Speaker 1: You can't just hand it to him when he's had
Speaker 1: two weeks with the playbook before they get to partner.
Speaker 1: You had to give him time to learn. And I
Speaker 1: think one of the things hearing from that role, in
Speaker 1: hearing from Bien McAdoo, is how impressed they were with
Speaker 1: how quickly he learned. And it has to do with,
Speaker 1: like you said, the four different offensive coordinator. She's had
Speaker 1: time and time to really build a repetition. It's time
Speaker 1: for the Happy Half Hour with your friends Kristen Balboni,
Speaker 1: Will Brian and Darren Gant. Welcome to the Happy Half
Speaker 1: Hour podcast. Will is on special assignment this week once again,
Speaker 1: so we have got the incredible Augusta Stone here with
Speaker 1: me and Darren for the second week in a row. Augusta,
Speaker 1: it's great to have you. It's always great to be here.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to be you know. It's my the third
Speaker 1: appearance now, I think, so, you know, getting getting into
Speaker 1: the swing of it. I'm always happy to be here.
Speaker 1: How is everybody well, We're good. I mean, it's an
Speaker 1: exciting development because we are coming to you from Charlotte
Speaker 1: for the first time in a long time. We were
Speaker 1: all sleeping in our actual beds at our actual homes
Speaker 1: um for the first time in quite a bit. Darren,
Speaker 1: how good does it feel? It's pretty nice. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie. There was about thirty six hours there where
Speaker 1: I was walking down to my basement wondering where the
Speaker 1: guy at the omelet station was and why I wasn't
Speaker 1: wearing the same set of clothes every day. Uh, that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. Yeah, it's weird. It's it's good to
Speaker 1: be home. But it's also one of the things you
Speaker 1: lose sight of when you're down there is when we're
Speaker 1: in training camp mode and on the road, all we
Speaker 1: have to do is work, and then you come home
Speaker 1: and it's like the fancy is falling down. You've got
Speaker 1: a call a guy about that, you know, your kids
Speaker 1: have appointments, you gotta talk, you know, all the real
Speaker 1: life stuff that we were able to forget about from
Speaker 1: moth all of a sudden is a thing again. So
Speaker 1: it never really stops, that is true. All right, We're
Speaker 1: gonna get right into it because we have got a
Speaker 1: lot of news to talk about, some of the good,
Speaker 1: some of it not so good. But we we got
Speaker 1: to start with quarterback news. Quarterback news. I was trying
Speaker 1: to do money. I was trying to do a little
Speaker 1: big voice guy there. Um alright, Baker Mayfield was announced
Speaker 1: as the starter for a week one, officially ending weeks
Speaker 1: and weeks of speculation. Darren, how long in advance had
Speaker 1: you written that article? Now? I'm just kidding, kid, think
Speaker 1: about it is and and it's interesting. I was doing
Speaker 1: a hit on Sirious last night with Alex Marvis and
Speaker 1: Ryan Leaf and they they basically asked how serious was
Speaker 1: his competition? And I said, listen, everybody expected Baker to
Speaker 1: win it, but they wanted to see him win it first.
Speaker 1: They wanted to you know, Sam was like the baseline,
Speaker 1: and it's they failed, all right with Sam. If they
Speaker 1: hadn't have made the deal, they would have gone in
Speaker 1: the season with Sam starting. So they needed to see
Speaker 1: something more than that. And I think after a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks of training camp you started to see it.
Speaker 1: I mean, Baker is um is a guy who is
Speaker 1: a little more willing to take chances. He's moving the
Speaker 1: ball downfield. But about two weeks into camp you started
Speaker 1: seeing at click and you started to see him do
Speaker 1: things where it's like, Okay, that's what he needs to do.
