Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Half Hour. To pull off
Speaker 1: this thing that no one expected, you had to have
Speaker 1: hurt guys taping it back up and getting back in there.
Speaker 1: You had to have p J Walker playing a game
Speaker 1: he's never played in his live and all of these
Speaker 1: other things just came together in this incredible package to
Speaker 1: stop run. It's time for the Happy Half Hour with
Speaker 1: your friends Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone and Darren Gannon. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's that time of the week. It's the Happy Half Hour,
Speaker 1: presented by Prowling Vineyards Napa Valley. Prowling Vineyards Napa Valley's
Speaker 1: the official wine brand and wine club of the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: These premium selections celebrate the great people of the Carolinas
Speaker 1: and the panthers hunger to achieve excellence on and off
Speaker 1: the field. Each handcrafted wine mirrors the panthers bold attitude
Speaker 1: in the iconic flavors on or the two states we
Speaker 1: are proud to call home. Experience the benefits and lifestyle,
Speaker 1: giving back to the community as a portion of the
Speaker 1: proceeds support the Carolina Panthers charities. Learn more at Prowling
Speaker 1: Vineyards dot com. That was cool what happened to Kristen?
Speaker 1: She sounds terrible. I know, right, I'm I'm I'm back back.
Speaker 1: I guess who's back? Who's back? I'm like Frank I
Speaker 1: sola um, you know on PT I just subbing in,
Speaker 1: except I'm subbing in for Wilbon because the cranky old
Speaker 1: white guy is still in the room. Wait, you made me.
Speaker 1: It's good to have you back. I knew you wouldn't
Speaker 1: stay away. Actually it was kind of cool. Christen's on
Speaker 1: another special assignment, not like the last special assignment, but
Speaker 1: taking care of the last special assignment, so it was like,
Speaker 1: will help, And I was like, yeah, I'll be there.
Speaker 1: So it's good to have you back. I had my
Speaker 1: had my pumpkin spice. I'm I'm spiced up. I'm ready
Speaker 1: to go. So I guess I have to run this now? Right?
Speaker 1: Is that how this works? Okay, you're sitting if I'm
Speaker 1: sitting in there in the Captain's Charity, alright, so you've
Speaker 1: got to come up with stats then if I'm running, Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can come up with some stats. I can come
Speaker 1: up doing to come up with them, or like look
Speaker 1: them up because I can just you have about fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes before we get to that part. We got it.
Speaker 1: The podcast better start reach I go, here, I go.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to actually go to you first because
Speaker 1: the Panthers are one and oh this week, right, one
Speaker 1: and o. According to everything, we're one and oh and
Speaker 1: we're going for too and oh in Atlanta, and we're
Speaker 1: doing it behind the number one center in the NFL,
Speaker 1: according to Pro Football Focus, the one and only Bradley Boseman. Yes,
Speaker 1: Bradley Bozeman. Gosh, just a delightful person. It's funny to
Speaker 1: talk with him and then like think about the things
Speaker 1: he does on the football field, like it's one of
Speaker 1: those things. It's like, how is this human who is
Speaker 1: just so nice and radiates so much joy and kindness
Speaker 1: also a vicious, vicious center. I mean, that's that's what
Speaker 1: we finally were marrying, the two of He's always been
Speaker 1: this incredible story. He's done all the stuff to get
Speaker 1: back to the community. He's and his wife Nikki have
Speaker 1: been beloved by Charlotte for all their engagement and it's like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, and then he put some people on their
Speaker 1: butts on the field. That's fun when that happens together.
