Speaker 1: Mayfield under center back to throw five tug picked up
Speaker 1: field Anderson opens the fuck Tuto to flood off. Wow,
Speaker 1: it's that time of the week. Welcome to the Happy
Speaker 1: Half Hour podcast with Augusta, Darren and Kristen. But before
Speaker 1: we dive into it, I want to tell you about
Speaker 1: the Prowling Vineyards Napa Valley, which is the official wine
Speaker 1: brand and wine club of the Carolina Panthers. These premium
Speaker 1: selections celebrate the great people of the Carolinas and the
Speaker 1: Panthers hunger to achieve excellence on and off the field.
Speaker 1: Learn more at Prowling Vineyards dot com. Well, it's Thursday
Speaker 1: morning here, so maybe a little early for a glass
Speaker 1: of wine, but you never know. On the Happy Half Hour,
Speaker 1: what's that in your mug, Darren, Nothing, as far as
Speaker 1: you know, it's turning Prowling Vineyards at ten thirty on
Speaker 1: at Thursday morning, unless you're in an airport, in which
Speaker 1: case there is no judgment because it could be anytime anywhere.
Speaker 1: So that is true. That is true. Um, let's dive
Speaker 1: right into it with the two of you. As I
Speaker 1: said Thursday morning, we have learned a lot since the
Speaker 1: home game versus Cleveland. I want to touch on that
Speaker 1: game and more so just what we've learned from it.
Speaker 1: Um the good, the bad, the in between, and it
Speaker 1: really felt to me like a tale of two halves. Guys,
Speaker 1: do you agree? Yeah? I mean, Rule talked about that yesterday.
Speaker 1: The first twenty five minutes not very good at all,
Speaker 1: about as bad as it could be offensively. The next
Speaker 1: thirty five not so bad. They were moving the ball,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's not hard to draw the line
Speaker 1: between a couple early three and out Christians not really
Speaker 1: doing anything three touches in the first half to all
Speaker 1: of a sudden boom, you get Christian McCaffrey involved, things
Speaker 1: start going well, and you know, we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about Christian all year long. He's their most important offensive players.
Speaker 1: So as long as he's involved in doing things, you know,
Speaker 1: he picks up there's a loose snap and balls at
Speaker 1: his feet and he just picks it up and takes
Speaker 1: off with it. Now, Christians fantasy owners probably hated that
Speaker 1: play because they don't get credit for rushing yards, but
Speaker 1: it just kind of shows the kind of spark he creates.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, if you if you can
Speaker 1: separate those two and say all right. Well, the last
Speaker 1: thing they did offensively wasn't all that bad. Uh, you
Speaker 1: move forward, but those first twenty five minutes count too,
Speaker 1: and you can't gain twenty one yards on your first
Speaker 1: twenty plays and expect to be competitive against anybody in
Speaker 1: the league. Really, yes, but there were a lot of
Speaker 1: um things that that went wrong and that throughout the
Speaker 1: course of the game. Right, there were four issues with snaps,
Speaker 1: and we heard Baker Mayfield say earlier this week that's
Speaker 1: never happened to him. I've never seen that in a game,
Speaker 1: but you certainly don't expect that to happen going forward. Right,
Speaker 1: there were some some big penalties that you hope you
Speaker 1: can get cleaned up, which is the it's the good
Speaker 1: and bad part of it, right, Augusta, because you don't
Speaker 1: want to see those things from your team if you're
Speaker 1: a fan. But also there's some hope, especially considering the
Speaker 1: way in which they played in the second half, that
Speaker 1: those little things that may have prevented them from ultimately
Speaker 1: just edging out the Browns um may not come up
Speaker 1: again as the season goes on, or hopefully don't. Well exactly,
Speaker 1: And I think when you have those things, I mean,
Speaker 1: you you mentioned the botched snaps and then a few
Speaker 1: batted balls up in the air and things like that.
Speaker 1: I mean, when you have those things as much as
Speaker 1: you as much as you don't want things to be
Speaker 1: that glaring and in your face, it's there's obvious points
Speaker 1: to clean up, there's obvious things to work on, there's
Speaker 1: obvious places to start um and taking ownership of it.
