Speaker 1: One of the juiciest, most interesting things he said about
Speaker 1: the Browns is that he wanted to hug from Nick Chubb.
Speaker 1: That's what he said. That's so he closed off with
Speaker 1: he was like, I want a big hug. He's gonna
Speaker 1: be a great gift, a big hug from Nicholas Chuck.
Speaker 1: I think it's fascinating because everyone's waiting on to see,
Speaker 1: you know, feeling dangerous, all this hype, and he's just
Speaker 1: he's not giving it to the media at all, and
Speaker 1: I kind of love it him. It's time for the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour with your friends. Kristen Balboni, Will Brian
Speaker 1: and Darren Gant. Good Morning NFL Week one regular season.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Adrian cron Hour. No I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: Darren Gant. And that's a dated pop culture reference that
Speaker 1: nobody in this room gets. I didn't get it. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: Go look it up later. Kids, It'll be funny then. Um,
Speaker 1: it is the Happy half Hour. We are thirty three
Speaker 1: percent less happy today Kristin Balboni's own special assignment. But
Speaker 1: I'm here, and Augusta Stone is here and oh look
Speaker 1: the bad an he turned up again. It's Will. I
Speaker 1: don't get that reference either things that turn up often. Ah,
Speaker 1: there it is here, I am man. We'll come back.
Speaker 1: We're off to a roar and Starry Will Brian's here. Everybody,
Speaker 1: Panthers Stats guy. It's it's it's nice, it's been it's
Speaker 1: been good listening to AUGUSTA fill In. I mean it.
Speaker 1: You know, we have real reporters in this room now,
Speaker 1: more than just the guy that you know hits buttons
Speaker 1: on a website and says, lou look at me, I
Speaker 1: have a stat I'd say the numbers thing you do
Speaker 1: is quite it's quite real reporting. Honestly, it's at that
Speaker 1: customer reporting because you know the journalists hate math thing.
Speaker 1: You know you got that going. They're not good at math.
Speaker 1: I will tell you that fin in fact about me.
Speaker 1: I can tell you this without any hesitation. Um, this
Speaker 1: website don't get put out if it's not for Will Brian.
Speaker 1: I can write stories all day long. The the greater
Speaker 1: website and app product that so many of you people
Speaker 1: enjoy it, Panthers dot Com and the Panthers I am
Speaker 1: would not be the same without this guy. So um
Speaker 1: that being sad, That's about as nice as I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be to you today. It's week one? Is it? Isn't it? Weird?
Speaker 1: Am I the only one that's in a in a
Speaker 1: kind of funny headspace because it's like we're spinning a
Speaker 1: hundred miles an hour all preseason building up to the thing,
Speaker 1: and now that the things here, I'm unusually calm because
Speaker 1: we're in a good spot. Our plan has now carried
Speaker 1: through to its logical conclusion. The game is here. We've
Speaker 1: written some of the stories. More of the stories are
Speaker 1: coming uh this week on Panthers dot com about all
Speaker 1: the stuff you want to read, but it's it's like tangible.
Speaker 1: Now there is a team that a lot of people
Speaker 1: are interested in coming here with a quarterback that everyone's
Speaker 1: interested in. My wife included NC State grad and Howard
Speaker 1: Brian loves her some Jacoby Brissette. She's been following his
Speaker 1: career all through the cults now with the Browns. Very
Speaker 1: excited to see him. Oh wait, is that what we're
Speaker 1: talking about. That's Kobe Brissette. Yeah, everybody's fired up about Jacoby.
Speaker 1: Ber said, I actually kind of thought about setting up
Speaker 1: this podcast and and seeing if we could do a
Speaker 1: Baker free podcast. The answer is no, we will not
Speaker 1: do a Baker Free podcast, because it's Baker Mayfield Week. Everybody,
Speaker 1: it's the thing. And you know, yesterday he has a
Speaker 1: press conference and you know who says the things he
Speaker 1: planned to say, and he's not gonna light any fires
Speaker 1: Baker's and his best behavior. But here's what we know
Speaker 1: for sure, Baker Mayfield would enjoy beating his previous employer.
Speaker 1: This is a common motivational ploy used by football players,
Speaker 1: but especially this guy, and it's it's kind of funny,
Speaker 1: and it's against what we are conditioned to expect because
Speaker 1: Baker's not up here frothing at the mouth, you know,
Speaker 1: screaming like lunatic, planting flags, doing all those things before
Speaker 1: the game. Is he gonna do anything after the game.
