Speaker 1: This week on a Happy half Hour, he.
Speaker 2: Said, it's going to be a little bit of baptism
Speaker 2: by fire, and you know, just kind of let them
Speaker 2: grow within the game, because that works too. If you
Speaker 2: have the right coach mindset, which like I said, I
Speaker 2: think Dave Canals does, you can help them grow over
Speaker 2: through those lumps and through those trials and tribulations.
Speaker 1: Touchdow Row. It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented
Speaker 1: by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: Here are your hosts, Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 3: Hello, friends, and welcome to the Happy Half Hour, a
Speaker 3: regular season edition of the Happy Half Hour. How about that?
Speaker 3: And we made it and we're extra happy because this
Speaker 3: edition is brought to us by our friends at Southern Star,
Speaker 3: an official bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers. Celebrate this
Speaker 3: spirit of the Carolinas with a little Southern Star. Now
Speaker 3: that it's regular season time. I think we're all old
Speaker 3: one at this point, aren't we.
Speaker 2: Think so too? Or maybe you know, need one just
Speaker 2: before we get things started, just.
Speaker 3: To get right with ourselves going into a long year. No,
Speaker 3: it's been a long time coming, and we you know,
Speaker 3: talked last week in the Ghost episode of The Happy
Speaker 3: Half Hour, the Ghost episode between I think that set
Speaker 3: it in between one. It's like a hidden track on
Speaker 3: the back of a CD. Are you familiar with that.
Speaker 2: I'm familiar with bonus tracks that Taylor Swift puts on
Speaker 2: anthology album.
Speaker 3: Well, on the back end of CDs. Back in the
Speaker 3: old days, there used to be hidden tracks that weren't
Speaker 3: in the liner notes and you just kind of had
Speaker 3: to listen to a minute and a half of silence
Speaker 3: to ever get to it. It's an interesting concept, I'm
Speaker 3: you know, it's one of those things that there's a
Speaker 3: very narrow vinniagram of people who know about them, and.
Speaker 2: Uh, what's the greatest bonus track ever written?
Speaker 3: I enjoy There was one on a Lile Love It album.
Speaker 3: I think it was the Rodents and Nada album called
Speaker 3: The Girl in the Corner, and a lot of people
Speaker 3: believe it was about the Julie Roberts, you know, era
Speaker 3: of his life. But anyway, that's a story about Loud
Speaker 3: Love It CDs that I'm sure is going to do
Speaker 3: wonders for our ratings here at the Happy half Hour.
Speaker 3: We'll get to music in a little bit I've got
Speaker 3: an idea for a bit in this podcast, and I
Speaker 3: think you're a bit that I think you're going to
Speaker 3: get a kick out of. But first, we football, because
Speaker 3: it is in fact regular season football time. We have
Speaker 3: been through a lot in the last week. We've seen
Speaker 3: some things, We've seen people coming and going a lot
Speaker 3: of each This is a different football team than it
Speaker 3: was the last time we gathered here, isn't.
Speaker 2: It It is? And you warned people that that would happen.
Speaker 2: You said they're going to be active on the waiver wire,
Speaker 2: and I believed you in theory. I don't think I
Speaker 2: fully grasped how active they would be on the waiver wire.
Speaker 3: Yeah, in case you aren't tracking Thepanthers dot com transaction page.
Speaker 3: If you're not, what are you doing? If you're not,
Speaker 3: what's wrong with you? That would be six count of
Speaker 3: six waiver claims on record. It is not a record.
Speaker 3: I actually contacted our good friends at three forty five
Speaker 3: Park Avenue, which I now know is the NFL often
Speaker 3: there you go and see you're paying attention, and I asked,
Speaker 3: is six a record? And they said it not? In
Speaker 3: fact the record. There were multiple instances of seven, so
Speaker 3: it is no fun from a record standpoint, but a
Speaker 3: lot of people coming and going, and in case you
Speaker 3: didn't remember them all, that would be Keenan, Isaac Shamar Bartholomew,
Speaker 3: Trepe Castro Fields, Jamie Sheriff, John Radigan, and Jarrett Kingston.
Speaker 3: Come on down and welcome to the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 2: A lot of names that aren't necessarily going to jump
Speaker 2: out to people from a from a popularity point of view,
Speaker 2: but names that when you look into them, are really interesting.
