an
Speaker 1: article from almost ten years ago and be like, this
Speaker 1: is good. I'm going to post it. I would hope
Speaker 1: nobody sees my stuff from two thousand twelve. That's all
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Laron strikes again. I was at the peak
Speaker 1: of my game. So now you're on a team friendly
Speaker 1: deal here, you know your career m guy veteran present. Now, well,
Speaker 1: let's let's talk about some of the impetus for signings
Speaker 1: to find Gilmore and clearly, as we said, cannot play
Speaker 1: until week seven because he's on the publist. But that
Speaker 1: Cowboys game, you know they're they are looking ahead at
Speaker 1: at help in this secondary um and I think when
Speaker 1: you look at the way that the Cowboys game went,
Speaker 1: UM could use it. Yeah. I mean, well you could
Speaker 1: use the help stop in the run. That's the first
Speaker 1: thing everybody's been talking about this week. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: just think in the way they play defense and the
Speaker 1: way they want to play defense, you've got to have
Speaker 1: multiple guys who can cover. They've been really clear that C. J.
Speaker 1: Henderson was a trade for long term, not short term.
Speaker 1: J C. Horn cover. So this gives c. J. Henderson
Speaker 1: a chance to learn this defense which is new to him,
Speaker 1: and get acclimated and get his feet underneath him a
Speaker 1: little bit so he can be more comfortable. Now you
Speaker 1: can put starting in week seven. Now you can put
Speaker 1: Dante Jackson, who speaking of guys at the top of
Speaker 1: his game right now, he's playing his best football right now.
Speaker 1: Dante Stefan, Gilmore and A. J. Boy A and that's
Speaker 1: a lot better than and okay, where are we gonna
Speaker 1: And this is nothing against any of these guys, but
Speaker 1: Rashaan Melvin is a is an old vet who's a
Speaker 1: journeyman who's been on a lot of different teams. Started
Speaker 1: this season on the practice started season on the practice
Speaker 1: squad and got caught up a couple of weeks and
Speaker 1: then they put him on the active roster. He's he's good,
Speaker 1: he's somebody they want. But other than that, it's Keith Taylor,
Speaker 1: who's a rookie at Stanley, Thomas Oliver, who was a
Speaker 1: seventh round pick a year ago. None of those guys
Speaker 1: are Stefan Gilmore. And I just think that the chance
Speaker 1: to add a pedigreed corner so that right now, I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought it was so telling last night that when
Speaker 1: somebody asked fitter or about j. C. Horne and his
Speaker 1: injury got the broken foot. It's gonna be two or
Speaker 1: three months probably, it's what most people think. And somebody
Speaker 1: asked Scott if it was absolutely season ending, and he said, no, no,
Speaker 1: not necessarily. We'll see how he comes back, but you know,
Speaker 1: we're playing on, going to the playoffs. And it was
Speaker 1: so casual the way Scott said it. I mean, and
Speaker 1: it's gone from a month ago no one knew what
Speaker 1: to expect from this team to now they're thinking about
Speaker 1: going to the playoffs. And if you're going to be
Speaker 1: that kind of team, you need that kind of secondary. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And if you talk to to Dan Morgan, who I mean,
Speaker 1: he will say it you. He can't go a few
Speaker 1: sentences without saying the goal is to win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: And I love it. I mean, he's staying it multiple times.
Speaker 1: Um uh, you know a sentence when he when you're
Speaker 1: talking to him, which which I love to hear. And
Speaker 1: it needs someone that understands the gravity of what that
Speaker 1: takes from from all levels. So I like it. I
Speaker 1: like the aggressiveness. I was talking to Matt Rule about
Speaker 1: that yesterday and we saw in the in the Cowboys game.
Speaker 1: You know you've got like fourth and eight and Brennan
Speaker 1: Zilstrick converts. Um. He's not afraid to go for it.
Speaker 1: And it really feels like this front office matches him
Speaker 1: in that sense that that they are gonna do whatever
Speaker 1: they can to get this roster in the right place
Speaker 1: in order to push for games beyond the red their season.
Speaker 1: It's So it's an interesting thing when you know, the
Speaker 1: news of the morning, you know, shakes the NFL world,
Speaker 1: and then the news by lunch includes the Panthers in
Speaker 1: it like that. Those just those aren't necessarily the things
Speaker 1: that have been happening around here for you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just a kind of a different reality. That's that's
Speaker 1: a lot of fun to be a part of. Right
Speaker 1: And oh, by the way, the big news yesterday morning
Speaker 1: was going to be Christian McCaffrey's back on the practice field.