Speaker 1: To be the guy and not just win the job,
Speaker 1: but be successful in it. I mean, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: working with the first offensive line being able to throw
Speaker 1: to Dj Moore instead of the second and third groups
Speaker 1: of receivers made a huge difference. And I think it
Speaker 1: about that two week markup camp is where you saw, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is probably where this is pointed. And also just
Speaker 1: getting comfortable with the offense. So got here a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks before training camp. I asked Ben mcado, I said,
Speaker 1: you know, when do guys get comfortable in your offense,
Speaker 1: specifically quarterbacks? And he was like, you know, it's not
Speaker 1: really until their junior year. Really that I would say
Speaker 1: they have a full mastery. Um, and then what Baker had,
Speaker 1: including four different offensive coordinators and four years, so we
Speaker 1: certainly will versed in how to do this, but we
Speaker 1: also take that for granted a little bit. Augusta. Just
Speaker 1: how long it takes to to feel that's somewhat comfortable
Speaker 1: in a brand new offense. Well, that's exactly what I
Speaker 1: was thinking. It took him time to learn, Like, you
Speaker 1: can't come in even though obviously you acquire Baker Mayfield
Speaker 1: to play Baker Mayfield. You don't just get him in
Speaker 1: trade for him not to play for him. So logically speaking,
Speaker 1: it makes sense that, but but at the same time,
Speaker 1: like you can't just hand it to him when he's
Speaker 1: had two weeks with the playbook before they get to Spartanburg,
Speaker 1: and so you had to give him time to learn.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the things hearing from Matt
Speaker 1: Role and hearing from Bit mccadoo is how impressed they
Speaker 1: were with how quickly he learned, how quickly he picked
Speaker 1: everything up. You know, he's and it has to do with,
Speaker 1: like you said, the four different offensive coordinators. He's had
Speaker 1: time and time to to really build the repetition and
Speaker 1: you know it wasn't gonna be handed to him. But
Speaker 1: being a quick learner, having that Baker Mayfield Moxie, that
Speaker 1: the word that we've talked about. It's just one of
Speaker 1: those things where he came in and now he's already
Speaker 1: showing that command and he's really he he has that
Speaker 1: mojo and he has the chemistry and he's he's building
Speaker 1: on it. But um, even like he told us this week,
Speaker 1: you know he still has the room to grow as well.
Speaker 1: But he definitely took some time to learned everything in
Speaker 1: training camp, taking those reps, splitting with Sam Donald. I
Speaker 1: think it was helpful. Yeah, And the thing that will
Speaker 1: stand out to me about this training camp experience, they
Speaker 1: are extremely lucky that Sam Donald is the caliber of
Speaker 1: human being he is, because this should have been awkward.
Speaker 1: This should have been cringe e to watch, and it
Speaker 1: never was. And I think people kept watching for it
Speaker 1: to be difficult and it never was because Sam and
Speaker 1: Baker both were just such adults about this thing. And
Speaker 1: I mean it's weird that we consider that unusual because
Speaker 1: that ought to be a baseline for society, but it's
Speaker 1: not always. And it's just listen, Sam's bombed out that
Speaker 1: he's not the starter. He's still a little salty, uh
Speaker 1: in the right way, but he is also going to
Speaker 1: be a good teammate throughout this thing. I mean, like
Speaker 1: I said, there was that point. I remember that one
Speaker 1: specific day where they were doing two minutes stuff at
Speaker 1: the end of game and Baker and Sam both got
Speaker 1: him into the end zone that day. But when Baker
Speaker 1: throws a little catching run to DJ for a touchdown,
Speaker 1: Sam was back at the huddle pumping his fist. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was fired up for Baker. So that makes everything
Speaker 1: around the rest of the roster go a little bit
Speaker 1: more smoothly. Because in Matt Rule talked about it the
Speaker 1: other day. He said, if a guy comes up to
Speaker 1: me ask him for more reps, all I got to
Speaker 1: do is point to those two guys and say, look
Speaker 1: at how they handled it, look at what they did.
Speaker 1: And so I think for the function of the team
Speaker 1: as a whole, having Sam being as mature about this
Speaker 1: as he's been is going to help them not only
Speaker 1: through a transition, but also if Samon's up playing again,
Speaker 1: because listen, Sam became a pinata last year. I think
Speaker 1: to a lot of people for reasons that didn't have
Speaker 1: anything to do with Sam. Christian gets hurt. You're firing
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator in the middle of the year. Fourteen lines
Speaker 1: in seventeen games. There was a lot of stuff beyond
Speaker 1: his control, and when things were going well, Sam was okay.