Speaker 1: I don't know. That's why we've watched, just to see
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. But he has been from markably restrained
Speaker 1: all week. I mean, you were sitting there yesterday. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's funny to me how he's running against type. It's
Speaker 1: he knows what everybody's expecting and he's just blatantly refusing
Speaker 1: to play along. Right now, It's kind of hilarious because
Speaker 1: in a way, is that not more interesting than like
Speaker 1: what you'd expect, you know what I mean, like when
Speaker 1: he's up there and he's all buttoned up and yesterday,
Speaker 1: I mean, one of the juiciest, most interesting things he
Speaker 1: said about the Browns is that he wanted it wanted
Speaker 1: to hug from Nick Chubb more than anything. Nicholas Chubb.
Speaker 1: That's what he said. That's what he closed off with.
Speaker 1: He was like, I want a big hug, he saiduld
Speaker 1: be a great gift, a big hug from Nicholas Chubb.
Speaker 1: But it's like when you say, like Baker on his
Speaker 1: best behavior, this is like Baker like going to his
Speaker 1: grandmother's house, you know, letting a crochet something for him,
Speaker 1: and it's he's just he's it's it's kind of it's
Speaker 1: kind of funny against the grain in a way where
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't know, I think I think it's
Speaker 1: fascinating because everyone's waiting on to see, you know, feeling dangerous,
Speaker 1: all this hype and he's just he's not giving it
Speaker 1: to the media at all, and I kind of love
Speaker 1: it in a way. He also made a comment about
Speaker 1: how he's not here to make T shirts, which I
Speaker 1: think was a dig just at Darren. As we know,
Speaker 1: Darren is pretty much just here to make and give
Speaker 1: out T shirts to his friends. That's very true. That's true.
Speaker 1: Do you have a friend of the mail Bag T shirt?
Speaker 1: I do. Do you have a friend of the Maile Okay,
Speaker 1: then that's you know. And I don't want to hear
Speaker 1: anything about my T shirt, so almost, but you know,
Speaker 1: and Team Baker has a T shirt of their own.
Speaker 1: And you know, he kind of laughed about the subliminal messages,
Speaker 1: but that one's right up there in everybody's face. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's the low hanging fruit this week. It's the thing
Speaker 1: that's going to bring national attention to this game. Um
Speaker 1: Oddly enough, the NFL schedules certain things certain ways. Now
Speaker 1: this schedule came out months before Baker Mayfield landed here,
Speaker 1: but this was gonna be interesting one way or another.
Speaker 1: And I just there's so much about this game that
Speaker 1: in the non Baker category, and that's kind of wanted.
Speaker 1: What I wanted to hit on the day is what
Speaker 1: is the non Baker thing you're most interested to see?
Speaker 1: Damian Wilson tell me more. I think this run defense
Speaker 1: and obviously, you know, there's a lot that has to
Speaker 1: do with with the guys up front with that defensive
Speaker 1: line with Derek brown Um with with Burns and need
Speaker 1: tour with how they're going to be set up. But
Speaker 1: yet again there's a new name at middle linebacker ever
Speaker 1: since Luke Keikley retired that no one really knows. And
Speaker 1: it's like, who's that guy? I remember when Luke was
Speaker 1: stopping the run and when TV was out there stopping
Speaker 1: the run? Who is this guy? And I think Wilson
Speaker 1: and Corey Littleton and having shock back that group right there,
Speaker 1: and obviously Frankie Luvu who can make a lot of
Speaker 1: plays there. There's gonna be a lot of eyes on them.
Speaker 1: I would put my eyes on them because this is
Speaker 1: a very good running team. Cleveland finished what fourth, fifth
Speaker 1: and in running and rushing last year, Like we we
Speaker 1: already said it, Nick Chubb, I mean, Kareem Hunt. Those
Speaker 1: guys are good and can this team stop the run?
Speaker 1: Because as much as they talked about the second rank
Speaker 1: defense last year, a lot of that kind of fell
Speaker 1: in its face when they really needed to stop and
Speaker 1: people put the ball on the ground, right, I mean
Speaker 1: last year, it's so easy and so misleading for them
Speaker 1: to talk about, oh second rank defense in the NFL
Speaker 1: because it was Yes, statistically speaking by total yards allowed
Speaker 1: per game over a seventeen game season, that is correct.
Speaker 1: But run defense last year was not good, and it
Speaker 1: they got caught playing small. They strategically wanted to play
Speaker 1: fast rather than big, and it worked for a while
Speaker 1: in the sense that Hassan Reddick and Brian Burns got
Speaker 1: a bunch of sacks. But once the Dallas game came
Speaker 1: and went, the book was out on the Carolina Panthers
Speaker 1: and it was you can line up and punch them
Speaker 1: in the face, right up the middle, and they are
Speaker 1: not necessarily equipped to stop you. And and I think
Speaker 1: that is I mean, you mentioned Damien Wilson. He is
Speaker 1: a bigger version of the guy they've plugged in. I mean,
Speaker 1: you Will's heard me talk a million times. There's not
Speaker 1: a city in the NFL l other than Chicago that
Speaker 1: can even compare with the Carolina Panthers lineage of middle linebackers.
