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. It's the Happy half Hour podcast with
Speaker 1: your friends, Will, Darren, Kristen and producer Matt and um,
Speaker 1: I gotta say already the m v P of this
Speaker 1: podcast episode. I think you would agree Darren and Matt's
Speaker 1: one Will Brian because on a week that would probably
Speaker 1: not be considered the happiest of half hours considering some
Speaker 1: things that are going on in the Panthers building. Will
Speaker 1: Brian is in a fully festive mood and decided to
Speaker 1: extend that to all of us by bringing in Christmas drinks.
Speaker 1: Christmas Christmas coffees very warm and sugary. They are very
Speaker 1: warm and sugary. And I'll tell you what snops to.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I would make it more of a
Speaker 1: happy half hour for you. Yeah right, I just can't
Speaker 1: wait for like minute fifteen and fast forward we'll find out.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. And just for anyone who's wondering, it's in
Speaker 1: the morning, so I cannot wait. Well, thank you, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean what did you get us? Uh? This is
Speaker 1: the toasted white chocolate mocha. I think taste taste very
Speaker 1: toasted and chocolate. But you said last night we were
Speaker 1: kind of game planning on time and what we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about, and you said something to the effective I'm
Speaker 1: in a full Christmas mood with all the Christmas smells.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was in a Christmas store buying Christmas
Speaker 1: things to decorate the Christmas house. I got you for
Speaker 1: a month that hasn't even started yet, but it's it's
Speaker 1: on the horizon. Yeah, like a couple of days. Did
Speaker 1: you get that? And I thought he was just saying
Speaker 1: his house smelled like Christmas. I felt so too. I
Speaker 1: was there, Oh yeah, there's a tree. There's tree, there's garland.
Speaker 1: We have the decorations, we haven't put them on all
Speaker 1: on yet. See that's the right play. You gotta let
Speaker 1: your tree sort of settle into its place. Darren, not
Speaker 1: to called Darren, but Darren knows about a tree settling,
Speaker 1: because you've infamously leave yours up for quite some time afterwards,
Speaker 1: right right right. It usually makes it to the super Bowl,
Speaker 1: usually makes it to the super Bowl, which is fine.
Speaker 1: And this is actually a myth. I come from a
Speaker 1: I come from a family of tree people, my brothers,
Speaker 1: my uncle. That's the myth or that or the myth
Speaker 1: is coming now the myth is coming does mean a
Speaker 1: family of tree people. Yeah. They run a nursery, Heffner's
Speaker 1: Nursery and Connor family business. My grandfather started in the thirties.
Speaker 1: My uncle, my brother worked there now and my brothers
Speaker 1: involved with North Carolina Tree Growers Association, guys who grow
Speaker 1: Christmas trees. And it's one of the myths is that
Speaker 1: Fraser furs are practically impossible to sit on fire. Like
Speaker 1: it takes a lot of kera sene. Everybody talks about,
Speaker 1: oh you're gonna sit your house on fire with an
Speaker 1: old tree, It's really hard to set a Fraser fur
Speaker 1: on fire. So yeah, not that I'm advocating. That's really
Speaker 1: good to know, though, I mean I wasn't trying to
Speaker 1: our our Our tree may not actually be real, it's plastic.
Speaker 1: How could you come in here as Mr Christmas talking
Speaker 1: about Girardi at the Christmas store with Christmas smells and chocolate,
Speaker 1: you know, drinks, and then you are over here advocating
Speaker 1: among Darren of the tree people for fake Christmas trees.
Speaker 1: I I love real Christmas trees, but in this economy
Speaker 1: with chain of the forest, the forest supply chain is
Speaker 1: insulting Darren's family. I'm not I love trees. I sometimes
Speaker 1: I think trees should stay in the forest though that's
Speaker 1: that's where they belong. I'm not trying to was going
Speaker 1: to get up at this chair just now. I'm all
Speaker 1: about supporting small business, including I'll give you that. I'll
Speaker 1: give you that. Is this the first time that you've
Speaker 1: had a fake tree? Are you bringing this? You bringing
Speaker 1: this thing out every year? Um? Be honest, I gotta
Speaker 1: be careful to I answer this. It's not technically my
Speaker 1: fake tree, and it's not the first time that someone
Speaker 1: else has brought it out for the fifth year. I
Speaker 1: got you, So I got you, you know, thankfully. I
Speaker 1: don't think she listens to the podcast, so I think
Speaker 1: we're saying probably best that way anyway. Yeah, yeah, so yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. I grew up with five years of real trees.
