Speaker 1: It's time with a Happy half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Chris Student Balboni, Will Brian, and Darren Gay. Welcome to
Speaker 1: a special edition of the Happy Half Hour. We're calling
Speaker 1: it the Senior Edition for the Senior Bowl, but really,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you really think about it, pretty much
Speaker 1: every episode of this podcast is is senior, right, Darren,
Speaker 1: I just got called old and I don't appreciate it,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna move on because I'm a professional journalist. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: I won't ever tell anyone to read your mailbags again
Speaker 1: since you just kind of lean into it there, so
Speaker 1: no more plugs for you. Yeah, all right, Well it's
Speaker 1: it's old because I'm in Central time in Alabama and
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure what day or time it is, so,
Speaker 1: you know, abstract concepts like time have lost all meaning
Speaker 1: for me right now by the beauty of the Internet.
Speaker 1: Darren is in mobile? Am I saying that? Right? Did
Speaker 1: I say right? Mobile? Mobile rather than the move? Got it? That?
Speaker 1: That's somewhat similar to when I was calling in from
Speaker 1: where was it in the outskirts of North Carolina? And yeah,
Speaker 1: that's it one the cone to town. Um So, anyway,
Speaker 1: Darren has been doing some journalism doing the real, the
Speaker 1: big j journalism down in Alabama, covering all of the prospects.
Speaker 1: We'll get to some of that here in a second,
Speaker 1: but Darren, first, I want to get your rapid reaction,
Speaker 1: which you're so good at doing, to the new Washington commanders.
Speaker 1: Immediate thoughts. It could be worse. I don't love it.
Speaker 1: It doesn't move me. I mean, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: little you know, they're leaning heavy into the military thing,
Speaker 1: and you know, I guess if that's going to be
Speaker 1: a brand, that's one I suppose a lot of people
Speaker 1: are gonna like. But I mean my big thing on
Speaker 1: them is it beats the alternative. So I I was
Speaker 1: kind of digging on the Washington football team. It had
Speaker 1: kind of a it was like sting as an artist.
Speaker 1: You know, it's qua without being over the top. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: it could be a lot worse. I mean, it's not
Speaker 1: a particularly in terms of design. I don't know that
Speaker 1: it's brilliant or cutting edge or anything like that. But
Speaker 1: I think it's good and it's solid, and it certainly
Speaker 1: fits the vibe they've got going on with Ron Rivera,
Speaker 1: I know that. Yeah. I mean I'm okay with I'm
Speaker 1: okay with safe on things like this. You know, I
Speaker 1: don't like going all the way overboard into some sort
Speaker 1: of you know, cartoonish fantasyland when it comes to logos
Speaker 1: and mascots and all that. And I think it's I
Speaker 1: think it's interesting both between them and in Cleveland of
Speaker 1: maybe mascots or or of nicknames that aren't necessarily used
Speaker 1: everywhere all the time. And I think that the logo
Speaker 1: marks and kind of the representation is more based around
Speaker 1: you know, the city or the letters, which I think
Speaker 1: is more of a kind of a soccer vibe, which
Speaker 1: I kind of like, moving away from just cartoony representations
Speaker 1: of weird parts of society. I don't know, you know.
Speaker 1: And we went through a stretch in the nineties where
Speaker 1: every base every minor league baseball team was the Something Dogs,
Speaker 1: you know, the Diamonds or whatever it happened, the River
Speaker 1: Dogs exactly. But it's, uh, you know, it's good to
Speaker 1: branch out a little bit. I mean, you're right in
Speaker 1: that it would have also been a mistake to get
Speaker 1: too cartoonish with this thing. I do remember that once
Speaker 1: upon a time, back in the nineties, there were there
Speaker 1: was at least one consultant who thought it would be
Speaker 1: a good idea to name this professional football team the
Speaker 1: Carolina Rhinos because there was some you know, alliteration. I suppose,
Speaker 1: uh there in the two sounds of the words, and
Speaker 1: that would have been awful. That would have been you know, ungodly.
Speaker 1: So the Raging Rhinos of Carolina would have been something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it would have Yeah, that would have really been something,
Speaker 1: is what it would have been. That's a whole other podcast.
Speaker 1: We'll do that one as a special edition, um Darren.
