Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome to the Happy half Hour, the
Speaker 1: experimental version of Happy half Hour. This is gonna be
Speaker 1: like a concept album, like when Stergel Simpson decided to
Speaker 1: do a stoner rock album followed by a bluegrass album.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be like that. We're gonna just get weird
Speaker 1: with this for the next little bit, because it's got
Speaker 1: to be better than me yelling at the sky for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes. I mean, podcast Matt told me, because of
Speaker 1: copyright issues, I could not just sit here and do
Speaker 1: a spoken word version of Alice's Restaurant for nineteen and
Speaker 1: a half minutes. Even though I could easily do that,
Speaker 1: I could probably do that song on karaoke without the words.
Speaker 1: Try me, seriously, my wife's already sick of hearing it,
Speaker 1: and she's only heard it once this season, and I
Speaker 1: can promise you you're gonna hear it at least two
Speaker 1: or three more times on the road up to see
Speaker 1: Mom and Dad tomorrow night. So anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Speaker 1: It's just me Darren Gant holding down the Happy half
Speaker 1: Hour for the moment. Hopefully, well, you will have some
Speaker 1: updates for you on future Happy half Hours coming soon.
Speaker 1: We've got our fingers crossed on a couple of things.
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, what I thought I would do,
Speaker 1: since we call this the Happy half hour, is just
Speaker 1: take a second and bounce around this building and talk
Speaker 1: to some of the people who help make this place
Speaker 1: happy when, in case you haven't noticed, the football is
Speaker 1: not all that great at the moment. I know it's
Speaker 1: a tough time for the Carolina Panthers. They are one
Speaker 1: and nine heading into Tennessee this week. But the thing
Speaker 1: about this operation is there's so many people who are
Speaker 1: just head down working, constantly pushing, trying to make this
Speaker 1: experience a little bit better for the players and coaches
Speaker 1: involved who have to be in here every day working,
Speaker 1: and it takes something. I mentioned this in my mail
Speaker 1: bag yesterday. It's easy to be grateful when things are
Speaker 1: going good. The measure of somebody is how they react
Speaker 1: when things are going poorly. And I can tell you
Speaker 1: there there are a number of people in this building.
Speaker 1: There are actually a lot of people in this building
Speaker 1: who work the way you want them to work when
Speaker 1: things are hard. The people who are the same way
Speaker 1: every day, The people who are head down, grind and
Speaker 1: smile on their face, keeping guys uplifted, keeping guys fed,
Speaker 1: keeping guys well, keeping guys equipped, who make this engine run.
Speaker 1: And I just wanted to take a little bit while
Speaker 1: we're in a while, we're in a transitional phase of
Speaker 1: the happy half hour, so to speak to kind of
Speaker 1: highlight some of those people. I started this off and
Speaker 1: when I kind of had this brainstorm in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night, I don't know, maybe it was a
Speaker 1: fever dream. Who can really tell the difference. When I
Speaker 1: thought about doing this concept for a little bit, one
Speaker 1: of the first names I thought of was Kate Callaway.
Speaker 1: Kate Callaway is the director of Performance Nutrition for the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers. That is a fancy way of saying she's
Speaker 1: the one that makes sure these guys are fed correctly.
Speaker 1: She works alongside Tracy Hartman, our new chef here at
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, who does a fantastic job. Tracy is
Speaker 1: a rock star who joined us this year after working
Speaker 1: for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And here's what kind of
Speaker 1: chef Tracy is. Tracy's the kind of chef who gets
Speaker 1: players to like their vegetables. She's turned things out, like
Speaker 1: you know, and it sounds bizarre and We'll talk about
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving food in a second. But Tracy was able to
Speaker 1: make zucchini tots, and it's a way to sneak a
Speaker 1: vegetable past the goalie, get vegetable content in a football player,
Speaker 1: which isn't always the easiest thing to do. But I
Speaker 1: can tell you without reservation that Tracy Hartman's zucchini tots
Speaker 1: are par excellence. They are those players are well fed,
Speaker 1: they are well taken care of. But Kate is not
Speaker 1: a chef. Kate is kind of a scientist. And I've
Speaker 1: told her this before we've had the opportunity to visit
Speaker 1: with her. You know, when I was working on the
Speaker 1: series of stories about Austin Corbett in his rehab, you
Speaker 1: know all the people at take to get these guys going.