Speaker 2: Jamar Bartholomew, for example, four different teams put in a
Speaker 2: claim for him, which was the most of anyone on
Speaker 2: the waiver wire this year. He's a rookie. He spent
Speaker 2: training camp with the Jets, someone that Dave Canalis admitted
Speaker 2: wasn't really on their radar until that joint practice with
Speaker 2: the Jets, which is another pro in the column of
Speaker 2: doing joint practices right. And and someone that they've already
Speaker 2: run out there a good bit dear in practice. He's uh,
Speaker 2: he's life. But he's the on the smaller end of
Speaker 2: the corners. They claimed. But that's even bigger than they
Speaker 2: had because they went big at corner and we're gonna
Speaker 2: said that's what we want to do that we want big,
Speaker 2: fast corners, and they got him with that. But Bartholo
Speaker 2: for sure is going to be an interesting one to watch,
Speaker 2: just because you have to imagine if the Panthers, the Saints,
Speaker 2: the Chiefs, and the Chargers, I think that's right, if
Speaker 2: they all saw something in him, then there's something there.
Speaker 3: To be seen. I mean again, big cornerbacks who can
Speaker 3: run always going to get chances in the NFL. And
Speaker 3: as you mentioned, I mean Dan Morgan came out last
Speaker 3: week and talked a good bit about you know, it's
Speaker 3: kind of a big man's game, and they wanted to
Speaker 3: get more physical at that position. And this is nothing
Speaker 3: against guys like DiCaprio, Bootle and DeShawn Jamison who are
Speaker 3: smaller guys but really game players. I love the way
Speaker 3: they played hard, they got after it during the preseason.
Speaker 3: But they just kind of got to a point when
Speaker 3: Dan Jackson was out before they got Mike Jackson in here,
Speaker 3: who they traded for just before the week before the
Speaker 3: waiverclaimed deadline, and another big corner and they just kind
Speaker 3: of looked around and they thought, we're so small, let's
Speaker 3: do something about it. And they did something about it
Speaker 3: with Gusto, and I mean that hadn't been the end
Speaker 3: of the moves. I mean they filled out a practice squad,
Speaker 3: you know, they let go of Calebon and Chase On
Speaker 3: brought in Messiah Swinson speaking a big you know, just
Speaker 3: your average six foot eight, two hundred and sixty pound
Speaker 3: power forward who happens to be a tight end for
Speaker 3: you're a Carolina Panthers now. And and you talked to
Speaker 3: him yesterday. I mean he's a guy who's really really
Speaker 3: new here.
Speaker 2: I had to look straight up to talk to him.
Speaker 2: But yeah, really really knew. He said his twenty four
Speaker 2: hours before that had just sort of been a whirlwind.
Speaker 2: That his agent called him at eleven am on what
Speaker 2: day is it? Tuesday? And he said, initially he ignored
Speaker 2: the call because he was going into meetings. He was
Speaker 2: with the packers before this, and his agent texted him
Speaker 2: and was like, call me back right now. So he
Speaker 2: calls him back and his agent's like, I've got an
Speaker 2: active roster situation for you. You need to decide in
Speaker 2: like the next sixty seconds. And he was like okay. So,
Speaker 2: as he said, his agent gave him an elevator pitch
Speaker 2: and he's like good coach, good Room a great opportunity,
Speaker 2: and he's like, okay, let's go. He's primarily an in
Speaker 2: line blocker, he said, he's been doing that really since
Speaker 2: his sophomore year of college. That's all he was asked
Speaker 2: to do with the Packers as well, but obviously, said Darren,
Speaker 2: I mean, he's six's eight, he's big.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I would love to see them toss a few balls
Speaker 2: his way, just to see as long as he has
Speaker 2: decent hands. And he's not that kid from Little Giants
Speaker 2: as to like put the stick them on his gloves
Speaker 2: if he's got decent hands. Gosh, that's a mismatch.
Speaker 3: I don't think that's legal in the NFL anymore, but
Speaker 3: it does kind of point to I mean, and beyond
Speaker 3: the size thing. And Matt's going to pull this clip
Speaker 3: for us and play it so you can hear Dave
Speaker 3: Canalis talk about it. But if there is a theme
Speaker 3: emerging already in this Carolina Panthers season, it's that they're
Speaker 3: going to give a lot of guys chances to play.