Speaker 1: I mean both Baker and Pedophline. Talking with both of them,
Speaker 1: you know, you're like, oh, botch snaps, and they both oh,
Speaker 1: that's on me, that's on me, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So when you have two people taking ownership of whatever
Speaker 1: the chemistry issue was there, I mean they they have
Speaker 1: a path forward. I mean, like Darren said, you know,
Speaker 1: the first twenty five minutes were really rough, but being
Speaker 1: able to turn that around. I think that's part of
Speaker 1: the good part about having Baker Mayfield, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I mean you can be down and and
Speaker 1: have all the things going wrong, and he's still going
Speaker 1: to find a way to drive the ball downfield. I mean,
Speaker 1: we were talking about the Robby Anderson pass and and
Speaker 1: just kind of his explosive ability obviously Christian being Christian,
Speaker 1: and and however the plan is moving forward with him.
Speaker 1: In the second half, his usage went up a lot,
Speaker 1: and he's one of those players that you want to
Speaker 1: get him the ball as much as possible. They talk about,
Speaker 1: you know, you want your playmakers to get the ball
Speaker 1: and looking ahead to the Giants, that's what they do
Speaker 1: is sake one. So there's a lot of different pieces there,
Speaker 1: but um, there's there's things to grow from and there's
Speaker 1: things to learn from. And I think the right now
Speaker 1: the mood in general is okay. I've heard a lot
Speaker 1: of Okay, we're flushing it. We're flushing it. But you
Speaker 1: want to build also from from what was good. And
Speaker 1: I mean you watch the first half of that game
Speaker 1: and you fast forward to the last couple of minutes,
Speaker 1: and I don't think a lot of people in that
Speaker 1: stadium the first, you know, thirty minutes would have thought
Speaker 1: that the game was on the line. It was really close. Um,
Speaker 1: So I don't know. I think that turnaround is something
Speaker 1: that it's it's Baker Mayfield specific to. I think that's
Speaker 1: something that he brings is that you know, we're never
Speaker 1: fully out into all the game is over kind of mentality. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: we saw that. Yeah, and Kristen. You've heard me say
Speaker 1: this a hundred times in the past, but I'm not
Speaker 1: typically an overreactor to any one particular thing that happens
Speaker 1: in a NFL game. The difference between the Giants and
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers is the Titans kicker missed his field
Speaker 1: goal and the kid from Cleveland smoked one from about
Speaker 1: a hundred and twelve yards away or whatever it was.
Speaker 1: I mean, and if the Titans kicker hits his, we're
Speaker 1: not talking about, Oh, Brian Dable is a gutsy genius
Speaker 1: and this is a new era of Giants football. And
Speaker 1: if the kid from Cleveland misses his, we're not talking about,
Speaker 1: oh looking back at last year. We're we're talking about
Speaker 1: We're talking about what to come back. We're talking about
Speaker 1: and incredible. You know, if if the kid from Cleveland
Speaker 1: misses that field goal, the rookie kicker who hits a
Speaker 1: fifty eight yard or which has probably only been done
Speaker 1: a handful of time, then Baker Mayfield just had his
Speaker 1: first chapter of Jake Delome right here in front of us,
Speaker 1: coming in at halftime and turning the thing around him
Speaker 1: winning the thing in dramatic fashion. Now, I mean, those
Speaker 1: are the things football games turn on. They still count
Speaker 1: kind of like the first twenty five minutes of the game.
Speaker 1: But I do kind of like that Baker's got this
Speaker 1: thing about him. He he talks about flushing it a lot.
Speaker 1: Baker walked into Cleveland where they had won one game
Speaker 1: in two years. This is not too big for him.
Speaker 1: This does not scare him, This does not really phase him.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he's kind of looking at this year,
Speaker 1: you know, personally professionally is kind of a blank slate,
Speaker 1: new lease on life, whatever cliche you want to put
Speaker 1: on it. But that's the way he's approaching this. So
Speaker 1: he's kind of what you almost seven straight at the
Speaker 1: end of last year. Yeah, let me tell you something
Speaker 1: about that. I mean, he's been through, He's seen worse,
Speaker 1: So I don't think it's ever going to really cow
Speaker 1: him and make him kind of blank, so to speak.
