Speaker 1: This week on the Happy half Hour to run the
Speaker 1: risk of being a little sappy at the holidays. This
Speaker 1: team is pretty likable. When you started season the way
Speaker 1: this one started, it's kind of hard to get people back.
Speaker 1: But I think people just talking to neighbors, talking to
Speaker 1: people you know, you see at the grocery store. I mean,
Speaker 1: there is an energy about these guys. Text it's time
Speaker 1: for the Happy Half Hour with your Friends. Kristen Balboni,
Speaker 1: Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon. That's right, it's that time
Speaker 1: of the week. It's the Happy half Hour podcast with
Speaker 1: your friends, Darren, Augusta and Kristen and Darren and Augusta.
Speaker 1: I have to say, I know it is Thursday morning
Speaker 1: as we record this, but we've all been very busy
Speaker 1: this week, so I feel like it's only right to
Speaker 1: go back and have a little Seattle celebration. We the
Speaker 1: three of us, haven't had a chance to do that,
Speaker 1: to talk about just what a game that was. I
Speaker 1: think I think the Panthers fans listening will be okay
Speaker 1: with that, right, guys, Absolutely, yeah, I think people should
Speaker 1: be okay with that. Has it been a long time
Speaker 1: since we've had one quite like that? Around tier and
Speaker 1: it's been you know, Augustine, I've been laughing about it
Speaker 1: all season about this year contains multitudes and all the
Speaker 1: weird stuff we've seen Sunday was the good football stuff
Speaker 1: that was, you know, you needed to get a big
Speaker 1: win in a crucial situation on the road against a
Speaker 1: playoff team, and then they went and did all the things.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just it was all the stuff Steve
Speaker 1: Wilkes has been talking about, all that he's been trying
Speaker 1: to get them to do made manifest. They made defensive
Speaker 1: plays at big moments. They ran the ball with personality. Um,
Speaker 1: they basically dominated a good team by just beating them
Speaker 1: about the head and shoulders on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: It was it was something to behold. And you know,
Speaker 1: there were moments in that thing where it's like you
Speaker 1: still aren't quite sure it's going to go that way,
Speaker 1: and then they just embark on another seven minutes, seventy
Speaker 1: yard touchdown drive and it's like, dang, these guys are
Speaker 1: actually good. Started out quick too. Everyone was talking so
Speaker 1: much about the atmosphere, but it was so funny every
Speaker 1: time you know, scored a touchdown and get a field
Speaker 1: goal that j C interception would go very quiet, and
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they wanted to do. So it was
Speaker 1: very quick, too, very quick. When you go up seventeen
Speaker 1: to nothing, that certainly has a way of neutralizing the crowd.
Speaker 1: But to Darren's point, I want to go back. I
Speaker 1: know exactly what drive you're talking about, Darren, is when
Speaker 1: they get down to the goal line, you get four
Speaker 1: tries at it, come away with no points. Seattle's creeping in.
Speaker 1: I don't remember the exact score at that time, but
Speaker 1: it's it's close, and you go, all right, so now
Speaker 1: they need to stop and they need to drive down
Speaker 1: the field and gosh started they do it. They did,
Speaker 1: and they did it without Deonte Foreman on the field
Speaker 1: because I think, you know, Wilke said after the game,
Speaker 1: he was fine, he was well, it wasn't a physical thing.
Speaker 1: I think they just wanted to change up the rhythm
Speaker 1: on the run game a little bit. But he didn't
Speaker 1: go into the game with a little bit of a
Speaker 1: foot I don't know if they thought he had X
Speaker 1: number of carries in him or whatever. But then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, it's just Cuba and Raheem black Shear
Speaker 1: and you go straight down the field with those two guys,
Speaker 1: and it's um. It was something to say, for sure, Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what on on that drive, you know,
Speaker 1: doing the radio broadcast, I thought it was. It was
Speaker 1: one of my favorite kind of like broadcasting moments, right
Speaker 1: because we're watching that drive and there's no Deonta Foreman there.
Speaker 1: So I tell our executive producer, David Links, so I'm
Speaker 1: gonna check and make sure that he's okay. Right, He's
Speaker 1: standing there, you know, right beside Jeff Nixon running backs coach,
Speaker 1: ready to go in helmet on. You're like, okay, you know,
Speaker 1: he's fine. He tries to sneak out on the field
Speaker 1: a couple of times, Jeff Nixon pulls him back. He's like,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, we're gonna go with Tuba raheim. Um.