Speaker 3: They're going to go out and look at a bunch
Speaker 3: of different people. I mean, they've already kind of promised
Speaker 3: to turn over the practice squad, and even after they
Speaker 3: filled up the practice squad initially, they've brought in like
Speaker 3: three or four different guys since then, And that thing's
Speaker 3: continuing to evolve, and I imagine it is going to
Speaker 3: continue to for the next several weeks. I mean, after
Speaker 3: we get through this week, you know, teams will start
Speaker 3: signing veteran guys so they don't have to guarantee the
Speaker 3: salary for the whole year. Somebody's going to shake loose.
Speaker 3: Dan's going to be looking at the waiver wires seeing
Speaker 3: if any of those guys are of interest to them.
Speaker 3: So I think, you know, for the next couple of weeks,
Speaker 3: while they have that first spot in the waiverclaim order,
Speaker 3: they're going to continue to consider using it. And where
Speaker 3: it's interesting to me is Dave Canalis has talked several
Speaker 3: times over the last few days about the idea of
Speaker 3: giving guys chances. When he said it during the press
Speaker 3: conference yesterday, he was talking about the context ab outside linebackers.
Speaker 3: You cut calebon Chase on and everybody's wondering, what are
Speaker 3: you going to do opposite Shadavian Clowney. He's a known commodity.
Speaker 3: We trust him. He's a known producer. That seems cool.
Speaker 3: What are you going to do until DJ Wanham gets back?
Speaker 3: And the answer is some combination of DJ Johnson, Echuliota
Speaker 3: and our new friend Jamie Sheriff, who is a South
Speaker 3: Alabama guy who wasn't even drafted, wasn't even signed after
Speaker 3: being a tryout player with the Seahawks, but he has
Speaker 3: three three preseason games for Seattle. And Dan saw the
Speaker 3: tape and figure to give them a shot. And Dave
Speaker 3: Canalis said, We're going to continue to give those guys.
Speaker 4: Shots plam, play them early and and see what we
Speaker 4: got there. You know, that's that's been something that's you know,
Speaker 4: kind of ingrained in my DNA is. Let's get information
Speaker 4: about the players. Let's not be afraid to play young
Speaker 4: guys on the offense or the defensive side. Let's get
Speaker 4: them out there. They will learn the football. We will
Speaker 4: be all better for it when we get into week
Speaker 4: six seven and you go to the finish of the season.
Speaker 4: The more you play these guys early on, we can
Speaker 4: get them game ready, but we can't be afraid to
Speaker 4: expose them to that. And we got to live with
Speaker 4: some of.
Speaker 3: The lumps, And I think it's a it's a reasonable position.
Speaker 3: We will see when you tune into the Panthers Huddle
Speaker 3: and television later this weekend, hosted by an amateur television
Speaker 3: host and some professional football coaches and former players, you
Speaker 3: will hear Dave Canalis say another version of that is,
Speaker 3: you know, we understand this is a learning year, and
Speaker 3: this is a learning process, so we want to start
Speaker 3: with young guys. We want to give the opportunities to
Speaker 3: learn and grow. That was their experience when he came
Speaker 3: in with Pete Carroll and Seattle, and he wants to
Speaker 3: do it here. So I think, you know, it could
Speaker 3: come as a culture shock to people to actually hear
Speaker 3: coaches say that out loud, but it's kind of a
Speaker 3: bold strategy strategy to just say, hey, here's the best
Speaker 3: chance for a lot of guys to win jobs. Let's
Speaker 3: see what happens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, old strategy, Cotton for sure. I think where I
Speaker 2: always get a little iffy with that, and then I'm
Speaker 2: not saying that they shouldn't do it. I always get
Speaker 2: a little iffy with let me backtrack and say, you
Speaker 2: have to have the right coach and the right coaching
Speaker 2: mindset to pull this off.
Speaker 1: M M.
Speaker 2: Because and I think Dave Canalis does, because you run
Speaker 2: the risk of throwing someone out there in their first
Speaker 2: year it going horribly and it's setting them back from
Speaker 2: a mental standpoint.
Speaker 3: Sure years we've seen that with quarterbacks in the past.