Speaker 1: So you know, we'll see. I mean, he was, he
Speaker 1: was We're still getting to know him. But the Baker
Speaker 1: we saw in press conference yesterday was very It's very upbeat.
Speaker 1: It's like Bumbles will fix it. What's next, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's the thing that keeping the focused on the
Speaker 1: next thing rather than oh my god. I mean even said,
Speaker 1: if you think back on the negative stuff, it'll creep
Speaker 1: into the back of your mind. That's why you've just
Speaker 1: got to keep eyes forward and that's really the only
Speaker 1: way to do it. Yeah. I don't have any concerns
Speaker 1: about the poise or the ability to meet the big
Speaker 1: moment from pretty much anyone on this team. You know,
Speaker 1: I was down on the sidelines that entire game. That
Speaker 1: is not the issue. Um. You know I reported this
Speaker 1: on our broadcast. But um, after those first few three
Speaker 1: an ounce, Matt Rule gathered the team together and, um,
Speaker 1: you know, just kind of getting everyone to take a breath.
Speaker 1: And Christian came up as well and said, um, guys,
Speaker 1: everyone take a breath, Calm down, smile. Remember football is fun.
Speaker 1: And so you have those leaders on this team both.
Speaker 1: You know, I've watched some of these young guys grow
Speaker 1: into now leadership positions, whether it's Jeremy Chen getting voted
Speaker 1: to captain. Um, you know that Dante Jackson is like
Speaker 1: a vet now even though he's been in the league
Speaker 1: for five years. Um, you know, he's like he's like
Speaker 1: one of those like old hardened guys that really knows
Speaker 1: how to lead everyone and then you have the additions
Speaker 1: of just really experienced players coming in like Baker. So
Speaker 1: I do not think, by by any means, no fans
Speaker 1: should be worried about, um, the moment being too big,
Speaker 1: the doubts creeping up on any of these guys. They're
Speaker 1: very good football players. But I do wonder if for
Speaker 1: the fans it makes it just even a little bit
Speaker 1: more frustrating and the team as well, to have little things,
Speaker 1: UM that had not shown up in practice, as the
Speaker 1: team has been saying, UM, affect your game, right, and
Speaker 1: you go, we just had that one snap back. We
Speaker 1: were just lined up correctly here CMC could have scored
Speaker 1: right as one example that they had mentioned. UM. So yeah,
Speaker 1: you take that as the good and the bad, and
Speaker 1: of course we'll see, right, UM, what this team looks like?
Speaker 1: Is it the first three or five minutes, the last
Speaker 1: thirty five minutes as they go and face the Giants.
Speaker 1: One thing I do want to ask you both about
Speaker 1: is UM we saw us game against the Titans, Darren,
Speaker 1: you were just referencing it. He looks great, UM, and
Speaker 1: the Panthers had issues with the run, uh in this
Speaker 1: last game. How much of what you saw Darren was
Speaker 1: Nick Chubb just not going down no matter what. UM,
Speaker 1: how much of it was mistackling, how much of it
Speaker 1: was something that you think will carry over into this
Speaker 1: Giant's game, or just a factor of of you know,
Speaker 1: the Brown's running backs being very good. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: this just in Nick Chubb good at football. UM, he
Speaker 1: is a problem for a lot of people. And se
Speaker 1: Kwaan is a problem if he's going to run the
Speaker 1: way he ran last week. But the thing you worry about, uh,
Speaker 1: and you saw it last year, Chris, and after the
Speaker 1: Dallas game, then it was like the mark was on them.
Speaker 1: And because Dallas ran for a million yards, everybody was
Speaker 1: gonna tryum until it didn't work. And so you saw
Speaker 1: New England play on that way, you saw Minnesota play
Speaker 1: him that way, and it started to stack up. Now
Speaker 1: these two teams again, se Kuan had the big numbers
Speaker 1: this week, and he is capable of doing that. I
Speaker 1: don't know that that Giants offensive line is necessarily the
Speaker 1: same as the Cleveland line. That interior Cleveland line. They
Speaker 1: were without their right tackle. That's a good group of players.