Speaker 1: Kate worked with Austin to you know, get really specific
Speaker 1: with his diet at certain points of the rehab of
Speaker 1: you know, what to eat to reduce inflammation, what to
Speaker 1: eat when you're trying to build muscle mass. And she
Speaker 1: is a scientist. She works with these guys on very
Speaker 1: specific diet tips, supplements, things to put in them to
Speaker 1: keep them running at a high level. Because no matter
Speaker 1: what's going on on and off the field. These guys
Speaker 1: are expending a ton of energy. These guys are doing
Speaker 1: a ton of work to try to get themselves ready
Speaker 1: for Sundays, and so I figured I would start with her.
Speaker 1: It's perfect because it's Thanksgiving, but it's also perfect because
Speaker 1: Kate is one of the bright lights of the building.
Speaker 1: Players leave conversations with Kate happier than they walked in
Speaker 1: to them with. And that's something. I mean. When you're
Speaker 1: one to nine and you can put a smile on
Speaker 1: somebody's face walking around this building while probably telling them
Speaker 1: not to to eat as much of this, or maybe
Speaker 1: to eat a little more of those vegetables, that's saying something.
Speaker 1: So I caught up this week with Kate Calway, the
Speaker 1: director of Performance Nutrition for the Carolina Panthers, just to
Speaker 1: get a couple tips on how to keep my finely
Speaker 1: tuned athletic engine burning, but mostly mostly how she keeps
Speaker 1: these football players running at one hundred percent through a long,
Speaker 1: long season. Here's our conversation with Kate. So it's Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: week and here on the Happy Half Hour, we thought
Speaker 1: we'd go a special guest since we're talking about gratitude,
Speaker 1: because there's nobody in this building. I don't think who
Speaker 1: brings more positive energy on a day to day basis
Speaker 1: than Director of Performance Nutrition Kate Calway, especially when she
Speaker 1: brings rit to the pup to the stadium. That's been
Speaker 1: That's been a big part of this. Hadn't it been lately?
Speaker 2: Yes? It has.
Speaker 3: I got a puppy about a month ago and she's
Speaker 3: three months old, and I mean, I'm happy most of
Speaker 3: the time, but now I'm extra happy all the time.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most amazing things. Kate's office is
Speaker 1: now to the weight room where there's always speakers in
Speaker 1: loud music blaring all hours a day or night. Walk
Speaker 1: by the other day and the pupper is sitting there
Speaker 1: with little ear muffs on to protect her little puppy
Speaker 1: ears from the loud, loud music. So that's awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm surprised she kept She didn't keep them on
Speaker 3: at first when she had a lot of energy, but
Speaker 3: then when she got tired, she didn't.
Speaker 2: Have any problems. She feel right to sleep, so fun
Speaker 2: having her around.
Speaker 1: I think there are days I might enjoy having uperrier
Speaker 1: muffs around the stadium. But I wanted to talk to
Speaker 1: you and again your titles Director of performance Nutrition. How
Speaker 1: would you explain what that role is and how it
Speaker 1: fits into the greater football operation here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, overall, it's making sure that all the players have
Speaker 3: what they need in terms of fueling, fuel in their bodies,
Speaker 3: food they eat, things they drink, knowing how to make
Speaker 3: the right decisions in terms of what they need for play.
Speaker 2: So it's really like the oversight of all of that.
Speaker 3: But then the orchestration of making it happen is a
Speaker 3: big part of it because we do provide a lot
Speaker 3: of the food and drink options at the facility, on
Speaker 3: the road or wherever we are, so there are a
Speaker 3: lot of logistics involved as well, which is fun. And
Speaker 3: just getting to know the guys I think is the
Speaker 3: biggest thing because every because everybody has a different plan
Speaker 3: or a different need. You know, certain guys in the
Speaker 3: same position who are the same size might need totally
Speaker 3: different nutrition plans or protocols, if you will, and so
Speaker 3: it's a pretty diverse. But yeah, mostly making sure they
Speaker 3: stay fueled and just getting them ready for Sunday, like
Speaker 3: the football week starts on Monday, when we you know,
Speaker 3: come come off of a game and I'm right there
Speaker 3: with it. From a nutrition standpoint, making sure each day
Speaker 3: kind of matches what that day needs from a nutrition standpoint.