Speaker 1: So I think having him around in that role helps
Speaker 1: them both in terms of the locker room and what
Speaker 1: they've gotten a backup quarterback. Now, have you guys ever
Speaker 1: watched Great British Bakeoff? I promise this is going somewhere.
Speaker 1: I really love it. The one thing I love about
Speaker 1: that show, it is so soothing to me, is that
Speaker 1: it is a very high stakes competition, especially in Britain.
Speaker 1: Everyone watches it, you know, like the Royal families watching.
Speaker 1: Everyone watches it, and they are competing at at the
Speaker 1: highest level. Right, But they are so nice to each
Speaker 1: other because they know that they are competing with themselves
Speaker 1: more so than with the other people. Right. If if
Speaker 1: I performed to the best of my ability, I don't
Speaker 1: need to take you down, right, I can be supportive.
Speaker 1: I want you to do well. I want me to
Speaker 1: do well, right, and so I gotta I gotta figure
Speaker 1: out what I need to do. And I got that
Speaker 1: vibe from both of those guys. And Darren, you just
Speaker 1: talked about what an adult Sam was. I think Baker
Speaker 1: would have been the same adult had it gone a
Speaker 1: different way. And I know we've talked about it. You know,
Speaker 1: if you watch Camp Confidential, you will see this, this
Speaker 1: friendship that is formed between them. But I mean, guys,
Speaker 1: when the cameras aren't rolling, we've seen it, right, we're traveling.
Speaker 1: I mean they're making jokes with each other, they're laughing.
Speaker 1: And that's not to say that the competitive spirit wasn't
Speaker 1: there all throughout training camp we all saw it. But
Speaker 1: just what a what a lovely way to handle As
Speaker 1: you said, Darren, what is an awkward situation, no doubt.
Speaker 1: And again that is genuine And I love what Confidential shows.
Speaker 1: I mean because you see those little interchanges, the interplay
Speaker 1: when they're not on the field and in different scenes.
Speaker 1: So it it's refreshing. I think for society to think, hey,
Speaker 1: we can all get along, it can work. We can
Speaker 1: get together and compete for things and still be nice.
Speaker 1: I like it. So so let's go to the second
Speaker 1: piece of quarterback news, which unfortunately isn't as great, and
Speaker 1: that is that mcarrel got injured, uh toward the list
Speaker 1: frank ligament in his left foot during the Patriots game
Speaker 1: and was officially placed on injured reserve yesterday, effectively ending
Speaker 1: his season. Uh, Darren, you wrote the articles and it
Speaker 1: just it just felt just like bad luck. Man. I
Speaker 1: was out on the field when when it happened, he
Speaker 1: was getting checked out, and it's just man, No one ever,
Speaker 1: no one ever puts enough in this on what a
Speaker 1: role luck plays in the NFL. I mean, some things
Speaker 1: are just bad breaks and people want to yell about
Speaker 1: this or that or the other. Uh. Sometimes you get
Speaker 1: fallen upon, sometimes you get stepped on. Sometimes you run
Speaker 1: into someone at the wrong angle and you're down. And
Speaker 1: it's unfortunate for Matt. I mean, realistically, I think this
Speaker 1: was going to even if he had been on the
Speaker 1: fifty three man roster all year. I don't know how
Speaker 1: much he would have played. It would have been late,
Speaker 1: if at all, is my guess. Um, he needs time
Speaker 1: and and he gets time now to learn and kind
Speaker 1: of absorb what it's like being in an NFL system. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: it's while he's also rehabbing from a pretty dramatic foot injury,
Speaker 1: which is tough for him. Um, But I don't know
Speaker 1: that it changes the trajectory of his rookie season that much,
Speaker 1: because this was gonna be a year to sit and
Speaker 1: watch anyway, and that's good for everybody. I mean, you
Speaker 1: talk about macadoo, he was in Green Bay with some
Speaker 1: cat named Aaron Rodgers. Now, neither Baker Mayfield nor Sam
Speaker 1: Donald is Brett Farve. But the ability to sit back
Speaker 1: and not have to do the thing immediately is good
Speaker 1: for any rookie at any position, I think, really, and
Speaker 1: it's um you know, it's tough, it's unfortunate that he's hurt. Um,
Speaker 1: They're going to put stuff around him to support him,
Speaker 1: you know, through the injury and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 1: and then you know he's gonna go about the business
Speaker 1: of being on the chalkboard, being in the meetings, watching
Speaker 1: the film with those guys all year and getting more
Speaker 1: comfortable with NFL offense. Yeah, Darren, that was something that
Speaker 1: I asked you, but I'm glad you brought it up.