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked a lot this offseason about what
Speaker 1: the Panthers did to kind of rebuild a line to
Speaker 1: get it to this point. That's the place you're trying
Speaker 1: to get to. That's what Cleveland has standing there in
Speaker 1: front of Nick Chubb. Um, so we'll see it's going
Speaker 1: to be a thing until it's not a thing. And
Speaker 1: that's just Phil Snow every Thursday when he walks in,
Speaker 1: is gonna get asked about run defense now until it stops.
Speaker 1: I think if I was trying to isolate any one thing,
Speaker 1: it all came around the edges. I think, yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel bad for Derek Graham, Matt I and I just
Speaker 1: sometimes because I think when there's a run defense game,
Speaker 1: people go to ask those guys in the middle about it.
Speaker 1: But a lot of those yards came out on the
Speaker 1: edges and I and I think that when you're defending
Speaker 1: or trying to think about stopping that. Obviously, tackling is
Speaker 1: a problem, but keeping edges set and keeping people in
Speaker 1: gaps are things that can be fixed. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can do that. You know, Nick Chubb's gonna break some tackles.
Speaker 1: He just is. But I think you can become more disciplined.
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see if Henry Anderson plays more snaps.
Speaker 1: I mean they brought him in a week ago. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's not Baker Mayfield walking in at quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: right before training camp. But Henry Anderson got a pretty
Speaker 1: quick introduction after being here a week. And I think
Speaker 1: he his role is gonna just get bigger and bigger
Speaker 1: because he is a VET. He's a bigger body. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's a little more stable against the run. And when
Speaker 1: you we talked about run defense a week ago or
Speaker 1: through this offseason, it was they want to be bigger.
Speaker 1: It's a tour rather than Hassan Reddick, it's Damien Wilson
Speaker 1: rather than Jermaine Carter. You're just putting bigger bodies at
Speaker 1: the problem. But he, me Anderson knows how to do this.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's never gonna put up big sack
Speaker 1: numbers or anything like that, but he knows how to
Speaker 1: set edges and maintain and be in the place he
Speaker 1: needs to be. I think you're absolutely right. I think
Speaker 1: we will see more of him. I talked to Matt
Speaker 1: Rule yesterday and I was asking him about, you know,
Speaker 1: some of the little things that we were just talking about,
Speaker 1: and I said, how how does that manifest itself in practice?
Speaker 1: When you want to clean up some some little things,
Speaker 1: and he said, you know, it's it's really about confidence,
Speaker 1: especially for the second rotation guys, you know, the ones
Speaker 1: that maybe haven't played a lot. And he used Henry
Speaker 1: Anderson as an example of a player who's been around
Speaker 1: is doing it and just despite getting there earlier in
Speaker 1: the week, was able to come in and make a
Speaker 1: couple of plays when they needed it. Um, really at
Speaker 1: the drop of a hat. I know at one point
Speaker 1: it was when you know, Matt and I just had
Speaker 1: to go out for cramps, and he just said, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: he does not have a ton of familiarity with our system,
Speaker 1: but he came in, he played confidently, knows what he's doing.
Speaker 1: So Darren, I think it's a it's a great point
Speaker 1: and something that will certainly be looking out for UM
Speaker 1: is to see more Henry Anderson. Yeah, I think he's
Speaker 1: gonna be a thing and and it's just gonna grow.
Speaker 1: I I'm really curious to see what happens with Sa
Speaker 1: Kwan this week because he him and Christian are sort
Speaker 1: of in the same spot. I mean, they've dealt with
Speaker 1: a lot of the same stuff, but they're both capable
Speaker 1: of changing games like that and if goes again, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be that's gonna be an issue, but there are
Speaker 1: reasons to think it's not necessarily as dramatic as it looks.