Speaker 1: Right by the end of the day, that was about
Speaker 1: the fourth most important thing that was going on. So
Speaker 1: I mean, that's yeah, I mean, that's the personality they've
Speaker 1: taken on. And and credit to Will for helping dig
Speaker 1: this up. When they traded for Darryl Johnson right before
Speaker 1: the start of the regular season, the Bill's defensive end.
Speaker 1: They trade for him. That was their eleventh trade since
Speaker 1: Scott took over his g M in January, which matched
Speaker 1: what they made in the three previous years. They've since
Speaker 1: tacked two more onto that, so we're at thirteen trades
Speaker 1: and counting for Scott Fitter in this calendar year. And
Speaker 1: it's just that's that's the m oh now, that's the
Speaker 1: way they operate. And and Scott admitted yesterday he's out
Speaker 1: working the phones, trying to see if there's offensive line
Speaker 1: help available, you know, seeing what else is available, you know,
Speaker 1: as they go through some stuff where they're a little
Speaker 1: thin a linebacker and different things. I mean, Scott's out
Speaker 1: there working the phones. And and he admitted he said,
Speaker 1: when you get the reputation for making all these deals,
Speaker 1: you hear stuff that other people don't because people know
Speaker 1: you're open for business, it can only help. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're not all gonna work out. Not every trade is
Speaker 1: going to be a home run. You know, sometimes things
Speaker 1: just aren't gonna work. But right now, I mean the
Speaker 1: excitement they're creating with this, I think it's got a
Speaker 1: lot of people fired up. And and neither here nor there,
Speaker 1: but you know, it's something that I think Panthers fans
Speaker 1: should to take a lot of comfort in scoff fit
Speaker 1: or despite being busier than like pretty much any other,
Speaker 1: GM always has time to be a lovely human when
Speaker 1: you talk to him. I mean, really, it just it's
Speaker 1: it's awesome. Scott's easy people to get along, and it
Speaker 1: doesn't ever feel like he's overwhelmed by any more. I
Speaker 1: talked to him before the draft, after the draft. You know,
Speaker 1: if you see him right now, you wouldn't know anything
Speaker 1: was going on. It's just real calm um on the surface.
Speaker 1: And I mean he could be it could be negotiations
Speaker 1: with like three different teams right now, and you just
Speaker 1: you know, and he's just, hey, how's it going, how's
Speaker 1: everyone doing? You know, let me let me stop and
Speaker 1: talk to you about this, which is which is awesome.
Speaker 1: And it also feels like if Stefan Gilmore walked over
Speaker 1: a couple of doors down and knocked on Scott's door
Speaker 1: and said, hey, Mike Lalmower is out of gas, I
Speaker 1: would be like, oh, here's here's a tank. You can
Speaker 1: have mine. Just bring it back whenever you feel well.
Speaker 1: For multiple reasons, I think any GM would do that
Speaker 1: if signed nineteen or traded for defensive Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: But yes, he would do that no matter who the
Speaker 1: neighbor was. That's right. Let's talk about the Cowboys game. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the run defense was a was a big issue. A
Speaker 1: line is something that a lot of other people are
Speaker 1: talking about. So starting with that run defense, that was
Speaker 1: really the strength of this team. In the first three games,
Speaker 1: and then both Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott just I
Speaker 1: mean just gash the run defense um, like the screeching
Speaker 1: tire sound effect goes here. You're averaging forty five yards
Speaker 1: a game and Dallas runs for two. And then you
Speaker 1: look at the Eagles and Jalen Hurts is their leading rusher.
Speaker 1: So what do you think if you're this coaching staff,
Speaker 1: what are you telling these guys who are clearly incredibly
Speaker 1: talented but just got knocked down a peg in order
Speaker 1: to get that confidence. We talked about this momentum versus confidence.
Speaker 1: What do these guys need to do, uh, in order
Speaker 1: to to be ready aside from film study right um
Speaker 1: for these Eagles game and Jalen Hurts And you know what,
Speaker 1: We'll have a story about this very topics dot com
Speaker 1: that I've heard in a while on this po I thought, really,
Speaker 1: it's like right off the top. Yeah, I thought it
Speaker 1: was interesting. When Jermaine Carter was talking the other day,
Speaker 1: he used the phrase we put blood in the water
Speaker 1: twice during about a seven minute interview on Monday. And
Speaker 1: they know that everybody's watching that tape now and and
Speaker 1: they put out the blueprint. I mean, you want to
Speaker 1: run at the Carolina Panthers, here's what you gotta do.