Speaker 1: You go, Sam Mills, Michael Barrow, you know, John Bees
Speaker 1: and Dan Morgan, Luke keik Ley. I mean, those are
Speaker 1: five iconic names right out of the shoot. And for
Speaker 1: the last couple of years, it's like, Okay, what happens
Speaker 1: after Luke, there's just been guys, I mean nothing against
Speaker 1: the here why he had nothing agains Jermaine Carter and
Speaker 1: Damien Wilson is not one of those guys, but he's
Speaker 1: a bigger version of tow here and and Jermaine, and
Speaker 1: I just think that's that was by design. They wanted
Speaker 1: to be more solid against the run. So you go
Speaker 1: get a two fifty pound middle linebacker, you go get
Speaker 1: big old Henry Anderson, who we haven't heard a lot
Speaker 1: from yet, but he's just gigantic, and he is a
Speaker 1: run stopping defensive end who adds a little bit of
Speaker 1: something that they didn't have. So they've got kind of
Speaker 1: mix and match parts to try to combat what's obvious
Speaker 1: obviously a big issue, and Phil snow talk about it
Speaker 1: today and I'm sure that's going to be one of
Speaker 1: the main topics when he hits. But all right, Augusta,
Speaker 1: what is your non baker being you're most curious to see.
Speaker 1: I appreciate the emphasis on non baker um. I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is also a low hanging cruit, but obviously,
Speaker 1: with ikey A Kwanu having his first Welcome to the
Speaker 1: League moment, up against Myles Garrett. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: that's been written and talked about ad nausea, but it's hilarious,
Speaker 1: or it's not hilarious, but it's wild, right. I mean,
Speaker 1: you you come in to the league and it's like,
Speaker 1: all right, buddy, here you go have fun, have have
Speaker 1: fun with one of the most intense, uh just defenders
Speaker 1: in the league. I think it's one of those things
Speaker 1: where I think Panthers fans should expect growing pains. You
Speaker 1: shouldn't expect Ikey to come out and and be just
Speaker 1: an absolute beast immediately. But I think you know, you
Speaker 1: wrote about it, and I think it was really well
Speaker 1: done about him going up against Brian Burns and how
Speaker 1: that that's helpful. And I was watching him yesterday in practice,
Speaker 1: you know, going up against Brian Burns, and I mean,
Speaker 1: they're just gonna get him as many valuable reps there
Speaker 1: as he can. And and I mean it's a moment
Speaker 1: for Icky, even outside of that being the Charlotte guy
Speaker 1: getting his debut, but it's like, get your debut, have
Speaker 1: all these emotions, and then also have one of the
Speaker 1: toughest matchups you're going to have in the league. First game.
Speaker 1: And I think it'll be interesting to see how he
Speaker 1: how he shapes up. And I'm not I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone should go in with these like crazy high expectations.
Speaker 1: But like also understand that he was six overall for
Speaker 1: a reason, So I'm excited to see that. I think
Speaker 1: that'll be exciting for from reasons off the field. His
Speaker 1: whole family will be here. He told me he had
Speaker 1: people here from his from his life in Charlotte. I mean,
Speaker 1: just getting that moment, but also like on the field,
Speaker 1: and is Grandma gonna be here? Oh my goodness, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't even know if he knows. I
Speaker 1: asked him about it. I was like, so, are you
Speaker 1: all having like, you know, a get together anything like that.
Speaker 1: He was he said, I'm not handling any of that.
Speaker 1: He's like, they'll be here, It'll be great. I'll see
Speaker 1: him afterwards. My suspicion is the then diagram of people
Speaker 1: who listen to The Happy half Hour and people who
Speaker 1: WATCHT Panthers Camp Confidential is a pretty tight circle. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing there's a strong overlap between our audiences. Grandma Quanta
Speaker 1: makes me happy. Grandma a Quantu is the greatest thing
Speaker 1: that's happened, and just seeing her down in suits watching
Speaker 1: Ikey's first game and go and go panther, it was
Speaker 1: the greatest thing. If if you do, if that does
Speaker 1: not make you happy, you are not a person I
Speaker 1: want to be friends with. So call him the pancake man.
Speaker 1: She doesn't know and I love. Whether it was Kyle
Speaker 1: or Dan, one of our guys behind the camera had
Speaker 1: to explain to her that pancaking was the act of
Speaker 1: picking up a person and putting him flat on the ground.
