Speaker 1: This week on the Happy half Hour. When you have
Speaker 1: things that you can build upon that are good, it's
Speaker 1: not just all my goodness. You know, execution was really poor,
Speaker 1: and you know, we know we can put it together
Speaker 1: in practice, but you put it together at least enough
Speaker 1: in a game to make it that kind of thrillered
Speaker 1: sort of thing. I think that's what they're focusing on.
Speaker 1: And when you lose a game like that, you have
Speaker 1: places to grow to your glows and your growths, that's
Speaker 1: what I always call them. TEXTA, it's time for the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour with your friends Kristen Balboni, Augusta Stone,
Speaker 1: and Darren Gann. That's right, it's that time of the week.
Speaker 1: It's the Happy half Hour podcast with your friends Darren,
Speaker 1: Augusta and Kristen. As we said here today it is
Speaker 1: Wednesday morning. And have we recovered from the game in Atlanta?
Speaker 1: I I don't even it was such a roller coaster.
Speaker 1: It contained multitude. That game had a lot going on,
Speaker 1: as often happens in Atlanta, and I've talked about in
Speaker 1: the mail bag. You know, there's a pretty deep catalog
Speaker 1: of all the weird stuff that happens, whether it's the
Speaker 1: Georgia Dome or Mercedes Being Stadium and the Panther has
Speaker 1: been on the wrong side of a lot of it
Speaker 1: over the years. Uh, it's hard to imagine that they're
Speaker 1: eight and twenty in Atlanta all time, but so much
Speaker 1: weird stuff keeps happening. But that game was amazing and
Speaker 1: thrilling and heart stopping and heartbreaking all at once. But
Speaker 1: there was so much stuff going on. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was just it's one of those things as a writer,
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, what do I leave out because
Speaker 1: I'm going to have to leave out a lot. YEP.
Speaker 1: That's what I appreciated so much about what Darren posted
Speaker 1: the next morning, because it was you know, you focus
Speaker 1: on the end and like the result of what happened,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of where we went with the content.
Speaker 1: Was talking about the d J. Moore catch and the
Speaker 1: penalty and then also about Eddie by Um. Then the
Speaker 1: next morning he was like, oh, here's five other things,
Speaker 1: and they're all like things like you said in the story,
Speaker 1: whereas like these are things that would have been the
Speaker 1: main story Forman had three to Stown's see in that
Speaker 1: game for the first time, I believe it and Niche
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner said this on the on the broadcast,
Speaker 1: first time the Panthers running back has done that since
Speaker 1: Jonathan Stewart in It's kind of like down here in
Speaker 1: the hundred word of whatever we've written. Oh. Also, Deonta
Speaker 1: Foreman turned into Earl Campbell today. Yeah, Dante Jackson had
Speaker 1: an early interceptance c J. Henderson had an interception. I
Speaker 1: mean just there were two sacks in the first what
Speaker 1: six minutes of play in the game. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: so so many things happened and kind of like Deonte. Oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, also, p J Walker might turn out
Speaker 1: to be okay at football. PJS on a role. Patrick
Speaker 1: Mahomes liked that sixty two yard or that was cool. It's, uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty good when you get name checked by Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: That's pretty good feeling. I imagined for p J to
Speaker 1: uh kind of wake up this morning be like I'm
Speaker 1: getting recognized by Patrick Mahomes. That ain't so bad. So
Speaker 1: and again, part of what made Sunday so wild is
Speaker 1: that game just had so many layers and layers and layers.
Speaker 1: I mean, PJ is on this hot streak right now.
Speaker 1: He throws one of the most incredible balls you're ever
Speaker 1: going to see any quarterback throw period. And I think
Speaker 1: it's worth pointing out every time you write about him.
Speaker 1: If two guys don't get hurt in training camp, he's
Speaker 1: not even on this roster. He I mean, now, as
Speaker 1: things developed, was there chance p J was going to
Speaker 1: be on the practice squad after all that? Sure, of course,
Speaker 1: especially after Matt Krow got hurt. But p J was
Speaker 1: a barely considered fourth option during the entire training camp
Speaker 1: until guys started going down with injuries and without just
Speaker 1: some dumb luck for other people. He's not standing in
Speaker 1: this spot right now, and and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you know, it's so funny. I mean, PJ just keeps
Speaker 1: falling into these weird spots in his career, and they
Speaker 1: keep working out in a weird way. I mean, he's, uh,
Speaker 1: he's re in two as a starter now, but looking
Speaker 1: at what he's done, I mean, it wasn't just that
Speaker 1: one play on Sunday, you know, four other passes of
Speaker 1: twenty yards or more in the second half. I mean
Speaker 1: that's kind of where p J was able to He
Speaker 1: was converting like like third and seventeen and there and again.