Speaker 1: Load it up, put an extra linement on the field,
Speaker 1: bring all your tight ends to the party, and just
Speaker 1: go straight at them. And and until they stop it,
Speaker 1: that's going to be Philadelphia is not built the same
Speaker 1: way as Dallas. Not many people are, but and not
Speaker 1: everybody's gonna be able to pull it off. But they
Speaker 1: know they're marked now and people are gonna try them.
Speaker 1: So they've got to get it fixed. And they've got
Speaker 1: to get it fixed hurry, in a hurry. I mean,
Speaker 1: de KWin talked, de Kuan Johns talked about you know,
Speaker 1: technique and everybody being in the right gap and all
Speaker 1: those little bitty things. But mostly it got their attention,
Speaker 1: and I think those guys, you know, they've got pride
Speaker 1: in their work, just like everybody else. And when it
Speaker 1: doesn't go the way you're expecting, you know, that kind
Speaker 1: of caught everybody. And they knew walking in this week
Speaker 1: they were in store for. And this one may feel
Speaker 1: a little different because of you know, Ezekiel Elliott. There
Speaker 1: were times when everything looked correct, the gap integrity was
Speaker 1: there that everyone stepped up and they made the contact
Speaker 1: exactly as they've made the three weeks before, and then
Speaker 1: Zeke tacks four to five four yards onto it. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just who Zeke is right now. And you know
Speaker 1: you could tell he was playing with a chip on
Speaker 1: his shoulder. You know, he was tired of kind of
Speaker 1: being written off. Um, you know the way he was
Speaker 1: a little Oh you know that it's a two back
Speaker 1: system now and Tony Pollard may be better and all this.
Speaker 1: You know, Zeke was running with with fire. But this week,
Speaker 1: you know, it hurts as a guy. He's not trying
Speaker 1: to run through you. He's gonna trying to run by
Speaker 1: you or make you fall down and miss. So that
Speaker 1: is gonna be you know, how do these corners do
Speaker 1: out in the edge? You know, how did guys do
Speaker 1: in space? It may not be you know, people that
Speaker 1: are getting knocked back and just a huge pile of
Speaker 1: dust that's moving five yards down the field. It's gonna
Speaker 1: feel a little bit different, but it's still gonna be
Speaker 1: very dangerous. Yeah, And it's also a little bit out
Speaker 1: of necessity that they might have to play along the
Speaker 1: edges anyway, because with Shack Thompson out this week. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, Rule mentioned stuff yesterday about one linebacker defenses,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's a good thing. You've got a
Speaker 1: guy like Jeremy Chen who's got some linebacker background that
Speaker 1: you can move around and do different stuff and they'll,
Speaker 1: you know, they'll have different ways to play this thing.
Speaker 1: But right now, I mean, they were they were pretty
Speaker 1: thin at inside linebacker anyway when it was Jermaine and Shack.
Speaker 1: And now there's no shock at least for this week,
Speaker 1: maybe for Negs, probably for Eggs, but um, that's another issue.
Speaker 1: But they you're gonna have to be fast on defense,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to be correct. I mean that
Speaker 1: front four has got to get their gap covered, you know,
Speaker 1: and they've got to do as much contained as they
Speaker 1: can to keep this thing from getting to the edges
Speaker 1: and getting away from them like it did last week.
Speaker 1: And there's some things in the NFL where if you
Speaker 1: do the right things and you kind of give the
Speaker 1: effort and put yourself in the right position, a lot
Speaker 1: of times the ball will start bouncing back your way.
Speaker 1: It felt like the last couple of weeks, you know,
Speaker 1: out in Texas, just like I mean, let's be real,
Speaker 1: the Jeremy Chinn. Thing was a fumble, that was a mistake.
Speaker 1: Ref messed it up period, you know, no forward progress,
Speaker 1: that's b S. You know, sorry, but when you get home,
Speaker 1: apologize for saying b S. Yeah, okay, alright, just checking
Speaker 1: you can. You get home and you keep doing you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of just the way of football. You keep
Speaker 1: putting in the effort and the ball kind of starts
Speaker 1: going back your way, you know, especially when when you're
Speaker 1: at home and you do the right things and hopefully
Speaker 1: things kind of turned back for you. Because there's been
Speaker 1: a lot of things, especially on that I mean on
Speaker 1: that one drive. I mean that it was just an
Speaker 1: absurdity of of what is going on here? The drive
Speaker 1: with the right and then the two point conversion that
Speaker 1: wasn't one, you know, all of those, you know that
Speaker 1: they finally corrected after twenty minutes of looking at it.
