Speaker 1: This week on the Happy half Hour, he said the
Speaker 1: words man, he said, the magic words keep pounding means
Speaker 1: something to Steve Wilts because he grew up around it,
Speaker 1: and he talked about I was here when things were
Speaker 1: good and it was almost like being at a tent revival.
Speaker 1: You know. The music's coming up behind him while he's
Speaker 1: saying this text. It's time for the Happy Half Hour
Speaker 1: with your friends Kristen Balboni, Augusta Stone and Darren Gannon.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's that time of the week. It's the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour podcast with your friends Darren, Augusta and
Speaker 1: Kristen and guys. You know, there's nothing much to talk
Speaker 1: about this week, right, It's a shame. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: have much on the rundown. Yeah, here on Thursday morning.
Speaker 1: This is like the first time I've taken a deep
Speaker 1: breath and stopped for more than thirty seconds at a time.
Speaker 1: Did you sleep at your desk at any point this week?
Speaker 1: I think I crawled under it, you know, So it's uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's some stuff going on. It's been a week
Speaker 1: here at Bank of America Stadium. Well, let's I think
Speaker 1: the best way to do that. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: were listening to this podcast, there is no doubt that
Speaker 1: you know the Panthers have parted ways with former head
Speaker 1: coach Matt Rule. Steve Wilks is now the interim head coach.
Speaker 1: But daring to your point about it being an interesting week,
Speaker 1: I thought, what would be really great is to go
Speaker 1: through it almost day by day and what has happened
Speaker 1: and get you guys insight, my insight, and take fans
Speaker 1: through a little bit of the behind the scenes what
Speaker 1: we've learned about everything. So after um, you know, the
Speaker 1: Panthers lose on Sunday at home. On Monday, we get
Speaker 1: the news early in the day that David Tepper has
Speaker 1: made the decision to let go of Matt Rule. And
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, I think everybody wants it
Speaker 1: to be one big, acute thing, and there are people
Speaker 1: who want to know, oh, what was the moment when
Speaker 1: you decided? It was never about one moment. Now they're
Speaker 1: reporters who you know, did I don't know that their
Speaker 1: reporters um if there are if if you're looking for
Speaker 1: a reason, and you could say, well, there was a
Speaker 1: sea of red jerseys that are high contrast and really
Speaker 1: visible in the stands for a twenty two point loss,
Speaker 1: which is the worst loss of the season. I guess
Speaker 1: you could say that, but at a certain point, and
Speaker 1: I mentioned this the other day in the mail bag,
Speaker 1: at a certain point, eleven and twenty seven carries its
Speaker 1: own weight, and you don't, I don't know that you
Speaker 1: need a lot more reason other than eleven and twenty seven.
Speaker 1: And you know, I will say not in Matt rules defense.
Speaker 1: He didn't need me to defend him. But um, a
Speaker 1: lot of the things Matt talked about wanting to try
Speaker 1: to do the specific things, the specific fixes for this
Speaker 1: team that he talked about were absolutely correct. Uh. He
Speaker 1: also was not um part of acquiring great quarterback solutions
Speaker 1: over three years, and that's part of the problem ongoing.
Speaker 1: And if when you add all that stuff up together,
Speaker 1: I mean, be in seven and eleven and twenty seven
Speaker 1: and it's the you know, I was around here for
Speaker 1: George Seyffert for the one in fifteen year when the
Speaker 1: owner said it sucked the energy out of the organization.
Speaker 1: And when you look at it, I mean George's career
Speaker 1: record winning persentage still higher than Matt. So I mean
Speaker 1: it was tough and and it was a bad situation,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't entirely one person's fault, and getting rid
Speaker 1: of one person is not going to fix it. But
Speaker 1: it wasn't working well to your point, That's exactly what
Speaker 1: David Tepper told us. He told us, you know, it's
Speaker 1: about getting over the hump, and that's just not where
Speaker 1: we were. And at this point, it's you know, what
Speaker 1: can push to that to that point And it's like
Speaker 1: Darren said, you know, not being able to find a quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know, striking out three times, just not being able
Speaker 1: to find that permanent, good, solid option. And it's not
Speaker 1: from a lack of trying either, I don't think. I mean,
Speaker 1: I agree, you know, and so it's one of those
Speaker 1: things where it had gotten to the point where I
Speaker 1: mean he had been he had been patient, and it
Speaker 1: was you know, I just we all look for like
Speaker 1: like Darren said, you know, was it the sea of it?
Speaker 1: Was it all of these things? It wasn't. It was
Speaker 1: simply at that point, you know, we're not getting over
Speaker 1: the hump, and you know we're ready to try something new.