Speaker 1: Exactly got his chance. He got his chance. That's what
Speaker 1: the story I got to write and the published yesterday
Speaker 1: that I'm so proud of. Um. It was kind of
Speaker 1: about you know, I mean, I I appreciated how candid
Speaker 1: he was with me. You know, He's like it reached
Speaker 1: a frustrating point because he he had suffered that ankle
Speaker 1: injury up in New England, took about two weeks to
Speaker 1: get back on the field and then sat behind paddlef
Speaker 1: line for six weeks and like paddlef line, you know,
Speaker 1: held serve. When he did, he was and that's you know,
Speaker 1: Bradley told him. He was like, I understood why they
Speaker 1: didn't make the change. But the day I got the call,
Speaker 1: that Tuesday before the Tampa Bay game, telling me, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean I just came in and he had Nicky
Speaker 1: crowd on the couch and a story UM from the
Speaker 1: very top of that article. UM that Darren. When he
Speaker 1: read it, he told me he was like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is just gold. And I was so proud that I
Speaker 1: was able to to to get this story and be
Speaker 1: able to tell it. But it was about a week
Speaker 1: before he got the call. Um. He was speaking with
Speaker 1: a group of middle and high school football players, and
Speaker 1: they were, you know, just asking him questions about being
Speaker 1: a professional football player. And then one of the kids
Speaker 1: just tells them, you know, well, how come you're not starting,
Speaker 1: and he he just tells him, He's like, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: control what you can control. But like the way when
Speaker 1: Nikki told me that story, she was just I could
Speaker 1: hear her smile over the phone, you know, and she
Speaker 1: was like it was so cool that not even a
Speaker 1: week later, he had no idea at that point when
Speaker 1: he was talking to those kids, and then it ended
Speaker 1: up being to where, yeah, like you know, I just
Speaker 1: control what you can control. I mean, it'll eventually come
Speaker 1: if you just stay locked in. And now we saw,
Speaker 1: like you said, number one center. It's it's kind of cool.
Speaker 1: It's a great story. And you know, past all the
Speaker 1: you know stuff that he's doing and embedded himself in
Speaker 1: the community, he's just he's just a great guy. And
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that Charlotte has people like the Boseman's for
Speaker 1: sure speaking of people were thankful for and controlling what
Speaker 1: you can control, and boys, this is a surprise. P J. Walker.
Speaker 1: Everybody what of course, of course, I mean, and and
Speaker 1: that's the amazing thing about this season. This Carol on
Speaker 1: a Panther season has already been a Russian novel and
Speaker 1: it's week eight. I mean, we have seen regime change,
Speaker 1: We've seen big trades, We've seen other trades. We've seen
Speaker 1: p J Walker of course light up Tom Brady and
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I mean, it's it's just I
Speaker 1: always joke about it with concerts. This is why you
Speaker 1: go see the show and always go see the show
Speaker 1: because you never know what's going to happen. Not one
Speaker 1: person in this room, or really people in this greater
Speaker 1: room that is Bank of America Stadium, expected that thing
Speaker 1: to unfold the way it did on Sunday and p
Speaker 1: especially after the Rams game when they didn't really let
Speaker 1: p J do anything. But at a certain point early
Speaker 1: in that game it was kind of like, I really
Speaker 1: think early in the week, they were like, all right,
Speaker 1: if we're gonna do this, you just gotta do it,
Speaker 1: and let him throw down field, let him take some chances,
Speaker 1: and and listen. I understand why Steve Wilkes was a
Speaker 1: little hesitant to do that right off the bat, because
Speaker 1: this is deal. P J Walker, who going into the
Speaker 1: Bucks game had two career touchdowns and eight career interceptions.
Speaker 1: You know, four picks for every touchdown he Threw's not
Speaker 1: the ratio you want to have in somebody who's starting
Speaker 1: against Tom Brady. So I understand why they were hesitant,
Speaker 1: But at a certain point, Pj's just cutting a loose
Speaker 1: I mean, first play of the game goes over the
Speaker 1: top looking for terrorist, Marshal Tears drops it. But other
Speaker 1: than that, he was perfect for the first half and
Speaker 1: you're just sitting there looking. I mean, we kind of
Speaker 1: joked while we were sitting in the press box, like,
Speaker 1: let p J cook, But at a certain point that's
Speaker 1: kind of what they did, and it p J is
Speaker 1: probably as good a metaphor for what happened to that
Speaker 1: team in general Loan Sunday as anything we've seen, because
Speaker 1: there was no reason to expect it, and there was
Speaker 1: no reason. I mean, people just had this weird, unexplainable
Speaker 1: belief that p J Walker was going to do it
Speaker 1: in the face of all evidence, and yet he did.