Speaker 1: The review had a couple of plays before the chair,
Speaker 1: you know, and there, you know, and guys were getting
Speaker 1: their helmets taken off of the line and blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: So you know, I think you get home and you
Speaker 1: kind of like you want to get out to a
Speaker 1: good start and kind of get right in feeling like, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know it's not everyone against us, you know, and
Speaker 1: that takes some character building to be able to keep
Speaker 1: playing when you know that things are going against You
Speaker 1: want a few good plays under your belt right after
Speaker 1: having a game that you just kind of want to
Speaker 1: wash away, and it'll be good to feel like you
Speaker 1: know you're both supported and you know, amped up by
Speaker 1: the people out here, you know. I I think that
Speaker 1: especially this week, you know, Charlotte's a place where they
Speaker 1: can get up when you get them up, and with
Speaker 1: Gilmore coming in and you know, there's still some a
Speaker 1: lot of excitement in the city. Can I say this,
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying this just because we're talking on
Speaker 1: a podcast to Panthers fans who will be listening to this.
Speaker 1: I've said it on air, I've said it off the
Speaker 1: air to to Rule and others. The last two home games,
Speaker 1: that crowd has been great. There have been some some
Speaker 1: big third down you know potential like where the defense
Speaker 1: needs the crowd to fire up on third down and
Speaker 1: it sounds good, it sounds loud, you can tell that
Speaker 1: it's bothering people. Um and I remember I think it
Speaker 1: was in the Saints game there was a There was
Speaker 1: a big third down for the Saints. They were trying
Speaker 1: to you know, defense is getting the crowd fired up.
Speaker 1: They sounded great, and the Saints called the time out,
Speaker 1: and I was like, I wonder what it's going to
Speaker 1: sound like when they come out of the time out
Speaker 1: and the crowd picked it back up, and I was
Speaker 1: just I was really proud. You know, it's great, and
Speaker 1: that is what you're looking for at home, and I
Speaker 1: know that they're excited to be here for for two
Speaker 1: more games. I want to talk about old line quickly.
Speaker 1: Darren put you on the hot speed. Yeah. Yeah, well
Speaker 1: you know, when you host, you just pass off the
Speaker 1: tough stuff to somebody else. What would you tell fans
Speaker 1: right now? Yeah, that was because that's what they're asking about.
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, it was not great, Bob, it was.
Speaker 1: It was kind of great, Bob. It was kind of
Speaker 1: bad last week. And you know, I think they're I
Speaker 1: think there's by a natural means, going to be a
Speaker 1: different look out there this week. We'll see. I mean,
Speaker 1: Cam Irving didn't practice yesterday and left tackle, so you
Speaker 1: start wondering how they're gonna put guys on the field.
Speaker 1: You know, during training camp Rule always said that Taylor
Speaker 1: Moten was his backup left tackle. Now we'll see if
Speaker 1: he's hesitant to move him from the right. We'll see
Speaker 1: how the week goes off cam practices or not, or
Speaker 1: what they end up doing. But whether regardless of personnel,
Speaker 1: they've got to fix that because that was a big
Speaker 1: problem and that was the other blueprint thing and Sam
Speaker 1: said it after the game the other day. We know
Speaker 1: people are gonna bring it now to try to create
Speaker 1: that kind of confusion, and yeah, I think being on
Speaker 1: the roads part of it, because Dallas was loud as well,
Speaker 1: and that causes some confusion. But they just got to
Speaker 1: play better and they've got to settle into some degree
Speaker 1: of routine, whether that's Trent Scott, whether that's Brady Christiansen,
Speaker 1: whether that's Taylor Moten on this side, or that's how
Speaker 1: I just gotta play better and we'll see if they can.
Speaker 1: But we knew going into the season that that was
Speaker 1: going to be one of the weaknesses of a roster.
Speaker 1: As they put this thing together, that was almost like
Speaker 1: the last thing they're working on. And yeah, between ailf
Speaker 1: Line getting hurt now Irving's hurt, they don't have the
Speaker 1: first choice line. But I would say to John Miller,
Speaker 1: they weren't sure last week how much he was gonna
Speaker 1: play was questionable. He'd also, you know, come back from
Speaker 1: COVID protocol and week two against the Saints, they said,
Speaker 1: we think he might play like sixty of the snaps.
Speaker 1: He ended up playing a hundred percent of them because
Speaker 1: of because of Pat Elfne's injury. Um and he played
Speaker 1: the whole game. And we knew Camerving was banged up
Speaker 1: going into that Cowboys game. So, like you said, it's
Speaker 1: you're starting at a certain point and then you add
Speaker 1: injuries into it. I mean, there was there was one.
