WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 95: Embrace the Chaos 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.160 This week on the Happy half Hour. 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:04.920 I don't think there's a reason to assume that they 0:00:05.000 --> 0:00:07.680 need to go all in and throw everything out in 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:08.840 a preseason game. 0:00:08.880 --> 0:00:09.520 And I agree. 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:11.960 I mean, the goal is to evaluate, stay healthy with 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.480 your starters, and you know, see the fundamentals, especially with 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.200 a guy like Bryce Young and all these new weapons. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:17.720 I mean, you look down and we talked about it, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:19.080 but the offense is completely different. 0:00:19.120 --> 0:00:22.079 They're still learning at each other's. 0:00:23.360 --> 0:00:27.120 Right, It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:34.960 friends Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon. All right, 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:40.480 welcome to the Happy half Hour, preseason post Spartanburg edition. 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:42.160 Woo hoo, we're back. 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.360 We're happy to be home from Spartanburg. She's Augusta Stone. 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:49.720 I'm Darren Gant podcast Mats behind the Board. We may 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.440 involve him at some point in this broadcast. We were 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.840 If we seem a little disheveled early in this podcast, 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:58.040 it's because we're all running a little bit late. Matt 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.080 got stuck in traffic and Augusta got stuck in one 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.760 of the most common ways the Panther's digital network gets stuck. 0:01:05.160 --> 0:01:10.560 By specialist in the cafeteria while acquiring coffee. Johnny Hecker 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:12.960 was the culprit this morning, wasn't he hey? 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:13.600 To be fair? 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:16.640 We were both walking in together and I was in 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.959 my classic quick trot, I would say, and then Johnny 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:23.080 pulls up beside me. You know, I say, hey, Johnny, 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:26.360 good morning, stops me. He goes, hey, Gusta, you're a writer. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:31.480 Do you play word games? And I immediately was on it. Yes, absolutely, 0:01:31.560 --> 0:01:34.679 I am a devout New York Times games person. And 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:36.920 then he wants to talk about my favorite new game 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.119 Connections and I was about to give him some spoilers, 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:41.680 and then he stopped me. He was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:43.920 I've only looked at it. I don't have the puzzles 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.440 solved yet. And then I had to stop myself because 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.240 this morning, unfortunately, it was a failure for me. And 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.160 I wanted to talk about the last two categories and 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.200 how frustrating they were, but he told me he would 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:55.400 follow up. So I will, as Darren says, do a 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.960 journalism later today find Johnny ask him how his connections went, 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:00.880 because mine went very poorly this morning. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.840 Yeah, it's a it's an addictive little game. I am. 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.360 I am into that. I have found the archive. I've 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.160 gone back to the June ones. I've found the bootleg 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.120 archive that New York Times doesn't actually show you yet. 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:17.920 Big wordle person, big connection person, big spelling bee person, 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:18.560 I am. 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:20.720 I am actually a little bit. 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:27.440 I am a little bit obsessive about spelling bee because 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:29.839 I will sit there while I'm drinking coffee and will 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.359 not rise from my chair until I reach the genius 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.160 level each day. So it's like that's how I start 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.720 my day. I refuse to accept amazing or nice as 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:39.440 a benchmark. 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:41.799 I have to get to be. I have to get 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.840 to genius before I even get out of the house. 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:48.480 So wordle person, absolutely, wordle person. And then also do 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:49.840 you do the daily Mini Crossword? 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.880 Do the daily Mini? Sometimes not as committed to that 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.799 as others. What your what's your wordal word to start with? 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.120 Okay, So I actually rotate, which is a wild vibe. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.480 I know this morning, I think it was risky. But 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.200 I like to try to get I like to try 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.799 to get a Y in there early and use multiple 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.600 combinations of letters, so no repeating letters. 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:10.160 But I do not devote myself. 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.960 My mother actually starts out with stone every morning, and 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:14.200 she is very set on that. 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:16.239 But no, what's yours. 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.079 That's fair enough. And Stone is a solid one. 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.400 It's got most of your classic Wheel of Fortune letters 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:25.960 r STLNE and you get the E at the end, 0:03:26.000 --> 0:03:29.560 so that's always good. And I usually begin each day 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:30.320 with chaos. 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:32.680 That's fitting. 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:37.440 Yeah, it feels like a metaphor or something for life. 