Speaker 1: P J Walker, of course, of course. And I think
Speaker 1: as you look forward to this Falcons game and potentially
Speaker 1: looking forward down down into November, what can this staff,
Speaker 1: what can this team do to make that not just
Speaker 1: be this adrenale. You know, this adrenaline for sixty minutes,
Speaker 1: you know, this thing that just everyone was surprised, no
Speaker 1: one knew what happened, and boom, this happened, and then
Speaker 1: you gotta go. And everyone's got a game plan on
Speaker 1: p J Walker, looking at all the film of those
Speaker 1: eight interceptions, finding ways to get him uncomfortable, putting pressure
Speaker 1: on him. What are the ways that this team counteracts
Speaker 1: that to keep this going. I don't. I don't know,
Speaker 1: is the honest answer. And I mean they got to
Speaker 1: be a nightmare to game plan right now, because in
Speaker 1: the past, if you were playing against the Carolina Panthers,
Speaker 1: you knew they were going to put the ball in
Speaker 1: Christie McCaffrey's hands. You knew they were going to look
Speaker 1: for t J. Moore's primary receiving target. You knew, based
Speaker 1: on whoever the quarterback was, that you could do X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z. But I don't know how you prepare
Speaker 1: for this care on a Panthers football team, I really don't.
Speaker 1: I mean, Deonte Foreman is more of a traditional kind
Speaker 1: of power back than anything they've had in in place
Speaker 1: in a long time. I mean even even runs differently
Speaker 1: than Mike Davis. You know, he's just uh more, he's
Speaker 1: more of a rhythm back, and that he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys who needs eight ten carries at a chunk
Speaker 1: rather than one play at a time like he was
Speaker 1: getting before Christian uh was sent to San Francisco. So
Speaker 1: it is. It's a tough game plan, but they're built
Speaker 1: for power. It's very basic. If there's anything you know,
Speaker 1: I think selfishly when I look at a game, Uh,
Speaker 1: what's the one thing I wanted to be fast? Uh?
Speaker 1: And this game could be over in two hours and
Speaker 1: thirty forty minutes because the Falcons want to run the ball.
Speaker 1: The Panthers, apparently, based on the evidence of one week,
Speaker 1: want to run the ball. So we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 1: it could be a quick one on on Sunday. Make
Speaker 1: sure to tune in. Don't don't just try to grab
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter because it might be over by the
Speaker 1: time you tune in. Uh. This is a preview of
Speaker 1: future stats. But here's my early early half stat The
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers have played the Atlanta Falcons on Week eight
Speaker 1: now for the third straight season, third straight on and
Speaker 1: on each of the last two meetings, they had their
Speaker 1: highest rushing output of the season. So yesterday or last
Speaker 1: week was the most rushing yards since at Atlanta the
Speaker 1: year before. It was the highest rushing average since against
Speaker 1: the Falcons back in also in Week Gate. So I mean,
Speaker 1: we know what they're going to lean into and in
Speaker 1: the past it's been somewhat successful running the ball down
Speaker 1: there in Atlanta, So I mean they know what's coming.
Speaker 1: And you know, we're gonna be watching the injury report
Speaker 1: this week. You know there's some some guys in the
Speaker 1: back fear the secondary for Atlanta that may be questionable.
Speaker 1: I mean, guys to be Hubbard was on the injury
Speaker 1: report for Carolina, you know, so we we're watching all
Speaker 1: that this week. But yeah, I mean that's the hold
Speaker 1: onto the ball, don't have turnovers and let's let's control
Speaker 1: the clock. And of course you remember the ultimate an
Speaker 1: example of that in Atlanta Christmas Eve two thousand six,
Speaker 1: the Wildcat. Augusta wasn't ready for that one. She wasn't
Speaker 1: ready for us to kick it back to two thousand six. Hey,
Speaker 1: what were you doing in two thousand six ago? I
Speaker 1: was aware of what was going on, probably in second grade,
Speaker 1: But I mean I might have a memory or did
Speaker 1: you did you know that D'Angelo Williams was in the
Speaker 1: slot or was in shotgun just running left and right?