Speaker 1: I don't have the stats in front of me. I'm
Speaker 1: just going off of my memory of being on the
Speaker 1: sideline for that game for the radio broadcast, right, And
Speaker 1: it wasn't just DJ. I mean, it's oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: there goes Steven Sullivan down the field, there goes and
Speaker 1: you know they it was. It was one of those games.
Speaker 1: I mean, that would have been the reason so many
Speaker 1: of those guys after that game were crushed. And you know,
Speaker 1: Brian Burns always talks after games. You know, he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys who's willing to stand up, be kind
Speaker 1: of face of the franchise type when things are good,
Speaker 1: when things are bad. Burns didn't even talk after that game,
Speaker 1: and he admitted on Monday was like it was too much.
Speaker 1: I didn't you know, he felt responsible for it, for
Speaker 1: his own role in this deal. But um, guys just
Speaker 1: didn't know how to react. Cause if you win that game,
Speaker 1: then you're tied for first basically in first place in
Speaker 1: the division. Halfway through the season, you you're three and
Speaker 1: oh in the division, you're two and one under Steve Wilkes.
Speaker 1: You're feeling some sort of way about what's going to
Speaker 1: go to the second half of the year, and then
Speaker 1: to have all the air sucked out of the building
Speaker 1: all at once was tough. It was. It was one
Speaker 1: question I want to ask you both. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think everyone who's listened to this podcast, No, we
Speaker 1: we my broadcast partners and I do the radio broadcast. Um.
Speaker 1: And then you know, we we got done with the game.
Speaker 1: I went up into the booth and we all kind
Speaker 1: of talked about it, right, because you're just kind of
Speaker 1: still a little stunned about about the game. And I
Speaker 1: would say this, I think I started this podcast out
Speaker 1: saying have we recovered yet? I would say that win
Speaker 1: or loose? Right, It was just because it was just
Speaker 1: a crazy game. I mean, just there were so many
Speaker 1: different elements to it. As we said, UM, before I
Speaker 1: can get up into the broadcast booth, which maybe takes
Speaker 1: me about ten minutes, Darren has put out the rapid
Speaker 1: Reactions which comes out immediately after every game, UM, from
Speaker 1: the incredible staff of YouTube. Uh. But how did you
Speaker 1: both start to immediately Like I could find the words
Speaker 1: maybe a couple of hours to kind of encapsulate what
Speaker 1: this game was. But how do you behind the scenes say, Okay,
Speaker 1: we didn't know which way this game was going to
Speaker 1: go until thirty seconds ago. We've got to immediately put
Speaker 1: it into words and you know, represent the team and
Speaker 1: the fan base. Well, the real literature is the thousand
Speaker 1: words that you didn't get to read. Um, that was
Speaker 1: the stuff I was really proud of. Um. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: end up writing a bunch of stuff that never sees
Speaker 1: the light of day because one of the challenges of
Speaker 1: writing live news is you've got to be ready for anything.
Speaker 1: So you've got to have and those rapid reacts are
Speaker 1: basically five word recaps immediately after a game, and you've
Speaker 1: got to be prepared in a couple of different directions.
Speaker 1: So there was a top of that based on a
Speaker 1: heroic Panthers come back when, and there was a top
Speaker 1: based on You've got to be kidding me, And there
Speaker 1: was so much stuff going on and you just kind
Speaker 1: of have to be a little agile on your feet
Speaker 1: every now and then and and be ready to react.
Speaker 1: And also you need to be able to type very fast.