Speaker 1: I mean, they've they've kept Sam very clean through the
Speaker 1: first three games, but I mean he did have to
Speaker 1: go change his jersey in the third quarter because it
Speaker 1: was it was ripped after the fourth or fifth stack.
Speaker 1: Was the wardrobe malfunction that they all of Twitter was
Speaker 1: so terrified for those like five minutes. Executive producer was
Speaker 1: is Is in the podcast studio with us, and I did,
Speaker 1: especially after the Thursday night game, where the majority of
Speaker 1: my reports on the radio sideline were very tough injury
Speaker 1: related reports, and you're you're watching these guys and hoping
Speaker 1: everything's okay. I saw him run in there with the
Speaker 1: with our you know, equipment team, and I told our
Speaker 1: producer David Lincoln immediately, I was like, I just want
Speaker 1: to let you know it's it's a jersey related like
Speaker 1: no ones, no one when they when they go in
Speaker 1: with the equipment guy rather than the athletic training staff,
Speaker 1: that's a that's usually a good sign. And your your
Speaker 1: tweet that you know back in the day, Jake just
Speaker 1: pulled his pants off in front of everyone with some towels.
Speaker 1: Like I did bring that up when I did my
Speaker 1: report on Sam changing his jersey. I said, you know,
Speaker 1: Jake does know a little something about having to do
Speaker 1: a quick change on the sideline. So you had a
Speaker 1: good time with that. Um. But speaking of Sam, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's despite did always scoring touchdowns a lot with his feet.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. And will you have a
Speaker 1: stut of the week that relates to this right the week? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So last week was kind of scary in my world
Speaker 1: because after that second touchdown I kind of went into,
Speaker 1: you know, my computer thing and looked up first four
Speaker 1: games total rushing touchdowns and I'm seeing five and I'm like,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, Wait a minute, no one's ever done
Speaker 1: this as a quarterback, and I'm like, I am terrified.
Speaker 1: I am terrified. Am I about Tom? I am I about?
Speaker 1: Are you about to just have the best at ever
Speaker 1: you setting yourself up to before? Just like, oh, but
Speaker 1: what about? As a former ESPN researcher, I know that
Speaker 1: feeling when you come across something very good and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: what is wrong here? What am I missing? Yeah? So
Speaker 1: I waited and I waited, and I looked at I
Speaker 1: looked at and he's just like, I mean, if you're right.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't know if I am. He's like,
Speaker 1: just just go and so I went with it. In
Speaker 1: a minute later, it's up on Fox, you know, like
Speaker 1: on the lower third, and like that was one of
Speaker 1: those That was one of those moments. Anyway, moving forward,
Speaker 1: the trust your process, well, right, trust the process. You
Speaker 1: had it right. So two straight games with at least
Speaker 1: two rushing touchdowns, if he makes it three straight games
Speaker 1: this weekend, that would be an NFL record for a quarterback.
Speaker 1: No one's ever done that, and it would tie a
Speaker 1: name that everybody in Panther fandom knows. That's the only
Speaker 1: player that's ever done as a Panther. He was a
Speaker 1: running back that had three straight games with two rushing touchdowns. Naturally,
Speaker 1: it's it's go ahead, Lamar Smith legend. Everyone remembers Lamar
Speaker 1: Smith of the Lamar Smith days in in Panther. I
Speaker 1: think it was two thousand, the Lamar Smith Moms. But
Speaker 1: he had three really good games. He had a hot streak,
Speaker 1: you know to oh too, Okay, there you go. So
Speaker 1: Lamar Smith would be would be the one that uh,
Speaker 1: Sam Donald could tie this weekend. It's you know, it's
Speaker 1: but it's moving past being a curiosity to actually a
Speaker 1: thing they do. And the fact that Sam how many
Speaker 1: quarterbacks teats have we seen? The fact that Sam can
Speaker 1: run a little The fact that Sam can make a
Speaker 1: decision I think keeps things open. I mean if you
Speaker 1: saw the the d J Moore touchdown where he's kind
Speaker 1: of running around a little bit and he buys some
Speaker 1: time and finds DJ. I mean I think part of that.
Speaker 1: It's not that opposing defensive coordinators are like, oh god,
Speaker 1: how do we slow down Sam Donald on the run.
Speaker 1: But it's a factor. Well, it has to be look
Speaker 1: at how many touchdowns he scored, Look at how many
Speaker 1: times he's able to hes. Yeah, it's a thing. I mean,
Speaker 1: all the NFL notes this week said the battle of
Speaker 1: dual threat quarterbacks. I mean what we were in the game.