Speaker 1: I'm sure no, I don't know. It was Angel right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was two thousand and six. So let's see. When
Speaker 1: I was eight, I was really into like, I guess,
Speaker 1: like Barbie Dolls. I don't really know, because that's past
Speaker 1: my Barney phase, but not yet to like my pop
Speaker 1: music face. So probably Disney Channel. I think I was
Speaker 1: really into Disney Channel. So wasn't han him on Tanna?
Speaker 1: Are you saying that d J. Moore is going to
Speaker 1: be motioning into shotgun and then running left and right
Speaker 1: with pitching to Raheem Blacks here? Yeah? Why not? Why not?
Speaker 1: I mean really, I mean we joke about it, But
Speaker 1: that oh six game was born out of desperation. They
Speaker 1: were out of quarterbacks who could throw football down field
Speaker 1: that we goddenly enough. The one touchdown, the passing touchdown,
Speaker 1: was a one yard passed to Jeff King from Chris Winky.
Speaker 1: But Winky couldn't throw that week, and Jake was hurt
Speaker 1: and they were down to Brett Basane and god knows
Speaker 1: what I mean. Brett was this undrafted rookie from Northwestern,
Speaker 1: great kids still in the area, successful businessmen, doing fantastic
Speaker 1: um sponsored by Welcare. Yeah, there you go, that's one um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was just an incredible confluence of events
Speaker 1: because they were out of quarterbacks and John Fox just
Speaker 1: kind of decided, we can't do anything else, so we're
Speaker 1: just gonna always run. So that's what they did. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's going to be that extreme. Again, You've
Speaker 1: got p J. Walker at quarterback, so why not let
Speaker 1: that man cook? But yeah, every time things get weird
Speaker 1: down in Atlanta, they really do well. I was just
Speaker 1: thinking about, like yesterday, I asked Steve Wilks. I was like, so,
Speaker 1: with Cuba's injury, you know, the by committee approach, will
Speaker 1: you still be doing that because that's pretty much just
Speaker 1: think back to two weeks and you're sitting here and
Speaker 1: you're like, man, we're about to see Deonte Foreman and
Speaker 1: a bunch of raheine black shar if Cuba is not
Speaker 1: ready to go, you know, and he could be, and
Speaker 1: that's fine, but if you're still planning on splitting the
Speaker 1: reps like that, you're gonna get that rookie who had
Speaker 1: his first two carries last week back in there and
Speaker 1: and everyone's super excited about it. I love talking to
Speaker 1: Foreman in the locker room this week, and I asked
Speaker 1: him about Raheem and he was he just starts smiling.
Speaker 1: He's like, oh man him. I love him. He's so cerebral.
Speaker 1: He's always looking to ask a bunch of questions and
Speaker 1: talking to I just I really like him. I've been
Speaker 1: excited for him to see an opportunity perhaps um, but
Speaker 1: even just getting his first you know, I mean rookie
Speaker 1: Virginia Tech. I think he was undrafted from the Patriots,
Speaker 1: came over here and like the middle of August or September,
Speaker 1: and and look at him go. It's so funny. Like
Speaker 1: just think about like where we are right now, the
Speaker 1: unpredictability of everything, and we're sitting here and it's like
Speaker 1: if we're taking a by committee approach and Cuba is
Speaker 1: not a hundred percent, that could see a lot more
Speaker 1: Raheem black Shar, which I think is exciting because we
Speaker 1: saw his kick returns. Exactly about to say, I want
Speaker 1: to see him be able to return some kicks. He
Speaker 1: can get out there all of a sudden, you got
Speaker 1: the ball in the forty five and between that and
Speaker 1: Pinero and Hecker, I mean, this special teams is special.
Speaker 1: Look at you, look at that look I see, I
Speaker 1: see what you did there. But yeah, I mean, and
Speaker 1: that's the thing. When you're in this situation, all the
Speaker 1: other stuff has to go right. And look and think
Speaker 1: about what we've talked about again, it feels like we've
Speaker 1: been talking about a two year campaign, a land war
Speaker 1: in Asia, and it's we've seen seven football games land
Speaker 1: war in Asia, and I mean it really is winter.