Speaker 1: And her reaction was like, oh, you do he did that?
Speaker 1: He picks him up, And yes, Grandma, that's what he does.
Speaker 1: She is delightful. That was you know, there was so
Speaker 1: much good stuff in Camp Confidential this year, but Grandma,
Speaker 1: a quanta just makes my spirit happy. So it's, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, it's gonna be exciting. And that's the thing.
Speaker 1: If not for that one thing over there, Ikey in
Speaker 1: his first game would be probably the thing we would
Speaker 1: be beating into the ground over and over and over.
Speaker 1: And it's obviously a huge thing because again that's Myles
Speaker 1: Garrett over there. Play hard kid. Uh, it doesn't get
Speaker 1: a lot tougher than this. He's gonna see some dudes.
Speaker 1: Over the course of this year, he's going to have
Speaker 1: to get better, and there were some there were some
Speaker 1: hiccups through the off season in terms of the pass
Speaker 1: rush and that kind of thing, and and learning how
Speaker 1: to pass protect at an NFL level. We know he's
Speaker 1: physical in the run game. We know he's able to
Speaker 1: dominate people and pick them up and put them on
Speaker 1: the ground. There you go, grandma, um. But until he
Speaker 1: gets out there against a Miles Garrett and keeps it
Speaker 1: from turning into a three four stack game, you know
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a question mark. So how Ikey plays
Speaker 1: is going to be obviously central to this game. What
Speaker 1: about that other first round pick, the guy that got
Speaker 1: the red shirt, first round pick, j C. Horn. We
Speaker 1: will have some more about him coming up this week
Speaker 1: on Panthers dot Com in his first game back and
Speaker 1: how he's handling the emotions of it all. But j
Speaker 1: C is fascinating to me because I just love the fact.
Speaker 1: Earlier this week, Matt Rule was sort of talking, you know,
Speaker 1: stream of consciousness, I think it was on Monday, and
Speaker 1: he said, we got a lot of veterans on this defense.
Speaker 1: You know, even though they're young guys who have played
Speaker 1: a lot of football, like Brian Burns, like Jeremy Chen,
Speaker 1: like j C. Horne. And I'm like j C. Horne
Speaker 1: is not a veteran. J C. Horne has not played
Speaker 1: a lot of football. You just included him with old people.
Speaker 1: He has played three football games and you know, unfortunately
Speaker 1: last season ended because of injury. And it's like one
Speaker 1: of those things you're almost afraid to talk about because
Speaker 1: it's like if we don't talk about it, it's not real. Um.
Speaker 1: But j C just exudes football guy. You know. It's
Speaker 1: the thing the kids say he has that dog inside
Speaker 1: of him, you know, or something like that. Um, that's
Speaker 1: j C. Horne. And he just carries himself as an
Speaker 1: adult even though he's still really brand new at this.
Speaker 1: And it's been kind of interesting watching him this week
Speaker 1: because he's sort of I think he wants to kind
Speaker 1: of blend into the woodwork and and let this thing
Speaker 1: come and go and and be in it. So it
Speaker 1: started and then everything can be normal again. He Uh,
Speaker 1: I was looking yesterday. I didn't realize in those three
Speaker 1: games he only allowed a thirty nine point five NFL
Speaker 1: passer rating against. I mean, like he had that interception
Speaker 1: against the Saints, which was a huge, huge moment, then
Speaker 1: only allowed one reception. I mean, he's like he was
Speaker 1: on the way, you know. I mean, yeah, he was
Speaker 1: on his way to being one of those guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't want to be the one that coaches jail
Speaker 1: at for creating high expectations, but every team wants him
Speaker 1: at Jalen Ramsey, every team wants somebody that you can
Speaker 1: just put over there in a race half the field,
Speaker 1: and football coaches hate expectations when they're created outside the building.
Speaker 1: But j C was on his way to be in
Speaker 1: one of those dudes. J C was. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: in those three games. I think he kind of opened
Speaker 1: a lot of people's eyes like, oh god, that's what
Speaker 1: it can look like. And I just think it's a
Speaker 1: function of him being born to the game. I mean,
Speaker 1: he grew up in Joe Horne's house. He had those
Speaker 1: workouts every day, He did all that stuff when he
Speaker 1: was eight years old that normal eight year olds don't
Speaker 1: do because they didn't grow up in an NFL household.
Speaker 1: And he just he's I think because he grew up
Speaker 1: in that culture. That's why he seems so natural in it.