Speaker 1: And at the same time a Ni shar play by
Speaker 1: I played broadcaster, was like, hey, is everything okay with
Speaker 1: Deonta Foreman? Because we're all wondering the same thing. I
Speaker 1: do the report and then Jordan Gross are incredible analysts.
Speaker 1: Of course, Panthers legend is like no, they just the
Speaker 1: matchup that they're getting the eleven personnel, like they it
Speaker 1: makes more sense to go with these other guys there,
Speaker 1: and uh, it was just a neat series to to
Speaker 1: watch that play out, because I do think if you're
Speaker 1: watching or listening at home, you're like, well, now where
Speaker 1: is deante Foreman? Is he? Okay? Um? But gosh, what
Speaker 1: a what a good problem to have, you know, you
Speaker 1: can't get your your hundred yard rushing guy, you know
Speaker 1: in the game, because it's it's we got two other
Speaker 1: guys who were on fire, and we like the matchup right,
Speaker 1: and as much as and Cuba had a great game
Speaker 1: and he is an explosive back and change of pace
Speaker 1: back and credit where credits due, there were also a
Speaker 1: couple of hey, Tuba Hubbard just caught that past out
Speaker 1: of the backfield and that's always not been a strength
Speaker 1: of his. Uh, and he's getting better at that part
Speaker 1: of the game. So you start seeing these different ways
Speaker 1: of running the football. But the dad in me, the
Speaker 1: old man in me, knows that where that comes from
Speaker 1: is those five or six or seven or eight big
Speaker 1: guys up front. I mean, and the commitment of hey,
Speaker 1: we're gonna run can't just be about running backs, even
Speaker 1: though those are the guys with the ball in their hands.
Speaker 1: This is years of preparation. This was an entire offseason
Speaker 1: plan of we gotta get better up front, so we're
Speaker 1: gonna go sign Austin Corbett and Bradley Boseman in free agency,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna use our first draft pick not on
Speaker 1: a quarterback but on a left tackle. That was personality
Speaker 1: and and that, to me, as much as anything was
Speaker 1: what comes out of that Seattle game is listen, Playing
Speaker 1: that kind of offensive football is maybe not going to
Speaker 1: win you a Super Bowl, but with what the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers have on this roster right now, it is the
Speaker 1: absolute best way to play because this is what you have.
Speaker 1: You may not have quarterbacks that are gonna go to
Speaker 1: Pro Bowls. You may not have a bunch of wide
Speaker 1: receivers who are gonna put up fantasy status. You may
Speaker 1: not have tight ends who are you know out down
Speaker 1: there running seam routes like Travis Elsie and and make
Speaker 1: him big plays that get on the highlight shows. But
Speaker 1: what you've got is a bunch big offensive linemen who
Speaker 1: are perfectly happy to just bludging people to death. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and what what does that do for? I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't think this offensive line lacks confidence. They have been
Speaker 1: so consistent this season, but to go into an environment
Speaker 1: like Seattle where at points you can't look at the
Speaker 1: person beside you and hear what they're saying, and to
Speaker 1: be able to control the game, I mean, the time
Speaker 1: of possession was so lopsided. You control the game and
Speaker 1: you rush for over two three yards I believe was
Speaker 1: the exact number. Because then you have to feel like,
Speaker 1: right dere in Augusta, for the rest of the season,
Speaker 1: we just run it on anyone we can. We can
Speaker 1: control uh the game. And and this is the blueprinting.
Speaker 1: And I talked to j C after the game and
Speaker 1: I said, well, as a defense, what does it mean
Speaker 1: when your offense can do something like that? And he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, he said, all these offenses out here trying
Speaker 1: to get cute and throw the ball around and we're
Speaker 1: just gonna run it down people's throats. But I have
Speaker 1: to imagine that for that line, the test that that
Speaker 1: game was, you have to come away out of there
Speaker 1: with tons of confidence. Well. I talked with Bradley Boseman
Speaker 1: after the game, and it was kind of something that
Speaker 1: I heard across the offense, but he said it very well.
Speaker 1: He was like, well, if I felt like we played
Speaker 1: like us, you know, I mean there's a big talk
Speaker 1: about identity and how when Steve Wilkes came in here,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I remember his first introductory press conference.