Speaker 1: You like this fake tree? It's nice, it really, it's
Speaker 1: it's easy as as someone that had to watch my
Speaker 1: dad have, you know, because we lived in a big
Speaker 1: Charleston house with you know, really high ceilings and brag.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry those those what's wrong with me? This morning?
Speaker 1: Those trees fell on him while he was trying to
Speaker 1: get that thing in the thing, getting it into the
Speaker 1: stand with all the things you have to put on
Speaker 1: the branches and you know, and I'm just running around like, oh,
Speaker 1: do it over here. Oh it's leading left. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: it does trees. I can totally see you be in
Speaker 1: the all right, a little bit to the right. No, Will,
Speaker 1: this tree is about to fall on me. You are
Speaker 1: no help right now? Yeah, common holding? Don't you get
Speaker 1: over there? Yeah? You let it fall on you will. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the putting of metal into like a plastic holder
Speaker 1: was nice and easy. I can, I can do that
Speaker 1: part of this. Maybe that's why Will is already in
Speaker 1: the Christmas spirit and it's kind enough to bring a
Speaker 1: drink because he just he didn't have to to fuss
Speaker 1: with the real Christmas tree. But I got all we
Speaker 1: got all the smells. So the smells are important. You
Speaker 1: have to have the smells, which I mean, there's the
Speaker 1: obviously there's the pine scent, but like, what else are
Speaker 1: we which other ones are you? Like a gingerbread or
Speaker 1: it's it's every different type of candle in different corners
Speaker 1: of you walk into your house. It smells like a
Speaker 1: Michael's Yes, yeah, I like it. Yeah, I'm into that.
Speaker 1: I mean, we got it. Yeah right. Oh, this is
Speaker 1: a lovely way to start off podcast. Let's just keep talking. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we clear go for another It's bye week, there is nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing going on. We could go for another twenty five
Speaker 1: minutes on this. I have thoughts, UM, but I do
Speaker 1: want to get to some of the more recent news, UM.
Speaker 1: And I want to start with the Christian McCaffrey news that, UM,
Speaker 1: he is out for the rest of the season with
Speaker 1: an ankle injury. UM. And before we talk about what
Speaker 1: that means, I just wanted to point out his Instagram caption.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure if you're a Panthers fan listening to
Speaker 1: this podcast, you have most likely seen it. UM. If not,
Speaker 1: I would I would recommend going to read it. I
Speaker 1: won't read the whole thing, but just a paraphrase. You know,
Speaker 1: he is someone who is pretty UM. I guess it's
Speaker 1: is private the right word, Darren, that's pretty safe to say.
Speaker 1: And I was surprised by um by how much he
Speaker 1: really revealed and and was vulnerable with the caption. Well,
Speaker 1: it looks like you have it up if you want
Speaker 1: to read it. Do you want to read it? Um,
Speaker 1: I love playing football, kind of dedicated my entire life
Speaker 1: to what I believe to be the greatest sport in
Speaker 1: the world, getting healthy and back in the field. The
Speaker 1: season has been my focus every day from the time
Speaker 1: I wake up until I go to bed. I put family, friends,
Speaker 1: and all other interest on hold so I can fully
Speaker 1: concentrate my efforts on treatment, training, practicing, studying, preparing and
Speaker 1: playing the game I love at the highest level, which
Speaker 1: is why my season coming to an abrupt end today
Speaker 1: leaves me devastated. I'm thankful to everyone who continue to
Speaker 1: help and support me through the difficult time and promise
Speaker 1: I will fight with everything I have to return bigger, stronger, faster,
Speaker 1: and better than ever keep pounding. I just thought that
Speaker 1: was a very revealing UM, look at what he's going through,
Speaker 1: and I think it's important to as I said before
Speaker 1: we talk about her, before anyone talks about the the
Speaker 1: impacts and certainly Fear a fan of the team, that
Speaker 1: that's something that's very important to you. The impact of
Speaker 1: not having one of the best players in the NFL
Speaker 1: for the rest of the season and what it could
Speaker 1: mean for just going forward in general. Um But I
Speaker 1: just I thought, you know, the word devastated and that
Speaker 1: line where he says essentially like I put so much