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:41.360 So anyway, we have spent a good five minutes talking 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:45.720 about Wordle and New York Times games because we'd rather 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:50.280 do that than talk about the Jets game. That was 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.680 not great, Bob, And I think everybody knows it. And 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:56.440 the best thing you know for these guys is it 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.320 is now Wednesday morning, and they've got a walk through 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:01.520 practice kind of today before they get on the plane 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.000 tomorrow and go to New York to face the other 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:06.760 New York team. And I think everybody's just kind of 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.080 ready to get to that one because it went so 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.880 poorly last Saturday night, twenty seven to nothing loss. Here 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:18.120 first preseason shutout loss since two thousand, believe it or not, 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.360 for whatever that's worth. And the answer is absolutely nothing. 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:24.039 And I think that's kind of the way they are 0:04:24.080 --> 0:04:26.080 approaching it. I mean, you don't want to minimize the 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:29.440 fact that they played poorly. And I'm not papering over 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.560 the fact that it was a bad decision, but preseason 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:34.279 games ultimately meaningless. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.080 What's meaningfull is some. 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.560 Of the individual patterns that emerged during that game. And 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:42.400 one of those patterns was the offensive line played far 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.920 more poorly than they anticipated. I mean, five sacks on 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:49.640 the night for Matt Corral took four of them, got 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.599 the ball knocked loose, Wance sacked fumble through the Corral 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.159 through the interception light. But the quarterback play, even though 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.880 that's the thing most people lock in on in the preseason, 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:01.760 wasn't even that big a deal. But the offensive line 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:06.200 was so far beyond the expectation they had of that 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.320 group that it kind of stood out as an outlier. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:10.159 And that's part of the thing I think we've talked 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.760 about a little bit, and I've talked about with some 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.880 of my friends, my parents. But if you looked at 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:17.920 if you had gone back to when we recorded this 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.479 like two or three weeks ago, and we were to 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.880 outline maybe five or six groups that we were like, okay, 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:23.480 let's hone in on this and see this. We thought 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:26.720 the offensive line was pretty steady, so even past like, yes, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.039 it was a really really bad night for them. It 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:33.440 was also very distant from the expectations we had because 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:37.120 last year went so well, and I think it would 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:39.680 be a miss to blame it all on that one 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.120 right guard spot. I think James Campen talked about how 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:44.560 you know, everybody's being held accountable and that big meeting 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.880 that you wrote about extremely well, and that James Campen 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.640 was not in the mood to talk about the details 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.800 of I think that's kind of rocking them, you know 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.279 in a way that's gonna help. I mean, we saw 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.320 I saw in practice yesterday a lot of different guys 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:01.120 they were putting in the right guard spot. I think 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.479 that's gonna be something that a lot of people be 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:05.800 looking at. But it was kind of across the board, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:07.840 just a tough day, and I think it it might 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.320 be a necessary wake up call, you know, like, oh, 0:06:10.360 --> 0:06:13.039 we came in you know, all these high expectations, don't 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.240 fall underneath the stone as it all falls down, you 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:18.600 know what I mean. Like it's kind of like like that. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.560 But I agree with you on the quarterback play. I've 0:06:21.560 --> 0:06:24.440 seen some people on Twitter talking about, like, oh man, 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:26.080 like quarterbacks blah blah blah. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:27.680 It's like, especially Bryce Young. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.320 If you look at what Bryce did, Bryce wasn't bad 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.000 when you think about what he was dealing with. I mean, 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.839 popped up from those three hits counting the sack, didn't 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.279 make any really poor decisions and kind of showed that 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.080 poise that we talked about, like he was very calm 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:43.000 while everything in front of him kind of collapsed. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:44.480 And I think that's something that you. 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:47.040 Know, we should as much as you can surmise from 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.279 what six pass attempts, I think that's kind of something 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.520 you can you can rest on or look at and 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.200 be like, Okay, this was a positive amid. 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:55.560 What was going on in front of him that was 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:56.960 not ideal, right. 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:59.400 Right, And that's the thing, right Guard's gonna get a 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.599 lot of attention because that's the one spot that's getting rotated. 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:04.279 The bunch of candidates. 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.160 I mean, there's basically four dudes who could end up 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.080 in that job next week. And Frank Craig said he 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.280 wants to make a decision kind of after this game 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.880 so that whoever the five is going to be has 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:17.480 an opportunity to work in the Lions game, the final 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:20.320 preseason game and then through the preseason to get ready 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.320 for the opener, So we should have news on. 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:24.200 That fairly soon. 