Speaker 1: Since we last spoke to our our great listeners, the
Speaker 1: Panthers added a new special teams coordinator and a new
Speaker 1: offensive line coach, James Campen coming from Houston and previously
Speaker 1: with the Green Bay Packers, and then Chris Tabor from
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears doing special teams. Tell us what you
Speaker 1: know a little bit about those guys. Yeah, these two guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think there's been some criticism of the coaching,
Speaker 1: some of the coaching hires here in the past because
Speaker 1: it was a lot of guys coming straight out of college.
Speaker 1: These two guys are both you know, legit NFL assistant
Speaker 1: coaches with a lot of experience, kind of the same
Speaker 1: way been back into you know, as your offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: As long as he's just all in your plays. I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people around the league think that
Speaker 1: was a good, solid higher. And James Camping and Chris
Speaker 1: Taber are are those guys. I mean, they've been around
Speaker 1: the league, they've worked in other places, got a lot
Speaker 1: of respect, and they've performed. I mean, if you look
Speaker 1: at Chris Tabor, it's kind of um. The standard for
Speaker 1: special teams play is a calculation come up with Rick Goslin,
Speaker 1: a longtime Dallas football writer and Goose has put together
Speaker 1: his special teams rankings every year for about the last
Speaker 1: thirty years or so. And the last two years Chris
Speaker 1: Taber's teams were UM. Chris Taber's teams were in the
Speaker 1: top ten. So it's UM yeah, I mean it's a
Speaker 1: good higher. Tabor is good at what he does. He
Speaker 1: is um. He has had big time um, big time
Speaker 1: return talent in the past, and we'll see how that
Speaker 1: develops here. But James Camping is a guy and it's
Speaker 1: interesting with him. He's got a reputation in Green Bay
Speaker 1: for turning mid round picks into productive players and then
Speaker 1: some I mean they've got a Pro Bowl left tackle
Speaker 1: and David Bactieri, whose fourth round pick. And Campings a
Speaker 1: guy who helped develop those guys. And it was interesting
Speaker 1: when I was down here Senior Bowl uh this week
Speaker 1: talking to Scott Fitterer, I mean, we talked about how
Speaker 1: important that was to add that to the staff because,
Speaker 1: as you may have heard, the Carolina Panthers may need
Speaker 1: some help on the offensive line. And while they've got
Speaker 1: the sixth pick in the draft and could use it
Speaker 1: on a tackle or something, uh, they've also got more
Speaker 1: than one job to fill up there. So we'll kind of, uh,
Speaker 1: we'll sort of see what um, We'll see how that develops.
Speaker 1: The Campings a guy with a great reputation for both
Speaker 1: evaluating guys and finding guys deeper in drafts and then
Speaker 1: developing them once they get there. And that's exactly what
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers need, because not just the guys that
Speaker 1: they might draft or add this year, but but guys
Speaker 1: that are already on this roster, like a Michael Jordan's,
Speaker 1: like a Brady Christians and like a Deante Brown. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are still young players who could use a little polish.
Speaker 1: And Camping's a guy who's well regarded, and yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: you think about everyone just wants to go get the
Speaker 1: big ticket left tackle and just call it a day,
Speaker 1: and they're they're more than one ways to kind of
Speaker 1: to do this. I mean there's a combination as you
Speaker 1: just talked about being able to develop and bring guys
Speaker 1: along and the relationships that he has with players across
Speaker 1: this league. You know, we put out a video um
Speaker 1: that NFL Films did with him and you know, Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers and so much of what they did in Green
Speaker 1: Bay UM and the respect that he has uh with
Speaker 1: guys is really well documented. So I really excited to
Speaker 1: see what he can bring to this group as well
Speaker 1: as the people that they have coming in the spring.
Speaker 1: So speaking of you mentioned Scott Fitterer, you also have
Speaker 1: had him to speak to him uh down there at
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl. We put out a little Q and
Speaker 1: A on Panthers dot Com. Jordan and Jake actually referenced
Speaker 1: it in their podcast earlier today. So see the people
Speaker 1: are reading thereon their people are reading. What do you
Speaker 1: take away from that conversation with Scott that maybe didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily go um into the Q and a The people
Speaker 1: have already read well, I think, you know, it's easy.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people saw that Q and A.