Speaker 1: And for example, like are there certain days that are
Speaker 1: big protein days for muscle building or certain days more
Speaker 1: carbs for recovery or whatever that explain that in more
Speaker 1: intelligent language than I can possibly use.
Speaker 3: No, that's a great You always have intelligent language, and
Speaker 3: that's a great question. The guys are really like especially
Speaker 3: during the season and getting ready for the season, They're
Speaker 3: in preparation and recovery mode at the same time. So
Speaker 3: usually when you think of getting ready for something, going
Speaker 3: into an activity or a strenuous physical exercise, carbs are
Speaker 3: one of the biggest things that help you prepare. It's
Speaker 3: just if we to make to simplify and then from
Speaker 3: a recovery standpoint, protein typically is the priority, but carbs
Speaker 3: obviously are necessary. Protein can't do its job without enough carbs.
Speaker 3: So throughout the week, yes, like when we come off
Speaker 3: of a game on Monday, like in the meal room,
Speaker 3: I work with a chef on having like a certain
Speaker 3: type of Different proteins have different amino acid profiles, different
Speaker 3: amino acids that make up proteins, so certain amino acids
Speaker 3: help guys recover better than others, so we'll make sure
Speaker 3: let's have foods in that are high and loucine is
Speaker 3: one of the amino acids, for example, and then plenty
Speaker 3: of carbs, and a lot of times a day, a
Speaker 3: couple of days after the game, or the days where
Speaker 3: guys are like their appetites just catching up from playing
Speaker 3: so much and they're kind of, you know, they want
Speaker 3: to eat anything, so it may not be the quote
Speaker 3: unquote healthiest looking foods in there.
Speaker 2: Sometimes we like to have a.
Speaker 3: Balance, like some leaner proteins and leaner carbs and starches
Speaker 3: and stuff. But there are sometimes where it's like we
Speaker 3: need calories. So because the day after a game, the
Speaker 3: guys have burned a lot of calories in the game,
Speaker 3: so let's like add some extra calories to the mashed potatoes.
Speaker 3: So high protein, high carb on the days after the
Speaker 3: first forty eight we call it the first forty eight
Speaker 3: hours after the game, and then when we start practice
Speaker 3: again on Wednesday, we go a little more carb heavy. Obviously,
Speaker 3: we still need proteins because that helps guys feel full,
Speaker 3: and fats are also a good source of energy. If
Speaker 3: we get healthy fats in like avocados and nuts and
Speaker 3: olive oils and stuff that's a more sustained type of energy,
Speaker 3: Like carbs are more kind of quick energy. Help the
Speaker 3: guys like immediately at practice and you know right at
Speaker 3: lunch they want to have a lot of carbs. But
Speaker 3: they also because their activity is so long and so
Speaker 3: intense that like fat molecules will kick in for energy
Speaker 3: to provide energy at some point during an activity. So
Speaker 3: making sure we offer healthy fats and things they like
Speaker 3: to eat. And that's a big part of it too.
Speaker 3: It's like things, we want things to be healthy for them,
Speaker 3: but if it's like I don't know, sometimes.
Speaker 2: There's like the.
Speaker 3: Association of healthy foods being not so tasty, which I
Speaker 3: don't believe is true. But you know we think, oh, healthy,
Speaker 3: they're not going to want to eat it. And if
Speaker 3: that happens, ever, if we're just having like chicken and
Speaker 3: broccoli all the time, they're going to get tired of it.
Speaker 3: So part of it is like knowing what they like
Speaker 3: because then they're going to eat more and without really
Speaker 3: noticing it, they're fueling their bodies better.
Speaker 2: They're just eating more because they like it.
