Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristen Balboni, Will, Brian and Darren Gamp. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour podcast. It's your friends Kristen, Will and
Speaker 1: Darren along with producer Matt And it's that time of
Speaker 1: the year guys. Where I mean, we recorded last week
Speaker 1: right around this time, and I feel like it's been
Speaker 1: a year because so many things in panther Land have changed.
Speaker 1: Last week, yeah, a month ago, last week when they
Speaker 1: were about to play a third preseason game and we
Speaker 1: hadn't seen Sam Donald play much football and all that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff, and all by the way, they've cut
Speaker 1: people and done all this other stuff since then, We've
Speaker 1: come a long way. It's a lot happening here. Yes.
Speaker 1: And we also are going to start our disclaimer that
Speaker 1: I feel like we do weekly during the regular season,
Speaker 1: which is that we are recording this on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: So by the time this comes out, things will have
Speaker 1: changed because we are in that initial roster, but we're
Speaker 1: still looking, you know, putting out waiver claims. All that
Speaker 1: is happening right now. But as of yesterday, we do
Speaker 1: have the initial fifty three man roster, which is where
Speaker 1: we are going to start, of course, knowing that it
Speaker 1: is going to change maybe significantly UM in the time
Speaker 1: that this podcast comes out, and certainly before the first game.
Speaker 1: But I do want to get a big takeaway from
Speaker 1: what you saw overall. I don't know if it's we
Speaker 1: should maybe do it by position groups. I feel like
Speaker 1: like there'd be a good way to go, So I'll start.
Speaker 1: No one asked me, but I'll start the host. I
Speaker 1: do what I want UM, And of course I'm going
Speaker 1: to take the easy one before before anyone UM goes there,
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks. So for going one takeaway at a position group,
Speaker 1: it was that p J Walker one the backup job
Speaker 1: over Will Grier, despite Will Grier certainly I thought giving
Speaker 1: PG run for his money, especially in those last two
Speaker 1: preseason games. So I think that was one of the
Speaker 1: big headlines that came out of the UM initial fifty
Speaker 1: three man roster is that Will Greer is no longer
Speaker 1: on the team, right, And I feel like we should
Speaker 1: also record and have Matt splice something in later well
Speaker 1: after the Panthers claimed Kingele mccringelberry off waivers Wednesday. Yes,
Speaker 1: we could just fill in the blame. Yeah, different names,
Speaker 1: drop a boy see in later. But yeah, at the
Speaker 1: moment we're recording this sitting on two quarterbacks, and I mean,
Speaker 1: to me, that's a little bit risky simply because, you know,
Speaker 1: even though the COVID restrictions aren't as stringent as they
Speaker 1: were this time a year ago, having an extra guy
Speaker 1: around who knows your stuff and who is available and
Speaker 1: who you know can operate at a reasonable level on
Speaker 1: short notice is something I think they'd be interested, and
Speaker 1: I think they're They're almost certainly going to add another
Speaker 1: quarterback to this roster in the next couple of days.
Speaker 1: We don't know who it is at the moment. We
Speaker 1: don't know if he's going to be a veteran practice
Speaker 1: squad or anything like that. But yeah, I mean, having
Speaker 1: a third round seems reasonable. But they are confident enough
Speaker 1: in PJ that m they're willing to roll with him
Speaker 1: for now, which is you know, I I thought it
Speaker 1: was debatable which of those two backups had the better preseason.
Speaker 1: Will played pretty well, like you mentioned, Kristen those second
Speaker 1: two games. Will was really good, and I think Will
Speaker 1: will have opportunities, whether it's here somewhere else coming up.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean it does stand out right now
Speaker 1: at the moment as we talk about this at ten
Speaker 1: twenty seven on Wednesday morning. The good news is darreny
Speaker 1: threw in a lot of words in in um that
Speaker 1: last sentence of like whether they claimed someone off waivers veterans,
Speaker 1: So we have a lot to splice in and I
Speaker 1: bet we can get to if they do pick someone
Speaker 1: off a good description from Darren just based on the
Speaker 1: words that we can edit. Let's say signed Vinny test
Speaker 1: of Virgin or something like that, and then we're doing
Speaker 1: a breaking podcast if that happens. The best part for
Speaker 1: me was as he got into it, he leaned forward
Speaker 1: and took his glasses off, and that's when you knew
Speaker 1: that Darren meant business on this. On this for those
Speaker 1: listening and watching home alternate theory, his eyes are just
Speaker 1: tired because he has published how many articles over in
Speaker 1: the last few days. There's been a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: crossing my face, as they say in the football business.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it's a lot going on. But yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't know. I mean, there will be moves later
Speaker 1: today for sure. That makes us look like idiots in
Speaker 1: the ensuing a couple of hours. Well that's what we're
Speaker 1: here for. Right, We're going to record at the time
Speaker 1: and then you know everything will change by the time
Speaker 1: it comes out. That's part of the fun of it.
Speaker 1: You never know what you're going to get. But Darren,
Speaker 1: what what is the position group that stood out to
Speaker 1: you when you look at this initial fifty three man roster,
Speaker 1: I mean fifty three guys on the roster, ten of
Speaker 1: them are defensive lineman. And when you look at when
Speaker 1: those guys showed up, I mean, they're all basically new.