Speaker 1: But they've been playing clutch and grab on defense and
Speaker 1: those guys were worn out a couple of times, got
Speaker 1: scored on late. You've got the numbers behind that, and
Speaker 1: you've put them out there all season long. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's been tough in the fourth quarter, but Sunday, when
Speaker 1: just a little bit of offense worked, you saw what
Speaker 1: it looked like. And that's what they're hoping for. But
Speaker 1: throughout this thing, it's been leaning on the defense, lean
Speaker 1: on the special teams, and and and they are a
Speaker 1: lot better this year, There's no doubt about that. Johnny
Speaker 1: Hecker still looks like the all decade punter from the
Speaker 1: two thousand tens. And you know. I mean, he's still
Speaker 1: getting it done at a high level. So it's interesting
Speaker 1: to see. Eventually we're probably going to say, let Johnny
Speaker 1: cook and and let him throw the ball. And there
Speaker 1: were a couple of moments where it looked like he
Speaker 1: was going to do that on Sunday, and and that
Speaker 1: one still that one's still in the holster. So we'll see.
Speaker 1: Stay tuned. So I want to ask you all about
Speaker 1: you brought out the defense? What can we At some
Speaker 1: point over the summer it felt like there was almost
Speaker 1: too much depth at cornerback and then and then as
Speaker 1: you can tell by the yeah oh yeah Tay Hayes.
Speaker 1: But you look at that group and Dante kept I
Speaker 1: looked at the snap counts. I'm thinking he may have played.
Speaker 1: He only missed four snaps and those were very four
Speaker 1: memorable snaps because he's actually hobbling off the few old
Speaker 1: and trying to stand up. What did it take for
Speaker 1: that secondary to do what they did against Brady? Well,
Speaker 1: it's so interesting. I talked with Tay about that. Um,
Speaker 1: first of all, let take Cook. I'm a stand here.
Speaker 1: He's just such a nice guy, rap like love to death.
Speaker 1: But I talked with him yesterday and Um he I
Speaker 1: was looking at snap counts for an article I wrote
Speaker 1: that should be posting sometime today. Um came in for
Speaker 1: three if Dante was out for four. He told me
Speaker 1: he was like, I'm locked into the game. Obviously we
Speaker 1: all are. He's like, but I'm watching Dante because I
Speaker 1: He's like, I tell Dante for every game, like the
Speaker 1: last two I've been active. I'm like, Okay, look, if
Speaker 1: you need one play, just tell me. I got you
Speaker 1: one play. And uh. He goes. And I can tell
Speaker 1: when he's like pulling out his leg and I'm getting
Speaker 1: ready and I'm like, oh, here I go, here, I go, here,
Speaker 1: I go, just like aching for opportunity. Um, which I
Speaker 1: mean obviously there's the difference between Dante Jackson and he Hayes.
Speaker 1: I'm not sitting here saying like, oh, yes, he should start. No,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's it's exciting
Speaker 1: the way they all had to walk in and talking
Speaker 1: with Keith Taylor especially, you know, he talked about how
Speaker 1: I mean he even in that reserve role last year
Speaker 1: to a lot and then this year he's back in it.
Speaker 1: He's like, it's one of those things that I just
Speaker 1: expect all the time. He's like, I expect if I
Speaker 1: have to come in, I should be ready. He takes
Speaker 1: a lot of extra time watching film by himself and
Speaker 1: picking up offensive tendencies. And it's just one of those
Speaker 1: things where I think they kind of have seen the
Speaker 1: writing on the wall. I think when I wrote my
Speaker 1: article where we really saw the injuries kind of manifesting
Speaker 1: come up was in Los Angeles when Keith Taylor played
Speaker 1: sixty percent of the snaps and Tay Hayes played nineteen,
Speaker 1: which was like his highest thirty since nineteen. The numbers
Speaker 1: get all jumbled, but um, let's and lot's the numbers.