Speaker 1: We're in the game, and our incredible executive producer, David
Speaker 1: LinkedIn was keeping me updated on the rushing touchdown leaderboard.
Speaker 1: It was bouncing between Ezekiel Elliott and Sam Donald throughout
Speaker 1: the game. And by the way Sam, I mean, they
Speaker 1: did not come away with the wind, but Sam came
Speaker 1: out on top at the end. Incredible. If you're Joe Brady,
Speaker 1: do you like do you like that he's I mean,
Speaker 1: you like the touchdowns, but do you like that he's
Speaker 1: scoring on with his feet? I think you're okay with it.
Speaker 1: I mean, especially in a situation where you're without Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: having one more option in the red zonner at the
Speaker 1: goal line can't hurt. And I mean Sam's big enough
Speaker 1: that sneaks are are viable. He's athletic enough that he
Speaker 1: can get out and make a play every now and then.
Speaker 1: I don't know that you want to turn him into
Speaker 1: mar Jackson or anything, but as long as he's not flipping, yeah,
Speaker 1: no flips, no flips. Speaking of Christian McCaffrey, Darren and
Speaker 1: what are you what are you hearing? Um, we'll see,
Speaker 1: how do you know? I thought it was interesting the
Speaker 1: way Matt Rule Mr. Process talked about it yesterday. It
Speaker 1: was almost like he goes out Wednesday, he's limited, Thursday,
Speaker 1: he'll probably be limited again, and you give him a
Speaker 1: little bit more each day, and that's kind of what
Speaker 1: it's going to be for Christian and you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1: He said that if Christians able to go a hundred
Speaker 1: percent on Sunday, they'll play him. But I mean that
Speaker 1: would be ahead of pace for what they initially thought,
Speaker 1: So we'll see how the next couple of days ago.
Speaker 1: I mean it's like he does a little bit of
Speaker 1: a time, a little bit more, a little bit more,
Speaker 1: ramp him up and if you get to Sunday, we'll see.
Speaker 1: But uh, you know, I think they probably described that
Speaker 1: as a two or three week injury to begin with,
Speaker 1: so you know, one might be on the outside edge
Speaker 1: of possibility. Stay tuned well. And and the last point
Speaker 1: on that is that I think you feel good about
Speaker 1: Chuba Hubbard after seeing what he did in the Cowboys game.
Speaker 1: And look and Bryce Freeman did some good things, and
Speaker 1: so did Rodger Smith. So I think you you feel
Speaker 1: confident in in what you've got on the roster, who
Speaker 1: you've got on the roster, I should say, Um, if
Speaker 1: Christian can't play, rather than rushing enough to not rush
Speaker 1: him back, you don't feel compelled to, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I gotta put nine percent Christian McCaffrey out there. They
Speaker 1: don't want to do that, not for this week, not
Speaker 1: at all, and they just want to do right by him,
Speaker 1: do right by the team, and have a Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: hopefully in a few weeks, which is a good thing. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: all right, Well so you I I've heard that you
Speaker 1: caused quite a stir on the internet again, not just
Speaker 1: you know, not just these incredible stats, but also what
Speaker 1: you tweeted something last night that got a ton of
Speaker 1: responses that you're going to share with us. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: just want to know what people wanted us to talk about,
Speaker 1: and apparently none of it was football or start. We
Speaker 1: did start this entire podcast out with Darren's week old
Speaker 1: review of The Rolling Stones, and that's what I think.
Speaker 1: That's what the people want to make no apologies, that's
Speaker 1: what the people want to hear but they got their
Speaker 1: gill more too. So we're gonna do We're gonna do
Speaker 1: some rapid fire. I'm gonna I'm gonna lay it out
Speaker 1: for you, guys. No descriptions, no analysis. Just give me
Speaker 1: a quick answer. We'll go around the board. You say
Speaker 1: that for me, But is all my stories are too long?
Speaker 1: You can do a story at the end. All right,
Speaker 1: top Halloween? Candy, Matt, anything but candy corn. It's Reese's.
Speaker 1: Reese Is always tastes better around Halloween. Pye Eminem's just
Speaker 1: like the regular ones. Peanut Okay, yeah, alright? What color
Speaker 1: pants are they wearing with the black jerseys this weekend?
Speaker 1: We don't know the answer. This, this is just what
Speaker 1: we want, aren't you the jersey? Matt go. It is nice,
Speaker 1: isn't it when you get to tell other people like this?
Speaker 1: I like this power. It feels good. I want to
Speaker 1: see blue pants, blue pants, Kristen black pants, black pants. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm a traditional as silver pants, silver pants. I want
Speaker 1: to see the white pants. I think that'd be fun.