Speaker 1: Brian Burns is the only pre Matt rule defensive line.
Speaker 1: It's the third season and it is alarming, but it's
Speaker 1: it's young, and it's fast, and it's talented, especially young.
Speaker 1: I mean they kept ten I mean and Phil Hoskins
Speaker 1: seventh round pig, big snack, he was probably the tenth guy.
Speaker 1: As you look at that group, but after you trade
Speaker 1: for Darryl Johnson, you keep Phil Hoskins around. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden you look and it's like, WHOA, there's are
Speaker 1: a lot of defensive linemen and from where they were
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago when the cupboard was bear
Speaker 1: when you see them pumps so many draft picks into
Speaker 1: the position, put so many resources in the Firman Net
Speaker 1: thing up. I mean, you know, you go out and
Speaker 1: you sign a day Kwan Jones and Morgan Fox this offseason,
Speaker 1: and it's because you need somebody to shephard along all
Speaker 1: of these kids. And I mean those those are two
Speaker 1: good vets to have in that room who've been around.
Speaker 1: I mean, Morgan has played next to some guy named
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. He knows a little about how this game goes.
Speaker 1: And de Kwan John same deal. I mean they Matt
Speaker 1: talked a lot about de Kwan and how being on
Speaker 1: a Tennessee team that went from two and fourteen to
Speaker 1: playoff regulars matters, and so having that around a bunch
Speaker 1: of young guys like Davian Nixon, like Brian Roy, like
Speaker 1: Phil Hoskins, et cetera. That's that's valuable knowledge. And one
Speaker 1: thing that Phil Snow has said is people have asked him,
Speaker 1: you know, who are the starters are? You know, kind
Speaker 1: of where how they all gonna line up. He's like,
Speaker 1: I don't really care. All of these guys are going
Speaker 1: to be on the field constantly. Like the whole thing is,
Speaker 1: there's no place you're saying. He said, he doesn't really
Speaker 1: care about who the start of the techno. Do you
Speaker 1: think he cares about where they line up, go out
Speaker 1: there and wherever they want. Yeah, you know, the the
Speaker 1: guy that is out there for the first play versus
Speaker 1: the guy that's out there for the fourth play. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're just gonna keep rotating and going full speed. We
Speaker 1: saw that last year specifically with the D line. You know,
Speaker 1: I go out there for sideline and you have your
Speaker 1: your designated starters, and then you look at the snap
Speaker 1: counts will which I'm always very grateful that you publish
Speaker 1: every single week. It's it's true. That is how they operate.
Speaker 1: They like to sub They like to rotate guys, especially
Speaker 1: on their line. That is their ideal scenario, and we're
Speaker 1: going to see it more and more with the talent
Speaker 1: that they have added and developed this year. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have those offensive linemen that are going to be
Speaker 1: looking at a different guys that they're going to have
Speaker 1: to prepare for that are coming at you know, and
Speaker 1: then you have linebackers that may step up into gaps.
Speaker 1: I mean all that kind of stuff. But you know,
Speaker 1: these guys are fresh. You're gonna have guys, fresh guys
Speaker 1: coming at them all game, and it's the same you
Speaker 1: know garden, same right tackle that's going to have to
Speaker 1: deal with these really young fast players and having guys
Speaker 1: I mean, listen, Markis Haynes and need tour play had
Speaker 1: a lot of snaps last year, and breaking on Roy
Speaker 1: did too when you were mentioning him. These guys that
Speaker 1: you wouldn't necessarily would think it a lot of work,
Speaker 1: but in the system or because of injury. And again
Speaker 1: that second group got a lot of run last year,
Speaker 1: as they you know, and last year they were playing
Speaker 1: a lot of young guys out of necessity, you know,
Speaker 1: I think now it's beginning to become out of choice.
Speaker 1: And and again we'll see what Darryl Johnson. We'll see
Speaker 1: if he proves to be help on defense. He's inactive,
Speaker 1: he's a big body. When you see him out on
Speaker 1: the practice field, he looks the part that's what a
Speaker 1: defensive in supposed don't look like out there. But he's
Speaker 1: mainly here because he's got some promises pass rusher. But
Speaker 1: he's a special teams guy, and he'll probably be on
Speaker 1: all four phases of special teams and and be out
Speaker 1: there running around because you need big guys who can
Speaker 1: run in that phase of the game, and that's gonna
Speaker 1: be his job primarily. But it stood out to me
Speaker 1: that when you keep a fifty three man roster in
Speaker 1: time you've got double digits at any position, it's like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: but that's that's an interesting group for sure going into
Speaker 1: the year. Well, what position group stood out to you?
Speaker 1: So this one is definitely a let's pause and insert
Speaker 1: people later. Javars, Jamar, Javaris and Lamar done. Okay, So
Speaker 1: um no, I mean the running backs. A couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago, when we published that initial depth chart firm
Speaker 1: from training camp, we had to add spaces to make
Speaker 1: up for all the running backs that were on there.
