WEBVTT - Happy Half Hour 46: Building Confidence 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:11.760 It's time for a Happy half Hour with your friends 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:23.079 Kristen Belboni, Will, Brian and Darren Gamp. It's the Happy 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:27.200 half Hour podcast with your friends, Will, Darren, Kristen and 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:31.120 Matt and guys. We have like real football that matters 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:34.040 to talk about, right, Panthers are one and now it's 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:39.520 crazy we've spent six months talking about theoretical construct Darren Sandals. Yeah. 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:44.000 I like the segments on Darren's I think we should happen. 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.639 That's really what drives listenership. That's sending our numbers through 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.720 the roof. But uh yeah, now there's football and stuff. 0:00:50.760 --> 0:00:54.040 We've actually seen things and there are things to count 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.800 and measure. So and despite all that, we're still going 0:00:56.840 --> 0:01:00.320 to spend this podcast talking about Darren Sandals whole, the whole. 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.080 So go ahead and just fast forward. We'll be talking 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.920 about Darren Sandals to shame. There's not a video component 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.560 of this to see the there is on Twitter if 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.800 you follow Panthers Bill. I'm pretty sure he puts some 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.240 stuff out there. Yeah, he's probably putting my feet out 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.679 there into the universe if nobody really wants that. Not 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:19.640 a line I thought we'd say in the first two 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.160 minutes of this podcast, he's probably putting my feet out 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.479 there to the universe. Derailed it. I'm sorry. No, that's 0:01:24.480 --> 0:01:26.760 what people come to the Happy Half Hour podcast. If 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:28.960 you want, you go listen to Jake and Jordan. If 0:01:29.000 --> 0:01:31.960 you want real football talk, we're here to talk about 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:39.760 Darren's Sandals. Oh man, all right, let's start. Let's just 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.520 go chronologically. I mean it feels, I'm sure to you guys, 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:45.199 it feels to me. I don't know what it feels 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:47.880 like to anyone listening. Feels like the game against the Jets. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:51.480 The home opener was approximately seventy five days ago at 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.160 this point, and it's been what four Let's go back there, 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:55.880 and then we'll talk about what we've seen in practice 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.960 and then and then look at the Saints game. So um, 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.320 let's first, let's over the defense. Right. All the storylines 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:05.120 I felt like coming in the national storylines were, of 0:02:05.160 --> 0:02:09.200 course about Sam Donald facing his former team even for 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:17.079 the Jets. No definitely done something about Robbie Christian McCaffrey's returned, 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.440 all of those very valid storylines. All those guys played great, 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.720 But man, this defense, what a great game. Shack Shack 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.560 and Jermyn Carter come out in single digits, and that 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.959 was great, and Shack looked like a new man. I mean, 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.679 he was running around with an energy. I mean, it's 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.520 not that he doesn't play with energy anyway, but Shack 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.920 was clearly fired up, and he was clearly playing at 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:42.560 a higher level than we've seen him lately. And it 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:44.720 was kind of interesting. Rule was talking the other day, 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:46.880 and you know, the thing that stood out to me 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:50.160 about that defense was how broad based it was. And 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.640 I mean, you you've got ten quarterback hits on Zack 0:02:53.720 --> 0:02:57.280 Wilson by eight different guys, you know, five guys with 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.520 six sacks, and it was just such a a broad based, 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.040 collective effort. And when Rule was talking about Shack yesterday, 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.760 you know he mentioned when Da Kwan Jones is in 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.240 his gap, shot can run free. You know, that's what 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:15.639 Shack was doing. It's when guys aren't in the right place, 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.720 and that's when you see people shuffling around. But because 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.040 he knows Da Kwan Jones is going to be in 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:22.880 the right place at the right time, he can fly 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.520 to the ball. And my god, was he flying to 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.360 the ball. He absolutely was. He was around it the 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.919 entire time. You know, it's it's funny when you think 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.000 about you could name how many guys on defense that 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:38.040 that had a great game. Like I was thinking about 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.080 another guy was flying around to the ball, hasan reddick. 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.560 He's probably gonna get mentioned like seventh on the list 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:45.480 of guys who had a great game, which is exactly 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:48.360 what you want if you're Phil Snow or Matt Rules. 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:50.520 Brian Burns gets a sack in the first drive, and 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:52.440 it's like, no one talks about Brian Burns for the 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:54.680 rest of the week because Derek Brown flattens him in 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:56.920 the fourth quarter. I mean, it's just like that was 0:03:57.040 --> 0:04:01.040 seventeen sacks in a month ago. We don't even remember anymore. 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.120 But yeah, a lot of dudes. And and that's the 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:07.720 thing I mean again, I feel like throughout this offseason, 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.960 we spent six months talking about the way they did things, 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.000 in the way they put things together, and when you 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:17.679 finally saw it on Sunday, it's like, Okay, well that's 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.280 what an eight deep defensive line looks like, that's what 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.640 you can do with one of those. And suddenly you know, 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.400 Derek Brown has always been a guy. Even at Auburn, 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.120 he was a guy who got more pressure than Sachs. 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:32.159 And he's never been a big sack guy, and I 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:33.560 don't know that he's ever going to be a big 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.520 double digit SAT guy like Aaron Donald or anything like that. 