Speaker 1: He was like, we're going to run the ball. We're
Speaker 1: gonna like own the lines of scrimmage. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: our thing. That's what he said, and and Bose told me,
Speaker 1: and a lot of them said, you know, it's like,
Speaker 1: I feel like in this game we really did show
Speaker 1: like who we were and we performed it to the
Speaker 1: to the top of their ability. And that's finding identities
Speaker 1: one of those things that I felt like early in
Speaker 1: the season, at least as someone who was new, I
Speaker 1: was like, what are they trying to do? What's going
Speaker 1: on here? And I think, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like I was like, Okay, nothing's really working. I don't understand.
Speaker 1: I kind of do, but not really. And um, the
Speaker 1: past few weeks, I mean, they figured it out. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, is that is that too harsh?
Speaker 1: That's honest. It's very honest. Like what happened. I mean,
Speaker 1: there was talk in the past about one to run
Speaker 1: the ball and when Christian McCaffrey's here. You want to
Speaker 1: run an offense through Christian McCaffrey. But I went back
Speaker 1: and looked. I mean even with Christian, you know, through
Speaker 1: five weeks, I think they were twenty something seven in
Speaker 1: the league and rush yards a game. Uh, and that
Speaker 1: was with Christian McCaffrey. Now even when you let those
Speaker 1: numbers drag the average down, now there in the league
Speaker 1: and rushing that statement of intent kind of stuff, that is,
Speaker 1: here's how we're not just going to say we're going
Speaker 1: to run. We're going to run repeatedly. Is that the
Speaker 1: biggest thing? Because I know there's a variety of factors
Speaker 1: right that go into that, whether it's you know, you
Speaker 1: don't have Christian McCaffrey anymore, so you've got to figure
Speaker 1: things out, the emergence of Deonta Foreman, progression of young
Speaker 1: guys like Ikey and Brady Christiansen. But is it is
Speaker 1: the biggest factor in the success. They're just that they
Speaker 1: are committed to the run and and not just saying
Speaker 1: that they're committed, Like what do you attribute this incredible
Speaker 1: up ticket. I think that's a lot of it. I
Speaker 1: think and and Steve said something the other day when
Speaker 1: somebody asked him about Sam Donald, and there were a
Speaker 1: couple of plays during that first and goal from the
Speaker 1: three where they didn't get any points. There were a
Speaker 1: couple of plays that segment where Sam could have run
Speaker 1: and would have scored, and there was another play that
Speaker 1: he tried to go downfield Sullivan didn't connect, and Sam said, yesterday,
Speaker 1: you know, if if we hit that, it's an explosive play.
Speaker 1: Everybody's pat me on the back. But Steve said something
Speaker 1: the other day. He said, I think quarterbacks are conditioned
Speaker 1: to want to do things by passing. And I think
Speaker 1: when the Carolina Panthers were looking for quarterbacks, whether it
Speaker 1: was Teddy, whether it was Sam last year, or whether
Speaker 1: it was Baker the first part of this year, it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, we went found quarterback. Now we gotta make
Speaker 1: quarterback work. Rather than I made the analogy the other day.
Speaker 1: This offense is like one of those cooking shows where
Speaker 1: you get the mystery basket and it's like, what am
Speaker 1: I going to do with this stuff? Well, what you
Speaker 1: do is make soup. What you do is take this
Speaker 1: odd a lot of ingredients. And I don't think I'm
Speaker 1: going to be a top five passing game. So don't
Speaker 1: do that. You know, take this stuff you have and
Speaker 1: make the most of it. In right now, Making the
Speaker 1: most of this means running the ball, not just not
Speaker 1: just for yards but often, and that tempo and that
Speaker 1: cadence of here comes just boom, boom boom. It's not
Speaker 1: a formula, I don't think to win a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But when you can put a seven minute field goal
Speaker 1: drive on the field, that's effective. That's a cumulative thing
Speaker 1: that in the fourth quarter, and you saw it on
Speaker 1: the Bradley Bozeman, you know, miked up segment. You wear
Speaker 1: people out eventually by doing that kind of stuff. And
Speaker 1: so if that's what you've got, you know, coaching can
Speaker 1: be simple. Sometimes the things you're good at, do more
Speaker 1: of those the things you struggle with, why are you trying?
Speaker 1: And it's been the formula for success for the Panthers lately.
