WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour Episode 102: Positive Signs 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.160 This week on the Happy half Hour. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:07.680 What they've tried to do in general is teach master's 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:11.280 level classes to a freshman. And he's a smart freshman. 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:13.760 He's a precocious freshman, but he's still a freshman. So 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:16.599 I think some of this was to be expected. But 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.040 you know, again, as you mentioned, Augusta, there are positive signs. 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.599 It's I. 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.560 It's time for the Happy half Hour with your friends 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:35.199 Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon. Welcome to the 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:39.839 Happy half Hour. It's Thursday, October fifth. And sometimes I 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.599 say things like that to remind myself what day it is, 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.320 especially today because I'm struggling with a little bit of 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:48.479 a cold, but we're playing through. I've got a Gusta 0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:50.840 Stone sitting over there on the other side. 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:51.080 Of the room. 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.040 Hello, Thursday. 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.040 Quick way to figure out Thursday is that we start 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:56.080 our day with the podcast. 0:00:56.280 --> 0:00:57.080 That's what I think. 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.360 Oh yeah, that's right. We always are here, so uh yeah, 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.759 good news. Okay, So it's Thursday, It's the Happy half Hour, 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.080 and this episode of The Happy half Hour is brought 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.400 to you by Prowling Vineyards, Napa Valley. They're the official 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.000 wine brand and wine Club at the Carolina Panthers. These 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:16.120 premium selections celebrate the great people of the Carolinas and 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.759 the panthers hunger to achieve excellence on and off the field. 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.319 Each handcrafted wine mirrors the panthers bold attitude and the 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.240 iconic flavors onto the two states we're proud to call home. 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.560 Experience the benefits and lifestyle while giving back to the 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.160 community as a portion of the proceeds support the Carolina Panthers' charities. 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.000 Learn more at Prowlingvineyards dot com. 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:38.119 There you go. I'm sure they're proud of that. 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.400 Read with me sounding like I'm at the bottom of 0:01:40.480 --> 0:01:41.640 a well or something. 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.720 But anyway, maybe they make cough. 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.680 Syrup proud Prowlers. 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.400 You can say a lot with the prow but yeah, 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:52.080 I know cough syrup would be coff Syrup's good. I 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.320 have a ton of cough drops still in my bag 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.680 from the many times at my throat sore. Just randomly. 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.680 I am a cough drop squirrel. I swear, but sometimes 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:01.680 I just like the taste. 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:03.400 I don't know if that's healthy. 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.360 So if you have any cough drops here and I 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:07.520 got you and toms, I keep tombs on me too. 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.200 I'm kind of like a twenty five year old, you know, 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:13.080 never had children, but I kind of carry my bag 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.200 like a diaper bag. I have a lot of random 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:18.240 stuff in there at any given moment, like ibuprofen, toms. 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:20.840 I used to keep those little gas pills like I 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:22.000 kind of got anyone covered. 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:23.560 It's like a mini pharmacy in there. 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:24.080 Yeah. 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:26.800 Well, it's a it's a little bit of a running 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.840 joke around my family. My cure for my children. All 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.000 the time they would come in saying they felt sick, 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.840 and I'd be like, have you had a banana? Have 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:38.960 you taken advil? Are you drinking water? Maybe a gatorade 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.440 to hydrate yourself? And so this morning, when I was 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.240 feeling a little under the weather, I grabbed my banana 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:46.560 and gatorade and advil and send a picture of it 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.120 to my daughter and she's like, oh, no, it's going 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.560 to be one of those days if you're self medicating. 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.800 So that's the kind of science I'm performing out here, 0:02:55.040 --> 0:02:59.520 and you know, it's it's not great, but we're playing. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:00.360 Through it exactly. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:04.200 Stand happy, because that's what you do in October, you 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:04.959 play through it. 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:06.560 I think the Panthers you'll learn in that too. 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:09.600 I mean, you know, we have, sure the OHO and 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.799 four start two pretty tough rim matchups ahead. 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.000 Than the bye, but no way to go but forward. 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.200 And I think that's something that we've kind of surmised 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.800 from the conversations we've had throughout the week. And you know, 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:24.920 I mean we talked about on this podcast before, but 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.280 you never feel a sense of panic. That's a good 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:29.640 thing that you have from from Frank Reich being at 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.320 the Helm. Everything seems pretty procedural around here. And I mean, 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:35.800 say what you will about the Vikings game. I think 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.440 if you look a look at the tape, it wasn't 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.840 it wasn't a win. It wasn't you know, the result 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.800 they wanted. But Bryce Young improved. That's something I think 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:48.040 you can think about. Looked better, more efficient, better rating, 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:51.880 better stats. So that's something we could talk about to 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:53.120 start we're doing the Happy half Hour. 