Speaker 3: And again I'm much much older than you, and remember
Speaker 3: the Jimmy class and days here in Bank of America
Speaker 3: Stadium that did not go well for the team or
Speaker 3: Jimmy in that situation. And it's unfair for some guys
Speaker 3: if they're put into that situation. But your point is
Speaker 3: a valid one, and Dave has talked a lot about
Speaker 3: the efforts they're making to coach these guys up in
Speaker 3: a very specific way. One of the things that's interesting
Speaker 3: to me about Canalis he is portrayed as positive guy,
Speaker 3: upbeat guy, happy guy. He is a very granular, detailed
Speaker 3: kind of coach. And one of the things he said
Speaker 3: stood out to me last week was when he was
Speaker 3: talking about leaning on guys like Jim Colwell and Dom Capers,
Speaker 3: and he said, Dom Capers told me to spend less
Speaker 3: time in a team meeting room so we could get
Speaker 3: a more time with position coaches to get that you know,
Speaker 3: really ground level grassroots coaching. That so many of these
Speaker 3: young guys need. And I think that's an interesting point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that goes back to the point that everyone
Speaker 2: has made about Dave Canally since he's been a coach
Speaker 2: in the NFL. You know, we heard former Seahawks play
Speaker 2: saying there was a guy that no matter if he
Speaker 2: was a QA or a position coach or a coordinator,
Speaker 2: he was out there kind of moving the bags over
Speaker 2: an inch and a half, which kind of reminded me
Speaker 2: of our old friend Connor moving the bags over an
Speaker 2: engine a half because he knew that's what where Pete
Speaker 2: Carroll wanted them. And so I think when you've kind
Speaker 2: of built up that mindset, it should help you in
Speaker 2: the long term, even if you're now the big picture
Speaker 2: guy at the head coach. That being said, and I
Speaker 2: don't want this to seem negative, nancy or anything, but
Speaker 2: I think my job right. I don't think it's a
Speaker 2: bad approach at all. The way that Dave Canalis is
Speaker 2: kind of wanting to take this team and letting Jamie
Speaker 2: Sheriff who DJ Johnson just kind of get out there
Speaker 2: and he said, see what we got with each of
Speaker 2: these guys, and he said, it's going to be a
Speaker 2: little bit of baptism by fire, and you know, just
Speaker 2: kind of let them grow within the game because that
Speaker 2: works too. If you have the right coach mindset, which
Speaker 2: like I said, think Dave Canals does, you can help
Speaker 2: them grow over through those lumps and through those trials
Speaker 2: and tribulations and come out forged stronger on the other side.
Speaker 2: And he made that comment, he said, you know, it
Speaker 2: might there might be lumps. We have to take it first.
Speaker 2: But then you get to week six, you get to
Speaker 2: week seven, you get towards the end of the season,
Speaker 2: and you've got someone who isn't scared anymore to go
Speaker 2: out there. So that being said, no, I think we
Speaker 2: might need to temper some expectations for the first few weeks,
Speaker 2: which I think that those are tempered. But it's it's
Speaker 2: very easy this time of year to get caught up
Speaker 2: in we're gonna win it all, and these first few
Speaker 2: weeks might take a little bit of time just to
Speaker 2: get this thing going. You might take a year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the good news is they're playing a Saints team
Speaker 3: that's also a good bit of transition themselves. They've changed
Speaker 3: they've changed offensive coordinators in the off season. Dennis Allen's
Speaker 3: still there. And there are a lot of people as
Speaker 3: you peruse your you know, NFL preview magazines and all
Speaker 3: that cool stuff your phone, yeh know, know your phone
Speaker 3: Panthers dot com, a lot of people have a lot
Speaker 3: of very low expectations for these two football teams. And
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be fascinating. Somebody asked me
Speaker 3: what I expected this weekend in New Orleans, and I
Speaker 3: just kind of laughed and said, chaos, just because that's
Speaker 3: what we usually get when we go to New Orleans.
Speaker 2: What most people get when they go to New Orleans.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, and this most of them outside of
Speaker 3: the Superdome. For us inside the super Dome, it is
Speaker 3: almost alarming. These two teams have played fifty eight times.
