Speaker 1: It's time for a Happy half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristen Belboni, Will Brian and Darren Gamp. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour podcast. It's Kristen, Darren and producer Matt
Speaker 1: will Is. Busy busy today and can't make it as
Speaker 1: we all are getting ready for week one. But Darren,
Speaker 1: how how are you feeling? You just casually dropped that
Speaker 1: you just took a run in a thunderstorm early this morning,
Speaker 1: So I think you're feeling good? Yeah? Dangerous? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel I mean you've cheated death basically when you run
Speaker 1: during a lightning storm and you know by all the
Speaker 1: big trees in the area. Yeah, you've cheated death. So
Speaker 1: now nothing, nothing, just yelling at the sky this morning.
Speaker 1: Bring it on? Oh man, Yeah, it's that Tom. Hey,
Speaker 1: it's football season. We should do the football now. It's football.
Speaker 1: All the stuff we've talked about for the last six
Speaker 1: months is now. You know, it's gone from abstract to concrete.
Speaker 1: There's a thing out in front of us now there's
Speaker 1: a game Sunday. Absolutely, and you know no one is
Speaker 1: more well aware of that than the Panthers quarterback Sam Donald.
Speaker 1: I just we were talking about what we should talk
Speaker 1: about and said, let's just start with the elephant in
Speaker 1: the room, right, it's Sam Donald against his former team
Speaker 1: Week one. The Jets are coming to Bank of America Stadium,
Speaker 1: and all the storylines. I was gonna say, right themselves,
Speaker 1: but then that's a that's a bad joke. And also
Speaker 1: you're writing the storyline, so I don't know, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, You're you're the words guya? Sam played
Speaker 1: for the Jets. I should probably do something about that now.
Speaker 1: It's it's funny. And one of the interesting things about
Speaker 1: Sam and getting to know him over the last five
Speaker 1: months is, of course it's the Jets in the opener.
Speaker 1: Of course the league scheduled this game, didn't just randomly
Speaker 1: happen right in the league offices. He laughed about this
Speaker 1: couple of months ago. He's like, yeah, I'm sure that
Speaker 1: was a coincidence, and kind of. I mean, Sam is
Speaker 1: self aware. That's one of the neat things about him
Speaker 1: as a human being is he gets it. He understands it,
Speaker 1: but I don't think his personality is such that it's
Speaker 1: that much different for him than if they were playing
Speaker 1: the Falcons this week or anybody else. I mean, he
Speaker 1: is as regular a human being playing quarterback as I've
Speaker 1: ever encountered. I mean, at least since like Jake Deloe,
Speaker 1: who kind of walked in here and nobody ever expected
Speaker 1: anything out of him. So it was easy for Jake
Speaker 1: to be normal. But for a guy who was the
Speaker 1: quarterback at USC the first round pick of the New
Speaker 1: York Jets, has existed in a spotlight. Sam kind of
Speaker 1: walks around like, yeah, week one, gotta study, gotta get
Speaker 1: into playbook, gotta watch film correct. I mean, he says
Speaker 1: all that stuff and it sounds trite, but I think
Speaker 1: that's just how he's wired. And you know who's got
Speaker 1: to love that is Matt Rule. That is exactly what
Speaker 1: he wants. You know. I got a chance to talk
Speaker 1: to him every single week last year about the upcoming
Speaker 1: matchups for our TV show and whether it was Um
Speaker 1: last year, Teddy Bridgewater and Joe Brady going up against
Speaker 1: the Saints or any any matchup, as as coach Rule
Speaker 1: likes to say, if you look hard enough, any opponent
Speaker 1: there's a history with with someone on the Panthers. But
Speaker 1: he that's what he wants. Like you, I don't think
Speaker 1: there's a better compliment, of course than than the playing
Speaker 1: of the football than to say that Sam is a
Speaker 1: guy that's going to treat this like any week one matchup.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what he wants. No distractions, keep the emotions
Speaker 1: out of it, and game plan right. And it's interesting.
Speaker 1: I was talking to Matt a while back and I
Speaker 1: wrote the story. It was on Panthers dot com yesterday.