Speaker 1: Uh speaking of a seven minute field goal drive, how
Speaker 1: about our guy Eddie Pinero see Special Teams Player of
Speaker 1: the Week. I was talking to Steve Boks yesterday about
Speaker 1: just the progression and what he's seen from him since
Speaker 1: missing that that field goal in Atlanta, Since since missing
Speaker 1: those two big kicks in Atlanta, um, and he said, man,
Speaker 1: just the confidence that he has now and I attribute
Speaker 1: it to that team rallying around him. And then also,
Speaker 1: you remember the day after the Atlanta game at Steve
Speaker 1: Books came out and said, we're not looking for other kickers,
Speaker 1: and boy, it's paid off for them. What have you
Speaker 1: guys seen from Eddie? Well, that's just I mean I
Speaker 1: was talking to him yesterday about it and he's he's
Speaker 1: you know, I will say one thing about Eddie and
Speaker 1: I want to say it about Johnny and j J two.
Speaker 1: Those three are so fun to just watch interact. I mean,
Speaker 1: and especially you know, you see him in good and
Speaker 1: in bad and I think he was supported from the jump.
Speaker 1: But I mean, they're just the most fun if you're
Speaker 1: just hanging out at practice and you know, you just
Speaker 1: look around and they're specialists, are always having they're the best,
Speaker 1: and they've really embraced of and um. You know, Steve
Speaker 1: was asked about it again yesterday, you know, like, oh,
Speaker 1: did you ever think about wavering from Eddie? And it's
Speaker 1: like no, and and and it's it's great to see
Speaker 1: you know, the street keys on. He was so excited
Speaker 1: about it. Wasn't his first time getting the u NFC
Speaker 1: UH Special Teams Player of the Week. He he told me,
Speaker 1: he was like, oh, I got it back in Chicago.
Speaker 1: He's like, but it was twenty nineteen, three years too long,
Speaker 1: And I was like, you're right, Eddie. He's he's just
Speaker 1: he's he's a great presence to have in the locker room.
Speaker 1: He's he's really a fun guy and UM happy to
Speaker 1: see him have success. And I mean, practice kicks everything.
Speaker 1: He he's he's he's sharp, He's he's sharpening up at
Speaker 1: the right time. I mean, mistakes happen, and it was
Speaker 1: the worst possible kind of mistakes and that moment. But
Speaker 1: he's really come back and they haven't wavered from him
Speaker 1: at all, and that's really exciting. And I think with
Speaker 1: Eddie the thing that keeps coming back to me is
Speaker 1: he is effectively, or at least on Labor Day weekend,
Speaker 1: he was effectively no better than the thirty third bit
Speaker 1: kicker in the NFL, because everybody already had one, and
Speaker 1: it took Zane Gonzalez getting hurt for them to go
Speaker 1: looking and find Eddie at a time when everybody else
Speaker 1: already had either one or two kickers on rosters. So
Speaker 1: they were looking around, scrambling, trying to find somebody. And
Speaker 1: that's a situation where you don't expect guys to come
Speaker 1: in and be consistent. And what Eddie Pinero is right
Speaker 1: now is the second most accurate the or goal kicker
Speaker 1: in the NFL among the regulars. I mean, he's not
Speaker 1: just doing good for a guy you picked up off
Speaker 1: the street. He's playing really well. He is. That's again
Speaker 1: enough the Special Teams player of the weekend. I do
Speaker 1: think it's um need for you know, you don't. You
Speaker 1: don't talk about your kicker all the time. It's one
Speaker 1: of those things, right, It's like your offensive linement. A
Speaker 1: lot of times you're only talking about them if something
Speaker 1: bad happens. But I think it's great for Panthers fans
Speaker 1: to remember because it felt like when Zane Gonzalez really
Speaker 1: became consistent, it was like, Okay, are our kicker. Troubles
Speaker 1: are over? Certainly Panthers fans remember a couple of years
Speaker 1: prior to that at the revolving door, Uh, the Joey
Speaker 1: Sly of it, all, all of that stuff, right, we
Speaker 1: have fallen memories of the Ryan Santoso area. Yes, great
Speaker 1: mustache um and then you know, Zing gets hurt, and
Speaker 1: I think if you're a Panthers fan, you go, oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, what is this gonna what is this gonna be?