Speaker 1: You gonna go black and white? Yeah, black and white,
Speaker 1: let's see it. Let's do it. Okay, nicknames for the defense, Matt,
Speaker 1: I got nothing, Okay, I like it. That's just letting
Speaker 1: us know. Um, I'm stealing this one from Darren, but
Speaker 1: I'm going first, so that's fine. I like Darren said
Speaker 1: cold for not too long ago, Phil snow. I like
Speaker 1: cold front. It feels intimidating. Also, I would love a
Speaker 1: cold front to come through Charlotte. Just unrelated, it's too
Speaker 1: hot the blizzard. Can we get Brad Panoviage to guest
Speaker 1: host that would be awesome. Yeah, pull pull some strings.
Speaker 1: I mean yeah, I mean it's snow storm. I mean
Speaker 1: it's all it's all kind of the same one and
Speaker 1: one and one in the same there you had, so
Speaker 1: you had all night to think about that, and you're
Speaker 1: coming out with snowstorm. Fine, I'm moving on. What do
Speaker 1: we think Stefan Gilmore's number is going to wear? And
Speaker 1: I we don't know the answer to this as of
Speaker 1: recording on Thursday morning. You may know by the time
Speaker 1: this comes out. Matt, whatever single digit number is available now,
Speaker 1: Matt just took my answer, whereas I took Darren's answer.
Speaker 1: I want to see a single digit number. I guess
Speaker 1: what nine is left? Is nine is left? I mean
Speaker 1: in the number that shall not be named it also
Speaker 1: left right, you know what? You know what to find
Speaker 1: Gilmore War five at South Point High School. And I
Speaker 1: think there's probably some room for negotiation with saying Gonza
Speaker 1: it's fair, I will would he negotiate with boy for
Speaker 1: I don't know? Probably not. I think there there's a
Speaker 1: certain honor among veterans, so you don't want to mess
Speaker 1: with that part of it. But I also don't know
Speaker 1: how married is. I have not admittedly kept up with
Speaker 1: other teams. Are we seeing other defenses with as many
Speaker 1: single digit numbers? Like? Because I mean I've seen the
Speaker 1: teams we've played, but are there embracing the single digits? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it looks weird as much as the Panthers. It does
Speaker 1: look weird. Yeah, Okay, next, best places in North Carolina
Speaker 1: for leaf peeping one more time? What's what's it called
Speaker 1: leaf peeping? Find that that's not vulgar, Christen, It just
Speaker 1: sounds funny. Leaf. Once we get the snowstorm come through,
Speaker 1: we'll have some leaf peeping. I mean, you gotta s Matt, Matt,
Speaker 1: I guess my yard because I don't have to leave
Speaker 1: my house. Like a great answer. That's an answer that
Speaker 1: I feel like Darren approves of UM. I like, you
Speaker 1: gotta go to the mountains. Just anywhere. Anywherewhere in the
Speaker 1: mountains is um, I'll say blowing rock Okay, yeah, specifically
Speaker 1: the Lynn cove Via ducts come with it on Therus,
Speaker 1: the Lynn Viaduct. These are my people. I changed my
Speaker 1: answer to the Blue Dge Parkway. I forgot about that,
Speaker 1: oh man, right after I mean, does hick does Hickory
Speaker 1: have um have good leaf peeping? We're moving in that direction. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's not bad leaf pie. Since you've already referenced Brad once.
Speaker 1: Brad actually has a leaf peeping forecast model that he
Speaker 1: puts out there on Twitter. Yeah, it's great. What's your answer? Well, um,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say Hickory. I like, I want to
Speaker 1: I want to go to the foothills just because I
Speaker 1: can say it that way. UM. And and finally, you know,
Speaker 1: because the points don't matter, but points are good. UM.
Speaker 1: There it is. There is the um who would be
Speaker 1: This is just for Darren who would be your wrestler
Speaker 1: if you were a wrestler, Because there was a picture
Speaker 1: that's there's a picture out there on Twitter. There was
Speaker 1: a picture I was at Waho. McDaniels, Guy when I
Speaker 1: was a kid. Whoa who? McDaniels was the Indian Chief
Speaker 1: former NFL football player who became the champion of the
Speaker 1: nub A. But he was the king of the Indian
Speaker 1: strap match, which is probably looking back on it, maybe
Speaker 1: a little racist, but um, you know, it was the
Speaker 1: seventies and it was wrestling. Everything was kind of that way.