Speaker 1: Now it's just I'm Jacy Horne. I've been here all
Speaker 1: my life except only three games exactly like you mentioned.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just has that presence about him, like
Speaker 1: he's he's out there with like Dante Jackson and Jeremy
Speaker 1: Chen and he just hangs around him and it feels
Speaker 1: like he's been here. Like it's hilarious. It's so interesting
Speaker 1: to me. It's like, oh, it's a second year because
Speaker 1: it feels like he was like he's been embedded in
Speaker 1: these walls forever, like just the way he carries himself.
Speaker 1: And and I noticed that too, and that rule was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: the guys have been here three four years, and and
Speaker 1: like you said, j C. Horn played three games last year.
Speaker 1: But it's just the guys. The guy's general to use
Speaker 1: my word vibe, you know what I mean, he just
Speaker 1: has that that feeling about him. I think he's twenty
Speaker 1: one years old. If I'm not mistaken, twenty one or
Speaker 1: twenty two. He's young. That's crazy. I mean, that's just
Speaker 1: I just I love it. I love it says younger
Speaker 1: than me, But yeah, I know it's I don't know,
Speaker 1: I just I find that so that and like what
Speaker 1: you said to about him like seeming like he almost
Speaker 1: wants to like embed himself. He doesn't want to be
Speaker 1: a storyline. He's so I'm one of the veteran guys. Yep,
Speaker 1: love me there, you know, And it's like and I
Speaker 1: love that he's almost like trying to, like, you know,
Speaker 1: be like Okay, yeah, j C. Horne, you know, don't
Speaker 1: don't hype up too much, but how can you not?
Speaker 1: It's it's it's really tough. So one of the quiet
Speaker 1: big things that happened in the last two weeks that
Speaker 1: listeners of this podcast probably picked up on but may
Speaker 1: not have fully grasped it, grasp its significance. This is
Speaker 1: the first time since twenty nine that we've had open
Speaker 1: locker rooms, and Darren has been around this game a
Speaker 1: long time knows what happened when we lost that. So
Speaker 1: I want to pull this up for you guys, what
Speaker 1: has that been like in the last week or two
Speaker 1: and describe for people that were like who cares? Like
Speaker 1: why does it matter? Right? And just so people know
Speaker 1: what happens is and it's kind of written into the
Speaker 1: league rules as part of the media access policy, we're
Speaker 1: supposed to have three opportunities of about forty five minutes
Speaker 1: at a shot to go into the locker room to
Speaker 1: be able to interview players in their natural environment. I know,
Speaker 1: when we start talking about open locker rooms, everybody thinks
Speaker 1: it's weird and you guys want to go in while
Speaker 1: they're trying to take a shot. That's not it. Guys
Speaker 1: are in there. It's during the lunch period after practice
Speaker 1: is when it usually happens. So guys are checking their
Speaker 1: messages on their phone, they're relaxing. Some people are playing
Speaker 1: ping pong on one end of the him. It's kind
Speaker 1: of that break between YAH practice and meetings later in
Speaker 1: the afternoon while they're changing gears and everybody is just
Speaker 1: getting a chance to rest and recharge a second, and
Speaker 1: we can go up to guys. We can get them
Speaker 1: one on one. A lot of times there's group interviews.
Speaker 1: Christian was talking yesterday. Christian draws a crowd. Dante Jackson
Speaker 1: draws a crowd. But you can also stop and talk
Speaker 1: to somebody on a one on one basis and actually
Speaker 1: get to know someone. You can learn about what they're
Speaker 1: thinking about a particular topic beyond the fifteen second SoundBite
Speaker 1: that TV cameras might want to keep it moving. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's certain people that walk in the locker room and
Speaker 1: all they want to know is, Okay, I'm writing a
Speaker 1: story about Cleveland's run games. Say everything about Cleveland's run game,
Speaker 1: and then they keep moving. But if you're in that setting,
Speaker 1: in a more comfortable setting, you can actually find things
Speaker 1: out that are interesting to me if they're instant. Yesterday
Speaker 1: I started talking to Eddie Pinera, and Eddie Eddie say,
Speaker 1: as he's fine. Eddie's name popped up on the injury report.
Speaker 1: He says he's okay. Hopefully he is um. But I
Speaker 1: started talking to Johnny Hecker, the holder and J. J. Jansen,
Speaker 1: the snapper, and it was like, how weird is it
Speaker 1: adjusting to a new kicker? What do you have to do?