Speaker 3: These Saints hold a thirty to twenty eight advantage in
Speaker 3: the all time series, and I think it's fifteen fourteen
Speaker 3: in the Dome. Yeah, so that is correct, fifteen and
Speaker 3: fourteen in the Dome. So it's been very even. It's
Speaker 3: been your guess as good as mine sometimes when these
Speaker 3: two teams get together. But I think with where the
Speaker 3: two teams are, it's very instructive because a year ago
Speaker 3: for the Carolina Panthers the questions became, can they score
Speaker 3: a point? Are they going to be able to move
Speaker 3: the ball at all? And with the power of the
Speaker 3: greatest drive in preseason football history, you know, I think
Speaker 3: they sort of brought back some of those questions. And
Speaker 3: Bryce Young looked really good in Buffalo, and Bryce Young
Speaker 3: has been really clean, whether it's the joint practices with
Speaker 3: the Jets or throughout training camp. And I think it's
Speaker 3: kind of flipped a little bit because a year ago
Speaker 3: it was whether they're gonna play good defense, are they
Speaker 3: gonna be able to score any points? And now I
Speaker 3: think people feel a little more comfortable about the offense
Speaker 3: in general, just because they keep talking about they're gonna run,
Speaker 3: and they invested in the parts you need to run
Speaker 3: an offensive linemen. And they've got Chuba Hubbard in the
Speaker 3: middle of the backfield, so they liked their ability to
Speaker 3: be physical there. They like the way Bryce is taking
Speaker 3: care of the ball. You wrote an incredible piece the
Speaker 3: other day about you know, the whole notion of two
Speaker 3: point seven seconds and how that's just the first part
Speaker 3: of the play and Bryce has done a good job
Speaker 3: of extending plays beyond that. We saw a perfect example
Speaker 3: of it in Buffalo.
Speaker 2: That fourth down throw to Deontay Johnson was everything that
Speaker 2: they have kind of wanted to build Bryce up to
Speaker 2: to get to this season. And you know, like you said, Darren,
Speaker 2: we've heard so much this off season about two point
Speaker 2: seven two point seven, and it was interesting to just
Speaker 2: kind of sit down with Bryce and pick his brain
Speaker 2: about it and realize that to him, it's much more
Speaker 2: of a philosophy than like a horn going off. I
Speaker 2: have to have the ball out by two point seven,
Speaker 2: and it's I it's if he gets to two point
Speaker 2: seven and that ball is not out, it's time to
Speaker 2: move on to the next play. And I think that
Speaker 2: it's interesting too that they've been very intentional about not
Speaker 2: calling it a scramble drill, but by calling it the
Speaker 2: second play, it's time to make the second play. And yes,
Speaker 2: that second play is not quite as organized because it
Speaker 2: is at the end of the day, let's call space bade.
Speaker 2: It's a scramble drill. But it's still a lot of
Speaker 2: their concepts built within a lot of what they working
Speaker 2: on this offseason, and we've seen it come out so
Speaker 2: many times in practice and then to actually see it
Speaker 2: come out in a game, I mean that was a
Speaker 2: fourth and three play versus Buffalo, and as soon as
Speaker 2: it got to that, you know, it's a point of like, okay,
Speaker 2: if all the plays in the playbook take under three seconds,
Speaker 2: and you've gotten to three seconds, you know, your internal
Speaker 2: clock goes off and you go, okay, that first play
Speaker 2: is over. And that's the same for the receivers as well.
Speaker 2: That play is over, it's time to move on. And
Speaker 2: that's exactly what Bryce did, It's what Deontay did, it's
Speaker 2: what Xavier League did because we saw him right under
Speaker 2: Deontay do also going for that ball, and that kind
Speaker 2: of went into something that Deontay said, which unfortunately, just
Speaker 2: due to brevity, didn't get to make it into the story.
Speaker 2: But Deontay said, you know, you have to be very
Speaker 2: careful and plays like that to know your levels because
Speaker 2: otherwise you're getting into someone else's level and you're causing
Speaker 2: more k. And because Deonta's stayed in his level and
Speaker 2: Xavier stayed in his level, they didn't run into each
Speaker 2: other and one of them was gonna make the play
Speaker 2: depending on where that ball went. And that's something that
Speaker 2: just comes from reps, rep after rep after rep and
Speaker 2: practice knowing where Bryce is gonna go, knowing where Deonta's
Speaker 2: gonna go, knowing where different receivers are going to go.