Speaker 1: But I do have another wrestling story. Do we have
Speaker 1: time for a story? Mixed waiting over here to to
Speaker 1: do Mick things. So Mix waiting for my story? Well,
Speaker 1: Mike me need to hop on for this one. As
Speaker 1: as I was on my way to cover a college
Speaker 1: pro day in two thousand eleven of a certain quarterback
Speaker 1: who happened to play at Auburn University, I drove down
Speaker 1: for the pro day. We stopped in Atlanta. I am
Speaker 1: moving over because Mick has now indeed joined for Darren's story.
Speaker 1: So I just want to make that clear that Mick
Speaker 1: Mixon is now listening. Yeah. So two thousand eleven, we're
Speaker 1: on the way to Cam Newton's pro day in Auburn, Alabama.
Speaker 1: Tom Sorenson and the Charlotte Observer and I get in
Speaker 1: the car, get on the road. We stopped in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: go at to Cam's hometown, talked some folks there, and
Speaker 1: while we were on the outskirts of Atlanta, we we
Speaker 1: felt it was our obligation to visit Abdullah the Butcher's
Speaker 1: house of ribs and Chinese food right outside the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Airport area. And we walked in the door and they're
Speaker 1: sitting at a table enjoying a grape soda and or
Speaker 1: possibly a bottle of wine. Was Abdulla the Butcher himself.
Speaker 1: So Sarnson and I sat and had an enjoyable evening
Speaker 1: telling wrestling stories with Abdula the Butcher. Mick, do you
Speaker 1: know Abdullah Butcher? Of course, what do you know about him? Um?
Speaker 1: Not as much? UM, My I'm older. So Abdullah the
Speaker 1: Butcher came into prominence a little after I started to
Speaker 1: stop practicing wrestling holes on my sister, who was feisty.
Speaker 1: I got her in the sleeper hold and I was
Speaker 1: doing it just like Rip Hawk and Johnny Weaver, but
Speaker 1: she never even really got drowsy. So then I got
Speaker 1: her in the Boston Crab the Russian Sickle, which was
Speaker 1: Ivan Coloff's submission, moved the corkscrew made popular by Bronco
Speaker 1: Lubich and Aldobodny. One time I suplexed her cowboy bob Roup,
Speaker 1: and I had cushions laid out, but she went past
Speaker 1: the cushions and hit the coffee table. Oops. I've been
Speaker 1: there too as a as a little sister. But Abdul
Speaker 1: the butcher, whose nickname was the Madman from Sudan, he's
Speaker 1: actually from Candle's submission. It wasn't It wasn't the claw now,
Speaker 1: that was Baron von Rashki and also the Super Destroyer
Speaker 1: had that for a while. But Abdulla would stick a
Speaker 1: fork in a man's head until he bled leader. That
Speaker 1: was his gimmick. So here's a picture. You can't see
Speaker 1: it on the podcast, but Theater of the Mind, here's
Speaker 1: the Abduel the butcher, sticking a plastic fork in my head.
Speaker 1: He looks like he's used that fork a lot. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I was how was the food after hearing that trap?
Speaker 1: Everything you dreamed it would be and more. I mean,
Speaker 1: when a place is called Abdullah the Butcher's House of
Speaker 1: ribs and Chinese Food, I walked in and they said
Speaker 1: why don't you have And I said the ribs and
Speaker 1: the Chinese food. But I'm not leaving until he puts
Speaker 1: a plastic fork through my head. When I was listening
Speaker 1: to you, guys were talking about nicknames. Had we kept
Speaker 1: that prior kicker um he looked. In fact, I even
Speaker 1: called him Abdullah the Butcher, I think on the air
Speaker 1: one time, because he had that mustache and that kind
Speaker 1: of mad Hungarian al ruby. I couldn't quite bring it
Speaker 1: into focus, but there was something not of this world
Speaker 1: about him. Oh, I've got to look up Abdullah the Butcher, now,
Speaker 1: don't you. Yeah. I mean I've seen the picture of
Speaker 1: Darren with with him, but yeah, I had no idea
Speaker 1: what's happening on Twitter last night? When that came through,
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know what. Well I'm glad
Speaker 1: it did because we got to hear an amazing story
Speaker 1: and we had Mick make I guess I like cold
Speaker 1: Front by the way, I think I could have Cold Front.
Speaker 1: That's good. That's good. Well, thank you Mick. This has
Speaker 1: been way more enjoyable, and hopefully Twitter enjoyed this. Thank
Speaker 1: you Twitter. Twitter has definitely enjoyed it, as did Will
Speaker 1: and I. Thanks everyone for listening. We'll see you next
Speaker 1: week on The Happy Half Hour Podcast