Speaker 1: And they both explained to me. JJ said, listen, it's
Speaker 1: way weirder for me to snap to a new holder
Speaker 1: than it is to snap to a new kicker. And
Speaker 1: I started talking to Hecker about it, and Hecker is like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's way tougher for me to adjust to a new
Speaker 1: snapper than a new kicker. And I didn't know that,
Speaker 1: and I didn't expect that. And I've been knocking around
Speaker 1: here for a while and it makes sense to hear
Speaker 1: them explain it. But if we're on a zoom call
Speaker 1: and Johnny Hecker's talking to everybody in the world for
Speaker 1: a prescribed seven minutes, I don't know that we get
Speaker 1: to that point. I don't know that we get to
Speaker 1: that understanding. It's not the biggest story in the world.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna find stuff out from guys this year
Speaker 1: that we're gonna be able to put in the streets
Speaker 1: on Panthers dot Com that fan are going to be like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's so cool. I didn't know that. And that's the key.
Speaker 1: It's getting to know guys at a different level. And Augusta,
Speaker 1: this is I mean you were you are of a
Speaker 1: generation that COVID took a lot of valuable reps away
Speaker 1: from them. Mean, a lot of young reporters didn't get
Speaker 1: a lot of shots at locker room access and having
Speaker 1: this kind of protracted conversation with guys. So this is
Speaker 1: still a little new for you too, But I mean
Speaker 1: you jump right in. I mean there are days when
Speaker 1: you can talk to seven or eight guys at a
Speaker 1: time and come out with three days worth of stories.
Speaker 1: What's it been like for you exactly what I wanted
Speaker 1: to point out, just like you mentioned with there's fans
Speaker 1: want to know like every little detail about their favorite teams,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, And so I sometimes, like
Speaker 1: I sat back. It was Monday, so it was the
Speaker 1: first open locker room of like you know, just practice
Speaker 1: regular season kind of thing, and I was watching Kim
Speaker 1: Irving put on a sweatshirt and FSU sweatshirt. Florida Stay
Speaker 1: and his teammates were just going at him about the
Speaker 1: game the night before at the LSU game, and it
Speaker 1: was so fun to like watch that whole you know,
Speaker 1: back and forth. And then that's a way for reporters.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm very new and very young, and so
Speaker 1: that was a way for me to be like, oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, you watched it, and then we just talked
Speaker 1: about the game. And it's like when you create those
Speaker 1: relationships with people, they trust you and then you get
Speaker 1: to tell really cool stories. And then also, you know,
Speaker 1: the fans, when you are able to encapsulate things like that,
Speaker 1: understand the vibes, friendships, dynamic stuff like that, fans eat
Speaker 1: that up. I mean, as a fan of sports teams,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my goodness, it's so fun that they
Speaker 1: do this or they're interested in that, and they you know,
Speaker 1: shoot the crap about that. I just I love that
Speaker 1: whole dynamic of it. So that's been really interesting. But
Speaker 1: I am very very new to this. UM I graduated
Speaker 1: in so there's a lot of differences. But UM, it's
Speaker 1: really cool. It's really cool and like getting Like there
Speaker 1: are times whenever I don't even you know, go into
Speaker 1: it thinking about an interview and I'm just like, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, what's up? How are you? And then it
Speaker 1: becomes something where they just say something that's really compelling
Speaker 1: or really interesting, and and I'm getting to know the
Speaker 1: roster better that way. You know, people that they haven't
Speaker 1: brought up to the podiums have been some of my
Speaker 1: favorite people to talk to. Ian Thomas, like talking with
Speaker 1: him yesterday. He's awesome. He has not done a press
Speaker 1: conference since I've been here, and he was such a nice, cool,
Speaker 1: insightful guy. And I have some really interesting tidbits about
Speaker 1: things that he learned from Christian McCaffrey in a story
Speaker 1: that will be publishing very soon. Um that it's just fun.
Speaker 1: I just you get those little details, You get to
Speaker 1: get to know people, and that's like the whole reason
Speaker 1: that I think a lot of reporters want to do
Speaker 1: it is you just wanna you wanna get to know that.
Speaker 1: You want to share it with the fans so that
Speaker 1: they can also, you know, feel like they know their
Speaker 1: favorite athletes a little bit better. I think that's fun
Speaker 1: and it's extremely valuable. The job is to tell good stories,
Speaker 1: and we can tell better ones when we've got that
Speaker 1: kind of access to guys. So we don't take it
Speaker 1: for granted, and you know, a lot of players view
Speaker 1: it as an imposition. J J said something interesting the
Speaker 1: other day previously while Ikey was talking in a big scrum,
Speaker 1: and he's like, listen, this fan base is going to
Speaker 1: get to know Ikey in a way they never got
Speaker 1: to know Derek Brown and J. C. Horne because the
Speaker 1: first round picks can be out there on camera every week.
Speaker 1: They're good people are going you see Ikey's face a
Speaker 1: lot more often and seem in his natural environment. And
Speaker 1: it doesn't hurt that Ikey is very good at talking
Speaker 1: and he has things to say, and he's interesting and
Speaker 1: you know he's he's got a certain thing about him
Speaker 1: that he is not necessarily uncomfortable in front of a camera.