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.839 But to see him contributing like that late in a 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:44.719 game is a function of, oh, now you have more 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.920 than three qualified defensive lineman. This is what can happen 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.960 when you have that put together. And give the back 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:55.080 end some credit to I mean Jackson, Yeah, Dante j 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.040 C and his first first real game. I mean, Jeremy 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.800 Chen's back there. Like those guys on third down, you know, 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:03.320 last year they couldn't get off the field, and obviously 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.760 a big product of that is Zach Wilson running for 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.120 his life on third down. But I mean they were 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:10.400 doing pretty good coverage until you know, I mean, obviously 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:11.680 a couple of things are gonna happen there in the 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.400 fourth quarter, but it was still really good coverage from 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.119 the back end. Yeah, it really was. And and I think, 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:21.720 you know, to me, it's kind of funny here and 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.400 Matt Rule talk about it because he's like enough went 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:29.200 wrong late that he has coaching points and things. I mean, 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.120 of course, you don't want that to you don't want 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.000 them to potentially mount a comeback. But he is always 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:36.599 looking for those coaching moments. So the fact that he 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.480 gets to say, are two minute defense was not up 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:41.840 to scratch, that's what we're gonna be focusing on is 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.240 perfect for him. I'm glad doctors don't view their jobs 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.400 that way. This patient almost died, but he didn't, so 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.159 this is great for us. Um Yeah, I mean, I 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.480 just it. That's how coaches think. But he's got so 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.839 much material to work with based on some things getting 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.280 loose in the fourth quarter. But it's just hard for me. 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:06.440 And I know it's easy to say Abbodus the Jets 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.640 and and that's true. It was just the Jets, and 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.920 the Jets are a long way from being uh at 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:17.600 the competitive level they hope to eventually be. But to 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.880 still to see all of that stuff happen in succession, 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:26.440 just pressure after pressure after pressure and turnovers, it's like, Okay, 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:28.840 that's what it's supposed to look like. That's what they 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:30.839 were drawing up all off season. And I don't know 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:35.000 where you guys stand on momentum and belief for you 0:06:35.040 --> 0:06:37.680 know what, players believing in themselves, but but you could 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.320 feel it. It would against the Jets or not against 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.119 the Jets. I was, I was back by the locker 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:46.000 room doing interviews post game. You see the guys coming 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.640 out of there with confidence, They're excited. That's gotta feel 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.080 good all week long. That's got to instill in you 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.320 the things that we worked on. We showed, um the 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:57.480 guys that we brought in, but also you know, they 0:06:57.560 --> 0:07:01.080 brought a lot of guys, some really great veterans. You 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.560 mentioned de Quan Morgan, Fox and the list, a j 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.680 boy who will eventually see play for the play for 0:07:07.720 --> 0:07:10.440 the team in a couple of weeks. But but also 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:13.720 there's young guys who are perfecting their craft, getting better, 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:15.480 and they got to show that off. Like like we 0:07:15.520 --> 0:07:18.520 just said, we mentioned Derek Brown, network Rosmatos, Jeremy Chin 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.560 playing at safety this year, and we see the fruits 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:24.880 of their labor paying off. And I think that does 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.880 something to you in in in week one, that because 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:30.640 they were pretty maligned last year, even though I thought 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.000 they improved towards the end of of last season. I 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.280 mean the numbers beared out as well. So it's just 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:37.480 really happy for them and you can see the confidence 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:41.480 that they have that now, Hey, this works. Um, I'm 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:45.080 doing well and and and I'm excited about the next game, 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:46.760 which is going to be a tall task for them 0:07:46.760 --> 0:07:50.119 with the Saints. Um So I'm I'm whether it's against 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.040 the Jets or not, I think everyone is feeling good 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:56.120 about what they did, especially on that defensive side. Positive 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.680 reinforcement to start the season is never a bad never, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.800 regardless of the opponent. I mean, I think it's easy 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.840 again because it was two hundred years ago last season 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.920 that team lost nine of its last eleven games, and 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.680 it and it was rough coming down the stretch, and 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.440 and they were caught without a lot of guys. They 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:19.320 didn't have enough people, you know, so the best efforts 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:21.640 of some of these individual parts were going for naught 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:25.160 because the results weren't there. So I mean, just to 0:08:25.200 --> 0:08:29.000 be able to walk in, take a deep breath and say, alright, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.080 got one, I mean that is huge for those guys. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:34.360 And it is still kind of a young team, and 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:38.280 having that kind of positive energy has to help. And 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:43.480 kind of a young team will the one of the youngest, 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:47.000 if not thengest, were they were last week and coaches say, 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.160 I mean, I think he's been asked four or five 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:51.280 times already this week. You know, how much does the 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.560 momentum help? You know, and he doesn't know plays it off. 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:57.520 It's not momentum and execution. It's real. Let's be real it. 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.600 We're human beings. And as much as you play call, 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.080 as much as you it's day to day. We've we've 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:06.199 watched it, we're onto the next one. And that's true, 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.480 but it I'd much rather be doing that than the other. 