Speaker 1: And um and then for for Eddie to, like you said,
Speaker 1: be consistent and very good. Um, except for that really
Speaker 1: Goodtlanta game, I just think it's it's pretty great, as
Speaker 1: you said, Darren, considering where he started at the beginning
Speaker 1: of the year, which was, you know, not on a team. Um,
Speaker 1: So it's been it's been fun to watch. I'm really
Speaker 1: happy for him, and it's been neat to see what
Speaker 1: he's been able to do. And I will tell you
Speaker 1: what that. Of course Atlanta plays in the Dome. But
Speaker 1: since then, not only has he been good, we've had
Speaker 1: weather almost every game since then. And I'm very aware
Speaker 1: of that, as I will let anybody know, you know,
Speaker 1: being on the sideline, we've had weather in almost every game. Um,
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Seattle we add a tropical storm here on
Speaker 1: Thursday night football, all games that have come up, and
Speaker 1: those conditions, I mean we're talking about it every single game.
Speaker 1: What are the conditions like for Eddie Panneiro, for Johnny
Speaker 1: Hecker and boy, I mean it's it's like it doesn't
Speaker 1: even matter. Add tropical storm. I had forgotten that one
Speaker 1: for bingo card. Of all the things we've seen last year,
Speaker 1: the yes, there was a hurricane that one week. Ah,
Speaker 1: that too well. And in Augustine was taught telling me
Speaker 1: this in a in a press box. I mean you've
Speaker 1: got the theory about Eddie and weather. I mean sometimes
Speaker 1: when you do I do well. I asked him about it. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he's better in bad weather, like I asked
Speaker 1: him about I think that I think the stats would
Speaker 1: hold up to that so far. This exactly, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: asked him, you know, and he's he'll always be like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, the weather. He loves to talk about the
Speaker 1: weather in Chicago and how bad it was and how
Speaker 1: but but like I I would be like, okay, especially
Speaker 1: that tropical storm game in Atlanta to come back, you know,
Speaker 1: Eddie Eddie game here, you know against Falcon, same thing,
Speaker 1: but that weather was absolutely awful. I mean he was
Speaker 1: like the win was going all sorts of different directions.
Speaker 1: And then he's like, super accurate. It's so funny. I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what. The game in Baltimore. Justin Tucker, the
Speaker 1: best kicker of all time, said that the game in
Speaker 1: Baltimore was the worst he had ever seen it in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and he was very upset pregame about what you know
Speaker 1: about the conditions and all of that, and Eddie kicked
Speaker 1: the exact same field goal. Now, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of other things that went wrong for the Panthers in
Speaker 1: that game, but Eddie was not one of them. So
Speaker 1: hats off, hats off to him, you know, really really
Speaker 1: happy for him, and uh speaking being happy for a guy.
Speaker 1: I want to get you guys take on on Sam
Speaker 1: Donald the last couple of games, Darren, I know you
Speaker 1: want to talk about his beard. We gotta get in
Speaker 1: there too. I mean, Derek Brown said it the other day.
Speaker 1: Bearded face Sam is a lot more chilled than plane
Speaker 1: face Sam. I think he's chilling all the time. But
Speaker 1: I think this beard, and again, I kept thinking back
Speaker 1: to Santa claus Is coming to town, the old Great
Speaker 1: Rank and Bass Christmas special, you know, with with Chris
Speaker 1: Kringle and that solid red beard, no mustache. Um, I
Speaker 1: think that's Sam's role model. And I showed it to
Speaker 1: him yesterday. I was like, yeah, that's pretty good, but
Speaker 1: he's kind of laughed. I mean, at this point in
Speaker 1: the season. Anytime athletes get on any kind of streak,
Speaker 1: they get a little stitious, as Sam says, and things
Speaker 1: aren't going to change. So I would be very surprised
Speaker 1: if Sam shaves. Between now and the end of this season.
Speaker 1: We'll get to see just how good his beard growth is,
Speaker 1: because he's had the beard since I believe training camp.
Speaker 1: So we'll see if over the next four weeks is
Speaker 1: he is his beard growth a lot? Like is it
Speaker 1: going to be hanging off the facey Fitzpatrick? You know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: where do we go the next four weeks? I'm excited.
Speaker 1: I will never forget Christian McCaffrey saying he's got big
Speaker 1: lepricn energy and Sam was like, I'm taking this from
Speaker 1: an actual lepricn you know, but uh and they were
Speaker 1: laughing about that. But yeah, Sam is here's a thing.