Speaker 1: And I think Augusta, you make a great point. Um,
Speaker 1: no one in this building was not trying to win games,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, as you both said,
Speaker 1: eleven and twenty seven, one and four to start this season, um,
Speaker 1: they felt like it was time for a change. And Darren,
Speaker 1: you have, as you said, you have been around this
Speaker 1: organization through multiple coaching changes before we look ahead, and
Speaker 1: we're going to do a lot of that in this podcast.
Speaker 1: What does it What does it mean for a team,
Speaker 1: for a coaching staff, for an organization when there is
Speaker 1: an early coaching change in the season, right, Well, the
Speaker 1: Panthers have never done it this early. You know, Perry
Speaker 1: Fuel finished up after Ron Rivera, but that was a
Speaker 1: four game, you know, slog to the finish. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of season left now, and it creates an unusual
Speaker 1: dynamic because even though Matt's gone, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of people who Matt brought year who are still working.
Speaker 1: And it's I I say this genuinely, it's impressive to
Speaker 1: me to see the people that Matt brought here showing
Speaker 1: up doing their jobs, doing them with a smile on
Speaker 1: their face. I mean, you see people who were his
Speaker 1: assistants in other places and they've got same energy today
Speaker 1: because that's the job. I mean, these are these are
Speaker 1: people of character who show up when you know they
Speaker 1: are kind of personally hurting. And I've talked to some
Speaker 1: of these people in the halls, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: emotional for them because they came here with him for
Speaker 1: a reason, and it's an awkward situation in some ways
Speaker 1: because they don't know what's next for them, and they
Speaker 1: show up and they do the job. And I respect that,
Speaker 1: and I've told a couple of them face to face.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just when you see that, you can't
Speaker 1: help but appreciate the effort that goes into you know,
Speaker 1: everybody sees football team, fifty three dudes on the field
Speaker 1: on Sunday, a big coaching staff, whatever, but there's a
Speaker 1: small army of people it takes to put this product
Speaker 1: out on a week to week basis. And you know,
Speaker 1: it sounds kind of cold and it sounds maybe callous,
Speaker 1: but the show must go on and these people are
Speaker 1: continuing to put on the show. And I'm glad that
Speaker 1: you brought that up, because that is something that I
Speaker 1: have the utmost respect for. Is UM. There is a
Speaker 1: good contingent of people, as Darren said, who were came
Speaker 1: here from Baylor Temple. UM bought houses, you know, UM
Speaker 1: have families, and regardless of of anything, whether it was
Speaker 1: the right decision, you never want people to lose their jobs. Um.
Speaker 1: And so it has been in it has been a
Speaker 1: tough week in some respects here for for a lot
Speaker 1: of people that we know and interact with on a
Speaker 1: daily basis. That being said, um, Darren, as you said,
Speaker 1: a lot of them are continuing right now as far
Speaker 1: as we know. Defensive coordinator Phil Snow, assistant special teams
Speaker 1: coach at fully are no longer continuing, but everyone else
Speaker 1: is staying the same. So before we get into the
Speaker 1: Steve Wilkes of it all, I do want to ask
Speaker 1: a hypothetical to both of you, and I think it's
Speaker 1: something that a lot of fans wonder, and I asked
Speaker 1: Steve looks this yesterday as well. When you are an
Speaker 1: interim coach, someone who has been a former head coach
Speaker 1: certainly is very well equipped to do this job, but
Speaker 1: did not hire the people underneath you, and you start
Speaker 1: out one and four, how much can be done to
Speaker 1: change the things that you want to change to galvanize
Speaker 1: the team, Because, as you said, Darren, there is a
Speaker 1: lot of season left and certainly Panthers fans want to
Speaker 1: see them win some games. Sure, And I think it's
Speaker 1: going to be interesting to see, especially offensively, because there'll
Speaker 1: be some changes defensively with Al Holcomb replacing Phil Snow
Speaker 1: as coordinator. I mean, they might call some things differently,
Speaker 1: they might look a little bit differently in terms of alignment,
Speaker 1: But I don't think the changes are going to be
Speaker 1: that big on that side of the ball because if
Speaker 1: you look back, Al Holcomb was Steve's defensive coordinator in Arizona,
Speaker 1: and and Don Johnson, the defensive line coach pass roach specialist,
Speaker 1: was his d line coach Arizona. So there there is familiarity,
Speaker 1: and these guys have known each other for a long time.