Speaker 1: You know, Darius Clark, Spencer Brown, Reggie Bonifon, Rodney Smith,
Speaker 1: along with Cuba and Christian and yeah, and and and
Speaker 1: now it's just Cuba and Christian and now Trenton Cannon
Speaker 1: is there as the special team's guy. That that group, though,
Speaker 1: what was hit hard by injuries during training camp in
Speaker 1: three season, which is absolutely and I think you know
Speaker 1: that that harkens back to what Matt Will keeps saying,
Speaker 1: you know, the best ability is availability, and I think
Speaker 1: I think you saw that a little bit obviously a
Speaker 1: lot of that can change here today with practice squad,
Speaker 1: with with waiver claims with you know, they're they're not
Speaker 1: going to ferily leave it like that. But what Darren
Speaker 1: was saying, you know, they obviously want depth, but Christian
Speaker 1: isn't a guy that's going to be you know, splitting,
Speaker 1: carries a ton if when he's out there, he's out there.
Speaker 1: You know, this is Christians. This is Christians team to
Speaker 1: run on offense. From a running back standpoint. So you know,
Speaker 1: Chuba Hubbard, I think he proved himself pretty well. You know,
Speaker 1: everyone talked about what are they gonna do with Mike
Speaker 1: Davis going to Atlanta. I think Chuba Hubbard is a
Speaker 1: guy that I feel comfortable with, you know, on an
Speaker 1: NFL field right now. But yeah, I mean we'll we'll
Speaker 1: see what they do with that running back group. After
Speaker 1: they sign Sagittarius Jefferson to the practice squad today, Um yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean they're gonna roll into a game and and
Speaker 1: the three who were up on game day, even if
Speaker 1: they add some practice squad guys or adjust the roster.
Speaker 1: I mean, Christian Cuba, Trenton Cannon, that's who's going to
Speaker 1: be active and Trenton is another guy like Daryl Johnson.
Speaker 1: He's a special teams guy. Call him a running back
Speaker 1: if you want to, but he's probably not gonna do
Speaker 1: a lot of running of the football in this situation.
Speaker 1: And and while Cuba had a great preseason, Cuba is
Speaker 1: probably not either. I mean, you've got Christian McCaffrey. And
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting, you know, Joe Brady basically
Speaker 1: said the other week when we were talking to him,
Speaker 1: he basically said, buckle up. We don't want to overuse him,
Speaker 1: but we know he's the guy, and we know he
Speaker 1: needs to be just increasingly involved in this offense because
Speaker 1: he's one of the best players in the league. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we're going to give it to him a lot. So
Speaker 1: I think that was part of the reason Christian didn't
Speaker 1: step on the field during the preseason. And good, I mean,
Speaker 1: save the tread on his tires and get Cuba ready
Speaker 1: in case of emergency or in case you just need
Speaker 1: somebody to spell him after a long drive. But I
Speaker 1: will say Joe Brady also said in our preseason meetings,
Speaker 1: we got to talk to him once a week. He
Speaker 1: also said, you know, we want Christian fresh in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter and so they're kind of hinting that, you know,
Speaker 1: they do want that backup running back position to be
Speaker 1: able to go in. Now, once you actually get in
Speaker 1: the game and Christian is doing Christian McCaffrey things, I
Speaker 1: think that's that's always harder. But do you think there's
Speaker 1: any real chance that that that happens? I don't. I mean,
Speaker 1: how how how could it write? Why? Why would you
Speaker 1: give non Christian McCaffrey people the ball if you had
Speaker 1: the opportunity to give Christian McCaffrey the ball. I mean
Speaker 1: it's yeah, I think they want to and and there
Speaker 1: will be games now, I will say from watching them
Speaker 1: through the preseason, I think having a more diversified passing
Speaker 1: game might take a little bit of that stress off.
Speaker 1: You know, there's going to be a lot of quick passes,
Speaker 1: there's going to be a lot of put it in
Speaker 1: DJ's hands in space and let him try to make
Speaker 1: him play. Let's get Robbie on these short intermediate routes well,
Speaker 1: and we know that Dan Arnold around is going to
Speaker 1: add something to the passing game. And if you get
Speaker 1: anything out of tight ends in the passing game, that's
Speaker 1: one more carry. Christian doesn't have to take well. And
Speaker 1: we know that Barty likes to get creative, so I
Speaker 1: don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that
Speaker 1: we see a few plays that are specially designed for too.
Speaker 1: But you know, I mean, I think it's possible. But yes,
Speaker 1: the majority, Christian McCaffrey is gonna have the ball in
Speaker 1: his hands as much as possible. I think we all
Speaker 1: agree on that, right. And if you want the fantasy
Speaker 1: perspective on this may, sure you get up with at
Speaker 1: Panthers Bill on Twitter. He loves your fantasy questions, send
Speaker 1: them to him off. Listening to your favorite Carolina Panthers
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Speaker 1: more information, visit Panthers dot com. All right, well, I
Speaker 1: heard you got a stat of the week for us
Speaker 1: right the times, every time of the week. So after
Speaker 1: last night's initial fifty three man rosters were published, Philly
Speaker 1: Voice um they published their annual Youngest and Oldest roster rankings.