Speaker 1: And thankfully, thanks to my high school typing teacher, I
Speaker 1: am able to type without looking at keys, and thank
Speaker 1: god for check and all those fun thing hundred words
Speaker 1: per minute, and you know, it's It's so cool because
Speaker 1: our executive producer, David Linton, Darren you you have, over
Speaker 1: the course of covering, um, the Jim Zoki, over the
Speaker 1: course of covering this team for many, many years, have
Speaker 1: seen games like this and know what it's like too. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is gonna go either way. I have to a
Speaker 1: certain extent, Augusta, this has got to be one of
Speaker 1: the most memorable games that you have seen. This is,
Speaker 1: you know, your first season with the Panthers. So how
Speaker 1: do you as a writer wrap your head around everything
Speaker 1: that's going on and then immediately start you know, um,
Speaker 1: you go into the locker room and then you start
Speaker 1: writing articles. Exactly exactly what I was excited about this
Speaker 1: question because I get to nerd out about reporting for
Speaker 1: a minute, because I was thinking about the way I
Speaker 1: kind of view reporting in general and just everything. It's like,
Speaker 1: you're capturing moments, and my function as the team reporter
Speaker 1: is to take fans where they can't be there, not
Speaker 1: in the locker rooms. Right, So I was really kind
Speaker 1: of looking for and it was so lucky that it
Speaker 1: kind of fell into my lapper that I noticed it.
Speaker 1: But I was keeping my head on a swivel because
Speaker 1: a lot of the guys, you know, they're obviously very um,
Speaker 1: just emotional all around, you know, like they're not really
Speaker 1: wanting to answer a lot of questions on wanting to
Speaker 1: talk right now. And that's part of the story, right
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, they're talking in these whispers and
Speaker 1: it's like just a really rough atmosphere. But I was
Speaker 1: kind of trying to focus on these moments, and I
Speaker 1: realized when Eddie Panero was giving his uh three minutes
Speaker 1: to the media, I saw Baker Mayfield, Derek Brown, j
Speaker 1: D Jansen, and Johnny Hecker all kind of make a
Speaker 1: row behind the media and just watch. That was a
Speaker 1: great That was a great tweet. It was it was
Speaker 1: just it was so awesome. And then at that moment,
Speaker 1: I was like, Okay, this is the leadoff to this
Speaker 1: postgame story. I'm going to write about Eddie because this
Speaker 1: this I hadn't seen anything like Granted, again, I'm very young.
Speaker 1: This is like my first year, but I hadn't seen
Speaker 1: anything like that before. And so and then immediately after
Speaker 1: where Baker goes and talks to Eddie, I find Johnny,
Speaker 1: I find uh Derek, and I talked to j J
Speaker 1: before and I was like, just why why did you
Speaker 1: do that? Like what is it about, you know, wanting
Speaker 1: to show that support? What were you trying to like
Speaker 1: the message you were trying to convey to him? And
Speaker 1: that was super compelling. And that's one of those things
Speaker 1: I think that you know, being a reporter, you're just
Speaker 1: your heads on a swivel constantly. You're always looking at
Speaker 1: darn and I talked about this all the time, but
Speaker 1: we're always just kind of looking out for those little
Speaker 1: nuggets and those little things, and um, it's all about
Speaker 1: kind of as as cliche as it is, like staying
Speaker 1: in the moment. You know, I'm not thinking about what
Speaker 1: had happened then, because I can think about that when
Speaker 1: I'm writing, but I'm trying to like take in the atmosphere,
Speaker 1: take in what's going on, and then you notice things
Speaker 1: like that and then you ask about that, and I
Speaker 1: don't know, I found that really really compelling. Um, kind
Speaker 1: of just everyone on that team kind of felt the
Speaker 1: honest on them because it's like you can say, you know,
Speaker 1: Eddie missed the two kicks, but there are situations that
Speaker 1: required that to be Why the outcome was there, if
Speaker 1: that makes sense. So and it was it was interesting,
Speaker 1: like like the story you read about Brian Burns, you
Speaker 1: know he saw it on him, Darry Brown saw it
Speaker 1: on him. Also, you know we talked about that incredible
Speaker 1: throw by p J. Walker, no doubt that propelled them
Speaker 1: into overtime, but he also had to pick six earlier
Speaker 1: in the game. Right. So I think it's such a
Speaker 1: great point, and we've heard Steve Looks say it, but
Speaker 1: you guys putting these stories out really illustrates the point
Speaker 1: that there are so many factors that and sometimes the
Speaker 1: luck of ball bounces a certain way. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: in this game. There's just so many things that go
Speaker 1: into this um And it's hard because those guys played
Speaker 1: so hard. I was down their feet from them for
Speaker 1: the entire game, and so did the Falcons, right, And
Speaker 1: of course, if you're a fan, you wanted for your
Speaker 1: team because neither team didn't give the full effort, you know,
Speaker 1: and not only playing the whole game, but they they
Speaker 1: go into overtime on it, right, and you just feel like,
Speaker 1: if you're a fan, you're like, this team deserves to
Speaker 1: win this game, right, Both teams do because of everything
Speaker 1: that happened. Um, but it didn't happen. It doesn't diminish
Speaker 1: that they're playing. It really doesn't. And I always kind
Speaker 1: of I feel like they're preambles to a lot of
Speaker 1: the answers I'm giving. Whether it's the mail bag or
Speaker 1: on this podcast, you feel like every now and then,
Speaker 1: just for the sake of honesty, you've got to raise
Speaker 1: your hand and begin by saying, this is nothing against
Speaker 1: anybody who's not here right now, This is nothing against
Speaker 1: anything that happened before. But the thing I can tell
Speaker 1: you for sure is I've seen the Carolina Panthers lose
Speaker 1: that game by twenty in the past. That team stood up.