Speaker 1: So I think there's an opportunity for you know, even
Speaker 1: though you're making some changes almost continuity, that's the side
Speaker 1: of the ball you can depend on, and I think
Speaker 1: that will be the side of the ball you will
Speaker 1: continue to depend on. If you're the Carolina Panther, you
Speaker 1: wouldn't want it to change that much, I wouldn't think,
Speaker 1: because they are doing a good job. Yes, exactly. Well,
Speaker 1: that's something I actually got to speak with J. J. Jansen,
Speaker 1: who I feel like, like Darren told me and it's
Speaker 1: so true. He's like the historian in the locker room.
Speaker 1: You know, he just he knows like he talking to him.
Speaker 1: You know, you ask him three questions and he talks
Speaker 1: for five minutes and it's just amazing and perfect well
Speaker 1: well on, you know, it's just it's it's very useful
Speaker 1: stuff Like I'm sitting here in the whole time, like
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm reading a book like this is
Speaker 1: just so useful. But one of the things he talked
Speaker 1: about was with Wilkes, because they know him pretty well.
Speaker 1: He was here from seventeen and also the fact that
Speaker 1: he's been on staff and he has that presence which
Speaker 1: on Noble talk about at some point, but he has
Speaker 1: such a commanding presence that it's like, oh yeah, everyone
Speaker 1: in that locker room already had so much respect for him.
Speaker 1: So he's made kind of these minor tweaks that I
Speaker 1: find really interesting. Um, like changing the days that they
Speaker 1: were pads from Thursdays to Wednesdays to get you know,
Speaker 1: just kick start the week and and start off physically
Speaker 1: and then um, but also just just he doesn't want
Speaker 1: to change too much. I think one of the things
Speaker 1: that he said yesterday that I really liked was that
Speaker 1: he's simplifying but going faster and those and you could
Speaker 1: feel that rhythm in practice. I think I think you
Speaker 1: could feel I kept asking the players. I was like,
Speaker 1: did it feel bouncy? Because it felt bouncy and they
Speaker 1: were like. I was talking to Davey on Nixon and
Speaker 1: he was like, yeah, I think it did feel bouncy
Speaker 1: because it was like there's just a pep to the step.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to describe it other than I
Speaker 1: just felt, you know, like everything was moving at a
Speaker 1: higher pace. And so I think pacing is one thing.
Speaker 1: Intensity is one thing. But nothing like schematic overhauls or anything.
Speaker 1: Because it's it's week six. You can't do that at
Speaker 1: this point. But there's like subtle things that I think
Speaker 1: make a big difference. And it's interesting. Yesterday out on
Speaker 1: the practice field, there was some guy named Luke something
Speaker 1: or other just hanging out on the sidelines and I
Speaker 1: asked him, you know when they walked in the door,
Speaker 1: um wearing full pads. I said, you know, this is
Speaker 1: how you guys did it right when, back during the
Speaker 1: Ron Rivery years And he said yeah, And I said,
Speaker 1: what's the difference Wednesday to Thursday, and he said, for me,
Speaker 1: I liked it because a get him out of the
Speaker 1: way early in the week. You know, I liked Okay,
Speaker 1: if you know you're gonna carry pads, if you know
Speaker 1: it's going to be a contact day, you wanted out
Speaker 1: the way early. But he said, from a practical standpoint,
Speaker 1: a lot of times when the game plan goes in,
Speaker 1: Wednesday is first down, second down day. It's the day
Speaker 1: you're working on run stuff. It's the day you're doing
Speaker 1: inside drills. And so when you get to Thursday and
Speaker 1: it's third down day and a lot of pass coverage stuff,
Speaker 1: he said, just from a practical standpoint, it's easier to
Speaker 1: not carry pads on Thursday. And that is a minor change.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look at a seven day week,
Speaker 1: you know, do they get extra time to recover from
Speaker 1: wearing pads now under this schedule, yes, But they also
Speaker 1: have a day fewer to recover on the other side.
Speaker 1: So it's a six and one half a dozen of
Speaker 1: another kind of distinction, I think. But just listening to
Speaker 1: Luke talk about what it does, and and I think
Speaker 1: as much as anything else, Steve probably did it to
Speaker 1: get everybody's attention and to say, hey, you know, and
Speaker 1: j J in Augustus story this morning said it perfectly.