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:54.240 You could talk about Bryce Young. 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.880 He he started out, you know, he's he's getting better 0:03:58.080 --> 0:04:02.160 and without you know, four losses, he's only played in 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:04.640 three of the games. He's back, he's healthy. We have 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:07.680 Austin Corbett returning to practice. That was a big storyline 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:10.600 that was exciting. Darren has been writing the heck out 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.320 of some features every eighth but this one came a 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.040 little early because had some exciting news that he was 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.000 back on the field yesterday. So we have we have 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:19.839 a litany of things we could talk about that aren't 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:20.800 horrible and. 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.320 Austin, you know, and the good news is we call 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.760 this the happy half hour. I've never considered it part 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:29.160 of my charter to be happy every single day, so 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.120 I will. Augusta's got a sonnier personality than I do. 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:37.240 By nature of us, it's not that that's particularly hard 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:41.440 to achieve. But congratulations on clearing that high bar, Augusta. 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:44.479 But no, I mean you mentioned Austin Corbett, and I 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.159 think if there's anything to take out of the last 0:04:47.200 --> 0:04:49.440 couple of days, that's one of the things you can 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:52.640 point to is a there's a buy coming up in 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:54.680 a couple of weeks, which this team could use in 0:04:54.720 --> 0:04:57.320 a lot of ways to get some guys healthy. But 0:04:57.360 --> 0:05:01.680 it certainly looks like at some point, either immediately after 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.880 that buyer shortly after it, Austin's going to be back 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:08.160 on the field. And when you think about the problems 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:11.000 that things that have been consistent problems for the Carolina 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.599 Panthers over the first four weeks of this year. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:16.440 Interior offensive line. 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.400 Play has been up there near the top of the list, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:20.719 and you've been shuff on a lot of guys through there. 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:25.159 You know, Cade May's Calvin Throckmorton, Chandlers of Allah took 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.240 over after Brady Christiansen was hurt and out for the year. 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:32.839 So and without Austin in there, there's been nothing resembling settled. 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.120 And that's what's difficult for those guys to overcome because 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:39.800 last year, and it's weird to keep referring to last 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:42.720 year because this is a completely new environment. Last year, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:46.640 new coaches, new offensive system, you know, new blocking scheme 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:47.200 in a lot of. 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:49.240 Ways, and two new guards. 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.880 So it's hard to compare too many things. But because 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.080 last year was so settled, I think this year being 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:59.080 so unsettled feels a little jarring to a lot of 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.800 people who were you know, there aren't that many guys 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.160 who were still around, but for the people who saw 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.280 what was going on in second half of last season 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:08.839 and what's going on now, it's a little bit like, hey, 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:09.160 what are. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:09.760 We looking at? 0:06:10.040 --> 0:06:12.400 And it's different too. I like how you pointed out 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.640 schematic differences. And I know you have alluded to wanting 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.080 to write about this this week, but kind of and 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:22.200 Frank you asked him about it yesterday Wednesday's press conference, 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.039 but kind of about how things are molding together. You know, 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.880 you start out Thomas Brown talked a lot about with 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.320 the playbook when they first got together, and how they 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:32.839 kind of took a playbook, stripped it down to the bones, 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.880 and then kind of built from there. And now they're taking, 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.600 you know, the time to sort of evaluate what has worked, 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.200 what hasn't. When you're melding all of these mindes together, 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.960 you have Frank, right, Thomas Brown, Jim Caldwell, Douce Daley, 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.279 I mean, Josh McCown, Parks, Frasier and these are those 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:50.839 are just the ones that've rolled off the top of 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.120 my head that are touching this offense and kind of 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:57.400 you know, putting it together. So you have all of 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.760 those new new thought, new thoughts people, and then you 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.640 have all these new pieces as well. I mean kind 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.640 of seeing how it's all going to come together. I 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.680 think Frank said yesterday, you know that it's still gradual 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.400 and it's still happening, and I wanted to know your evaluation, Darren, 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.200 of how that's going through, because that's something that we've 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:15.720 all kind of looked at and you know, how are 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.680 they going to put it together? And now they're sort 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.760 of working through what worked, what hasn't. You know, how 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.800 you play to the personnel that you have and kind 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.400 of formulate all of that around. Like you mentioned guard 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.080 play that hasn't been consistent, I mean personnel wise that 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.440 hasn't been consistent, but also just trying to bring a 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.240 rookie together with all these pieces, with all these people 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.400 still you know, getting to know each other pretty much. 