Speaker 3: So that kind of leading into practice will make sure
Speaker 3: we have foods they like, plenty of protein, plenty of carbs,
Speaker 3: especially some healthy fats. And then like Friday, before the
Speaker 3: game is usually today, we kind of have a fun
Speaker 3: catered meal where some people might call it a cheat day,
Speaker 3: but it's like, if we're going to have pizza and wings,
Speaker 3: we might do it on Friday because it's a lighter
Speaker 3: practice day.
Speaker 2: There's not a ton of recovery.
Speaker 3: Coming off of that practice, and then it still gives
Speaker 3: us a little time.
Speaker 2: We have a little cushion before the.
Speaker 3: Game starts, because on Saturday night it's we need pasta,
Speaker 3: we need chicken, we need veggies, we need more pasta,
Speaker 3: some olive oil.
Speaker 2: So that's pretty much the way the weak cycles.
Speaker 1: And I remember talking to you about it when we
Speaker 1: were writing stories about Austin Corbett's recovery back in the
Speaker 1: middle of the summer. You know, there's certain foods that
Speaker 1: are good for reducing inflammation, and I remember making the
Speaker 1: comment to you, then, you're not a cook, you're a
Speaker 1: scientist here. So I mean, it's an incredible amount of
Speaker 1: detail that goes into specific foods like that. Now, are
Speaker 1: are there things that are like targeted into like that
Speaker 1: super food that people wouldn't necessarily think of that. Okay,
Speaker 1: these guys are going to eat a lot of this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think like we do for the
Speaker 3: most part. I think professional athletes obviously have figured out
Speaker 3: that eating healthy makes them feel better. And I've shocked
Speaker 3: at like the amount of avocados they go through. When
Speaker 3: we have potatoes with turmeric on, I'm like, our cheff
Speaker 3: will add like, turmeric's good for recovery, and we talked
Speaker 3: about that back in the day. They really do flock
Speaker 3: to those things, and the guys who haven't really maybe
Speaker 3: some of the younger guys who are still trying to
Speaker 3: figure out their routine.
Speaker 2: They model what the vets.
Speaker 3: Do a lot of the time and they'll learn a
Speaker 3: lot through Like Okay, maybe when I tried this before,
Speaker 3: I didn't like it, but my body's different now. The
Speaker 3: level of play is different now. Just certain things they
Speaker 3: need to do and stuff as simple as like they
Speaker 3: love to make your own pasta bar. You know, maybe
Speaker 3: it gets worn out at times, but we always have
Speaker 3: it because that's a good staple. It's like if nothing else,
Speaker 3: you know that they can put all the ingredients they
Speaker 3: want in pasta.
Speaker 2: Have somebody cooked in a pan for them and go
Speaker 2: from there.
Speaker 3: Eat a lot of omelets again because they're made to order,
Speaker 3: you can customize them, and a lot of.
Speaker 2: Like pre practice days. I was pretty surprised this season.
Speaker 3: At the amount of sandwiches they I mean they want
Speaker 3: to you know, build their own, which makes sense, but
Speaker 3: we do like a deli bar before practice. So it's
Speaker 3: like it's good because it's a good fuel, but it's
Speaker 3: not heavy on their stomach.
Speaker 1: All right, This week's got to be a little extra
Speaker 1: challenging for the Willness staff here. I mean, it's Thanksgiving
Speaker 1: and everybody around the country is going to be eating
Speaker 1: way too much of all the good stuff that you
Speaker 1: want to eat all year. What's what's the football answer
Speaker 1: to Thanksgiving? And are there certain things? I mean, is
Speaker 1: they're counseling. Do you tell these guys, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: you got to watch yourself on Thursday?
Speaker 3: Some of them yes for the most part, thankfully at
Speaker 3: this time of the year, since Wednesday and Thursday or
Speaker 3: heavy practice days, like they need the calories anyway, And
Speaker 3: it's such a good reprieve during the season to get
Speaker 3: to spend time, you know, with family or friends or
Speaker 3: whoever you're with so most of the time, I'm like,
Speaker 3: as long as you're you know, the guys are eating
Speaker 3: well the rest of the week, that one half a
Speaker 3: day is they're going to be fine. And the good
Speaker 3: thing about some Thanksgiving foods are like, you know, you
Speaker 3: sweet potatoes have a lot of vitamin A. It's a
Speaker 3: lot of carbs, you know, depending on if they go
Speaker 3: b for turkey your ham, like you have plenty of protein.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe not the.