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.960 And having chandlers of violins at or Nash Jensen back 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.600 on the field this week should help as part of 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:35.080 the evaluation process. But you know, Kid Mays wasn't out 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.360 there practice yesterday and we'll see how things go with him. 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:41.800 But there's still a lot of unknown with that position. 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.880 That wasn't to me even the problem looking back at 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.400 that game. You almost hate to say it, but iky 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.440 Aquanu did not have a good opening night. Ikey struggled 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:54.800 a little bit. We know he is not that kind 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:57.480 of player based on what he showed us last year, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.520 and Camping was very quick to say that. I mean, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:02.680 he was kind of giving me a hard time in 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.640 the press conference of days, Like I remember early in 0:08:05.720 --> 0:08:07.880 camp Darren asking me, is Ikey ever gonna win a 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:09.920 one on one in practice? 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:11.200 And that was the case. 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.920 Ikey was getting an education early in camp from Brian 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.000 Burns last year, and he kind of settled into it. 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:20.280 I mean, Miles Garrett got the better of him in 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.000 the opener. There were some struggles early on for Ikey, 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.560 but Ikey settled into a groove where I think this 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.920 year is going to be a different challenge, though, is 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.240 second half of last year when they were just teeing 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.800 it up and running at fifty times a game that's 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.280 built for iky Ikwanu. 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:37.520 That's his game. 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:40.439 He wants to lean on people, be aggressive. He's great 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:44.040 in the run game. He struggled with those pass rushers 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:45.960 from the Jets the other night, and I think that's 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:48.600 something he's got to get cleaned up a little bit too, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:52.440 because obviously this offense is going to be different. I 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.880 do you know, everybody likes to say, oh, we don't 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:56.880 know what the offense is going to look like. We're 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.520 not calling the regular season offense in the preseason. I 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:04.680 do not anticipate fifty rushing attempts per game from Frank 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.640 Reich and Thomas Brown this year. I just don't think 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.600 that's the direction this thing's head. And so it's incumbent 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:14.480 on Ikey to be a little more polished, and I 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:18.079 think this Giant's game. They've still got some good players 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.280 in their front seven, and Wink Martindale, their coordinator, is 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.920 kind of known for bringing people from different directions, doing 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.719 a lot of stuff to try to create confusion. So 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.560 I think this game ought to be a pretty good 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.000 barometer for what they're actually going to be. Now we'll 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.760 see how it all develops. And if they fix everything 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.040 in the preseason and they beat the Giants twenty seven 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:43.360 to nothing, that does not mean all as well heading 0:09:43.400 --> 0:09:46.760 into the opener, anymore than losing to the Jets twenty 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:49.719 seven to nothing meant the sky is falling. So I 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:53.199 think it's important to keep preseason games in their appropriate 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:54.400 context exactly. 0:09:54.400 --> 0:09:56.679 And I had a question for you just out of curiosity, 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.880 and I'm going to preface this with this week's specific 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.559 I know Morgan Jenkins, who works in our website management 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.920 side helps us out with a lot of the streaming 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.600 and stuff. She was talking about, Oh my goodness, all 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.080 the questions about this vanilla generic offense, Like they this 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.120 is a storyline that people are eating up right now, 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.280 and we Frank called it himself generic, and then then 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.160 we're vanilla got floated around somehow, and so generic vanilla 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.720 whatever you're gonna call it. Like you've said in some 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.800 of our conversations, vanilla is delicious and wonderful and there's 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.520 no reason to have a negative connotation with it. 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.160 But when you hear a lot of that talk. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.280 What is your I guess not concern level or your 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.400 how much stock you place in Frank going up there 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.840 saying we called a generic game, Thomas Brown yesterday saying 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:47.599 we're not trying to necessarily show everything generic in the preseason. 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.480 In terms of evaluation, what is your thought on. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.439 That, Darren Well, Basically, Frank let Thomas Brown call the 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:55.440 plays in the second half the other night, which a 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:58.040 is really good for Frank and good for Thomas as 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.000 as he develops as a play caller and as a 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:03.920 coach in the league. I think you've seen different instances, 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.840 Mike Vrabel that Drell Williams, his assistant head coach call 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.760 basically be the head coach for their first preseason game. 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:13.480 And I think as you give guys opportunities, that's important. 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:18.160 It's cool that Thomas got to order for himself. He 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.880 was ordering off the kids menu. I mean, I don't 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:24.760 know the specific number, but the playsheet that was available 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:26.760 to those guys going into the game. 