Speaker 1: I mean again, you catch Cleveland in New York right
Speaker 1: out of the shoot, you know how they're going to
Speaker 1: try to move the ball. I mean nothing against Jakobe
Speaker 1: Bricittt and Daniel Jones, but they're trying to run to
Speaker 1: minimize the amount of the impact the quarterback has on
Speaker 1: the offense. So we'll see. This is gonna be an
Speaker 1: opportunity for them to get some of that stuff ironed out,
Speaker 1: and we'll find out in a hurry if it does.
Speaker 1: All right, we have got a stat of the week
Speaker 1: from our very own Panther stats Guy, Will Darren. I
Speaker 1: love Darren, the intrepid reporter. Tracked Will down. Even though
Speaker 1: he can't be with us in studio every single week,
Speaker 1: we are not going to let the stat of the
Speaker 1: week go. So let's hear it will of the time.
Speaker 1: It backs every times that of the week as promised.
Speaker 1: Even though he's not here in the studio with us today,
Speaker 1: Panther Stats Guy will always be a part of this
Speaker 1: podcast in spirit. So we're coming live from an undisclosed
Speaker 1: location in Bank of America Stadium. That's why I'm whispering.
Speaker 1: Here's Will Brian stat of the week. What's up, Darren?
Speaker 1: What's up? Podcast crew? Hi? Man, So I've got a
Speaker 1: I've got a Robbie Anderson stat for you. Last week,
Speaker 1: his seventy five yard touchdown was his third straight touchdown
Speaker 1: of over fifty yards in Week one. Only Randy Moss
Speaker 1: has more fifty plus yards touchdowns in Week one over
Speaker 1: the last two decades than Robbie Anderson. How about that.
Speaker 1: Robbie went eighty five point eight total yards on that play,
Speaker 1: second longest play in total yards run in the Seventy
Speaker 1: five yards from scrimmage was the longest play in Week one. See,
Speaker 1: that's the kind of stuf if you only get here.
Speaker 1: That's why we're going to continue to come get it.
Speaker 1: I just love to hear wolves voice. Right, he's sneaky.
Speaker 1: I had to go out and commit a journalism and um,
Speaker 1: but he's there. I know where he lives, and we
Speaker 1: will try. I hope that at some point, if he's
Speaker 1: um in a bunch of meetings one day and you're
Speaker 1: trying to get this, you do just go knock on
Speaker 1: his door at his house. There's there's a non zero
Speaker 1: chance that's gonna I love it. Another great thing about
Speaker 1: last week's game that we have to talk about is Augusta.
Speaker 1: It was your first regular season NFL game as a
Speaker 1: writer for the Panthers. It was, it was. It was
Speaker 1: very exciting. I took in a moment. I got there
Speaker 1: very early. I was I was in the building by
Speaker 1: nine o'clock, which I mean feels very early to me.
Speaker 1: I think there were still people who beat me here.
Speaker 1: But UM went down to the field, took it all in,
Speaker 1: had a little sappy moment that I tweeted about because
Speaker 1: I share my sap everywhere. I saw that tweet. I
Speaker 1: loved it. I just had to. Especially it was this
Speaker 1: overcast day. The day before was my birthday, so it
Speaker 1: was already in my mos because of that. And then
Speaker 1: you just look up. All the clouds are there, but
Speaker 1: they're starting to part and you're starting to see the
Speaker 1: sky and then the big uh, you know, the JumboTron
Speaker 1: has the helmets on and it says Panthers browns and
Speaker 1: I don't know, you take in the moment. It was exciting,
Speaker 1: and I know you yeah, we're talking about like meeting
Speaker 1: the moment and everything. I felt like, you know, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm meeting it. We're here. It's so cool. But um, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then the pregame. I love being on the field
Speaker 1: pregame and seeing everyone go through all of their workouts,
Speaker 1: getting to see I got to write about it last week,
Speaker 1: but Christian McCaffrey's routine and just the way he jumps
Speaker 1: really like Brady Christians and said like a gazelle. I
Speaker 1: just it was. It was so cool to to take
Speaker 1: it all in and then and then the work happens
Speaker 1: afterward and it's it's crazy. And the game was such
Speaker 1: a an instantly kind of one of those things where
Speaker 1: I've already heard some people, um, you know in the
Speaker 1: media saying, oh my gosh, it was one of the
Speaker 1: craziest games I covered, and you know all these things.