Speaker 2: And that just comes from knowing, Okay, the clock is over,
Speaker 2: this play is over, it's time to move on to
Speaker 2: the second one. And that really kind of leans on
Speaker 2: Bryce's strengths as well, not being afraid to kind of
Speaker 2: move around outside the pocket. That also gives them a
Speaker 2: little bit of leeway until they know exactly how this
Speaker 2: offensive line is gonna mesh because they invested a lot
Speaker 2: and I think this offensive line got much better. But
Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is we haven't seen this
Speaker 2: starting five on the field in a game together yet,
Speaker 2: and so what do they look like?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: You've got a little bit of breathing room since you
Speaker 2: know that you can function by moving Bryce out on boots,
Speaker 2: moving him out even on like a neckad boot, and
Speaker 2: kind of feeling comfortable moving him around outside of the
Speaker 2: pocket as well.
Speaker 3: There you go, and you mentioned having leftovers, you you
Speaker 3: didn't repurpose that into something else. We use the whole
Speaker 3: buffalo here at Panthers dot com. There's no wasted there's
Speaker 3: no wasted stuff.
Speaker 2: Good pop up in a story here in the next.
Speaker 3: Time, I was gonna say do like I did with Derek.
Speaker 3: This morning, I wrote about Derek Brown, and I was
Speaker 3: doing a story just about Derek kind of ascending into
Speaker 3: this role as not just one of the top players
Speaker 3: at his positioned in the league, but as a real
Speaker 3: leader here. And all this stuff kept coming up about
Speaker 3: Derek battondown passes and how good he was at it.
Speaker 3: I mean, and Nick Scott, who's brand new here, he's
Speaker 3: like one of the things you got to remember about him.
Speaker 3: He was going to compare him to Aaron Donald, and
Speaker 3: all the old Rams guys are like, he ain't Aaron Donald,
Speaker 3: but you know, they're really careful to get that in.
Speaker 3: And again, I don't want anybody to think I'm saying
Speaker 3: Derek Brown is better than Aaron do Donald. That guy
Speaker 3: is going to be a Hall of Famer. Uh. Not
Speaker 3: that Derek's not in some time, but that ability kind
Speaker 3: of stood out to me. I just figured out, I'll
Speaker 3: write an extra story. What the heck, it's the Internet.
Speaker 3: We got plenty of space. It ain't like a newspaper
Speaker 3: where we've got so many column inches and that's all
Speaker 3: we get. We find good stories, go tell them, so
Speaker 3: get that in there at some point. But you know,
Speaker 3: I mean getting back to New Orleans, it's kind of
Speaker 3: it's a weird time for both these teams. And I think,
Speaker 3: you know, I'm always very hesitant to put too much
Speaker 3: into any one particular game, but I think it is
Speaker 3: kind of significant for both these teams because the expectations
Speaker 3: are low and there is so much, so many questions
Speaker 3: about each of them. I mean, nobody knows what direction
Speaker 3: the Saints are going to go in. People have been
Speaker 3: wondering for years if all they are kicking the can
Speaker 3: down the road salary cap wise, just to keep a
Speaker 3: team in between the ditches is eventually gonna you know,
Speaker 3: fall off the cliff and they're gonna go through some struggles.
Speaker 3: For a couple of years, they've they've I've remained competitive.
Speaker 3: I admire that about what Mickey Loomis has done down there.
Speaker 3: You know, even when everybody thought they were about to
Speaker 3: go off the face of the earth, they've not just
Speaker 3: stayed competitive but continue to push for playoff spots deep
Speaker 3: in seasons. And you know, obviously with the Panthers, nobody
Speaker 3: is talking about them as a surprise playoff contender or anything.
Speaker 3: Like that because they've got so much ground to make
Speaker 3: up after last year. But I have seen in my
Speaker 3: own trying to be balanced and fair and informed by
Speaker 3: years of watching this kind of eyes, they're better than
Speaker 3: they were a year ago. This offense is better. So
Speaker 3: I think there's a chance to, you know, for this
Speaker 3: to be one of those games that is really really
Speaker 3: a barometer for each of these teams. Because this Carolina
Speaker 3: Panthers team needs to win. They need some positive reinforcement,
Speaker 3: if only to underscore that message Dave Canalis has been
Speaker 3: selling all off season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, let mus tests. Let's figure out where
Speaker 2: we're at and where we need to go from here.