Speaker 1: But Um, I asked you about it yesterday and I said,
Speaker 1: what if if you want him to learn how to
Speaker 1: be a being, a huddle, to get under center all
Speaker 1: of those things, how much does it change that trajectory?
Speaker 1: Can can you get a good grasp on all of
Speaker 1: that stuff with those mental reps as we call it, um,
Speaker 1: while you are rehabbing And you said, just like you
Speaker 1: said here, which I felt very heartened. I'm sure the
Speaker 1: fans feel very heartened about. Is that, uh yeah, he
Speaker 1: can still do all those things, and hopefully by the
Speaker 1: time his rehab is is complete, he's not as far
Speaker 1: off as um as he might have been in getting
Speaker 1: a chance to sit on the bench and much right.
Speaker 1: And I thought one of the one of the things
Speaker 1: people overlook about rookie quarterbacks, especially coming into the NFL,
Speaker 1: is there there are certain parts of the job description
Speaker 1: that Matt Correll has never done, like get under center,
Speaker 1: put a team in a huddle. It's just it just
Speaker 1: wasn't his offensive mechanically. He never did that in college.
Speaker 1: So of course he's taken some time to get used
Speaker 1: to that part of it during training camp. But that
Speaker 1: part he'll miss. But all the stuff in the meeting
Speaker 1: room will be there, all the stuff with Baker, with
Speaker 1: Sam over the course of the year, He'll still be
Speaker 1: around for that, and I think he's going to benefit
Speaker 1: from it, because again, I think the expectation game is
Speaker 1: probably the most difficult part for so many people because
Speaker 1: when you hear of a guy who some people thought
Speaker 1: was going to be a first round pick or this
Speaker 1: or that or the other, you know, they think, oh, well,
Speaker 1: he must be ready to go right off the bat.
Speaker 1: Very few people are ready to go right off the bat,
Speaker 1: especially at that position. So I just think this kind
Speaker 1: of gives it an opportunity to be where it probably
Speaker 1: should have been to begin with. And you know, the
Speaker 1: first and foremost we want all the best for him
Speaker 1: and are wishing him all the luck on his rehab journey.
Speaker 1: But Darren, as you mentioned in the articles that you
Speaker 1: wrote about this, this also does change some suster math
Speaker 1: a little bit, adds a wrinkle into it. And both
Speaker 1: of you have been covering, Okay, what does this? What
Speaker 1: does what do we think this roster is going to
Speaker 1: look like by final cuts next Tuesday? So I thought
Speaker 1: that'd be a great segue into where are we guys,
Speaker 1: what are you both looking at when it comes to
Speaker 1: position groups or players, and and what should we be
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on and for the next week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course, the most direct impact on of
Speaker 1: the Matt Corral injuries on like Richard Higgins and Julian
Speaker 1: Stanford and John Chandler and people like that, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: not having to keep a third quarterback basically gives you
Speaker 1: another spot for something else. And we've talked a good
Speaker 1: bit about wide receivers this year, probably one of the
Speaker 1: most competitive groups. There's like eight guys for six jobs
Speaker 1: or seven depending on where you count. Andre Roberts not
Speaker 1: really receiver, but he's a return guy they want to keep.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, it's really twisted and I
Speaker 1: hate saying it because it's horrible for that, but it
Speaker 1: does open some doors for other guys. If anytime there's injuries,
Speaker 1: the roster math changes. But when they were going to
Speaker 1: have to keep three quarterbacks, that was one less of
Speaker 1: something else. That's a tenth offensive lineman or a sixth
Speaker 1: linebacker or a tenth dB. And now it opens the door.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of stuff going into this last
Speaker 1: game that still kind of up in the air. And
Speaker 1: Nu Gusta, what have you identified, um in terms of
Speaker 1: guys you know, Shy Smith we were just talking about.