Speaker 1: It was almost like hitting the reset button and it
Speaker 1: was a chance to sort of focus everybody all right
Speaker 1: over here on me. This is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be in pads. It's gonna be a little
Speaker 1: more direct. It's going to be, you know, just going
Speaker 1: down the checklist. And that's kind of the way Steve's
Speaker 1: approaching this right now. I agree completely. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Stewart was standing beside Luke at practice and he
Speaker 1: pointed out to me the difference of pads on Wednesday. Um,
Speaker 1: he said, you know, this does look a little bit
Speaker 1: different pads on Wednesday. And then I later talked to
Speaker 1: Steve Wilkes and he pointed out the pads on Wednesday. Now,
Speaker 1: to your point, Augusta and Darren, is that going to
Speaker 1: make a difference in in wins and losses that alone
Speaker 1: over the course of the season. No, But it is
Speaker 1: a great example of some things that you can change
Speaker 1: and mold to the to your philosophy, UM, as an
Speaker 1: interim head coach that you feel helps the team perform
Speaker 1: better without Augusta, as you said, really going in and say, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do things entirely different. So it is, as
Speaker 1: you said, a reset. I want to go back to
Speaker 1: Steve Wilkes the person as well, because, like I said,
Speaker 1: if you're listening to this podcast, you have probably read
Speaker 1: the coverage on Panthers dot com. Hopefully you will see
Speaker 1: our interviews with him and learn more about him. But
Speaker 1: we've all had a chance to talk to him and
Speaker 1: talk to the current players that have played for him
Speaker 1: in the secondary former players, and so I just want
Speaker 1: to get a sense from from you too about who
Speaker 1: he is and why this is different. Potentially, then, as
Speaker 1: we have talked about in the past, when you have
Speaker 1: an interim head coach kind of coming in to finish
Speaker 1: things out, because it does feel very different. A lot
Speaker 1: of that starts with who Steve Wilkes is as a
Speaker 1: coach in person. Right. One of my favorite things about Steve,
Speaker 1: and pardon me if I get a little corny here,
Speaker 1: but Steve is from and of he is Charlotte. Man.
Speaker 1: I mean that kid grew up he was born here,
Speaker 1: he grew up here, he played it West Charlotte, went
Speaker 1: to Appalachian State, came home and played for the Charlotte
Speaker 1: Rage for God's sakes out at the old Colisseum on
Speaker 1: Thai Vola. He is Charlotte to his core. Can I
Speaker 1: interject really quickly because I have a story that I
Speaker 1: think you're going to love, and then I want to
Speaker 1: get right back to that. I asked him about this yesterday.
Speaker 1: I said, what made you want to come back? And
Speaker 1: what has drawn you back to this place? And he
Speaker 1: said the same thing. He said, Charlotte's home. He said,
Speaker 1: I always used to joke that I had two favorite
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL, the one I was currently working
Speaker 1: for in the Panthers. So to come back as DB's
Speaker 1: coach had simplified things a little bit. He said, we
Speaker 1: actually kept our house in Charlotte each time we moved um.
Speaker 1: And I said, I said, Steve, did the Rinners treat
Speaker 1: it right when you move back in? And he said, actually,
Speaker 1: we didn't have Wrinners. So he's I mean, don't know
Speaker 1: if his wife was gonna be okay with him saying that,
Speaker 1: but daring to your point, I just wanted to interject
Speaker 1: there there is no doubt that he considers this place
Speaker 1: his home. Yeah, no doubt. And and one of us
Speaker 1: is strong I mean one of you know he I
Speaker 1: think that's why there's kind of a feeling out in
Speaker 1: the community. Is the situation he's walking to into ideal.
Speaker 1: It is not the problems that led to this team
Speaker 1: being one and four remain. It's still an uncertain quarterback situation,
Speaker 1: even when everybody's healthy, which they are not. But there's
Speaker 1: something about Steve that presence. That word comes up a lot.
Speaker 1: My god, if you watch the forty two second video
Speaker 1: from his first press conference, he said the words man,
Speaker 1: he said the magic words keep pounding means something to
Speaker 1: Steve Wilkes because he grew up around it. And he
Speaker 1: talked about I was here when things were good, and
Speaker 1: it was almost like being at a tent revival. You know,
Speaker 1: the music's coming up behind him while he's saying this,
Speaker 1: And and people do flashback. They do remember fifteen and
Speaker 1: one in two thousand and fifteen, They do remember Thieves Avenue.