Speaker 1: And one of the takeaways was, you know, when Scott
Speaker 1: was talking about quarterbacks and and he mentioned or I
Speaker 1: asked him about, you know, given the economic advantage of
Speaker 1: a rookie quarterback, do you almost have to make sure
Speaker 1: you don't have that guy there? You know? Or if
Speaker 1: you've got a shot at one of those guys, don't
Speaker 1: you almost have to lean that way? And the answer
Speaker 1: was effectively yes. I mean Scott's background and we all
Speaker 1: learned from our backgrounds in football, and Scott's is in
Speaker 1: Seattle where they turned a third round pick in Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson and a lot of good veteran defensive players into
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl ring with a guy own a rookie contract.
Speaker 1: So and Scott was pretty open about, you know the
Speaker 1: fact that if you think one of these guys can
Speaker 1: be that guy, you almost have to take a shot. Um.
Speaker 1: I think when people hear that, one of the things
Speaker 1: they forget is the if he's that guy, And the
Speaker 1: evaluation is very much ongoing, and it's and it's not
Speaker 1: clear right now if they absolutely are convinced that Kenny
Speaker 1: Pick it's the guy or Malik Willis is the guy,
Speaker 1: or Sam How's the guy? Or Matt Correll who's not
Speaker 1: here this week but had a great UH senior season
Speaker 1: for role miss if he's the guy, and if they
Speaker 1: you know, that's the thing. It is kind of incumbent
Speaker 1: on teams. If they think a guy has the opportunity
Speaker 1: to be the quarterback who can take you to the playoffs,
Speaker 1: then you might lean that way. But if he's not
Speaker 1: the guy, you go another direction. And I mean last
Speaker 1: year Fields was sitting on the board and they went
Speaker 1: another direction. So read into that what you will about
Speaker 1: their value aation of justin but you know, you're get
Speaker 1: in that situation and instead of taking just a quarterback,
Speaker 1: they want to make sure they're getting the quarterback. If
Speaker 1: they're taking one right and and obviously the other, there's
Speaker 1: so many other options. You know, from a line standpoint,
Speaker 1: you know, from the offensive line. You know they've talked,
Speaker 1: UH Scott Fitter talked in his end of your press
Speaker 1: conference of how important it is to to start your
Speaker 1: team on both sides of the line, you know, to
Speaker 1: have that foundation built because that everything else emanates from
Speaker 1: that um. And of course, when you have the six
Speaker 1: pick if you can, if you can turn that you know,
Speaker 1: he talked about that kind of cliff around sixteen or
Speaker 1: eighteen of that first round. If you can still get
Speaker 1: a guy that you like in those top sixteen eighteen
Speaker 1: picks and add picks back in the second and third round. Um,
Speaker 1: you know he's gonna look hard at that too. And
Speaker 1: obviously what happens in free agency UM can influence how
Speaker 1: all these evaluations go. Uh this week as as you
Speaker 1: pointed out a number of times on the site, but
Speaker 1: a lot of moving parts. And it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: fascinating off season as we go through this thing, because
Speaker 1: you know, really once everybody gets back from Mobile and
Speaker 1: then the Super Bowl passage we capture super Bowl, guys
Speaker 1: are gonna be in for free agent meetings and draft
Speaker 1: meetings and setting boards and everything and getting ready to go.
Speaker 1: And really, once you get into uh first week and
Speaker 1: may or may see I struggle with time and a
Speaker 1: really imperson and I'm we need to get you back
Speaker 1: to Charlotte, man, we really do in my own bed
Speaker 1: and my own familiar settings and timeszed um. But once
Speaker 1: they get into March, yes, March, that's the month after
Speaker 1: February and to get to the combine. That's kind of
Speaker 1: the kickoff to the personnel season in terms of free agency,
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of agents up there, and even
Speaker 1: though you're not talking about deals, people know parameters of
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen once they get up there. So it's, uh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be an interesting couple of weeks, that's for sure. Darren.
Speaker 1: You've been around this league. You've seen every prospect there is.