Speaker 1: You tell me what you're looking at and what you're
Speaker 1: hearing exactly. Well, I think there's so many receivers like
Speaker 1: Darren just mentioned, just across the board especially. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's been so many injuries in camp, which is gonna
Speaker 1: happen either way. But because you've had guys like Robbie
Speaker 1: Anderson Um just sideline for a minute, you get to
Speaker 1: see more of certain guys. You see more of a
Speaker 1: Shard Higgins who that he gets so many reps it
Speaker 1: feels like, you know, they're really like wanting to see.
Speaker 1: And then I think he benefits as well from Baker
Speaker 1: being QB one, just because they have that Brown's connection.
Speaker 1: One thing that both Matt Rule and Ben McAdoo, we
Speaker 1: were sitting in our preseason TV meetings and we you know,
Speaker 1: went through the receivers and they both they were not
Speaker 1: in the meetings together, right, that each o their own
Speaker 1: time slot. First word that they used to describe a
Speaker 1: Shard Higgins with savvy, He's just savvy. He just finds
Speaker 1: ways to get open. He uses his experience. We've seen
Speaker 1: him with that connection with Baker, I guess, as you
Speaker 1: were just saying, we saw him catch a touchdown pass
Speaker 1: from Sam in the first preseason game. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just he just has that innate ability to be a
Speaker 1: wide receiver. You know. It's almost like maturity too, because
Speaker 1: he's one of the older guys on the roster and
Speaker 1: that's something. I mean, it's a very young roster in general,
Speaker 1: so I feel like there's benefits to that as well. Um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, Shy Smith, I feel like the camp that
Speaker 1: he's had just it can't be talked about enough. He's
Speaker 1: just had such a good camp. He's been lining up
Speaker 1: in the slot, he's been taking back kicks, he's been
Speaker 1: taking him back punts, now and um, that's something that
Speaker 1: Rule said, you know, they like to see in these
Speaker 1: preseason games because it's kind of hard for them to
Speaker 1: replicate it in practice. So he's been returning punts and
Speaker 1: that's something you know, Um with Andre Roberts out with
Speaker 1: c J. Saunders who was taking a lot of those
Speaker 1: reps out until this week, you know, he's he's kind
Speaker 1: of stepped up there. So Shot Smith is really making
Speaker 1: himself versatile and useful across all of it. I think
Speaker 1: it was Matt Role yesterday said that he's competing for
Speaker 1: a starting role even you know he's he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that they just really seen a lot from.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of receivers. I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of good cornerback depth, ironically because you know they're
Speaker 1: Adam people. But I feel like Tay Hayes is one
Speaker 1: of those guys who's probably a custom guy that they
Speaker 1: were excited about. The team loves him first of all.
Speaker 1: At practice, Oh my goodness, you hear Tay Tay. They
Speaker 1: love him. They were so excited for the picks. I mean,
Speaker 1: but how how could you not be? But in the
Speaker 1: New England game, just that incredible play that he made
Speaker 1: the sideline erupted, and I'd say for like a good
Speaker 1: five minutes, like it was just they were so excited
Speaker 1: for him. And you can tell August exactly what you said,
Speaker 1: who are the guys that that make that locker room better?
Speaker 1: That just add a lot that we don't even see
Speaker 1: beyond the place. But he's always making a play. It
Speaker 1: was such a neat scene and one of my favorite things.
Speaker 1: Chanel Smith, Walker and Kenney Richmond, our photographers nailed it.
Speaker 1: There were two parts of that play that I love.