Speaker 1: They do remember Josh Norman going from being kind of
Speaker 1: a fifth round afterthought to becoming all pro cornerback Josh
Speaker 1: Norman thanks to Steve Wilkes. And you know, there's a
Speaker 1: good feeling attached to that. And Steve's got that quality
Speaker 1: about him. I mean I kind of joked about it
Speaker 1: internally just looking at the pictures. This man has a
Speaker 1: cinematic quality about him. They his players called him Denzel
Speaker 1: back in the days, and oh, I can see that
Speaker 1: now that you say that he's got that whatever that is,
Speaker 1: Steve's got that, and he knows how to command a room,
Speaker 1: and you know he did it. And I actually, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I was talking earlier about admiring the people
Speaker 1: who show up and do the thing when it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: It would have been so easy for Steve to turn
Speaker 1: Tuesday into the Steve Wilkes Show and come, look at
Speaker 1: the guy. Yeah, let's talk about Johnson C. Smith. Let
Speaker 1: talk about with Charlotte. And he kind of made a
Speaker 1: passing mention. He's like, listen, I know it's important. I
Speaker 1: know it's important for people from my community to see
Speaker 1: people succeeding. But this is about how we fix this
Speaker 1: one and four football team. This is about we got
Speaker 1: a game, sunny. I bet he said focus on the
Speaker 1: rams about five times during a twenty minute press conference,
Speaker 1: so you could tell where his head was. And as
Speaker 1: easy as it would have been to turn it into
Speaker 1: the Steve Show, he kept spinning it back to yes,
Speaker 1: I know, yes, that's important, but over here we got
Speaker 1: two rams. Over here, we've got to lock in on
Speaker 1: the football and the stuff we gotta fix this week.
Speaker 1: And to be fair, he probably is. I mean, he
Speaker 1: does have to game plan on a short week, but
Speaker 1: for a team that he was not the head coach
Speaker 1: of last week. So I did get that sense of
Speaker 1: in terms of professionalism, he probably is like in his
Speaker 1: head answering these questions from me or from either of you,
Speaker 1: going okay, well if we adjust this a little bit,
Speaker 1: and that is what you want from your coach, Augusta.
Speaker 1: What have you learned about him from from talking to
Speaker 1: players exactly? I think the locker room, Like Darren said,
Speaker 1: you know, he he really does have their attention. I
Speaker 1: think that's one of the biggest things. Um. I heard
Speaker 1: everyone I talked to just about yesterday. I talked to
Speaker 1: five or six different guys about it, and they all
Speaker 1: kind of gave the same message, which is something that
Speaker 1: he had told us in the press conference. But it's
Speaker 1: something that I feel like just in terms of that
Speaker 1: locker room. I mean, we went in there after the
Speaker 1: forty nine years game and it it felt, you know,
Speaker 1: it was they were they were disappointed, and you could
Speaker 1: feel that disappointment. And then going in, yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was a tough loss. It was very tough. It
Speaker 1: was the roughest locker room experience since I've been here, easily.
Speaker 1: And then it felt like we had been very well
Speaker 1: removed from that, just from being a few days yesterday.
Speaker 1: And everyone I talked to was like, I mean, coach
Speaker 1: Looks said, he told us, you know, seasons not canceled.
Speaker 1: Seasons not canceled. And that's something I just kept here,
Speaker 1: you know, No matter what I asked, they were like,
Speaker 1: he said, season is not canceled. And they like that message.
Speaker 1: You could tell that they you know, there was also
Speaker 1: that since of disappointment, like Okay, you know, this is
Speaker 1: a business. The job is to get results. If we
Speaker 1: don't get results, and this happens, and and I like,
Speaker 1: I think they like the fact that Steve has been
Speaker 1: so direct with them, like, okay, so the reason that
Speaker 1: I am here is because we haven't been performing, so
Speaker 1: we need to be better. Very pointed. And I think
Speaker 1: that kind of pointed, tough love kind of thing has
Speaker 1: really resonated with a lot of the guys. Um they
Speaker 1: really seemed to to to buy in. I mean everyone
Speaker 1: from I talked to Gante Foreman for a while and
Speaker 1: he's one of those guys. Sometimes you catch him and
Speaker 1: he's really talkative, sometimes he's not. Yesterday he really wanted
Speaker 1: to talk about it, which I thought was kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Um JJ obviously, and then Christian McCaffrey. I think Christian
Speaker 1: really really likes the I think he likes what Steve
Speaker 1: Wilkes brings, the intensity, the pointedness, things like that, and
Speaker 1: one thing, I think it's in the interest of fairness.
Speaker 1: It's worth point. Now we talked about and I used
Speaker 1: the word bleak about that locker room that was a
Speaker 1: result of the game rather than any kind of pervasive
Speaker 1: sense in the room. That is a great point because
Speaker 1: I knew that immediately what you were saying. But that's
Speaker 1: a it's a great point to point out to people listening.
Speaker 1: The locker room was not bad. It's not like there
Speaker 1: was any kind of descent in there. It's a pretty
Speaker 1: tight knit group. And Augusta came in the summer and
Speaker 1: saw the Panthers games, and you know, you were there
Speaker 1: and we saw how this team was kind of coming
Speaker 1: closer together. It was actually a pretty good locker room
Speaker 1: they are. I'm down there on the sidelines throughout the
Speaker 1: games they played together four and a half minutes left
Speaker 1: in that game to score game. They're still working, they're
Speaker 1: still game planning, and Darren, I think that's a great point.