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.280 Right from February to July, when Frank would talk about 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.240 his staff coming together, he kept using the phrase diversity 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:43.720 of thought. 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:45.720 And that's a good thing. 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:47.840 I think anybody who's ever worked as a part of 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.840 any kind of team, any kind of office situation where 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:55.520 you've got different departments, knows you're better off if you've 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:59.120 got people who think differently, and it just increases the 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:02.360 number of variable It increases the number of perspectives that 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.880 you can apply to any given problem. The problem with it, however, 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:09.440 is it takes a minute for that to come together. 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:12.600 Because right now, and I mean if you just strip 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.000 it down to the run game. Everybody thinks about second 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.680 half last year here. That is a very different run 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.600 game than Thomas Brown has been exposed to for the 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.720 last couple of years in Los Angeles. It's very different 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.000 than the Philadelphia run game that Frank Reich's got experience 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.560 with and kind of comes out of that style of offense. 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.040 So I think getting all those perspectives, you know, I 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.439 keep because this is theater of their mind and you 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:41.640 can obviously see what I'm doing. I've been doing a 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:43.800 thing where I take my hands and I spread my 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.520 fingers out and I lay them kind of crossways from 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:48.800 each other, and it's like, if they can get all 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:52.840 of these crossways fingers pointed in the same direction, all 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.360 of a sudden, they'll be on to something. And right 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.280 now there, I think things are just a little bit off, 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.680 and trying to get those pieces together, I mean trying 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:06.640 to get the basically, take people who speak three different 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.480 languages and get them speaking the same one. Let me 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:12.880 tell you they're downstairs busting at due Lingo, trying to 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.520 get all together as quickly as they can, and I 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.320 think it's natural that that takes time. Now, once they achieve. 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.560 Once they get to the place that they all want 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:24.440 to get to. 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:26.560 There's the opportunity to do some good things. 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.720 But right now it's still very much a learning process, 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.520 and I think it's kind of reasonable to think that 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:34.200 was going to take a minute. 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:34.400 Now. 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.240 Obviously nobody expects oh and four, and Frank kind of 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.200 shrugs and goes through the whole. It's like he's got 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:43.480 a paragraph in his head that he feels compelled to 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.800 say that, hey, oh and four is not okay. We 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.680 did expect to be better than this. We know people 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:50.959 want us to be better than this. He says all 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:52.679 that kind of stuff. But at the base of it 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:55.560 is always but we knew this was going to take 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:59.600 some time. So I think this is the unfortunate growing period, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.000 arning period with each other. But you know, that's that's 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.760 what happens when smart people get together and try to 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.679 solve problems together. It doesn't always work out. I mentioned 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:13.200 my miraculous cure for whatever ails you, whether it's an 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.640 ear infection or a common cold or a broken wrist, 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:21.199 it's gatorade, banana, advil sleep. And you know, my wife 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.000 happens to be a pediatrician. And when my kids mentioned 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.200 to her that that was my cure for that. She 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:30.240 was like, oh, does he think that works? And so, 0:10:30.640 --> 0:10:33.640 you know, smart people can disagree and come to different 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.760 conclusions about what may work and what may not work, 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.480 but when they all get on the same page, it 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:44.560 can produce positive results. So we will see as this 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:48.720 week progresses. You know, Detroit is a tough place to 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:52.040 try to get a run game fixed, and you know, 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.320 they're up the top of the charts in most of 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.840 your defensive categories in that phase of the game. And 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:02.040 I just think that one of my pet things about 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:06.400 football is Okay, if something's not working, don't do that anymore, 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.480 or don't do as much of that. The things that 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.080 you're good at, do more of those, because that's. 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:11.440 A good thing. 