Speaker 1: Number One, Tay Hayes is just stiff arming Bailey's Appy's
Speaker 1: helmet off or Bailey Well he deserved it because he
Speaker 1: put fifty nine on Appalachian State in the Boca Raton
Speaker 1: Bowl last year and I'm still not over um. And
Speaker 1: then Davean Nixon picks him up in the air. It's
Speaker 1: like in dirty dancing, holding them up in mid air.
Speaker 1: It's It was just such a neat scene and and
Speaker 1: I love the fact that our photographers had both of
Speaker 1: those shots. I mean, it was just perfect because it
Speaker 1: was just a great moment for Tay and you know,
Speaker 1: he's a guy who has inserted himself in two conversations.
Speaker 1: I mean that cornerback rooms as deep as anything on
Speaker 1: this roster going into camp, and you know, he sort
Speaker 1: of made himself a guy you look at and say,
Speaker 1: what do you do with this one? Look? And yes,
Speaker 1: and the roster is deep, but there have been some
Speaker 1: injuries over the course of camp. You know, Kei Taylor
Speaker 1: is back now, c J. Henderson is back. But you
Speaker 1: can never I would I would say that Phil Snow
Speaker 1: would say probably you could never have enough enough depth
Speaker 1: at corner right the secondary in general. Now, of course
Speaker 1: it all goes back to roster. Matthew can keep everybody.
Speaker 1: But yes, exactly, you said, there are these guys that
Speaker 1: um force themselves into the conversation because of the play
Speaker 1: that they have day in and day out, and it's
Speaker 1: fun to watch them. Yeah, it's complicated now. It makes
Speaker 1: it a nightmare this weekend because, like I said, the
Speaker 1: meetings matt Rule and Scott Fitter are going to be having.
Speaker 1: You know, they're basically going to be deciding, Okay, who
Speaker 1: do we need more this tenth offensive landman or the
Speaker 1: sixth linebacker or the sixth or seventh receiver, and how
Speaker 1: do we count Andre and all the you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff going on, and they've got to
Speaker 1: they've got to get rid of twenty seven people from
Speaker 1: this roster or in the next five days basically. So
Speaker 1: that's gonna be tough, and it's it's creating a lot
Speaker 1: of anxiety, uh down there on the second floor where
Speaker 1: they're making those decisions, and you know, to sit here
Speaker 1: and say, we know exactly what they're gonna do it,
Speaker 1: most of these spots you can't right now. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of it's going to be determined if
Speaker 1: there are any more injuries, how long is certain guy
Speaker 1: gonna be out? Uh, if he's injured right now? And
Speaker 1: I think there's still a good number of positions where
Speaker 1: uh to steal one of Dave Gettleman's lens, the answer
Speaker 1: might not be on the roster, So I mean, especially
Speaker 1: like defensive tackle, defensive end, those are probably places where
Speaker 1: they still need help from outside and are going to
Speaker 1: be looking around to see who gets cut, who can
Speaker 1: be traded for that kind of thing. But but even
Speaker 1: with that, you know, Matt Rule talked about that a
Speaker 1: couple of times over the last couple of weeks, which
Speaker 1: is over the last two years since he's been here.
Speaker 1: Team has been looking a lot more at the fifty
Speaker 1: three cuts, you know, looking to pick guys up, and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, we're not. We have depth right now,
Speaker 1: which is a great thing, and it does, but it
Speaker 1: does create a lot of anxiety. I would not want
Speaker 1: to be the people making those decisions because it's it's
Speaker 1: people's livelihoods, it's um people's futures, and there is a
Speaker 1: big sense of responsibility. And there's also you know, a
Speaker 1: big sense of responsibility in terms of, Okay, we can't
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen, but we have to put
Speaker 1: this person in over this person and hope that it's
Speaker 1: the right decision. So what did they say? With great
Speaker 1: power comes great responsibility. And you know, by having all
Speaker 1: of this depth and these guys competing at so many
Speaker 1: different spots, it is tough to make the cut here.