Speaker 2: I want to see what again, this offensive line with
Speaker 2: all five out there together looks like, because you know,
Speaker 2: the Saints aren't bringing a pithy front seven to it either.
Speaker 2: You know they've got Kim Jordan, They've got Chase Hung
Speaker 2: who they added this off season. Chase Young is is
Speaker 2: what I think a lot of people I think Chase Young.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people thought Chase Young would
Speaker 2: become Jadaveon Clowney, and he still has a chance to be,
Speaker 2: but injuries have really kind of made that impossible for
Speaker 2: the past few years. You know, what does he look
Speaker 2: like in this Saint's defense, this Dennis Allen defense. They
Speaker 2: also brought in Willie Gay. So this is a decent
Speaker 2: first test for this new Panthers offensive line, for this
Speaker 2: new uh not new, but you know, this idea of
Speaker 2: moving Bryce outside of the pocket a little bit more,
Speaker 2: this is a good decent This is a pretty decent
Speaker 2: little test in the first week. And then on the
Speaker 2: other side of the ball for the Saints with a
Speaker 2: new OC. Taysom Hill told reporters a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 2: I'm doing more in this office than I've ever done before.
Speaker 2: And it's like, brother, what else can he do?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that means he's gonna kick. He's gonna go full
Speaker 3: Brandon Zilstrow on us, and he's gonna kick Sunday.
Speaker 2: But I think he was he was working as a
Speaker 2: full back, like with his hand in the ground, and
Speaker 2: I don't think he's ever done that. And so you know,
Speaker 2: if you've got Taysom Hill out there's a fullback and
Speaker 2: you're running Alvin Kamara, you know it's it's gonna be
Speaker 2: a good yes, like you said, a good parameter, a
Speaker 2: good litmus test to kind of see where they're at
Speaker 2: at a lot of different parts of the field.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Again, we were talking to Thomas Davis on the huddle,
Speaker 3: and I encourage you to check that out on the
Speaker 3: Panthers television network across the Carolinas this weekend and on
Speaker 3: the Panthers YouTube channel and dot com later on this week.
Speaker 3: But TD was talking about that, he said, the thing
Speaker 3: you got to remember about the Saints is they've got
Speaker 3: guys who can make plays in a hurry. I mean,
Speaker 3: not only do you not know what Taysom Hill's gonna do,
Speaker 3: Chris Alave, it's one of those guys who's big play
Speaker 3: waiting to happen. Alvin Kamara is one of those guys
Speaker 3: who can turn two into ten in a hurry. And
Speaker 3: I mean it's just one cut and he's gone. And
Speaker 3: as long as they've got that kind of big playability
Speaker 3: on offense, with the Panthers being as unsettled as they
Speaker 3: are on defense, this thing's wide open. It really is.
Speaker 3: So anyway, we're looking forward to New Orleans. We're looking
Speaker 3: forward to getting to New Orleans. It's weird. We've been
Speaker 3: going down there December January for the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: And it always feels like a New Year's game. There's
Speaker 3: somebody's pouring milk punch, which is like an eggnog type drink.
Speaker 3: Are you familiar? Do you enjoy a good nog?
Speaker 2: I'm not really an eggnog person. A milk punch sounds weird.
Speaker 3: It's all right, it's as well. Yeah, it's you know, basically,
Speaker 3: take a cart in a vanilla ice cream, melton for it,
Speaker 3: full of bourbon. Southern Southern Starbourbon would be good in that,
Speaker 3: and we could celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas, maybe
Speaker 3: with a win this weekend.
Speaker 2: But it'll be fun for you. New Orleans is a
Speaker 2: different city before October.
Speaker 3: First, no doubt it. So we're looking forward to that,
Speaker 3: all right. I want to try something new. We're gonna
Speaker 3: do a bit here on the Happy half Hour gart
Speaker 3: We're gonna go to the Happy half Hour jukebox. You
Speaker 3: keep telling me about Taylor Swift songs, and I keep
Speaker 3: not knowing anything about them. You're probably making references that
Speaker 3: I don't even know.