Speaker 1: You should definitely go read it of Matt talking about
Speaker 1: his vision and I and I asked, Matt, you know
Speaker 1: we're there mile Post. You wanted to have hit a
Speaker 1: year two? What are were the things you thought about
Speaker 1: going into the second year? And it was almost like
Speaker 1: Matt looked back at me, like what languages Darren speaking
Speaker 1: to me right now? Because Matt Rule doesn't think in
Speaker 1: terms of years or large spans of time. In Matt
Speaker 1: Rule's mind, it's okay, we've got Wednesday and Wednesday. We're
Speaker 1: gonna Wednesday it up, and we're gonna Wednesday as hard
Speaker 1: as we can Wednesday, and then tomorrow we're gonna get
Speaker 1: on to Thursday. I mean, that's just how the man thinks.
Speaker 1: And so from that standpoint, you're right, Kristen. I mean
Speaker 1: these two are kind of made for each other. They've
Speaker 1: got the same approach in terms of the way they
Speaker 1: look at football and the way they think about doing
Speaker 1: the job. I mean, listen, it's natural there's gonna be
Speaker 1: some butterflies with Sam, but I think he probably acknowledges
Speaker 1: them to himself but doesn't project them, because Sam just
Speaker 1: gives off normal vibes. I mean, he's you know, Christian
Speaker 1: was kind of laughed and and Christian said, I mean
Speaker 1: he was looking for the right word of how to
Speaker 1: describe Sam, and he's like, he's just regular, the regular dude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that was exactly the impression that I got on
Speaker 1: his first day here talking to him. Hung out with
Speaker 1: all of us, you know what I mean, just in
Speaker 1: the room where we were doing all the production day stuff,
Speaker 1: and I don't know that there is a better way
Speaker 1: to describe it, like a regular guy. And I mean,
Speaker 1: normal is not what we're used to in quarterbacks, and
Speaker 1: you know, because quarterbacks are big stars and they have
Speaker 1: big personalities, and you know, it's it's unusual and it's
Speaker 1: a departure. But you know, I think at the same
Speaker 1: time that normal serves him well because listen, again, there's
Speaker 1: no denying it. I mean, this is a big game
Speaker 1: for Sam. Sam career in New York didn't go the
Speaker 1: way he would have hoped or they would have hoped,
Speaker 1: which is why he's here and why the Jets have
Speaker 1: a shiny new rookie quarterback that they draft in the
Speaker 1: first round. But you know, he just wants to get
Speaker 1: about the business of being Sam, and that means this
Speaker 1: week it just so happens to be the Jets. And
Speaker 1: there's also something that I think you made a great
Speaker 1: point about, the butterflies and and the nerves. Probably every
Speaker 1: player has that going out on the field. I certainly
Speaker 1: can't speak to it on a personal level because I
Speaker 1: have never played in the NFL, surprisingly, but I'd imagine
Speaker 1: that no matter who the matchup was, any position you're
Speaker 1: going out there, there's gonna be a butterfly or two.
Speaker 1: It's the season opener, the fans are are back for
Speaker 1: a regular season game, um, And so i'd imagine that
Speaker 1: Sam would have if he does, have the same sense
Speaker 1: of of butterflies or anticipation that he would have with
Speaker 1: with any opponent. And there's also something that doesn't ever
Speaker 1: get talked about, but I always find really heartwarming, is
Speaker 1: you know, whenever a player is going up against his
Speaker 1: former team, especially when where there's a history or things
Speaker 1: didn't end well, it gets billed as a revenge game,
Speaker 1: or you know, these two opponents, or there's gonna be
Speaker 1: a lot of angry emotions here. They get to see
Speaker 1: people that they formed connections with, whether that's on the
Speaker 1: staff or other players, and you always see it before
Speaker 1: the game and after the game. There's a lot of hugs.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of good feelings towards people that you know,
Speaker 1: if you spent three years with an organization, whether it's
Speaker 1: the equipment person or the pr staff or or what
Speaker 1: have you. There's a really nice kind of reunion aspect
Speaker 1: to it as well. Even I'd imagine if if things
Speaker 1: went incredibly horribly for any player, there's still people that
Speaker 1: you're looking forward to seeing. And I just always think
Speaker 1: that gets swept under the rug a little bit. So
Speaker 1: there's it's not all bad for anyone facing a former opponent. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's interesting too. I was talking to one of
Speaker 1: my good friends who's a writer up in New York,
Speaker 1: and he was talking about Sam and and I think
Speaker 1: there's this perception because it didn't go great for Sam
Speaker 1: with the Jets that it was a terrible experience. But
Speaker 1: Bob said, you know, Sam was the best. I love
Speaker 1: with Sam. He was so easy, he was such a
Speaker 1: pro And I think people have it built up in
Speaker 1: their head said, oh, the big evil New York media.