Speaker 1: I feel like this is in honor of Will. I
Speaker 1: look this up this morning. You talk about depth and
Speaker 1: how difficult these decisions are, and how you you know,
Speaker 1: you alluded to what Matt said about wanting to keep
Speaker 1: the guys who are already here rather than picking through
Speaker 1: the waiver wire. A year ago, they go out and
Speaker 1: claim Michael Jordan's off waivers at final cuts and he
Speaker 1: ends up still and most of the season. For They've
Speaker 1: got among their backup offensive lineman forty five starts in
Speaker 1: the regular season last year alone. When you go through
Speaker 1: cam Irving, Michael Jordan's, Dennis Daily h Bradley Bozeman, Sam
Speaker 1: Tecklenburg all started games. None of those guys are on
Speaker 1: the starting line right now. And compare that to the
Speaker 1: spot the Carolina Panthers were in a year ago. When
Speaker 1: it's Hi, my name is congratulations, you're starting. Um, it's
Speaker 1: night and day. It really is so Darren, As you
Speaker 1: said this all, there's a lot of questions still to
Speaker 1: be answered. A lot of guys can can make a
Speaker 1: final push. With this third preseason game, it's going to
Speaker 1: be at home Bank of America. Say, oh, I feels
Speaker 1: so good to say that. You know, first two preseason
Speaker 1: games were on the road. This one is at home
Speaker 1: Friday night against the Bills Augusta. You just wrote the
Speaker 1: article the five things to watch on Panthers dot Com.
Speaker 1: Go check it out. Everybody that's a plug. Um, what
Speaker 1: is what is standing out to you? Who are we
Speaker 1: looking at to make the push? Beyond what We've already
Speaker 1: talked about how much are we going to see of people? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we will see all the starters for at least
Speaker 1: a quarter, which is very exciting considering we didn't see
Speaker 1: any of them except for one of my people to
Speaker 1: watch Ikey Akwanu and Brady Christians and they did play
Speaker 1: um just building that chemistry on the left side of
Speaker 1: the offensive line. They were the only as if I'm correct,
Speaker 1: they were the only starters to play um against the
Speaker 1: Patriots because the rest of them, you know, it was
Speaker 1: a twos and threes kind of night. But um, we'll
Speaker 1: see all the starters, so we'll see them kind of
Speaker 1: building back up their chemistry. I think. I think, um,
Speaker 1: the first preseason or the second preseason game, the first
Speaker 1: for Ikey as the official starting left tackle, was a
Speaker 1: big learning moment. That's what we've heard from from Matt
Speaker 1: Roland Ikey himself. You know, he's just he's looking to
Speaker 1: two almost you know, if you're gonna make mistakes, the
Speaker 1: tom to learn is in the preseason. And I think
Speaker 1: these next two or this the past game and then
Speaker 1: this next one and is a good opportunity for him
Speaker 1: to continue to learn from Brady Christians and who has
Speaker 1: a year up on him. But I mean even still,
Speaker 1: it's a valuable year to learn from someone, um along
Speaker 1: the offensive line. So I'm excited to see you know,
Speaker 1: the starters and especially on offense, seeing Baker you know,
Speaker 1: build a connection with Paddel line at center. That's something
Speaker 1: that he's been talking about a lot. We've seen them
Speaker 1: kind of building up through through practice this week. You
Speaker 1: know which receivers we get to see, who's who's healthy,
Speaker 1: who's not. Will we see Terris Marshall when we see
Speaker 1: Robbie Anderson. Um, But I'm really excited to just just
Speaker 1: to see um that that growth from from Ikey and
Speaker 1: just you know what, what he's able to do. I think,
Speaker 1: Um there, I think that's what I'm really looking forward
Speaker 1: to see him. But yeah, at least a quarter is
Speaker 1: what we've been told that we'll see. And and Ikey
Speaker 1: needs to buckle up because when this thing gets real
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks, that guy over there, that's
Speaker 1: Myles Garrett, M go get him, M have fun. You know,
Speaker 1: let's keep Baker on his feet so he can do
Speaker 1: the thing that people want to see Baker do. Um,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be tough and and Ikey's got lessons to learn.