Speaker 1: You you want them, I would think as a fan,
Speaker 1: you want the locker room to not be jubilant and
Speaker 1: happy after a three score loss um to the forty Niners. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, the results are are the reason things kind
Speaker 1: of look bad, not any kind of internal conflict or
Speaker 1: personalities or vides or any of that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've talked about it after games already this season.
Speaker 1: It would be really easy for those Cats on defense
Speaker 1: to say, all right, boys, we're doing our part, do yours.
Speaker 1: But that stuff's never really happened. And it wasn't like
Speaker 1: this toxic environment before. Um, there was just some frustration
Speaker 1: about the way games we're going. So it's it's interesting
Speaker 1: you walk in there was somebody where was it? Oh
Speaker 1: in Miami? Uh? They took the ping pong tables out
Speaker 1: of the locker room. Uh in Miami, and ping pong
Speaker 1: tables are always kind of the barometer of the mood
Speaker 1: of a room because people are playing ping pong and
Speaker 1: they're winning, it means, oh, look at this camaraderie, Look
Speaker 1: at this chemistry. Everybody's together and having fun and playing
Speaker 1: ping pong. And if you're losing, ping pong becomes oh,
Speaker 1: they're distracted. They're not paying enough attention to their work.
Speaker 1: They you can't have fun when it's bad. Uh, ping
Speaker 1: pong tables still in the locker room. Yes, life is
Speaker 1: fairly normal, believe it or not. I mean, and that's
Speaker 1: what it is so weird coming from a daily newspaper background.
Speaker 1: I mean, we always called it the daily miracle that
Speaker 1: you put this thing and every day. But football kind
Speaker 1: of works like that too. You know, Johnny Hecker and
Speaker 1: j J. Jansen and Deonte Foreman and Davian Nixon, they
Speaker 1: got to show up and do Wednesday. They can't get
Speaker 1: caught up in the historical sweep of events that's happening
Speaker 1: around them because there's practice and and Johnny and I
Speaker 1: were talking about this yesterday. It's just you have to
Speaker 1: stay locked in on the stuff that makes Wednesday good.
Speaker 1: You have to lock in on doing Thursday's film session,
Speaker 1: right if you want to break out of a skit
Speaker 1: or do anything like that. And you know, Johnny was
Speaker 1: part of a Rams team last year that didn't win
Speaker 1: a game in November. Things turned out okay for the Rams,
Speaker 1: So you know, it was kind of interesting hearing that
Speaker 1: perspective because I think when you get a you know,
Speaker 1: a fairly historical change. This was the fifth head coach
Speaker 1: in Panthers history. Uh walking out the door onom Monday,
Speaker 1: and it was pretty you know, it was a significant moment.
Speaker 1: But everybody shows up the next day for work and
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, what do we gotta do now?
Speaker 1: I agree, So let's talk about you mentioned the ramps.
Speaker 1: Let's let's look ahead quickly, UM, because as Augusta said,
Speaker 1: I love this. I hope maybe it's the episode title.
Speaker 1: This this coaching change, and Steve Wilkes, the energy that
Speaker 1: he has brought, has pressed the reset button. But if
Speaker 1: you look at UM on paper, at least the game
Speaker 1: that they are going to play on a short week
Speaker 1: with a new head coach, some changes maybe not going
Speaker 1: to Maybe you wouldn't choose to go out west, Um,
Speaker 1: to to go across the country and play the defending
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champions when you're starting quarterback is is hurt
Speaker 1: and um, you and he may or may not play,
Speaker 1: but they are currently practicing with p J. Walker, um
Speaker 1: and assuming that he will be the starting quarterback for
Speaker 1: this game. So let's talk about what the Panthers are
Speaker 1: up against this weekend and the latest, especially on the
Speaker 1: quarterback situation. Right, not ideal. Baker came out of that
Speaker 1: game last week. We're in a walking boot on his
Speaker 1: left hand, on his left foot and ankle. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's got an ankle sprain of some degree. I mean,
Speaker 1: I always in this one of my pit pieces. But
Speaker 1: the way things get reported, it's like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be out for six weeks. Maybe not. I mean,
Speaker 1: and Steve said it yesterday. He knows Baker, and after
Speaker 1: talking to him yesterday, Baker kind of wants to be
Speaker 1: active on Sunday. We'll see if he is. I don't
Speaker 1: I don't know. That might be optimistic, but if he's
Speaker 1: not able to, then it's it's p J. Walker and
Speaker 1: I will say Baker, listen, Baker Mayfield has not played well.