Speaker 1: I mean they got up off the mat and punched
Speaker 1: back on Sunday and they haven't always done that, and
Speaker 1: again and again and again, and anyone who watched that
Speaker 1: game you would see you go. The game could have
Speaker 1: been over at so many different points. And the reason
Speaker 1: I say all that stuff before, I don't want to
Speaker 1: turn this into under Steve Wilkes they did under rule
Speaker 1: they didn't, because it's not just those guys. It's Dante Jackson.
Speaker 1: I mean, Dante is a guy people being given him
Speaker 1: a hard time for getting hurt a lot, but he
Speaker 1: keeps getting back up and coming back and playing and
Speaker 1: making big plays. And C. J. Henderson has been on
Speaker 1: the wrong side of a lot of plays and is
Speaker 1: coming back and making more of the good ones now.
Speaker 1: So I mean, you see that in a lot of areas.
Speaker 1: I know, people there's a reductive tendency in modern media
Speaker 1: to make it about one big, obvious thing. But there's
Speaker 1: a lot of layers to this thing, and there were
Speaker 1: a lot of dudes who kind of represented that spirit
Speaker 1: of this is not over. This team is continuing to fight,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of interesting to watch it all in fold.
Speaker 1: And I do want to say about you mentioned both
Speaker 1: Dante Jackson and c. J. Henderson some things that I've
Speaker 1: seen from them on the sideline. I've covered Dante now
Speaker 1: for three years, and he dealt with my my first year.
Speaker 1: He dealt a lot with turf to that year and
Speaker 1: some thing that I noticed from him from the beginning,
Speaker 1: and I told him that that year, and I think
Speaker 1: that's why you see him as a captain now and
Speaker 1: you watch his progression, is that he wants to be
Speaker 1: in the game so bad he will no matter what
Speaker 1: he's dealing with. As you said, Darren, he will, he
Speaker 1: will start a game, he will try to go. No
Speaker 1: one is more upset than him when he can't be
Speaker 1: out on the field. And then he also takes it
Speaker 1: upon himself to really support and mentor and cheer on
Speaker 1: the other guys out there, and that's hard. He's been
Speaker 1: doing that for since I've been here. I've watched him
Speaker 1: every single game, UM, and so it's great to see
Speaker 1: him have success, UM when he's able to be out there.