Speaker 1: on hold to pursue this dream. I've given up stuff
Speaker 1: with family and friends. And we all in sports have
Speaker 1: done that to a certain extent, but but none more
Speaker 1: so than the players who play the game of coaching, staffs,
Speaker 1: the front office. Um and And he is someone that eats, sleeps,
Speaker 1: and breathes football and his process and his commitment. Um And,
Speaker 1: I just I thought it was very revealing and really sad,
Speaker 1: and I just wanted to kind of acknowledge that. Um
Speaker 1: And It's it's certainly not just him. There are players
Speaker 1: who get injured in the NFL every day, on practice squads,
Speaker 1: on uh, you know, people whose name is not nearly
Speaker 1: as recognizable, but it's something that goes missing sometimes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he is. He is a man who chooses his words
Speaker 1: very carefully, and he is not a revealer. He does
Speaker 1: not like talking about last year's injuries or previous you know,
Speaker 1: injuries this season or anything like that. He doesn't like
Speaker 1: bringing it up in context. He keeps his He always says,
Speaker 1: I'm focused moving forward. I'm you know, what's ahead of me,
Speaker 1: what's next kind of thing. And that's just the way
Speaker 1: he's always been, and it is it is disappointing for
Speaker 1: him to see this happen, because I can tell you
Speaker 1: from being around these guys, and Kristen's right, yeah, plenty
Speaker 1: of other people get hurt and all these dudes have
Speaker 1: to work hard to even be in this locker room
Speaker 1: among the best to the best. But that guy puts
Speaker 1: so much into it, and I understand. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: I've seen the mentions on online and stuff and I
Speaker 1: and I see people disappointed because when it's somebody who's
Speaker 1: so central to the team, fans who invest a lot
Speaker 1: of emotion in the team feel like something's been taken
Speaker 1: away from them. And I understand fans being extremely disappointed. Now,
Speaker 1: the fantasy football people who are saying things about it,
Speaker 1: I've got a different set of feelings for them. But
Speaker 1: I mean, as disappointed as you are. As Kristen said,
Speaker 1: this is what this man does. He doesn't he's not
Speaker 1: a big golfer. He doesn't think about hobbies and stuff
Speaker 1: during the season heat footballs and football has now been
Speaker 1: taken away from him. Kind of cruelly again for the
Speaker 1: second year in a row, and it's just it's hard
Speaker 1: for him to process because he puts so much into it.
Speaker 1: And that's why when I saw that yesterday, I was like,
Speaker 1: I was not expecting that. No, I just figured Christian
Speaker 1: was going to go dark for a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: and then we might see something like that when he
Speaker 1: has a clear idea of rehab and recovery times and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But yeah, for that to come out
Speaker 1: yesterday was like, I remember, He's got my start working
Speaker 1: on Mike and Mike when it was still a show
Speaker 1: on ESPN, and Michael like used to always say something
Speaker 1: whenever he would talk about a player getting injured, and
Speaker 1: it always stuck with me, and I brought it up
Speaker 1: with Christian one time, and I've I've done it with
Speaker 1: several players we're going through the rehab process or coming
Speaker 1: back from an injury. But it always stuck with me
Speaker 1: as someone who you know, I'm as close to the
Speaker 1: game as you can get, but of course I've never
Speaker 1: played it, and there's so much that um I've learned
Speaker 1: and continue to learn about about what these players go through.
Speaker 1: But he would always say, uh, there are a few
Speaker 1: things lonelier than rehabbing an injury on a professional team
Speaker 1: because you are there every day, you know, you are
Speaker 1: in the It's like it's kind of the the definition
Speaker 1: of fomo, right, Like you're there every day with your teammates,
Speaker 1: but you can't participate in the things that makes a
Speaker 1: team sports so enjoyable. You can't contribute to the winds,
Speaker 1: you can't really be there in the losses. You're in
Speaker 1: a separate area. You're doing this thing all by yourself,
Speaker 1: in close proximity to everyone else. And you know, Christian
Speaker 1: I had a conversation about that last year and and
Speaker 1: he said, yeah, it is. It's it's an incredibly lonely thing.