Speaker 1: Baker's playing at a level we didn't even see last
Speaker 1: year when he was heard in Cleveland. The one thing
Speaker 1: no one's alleging is that he's not putting everything he's
Speaker 1: got into this deal. I mean, Christian McCaffrey, for god's sakes,
Speaker 1: said something the other day about the guys out there
Speaker 1: with a jacked up ankle, and he wasn't coming out
Speaker 1: of that game and fill the very end. And I
Speaker 1: think that was to protect him as much as anything else.
Speaker 1: But Baker is a tough guy. Baker is gonna try.
Speaker 1: I just don't know. Steve said if he didn't practice
Speaker 1: this week, he wouldn't feel good playing him in the game.
Speaker 1: And if that happens, welcome back p J. Walker, who's
Speaker 1: who's had to step in a couple of times over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years and start a game. But
Speaker 1: when he does step in, there are some interesting things
Speaker 1: to note, according to our very own Panther stats guy.
Speaker 1: So let's get to will stat of the week. Will
Speaker 1: do you remember back in the seventies when sitcoms were
Speaker 1: tape live in front of a studio audience. Sure, Darren,
Speaker 1: of course not. Why would you you're a child? Okay,
Speaker 1: it's Panthers stats Guy. And now that we've had that diversion,
Speaker 1: here's this week's Panther stats guys. Stat of the week. Well,
Speaker 1: as we sit here on Thursday, it's looking more and
Speaker 1: more likely that p J Walker will be getting to
Speaker 1: start against the Rams on Sunday. And if that doesn't happen,
Speaker 1: then this this just never happened. But I have a
Speaker 1: stat for that. PJ is looking for his third start
Speaker 1: to go three and oh and his first three career starts.
Speaker 1: He'd be forty quarterback in NFL history to start three
Speaker 1: oh in his first three. However, you look at some
Speaker 1: of his career numbers and you're like, I don't know.
Speaker 1: He's so much better as a starter than he is
Speaker 1: as someone coming in the fourth quarter, which has affected
Speaker 1: his career stats. So let's take a look as a
Speaker 1: starter seventy percent completion percentage six point seven five yards
Speaker 1: per attempt with a seventy six point five passer rating.
Speaker 1: As a backup only, completion rating five point six yards
Speaker 1: per attempt with a rating passer rating of thirty three
Speaker 1: point two. So when he gets that full week of
Speaker 1: first team reps and he's ready to go on Sunday,
Speaker 1: he's a guy that can really step in and play good.
Speaker 1: PJ can be good. Sun Thanks Will will always brings it.
Speaker 1: I mean, some guys are starters and some guys are relievers.
Speaker 1: I remember, back in the old days, Matt More a
Speaker 1: quarterback of vintage that old school Panthers fans will remember.
Speaker 1: Matt was great coming off the bench and finishing up
Speaker 1: a game if somebody got hurt. When Matt had to start,
Speaker 1: it was the opposite of p J. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think when Matt started he overprocessed some things maybe and
Speaker 1: and it was a little bit tighter. But he was
Speaker 1: one of those grip and rip it kind of guys
Speaker 1: who could come in the third quarter. But again to
Speaker 1: to Will's point, when PJ has started, it's been all
Speaker 1: right now that that Lions game in twenty he throws
Speaker 1: a couple of red zone uh picks. Not ideal, but
Speaker 1: it was in the middle of the shutout of the Lions,
Speaker 1: and that was near the end of the Matt Patricia
Speaker 1: era in Detroit Um. But the Arizona game, I mean,
Speaker 1: he threw a pick out in the middle of the
Speaker 1: field in Arizona, and that was kind of It wasn't
Speaker 1: the p J. Walker game. It was the Cam Newton game,
Speaker 1: as everybody remembers from last p J Walker got them
Speaker 1: down the field and he moved that team between the
Speaker 1: twenties pretty reliably. He was two twenty nine that day
Speaker 1: and then the touchdown everyone remembers where Cam Newton came
Speaker 1: in and said to the camera, I'm back. P J
Speaker 1: Walker had gotten them to that position. So so PJ
Speaker 1: is capable of playing good ball. And the guys again,
Speaker 1: the guys in the locker room kind of dig on
Speaker 1: PJ because Pj's got this unfhazed energy about him. I mean,
Speaker 1: he just really I get a kick out of PJ
Speaker 1: because listen, p J Walker's college coach who brought him
Speaker 1: to Carolina got fired on Monday and he's starting on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: This is not normal. This ain't might not be in
Speaker 1: the top three insane things p J Walker's scene in
Speaker 1: his life. I mean, he was standing in Indianapolis the
Speaker 1: day Andrew looks like, yeah, this isn't working out. I'm done,
Speaker 1: and everybody's like, wait, what you know our quarterbacks retiring? Yeah,
Speaker 1: Tienda training camp right for the start of the regular season.