Speaker 1: It's so much tougher than the Charlotte media. Those guys
Speaker 1: were fine with Sam, and Sam was fine with them.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure after the games they will be like, hey, Bobe,
Speaker 1: what's going on. As much as we talk about revenge
Speaker 1: games and setting this up as a competitive US versus
Speaker 1: them environment, you know, it's still Sam who worked alongside Bob,
Speaker 1: and Joe who worked alongside Mark, you know that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. I mean, it's just these are human beings
Speaker 1: who exist in a in a little community of their own. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: it's you're going to see your former coworkers, and that's
Speaker 1: a sometimes a complicated thing, good and bad, but obviously
Speaker 1: no mistake about it. Of Course, Sam Donald meant rule
Speaker 1: and the Panthers want to win this game. That makes
Speaker 1: everything better of of everything else. As we as we
Speaker 1: get ready for this game and and looking at the Panthers,
Speaker 1: thought we would talk about what's a position group that
Speaker 1: you feel really confident in, and what's one that you
Speaker 1: want to keep an eye on for this game? So
Speaker 1: let's let's start with how about one to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on? I think again, while we're talking about elephants
Speaker 1: in the room. Uh, it's been the storyline of the Panthers,
Speaker 1: the non Sam Donald storyline of the Panthers all offseason.
Speaker 1: It's what's that offensive line? You don't look like? Was
Speaker 1: that a was that a joke about big guys? Exactly?
Speaker 1: See what you saw there, Kristen. That's so gratifying for um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, the Jets have their issues. The Jets are
Speaker 1: a young team. The Jets are starting over with a
Speaker 1: new coach, new quarterback. Their record in the last couple
Speaker 1: of years haven't been good. But they've got a couple
Speaker 1: of dudes up front, specifically quinnin will you who can
Speaker 1: create problems for people. And when you're the Carolina Panthers
Speaker 1: and you've rebuilt a side of the offensive line, and
Speaker 1: that's one of the other things about this week. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could have gone into this matchup as the Panthers saying, Okay,
Speaker 1: offensive line blah blah blah. Sixty of it's the same
Speaker 1: as it was a year ago in the opening and
Speaker 1: Matt Paris, John Miller, Taylor Motonin except John Miller is
Speaker 1: on the COVID reserve list, and all of a sudden
Speaker 1: he's replaced by Dennis Daely the left side of that line.
Speaker 1: I mean, Pat Alfind and cam Irving are great unknowns
Speaker 1: right now. We think the coaches think that cam Irving
Speaker 1: is going to perform at a better level than he's
Speaker 1: show him because he's being allowed to concentrate on one thing,
Speaker 1: only do one thing, you know, l finds a little
Speaker 1: bit of I mean, he's as much of a question
Speaker 1: mark to me as anybody in the roster right now
Speaker 1: in terms of is he actually a guard. I mean
Speaker 1: he's played center before. He's not the biggest guard. And
Speaker 1: when you look at the other people they've got who
Speaker 1: might slide into that, like a Dennis Daley, I mean
Speaker 1: look at I mean, if you just line up Dennis Daily,
Speaker 1: John Miller, Pat Elfly, he's smaller, and you know a
Speaker 1: lot of people want their guards to be bigger, have
Speaker 1: a little more mass. I'll be a little more elephantine
Speaker 1: if you will. And he's just not that guy. But
Speaker 1: they do think there are things that Pat's good at
Speaker 1: that can make up for some of that. We'll see
Speaker 1: how it goes. I mean, but we'll see, is the
Speaker 1: only honest answer as it pertains to the Panther's offensive line, because,
Speaker 1: especially now making a change the week of the opener,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, everything that's been kind of unsettled
Speaker 1: all of season gets one more shake right before it
Speaker 1: goes out there on the field. Yeah, as you said,
Speaker 1: with the with Dennis Daily starting over John Miller at
Speaker 1: right guard, I want to go back though, to to
Speaker 1: Cam Irving because of this right guard situation and and
Speaker 1: some of the questions. We haven't talked about that as
Speaker 1: much recently, but that left tackle position was the question
Speaker 1: of the off season. What have you seen from Cam Irving?