Speaker 1: I mean he he has a charm, he has a
Speaker 1: wit about him that he's able to communicate on the
Speaker 1: fly and you can ask him different things, and you
Speaker 1: know it's not like let me think about that, let
Speaker 1: me think about no. I mean, Icky's good on his feet.
Speaker 1: So um, I think it's a win win for everybody.
Speaker 1: So that's our inside baseball, inside the locker room media
Speaker 1: policy thing. That's just gonna drive our ratings through the
Speaker 1: roof people of all the click stuff. You know, you
Speaker 1: know what people will come to this podcast for on
Speaker 1: a regular basis. Panthers stat guys, staut of the week.
Speaker 1: Hit me, what do you got? I know you have?
Speaker 1: You can here with one in your holster? Yeah, do it? Alright.
Speaker 1: So we made it through, or we tried to make
Speaker 1: it through a whole podcast faithfully of not talking about
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield. But we almost made it through a whole
Speaker 1: podcast without talking about that other guy, Christian McCaffrey. Remember him. Hey,
Speaker 1: he's good at football. Remember that guy. We should talk
Speaker 1: about him more. Since two thousand nineteen, Christian McCaffrey a
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty six scrimmage yards per game played. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, that's a hundred and thirty six scrimmage yards.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of yards. When he's on the field,
Speaker 1: he moves, He matriculates the ball down the field at
Speaker 1: high rates, a hundred and thirty six yards per game.
Speaker 1: When you put it in that context, I mean, you understand, hey,
Speaker 1: that he's good at football, but be what they've been
Speaker 1: missing one out there, and it's and it's not that's
Speaker 1: not the kind of thing one guy can replace. I
Speaker 1: mean I feel bad almost at times for guys like
Speaker 1: Chewba Hubbard trying to fill in last year because two
Speaker 1: expect Christian McCaffrey production out of anybody, especially last year
Speaker 1: rookie like Tubou was unfair, and I mean not anybody
Speaker 1: else in the league. Not very many people are able
Speaker 1: to produce at that kind of level. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think we're all kind of it's almost like the
Speaker 1: j C thing. It's like maybe if we don't talk
Speaker 1: about it, it won't be real and just kind of
Speaker 1: slide them through and get through this one. But obviously
Speaker 1: Christians a huge deal for these guys, and and Matt
Speaker 1: said it the other day, you know, we're not going
Speaker 1: to be scared of what might happen because he's good.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna hand him the ball for for for reference,
Speaker 1: that's first in the NFL. Just in case anyone was wondering. Uh,
Speaker 1: fifth in the NFL is Nick Chubb at a hundred
Speaker 1: and five. That's a lot fewer. Can you do? You
Speaker 1: want to guess who to three and four are? This
Speaker 1: is since since twenty nineteen album Chamara, Nope, you see
Speaker 1: not on that list? Who who are two, three and four?
Speaker 1: Tell me? I was gonna let you guess. You want
Speaker 1: to guess one? I'm good? Uh, Derrick Henry second, Dalvin Cook, yeah, third,
Speaker 1: and Jonathan Taylor. Yeah, that's pretty good company. That's what
Speaker 1: we're talking about. In one. Christian McCaffrey good at football.
Speaker 1: So Panthers that guyst that of the week? About that?
Speaker 1: You know what? I like that enough. I want that
Speaker 1: to be a part of this podcast every single week.
Speaker 1: He's doing it. He's pulling me back in. Will is
Speaker 1: a busy guy. And here's the thing. Will has been
Speaker 1: on special assignment a lot lately, a lot of assignments
Speaker 1: that are very special, many many special assignments. Uh. Will
Speaker 1: wears a lot of different hats in this building, to
Speaker 1: the extent that I think he needs about seven heads
Speaker 1: to be able to wear them all at the same time,
Speaker 1: and he gets busy and helping us out on the
Speaker 1: podcast isn't always in the schedule. We're really glad he's here.
Speaker 1: And because he's here and giving us that of the week,
Speaker 1: it just occurs to me that even if I walk
Speaker 1: around with a tape recorder and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: we got two minutes stay out of the week, hit me,
Speaker 1: what do you got that? We're going to make stay
Speaker 1: out of the week a routine part of this podcast experience.
Speaker 1: So even if you're not sitting in this chair every week,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna remain in denial because you'll be back. Uh,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be here every week, whether you're sitting in
Speaker 1: this room or not. MAT's gonna look at our analytics
Speaker 1: and find that at the seven minute of every podcast
Speaker 1: when you play my recording, there's a big spike, big
Speaker 1: spike up. Given the people what they want, that's what
Speaker 1: we do, right, So can I end this one? All right?