Speaker 1: And again it's something that a lot of players go through,
Speaker 1: and Um, I don't know. That just always has stuck
Speaker 1: with me. And I was just really, like, like you said, Darren, surprised, UM.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was really great that that he
Speaker 1: put that out there, because I just think people forget
Speaker 1: sometimes that is devastated. As as they all are, we
Speaker 1: all are right, um, that that that's happened to a season,
Speaker 1: As you said, think about how he feels, and it
Speaker 1: was I thought it was very brave to kind of
Speaker 1: put that out there a little bit, because he's not
Speaker 1: someone who does that. Admit that you're devastated, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: and the toughness that it takes to to go into
Speaker 1: you know, yet another offseason, you know, to try to
Speaker 1: like all right, I gotta go through this again. But
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there is some of that, um, you know,
Speaker 1: that sense of like I've been down this hole before
Speaker 1: and I know the way out, you know, like maybe
Speaker 1: there is some hope of like I know what I
Speaker 1: need to do. I know that I can get back,
Speaker 1: you know, I know that I know that there's still
Speaker 1: something there like and I think you see that in
Speaker 1: that caption as well. I didn't mean to make it
Speaker 1: sound like he's you know, it's nothing that he can't
Speaker 1: work his way back from. But um. And so I'm
Speaker 1: sure that if anyone has you know, a and that's
Speaker 1: laid out in minute detail, it's him. Um. But I
Speaker 1: just thought it was important too. I think for all
Speaker 1: of those guys, Um, when something like this happens, I
Speaker 1: always think it's interesting to try to or important, I
Speaker 1: should say, to try to take a moment to kind
Speaker 1: of look at the human impact of it versus just
Speaker 1: immediately jumping to okay, and I'm guilty of doing that. Okay,
Speaker 1: what does this mean? You know, Miro Abdullah Hubbard, Let's
Speaker 1: talk about it. You know so well. And it is
Speaker 1: and it's tough for fans of this particular franchise because
Speaker 1: this is this is about the third good time. I
Speaker 1: mean again, a lot of guys get hurt from time
Speaker 1: to time, but in terms of persistent injuries, I mean
Speaker 1: I I thought back to Luke keik Ley, I thought
Speaker 1: back to Dan Morgan, and it's like these guys who
Speaker 1: burned so brightly, who were so passionate about what they do.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that I don't think enough people
Speaker 1: factor into professional football, whether it's in team building, results
Speaker 1: of games, or anything else. It's dumb luck. You know
Speaker 1: this isn't I hate it when people say so and
Speaker 1: so's injury prone. I don't think injury prone is really
Speaker 1: a thing. I mean, if a guy is fat and
Speaker 1: lazy and comes in to camp out of shape and
Speaker 1: he pulls a hamstring, then you say, okay, well that guy, Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe he's injury prone. But when you see these athletes
Speaker 1: who put so much time into keeping themselves in top
Speaker 1: shape and you know, in the case of Dan Morgan,
Speaker 1: the grass flies out from under his feet, his rookie
Speaker 1: year um when they put down New sod Or you know,
Speaker 1: Luke Keikley going through the concussions. I mean, and those
Speaker 1: things are just freak occurrences. It's not like something it's
Speaker 1: there's nothing negligent about them on on these guys part,
Speaker 1: and it's just bad luck. I mean, you know, Christian
Speaker 1: had a hamstring earlier this year Sunday somebody fell across
Speaker 1: back of his leg, and you can't some dolphin whose
Speaker 1: number I couldn't even really make out in the pile
Speaker 1: just kind of fell across the back of guy's leg
Speaker 1: and now he's out for the season. I mean, there's nothing,
Speaker 1: no amount of reparation, weight training, any kind of stretching
Speaker 1: he could have done to prevent what happened there. And
Speaker 1: there's nothing you can do to come back faster than
Speaker 1: your body allows you to, you know. And I think
Speaker 1: that's such a good point there, and of like the
Speaker 1: dumb luck of it all has to be so hard
Speaker 1: on the guys, guys like Christian, the ones you just mentioned, Luke,
Speaker 1: Keith Lee, Dan Morgan, because is there's nothing you can
Speaker 1: do about it, and nobody wants it more, and no
Speaker 1: one's put more effort into into their preparation and process
Speaker 1: and and being the best. So look, do I think
Speaker 1: he's going to come back to the normal Christian whenever
Speaker 1: he's healthy and next season and continue to be the Christian?