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.240 And so this isn't necessarily the week to try to 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:17.760 get your run game right against the Detroit Lions. Obviously, 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.800 and again here I go back to last year. Obviously 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:22.679 they ran well against the Lions. 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:23.320 Last year. 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:24.600 Everything was different. 0:11:24.800 --> 0:11:27.120 Oh my goodness, I was thinking about that. But I 0:11:27.160 --> 0:11:29.720 will say that was at least to me. I remember 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:33.240 that game so well, freezing cold Christmas Eve, so many 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:37.440 different memories. I don't think we necessarily expected that to 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.080 happen either, not saying that it's the same, completely different 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:43.719 teams on both sides of the ball, but I mean, you. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:45.160 Know, stranger things have happened. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.880 We were all kind of, I think, you know, kind 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.920 of surprised at how that turned out. Now again, personnel 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:53.959 what nothing is the same, and that's very very clearly 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:58.320 being communicated. However, it was a good matchup last year, 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.000 and while things have changed, saying they're gonna run down 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.720 their throats or anything, but I mean, I really do 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.600 feel optimistic about about what Bryce has shown. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.040 I think Bryce Young is showing. 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:12.920 That you know, he's a rookie A but B he's accountable. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.520 For one, I was rewatching the TV broadcast and seeing 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.520 his leadership. What they were able to see on the 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:19.439 cameras and stuff was really really cool for a. 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:20.280 Guy that seems so. 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:23.640 You know, calm and quiet and cool at press conferences, 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:24.760 even around the locker room. 0:12:24.800 --> 0:12:26.600 You know, he's not the he's not the shouting type, 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:27.800 he's not the in your face type. 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:30.280 But but seeing him kind of, I don't know, he's 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.760 stepping into his own here. He has a month of 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:35.920 NFL experience, he's going into his fourth game. Now, I 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.040 think what you're seeing from Bryce is what you want 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:39.800 to see, is you want to talk about, you know, 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:42.679 areas of the offense in which they look to improve. 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:44.560 I think, you know, they're kind of getting what they 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.800 what they expected to in an early, early, early stage, 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:51.800 and he's not regressing, which is positive. I think he 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.400 did learn from that week watching Andy up in Seattle, 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.280 I mean, completely different quarterbacks, but I think seeing his 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.560 veteran leadership and the way that he was able. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:01.400 To kind of comf go out there kind of helped 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:02.000 him out too. 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:04.679 So I mean that's I I can't I can't help 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.199 but emphasize that that Bryce Young is kind of doing 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.800 everything that he can at this stage in his career 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:13.400 so early, but also kind of with the situation around 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.000 him that hopefully will continue to improve with health and 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.240 with whatever else the Panthers might have, you know, cooking up, 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:20.360 scheming up for him. 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.000 And I think they got to be careful in how 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:26.120 much cooking they try to do. There's a common theme 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:29.000 this year and again to go back to last year. Again, 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:32.160 they took a they took a playbook that was this 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:35.600 thick about size of the Manhattan phone Book and turned it. 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:37.080 Do you know what a phone book is? 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:37.719 Absolutely? 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:38.719 Okay, oh yeah, all right. 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.720 I just sometimes I like to check myself on cultural 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:43.600 references to make sure there's still Jamaine. 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:45.680 I will say, I grew up rural, so I'm a 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.319 little bit behind, Like I had dial up internet and stuff, 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:50.960 and I have friends that did not. So shout out Chickamauga, Georgia. 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:52.719 When you grew up rural, you're about ten five, ten 0:13:52.760 --> 0:13:54.640 years behind everybody else. So I had things in the 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:55.840 late nineties that were. 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:56.720 Probably in the early nineties. 0:13:56.760 --> 0:13:58.040 So do you know what Manhattan is? 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:03.160 Manhattan like the drink, Well. 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.959 It meant the borough of New York. Oh yeah, the 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.079 rural urban kind of thing. 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.520 At any rate, where were we, you know, last year's 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:14.440 playbook when when they were having success here running the ball, 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.280 they took a playbook size of the Manhattan phone Book 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:17.760 and turned it. 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:18.520 Into a pamphlet. 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.920 You can't win in the NFL with a pamphlet sized 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.000 offensive playbook. I mean, they were able to pull together 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.960 some games last year and do that, but the whole 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.640 point of hiring Frank Reich and all these coaches was 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.200 to build that playbook back up to an adult size. Again, 0:14:34.760 --> 0:14:38.200 And I think if anything's been clear over the first 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:42.160 four weeks, is that starting Even though Bryce is a 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.040 brilliant processor and nail DS two test and all those 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.440 kind of things we talked about all spring, those things. 