Speaker 1: You're an incredible talent evaluator, and you've spent the last
Speaker 1: three days evaluating talent yourself from the front row. Tell
Speaker 1: me what you took away from Leek Willis, Sam Howell
Speaker 1: and Kenny Pickett three really really interesting features profiles that
Speaker 1: you've written about those guys. What are a couple of
Speaker 1: nuggets that you really took away from those conversations with them? Well, here,
Speaker 1: here's the thing about Malik Willis. He is he is short,
Speaker 1: but he's not small. Uh. It kind of jumped out
Speaker 1: to me that Dan Campbell, Thellions coach who's running the
Speaker 1: the team that Willis is on down here, he was like,
Speaker 1: he looks like he's built to last. I mean, Malik
Speaker 1: Willis is thick for a six foot guy. He's two
Speaker 1: twenty pounds, he's muscular, he's pretty dance and listen. He's
Speaker 1: got the best arm of any of the quarterbacks down here.
Speaker 1: It's he can throw a hundred mile an hour fastballs,
Speaker 1: and every now and then one's just a bit outside.
Speaker 1: But he's got that thing that the the evaluators call
Speaker 1: arm talent. Whatever that is, he's got it. And he
Speaker 1: can throw the football over the mountain, big time strength
Speaker 1: on throws to the sideline. You can tell why he
Speaker 1: is intriguing. I think in an ideal world, somebody could
Speaker 1: park him for a year, let him learn an NFL offense.
Speaker 1: But that's not always the case. I mean, guys who
Speaker 1: were drafted in the first round don't always get that luxury.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think if he gets in the
Speaker 1: right situation with the right coach who can develop quarterback,
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna be really good. I think Kenny
Speaker 1: pick It is Also I don't know that Kenny Pickett.
Speaker 1: I mean Joe Burrow's name comes up in regard to
Speaker 1: Kenny Pickett because that last year was a huge year
Speaker 1: in college. He went from being kind of a middling prospect.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, did you see what so and so did.
Speaker 1: He doesn't have that Joe Burrow arm. Uh. He also
Speaker 1: has small hands, which you may have heard something about,
Speaker 1: because it's become kind of the thing with Kenny kid
Speaker 1: and blessed his hard He left his hands under the
Speaker 1: table the whole time we were interviewing, and the other
Speaker 1: day just he wasn't gonna give anybody any cheap ammunition
Speaker 1: to make jokes. It is. But here's the thing I
Speaker 1: know about Kenny Pickett's hands. They threw for a lot
Speaker 1: of yards and a lot of touchdowns and pit on
Speaker 1: a lot of games. Uh. With Kenny picketted at the helm,
Speaker 1: he is a good player. I don't know that he's
Speaker 1: necessarily that Joe Burrow caliber of quarterback, but it's kind
Speaker 1: of weird he's got. He gives me Andy Dalton vibes.
Speaker 1: Unless people think that's a slur. That's a guy who
Speaker 1: came into a good defense with a stable coaching situation
Speaker 1: and took a team to the playoffs a good number
Speaker 1: of times and was a good, solid NFL quarterback for
Speaker 1: a long time. So that's not a slide in the least. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, Picket doesn't have that dominating talent but he
Speaker 1: is able to do things and you saw that this
Speaker 1: year a pit. I mean, the guy made a lot
Speaker 1: of plays. One of the things I love about him,
Speaker 1: even though it was dirty play and would get quarterbacks killed,
Speaker 1: that slide at the a c C Championship game. It
Speaker 1: just speaks to an awareness of what's around him and
Speaker 1: when things are getting weird, he makes stuff happen. And
Speaker 1: that's a positive rather than a negative, even though it's
Speaker 1: great for every quarterback forever that that's outlawed now. So
Speaker 1: um yeah, I just the guy's got that it of
Speaker 1: knowing how to make a play at a certain time.
Speaker 1: Sam How is an interesting case to me. I had
Speaker 1: a chance to talk to Kevin Donnelly, who knows him
Speaker 1: from U N SEE and seen him up close down
Speaker 1: there about him and and How's also an interesting kid.
Speaker 1: I I think if he could have come out a
Speaker 1: year ago, he would have probably been a higher pick.
Speaker 1: But you know, he went through a rough season at
Speaker 1: U n S. You know, four of his best offensive
Speaker 1: weapons get drafted into the NFL. He's breaking in a
Speaker 1: lot of new guys on the flight Carolina last year
Speaker 1: and you know, the results weren't the same, and it
Speaker 1: was a little bit of a shine taken off Sam himself.