Speaker 1: And do you think it's one of those situations where
Speaker 1: the coaches are waiting to see just as much how
Speaker 1: he performs in the game as the rest of us.
Speaker 1: I think there's a little bit of it. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're schematic things that they believe. And this is not
Speaker 1: just us saying this as employees of Carolina Panther. Those
Speaker 1: coaches down the hall absolutely believe that Cam Irving is
Speaker 1: better than the people listening to this podcast think he is.
Speaker 1: I mean they you know, Cam has been beating up.
Speaker 1: The people who grade at Pro Football Focus and that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff haven't had kind things to say about
Speaker 1: Cam Irving. But they are confident that Cam is able
Speaker 1: to play well in this system and that he is
Speaker 1: some degree of fit for this system. And again we'll see.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the bottom line. But I think because
Speaker 1: he's athletic, because he's a nimble guy for his size,
Speaker 1: it serves him well with some of the stuff they
Speaker 1: want to do offensively. And again we'll get in the
Speaker 1: game and see what happens when bullets start flying. But
Speaker 1: for as much as we talk about left tackles and
Speaker 1: that's been such a focus of haven't really had one
Speaker 1: of those guys since Jordan Gross retired. Well, the reality
Speaker 1: is not a lot of other people do too. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you look across at the other New York team
Speaker 1: and what Dave Getleman is trying to do, throwing together
Speaker 1: in line at the last minute, trading for guys, claiming
Speaker 1: people off waivers, who could end up starting that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. I mean, it's that's what unsettled looks like.
Speaker 1: And so they believe that Irving can be okay, and
Speaker 1: we'll see. I mean, and and what's okay look like?
Speaker 1: Is it Michael or level? Okay? If it is, they
Speaker 1: went to a super Bowl with Michael or left tackle.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I don't think it's automatically. I don't
Speaker 1: think Cam Irving's automatically the reason things can't work here.
Speaker 1: They're more optimistic about him than I expected them to be.
Speaker 1: It's a great point. Um. You know, they had the
Speaker 1: majority of the off season and training camp and the
Speaker 1: preseason to watch and to try out different combinations of
Speaker 1: this line. And this is the one with the exception
Speaker 1: of of Dennis Daily starting over John Miller, which John
Speaker 1: Miller would have been there preferred right guard. This is
Speaker 1: the line that they feel is going to perform the
Speaker 1: best out on the field. And they've certainly done their
Speaker 1: due diligence on it, and that included potentially moving your
Speaker 1: star right tackle over to left. And so it's a
Speaker 1: great point of these coaches feel good about this. They've
Speaker 1: certainly put in the hours and hours and hours to
Speaker 1: make sure that this is the line that they want
Speaker 1: to go out there with and and we'll see how
Speaker 1: it goes, yeah, we we will. And all it is
Speaker 1: is It's only the season, you know, I mean, you
Speaker 1: know they've tried to and for all the other stuff
Speaker 1: for Sam the offensive line, I think people also have
Speaker 1: to be mindful of this offense still has Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: d J. Moore, Robby Anderson. Yes, and that's a pretty
Speaker 1: good place from which to start, and that makes everything easier.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think for all the talk about
Speaker 1: left tackle were not necessarily anticipating that Sam Donald has
Speaker 1: to take a seven step drop and throw the ball
Speaker 1: thirty yards downfield on every place because you can get
Speaker 1: it out quick and put it in the hands of
Speaker 1: twenty two. And that's an alright thing to have happened