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely, But I just thought it was I
Speaker 1: just wanted to acknowledge the human side of it a
Speaker 1: little bit since he did um before we kind of
Speaker 1: jump into you know, the football of it, all right,
Speaker 1: and and let's be real. I mean, this man had
Speaker 1: put up three straight hundred yards scrimmage game. He he he
Speaker 1: he was producing. I mean, he was going to be
Speaker 1: a part of you know, like, okay, so at least
Speaker 1: you know, if there's something going wrong here, there's something
Speaker 1: going wrong here, you know, Christian was still there. And
Speaker 1: it felt like, you know, there there's there's still something
Speaker 1: you can do because you've got Christian back there that
Speaker 1: can still um, you know, sparking offense, have a big play,
Speaker 1: you know, create openings. And yeah, I mean it's I
Speaker 1: think every time that we see him leave and then
Speaker 1: come back, you just see how much he impacts a
Speaker 1: team and a game in um, you know, a fan base,
Speaker 1: you know, of of what it looks like down there,
Speaker 1: and I would say, you know, this is a very
Speaker 1: very small silver lining. But I think with these guys
Speaker 1: who if you're a Panther's fan, you remember them being
Speaker 1: kind of like the young, you know, the new guys,
Speaker 1: like whether it's a Shock or a Christian who have
Speaker 1: developed into leaders. And it's something I've had conversations with,
Speaker 1: let's say, both of those guys and others about UM
Speaker 1: who have have really taken that next step into leadership.
Speaker 1: And I think we use the term like you said,
Speaker 1: well like leave and come back, well like Christians not leaving.
Speaker 1: I mean, he may take some time for himself, but
Speaker 1: last year and then earlier this year, UM when he
Speaker 1: was injured in that there's in a game like he's
Speaker 1: on the sidelines, he's wearing his earpiece, he's coaching up
Speaker 1: the young guys, and so you can hope and I
Speaker 1: think we saw it last year that it makes them
Speaker 1: as much as they're like, yeah, okay, I gotta help
Speaker 1: on the sidelines, like okay, that's great, but I want
Speaker 1: to be out there and play, but I think it
Speaker 1: makes them they use that time to become smarter to
Speaker 1: become better leaders, to understand the game better, to try
Speaker 1: to help others. Um, they're not out of sight, out
Speaker 1: of mind. And I think one of the cool things,
Speaker 1: kind of back to what you were saying before, what
Speaker 1: makes things for the Panthers and this franchise and for
Speaker 1: the fans feel continually connected generation over generation. It's kind
Speaker 1: of stuff like what we saw a pregame of like
Speaker 1: Christian throwing this football to Julius Mempers in his family
Speaker 1: and his kind of there's you know, it's like all
Speaker 1: of that kind of together of like, hey, guys, this
Speaker 1: is this you know, as someone that grew up and
Speaker 1: was nine years old when the Panthers were founded, and
Speaker 1: you know you were in that you know, very young
Speaker 1: age during two thousand three, and like seeing all of
Speaker 1: that kind of come together, Um, it's a cool passing
Speaker 1: of torches. And it's a cool connecting piece to think that,
Speaker 1: like it's not just new guys every year and you
Speaker 1: know and then they move on. Yeah, there's the common
Speaker 1: threads that connects the certain eras together. Um. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about Darren the Miami game, how you how you
Speaker 1: rebound from there and and what you are focused on
Speaker 1: on this bye week and the schedule ahead. If you
Speaker 1: are this coaching staff, this front office, these players, you know,
Speaker 1: maybe the best thing is to not rebound from it
Speaker 1: at all, to just leave for I mean, there were
Speaker 1: a lot of guys after that game who had the
Speaker 1: look of people who needed a day off as much
Speaker 1: as anything. And you hate to say it, but I mean,
Speaker 1: and there's some guys Burns talked about, I'd rather play
Speaker 1: next week. I don't want to walk around with this,
Speaker 1: but you don't want to go into the long time
Speaker 1: since these guys have had a couple of days off
Speaker 1: in a row. I mean, you go back to after
Speaker 1: Week three, the Thursday night game, they get kind of
Speaker 1: a long weekend. But you know then since training camp
Speaker 1: ended and there are a couple of days before the
Speaker 1: regular season grind starts, these guys have been added all day.