Speaker 1: Not a lot is being asked of Sam right now,
Speaker 1: and he is fulfilling the requirements. And the first requirement
Speaker 1: is don't give it to the other team. And so
Speaker 1: even in Denver the other week, when the ball comes
Speaker 1: out of his hands at the goal line, you get
Speaker 1: the Holy Roller part two. I mean Sam falls on
Speaker 1: it and does the fire drill stop, drop and roll.
Speaker 1: He's in the um and and he hasn't thrown any interceptions.
Speaker 1: I mean there's been a couple of spots where the
Speaker 1: decisions you're like, it might have done that one differently
Speaker 1: or this, but he hasn't had that big, oh my god,
Speaker 1: catastrophic turnover you know, run like he had at times
Speaker 1: last year. And as long as he can do that,
Speaker 1: they've created the condition around him where they can succeed
Speaker 1: that way. And how how much for a quarterback? I
Speaker 1: know it's only been two games, but this is the
Speaker 1: best offensive line he's ever played behind. So what does
Speaker 1: that do for a quarterbacks confidence? I asked him about
Speaker 1: it yesterday and he's like, you know, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: I always like when you asked Sam something, it's like
Speaker 1: he thinks about it for a second and you get
Speaker 1: that yeah. Um. But he he knows that he's got
Speaker 1: those guys in front of him in a way. You know,
Speaker 1: last year, fourteen lines in seventeen games in his eleven starts,
Speaker 1: their eight different combinations of guys and people coming in
Speaker 1: and out and people starting who you know, we're claimed
Speaker 1: off waivers are signed off the streets. So it um, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was not great last year and it's much better now.
Speaker 1: And the way they're protecting, I mean this has become
Speaker 1: in addition to the running stuff, the way they passed protected.
Speaker 1: I mean they gave up seventeen sacks in the first
Speaker 1: five five games. I think they've given up eleven in
Speaker 1: the eight sins. So everything up front is getting better.
Speaker 1: And those guys, you know, we talked about it with
Speaker 1: Ikey when he was drafted. You knew he was a
Speaker 1: great run blocker. You knew he was physical, you knew
Speaker 1: he was aggressive. As time has gone by, we haven't
Speaker 1: had one of those weeks in a while where you say,
Speaker 1: oh Icky learned, he learned something today, he got an
Speaker 1: education from pass rusher X today. We had one of
Speaker 1: those in a minute. I was just thinking about that,
Speaker 1: like I said about with your kicker, your offensive line.
Speaker 1: There's so much going on with this team, as you
Speaker 1: said that, the roller coaster, Darren and all the things
Speaker 1: that have happened. It's really Ikey's progression has almost gone
Speaker 1: under the radar a little bit because there are so
Speaker 1: many other things to talk about, a lot of them
Speaker 1: good right now, but it's really been I mean, he's
Speaker 1: he is. I don't want to. You know, I'm sure
Speaker 1: if I said this is Scott Fitter, he goes, Hold
Speaker 1: on a second, But I need to say overall, he's
Speaker 1: what you want him to be as your your first
Speaker 1: overall pick your left tackle, right, I mean this progression
Speaker 1: is is where you would hope it would be as
Speaker 1: a Panthers fan for the most part. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: remember talking to Jordan's about him earlier in the year
Speaker 1: and he said, listen, it's gonna take him a minute.
Speaker 1: It's going to take him some time. But I think
Speaker 1: another important part of that is, you know, when Jordan's
Speaker 1: was a rookie, when Jordan was a young player, he
Speaker 1: had a Treville Wharton to stand next to him, and
Speaker 1: those two kind of locked in together for a long
Speaker 1: time and that was a pretty good pairing. Now it's
Speaker 1: not just Icky, it's Ikey and Brady Christiansen. Right there
Speaker 1: no same two spots, and it's going to continue to
Speaker 1: get better because those two guys could conceivably played together
Speaker 1: for the next three or four years. It was it
Speaker 1: was funny. You guys will appreciate this. We were the
Speaker 1: game was over in Seattle and they, you know, hand
Speaker 1: you out like a bad dinner, right, Um, as you
Speaker 1: walk out to the buses and um, I hear someone
Speaker 1: behind me as I'm grabbing mine, go we did it.