Speaker 1: I'm not a number guy, like well, but um, it's
Speaker 1: one of those things where, um, they're they're just they're
Speaker 1: staying prepared, and uh, there's a lot of attrition there
Speaker 1: right now. J C's back to practice, but he told
Speaker 1: me the ribs is one of those things it's hard
Speaker 1: to rehab. You know, you just got to be patient.
Speaker 1: And he's not a patient guy. He's like, you know,
Speaker 1: they're limited me at practice, are telling me how many
Speaker 1: snaps I can go because it's just it's hard, you know, Um,
Speaker 1: on the ribs. It's not one of those things you
Speaker 1: can just kind of have to wait it out and
Speaker 1: be gentle. You can't just like do something extremes. So yeah,
Speaker 1: and they but to write all summer we talked about
Speaker 1: depth at cornerback, and I mean, Tay Hayes was the
Speaker 1: sixth of five and that's why he was on the
Speaker 1: practice squad to beginning of the year. Um Stanley, Thomas
Speaker 1: Oliver gets hurt and now everybody's taking turns being hurt
Speaker 1: for portions. Jake Anderson was out for a c J
Speaker 1: was in and out of the game, Dante was in
Speaker 1: and out of the game, and Dante. It's kind of
Speaker 1: interesting to me the way people react. People react poorly
Speaker 1: to Dante coming out with an injury, but he keeps
Speaker 1: going back in. I mean, and that's the thing that's
Speaker 1: kind of impressive about the situation is a lot of
Speaker 1: guys will go down and stay down and Dante keeps
Speaker 1: getting up and so I don't know, I that's one
Speaker 1: of those fan reactions that always kind of confused me
Speaker 1: a little bit. What do you want a guy to do?
Speaker 1: I mean, something you've heard me say over and over,
Speaker 1: injuries are luck. A lot of times, and and so
Speaker 1: I I don't understand why people get mad at him
Speaker 1: for luck, But at the same time, he keeps getting
Speaker 1: up and keeps getting back in the game. And you know,
Speaker 1: that's what it took. And and again I've mentioned this
Speaker 1: a number of times over the last five days. No
Speaker 1: one expected this. So to pull off this thing that
Speaker 1: no one expected, you had to have hurt guys taping
Speaker 1: it back up and getting back in there. You had
Speaker 1: to have p J Walker playing a game he's never
Speaker 1: played in his life against Tom Brady, and all of
Speaker 1: these other things just came together in this incredible package.
Speaker 1: So we've talked a little bit about last week, We've
Speaker 1: talked a little about next week. I want to just
Speaker 1: kind of throw this out to you guys, because you know,
Speaker 1: I've kind of been out in the world amongst the
Speaker 1: Panthers fans, and they're all they're all asking the same question,
Speaker 1: how do we get a top five pick and go
Speaker 1: to the playoffs at the same time their own pace there.
Speaker 1: I mean, right now, if the season ended today, the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers would pick third overall, which is plenty of
Speaker 1: position to draft a quarterback if that's what you please.
Speaker 1: And they are also one game out of first place
Speaker 1: in the Vision, so get it all over you. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's where are And that's why it's almost I would
Speaker 1: think as a fan, it's almost liberating because the burden
Speaker 1: of expectation you have been freed from that yoke. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's when you fire coach and you're in an interim situation.
Speaker 1: It's the ultimate house money deal because anything that happens
Speaker 1: is bondus. You know, you already know this thing went
Speaker 1: off the rails and didn't go how you expected it to.
Speaker 1: That's what happens when you change coaches in mid season.
Speaker 1: But for Steve Wilkes, for p J. Walker, and I'll
Speaker 1: throw Baker Mayfield and Sam Donald into that too, because
Speaker 1: it almost feels inevitable that we're going to see each
Speaker 1: of them again at a certain point this season. Um,
Speaker 1: there is no there's no way to expect anything that's coming.