Speaker 1: I was like, great, it was my first, that's awesome. Um,
Speaker 1: but it was really really cool. Um, you know, it
Speaker 1: was one of those things where, um, you sort taken
Speaker 1: in like I'd covered plenty of football games, so it
Speaker 1: wasn't that first. But there is definitely a different elevation
Speaker 1: at the level, and there's a huge difference between preseason
Speaker 1: and regular season just in the way it feels. Um.
Speaker 1: But it was awesome. I don't know if I'm just
Speaker 1: saying like obvious things, but it was cool from my
Speaker 1: from my purview, and um, yeah, I I really enjoyed
Speaker 1: getting to take it all in and I'm excited to
Speaker 1: do it sixteen more times at least. Absolutely, She's covered
Speaker 1: plenty of football. Well. I saw her tweet and she
Speaker 1: she did document the moment and it's one thing that
Speaker 1: I love as a reporter and host. I love to
Speaker 1: ask the rookies about taking in the moment. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've been like the crazy aunt a couple of times.
Speaker 1: I walked Aquanum through the locker room for the first time.
Speaker 1: We did that on camera, but like after the cameras
Speaker 1: were off, I said, look, I said, you're gonna come
Speaker 1: in a couple of weeks and it's gonna be normal
Speaker 1: to you. You know, you're gonna Ricky Mini camp. You're
Speaker 1: going to go into two O, T A S. And
Speaker 1: I said, you need to just like look around and
Speaker 1: take it off for the cameras. Just take it in
Speaker 1: for a moment. And so of course I had to
Speaker 1: ask you as well. And I think it's it's cool
Speaker 1: that you took a moment to you just really soak
Speaker 1: it all in. Yeah, thank you very much. It was
Speaker 1: It was a cool game, like I said it would.
Speaker 1: It couldn't have gotten It was a pretty difficult game
Speaker 1: for your first game, but I think I handled it well.
Speaker 1: I'm proud of it. That's awesome. Do you have your
Speaker 1: pregame routine yet? Oh, that's a great question. I will
Speaker 1: say this week was a little weird side people over
Speaker 1: at my apartment, so I was getting ready at the
Speaker 1: same time as two other folks. Um. So, you know
Speaker 1: I always drink my coffee out of my little blue
Speaker 1: cup that I love so much. Um right now it's
Speaker 1: pumpkin spice flavored. Um. So coffee is always a huge
Speaker 1: part of my routine. Um, honestly not. Yeah. I always
Speaker 1: listened to um the same song on the way to
Speaker 1: any game I cover. I listened to song too by Blur.
Speaker 1: It gets me really exciting. Yeah, so I listened to
Speaker 1: that in my car where my earbuds if I'm walking.
Speaker 1: So that's a part of my routine. That's what I
Speaker 1: love to hear. Darren. Do you have a Do you
Speaker 1: have a routine that you would hear by or is
Speaker 1: it just getting out the door. I am kaya A
Speaker 1: lot of times it's no out the door, and sometimes
Speaker 1: you just want to make sure you're dressed. Um, but
Speaker 1: I um, I I am kind of particular about my area.
Speaker 1: I like to show up early, get my stuff set up.
Speaker 1: Could you know, have everything at right angles? No, I'm
Speaker 1: not really that um particular about it, but I do
Speaker 1: like I will never get tired. And I kind of
Speaker 1: joke about being older this when being young, but I
Speaker 1: hope I never get tired of that feeling you get
Speaker 1: when you walk into empty stadiums and you know something's
Speaker 1: fixing to happen here and a bunch of people are
Speaker 1: excited to see it one way or another. And it's
Speaker 1: not like a concert where you know you're gonna see
Speaker 1: a particular song. You have no idea how this thing's
Speaker 1: gonna unfold here today. But those those kind of still
Speaker 1: small moments in stadiums before the thing happens still kinda
Speaker 1: I enjoy that, and it takes a little bit. I
Speaker 1: have probably started showing up earlier and earlier as I've
Speaker 1: gotten older, to kind of get in get into character.