Speaker 1: for an offense. Well, speaking of which, we started this
Speaker 1: UM segment out saying which you know, which position group
Speaker 1: do you feel confident about? And which one are you
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on? So let's move over to the confidence.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I wanted to, I could just say
Speaker 1: running back. You know, I feel really confident in the
Speaker 1: in the running back room because of Christian McCaffrey. I
Speaker 1: feel good about the wide receivers Darren I I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that that's also potentially a lay up there
Speaker 1: one of the strongest groups on this team last year,
Speaker 1: but losing Curtis Samuel, who was coming off of a
Speaker 1: banner year, Terrace Marshall looks great and I think that
Speaker 1: he is going to be someone that if Panthers fans
Speaker 1: don't know much about him right now going into week one,
Speaker 1: they certainly are going to um by let's let's call
Speaker 1: it mid season. I anticipate seeing some some A D
Speaker 1: eight jerseys in the stands. I just have been really
Speaker 1: impressed by by what he's done. Some different yeah, right,
Speaker 1: right right, not just you know, we've seen Eight make
Speaker 1: plays here before, and you know, Marshall is a different
Speaker 1: kind of cat. I mean, he's not anything like Curtis
Speaker 1: um he is, you know, and I made the comparison
Speaker 1: earlier in camp, and you know, comparisons are tricky, and
Speaker 1: there's a reason coaches hat um there's a reason everybody
Speaker 1: sort of is a little bit leery of him, because
Speaker 1: you I don't want people to think that I'm about
Speaker 1: to say Taras Marshall is going to become fill in
Speaker 1: the blank, Terris Marshall has some moose in Muhammed qualities.
Speaker 1: He's a big guy who can run. Now Moose's first
Speaker 1: couple of years in the league, Moose struggled with some injuries,
Speaker 1: he struggled with some drops. It took Moves a minute
Speaker 1: to become Moose. Marshall's got some of that same big
Speaker 1: guy flash. I mean, he's got that hung look at
Speaker 1: that sort of thing, and the fact that he can
Speaker 1: work out the slot or work outside. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: got some versatility where they can mix a match and
Speaker 1: do different stuff with him. And Robbie and DJ and
Speaker 1: I think, you know, we talk about all these other
Speaker 1: guys so often. It's like, well, by the way, Robbie
Speaker 1: Anderson is coming off a career season, you know, by
Speaker 1: the way, d J Moore's nearly yards each of the
Speaker 1: last two seasons, like nineteen yards a catch last year.
Speaker 1: He's a big play threat. I mean, DJ is one
Speaker 1: of those guys. I mean, and in a division where
Speaker 1: you've had Julio Jones, who's now in Tennessee, where you've
Speaker 1: got a Mike Evans, where you've got Mike Thomas, DJ
Speaker 1: is kind of in that, I mean, if not in
Speaker 1: the popular mind, he's pretty close to that neighborhood of guy.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I mean, I I think it's absolutely fair
Speaker 1: to look at them and say, that's a place where
Speaker 1: it's gonna be hard for people to match up. And
Speaker 1: so what's the position group that that you feel good about?
Speaker 1: I think the secondary probably, And again that's comparison to
Speaker 1: last year. Yeah, I thought about it. I thought about it,
Speaker 1: and then I was like do I I'm so, I'm
Speaker 1: glad you went with me. I mean, Kristen, you know
Speaker 1: you from know from being here last year, guys who
Speaker 1: were starting in the secondary were rolling in on Tuesday
Speaker 1: and starting on Sunday. I mean, or I mean you
Speaker 1: had you had so many rookies out here too. It
Speaker 1: was a combination of the two of those things, guys
Speaker 1: who have been cut from other teams or rookies. And
Speaker 1: now you've got j C. Horne, who speaking of guys
Speaker 1: who look like they could be that guy, j C.