Speaker 1: So I do I think it's got to be a
Speaker 1: little bit freeing for a fan to not know what's
Speaker 1: coming because there's no reasonable way to expect it. And
Speaker 1: and honestly, you look at the stats, and you look
Speaker 1: at Falcon stats and Panthers stats side by side, and
Speaker 1: these are not too great teams, and that part of
Speaker 1: it you can argue with. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: one of these teams is gonna have, you know, could
Speaker 1: have a share of first place in a division after
Speaker 1: Sunday's game. And I think for me, it's a wanting
Speaker 1: to go into December, wanting to come out of that
Speaker 1: Denver game, to go into Seattle, to go into Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Detroit and have it be cold, put on your sweatshirt,
Speaker 1: go to your tailgate, and have something to look forward
Speaker 1: to to be like today is gonna be fun. Because
Speaker 1: if this happens, that this happens, and this happens, then
Speaker 1: holy cow, you know that's what this is. You know,
Speaker 1: you talk about showing up to see the thing. You
Speaker 1: want to show up to see the thing that has
Speaker 1: some import you know, you want it to to mean something,
Speaker 1: and it when it's cold and it's football weather and
Speaker 1: it's Thanksgiving and it's Christmas, you want people talk talking
Speaker 1: about your team too. And I think for me, like
Speaker 1: this idea that fans had in their head, this this
Speaker 1: argument is out. Oh you know, here we go. We're
Speaker 1: gonna lose tennan row and we're gonna get like that. No, sorry,
Speaker 1: all the people who advocate for tanking have never actually
Speaker 1: been in an NFL locker room or met an NFL player.
Speaker 1: Because again, for the p J Walkers of the world,
Speaker 1: the Brandley Bozeman's of the world, the Ta Hazes of
Speaker 1: the world, this is their opportunity to do what they've
Speaker 1: dreamed their whole life of doing. So good luck telling
Speaker 1: that guy you're supposed to lose. Good luck telling all
Speaker 1: these other cats out there on the field. Deonte Foreman
Speaker 1: has been in a spot before. He was a backup
Speaker 1: with the Titans last year and wasn't planning on playing
Speaker 1: a lot and Derrick Henry gets hurt and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden he becomes the guy and ran for over
Speaker 1: five hundred yards second half of the season. So he
Speaker 1: he's been in his position before, so it means something
Speaker 1: to all these guys. And that's why, you know, the
Speaker 1: notion of tanking, and and it was kind of interesting
Speaker 1: the way Steve Wilkes just kind of brushed it off casually.
Speaker 1: That's also how Steve Wilkes talks. He's very direct and
Speaker 1: very to the point and very matter of fact of
Speaker 1: all this. It's like, of course, we're not taking nobody
Speaker 1: in that room is thinking about that. Of course we're
Speaker 1: starting p J. Walker, of course, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just how Steve talks. But listening to him explained
Speaker 1: to people why that is a foreign concept in that room.
Speaker 1: It's kind of interesting to hear because I think it
Speaker 1: reflects every individual who walks through those doors. And that
Speaker 1: was probably hard, too hard to overcome too if last
Speaker 1: week I just thought about it. We have not taped
Speaker 1: since the McCaffrey trades happened that day, which is interesting.
Speaker 1: I was thinking, I was sitting here and I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: do we know about that? No, we didn't, hadn't happened yet.
Speaker 1: It happened about twelve hours later, um, which is crazy
Speaker 1: because I would have been like eleven PM and I
Speaker 1: was like barely awake, looked and I was like, oh goodness,
Speaker 1: what's going on? Um? But yeah, no, you know, I
Speaker 1: think seeing that that was one thing I loved with
Speaker 1: talking to the running backs last week or the earlier
Speaker 1: this week, whatever a week we are in. Um, it's
Speaker 1: you know, they're sitting here and they see you know,
Speaker 1: headline star players gone. It's it's over the team, the
Speaker 1: season's gone. Blah blah, blah, they're never gonna run the
Speaker 1: ball again. And then they do what they're able to do,
Speaker 1: and they hear like, I mean we love Christian you know,
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong, they said, but like it was
Speaker 1: like we were proud of that, you know, because it
Speaker 1: felt like almost like we were being discounted. You lose
Speaker 1: the star player who's at our position, and everyone just thinks,
Speaker 1: you know, well, they haven't done anything yet, and then
Speaker 1: they are able to do that. Like that that storyline
Speaker 1: as a whole, just as a football fan, you sit
Speaker 1: back and you're like, dang, that's cool. I like seeing that,
Speaker 1: Like it's that's it, and that's like the not tinking mentality.