Speaker 1: But he's also a smaller guy. And listen, quarterbacks, just
Speaker 1: I keep waiting for Dan Fouts to walk out of
Speaker 1: the locker room, and they just don't come, all right,
Speaker 1: we don't. We don't see those guys walking into the
Speaker 1: Senior Bowl or anywhere else anymore. So even when you
Speaker 1: see like Desmond Ritter from Cincinnati down here, he's kind
Speaker 1: of a tall, skinny kid. Um, they just don't look
Speaker 1: like they used to look. And I think we just
Speaker 1: kind of need to accept that football volumes over the years,
Speaker 1: believe it or not. And you know, Sam how is
Speaker 1: not a great big kid, but he's interesting because he
Speaker 1: can play and he can throw. He's got a good arm,
Speaker 1: not a great arm, but he's extremely mobile. I mean,
Speaker 1: Sam How is a kid that can run around and
Speaker 1: make play, you know, somebody down here compared in the
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. And I think that's just because he's short
Speaker 1: and he's got a beard. But I think that, you know,
Speaker 1: there is some Russell Wilson to his game. He can
Speaker 1: move around and and move pockets and and do different
Speaker 1: things with his feet other than just running, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean he he's got that knack to make plays
Speaker 1: on the move. So a lot of interesting guys down here,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna be one of those, you know what
Speaker 1: you prefer. Some people like blonde, some people like Brunette's
Speaker 1: and I just think depending on your offensive system what
Speaker 1: you're looking for. There are several guys in this year's
Speaker 1: draft who I think are going to end up being
Speaker 1: starting quarterbacks in the league. One of the interesting connections
Speaker 1: with willis Um obviously came out of Liberty but started
Speaker 1: at Auburn and originally from the Atlanta area, has a
Speaker 1: connection to Cam Newton, and you spoke to him about
Speaker 1: that and that was part of your article. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna hear a little bit of that conversation you had
Speaker 1: with him, uh, kind of his answer on what it
Speaker 1: was like to kind of grow up around Atlanta and
Speaker 1: what he's learned from Cam. Was definitely cool because he
Speaker 1: went to the Super Bowl like second year in the league,
Speaker 1: and he came from like fifteen minutes from where else,
Speaker 1: and so that was really cool. You know, but we're
Speaker 1: in anything. We were all trying to make our own way,
Speaker 1: our own names. So it's like if he could do it,
Speaker 1: we could do it too, the type of things. So, Darren,
Speaker 1: what what sort of lessons do you think a guy
Speaker 1: like that can take when when you're growing up. I mean,
Speaker 1: he talked about trying to take things from all sorts
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks, from Russell Wilson, from um uh, different guys,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, different. Yeah, Matt Ryan. Don't don't tell anybody,
Speaker 1: but he he likes the way Matt Ryan plays too.
Speaker 1: But Cam, you know what, what did he take away
Speaker 1: from Cam? You know? He It's interesting because Cam is
Speaker 1: Cam was such a force of nature as a quarterback,
Speaker 1: especially early Cam, that you lost sight of the fact
Speaker 1: that he was also good at learning football and you know,
Speaker 1: the work ethic, all those intangible things that you've got
Speaker 1: to do to be good. Because he was so talented,
Speaker 1: a lot of that stuff got overlooked with Cam. And
Speaker 1: you know, I thought it was interesting that Malik, you know,
Speaker 1: told me he was like, listen, a lot of the
Speaker 1: stuff Cam talked to me about to us about was
Speaker 1: not football stuff, it was how you had to work.
Speaker 1: And I thought it was interesting the way he said,
Speaker 1: you know, the time you're against somebody, that's ten percent
Speaker 1: of the job. It's the other six days a week.