Speaker 2: So here took everything in me when I was writing
Speaker 2: that Bryce story the other day to not make the reference.
Speaker 2: He knows how to ball and knows Aristotle.
Speaker 3: Well, I wouldn't have gotten that. I would have had
Speaker 3: no idea. So here's what I'm gonna offer you. I'm
Speaker 3: going to give you an opportunity each week to throw
Speaker 3: me one song. It can be Taylor Swift, it can
Speaker 3: be something else you're vibing on right now, something else
Speaker 3: that's in your iPod or whatever. You young millennials listen
Speaker 3: to your music song.
Speaker 2: Millennials aren't young anymore. But thanks for driving that home.
Speaker 3: Well, you know it is what it is. You shoot
Speaker 3: me one song each week. I will promise to listen
Speaker 3: to it at least three times and report back the
Speaker 3: following week whether this is a thing I want to
Speaker 3: add to the Darren Gamp playlist or not. You're gonna
Speaker 3: get the same opportunity. So what do you got for me?
Speaker 3: I know I just sprung this on you last minute.
Speaker 3: What do you want me to study and explore?
Speaker 2: Let me ask you a question. If I suggest a
Speaker 2: song that you already know it, can we do it?
Speaker 3: There is a very small chance that is true.
Speaker 2: So you're making me think Taylor Swift. But there's also
Speaker 2: I mean, we're also going to New Orleans, and so
Speaker 2: I've been walking around in my head for the past
Speaker 2: few days singing Marie Leveaux.
Speaker 3: YOUO Bobby Bear classic, that's even old for me? What
Speaker 3: do you do?
Speaker 1: Come on?
Speaker 3: Hit me with a t swizzle song? Do they still
Speaker 3: call her that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Okay, I've got one for you. We were talking
Speaker 2: about bonus tracks earlier. I think Taylor Swift's best bonus track,
Speaker 2: and she has vault tracks now, which are different. I'll
Speaker 2: explain to you sometimes who Scooter Braun is and why
Speaker 2: we hate him. But bonus tracks, I think her best
Speaker 2: bonus track she's ever put out as a song called
Speaker 2: right Where You Left Me?
Speaker 3: Right Where You Lift.
Speaker 2: It's from the album Evermore, which is a good foolish
Speaker 2: vibe album. Anyways, Right Where You Left Me is It's
Speaker 2: a departure for her because it doesn't require she doesn't
Speaker 2: use a lot of metaphor. She doesn't even curse in
Speaker 2: the song, which is something she likes to do now, huh.
Speaker 2: And but it's it's like it's kind of got like
Speaker 2: a country vibe, but it's like very upbeat. She jumps
Speaker 2: right into the song and does not take a breath
Speaker 2: until the song is over all right, And it may
Speaker 2: be one of the it's simplistic, but it's maybe one
Speaker 2: of her angrier songs that she's ever written. I love it.
Speaker 2: It's probably the best bonustrike she's ever done.
Speaker 3: That's quite a sales pitch. I promise this is my
Speaker 3: vow here on the Happy half Hour to listen to
Speaker 3: Taylor Swift's Right Where You Left Me and report back
Speaker 3: next week. Yeah, let's see what can I throw your way.
Speaker 3: I should probably should have planned this out a little better.
Speaker 3: I'll just go with probably my favorite song in the
Speaker 3: entire world. You have to listen to at least three
Speaker 3: different versions of it. That would be The towns Van's
Speaker 3: ant classic, Poncho and Lefty, which you're probably familiar with
Speaker 3: with Willie Nelson and BRL. But I'm gonna make you
Speaker 3: listen to the towns Van'sant a Ridge. It's even more
Speaker 3: depressing than the rest of the song is anyway, and
Speaker 3: it's not exactly a toe tapper.
Speaker 2: You've also been given each other sad songs.
Speaker 3: I don't know, maybe it's just that time of year.
Speaker 3: We just need to keep ourselves in balance. But you
Speaker 3: listen to Poncho and Lefty, I'm gonna listen to Right
Speaker 3: Here Where You Left Me? And y'all are gonna come
Speaker 3: right back where we're leaving you next week on the
Speaker 3: Happy half Hour,