Speaker 1: And then C J Henderson to your point, Darren, I
Speaker 1: watched him put his body on the line in the
Speaker 1: Rams game, UM, a Rams game that was starting to
Speaker 1: get out of hand, and he went into the concussion
Speaker 1: protocol after that, UM, and he's back. He had that
Speaker 1: huge interception UM in in this game here, And you're right,
Speaker 1: there's so many individuals store Ree. Like I said, we
Speaker 1: haven't talked about Deanta Form, and we haven't talked about
Speaker 1: Terrice Marshall, we haven't talked about DJ. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: there's a thousand different stories that you could tell. But
Speaker 1: what I want to know from from both of you
Speaker 1: is this, this has got to feel deflating, right, So
Speaker 1: how how does this team You know, of course we
Speaker 1: hear we're gonna flush it. We gotta move on. You know,
Speaker 1: you win, you can't take it with you. If you lose,
Speaker 1: you can't take it with you. So Augusta, how do
Speaker 1: they move forward after this one? Because the effort was there,
Speaker 1: and like you said, one thing goes differently, they would
Speaker 1: have been tied for the division leads. So what are
Speaker 1: you hearing from the guys exactly? I think it's kind
Speaker 1: of it's almost like it ties into what we've been
Speaker 1: talking about, but there's so much to talk about. I
Speaker 1: think they're focusing on the fact that there were so
Speaker 1: many good things. Like Darren said, you've seen the Panthers
Speaker 1: lose that game by twenty when there's so much fight
Speaker 1: and there's so many good things. I want to talk
Speaker 1: specifically about c J. Henderson just because I spoke with
Speaker 1: UM defensive backs coach Evan Cooper yesterday about c J
Speaker 1: and UM. He called it the aha moment for him
Speaker 1: almost like you know, especially UM. I feel like a
Speaker 1: lot of fans and a lot of people when they
Speaker 1: see c J. Henderson they think about the d p
Speaker 1: I S. I mean, it felt like there was a
Speaker 1: string of like three games where it was almost he
Speaker 1: could it just kept happening, just kept happening, and he
Speaker 1: made a play on the ball, which was something that
Speaker 1: I had talked with uh, you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: the players about I had talked with with Coop about
Speaker 1: and he was like, he finally made the play on
Speaker 1: the ball and was right before. It was a few
Speaker 1: plays before that interception. It was one of those things where, um,
Speaker 1: it was just he kind of turned the turned a corner.
Speaker 1: It's not like he's like, you know, arrived or anything,
Speaker 1: but he's he's turned a corner. And I think a
Speaker 1: lot of the team feels that way. Deante Foreman, you know,
Speaker 1: I talked with him after the first game where he
Speaker 1: posted over hundred rushing yards and he was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm finally you know, like getting my opportunity. And then
Speaker 1: he does the same thing again. So there's there's building blocks.
Speaker 1: And I think even though there was a loss and
Speaker 1: it was super deflating in that moment, I I didn't
Speaker 1: feel like the vibe in the locker room Monday was
Speaker 1: rough at all. I felt very optimistic. And when you
Speaker 1: have things that you can build upon that are good,
Speaker 1: it's not just oh my goodness, you know. Execution was
Speaker 1: really poor and you know, we know we can put
Speaker 1: it together in practice, but you put it together at
Speaker 1: least enough in a game to make it that kind
Speaker 1: of thriller, competitive sort of thing. I think that's what
Speaker 1: they're focusing on. And and now when you lose a
Speaker 1: game like that, you have places to grow too, So
Speaker 1: it's you have your glows and your growths. That's what
Speaker 1: I always call them. So I think there's a lot there.
Speaker 1: I really do. It's a nice like coaching term. You
Speaker 1: should tell coach Wilkes that Darren put that, put that
Speaker 1: slogan on a piece of paper, Let's tap that on
Speaker 1: the wall. I need more of those, especially the gloves,
Speaker 1: I like the clothes. What are you hearing from from
Speaker 1: Steve Wilkes, from these players? And how do you if
Speaker 1: you're in that locker room, how do you not lose
Speaker 1: that fire that you would have had if one thing
Speaker 1: went your way in that game and you win? I
Speaker 1: think one of the things. And I don't want to
Speaker 1: say it's unique to Steve Wilks, because I think a
Speaker 1: lot of coaches try to approach this thing. But Steve
Speaker 1: as always said, I mean when he becomes interim head coach,
Speaker 1: I mean it's it would have been easy to make
Speaker 1: that story about Steve Wilkes getting another chance, Steve Wilkes
Speaker 1: being a hometown kid, uh and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Steve has resisted making this about him, and he's kept
Speaker 1: the focus very short, you know, on We're gonna win today,
Speaker 1: is the thing Steve always says. I think players pick
Speaker 1: up on the fact that Steve knows nothing is promised
Speaker 1: to him. He knows nothing that's happening, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a very real chance that nothing that happens on
Speaker 1: the field this week ultimately impacts his future job wherever
Speaker 1: it happens to be, whether it's here anywhere else. So,
Speaker 1: I mean Steve's taking a very narrow focus on everything
Speaker 1: because that's the way you've got to beat During an
Speaker 1: NFL season, there's so much stuff happening. I mean, you know, again,
Speaker 1: look at what's going on in Cincinnati. Your go there
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl. Now they're kind of up against it.
Speaker 1: They're running out of dudes. Um, key players are hurt.
Speaker 1: They struggled in front of a national audience on Monday night. Um.