Speaker 1: You're not playing them when they're trying to get better,
Speaker 1: and you've got to advance yourself too, So it's uh,
Speaker 1: it was kind of a neat connection hearing him talk
Speaker 1: about Cam. But Willis is a guy he's kind of
Speaker 1: he's also sort of possessed of that. He's kind of
Speaker 1: got that vibe. I mean where he comes across as
Speaker 1: the guy it's not too big for him. He knows
Speaker 1: when to crack a joke, he knows how to talk
Speaker 1: to people, look him in the aisle, all those kind
Speaker 1: of things. He's got that leadership vibe about. Uh, we've
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking about the quarterbacks. For
Speaker 1: the most part, the top offensive line prospects aren't really
Speaker 1: down there with you. Is that correct? Yeah? I mean
Speaker 1: at least those top three tackles and the guys we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about so much, Evan Neil and Charles
Speaker 1: Cross and you know, like Kwanda from NC State, Uh,
Speaker 1: Charlotte kid, Ikey Um, let's get used to calling and
Speaker 1: Mickey and Ikey is a big man, and those three
Speaker 1: are all those guys are all top ten prospects, which
Speaker 1: it left tackles for a long time. And again it's
Speaker 1: gonna depend on who's picking where those three guys aren't here,
Speaker 1: but there's a pretty interesting crop of guys. Uh Trip
Speaker 1: Fanning from northern Iowa is down here. The tackle who
Speaker 1: fascinates me here and it's because I'm a weirdo is
Speaker 1: Uh file Lay from Minnesota. He's mountainous. He's like six
Speaker 1: eight four pounds. He looks like Jordan my Lot a
Speaker 1: little bit tackle. We didn't have a lot of traditional
Speaker 1: football background, but he is, you know, obviously playing at
Speaker 1: a high level in the NFL. Uh And because of him,
Speaker 1: other mountainous guys are gonna get chances. And and I'm
Speaker 1: interested see file because he moves well for somebody who's
Speaker 1: almost four hundred pounds. You don't think of an athletic
Speaker 1: or pounds, but that's what he looks like. Now. You know, again,
Speaker 1: he's not necessarily I think somebody you've taken the top
Speaker 1: ten or you know, I don't want to get into
Speaker 1: where you saw him now, but he's probably gonna go
Speaker 1: in the first couple of rounds. But he's definitely a
Speaker 1: guy you look at because again, even though the Panthers
Speaker 1: are in a spot where right now they've got a
Speaker 1: Big Golf from six to probably somewhere in the one
Speaker 1: thirties when they pick again with that Rams fourth round
Speaker 1: pick um. I think it's going to be interesting because
Speaker 1: they're gonna evaluate all of these tackles and guards anyway,
Speaker 1: and if things change over the course of the spring,
Speaker 1: if they do trade back, you know, they know they've
Speaker 1: got an opportunity with some of these guys to uh
Speaker 1: find pretty immediate contributors of guard or tackle. So that's
Speaker 1: what that's what makes it a fascinating week. There's a
Speaker 1: number of interesting prospects along that line, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: get more into that on Panthers dot com later this week.
Speaker 1: I love it, Darren. Let's finish. We're gonna get you
Speaker 1: back here so that you can get on the right
Speaker 1: time schedule and figure out the right days. I don't
Speaker 1: know that if you knew it. But coming in a
Speaker 1: week in a little bit, we're gonna have a Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: We now know who's gonna be in it. It's not tomorrow,
Speaker 1: I promise. Don't make plans right for tomorrow. It's not then.
Speaker 1: We we still have some time. No guacamole, I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm unfed. So that leads me to two things. One
Speaker 1: who do you think is gonna win between the Bengals
Speaker 1: and the Rams? And two what is your ideal super
Speaker 1: Bowl spread? Uh? My ideal super Bowl spread is my couch.
Speaker 1: Um No, that's uh. I'm a big guacamole guy. I Uh,
Speaker 1: it's weird for me after watching so much football in
Speaker 1: exchange for money over the years, I'm not a big
Speaker 1: super Bowl party guy. Um, or if I am, I
Speaker 1: am content to not be laser focused on the game
Speaker 1: because again, you know, we do this a lot for
Speaker 1: a long time and it's fascinating, but um, sometimes it's
Speaker 1: good to be in the world. I I mean, the
Speaker 1: Rams are gonna win, aren't they. They're just better than
Speaker 1: you know. But didn't we didn't we say that the
Speaker 1: last three weeks against whoever Cincinnati? We probably did and
Speaker 1: we were probably correct. And you know, I think it's
Speaker 1: one of those situations. If the Chiefs and the Bengals
Speaker 1: played nine ten times, I don't know that the outcome
Speaker 1: is the same all ten times, and uh, it might
Speaker 1: have been flipped most of those times. But yeah, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrows fascinating. He's got those guys on the run and
Speaker 1: they're you know, kind of young and dumb enough to
Speaker 1: not know what they don't know. And they are, um,
Speaker 1: they're certainly believing in themselves and that matters a lot.