Speaker 1: Horne is not a rookie. J C. Horn doesn't have
Speaker 1: the bearing of a guy who's about to play his
Speaker 1: first NFL game. And so when you take Dante j Axon,
Speaker 1: who's healthy now and played pretty well even on one
Speaker 1: good toe last year. Um, you put Dante with j C. Horne,
Speaker 1: you make Jeremy Chin safety again and all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: Through training camp, we've seen plays made back there and
Speaker 1: I mean it's this is another Will stat and I
Speaker 1: hate that he's out on special assignment this morning because
Speaker 1: this is all him. The Panthers led the league and
Speaker 1: turnover margin in the preseason, and it was based on
Speaker 1: taking the ball away. They've got some guys who can
Speaker 1: pass rush, but that secondary is so much better than
Speaker 1: it was a year ago, it's almost unfair to even
Speaker 1: compare it well. And we saw we saw it in
Speaker 1: that first half of the third preseason game. I know
Speaker 1: we talked about that quite a bit last week, so
Speaker 1: I won't go back too much of it, but you know,
Speaker 1: those those third downs, you see Dante Jackson tackling and
Speaker 1: and and stopping the first two third downs. That defense
Speaker 1: was out there. I'm excited to see what Dante, a
Speaker 1: fully healthy Dante Jackson, is going to do as well,
Speaker 1: because as you said, you know, I kept my eye
Speaker 1: on him a lot last year, and he would he
Speaker 1: would get out there and start and battle that turf
Speaker 1: toe and you could tell just how much it was
Speaker 1: bothering him. Always tried to start every single game until
Speaker 1: they eventually put him on. I r around the bye
Speaker 1: week um towards the end of the season, and so
Speaker 1: I'm I'm excited for him to have j C out there,
Speaker 1: to be fully healthy and to see what those two
Speaker 1: guys can do. Yeah, and in a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: when a J Boy comes back, I mean, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be another big ad to that secondary, and it would
Speaker 1: help if he was around from the start, but they
Speaker 1: knew that going in. He'd missed the first two games
Speaker 1: of the year, so you know, it's a young group. Again,
Speaker 1: it's kind of odd to think about Dante is the
Speaker 1: only cornerback on the roster who started an NFL game,
Speaker 1: and you know you say that, but Keith Taylor's had
Speaker 1: a pretty good rookie camp and Stanley's a guy who
Speaker 1: can jump in and play role on special teams. But
Speaker 1: a lot of it's gonna be on Dante and j C.
Speaker 1: And they've got so many other mix and match parts
Speaker 1: in that secondary. That's where you know you've seen through
Speaker 1: last year. I mean, guys like Sam Franklin my hearts
Speaker 1: Field sort of play their own little particular roles, and
Speaker 1: especially here over the first couple of weeks when boy
Speaker 1: is not out there, I think Hartsfield is going to
Speaker 1: play more naturally, but um, it'll be curious to see
Speaker 1: how those guys match up. I want to go back
Speaker 1: to just a year ago very quickly, um, because I
Speaker 1: can't help thinking about my first Panthers game as the
Speaker 1: team reporter, which was this time last year Panthers Raiders
Speaker 1: home game. Strangest experience now that we look back on it.
Speaker 1: There were no fans in the stands, absolutely no one.
Speaker 1: It was one o'clock, bright, sunny day. And if you
Speaker 1: talk to this team or or the coaching staff now
Speaker 1: that the season is over, I mean everyone will say,
Speaker 1: very candidly, it felt like a scrimmage. It felt like
Speaker 1: a scrimmage. And I know that we've talked about this
Speaker 1: a little bit, but it's just it's amazing to see
Speaker 1: how far we've we've come in a year and what
Speaker 1: this team has been able to do with a proper
Speaker 1: offseason training camp. And boy, am I excited to see
Speaker 1: all the fans back at Big of America Stadium for
Speaker 1: it it feels it just feels so different than the
Speaker 1: start of the season last year. It really does. And
Speaker 1: you know, I came last Thursday night for the Appalachian
Speaker 1: State game here. You know, obviously I watched I watched
Speaker 1: on TV the Climpson Georgia game the other night, but
Speaker 1: it's it is unusual and it's still strange. And listen,
Speaker 1: I know it's gonna be weird for a lot of
Speaker 1: people to walk into a building full of people, but
Speaker 1: you know, you hope that everybody takes the right precautions
Speaker 1: and everybody does the things they need to do to
Speaker 1: keep themselves. Help, please stay safe, Please feel comfortable if
Speaker 1: we're coming, and you know, but it is different just
Speaker 1: looking out at that crowd on Saturday night, even even
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh game in the preseason, it's a preseason crowd,
Speaker 1: so a lot of people, you know, decided to skip
Speaker 1: that one or whatever, but there were still probably fifty
Speaker 1: thousand people in here. And it is just so different
Speaker 1: than last year. I think back to training camp, that
Speaker 1: first night practice in Gibb Stadium at Wofford and Rule says,
Speaker 1: this is the biggest crowd I've ever coached in front of.