Speaker 1: I guess you could say to be ready for what's coming,
Speaker 1: because you gotta take those still small moments when you can,
Speaker 1: because when the game starts, you're standing front a fire host. Well,
Speaker 1: and before the game starts, as as you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's a great point. You're you're looking to Okay,
Speaker 1: who's going to be inactive, what's going on, who's warming up?
Speaker 1: How do they look? And there's so much to do
Speaker 1: that I think it's just really um, it's great advice
Speaker 1: to just make sure you get the time to take
Speaker 1: it in, center yourself a little bit whatever it is,
Speaker 1: right um, and appreciate it because we only get these games.
Speaker 1: As I guess to said, you get seventeen guaranteed, maybe more.
Speaker 1: Um and you know, to me, win or lose, they
Speaker 1: are my favorite seventeen days out of the season, no contest.
Speaker 1: So and and she's gonna get a hard time from
Speaker 1: me this year because she's been here since June, and
Speaker 1: so I expect her to perform at a certain level.
Speaker 1: It's regular season level now. And I have to remind
Speaker 1: myself too that I was once an NFL rookie and
Speaker 1: even though that was in black and white TV days
Speaker 1: many many moons ago. But no, she's doing great, and
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to a lot of cool stuff both
Speaker 1: later today and throughout the year. No pressure. Well, let's
Speaker 1: let's talk about that. Let's let's go around. Let's go
Speaker 1: around the horn and talk about one thing we've learned
Speaker 1: this week. Darren, you're gonna start. Yeah, And I mentioned earlier,
Speaker 1: Baker is a different cat. I mean, just watching him
Speaker 1: walk through the locker room, he's starting to figure out
Speaker 1: who's who. He knows our names. Now, he knows who
Speaker 1: he can bust on. He knows how to pick on
Speaker 1: this guy back here in the corner. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, we sort of saw him latch onto Shock
Speaker 1: and Dante early on when he got here, and now
Speaker 1: it's sort of spreading out a little bit. Now he
Speaker 1: knows who the support staff is. Now he knows what
Speaker 1: jokes to crack. He's a different personality. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: got he's got a little bit of that grin on
Speaker 1: his face when he does certain things, and you can
Speaker 1: just tell he's starting to feel a little more at
Speaker 1: home in Charlotte and in this stadium. We'll see how
Speaker 1: that translates to on the field, but his personality, I
Speaker 1: think a little bit at a time we're starting to
Speaker 1: see a little bit more of it, and he's just
Speaker 1: he's just finding himself a little more at home. Augusta,
Speaker 1: what's one thing you've learned this week? Okay, So I
Speaker 1: will start this by saying, I feel like I've almost
Speaker 1: carved out a Shy Smith beat for myself, having a
Speaker 1: South Carolina connection, but also kind of just his camp
Speaker 1: and his emergence at camp and then it being my
Speaker 1: first camp. I feel like a lot of eyes have
Speaker 1: been paid, are a lot of attention and eyes have
Speaker 1: been on him. Um. Andre Roberts will be out for
Speaker 1: at least two months. I think Matt Roles told us so, um,
Speaker 1: that leaves pretty open, you know, role in the return
Speaker 1: game and returning punts. Shy Smith is one they Matt
Speaker 1: Role told us, you know, that will be his place.
Speaker 1: But he is practicing and practicing and practice ing. He
Speaker 1: told me that he, you know, spent an extra fifteen
Speaker 1: minutes after practice just fielding punts and from all all corners.
Speaker 1: Everyone else had gone inside. He was out there. Um,
Speaker 1: and he's he's putting in the work, so he has
Speaker 1: you know, he he started, Uh, they lined up and
Speaker 1: he was on the field for the first play against
Speaker 1: the Browns. So he's already carved out a role there,
Speaker 1: you know, and now he's gonna have this other role
Speaker 1: with Roberts out. Um. It's just one of those things
Speaker 1: where it's it's really cool to see a guy that
Speaker 1: I really wasn't, you know, dealt with injuries last year.