Speaker 1: So the Panthers came in tied for fourth with the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns age point three. Now, obviously it would have
Speaker 1: been a little bit higher. J J. Jansen, the old
Speaker 1: man is bringing that number up a little bit, but
Speaker 1: still thanks JJ. But in the case of this, I
Speaker 1: mean it came out of the draft, I think with
Speaker 1: one of the youngest rosters. Obviously it's still very young.
Speaker 1: You know that they're they're growing. You know, these guys
Speaker 1: are young, and they're they're looking to the future. You know,
Speaker 1: four years ago the Panthers were the second oldest um
Speaker 1: going into So it's it's obviously changed a lot in
Speaker 1: terms of the roster makeup. But I think that kind
Speaker 1: of we knew that, but here's some statistical proof of it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: tin rookies and from the last two draft classes, fifteen
Speaker 1: of the eighteen picks are still on the three man
Speaker 1: roster at the moment. Well, and I think that with
Speaker 1: Sam Donald coming here, there was that initial wave in
Speaker 1: the media where everyone gets reminded how young he is.
Speaker 1: So he was younger than some of the draft picks
Speaker 1: coming out this year and just turned twenty four recently.
Speaker 1: I was just thinking we were talking about Brian Burns
Speaker 1: twenty three years old. That still strikes me as incongruous
Speaker 1: a little bit, right, because, I mean we know this
Speaker 1: is his third season, but he just it feels like
Speaker 1: he's he's a presence, right, and he's a he's a
Speaker 1: vet on this young de line. We were just talking
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, still a baby. I mean, shoot, the
Speaker 1: oldest guy in the room on defense has been Jeremy Chin.
Speaker 1: He's been fifty years old since he was tenning. I mean,
Speaker 1: what is he like? I mean, he's not old either.
Speaker 1: A couple of those guys got old souls. As we say, yeah, wow,
Speaker 1: I feel so old. We're nuts for another day, uh,
Speaker 1: Darren again, we'll just insert the robotic voice and and
Speaker 1: the blanks. But as of right now, Wednesday ten thirty,
Speaker 1: where do you think that they are going to continue
Speaker 1: to look based on where this roster is right now?
Speaker 1: I think you have to find somebody with a little
Speaker 1: more experience inside linebacker. I mean they had Denzel Peraman
Speaker 1: here traded in Las Vegas, had Josh Binds here in
Speaker 1: Camp cut him. I think it's clear they want somebody
Speaker 1: uh to be able to spell Jermaine and Chack a
Speaker 1: little bit. Um Matt talked a lot this offseason about
Speaker 1: Jack played a whole bunch of snaps last year. We'd
Speaker 1: like him to play fewer snaps this year so that
Speaker 1: in December he's a little fresher and a little more available.
Speaker 1: And they don't have that guy on the roster right now.
Speaker 1: I mean their backups at inside linebacker Julian Stanford, another
Speaker 1: special teams guy in Clay Johnson. So it's it's just
Speaker 1: not a lot of experience, not a lot of guys
Speaker 1: you can point to and say, if we needed a
Speaker 1: spot start out of him. What they don't have is
Speaker 1: that guy like Jermaine Carter was the last couple of
Speaker 1: years that you could plug in and and have a
Speaker 1: baseline expectation of what he was going to be able
Speaker 1: to do. Now Jermaine has grown into something else. He
Speaker 1: you know, we made a lot out of Denzel Perraman,
Speaker 1: but you know, Jermaine kind of made that job his
Speaker 1: own and never let it go. So he's solid, shack solid.