Speaker 1: So Augusta, back in the day, in the heyday of
Speaker 1: of this podcast, not that we're having a new heyday,
Speaker 1: but in the old heyday, we used to have kind
Speaker 1: of like our our random fun whatever thing. This isn't
Speaker 1: all that random, and it may not be that fun,
Speaker 1: but I think it's interesting. Um. I recently put up
Speaker 1: an album on panthers dot com in case you're looking
Speaker 1: of some of the best photos from Panther's winds in openers.
Speaker 1: So I know Darren remembers most of them. Darren has
Speaker 1: been around for all of them. Can you remember not
Speaker 1: a Panther's one, but maybe an opener through your athletic
Speaker 1: career playing following watching first game sort of oh my god,
Speaker 1: what a game, what a moment? Oh my goodness. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I I was a band kid, so
Speaker 1: that's the first thing. So personally, I'm trying to think
Speaker 1: of like an opener. Oh my word, that's so tough.
Speaker 1: The first thing that came to my mind wasn't an
Speaker 1: exciting game per se. But I'm thinking about my first
Speaker 1: season opener when I was in the marching band in
Speaker 1: college and it was against Austin, PA, so Georgia like
Speaker 1: absolutely crushed up. Hold on, what did you play? I
Speaker 1: played trumpet? Trumpet? I did. Yes, I'm actually extremely proud
Speaker 1: of it. And I will talk about marching band all
Speaker 1: day long. If anyone loves me. But um, the thing
Speaker 1: I remember about it most it was very, very hot,
Speaker 1: and the game got so out of hand that they
Speaker 1: did a running clock in the fourth quarter and half
Speaker 1: of my buddies were like having to leave the stands
Speaker 1: to go behind. But and it was like one of
Speaker 1: those like we were talking about with aike, like welcome to,
Speaker 1: you know, welcome to It was like my welcome to
Speaker 1: being in the college marching band and those long sleeves
Speaker 1: and performing and it was super hot and everyone I
Speaker 1: survived it and I did not have to go underneath
Speaker 1: any bleachers. I stayed hydrated. But um, I remember whenever
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter came around, everyone was like, please do
Speaker 1: a running clock, and they actually did in the season opener.
Speaker 1: I thought that was hilarious. But that's like the first
Speaker 1: thing that comes by when I think of season openers,
Speaker 1: because everything after that was a breeze because I wasn't burning.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but I'll talk about marching Man all day long.
Speaker 1: Shout out to anybody's listening to this that was in
Speaker 1: marching band. We're all together sick always. Um I'll go
Speaker 1: next and I'll let you take it home. So my
Speaker 1: very first game I wasn't there, but my very first
Speaker 1: game as a Panther's intern was the two thousand and
Speaker 1: eight season, and I'm on the couch of my buddy's
Speaker 1: house that I was renting and watching this game out
Speaker 1: in San Diego, having followed this team all to the preseason,
Speaker 1: you know, knowing all the players, so excited. It's my
Speaker 1: first time working in the NFL, and this game is
Speaker 1: going up and back and I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: what is happening? And they finally get this this last drive.
Speaker 1: They're wearing the blue jerseys. Ron Rivera and North Turner
Speaker 1: were on the opposing sideline, which is incredible um in hindsight,
Speaker 1: and Jake Delme pumps and this is actually the only
Speaker 1: time the Panthers have ever won a game at the buzzer.
Speaker 1: There's always been at least one second left. There was
Speaker 1: no time left on the clock when he pumped and
Speaker 1: found Dante Rosario a k A. Rosario Dawson in the
Speaker 1: back of the end zone. For that win, everyone talks
Speaker 1: about two thousand three. Obviously it was incredible the Jacksonville game,
Speaker 1: but that one was an incredible moment. I I jumped
Speaker 1: over the couch with screaming like that was a really
Speaker 1: really cool way to start what became a playoff here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's been some stuff and you mentioned oh three, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, they're down at halftime to the Jacksonville Jaguars
Speaker 1: and they pulled their starting quarterback and some kid named
Speaker 1: Jake Delome comes in the game and things got weird
Speaker 1: and things stayed weird and they were exciting all year long,
Speaker 1: and we'll see what happens this year. We do not
Speaker 1: know what's in store. We do not know what we're
Speaker 1: going to get from Baker against this whole team, but
Speaker 1: you know what then not knowing, that's why we want
Speaker 1: and that is why we listen to the Happy half
Speaker 1: Hour each and every week. We appreciate you guys joining
Speaker 1: us