Speaker 1: You could sort of see on one of those sacks
Speaker 1: the other night against the Patriots when it's over, him
Speaker 1: and Brady are talking to each other, basically talking about
Speaker 1: how to pass off twists and stunts. And when guys
Speaker 1: go between two offensive lineman and then they turn and
Speaker 1: start talking to each other, you realize kind of where
Speaker 1: that was born from. And getting getting that communication down
Speaker 1: with him, and every rep those two take next to
Speaker 1: each other in a game setting is good. And that's
Speaker 1: why I think you saw them play into the second
Speaker 1: quarter when some of the other starters were done the
Speaker 1: other night. They want to put those two together and listen,
Speaker 1: Ikey and Christiansen next to each other could be a
Speaker 1: thing for a long time. So get those two on
Speaker 1: the same page, get him a quarter and change out
Speaker 1: here against the Bills, and then every practice rep going
Speaker 1: into Buffalo or going into Cleveland game, that's all you
Speaker 1: and and I would just point out to that they
Speaker 1: were playing against the Patriots starting defense in in that
Speaker 1: first quarter as well, and you know it's they need
Speaker 1: to get Ikey once he got that starting left tackle spot.
Speaker 1: I mean, he did the joint practices with the rest
Speaker 1: of the starters, which we saw those guys get. That
Speaker 1: first practice was two hours and forty five minutes, and
Speaker 1: I think the second one was two and a half hours,
Speaker 1: and it was it was live wraps the entire time,
Speaker 1: a lot of two minutes. So he did all of that,
Speaker 1: and then he came out with the starters before the
Speaker 1: Patriots game. As Augusta said, most of the starters did
Speaker 1: not play except for those two guys. He came out
Speaker 1: and did a practice with the starters and then went
Speaker 1: and played the first half of of this game. And
Speaker 1: then we're gonna see him a lot. So they are
Speaker 1: just throwing everything at him and saying, all right, this
Speaker 1: is the starting left tackle role. Let's see what you're
Speaker 1: doing here. Yes, absolutely anything else that we're looking at
Speaker 1: in this game, Darren. You know, I am I'm still
Speaker 1: curious to see and this is wonky, but I watched
Speaker 1: special teams personnel and you see who's going to be
Speaker 1: those core guys for Chris Taber, and there's certain guys.
Speaker 1: Brandon Smith has showed up through the preseason. He's a
Speaker 1: guy who's probably not going to get a lot of
Speaker 1: time on defense because they've got an established Corps veteran linebackers,
Speaker 1: but he's shown up in the kicking game. There are
Speaker 1: certain guys like Stanley Thomas Oliver, like um Keith Taylor
Speaker 1: has been one of those guys, has been a good
Speaker 1: special teamer. Spencer Brown was getting a lot of run
Speaker 1: before he gets hurt, so kind of the that's one
Speaker 1: of the hidden things about roster construction over the next
Speaker 1: five six days is Chris Tabor has got to put
Speaker 1: a punt team on the field, and who's going to
Speaker 1: be on it. I mean, Frankie Luvu was one of
Speaker 1: those guys a lot last year. He's gonna be playing
Speaker 1: an expanded role on defense. Can you really commit to
Speaker 1: having Frankie out there for four special teams? Maybe not so.
Speaker 1: I think watching how that stuff comes together is gonna
Speaker 1: be kind of an important piece of this puzzle too.
Speaker 1: And Chris Taber told told me that he thinks for
Speaker 1: special teams coach, the preseason is the hardest time because
Speaker 1: you're trying to see exactly what you just said, Darren.
Speaker 1: You're trying to see who's going to fit in there,
Speaker 1: and then also have they got enough playing time to
Speaker 1: show what they could do? How did they fit in
Speaker 1: on the defense? All the things right, Um, so'll definitely
Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on that on Friday. Guys, this
Speaker 1: was fun. It was great to be back here in Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Was Darren. I feel like he got something to say.
Speaker 1: It's like, this is not my beautiful house. Where am I?
Speaker 1: This is where are we supposed to be? We're actually
Speaker 1: back in Charlotte. It's a good thing. It is it
Speaker 1: is and hope to see all of you at the
Speaker 1: game on Friday. Thanks for listening to the Happy Half
Speaker 1: Hour podcast. We'll see you next time.