Speaker 3: Highest veggie consumption day, but again, they can afford it
Speaker 3: as long as they're doing it the rest of the week.
Speaker 2: And I think the biggest thing, like I'm going to
Speaker 2: try to work with the guys on.
Speaker 3: Thursday, is they're practicing Thirday day and Wednesday, you know,
Speaker 3: like and then leading into the week like sometimes you know,
Speaker 3: I think Thanksgiving is a day where a lot of
Speaker 3: us will you know, just wait it out and then
Speaker 3: have the big Thanksgiving meal, maybe not eat much leading
Speaker 3: up to Thanksgiving meal, and these guys really can't afford
Speaker 3: to do that. They need to eat breakfast and lunch
Speaker 3: and then they can go eat the big Thanksgiving meal.
Speaker 3: And you know, when if and when we have players
Speaker 3: who you know, were struggling to keep their weight at
Speaker 3: a certain point, I would have a conversation with them.
Speaker 3: You know, let's just plan out your Thanksgiving day, like
Speaker 3: what are the things you really want, and let's make
Speaker 3: sure you can get those, but maybe not waste your
Speaker 3: intake on the things you don't really care about, so
Speaker 3: that you can still enjoy your Thanksgiving. Right now, I think,
Speaker 3: you know, overall, from a roster standpoint, we're in a
Speaker 3: good place. I encourage the guys to get out of
Speaker 3: here and go eat what eat as much as they.
Speaker 1: Can all right, on a scale of one to ten,
Speaker 1: what would be the best of the traditional Thanksgiving foods?
Speaker 1: What's the best performance nutrition option on the Thanksgiving table
Speaker 1: versus the worst performance nutrition option.
Speaker 2: It's a really good question, as much as I can
Speaker 2: tell you. As much as I.
Speaker 3: Love what I call dressing because I'm from the South,
Speaker 3: stuffing dressing, I'd say nutritionally the value is relatively low,
Speaker 3: not as carbs, right, you have plenty of carbs and
Speaker 3: plenty of fat, but it's very calorie dense. But again,
Speaker 3: like I think people should totally eat it and enjoy it.
Speaker 3: But let's balance it out with you know, the best
Speaker 3: I mentioned sweet potatoes, earlier, like a lot of times
Speaker 3: for Thanksgiving. Again, probably my perception is biased to the
Speaker 3: way the South does. It is put in a lot
Speaker 3: of syrup or extra stuff, pecans, marshmallows, those things on
Speaker 3: the sweep to brown sugar, but they still have a
Speaker 3: lot of nutritional value even when they add, you know,
Speaker 3: and even when we add those things. So maybe still
Speaker 3: need to watch from an energy calorie density standpoint, but
Speaker 3: there's a lot of nutritional value there. And then like
Speaker 3: if you do like a fresh cranberry sauce instead of
Speaker 3: the can, like, there's gonna be a lot there too.
Speaker 3: And then turkey actually has a good amino acid profile.
Speaker 3: So I know I didn't really single out one for you,
Speaker 3: but those those are the ones that come to mind.
Speaker 1: You put together a pretty solid plate there, Kate. I'm
Speaker 1: not I'm not gonna lie to you, all right. Here's
Speaker 1: the big question though, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: there's always going to be pie. It's all it's a
Speaker 1: huge pie holiday. So apple pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie.
Speaker 1: What's the answer here from a performance nutrition standpoint?
Speaker 2: Whichever one you like. That's that's what I say.