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.440 Let's just say it was very limited. 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.880 You know, And if they have you know, X to 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.200 the tenth power on the playsheet for the Falcons game. 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.040 In the opener, it's about X in this game. I mean, 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.640 they are not operating with a full deck of cards. 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.319 They're I mean, I don't even want to hazard to 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:49.640 guess at how few plays they were actually choosing from, 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.000 but it's not a lot. And I think because of that, 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:55.360 you know, they were just trying to get some of 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.520 the fundamental stuff together. Let Brice get them in and 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:00.880 out of the huddle, throw a few passes, get out 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:03.520 of that game clean, and you know they would have 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.560 hoped it went a little better than that. But yeah, 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.520 I just think that they are so And Frank even 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:11.480 said he's going to air on the side of not 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.320 showing anything because you know, I think there is a temptation. 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:17.319 You want a good result, You want guys to be 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.560 able to move the ball down the field, but it's 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:21.800 more important to them to a get out of the 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:26.840 preseason healthy, be not you know, tip their hand for 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:29.760 those two division games. And again, I think that's kind 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.320 of an important point because this division has always seemed 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.160 to be one full of word a word of the 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:40.480 day chaos. So nine to eight is typically going to 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.920 have you in contention in this division. So I think 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.000 from that standpoint, those first two games against Falcons and Saints. 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.640 You want to have them guessing as much as you 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.960 possibly can, so they're just not going to show a 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:54.520 bunch of stuff exactly. 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.800 And that's what Frank talked about specifically after the game, 0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.000 especially in the context of, like you said, those early 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:01.240 Division games, I mean, starting out at Atlanta and then 0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:03.600 I think it's the Saints right afterward on Monday, right like, 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:05.680 if you're thinking about the schedule, I mean as back 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:08.040 to back, and you don't want to you don't want 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:09.560 to show your cards one, and you also want to 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.400 look very good in those two because they are so 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.079 important the way the schedule was arranged. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:15.559 But no, I agree, I think I think it. 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.120 Also is a testament to what we've seen from Frank 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:20.080 since he got here, about how he just kind of 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.640 methodically and in a regiment kind of way, you know, 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:26.040 goes about things. There's not a ton of panic from him, 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.240 even though they lost twenty seven to nothing in a 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.560 preseason game, which I mean, I put as much stock 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.640 in preseason games as you do, and as most people 0:13:32.679 --> 0:13:35.439 should have, just like, Okay, it's an evaluation process and 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:37.000 there's gonna be points on the board, but that's not 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.200 really the point. And I agree that when you think 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.400 about it in the context of Thomas Brown calling the 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.520 plays in the second half, obviously that's going to I mean, naturally, 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:47.880 you're building trust right there. You're building a foundation, so 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.840 you don't start throwing out everything. 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:50.880 And maybe, you. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:52.719 Know, I think Thomas Brown may have alluded to a 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:55.280 little bit, you know, spicing up a smidge, but it's 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.640 not like he's throwing in, you know, a whole bunch 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.480 of strawberries and syrups next week into his vanilla ice cream. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:02.520 You know, maybe they'll have a sprinkle of cinnamon perhaps, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:04.000 or maybe they'll just leave it like that. But I 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.480 don't think there's a reason to assume that they need 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.360 to go all in and throw everything out just to 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.400 you know, in a preseason game. And and I agree, 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.800 I mean, the goal is to evaluate, stay healthy with 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:18.439 your starters and kind of you know, see the fundamentals, 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:20.200 especially with a guy like Bryce Young and all these 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:21.880 new weapons. I mean, you look down and we talked 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.000 about it, but the offense is completely different. They're still 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.200 learning each other. And I think that's part of the 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.680 part of what we need to focus on as well, 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:30.520 because we still have a little bit less than a 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.560 month till September tenth, first game and my birthday. 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:40.960 Yeah, and you know what your birthday aside, God, we 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.480 could talk about ice cream flavors, we could talk about 0:14:43.560 --> 0:14:46.040 birthday presents, we could talk about any. 0:14:45.920 --> 0:14:46.720 Number of things. 