Speaker 1: There's just not a lot behind them. So I would
Speaker 1: anticipate as they go through this thing. You know, if
Speaker 1: they claim linebacker have one shower handle off waivers, it
Speaker 1: won't be a surprise to me. Great prediction there, really
Speaker 1: really solid. It's almost like you saw into the future.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see what producer Matt's going to
Speaker 1: do with all these blank spaces. Just like SpongeBob, there's
Speaker 1: an incredible opportunity for him. Robotic voice, Yes, Siri, who
Speaker 1: is the linebacker the Panthers just claimed off Wavers. Let's
Speaker 1: go back now to what feels like a million years
Speaker 1: ago for us, but we haven't talked about it was
Speaker 1: that third preseason game where we saw the starters play
Speaker 1: for a full half and and he get told us
Speaker 1: a lot about this team. I mean, let's just what
Speaker 1: were your initial takeaways the game ended, or the first
Speaker 1: half ended. How did you feel about Let's let's start
Speaker 1: with the defense. How did you both feel about how
Speaker 1: the defense looked. They keep taking the ball away from people.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's you know, that's the thing through the preseason,
Speaker 1: whether it was the backups in the first couple of games,
Speaker 1: or you know, Brian Burns in this last one. It's
Speaker 1: like the second one. Yeah, they're going to get the
Speaker 1: ball away from other people. That's it. That's something that's
Speaker 1: pretty obvious about them. I mean, and again, they're fast,
Speaker 1: and they're on and they've got a lot of dudes, so, um,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be important. And I think they've kind of
Speaker 1: laid this whole thing in knowing that they wanted to
Speaker 1: be fast and physical on defense, because until they got
Speaker 1: Sam and kind of had an idea what they were
Speaker 1: gonna have in Sam, that was the thing you're sort
Speaker 1: of counting on. That's the side of the ball. If
Speaker 1: they make great improvements this year, it's gonna be because
Speaker 1: that defense is pretty good, and based on what we've
Speaker 1: seen in a preseason, I think there's reason to think
Speaker 1: that could be the case. I mean, they finished i
Speaker 1: think in the league rankings, what fifteen in the league
Speaker 1: in total defense, which is always kind of a weird
Speaker 1: way to measure defenses. But yeah, they were kind of
Speaker 1: the middle of the pack. I mean, I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I'm ready to say they're gonna be a top five
Speaker 1: defense or anything like that this year, but they're clearly
Speaker 1: better than they were a year ago. And for me,
Speaker 1: it was, you know, obviously Pittsburgh had maybe not their
Speaker 1: full complement of starters, but they started over four on
Speaker 1: third down. Yeah, it was Dante with the first two
Speaker 1: was was really the I mean, those were open tackles,
Speaker 1: those were powering up to the ball in space. You know,
Speaker 1: those were not letting guys get to the sticks. I
Speaker 1: mean you could tell. And just the energy they had
Speaker 1: after making those plays. They knew they have to get
Speaker 1: off the field on third down. That was the big
Speaker 1: thing that that stood out to me as well. Um
Speaker 1: and you could feel it with the crowd there. You
Speaker 1: could feel how excited they were to be able to
Speaker 1: get off the field, take the ball away, have those
Speaker 1: third down stops, because those were points of emphasis last
Speaker 1: year and through the first two preseason games with the
Speaker 1: backups out on the field, the maybe not the takeaways,
Speaker 1: but the third down numbers were certainly not great. And
Speaker 1: so to come out and see the starters really start
Speaker 1: off that way from as you said, that first Steelers
Speaker 1: third down opportunity that I thought that was a great sign.
Speaker 1: And I think it's also a psychological thing too. They
Speaker 1: see it right, and then they go okay, all right,
Speaker 1: now we're feeling good and um yeah, kind of reset
Speaker 1: the narrative on that third down and we'll see, we'll
Speaker 1: see how that goes. Starting in gosh, how many days now,
Speaker 1: fourteen days, twelve days, something like that against the Jets. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and again it goes back to a couple of things.
Speaker 1: I mean, you add pass rushers to hurry things up
Speaker 1: up front, and you added so much talent to the secondary.
Speaker 1: I mean drafting j C. Horne. I mean I wrote
Speaker 1: this morning on the website about Dante Jackson being the
Speaker 1: only corner on the roster at this moment who's ever
Speaker 1: started an NFL game, But it doesn't feel like as
Speaker 1: much of a panic because the other one is j C. Horn. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's like, you don't I don't even consider him
Speaker 1: a rookie sometimes anymore. I mean, he just doesn't strike me.
Speaker 1: You look at Stanley Thomas Oliver and Keith Taylor and
Speaker 1: it's like, oh my god, it's so young, But you
Speaker 1: don't consider j C. A is a part of that
Speaker 1: Oh my god, they're young, because he is not a
Speaker 1: young player. No, he's He's been ready for this opportunity
Speaker 1: for forever, you know, it feels like, and in large
Speaker 1: part thanks to his dad and and the wisdom that
Speaker 1: his dad has imparted, and thanks in large part also
Speaker 1: to to who he is. But he definitely falls into
Speaker 1: that category and I hate to even name other players
Speaker 1: because there are plenty of them, but he falls into
Speaker 1: that Brian Burns, Jeremy Chin older than their years, it
Speaker 1: seems like, both in terms of just the way he
Speaker 1: carries him elf and then also experience like you're right,
Speaker 1: he has not started in an NFL game yet, but
Speaker 1: you don't you consider him so far ahead of what
Speaker 1: maybe a normal rookie measures at um, what about on offense?
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that first half with the starters are
Speaker 1: first real look and the fans first real look at
Speaker 1: Sam Donald and what he is going to be for
Speaker 1: the Panthers. Kind of slow starting, but those last two drives, man,
Speaker 1: I mean and and that's been the thing that stood
Speaker 1: out to me about Sam and probably the thing I
Speaker 1: didn't realize about him. I didn't take the opportunity to
Speaker 1: enjoy as many Jets games is perhaps I should have
Speaker 1: the last three years, but I didn't realize Sam was
Speaker 1: going to be as good as he is in two
Speaker 1: minutes situations throughout training camp, when you know there would
Speaker 1: be times when things would get a little loose, but
Speaker 1: when they got into that rhythm stuff, when it was timing,
Speaker 1: when it was let's be sharp, point it matters. Sam
Speaker 1: always looked good, whether it was just solo practices down
Speaker 1: in Spartanburger, in those joint practices, I mean against the Ravens,
Speaker 1: and again, Marlon Humphrey wasn't practicing back then, but they
Speaker 1: still had Marcus Peters in a really good defense, and
Speaker 1: Sam looked efficient. Sam looked clean in those two minute drives,
Speaker 1: and so for him to come out and have that
Speaker 1: long drive to in the first half, it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: you got something to work with here. I think there's
Speaker 1: still some reason to wonder how it's going to hold
Speaker 1: up over a whole year. But if you offer people
Speaker 1: nineteen of twenty two yards a couple of touchdowns, if
Speaker 1: he does that in every half of every game this year, heck,
Speaker 1: Sam's gonna go to the Pro Bowl. Well, okay, he's
Speaker 1: probably not going to do that in every half of
Speaker 1: every game this year. I just want but it does.