Speaker 3: People say I'm too lenient sometimes but if you eat
Speaker 3: the one you like, then you're gonna eat the one
Speaker 3: you like and enjoy it. I guess though, technically sweet
Speaker 3: potato pie, pumpkin pie, and apple pie you do have
Speaker 3: a vegetable or fruit component there that that you get
Speaker 3: some nutritional value out of my favorite ar pecan and
Speaker 3: chocolate pies. So like I you know, I can't. I
Speaker 3: don't have a room to talk, but those are probably
Speaker 3: the best two in terms of added nutritional value.
Speaker 1: There you go, Kate Hawway has declared pie good for you.
Speaker 1: I've got it on record here. We're gonna spread it
Speaker 1: out to the people in the Happy Half Hour podcast.
Speaker 1: They will be delighted to hear that heading into Thursday.
Speaker 1: All Right, Kate, appreciate you taking a minute to kind
Speaker 1: of take us behind the curtain and show us what
Speaker 1: it takes to feed these guys and keep them going,
Speaker 1: especially this week. We're grateful to have you around.
Speaker 2: Thanks Darren, always good to talk to you. Happy Thanksgiving y'all.
Speaker 4: How cool is that Kate Kellaway empowered every single one
Speaker 4: of us to eat whatever we wanted tomorrow? How great
Speaker 4: is that I now know that as long as I
Speaker 4: am happy? Okay, maybe I can't eat whatever I want,
Speaker 4: and you have to put in an amount of exercise
Speaker 4: equivalent to football players to eat however you want. I'm
Speaker 4: pretty sure I do not do that, although, and we'll
Speaker 4: have to timestamp this one. It's Wednesday right now.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna get up and run the Turkey trot tomorrow,
Speaker 1: so I think that emboldens me. I think if I
Speaker 1: run the turkey trot at South Park tomorrow five miles
Speaker 1: with my community and my neighbors, and following Kate's advice
Speaker 1: to eat, what makes me happy? I think, you know,
Speaker 1: since she has told me I can have as much
Speaker 1: pie as I want or something like that. I know
Speaker 1: I'm taking some liberties with her advice, but I'm going
Speaker 1: with it. It's Thanksgiving, That's what we do this time
Speaker 1: of year, so we're gonna be happy about that kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. And I appreciate Kate spending a few minutes
Speaker 1: with us catching them up, catching us up on some
Speaker 1: of that kind of stuff, because it is amazing the
Speaker 1: work they do with players to keep them fed and
Speaker 1: keep them well over the course of the season. Of course,
Speaker 1: we have to talk about football stuff that is less happy.
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you anything. You don't know. If you're
Speaker 1: a follower of the Happy Half Hour, you are a
Speaker 1: follower of the Carolina Panthers, and so you know that
Speaker 1: already it's one and nine. Things are not going well.
Speaker 1: They're coming off a pretty dispiriting performance against Dallas Cowboys here.
Speaker 1: I think in a way, it probably benefits these guys
Speaker 1: to get on the road for the next little bit.
Speaker 1: They're three straight road games starting this week at Tennessee.
Speaker 1: And listen, nobody's feeling sorry for these guys. Nobody's rushing
Speaker 1: to their defense. But the good news, if you're looking
Speaker 1: for good news, is the Panthers are entering that point
Speaker 1: of the season where they're playing their peers. The Tennessee
Speaker 1: Titans are three and seven, they have won three of
Speaker 1: their last seventeen games. They've got some questions of their
Speaker 1: own at quarterback. They're in the middle of a transition
Speaker 1: now from Ryan Tannehill to Will Levis, and Levis didn't
Speaker 1: practice on Tuesday. Don't know what that means yet. We'll
Speaker 1: keep an eye on injury reports Tennessee and abroad later
Speaker 1: today at Panthers dot com, and we'll have all the
Speaker 1: latest for you here. But the Titans got their own
Speaker 1: problems right now. They are not going to be shedding
Speaker 1: any tears for the Carolina Panthers and what they've got
Speaker 1: going on, and it's going to be interesting to see,
Speaker 1: I think one of the biggest things, you know, at
Speaker 1: one in nine, I am not going to say, well, hey,
Speaker 1: you get a couple wins there right in the playoff
Speaker 1: picture in the NFC South, because even though that's true,
Speaker 1: I'm reading the room here. I don't think anybody wants
Speaker 1: to hear that necessarily right now. But you know, the
Speaker 1: Panthers are entering a portion of the schedule where you
Speaker 1: know they've got some opportunities, and I think more than
Speaker 1: anything else, I'm not going to be focused on wins
Speaker 1: and losses as much as I want to see if
Speaker 1: this offense continues to develop. I want to see that
Speaker 1: progress from Bryce Young that everybody wants to see. And
Speaker 1: I think, you know, all year long, they've been kind
Speaker 1: of looking for an identity. And if you are looking
Speaker 1: for silver linings, if that's what your conditioned to look
Speaker 1: for this time of year, I would say, hey, look
Speaker 1: at the way they ran the ball in the first
Speaker 1: half against the Cowboys when that game was close. You know,
Speaker 1: Chewba Hubber and Miles Sanders both jumping in there, and
Speaker 1: we're going to have some more about that at Panthers
Speaker 1: dot Com later this week. They ran well eighty five
Speaker 1: yards at halftime, and it's like, Okay, this is what's working.