Speaker 1: So Pj's seen some things, He's been in some stuff,
Speaker 1: and I think in a weird way, and this sounds peculiar. Again,
Speaker 1: you're going to play the Rams You're getting on a
Speaker 1: plane flight across country to play the defending Super Bowl champs,
Speaker 1: who have this guy named Aaron Donald reckoned stuff in
Speaker 1: the middle of the line, and they've got this guy
Speaker 1: named Cooper cup who leads the nfcing receptions. And it's
Speaker 1: just it's not an ideal situation. But p J doesn't
Speaker 1: seem bothered by this. That's one thing that I have learned.
Speaker 1: And I think you could say this and know it,
Speaker 1: but we see it every day. You know, if I
Speaker 1: were a backup quarterback, UM, who wasn't sure if I
Speaker 1: was gonna see the field this year, Um, and I
Speaker 1: my first time going in a regular season game or
Speaker 1: starting in a regular season game was going to be
Speaker 1: with Aaron Aaron Donald staring me down. I would be
Speaker 1: very nervous, right. But you don't make it to the NFL,
Speaker 1: and you don't succeed in the NFL unless you want
Speaker 1: every opportunity and believe that you can overcome all of
Speaker 1: that and win a game for your team. It's just
Speaker 1: it's it's just a fact. All of those guys are
Speaker 1: in that locker room or in any locker room and
Speaker 1: have succeeded this far because they believe in themselves and
Speaker 1: they are good enough to be here exactly, and they're solid.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was just thinking about it because I
Speaker 1: talked with Jacobson yesterday too, who is practice squad quarterback
Speaker 1: taking scout team reps yesterday, taking his first live reps
Speaker 1: since coming to Carolina in practice, which was you know.
Speaker 1: I talked to him about it and he kind of laughed.
Speaker 1: He was like, yeah, if it was my first time
Speaker 1: doing that, you know, outside of drills and everything. But um,
Speaker 1: talking with p J, you know throughout, I was just thinking.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously his career to this point has been wild,
Speaker 1: but even here this point, I mean, you had in
Speaker 1: training camp it was Sam Donald versus Baker Mayfield. Also
Speaker 1: Matt Corral is here, and it's like, oh yeah, p J. Walker.
Speaker 1: And to see it's week six and now he's already,
Speaker 1: you know, taking the first team reps in practice. It's
Speaker 1: just kind of crazy. But it takes that level of
Speaker 1: mentality to be so level, like no matter what day
Speaker 1: of the week you're talking to p J or Jacobson
Speaker 1: or anybody there, they don't and and all football players
Speaker 1: that you talked to, you know, they're like, I can't
Speaker 1: get too hot, I can't get too low all this stuff,
Speaker 1: but they really exemplify it better than any because they
Speaker 1: don't I mean sometimes they won't see the field at all,
Speaker 1: but no matter what, when they're called up, they're like
Speaker 1: same as always. That's what p J said. He's like,
Speaker 1: I prepare like I'm the starter all the time, and
Speaker 1: it's it's just they're so even killed. And that's honestly,
Speaker 1: like outside of football, that's a good life perspective. Like, honestly,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be more like J. Not not every football
Speaker 1: is this way, not every football player is this way.
Speaker 1: But p J Walker was blessed with the gift of
Speaker 1: self awareness. P J Walker understands better than anybody. If
Speaker 1: Matt Corral and Sam Donald don't get hurt in the preseason,
Speaker 1: he is unemployed. He was not gonna be on this roster.
Speaker 1: He was the fourth or fourth throughout training camp. Felt
Speaker 1: bad for him at times because you know, they're out
Speaker 1: there doing weekly press conference with Baker and Sam during
Speaker 1: this competition and oh, by the way, as shiny new rookie,
Speaker 1: you know, and just but p J kept just doing
Speaker 1: his PJ thing and and being ready for whatever came
Speaker 1: to him. And now let's come to him again, that
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo of the Southeast. If I may, uh no,
Speaker 1: we will have um. This was this was a great episode.
Speaker 1: I hope everyone got some insight into what it's been
Speaker 1: like in the building this week, and we will have
Speaker 1: plenty to talk about next week on the Happy Half
Speaker 1: Hour podcast. So thank you both for all of your
Speaker 1: insight and thank all of you for listening. We'll see
Speaker 1: you next Thursday. M M wow.