Speaker 1: And I look and it's Ikey and he goes, we
Speaker 1: did it. After the game, so lucky we didn't do it.
Speaker 1: You did it. I didn't. And he was like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: you does. Like, well, I'll take all the credit. That's fine,
Speaker 1: but just thanks Christy. Yeah, I just we did it.
Speaker 1: You know. It was just it was adorable, if I
Speaker 1: may say so. And again to to run the risk
Speaker 1: of being a little sappy at the holidays, this team
Speaker 1: is pretty likable right now. I mean that I get
Speaker 1: the sense that people out in the community are sort
Speaker 1: of it's been so when you start a season the
Speaker 1: way this when started, it's kind of hard to get
Speaker 1: people back on the boat. But I think people just
Speaker 1: talking to neighbors, talking to people you know, you see
Speaker 1: at the grocery store. I mean, there is an energy
Speaker 1: about these guys because I think people do respond to
Speaker 1: that physical style. People do respond to guys like Burns
Speaker 1: and J. C. Horne knows homegrown guys who they are yours,
Speaker 1: and I would hope you would respond to the fact
Speaker 1: that they could still win the division, you know, I
Speaker 1: mean it's it is despite the record, it is meaningful
Speaker 1: football in December, and it's been a minute since we've
Speaker 1: had that here in Mayberry. It's shuere Is. I want
Speaker 1: to just for the fans. I'm sure they're wondering d
Speaker 1: J Moore. There were some questions about out how he
Speaker 1: was after the game. This is we're recording this Thursday morning,
Speaker 1: so we've only seen one day of practice. But but Darren,
Speaker 1: he's a He was a full participant in practice yesterday.
Speaker 1: And I think that'sbody was expecting calamity. I think Quinn
Speaker 1: he pops up on the reports early in the week
Speaker 1: and he's getting m r s and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Usually when that happens, the news is at least a
Speaker 1: little worrying. But DJ was out there run around yesterday
Speaker 1: like he was all right. So we'll see what the
Speaker 1: injury report, which you can read on Panthers dot Com,
Speaker 1: we'll say later today. But I think DJs are right,
Speaker 1: which is good now. Yeah, Well, and Augusta, as we
Speaker 1: turn our attention to this Pittsburgh team. We don't know
Speaker 1: who the quarterback is going to be, Um, but but
Speaker 1: what are what are you hearing about what the guys
Speaker 1: are saying in terms of like the chances for this
Speaker 1: gave me. We heard Steve Wilkes, if you watched his
Speaker 1: great victory locker room speech, he said, look, give you
Speaker 1: victory Monday, give you the day off. You gotta come back.
Speaker 1: We don't lose at home, and they don't under Steve Wilkes.
Speaker 1: So what is this matchup looking like and when what
Speaker 1: are they gonna have to do exactly exactly. I think
Speaker 1: that's the biggest message that we've heard from from when
Speaker 1: we were still in Seattle, which is kind of fun
Speaker 1: to when we got back now is we protect the bank,
Speaker 1: which I think is something I've seen on Twitter a
Speaker 1: lot of fans are kind of latching onto. I think
Speaker 1: I think they really like that message from what I've gathered.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean I think it's it's one of
Speaker 1: those one game at a time, don't lay if I
Speaker 1: tried it. I was talking talking with j C yesterday
Speaker 1: about this, and if you try to talk too far
Speaker 1: ahead with a lot of these guys, they won't let you.
Speaker 1: You know, they won't, they won't respond to your questions.
Speaker 1: They'll be like, well, one day at a time. I
Speaker 1: tried so hard to get j C to talk to
Speaker 1: me about it, and he was like, well, we're taking it,
Speaker 1: you know, day by day. You know Pittsburgh right now.
Speaker 1: But but there's there's that there's a very big, I
Speaker 1: think decent chance that Panthers win this game, Tampa Bay
Speaker 1: loses to Cincinnati. Then what you know what I'm saying, like,
Speaker 1: think about it that way, because because the Bengals are
Speaker 1: on there there into the season strenk I follow the Bengals.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying they're playing yep, yep. It's one of
Speaker 1: those things you look at it and you're like, there's
Speaker 1: like a lot of national attention. It's fun to you know,
Speaker 1: they're getting a lot of questions right now about getting
Speaker 1: more national attention, and see books is like, we don't
Speaker 1: pay attention to it. You try to ask them about it,
Speaker 1: we don't pay attention to it. But but there's an energy.