Speaker 1: They are not going to be last year's Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: This is not going to be six yards in a
Speaker 1: cloud of dust as it was lot of times last
Speaker 1: year because that was the only play they had that worked.
Speaker 1: They're trying to do some different stuff, and I think
Speaker 1: as you think about the long term development of this team,
Speaker 1: it's important to make this offense more than it was
Speaker 1: last year. But I think there are ways to work
Speaker 1: in elements of that, and I think that's going to
Speaker 1: be one of the first things I'm looking for this
Speaker 1: week at Tennessee, because listen, the Titans still got that
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry cat all right, They're going to be doing
Speaker 1: the same thing. So if this game takes two and
Speaker 1: a half hours and they run it a lot to
Speaker 1: try to stabilize things for young quarterbacks, I'm not necessarily
Speaker 1: going to be surprised this week. So we will see
Speaker 1: how that game turns out, and after Tennessee road trips
Speaker 1: to Tampa and New Orleans again not thinking division or
Speaker 1: not thinking playoffs or anything like that. But I think
Speaker 1: it's important as Bryce Young gets another look at division opponents,
Speaker 1: first look at Tampa and New Orleans in Atlanta, back
Speaker 1: here at home after that, when a second shot at
Speaker 1: those guys, I think it's going to be important to
Speaker 1: see how he kind of progressed. Is the offense has
Speaker 1: been basically whatever they get out of the run game
Speaker 1: and Adam Thielen each week. Adam Thielen, by the way,
Speaker 1: congratulations to Adam Thielen was the team nominee for the
Speaker 1: Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award this year. Here's some Art Rooney
Speaker 1: Sportsmanship Award trivia. This thing's been awarded since twenty fourteen,
Speaker 1: named after the legendary Steelers founder. The Carolina Panthers have
Speaker 1: won this thing twice. Luke Keigley won it in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: Teddy Bridgewater in twenty twenty. So I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: this is the year for Adam Thielen. If you start
Speaker 1: looking at the things that have gone right for this
Speaker 1: franchise this season, it's not a terribly long list, but
Speaker 1: Adam Thielen is certainly one of the items on that list,
Speaker 1: so you know it's it's something. It's not a lot.
Speaker 1: I would rather light a cantle cursor darkness though. It's
Speaker 1: that time of year. So with that, we're gonna get
Speaker 1: out of here for this week. We will SIRC back
Speaker 1: next week heading into that Tampa Bay game. It's uh
Speaker 1: mark your calendars. It's a four o'clock kickoff now. The
Speaker 1: league told us yesterday we get a few more hours
Speaker 1: of Florida sunshine. That's gonna be a four h five
Speaker 1: kick on CBS next week instead of a one o'clocker.
Speaker 1: Uh So it's gonna be an opportunity for him to
Speaker 1: sleep in in Florida, maybe a little bit rest up
Speaker 1: after what is certain to be a busy and eventful
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving week. I am Darren Gant. This has been the
Speaker 1: happy half hour. It's Thanksgiving Gang, get with your people,
Speaker 1: whatever that looks like, and enjoy your holiday. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next week.