Speaker 1: And it's hard. I mean, it's hard to walk around
Speaker 1: with one like that as the last thing you experienced,
Speaker 1: because it was bad. I mean, it was pretty gross.
Speaker 1: It was the it was the New York game all
Speaker 1: over again, where the defense played okay at first, the
Speaker 1: offense couldn't move the ball at all, some bad special
Speaker 1: team stuff, you know, bad field position, boom, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you're down a big hole. Nothing goes right
Speaker 1: the rest of the day. I mean, it was, you know, frustrating,
Speaker 1: and it just kept gaining speed that further it went
Speaker 1: down the track. So, uh, it's hard. You almost don't
Speaker 1: want to spend too much time on it. You do
Speaker 1: have to reflect on it. But you know, Matt talked
Speaker 1: about yesterday, um using a week to reflect Dawn, how
Speaker 1: you get to this point and what's got to be done.
Speaker 1: And it's kind of you know a lot of the
Speaker 1: issues that they have and a lot of the issues
Speaker 1: that you know, football wise, you want to fix and
Speaker 1: change and do this and that and the other. I
Speaker 1: really can't fix a lot of it until the off season.
Speaker 1: I mean, because what's the biggest issue pass protection? Well,
Speaker 1: there are no left tackles available the week after Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: So you've got to kind of get through these next
Speaker 1: six games with what's on hand, you know, some combination
Speaker 1: of Daily and Christensen and those guys and and fill
Speaker 1: in and and try to patch it up as best
Speaker 1: you can, knowing that that's gonna be an off season
Speaker 1: priority is you have to fix pass protection. We're gonna
Speaker 1: talk a lot about quarterbacks for the next how are
Speaker 1: many months, We're gonna talk a lot, trust me, But
Speaker 1: that's how that's almost in the in the world talking
Speaker 1: about quarterbacks every single day, but we're going to be
Speaker 1: talking about offensive lineman and awful lot too. That's the priority.
Speaker 1: That's the thing they've got to get fixed. And for
Speaker 1: a group that had played pretty well, I mean, as
Speaker 1: as strange as any stat that the Carolina Panthers have
Speaker 1: put together in the second half of the season, the
Speaker 1: four games prior to Miami, they had only given up
Speaker 1: two sacks. That's one of those. They were shifting around
Speaker 1: lots a lot of different inlved In two. But that's
Speaker 1: one of those stats where when I write it down
Speaker 1: and I see it, I have to double check myself
Speaker 1: and then I have to ask, will is that right?
Speaker 1: You know, because it just doesn't with the way of
Speaker 1: the season's gone, it doesn't sound like it should be correct.
Speaker 1: But it was they, you know, two sacks and four games.
Speaker 1: A couple of those included the big running days against
Speaker 1: Atlanta against Arizona, where it's like, dang, maybe there's some
Speaker 1: parts here that you can use in the future, and
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, and I think it's worth noting, and
Speaker 1: it doesn't band aid over any of it. But you
Speaker 1: know that this Miami defense was the one that like
Speaker 1: completely flustered Lamar Jackson, who's unflus you know, has been
Speaker 1: able to do anything against anyone all season, but couldn't
Speaker 1: figure them out. So I think there's a sense of Okay, sure,
Speaker 1: you know, the playoffs are now this kind of like
Speaker 1: far thing, you know, based on what's happening. But you
Speaker 1: come back against Atlanta and like, okay, where where do
Speaker 1: you put Brady? Because I want to see, you know,
Speaker 1: how do you evaluate Christensen moving forward? He's played left tackle,
Speaker 1: left guard, right tackle, you know, but you know, I
Speaker 1: want to see where did where did where can he
Speaker 1: be something for the future? Darren knows the line of
Speaker 1: when they drafted him. Yeah, there you go. It's the
Speaker 1: second round, second round guard, third round time, right, you know.