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:49.160 Are still true. 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.600 It's still a lot for any player to process because 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:57.080 the speed of NFL players on defense, there's windows are 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.320 closing faster. Even though he played at a high level 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:05.000 in Alabama, it's still very different because Alabama was playing 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:08.800 people who are practice squad corners now and they're playing 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.840 NFL corners every week. So it's an adjustment for Bryce. 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.800 I think the adjustment phase is real. I joked in 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:18.480 the mail bag the other day, I wish I had 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.960 a hot key for Peyton Manning led the league in 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:23.680 interceptions with twenty eight in his first year in the 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.120 cole twent three to thirteen, just to remind people that 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.840 even the very best rookies, the highest processing rookies, are 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.000 still rookies and it's going to take them a minute. 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:36.760 So I think, if anything, what you might see in 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.560 the next couple of weeks is some degree of pulling back, 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:44.080 some degree of Okay, let's find the things that Bryce 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:46.480 is good at. Let's find those easy throws. I mean, 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:48.440 I don't mean to take away from CJ. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:48.880 Stroud. 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.680 He's an incredibly talented player and is off to a 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:55.080 great start in Houston, and that's created some unfortunate comparisons 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:55.600 for Bryce. 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:56.880 But CJ. 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:01.080 Stroud's playing in a very different offense I think in 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:03.720 terms of at least what they're trying to do here 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:06.600 and the way they're sending Bryce through reads and different things. 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:10.240 It's just more complex than what the Texans are asking 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.000 CJ to do. And you can ask yourself, and I 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.920 think it's a fair question, well, what's smart trying to 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.400 do something complicated or do something simple? Well, And you know, 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.280 right now things are going well for CJ. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:22.760 Stroud. 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.240 We'll see how he develops over the course of his career. 0:16:25.280 --> 0:16:28.240 But I think what they've tried to do in general 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:34.080 is teach Masters level classes to a freshman. And he's 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.000 a smart freshman, he's a precocious freshman, but he's still 0:16:37.000 --> 0:16:40.640 a freshman. So I think this was some of this 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.320 was to be expected. But you know, again, as you 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:47.200 mentioned Augusta, there are positive signs. One of my pet stats, 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.560 everybody's got theirs in football, and mine's always been kind 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.720 of yards per pass attempt, and it's gone three point eight, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.720 four point six, six point something last week, and so 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.360 you're seeing that steady progression in Bryce throwing more of 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.240 those quote unquote adult passes. The third down play to 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:06.760 Thieln where he steps up in the pocket last week 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:09.000 and finds Outam coming across the middle of the field. 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:12.040 That was a big time throw. And that was a. 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:16.560 Throw of all the many quarterbacks we've seen here over 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:18.720 the last five years. We haven't seen a lot of 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:20.240 guys who are making. 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.520 That play exactly exactly. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:24.359 And I kind of wanted to also shift to the 0:17:24.359 --> 0:17:26.560 defensive side of the ball because that's an area I 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.760 think in which I mean the Panther saw a lot 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.440 of success last week. I'm writing a story right now 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:36.160 on DeShawn Jamison, who came in in a situation where 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:39.720 maybe he didn't expect to play, came in for Dante Jackson. Again, 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:42.439 we have a ton of injuries here at Bank of 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.680 America Stadium, and you know, just looting my coal. I 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:48.639 was about to say, just kind of lots of people 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:51.440 in the getting healed up right now, ir and everything, 0:17:51.520 --> 0:17:54.120 and Dante's one of them. Now, I mean banged up 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.960 secondary and both starting quarterbacks out, so we had a 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.280 undrafted Ricky who spent the offseason with the forty nine 0:18:01.359 --> 0:18:04.159 ers here, and he threw some of the plays, like 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.159 I mean, there were two that I wrote about that 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.280 kind of caught my eye, just as those kind of 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:10.479 flash plays on defense. 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:11.800 Obviously, the block. 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.840 Up against Kirk Cousins on Sam Franklin's ninety nine yard 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.880 interception return for a touchdown which made Panther's history, which 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.960 was super exciting and kind of got this place really 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:25.679 really excited at the very beginning of the game, just 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.400 kind of laid him out of it is it's fun 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:28.920 to watch in part of One of the angles I 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:31.240 get to play off in my story is Deshaun Jamison's 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.000 one of the smallest guys on the active rosteries five 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:37.040