Speaker 1: There's definitely an energy. I mean, I think I think
Speaker 1: it's one of those things they know what's in front
Speaker 1: of them, and they're they're choosing to leave it off
Speaker 1: in the horizon versus letting it come. Because at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, if I'm not mistaken, right, you
Speaker 1: you win out, all you canna do is we just
Speaker 1: win all your games, right and and that's it. So
Speaker 1: what a great place to be where you don't have
Speaker 1: to pay attention, you can block everything out because, like
Speaker 1: we said meaningful football in December, you have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to to do what what everyone who in this league
Speaker 1: wants to do, which is you have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: to get your team there. Right. And we've mentioned win
Speaker 1: out before, and that's you know, if you win out,
Speaker 1: it's easy. If you win out, you've got a noninate record,
Speaker 1: and yes you are the division champions. It might not
Speaker 1: even take win and out. I think three and one
Speaker 1: can still do it. The key, the big key is
Speaker 1: going to be that game at Tampa on New Year's Day.
Speaker 1: I mean, and that's the one you really got to
Speaker 1: have to make any of these scenarios work. But it's
Speaker 1: possible that three and one can still get you to
Speaker 1: the playoffs, as long as the one ain't that game
Speaker 1: in Tampa, because what you what you want is the tiebreaker.
Speaker 1: They've got to win over Tampa here and on division record.
Speaker 1: I even love I I saw last night and I
Speaker 1: tweeted it out. Roger Sherman from The Ringer has the
Speaker 1: ultimate chaos scenario in which the entire division is tied
Speaker 1: at six and eleven at the end of the year,
Speaker 1: and in that case, the Carolina Panthers would still go
Speaker 1: through as the division champion based on tiebreakers because it included,
Speaker 1: you know, the Panthers winning that Bucks game. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I hope not. I hope that's not the way it
Speaker 1: has considering the way the NFC South has gone. Um,
Speaker 1: but this game, specifically against Pittsburgh, Darren, what are you
Speaker 1: What are you thinking you were talking about? I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get you to say what you were saying before
Speaker 1: we started rolling here, which you feel good about it.
Speaker 1: Here's here's the thing. I think when people think about Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: they think about Terry Bradshaw and Mel Blunt and Donnie
Speaker 1: Shell and and me and Joe Green, or they think
Speaker 1: about Ben Roethlisberger Troy Palm. This is not a classic
Speaker 1: Steelers team. The Steelers are not playing great football right now.
Speaker 1: And I think the jerseys look familiar, and the legacy
Speaker 1: is there, and they've still got that Mike tom on
Speaker 1: Guy and and T. J. Watt is back and and Minca.
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick's capable of changing games at any given moment. Okay, Darren,
Speaker 1: now you're talking us out of it now. But but
Speaker 1: but they're not great, and they've got questions at quarterback.
Speaker 1: And even before they had questions at quarterback, there were
Speaker 1: questions about how they were moving the ball, similar to
Speaker 1: what's been going on here at times this year, because
Speaker 1: the offense has been an issue and they haven't had
Speaker 1: that big, dominant offensive line as they've had in the
Speaker 1: past to be able to sustain running games. So they've
Speaker 1: been a little bit of a mess offensively all season long.
Speaker 1: So you know, they are actually the best run defense
Speaker 1: of the remaining four opponents, but they're still not but
Speaker 1: they're like middle of them. But they're very middle of
Speaker 1: the pack run defense, and and honestly, Seattle was very
Speaker 1: bad at run defense. That was they were down the
Speaker 1: bottom of the league in that category. And now you're
Speaker 1: back kind of the middle of the pack where they
Speaker 1: also exist offensively. So it's, uh, it's going to be
Speaker 1: an interesting case study to see what these guys are
Speaker 1: all about. I mean to see, because if they're I
Speaker 1: don't think anybody's gonna let the Pittsburgh Steelers. Sneak up
Speaker 1: on them because they're the Steelers, and your conditioned to
Speaker 1: think a certain way about them. But this is not
Speaker 1: your father's Pittsburgh Steelers team, which is great for the Panthers.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll see what happens on Sunday. Thank you
Speaker 1: all for listening to the behalf of our podcast. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next week. Wow.