Speaker 1: And that's one of the things he told me. No,
Speaker 1: one of the biggest parts of his jump was simply
Speaker 1: just being healthy, you know, just taking care of his
Speaker 1: body and and doing all of that. But UM, I
Speaker 1: guess it's not we haven't learned that because we've learned
Speaker 1: that throughout camp, but but seeing it kind of comes together,
Speaker 1: then he's gonna have even a bigger role um against
Speaker 1: the Giants. So that's one of the things I've known,
Speaker 1: is um or learned and seen and and heard. He's
Speaker 1: just he's working extremely hard. He's really really putting in
Speaker 1: as much effort as he can and so um but yeah,
Speaker 1: like I said, I feel like I've carved out my
Speaker 1: own chefs with be Um. Learned a lot about him
Speaker 1: in the past week, and I'm excited to share and
Speaker 1: not wait to see that on on Panthers dot Com.
Speaker 1: And you know, he's another one of those guys. What
Speaker 1: we were just saying is that a guy that at
Speaker 1: the moment is not too big for him, he wants
Speaker 1: to be out there. He's worked his butt off. He will,
Speaker 1: you know, take a hit and and get back out this.
Speaker 1: I'm fine, I'm fine. You know, we saw that in
Speaker 1: camp quite a few times, and it's, uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: cool to see that hard work payoff. Looking forward to,
Speaker 1: like you said, Augusta, reading the article and seeing what
Speaker 1: he does on Sunday against the Giants. So I'll tell you, guys,
Speaker 1: one thing I learned this week is that, um, we
Speaker 1: had a newer broadcaster on the radio side. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you guys have heard of him, name Luke Keikley. Um,
Speaker 1: and he did a pretty good job. So it was
Speaker 1: his first game. You know, expected him to be nervous broadcasting,
Speaker 1: but really, I mean, the guy seems to know some football,
Speaker 1: how about that. Yeah, But one thing I learned this
Speaker 1: week look also good at broadcasting. It was it was
Speaker 1: great too. You know, he's gonna be doing seven games
Speaker 1: with our radio crew. Uh, this was his first one
Speaker 1: and it was it was great to have him in
Speaker 1: the booth. You know, it's just even just from my eyes,
Speaker 1: you know, being down as a sideline reporter, just the
Speaker 1: amount of knowledge that that he and Jake alone can
Speaker 1: just share. The They have so much knowledge like in
Speaker 1: their pinky finger compared to the rest of us. So um,
Speaker 1: anyone who listened to the radio broadcast certainly got a treat,
Speaker 1: and we all learned a lot and enjoyed it. If
Speaker 1: I didn't know him just a little bit, he would
Speaker 1: be the kind of guy that's easy to hate because
Speaker 1: he's great at everything. My God, look at him. He's
Speaker 1: impossibly handsome, his hair is great. He knows everything about football,
Speaker 1: was great at playing it knows what's about to happen
Speaker 1: before it happens. And so for him to walk in
Speaker 1: the door and be good at broadcasting, I just I
Speaker 1: kind of want to flick him. And also from what
Speaker 1: I heard, I did not get to see it, because
Speaker 1: again I am down on the field. They're up in
Speaker 1: the booth. But according to Jake, you know who was
Speaker 1: rausing him a little bit rasing, the rookie apparently had
Speaker 1: a giant notebook full of notes, so he brought you know.
Speaker 1: Of course, he spent the week prepping, yes, doing um,
Speaker 1: doing everything that, so we didn't even just walk in
Speaker 1: the door good at it. He spent all week prepping
Speaker 1: and had great stuff where he could have walked in
Speaker 1: the door and been great at it too. So you're right,
Speaker 1: it's just eybody probably made like straight a's at Boston
Speaker 1: College too, you know, just always took on extra on
Speaker 1: the group projects. I'm one of those guys. Alright. This
Speaker 1: has been a blast. Thank you guys for for doing
Speaker 1: this as always, looking forward to seeing those articles on
Speaker 1: Panthers dot com and we'll be back next week on
Speaker 1: the Happy half Hour Podcast.