Speaker 1: Stuff changes in a hurry in the NFL, and the
Speaker 1: only real way to approach this job and maintain any
Speaker 1: degree of sanity is to do today as well as
Speaker 1: you can. I mean, and I think back to my
Speaker 1: background in newspapers. You know, we always laughed and called
Speaker 1: it the daily miracle. How did we put this thing
Speaker 1: out in twenty four hours when we started with nothing?
Speaker 1: And that's kind of the way you've got to be
Speaker 1: with football. I mean, you can't the Carolina Panthers cannot
Speaker 1: beat the Bengals on Wednesday, but they can certainly lose
Speaker 1: to them if they're not buttoned up in preparation for
Speaker 1: X y Z. So I just think that's been Steve's thing,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of it's easy to say, and it's
Speaker 1: harder to pull off, uh, to keep guys focused on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: And and I think from his standpoint the fact that
Speaker 1: he generally put them in pads. Now, we haven't been
Speaker 1: out on the practice field today. Don't know if they're
Speaker 1: gonna adjust plans with short week coming up in the
Speaker 1: future or anything like that. But I think the way
Speaker 1: Steve put them in pads on Wednesday to kind of
Speaker 1: get everybody's attention and keep the focus back on the
Speaker 1: immediate is is kind of his strategy to pushing through
Speaker 1: this thing. And I think that gave me a lot
Speaker 1: of insight between what you said Augusta of just seeing
Speaker 1: some individual performances really, um, really turned that corner. And
Speaker 1: then also, like you said, Darren just going day by day,
Speaker 1: and you know, I have to say, how about that
Speaker 1: offense too, Like I said, we've touched on it a
Speaker 1: little bit with the Deontay format of it all, the
Speaker 1: PJ of it all, but um, you know, talking to
Speaker 1: our producer David Linton in in the game, I think
Speaker 1: they got to twenty eight points and I said, this
Speaker 1: is by far the most points that they've scored this season. Right,
Speaker 1: So you have those, um, those things that you look
Speaker 1: at you this offense has been improving, um, putting up
Speaker 1: my at least points wise, Um, p J is showing
Speaker 1: off what he can do and it you know, and
Speaker 1: then you roll with that, right And then Steve looks said,
Speaker 1: it's we're rolling with p J. We've seen, we've seen
Speaker 1: what this offense can do. And do you hope that
Speaker 1: just they typen up a few more things or they
Speaker 1: hope they taken up a few more things in time
Speaker 1: for the Bengals. And you're right, you say, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: well we get this done. Yeah, And in honor of
Speaker 1: Panthers stats guy, since Will is not here to provide
Speaker 1: stat of the week, he's on special assignment today. It's
Speaker 1: not really a stat, but I think it's a number
Speaker 1: that kind of points to that the Panthers have been
Speaker 1: last in the league in offense all year long. The
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers are no longer last in the league in
Speaker 1: total offense. I mean they're now twenty nine in the league. Again,
Speaker 1: not great, Bob, but considering where they've been, Considering where
Speaker 1: they were earlier this year, when they just couldn't convert
Speaker 1: a third down, couldn't move the ball, couldn't put anything
Speaker 1: on the board. I mean, that's the that's the thing
Speaker 1: that's so different about what's going on right now. And
Speaker 1: and again, is there a certain freedom that you can
Speaker 1: play with when you're on a fourth quarterback or a
Speaker 1: second coach and all this stuff is happening around you? Yeah? Sure,
Speaker 1: I mean when the stakes are down, there is a
Speaker 1: certain liberty each of those individuals has. But um, at
Speaker 1: the same time, it's beginning to work. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: PJ is dealing right now. And I never imagined saying
Speaker 1: that in August. So it's just it's kind of bizarre,
Speaker 1: and it's I laughed about it all the time. You
Speaker 1: you go see the show because you never know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna get. And right now that's the spot the
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers are in. I did not expect to be
Speaker 1: talking about p J. Walker and the high flying Panthers
Speaker 1: offense right now, but they just scored thirty four points.
Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely, Yet here we are. Uh and before we go,
Speaker 1: I do want to touch on the trade deadline as well.