Speaker 1: It does beg the question about pace. You know, I
Speaker 1: think people ask Brady about pace a little bit, and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, there's a lot of ways to
Speaker 1: define define that, you know, like it's coming up to
Speaker 1: the line, it's it's getting the play, and it's all
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But you know, like when you
Speaker 1: do play a little bit quicker, if if that allows
Speaker 1: a quarterback to you know, at different times, be able
Speaker 1: to get into a rhythm, keeps the defense from substituting,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of different things you might see
Speaker 1: that outside of a two minute situation. Yeah, well, as
Speaker 1: as um, both coach Rule and Brady told me last year,
Speaker 1: you cannot play fast enough for either of them, that
Speaker 1: is what they want. They you cannot, this team cannot
Speaker 1: go fast enough. And and maybe that's you know, in
Speaker 1: part of their college backgrounds, but that is what they want.
Speaker 1: They want pace on all levels, whether it is just
Speaker 1: getting up to the line, everything could be faster, UM.
Speaker 1: And so I'm sure that they were very pleased to
Speaker 1: see um the pace at which Sam Donald was leading
Speaker 1: that offense. And I talked to both Rule and Donald
Speaker 1: after that game and they both said the same thing,
Speaker 1: like we're not happy with the slow start, but really
Speaker 1: liked the way they ended. And and I mean, that's
Speaker 1: what you want right out of a quarterback that we're
Speaker 1: all wondering, um, or the fans are wondering how it
Speaker 1: was gonna go coming in from the Jets. You want
Speaker 1: if you're a fan to know that your quarterback can
Speaker 1: lead two minute drive. That's like that. That's where you said,
Speaker 1: it's got to give you a lot of confidence, right,
Speaker 1: And I think that we're seeing that it's possible. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And it's not to throw rocks at anybody who was
Speaker 1: here last year, but it it does feel different and once,
Speaker 1: even though we didn't see this in a preseason game,
Speaker 1: having Christian out there is going to make a huge
Speaker 1: difference everything because you know, if a play breaks down,
Speaker 1: you can dump it off the number twenty two and
Speaker 1: you have a pretty good idea that he's going to
Speaker 1: be able to do something positive with it. And he
Speaker 1: knows what to do. He knows when to get down,
Speaker 1: he knows when to get out of bounds. So there's
Speaker 1: reason to be cautiously optimistic about this offense right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously there's some stuff you worry about, because
Speaker 1: there's always stuff to worry about. Nobody, you know, nobody
Speaker 1: envisioned at this point in a reclamation project that they
Speaker 1: would be a finished product, and they're not. But Sam
Speaker 1: has kind of receded from the list of worries. I
Speaker 1: guess you could say going into the season because I
Speaker 1: think he's looked a lot more competent than a lot
Speaker 1: of people maybe had reason to think he was going
Speaker 1: to with the new way that the preseason, the structure
Speaker 1: just three preseason games. But then keeping in mind that
Speaker 1: they did these four joint practices, a hundred reps roughly
Speaker 1: for every starter. Do you feel both of you feel
Speaker 1: with with all of these new pieces. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: specifically thinking of Sam, but with everyone with this young
Speaker 1: team that they're ready for the regular season. I think
Speaker 1: there's ready as they're gonna be. I mean, well, yes,
Speaker 1: there's nothing we can do now. I mean, they're going
Speaker 1: to practice. But I do believe that those pre are
Speaker 1: those joint practice reps are better than preseason games. As
Speaker 1: we know. Yeah, you want to abolish the preseason altogether,
Speaker 1: we got we heard that last week. I just think
Speaker 1: it's better work because coaches can really zoom in on Okay,
Speaker 1: I want to work on third down. I want to
Speaker 1: work on two minutes, and you can get focused work
Speaker 1: on that as opposed to okay, it's second and seven
Speaker 1: against Pittsburgh slappys. You know, how do you tell anything
Speaker 1: from that? So I think having that extra set of
Speaker 1: joint practice helps having some of that kind of work
Speaker 1: against other high level people, you know, gives them an opportunity. Again,
Speaker 1: are there issues on offense? There are, But I feel
Speaker 1: probably better about Sam right now than I expected to
Speaker 1: going into the season. I thought it was a a
Speaker 1: great way to end the preseason, especially at a home
Speaker 1: game with with fans back. Um. I thought the I
Speaker 1: thought the team looked good. That rule one is first
Speaker 1: ever preseason game. It's true, and he didn't have any
Speaker 1: last year. But yeah, congratulations that Will has recorded that
Speaker 1: in the official preseason and training camp stats. Oh I
Speaker 1: I Yeah, There's there's a whole other story about preseason
Speaker 1: stats that I'll get to at some other time in
Speaker 1: a bonus section on Twitter. So directors cut, director's cut. Yeah,
Speaker 1: keeping high out for that because this podcast is so
Speaker 1: good that it needs bonus director's cuts. All right, So,
Speaker 1: speaking of Twitter, which is where you'll find that bonus content,
Speaker 1: apparently on on Will's Twitter. Um, well, you were scanning
Speaker 1: the Twitter machine earlier and you wanted to bring this
Speaker 1: subject up for our question of the week. I'm not
Speaker 1: going to call it a weird question that it's a
Speaker 1: valid question, but it's a question. Nonetheless, this one is
Speaker 1: courtesy of Mac at w F and Z, which is
Speaker 1: something they clearly talked about on on their show. He
Speaker 1: put out his top five college football fan basis is
Speaker 1: in the Carolinas and Will send it to us and
Speaker 1: he was like, we got to talk about this. So
Speaker 1: here is is his ranking order of the top five
Speaker 1: college football fan bases in the area. One South Carolina
Speaker 1: to Clemson. Already seeing some issues here, three NC State,
Speaker 1: four APP State, and five e c U. So Will
Speaker 1: you're the one that said we got to talk about it.