Speaker 1: But and yeah, you get to look at Michael Jordan,
Speaker 1: you know, you try to figure out where are all
Speaker 1: these guys going to be in your plans? And this
Speaker 1: because I think that's a that's a great point, Will,
Speaker 1: which is like so many times this this season, how
Speaker 1: many different combinations of starting lineups that they had it
Speaker 1: out of out of necessity. These guys are playing UM
Speaker 1: out of position or filling in or guys that are
Speaker 1: not supposed to be the starting or in there out
Speaker 1: of necessity. So what does it look like if you
Speaker 1: go out and get more help in the offseason, and
Speaker 1: then also you allow a guy like Brady Christenden to
Speaker 1: play whatever you think is natural position is or whateverything
Speaker 1: he excelled in and and give him that chance. And
Speaker 1: I thought to, you know, Kim Irving is a guy
Speaker 1: that has played every position on the offensive line and
Speaker 1: UM back when he was healthy. I asked him about
Speaker 1: that one time. I said, what's that like to UM
Speaker 1: have to switch around versus having consistency, and he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: everyone feels more comfortable when you can play. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: can can play these different positions and and fill in
Speaker 1: as a place that's not our natural position, will do
Speaker 1: anything that we can. But gosh, like being able to
Speaker 1: stay in the same spot for for a few games,
Speaker 1: or how the same guy beside you is something that
Speaker 1: that they all want. Yeah, and we'll see. I mean again,
Speaker 1: I believe that going into the off season, finding left
Speaker 1: tackles obviously going to be a priority. But those things
Speaker 1: are hard to find. Uh, you're going to need to
Speaker 1: be picking in the top ten, and you know right
Speaker 1: now at the moment, that's getting closer. Um, but you've
Speaker 1: even got to be picking in the top ten or
Speaker 1: be willing to spend a bunch of money in free
Speaker 1: agency to get one of those guys. I mean, and
Speaker 1: last season, if you weren't shopping for Trent Williams, you
Speaker 1: were just kind of patching the boat a little bit.
Speaker 1: And that's nothing against Cam Irving, but the grade of
Speaker 1: player available in free agency after Trent Williams was you
Speaker 1: know guys who you aren't sure. These aren't anchors, these
Speaker 1: aren't there were backups, but going for draft picks this
Speaker 1: last year, you know everyone on offensive lineman, no one
Speaker 1: wants to part with them. Well, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 1: I mean. And again, they do still have six games,
Speaker 1: five games to play, six weeks, five games. Yeah, they're
Speaker 1: not the only ones that need to buy week. Um,
Speaker 1: too many numbers in my head right now, but it's
Speaker 1: you know, they're gonna have to patch it together for
Speaker 1: a little bit. But I am curious to see if
Speaker 1: coming down the stretch you end up with you know,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan picks up a little hamstring, was in and
Speaker 1: out of the game the other day. Don't know if
Speaker 1: he's going to be able to go when they get
Speaker 1: back out there against Atlanta. So maybe all of a
Speaker 1: sudden bradies at guard again, so you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I think the kid's got a bright future. I think
Speaker 1: he's smart, he's aware, he's he's physically strong, and when
Speaker 1: he spends an offseason in an NFL offseason program, he's
Speaker 1: going to get even stronger because this is his full
Speaker 1: time job. Now were you laughing at me calling him
Speaker 1: a kid? Yeah? Yeah, I mean I'm just thinking about
Speaker 1: like all the mock draft report someone have to start
Speaker 1: doing soon. It's about that time. Way to jump ahead,
Speaker 1: you know, and not to be enjoy your bye week.
Speaker 1: But we're we're kind of like that Misery Hope matrix
Speaker 1: where you know, all chance of playoffs that people are
Speaker 1: still thinking about because I mean, honestly got it five
Speaker 1: and seven. They're not that far out of the you know,
Speaker 1: considering really not. The NFL has been so weird this season,
Speaker 1: and I mean to look at the NFC right now,
Speaker 1: Stranger things have absolutely happened. Um, but you get caught
Speaker 1: in looking at the playoffs on this side versus starting
Speaker 1: to look at mock drafts on this side. And you
Speaker 1: just kind of gotta find yourself on that matrix where
Speaker 1: you are each day when you wake up. I don't
Speaker 1: usually know where where are you? You can help me,
Speaker 1: help me find it your day to day to day,
Speaker 1: I got you. You bring warm drinks, I can bring
Speaker 1: the Hope Misery Day. Well, I this has been this
Speaker 1: has been great. Thank you will for the for the
Speaker 1: festive drinks, Darren, thank you for the Hope Misery Index.
Speaker 1: Hope everyone enjoys. The bye week takes some time to rest.
Speaker 1: Panthers fans, We'll see you next week. H