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.280 Now, I mean, seriously, the preseason in the NFL it's 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.360 basically get out a bit healthy, learn individual things about 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.440 individual people. I was just sitting here thinking, and you know, 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:59.240 because my brain is the way it is, I was 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.280 trying to think the most memorable preseason. 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:04.320 Moments in Panthers history. 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:08.160 And you know, you could talk about individual plays or 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:09.320 games or certain people. 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:09.760 You saw. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.280 The one thing that sticks out in my mind because 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.080 the last preseason shutout was in Pittsburgh and three Rivers Stadium, 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.160 which no longer exists. In two thousand, I got to 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.160 thinking about games in Pittsburgh and Steelers Panthers used to 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.920 be the preseason finale every year, and I one of 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:31.680 my fondest preseason memories was the day the Panthers had 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:36.160 a young defensive tackle named Phillyami mau Mau, which I liked, 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.200 saying a whole lot. And in one of those games 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:44.880 at Pittsburgh, Villyami mau Mau once tackled Chris Fuamata Mafalla. 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:46.760 And that was a lot of fun for me and 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:47.520 I remember that. 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:49.640 I hope you got to talk about that on the 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:50.800 radio a whole lot. 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.800 Yeah. I just liked saying Billiami Mau Mau. 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:55.120 Where's he at? 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:55.280 Now? 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:55.880 How's he doing? 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.280 I have no idea. We should probably look him up. 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.760 That could be a research question for podcast mad over there. 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.760 He could find Villiami Mau Mau for us and see 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:06.400 if he's doing. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:07.640 I hope he's doing well. 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:09.920 I hope we haven't made sport of the fact that 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.600 he had a name full of vowels and he tackled 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:14.720 a man with even more vowels in his name. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.720 But yeah, you know, preseason, preseason, preseason. I think it 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.680 is kind of that last slog. 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:24.840 You know, we get out of Spartanburg, we're feeling thrilled, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:26.840 you know, back in Charlotte, and now we're like, okay, 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:29.680 you know, get through it, like you said, healthy and 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:31.960 all that, and then you get to the first game. 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:33.000 I think I think they were kind of in that 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:36.640 lull right now of just trying to see what they got. 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.120 And also I thought about it this way, but I 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.120 don't know, we would be anticipating some cutdowns at this point, 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.080 and now it's all at once, so it's kind of 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:48.640 not slowed down. But I guess from our perspective, sort 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.000 of sort of given a time where training camp's like, whoa, 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.360 everyone's in front of us, and now there is that roster, 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:54.840 they're going to figure it out, and then it all 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:57.440 goes at once versus whenever it kind of trickled. 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.160 I think that's kind of what we be focusing on. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:01.720 Yeah, the league, the rules this year, instead of having 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.800 a cut to eighty five eighty you know, et cetera, 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.840 et cetera. There's one cutdown day, yeah, this year, and 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:11.919 it's August twenty ninth, Tuesday, a week when you've got 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.240 to take your roster from ninety to fit the quote 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.960 unquote final fifty three. Even though that's always in a 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.080 little bit of flux, I don't anticipate. I mean, my 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:26.119 guess is you'll see teams start kind of parting ways 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:30.119 with some guys maybe early next week. And I don't 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.240 know that teams will necessarily still carry ninety. They can 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.840 if they want to, but my guess is you'll start 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:38.720 to see some guys filtering away early on just because 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.720 if there's a guy you knows not making the roster, 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:45.399 you know, is it worth the risk of carrying him 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:46.000 into a game? 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:46.760 That kind of thing. 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.520 So I think teams will begin that process gradually. But yeah, 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.000 cutdown Day on the twenty ninth is going to be 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.720 a big dramatic difference. I mean, personnel guys around the 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.000 league basically are going to be looking at an extra 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.720 three hundred names and what's. 0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.440 A chaotic day for them? 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.600 And there's that word again, So we you know, we 0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:11.000 can we can get to that next week on the 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:13.439 Happy half Hour. As we get closer to the season, 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:15.560 we're going to be on a little bit more regular 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.399 schedule for you guys with all our stuff with mail 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.000 bags with Happy half Hours, and we've got some new 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:25.000 stuff coming this year, with some new people and different 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.719 things coming in, so it's going to be an interesting season. 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:31.680 What else you got, Mad? Are you dialing up Jordan 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:32.719