Speaker 1: Where are you zeroing in on on that list? Well, first,
Speaker 1: we gotta we gotta plug a little bit there. There's
Speaker 1: a bunch of mayo to be dumped on this field
Speaker 1: on our new grass or new artificial during Two of
Speaker 1: the teams on this list are playing the tea. Yeah
Speaker 1: that's right. Well I was talking about tomorrow. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: so tomorrow and and Saturday, Um, you know Clemson, Georgia
Speaker 1: and APP State E s u uh. Darren is very
Speaker 1: pumped for the Clemson Georgia game. He knows all about
Speaker 1: that one. Um, but no, I I think I think
Speaker 1: that you can really tell the strength of a fan
Speaker 1: base by how strong they are when their team is losing,
Speaker 1: and South Carolina does a lot of losing. Yes, they
Speaker 1: lose all the time. So I'm perfectly fine with them
Speaker 1: being at the top of this list considering how good
Speaker 1: they are for being perennial losers. That's another way. That's
Speaker 1: another word we could use to describe the South Carolina
Speaker 1: football fan base. Um see, I rolled by, here's where
Speaker 1: I go, and I just want to because I feel
Speaker 1: like Darn's gonna have some thoughts about I just want
Speaker 1: to go back to this the way I judge, and
Speaker 1: it's now granted Clemson in South Carolina are in very
Speaker 1: different places, But the way I judge is like, how
Speaker 1: much of your identity is caught up in you being
Speaker 1: a fan of this team? And I think Clemson especially
Speaker 1: and and of course they have very good reason too.
Speaker 1: Over the last decade, Like when you travel places you
Speaker 1: see the Clemson how you you have met people that
Speaker 1: their weekends are are absolutely this is where they will
Speaker 1: be tailgating in this spot and they've done it for
Speaker 1: twenty years, and it feels very much like an identity.
Speaker 1: People lived down there specifically for that reason and have
Speaker 1: followed every single sport. I hear a lot of that
Speaker 1: from from Clemson fans, where it's it's very much an identity,
Speaker 1: whereas I get it was South Carolina. But for the record,
Speaker 1: I think Clemson's first. That was me just making a
Speaker 1: joke because because I hate South Carolina. Oh yeah, Clemson's
Speaker 1: There was no punchline either, that was I thought it was.
Speaker 1: I thought it was obvious. No, Clemson's first. I disagree
Speaker 1: there is. There is a level of commitment if you're
Speaker 1: a Clemson fan, though, if you're willing to go out
Speaker 1: dressed in that shade of that color and run the
Speaker 1: rail people thinking you're a traffic calling all day long,
Speaker 1: then I I think it does speak to you as
Speaker 1: a fan base that you're willing to put yourself out
Speaker 1: there in that way. But no, I mean, I will
Speaker 1: say that Appalachian State has gone on the road and
Speaker 1: played some big programs. Been to Georgia, been to um
Speaker 1: been to Clemson, went to where was that other place?
Speaker 1: It was, oh seven, somewhere up north. Yeah, somewhere north.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that. Yeah, that's right, that was today,
Speaker 1: fourteen years ago. It was man. But the Clemson people
Speaker 1: treated us so well when we were down there. They
Speaker 1: were like, you know, some people get kind of snotty,
Speaker 1: and I think after Michigan a lot of people would
Speaker 1: look down their nose, or before Michigan people would be
Speaker 1: like Applegian State. But we walked in they were like, hey,
Speaker 1: you guys, well and you and we just beast five
Speaker 1: For anyone who doesn't know, when you say us, you're
Speaker 1: referring to the Apple actions and not panthers US extremely
Speaker 1: partisan Appalachian State fan today, I give my all for
Speaker 1: Applechian State. I'll touch the sign on my way out
Speaker 1: the door. Um. I think it's gonna be great. I
Speaker 1: love going to college games. Uh, particularly in Boone. This
Speaker 1: is gonna be neat coming here tomorrow. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be right out there for the Theater of the Mind.