Speaker 1: And he was right. They were like five or six
Speaker 1: thousand people that he told me that. So I was
Speaker 1: doing a little interview with him at the televised practice
Speaker 1: and he told me that and my face dropped, I think,
Speaker 1: and then I went, oh, yeah, it is. It really is,
Speaker 1: and for me as well, these I think the crowds
Speaker 1: at each event, from that first televised practice to fan
Speaker 1: Fest to the last two preseason games have been increasingly
Speaker 1: given the the award for biggest crowd that this coaching
Speaker 1: staff and a lot of these young Panthers players have
Speaker 1: ever played in front of when it comes to Panthers
Speaker 1: home crowds. So there's no doubt that Sunday is going
Speaker 1: to be the biggest, which is incredible. Get to have
Speaker 1: the fans back, you know, you get to have that
Speaker 1: home field advantage. It's that time. It's football again. It is.
Speaker 1: It is. All right. We're gonna end with our weird
Speaker 1: question of the week, and this one, of course goes
Speaker 1: out to our very own Panther stats guy in honor
Speaker 1: of Will, who, as Darren said, is on special assignment
Speaker 1: this week. Can't be here. He posted a great suite.
Speaker 1: As of this afternoon Paralyzed Sports, the Panthers roster is
Speaker 1: tied for the youngest and the NFL. The exact number
Speaker 1: is twenty five point six seven years. The Jets roster
Speaker 1: in case anyone was wondering is third youngest, twenty five
Speaker 1: point seven one. The average age of this team is
Speaker 1: twenty five years old, which leads me to the obvious question, Darren,
Speaker 1: what were you doing at twenty five making bad decisions?
Speaker 1: Um six, I was working at the Gasting as att
Speaker 1: and I was still a young reporter, bouncing around between
Speaker 1: covering high school games on Friday night and coming out
Speaker 1: here on Sundays and helping cover the Panthers on the weekends.
Speaker 1: It's uh, it's been a long time, been a long
Speaker 1: time since I was twenty five years old. But I'm
Speaker 1: glad I'm not twenty five anymore. Me too, Me too, Producer, Matt,
Speaker 1: what were you doing at five? I got engaged and
Speaker 1: got this job, So it's pretty good year, yeavens Ma's
Speaker 1: reminiscing with the rest of us. Yeah, twenty five for me,
Speaker 1: I was. I believe that was the year I left
Speaker 1: ESPN to move out to l a Um to work
Speaker 1: for Fox Sports, and that was my first time going
Speaker 1: from kind of a sidekick role to hosting my own
Speaker 1: thing and and really learning. So it's definitely um a
Speaker 1: great year for me, one that I'll remember very glad. Darren,
Speaker 1: as you said, to not be anymore. But it is
Speaker 1: interesting to think about these, to think about what we
Speaker 1: were doing then and then think about this team that's
Speaker 1: about to take the field. And that's the average, which
Speaker 1: means exactly as many are younger than that as Brian
Speaker 1: Burns Jeremy Chin that right fuled ages of twenty three.
Speaker 1: I believe you know Sam Donold's all of twenty four.
Speaker 1: So it's but but I'm glad we've got an old
Speaker 1: guy around here, j J. Jansen. Tip of the cap
Speaker 1: to j J hanging around for skewing the average high
Speaker 1: by being the old guy on this droum. Absolutely, and
Speaker 1: I can't wait to see those young whipper snappers get
Speaker 1: out there on Sunday. Thank you guys so much for
Speaker 1: listening to the Happy Half Hour podcast. We'll see you
Speaker 1: next week after we have some some real football game
Speaker 1: action to talk about. Can't wait.