Speaker 1: So it has come and gone. Um, Darren, what's what's
Speaker 1: the insight on the building from from that? Speaking of
Speaker 1: all those words written that never see the light of day,
Speaker 1: I wasn't gonna say it, because you know, we we
Speaker 1: were prepared for a lot of stuff around here, and
Speaker 1: you have to be. But no, I just don't think
Speaker 1: and they were pretty clear. I think Scott Fitter has
Speaker 1: has made it clear from the start. Even after Christian,
Speaker 1: you know, people wanted to apply the fire sales stuff
Speaker 1: to Christian McCaffrey, and that's kind of a different deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, Christian was at a different stage of career
Speaker 1: and he's basically a premium contract to a non premium position,
Speaker 1: and what they wanted to keep were the guys at
Speaker 1: premium positions, you know, the pass rusher like Brian Burns,
Speaker 1: the receiver like d J. Moore, the corner of the
Speaker 1: tackle um and they didn't want to trade those guys.
Speaker 1: So I think they sat around yesterday afternoon waiting for
Speaker 1: the phone to ring. The phone never rang with the
Speaker 1: offers um that they considered sufficient. I mean, there were
Speaker 1: reports out there that the Rams offered two number one
Speaker 1: where the Rams didn't have one next year. So was
Speaker 1: it worth it to trade Brian Burns for a first
Speaker 1: round pick in two? Obvious? Obviously it's not because much
Speaker 1: like us, Brian still here in the building. Um So,
Speaker 1: I just think it was a lot of waiting around
Speaker 1: to see if anybody was going to overwhelm them with offers.
Speaker 1: Nobody ever did, and they kind of like the piece
Speaker 1: they've got in place. I mean, one of the things
Speaker 1: I'm working on right now that we'll have up on
Speaker 1: Panthers dot Com at a certain point this week is
Speaker 1: is they like what they've got coming back? And if
Speaker 1: you look at what's coming back, most of a starting lineup,
Speaker 1: now granted it's the starting lineup of a two and
Speaker 1: six team where there's no bones about that. They're going
Speaker 1: to be in the quarterback market. Everybody knows that. But
Speaker 1: when you start looking at the idea of going into
Speaker 1: next year with a secondary in place, with an offensive
Speaker 1: line almost completely in place, with Brian Burns, a premier
Speaker 1: pass rusher in place, with d J Moore, one receiver
Speaker 1: Derek Brown who's playing his tail, I guess he just
Speaker 1: gave a couple of snaps and the microphone that glow
Speaker 1: or grow. That's definitely that's glow. It's a glow from
Speaker 1: a glow. Yes, But there's a lot of stuff going
Speaker 1: them that they like having, and now they've got more
Speaker 1: draft picks. They don't have all that many free agents
Speaker 1: to re sign, really only two starters when you look
Speaker 1: at when you look at it, I mean Bradley Boseman
Speaker 1: and matt Ionidas are the two guys who are quote
Speaker 1: unquote starters right now who aren't under contract for next
Speaker 1: year other than the quarterbacks. So they don't have all
Speaker 1: that much stuff to do this offseason. So it gives
Speaker 1: you an opportunity to add to what they feel like
Speaker 1: is a pretty decent young bass and I have to
Speaker 1: say during It's kind of like what you just said.
Speaker 1: I did not did not think at this point you'd
Speaker 1: be saying p J Walker in this high flying offense
Speaker 1: despite the record, the two and six record, I think
Speaker 1: it's fair to say that, you know, before starting this job,
Speaker 1: I came to this as a Panthers fan. So I
Speaker 1: feel like if you're a Panthers fan, I you know,
Speaker 1: it's not common to say, well, at two and six,
Speaker 1: I think you've got to feel pretty good about where
Speaker 1: things are right now. Despite the record. This this team
Speaker 1: that did not I think fans were worried about the
Speaker 1: fire sale, like you said, that did not happen. It
Speaker 1: feels like there's some really solid, solid pieces and a
Speaker 1: lot of different spots on this team, and and they're
Speaker 1: not out of it. We'll see what happens. So it's
Speaker 1: a completely different vibe. But if you go back to
Speaker 1: the forty Niners game here, what was that less than
Speaker 1: a month ago to think that after that you were
Speaker 1: then going to see p J. Walker in the Carolina
Speaker 1: Panthers give Tom Brady a good thrashing and then go
Speaker 1: out and lose a shootout in overtime. Any atlant I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just none of those things makes it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they are playing they are playing a different brand of
Speaker 1: football right now, there's no doubt about that. Well, this
Speaker 1: was a blast. I'm glad we got to do it
Speaker 1: a day early. Thanks everyone for listening to the Happy
Speaker 1: Half Hour podcast and we'll see you next week.