Speaker 1: But the Rams just they've got too many guys who
Speaker 1: are that guy? I mean, it's when you get into games,
Speaker 1: when you've got two weeks to game plan. You know,
Speaker 1: you think back to Bill Belichick, what he did so
Speaker 1: well for so long. You you game plan and try
Speaker 1: to take the best thing out of somebody's game plan. Well,
Speaker 1: how do you do that against the Rams defense? When
Speaker 1: there's Aaron Donald up from when they've got all the
Speaker 1: pass rushers they've got, when you try to throw the
Speaker 1: ball and Jalen ramsay v like what, yeah, what are
Speaker 1: you are you talking about? How do we do this?
Speaker 1: And you know, they've just got so many guys And oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, Matt Stafford is really good at football.
Speaker 1: He is. It's been a great quarterback for a long time,
Speaker 1: been stuck in Detroit where wasn't able to translate into anything,
Speaker 1: and he's just playing at a really high level right now.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, they are favored for a good reason.
Speaker 1: I think they're more talented, I think they're will coached,
Speaker 1: But listen, it's hard for me to believe the Bengals
Speaker 1: are gonna get blown out of this thing or anything,
Speaker 1: because they're playing so well too. It's uh, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun to see Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow on the big stage, even though we're still sort
Speaker 1: of in that COVID world where it's not the spectacle
Speaker 1: it has been in the past. But they're going out
Speaker 1: a couple of days earlier than anticipated. Just sort of
Speaker 1: soak it all in and enjoy the moment because I
Speaker 1: think Joe Burrow being in the spotlight is good for
Speaker 1: football because he is fun and football should be fun.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's weird that we've got that? We
Speaker 1: went what fifty three years, fifty two years with a
Speaker 1: team never winning a Super Bowl on their home field,
Speaker 1: and we could potentially get it twice in a row? Sure?
Speaker 1: Why not? Yeah? That's that's my Panthers stat of the day,
Speaker 1: I guess. Yeah. So, so when's the Super Bowl coming
Speaker 1: to Charlotte Will Yeah, I know, we got we're working
Speaker 1: on that. We're working on that. Now, we've got a
Speaker 1: practice field. Now. I don't want to be I don't
Speaker 1: want to be a bad host, but I kind of
Speaker 1: having been to enough Super Bowls, it really makes a
Speaker 1: mess of your town for about a week and a
Speaker 1: half and even a lot longer than that with all
Speaker 1: the build up. It's, uh, it's a lot of chaos,
Speaker 1: and it's a lot of congestion, and it's the world's
Speaker 1: party and they all everybody wants to come to it.
Speaker 1: So um, I mean we're hosting. We're gonna host a
Speaker 1: big thing over on Seventh and Pekan Like that's gonna
Speaker 1: be a major hub for the NFC team. And so
Speaker 1: you know, Darren, you can. You can throw down right
Speaker 1: there outside Crunkleton, no question. And and my friend, my
Speaker 1: friend Nicky Wolf and I we've been planning to bring
Speaker 1: the Olympics to Charlotte for a long time, and uh,
Speaker 1: that's going on right now. I'm I'm watching some women's
Speaker 1: hockey that is being produced by her friend Mike Bonner,
Speaker 1: and I'm all about the Olympics. And when we bring
Speaker 1: the Olympics to Charlotte, that'll be a good test drive
Speaker 1: for the Super Bowl. I like that Winter Olympics in Charlotte.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be perfect. Yeah, We're gonna all the mountains
Speaker 1: in Gastodia. You've seen the TikTok they're right there. I know, right,
Speaker 1: but we're going to create a luge run from the
Speaker 1: top of the Epicenter. It's gonna be fantastic. It's gonna
Speaker 1: go right down Fourth Street. Okay, I think we've I
Speaker 1: think we've lost it at this point. I'm I'm glad
Speaker 1: to know that you're going to be a normal human
Speaker 1: this year. As long as you know what day Super
Speaker 1: Bowl Sunday is. Um it's the day before Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1: Just f y. I so plan a plan accordingly and
Speaker 1: figure out your spread. I may bring some guacamoley over
Speaker 1: just to help you out. Sounds good. Awesome, Thanks Darren,
Speaker 1: and get home safe, all right, See y'all,