Speaker 1: That's what Foreman is good at. I liked it. So
Speaker 1: for our long time listeners of this veritable podcast, they
Speaker 1: know that this week we usually do a some combination
Speaker 1: of favorite all time Halloween costume or worst Halloween candy.
Speaker 1: We've we've kind of done that, We've we've kind of
Speaker 1: used that tray up a little bit. So I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go in a different direction for you guys as we
Speaker 1: close out the podcast. Um, for those all of you
Speaker 1: that watched the locker room video of Steve Wilkes and
Speaker 1: the team. Uh, and many of you did, and I've
Speaker 1: heard a lot of reaction to it. You may have
Speaker 1: picked up one lone voice in the corner right before
Speaker 1: he got the ball, coming from Brian Burns saying a Denzel,
Speaker 1: which leads me to asking you guys, if we could
Speaker 1: pull it off, which I doubt that he would agree
Speaker 1: to or that we would, but hypothetically, which famous Denzel
Speaker 1: meme or gift would you want Steve Wilkes to recreate?
Speaker 1: And I have some of them right here. I've sent
Speaker 1: some of these to Darren. That's easy for me. You
Speaker 1: go first, Yeah, I mean the boom, Yeah, training day boom.
Speaker 1: I mean, in fact, I watched training Day on the
Speaker 1: plane out to l A and in honor of Steve
Speaker 1: in his first game. But it's yeah, boom seems appropriate
Speaker 1: for what's going on right now. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: boom happening in that room. I also like because I
Speaker 1: think it's in both training Day and in American Gangster
Speaker 1: mom man, mom Man, I love I love that one. Well,
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I googled it and I was like, oh, yes,
Speaker 1: I remember this one because things when I see him. Yeah, okay. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he's leaning his head back. He's leaning his head back,
Speaker 1: holding his heart. He's like, thank god, it's relieved. Relieved
Speaker 1: Denzel Washington. It's one of those things memes. When you
Speaker 1: mentioned them, I'm like, oh, yeah, I love me was
Speaker 1: but I can't name off to my head. I just
Speaker 1: looked up Denzel Washington me and this one came up.
Speaker 1: I use this one of my daily life, Like I
Speaker 1: need Steve folks doing that also. I mean, come on,
Speaker 1: if you didn't feel like that after, I mean, or
Speaker 1: just the scene from the gym with him and remember
Speaker 1: the Titans. Football is fun? Fun is still fun? It's
Speaker 1: not funny more? Is it's nothing? It's not fun, It's
Speaker 1: not Is it not fun anymore? Pei? How much fun
Speaker 1: are we going to have today? No fun? Sir? We
Speaker 1: need that. I thought so that. I'm I'm a Denzel
Speaker 1: I should probably watch remember the Titans. Well wait, wait
Speaker 1: what you've never seen it? No, I've never seen it.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I haven't seen anything. And I've seen that. Okay,
Speaker 1: we have to stop this right now and put it
Speaker 1: on Darren two hours later, Darren, I'm gonna I'm gonna
Speaker 1: watch it with you, I'm gonna sit you down and
Speaker 1: hold your eyes open and make you watch this movie.
Speaker 1: We'll have movie night. You make me watch Remember the Titans.
Speaker 1: I'll make you too, watch Blazing Saddles, the greatest movie
Speaker 1: ever made. Like a Cowboy movie. It is like it
Speaker 1: is like it is like a Cowboy movie. Yes, that
Speaker 1: is that is fair. Yeah, Happy l Hour everybody. It's
Speaker 1: we're bridging generation. Oh no, I'll watch it. Before the
Speaker 1: end of the season. We'll have movie night. So in
Speaker 1: honor of Halloween, to all our fans out there, I
Speaker 1: have one word bo