Speaker 1: Folks out there listening to this podcast and waiting to line.
Speaker 1: I don't know why we would be right out there.
Speaker 1: We got good seats, but we're excited about it, and
Speaker 1: we've been making plants for this. When me and all
Speaker 1: my college buddies over roommates and folks, we're gonna go.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go tailgate and we're gonna have some fun
Speaker 1: and we're gonna go watch a little football and Hopefully
Speaker 1: it's a good Hopefully it's a good product on the field.
Speaker 1: A lot of questions to be answered. I hope Chase
Speaker 1: Brice does well as new quarterback. It's been a long
Speaker 1: time since we've had to worry about that, but it
Speaker 1: is there is something about the Appalachian State fan base
Speaker 1: and that appeals to my psyche. I guess you could say,
Speaker 1: because at the time I went to a Issue, it
Speaker 1: never felt like it was anybody's first choice, at least athletically.
Speaker 1: Anybody who played football at a Issue was either to
Speaker 1: this or to that, too slow or too smaller. And
Speaker 1: we made a living off these little, skinny guys who
Speaker 1: could run fast, and that kind of created this whole
Speaker 1: island of the misfit toys persona about our football team.
Speaker 1: And now that we're actually good at football and playing
Speaker 1: at a higher level and recruiting a different level of kids,
Speaker 1: still got a little bit of that, and I think
Speaker 1: the fan base reflects that of a little bit, because
Speaker 1: we do sort of walk in with our shoulders back
Speaker 1: and it's like, all right, let's go. You know, Biggin's
Speaker 1: line up little and spun choke. Um. You know, that's
Speaker 1: just sort of the way We've always approached it and
Speaker 1: I enjoy being a part of it. Plus, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make my daughter, who's a sophomore up there. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: make her wear black and yellow striped overalls. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: You may not know that yet. That's a requirement Dad
Speaker 1: put in according to these, do you think the tar
Speaker 1: Heels belong on this list? I went to school there.
Speaker 1: I think this is a in terms of fan bases,
Speaker 1: you know, as they call the wine and cheese crowd
Speaker 1: at at Keenan Stadium. I mean, I think I love
Speaker 1: U n C. I think the Turtles have an amazing
Speaker 1: fan base, But in terms of um rabid football fans,
Speaker 1: I think that, Yeah, I think that's a fair knock
Speaker 1: that they're not on this top five and they're rapidly
Speaker 1: moving up the list. I think they've got to claim
Speaker 1: at being the second best football program in the state
Speaker 1: of North Carolina. But fan base wise, wow, it was
Speaker 1: fan base. They're still in others receiving them. We're working
Speaker 1: on it. We're gonna we're going for most state fans
Speaker 1: gonna have that same south a a fan on the shoulder.
Speaker 1: Then do you want to weigh in the only thing
Speaker 1: I will say is I think the attitude of Clemson fans,
Speaker 1: having grown up around Clemson fans, being from the Upstate
Speaker 1: and going to Clemson from our first year and a
Speaker 1: half of college, I find them insufferable. And I'm not
Speaker 1: a Carolina fans, so it's not like I have a
Speaker 1: dog in the race. Specify you're an LSU fan. I
Speaker 1: think that did, yeah, but there's a little more context.
Speaker 1: There's no rivalry though between LSU and Clemson. The only
Speaker 1: thing is they act like they've been relevant beyond nine
Speaker 1: years ago, and I think that's frustrating. They walk around
Speaker 1: like their Alabama, and they talk about their school like
Speaker 1: their Alabama, and they have all this long history of
Speaker 1: success and championships. They were irrelevant before eleven ten? Really well, yeah,
Speaker 1: they had the one year, but they got in trouble
Speaker 1: for cheating. Anyway, Clemson in the nineties, Clemson in the
Speaker 1: nineties did feel kind of like, you know, lost, cause
Speaker 1: Clemson wasn't that years ago. And yeah, the verb clemsoning
Speaker 1: was a thing at the time there. I think it's possible,
Speaker 1: just based on the vitriol that Matt just came out
Speaker 1: with us, Like we could see a video of him
Speaker 1: in an L. S U jersey one one day arguing
Speaker 1: with a Clemson fan and people be like, look at
Speaker 1: this guy, and he's like that there are He's just
Speaker 1: you know, they're both the Tigers that play in Death Valley.
Speaker 1: You know there's there's some parallels with Hell. You should
Speaker 1: come Saturday and do that. Just jump in the midst
Speaker 1: of all the Georgia and Clemson people and say where
Speaker 1: both of you line up, Where your Joe Burrow, where
Speaker 1: your Joe Burrow jersey, and just get right in the
Speaker 1: middle of the Clemson just create a problem that all right, well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna leave it there. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: listening to the Happy Half Hour podcast. We will be
Speaker 1: back with you next week.