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.040 You know, well, yes, and I think there's something to 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.760 be said. And you know, Matt Role has not said 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:20.959 that this week, but it's something that he has said, 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.559 which is and and Darren you brought it up talking 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.080 about deck one Jones being in his gap allows Shack 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:28.880 to do his job. But there this coaching staff emphasizes 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:31.280 doing your job, and specifically with young guys, not trying 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:34.840 to do too much. So if if they can take 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.640 this game and say, look at what happened when everyone 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.600 is doing their assignment, look at how good it went. 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.839 I mean, there's there's momentum in that, whether or not 0:09:44.440 --> 0:09:46.880 you want to call it that, right, there's there's there's 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:51.679 positive reinforcement in and obviously you you temper everything one 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.480 way or another. You know, if you're If you're too down, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.400 you gotta temper yourself up. If you're too up, you 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:58.120 gotta tempt yourself down to the middle. But it helps 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:00.160 to be just a little bit over the middle, you know, 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:03.839 just a little bit positive, a little bit really confident 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.080 um to the extent that you know you can do this, 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:09.560 whether it's against the Jets or the Saints or the 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.000 Bucks or whoever it is. That you're confident yourself. You're 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:15.480 confident in that guy over there. You know he can 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:17.640 do it too, because you just proved it last week. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:19.560 Now this is gonna be harder. Every week is going 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:23.000 to be a new challenge, but you know in yourself 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:24.800 you can do and you know exactly how to do it. 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:26.680 Let's switch over to the other side of the ball, 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.640 the offense. As I said, plenty of storylines. You know, 0:10:29.760 --> 0:10:32.120 there was a storyline every which way you looked coming 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.480 in to week one. What stood out to you the 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.920 most about the offensive performance? Hearing all Christian all the 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.960 time at first half? It really was. I mean, thirty 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:47.160 touches is a lot, and it's probably too many. I mean, 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.319 if you extrapolate that over seventeen games, that would be 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.320 for the season. And that would be a record. Um, 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.880 I don't think Christians going to touch the ball thirty 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.560 times a game. I think as I went back and 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:04.800 looked at parts of that game, in particular, Sam Matt 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.640 talked about Sam has been blessed by having this checkdown 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:11.640 option and Christian McCaffrey, and you could tell that there 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.560 was such an emphasis early on on being careful, not 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.719 making big mistakes, that there were times when there might 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.440 have been another guy and it's like, oh wait, or 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.480 I can just drump dump it off the twenty two 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.440 and he's gonna do something with it. That's a comfortable thing. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:30.000 I think as Sam gets a little more at ease 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:32.840 in this offense and a little more experienced in this offense, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:36.120 you will see some of those numbers kind of organically drop. 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:39.720 I think when Robby Anderson has more than one catch, 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:44.120 Christian McCaffrey is gonna carry it fewer than thirty times. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.200 You know, those kind of things are gonna work hand 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:50.040 in hand. But I think it was important for Christian too, 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:52.440 at a certain level to get out there. I mean, 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:55.040 guy missed thirteen games last year and we've always hurt, 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.280 so getting through one like that was good news. And 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:00.600 you know, I mean, it's Christian mc caffrey. He's one 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:02.800 of the best players in the league. So yeah, give 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.160 the given the ball. I I kind of laugh in 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:07.760 the in the mail bag and on Twitter, people keep saying, 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.280 shouldn't they use Cheba Hubbard more? No, because Christian McCaffrey 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.560 is better than Chewba Hubbard. He's better than most people 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:17.000 in the NFL, so he should get a lot of touches. Yeah, 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:19.280 your best option. But I do think we started to 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.560 see it correct itself, the numbers start to balance themselves 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:24.960 out going into the second half. To right, That's when 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:26.920 I mean it really felt like every ball was going 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:28.520 to Christian. As you said, I don't know if the 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:31.280 safety net or whatnot, but it was okay, all right, 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.280 this is gonna work. We're gonna keep doing this in 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.840 the in the first half, Sam season right there. You know, 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.959 he's great. Um, But it felt like even as they 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.200 moved away from from that first half and got deeper 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:43.959 and deeper into the second half, we started to see 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.440 a little bit more DJ. We saw the big play 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.000 to Robbie, you know, um, so we'll see, We'll see 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.320 what happens against the Saints. I think DJ Goes continues 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:54.880 to go down as one of like the quietest big 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:57.679 time receivers. I mean, you know, when do you look 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.679 down and you're like, oh, he's got eight yards already. 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:01.600 I feel like every game. I feel like we do 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:04.280 that every game. He's he's just a guy, and he 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.080 comes up with big first downs, like he he knows 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.079 where the sticks are, He gets catches, he gets a 0:13:09.120 --> 0:13:11.280 little bit of you know, maybe it's not like a 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:15.360 big eye popping highlight yak, but six yards of yak 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.280 to go from third and one to first down are huge, 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:20.240 and he knows exactly how to do that. I mean, 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.040 he's a guy that you know, you hope he gets six, seven, 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:28.040 eight catches a game that Sure, there's these sideline catches 0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:31.480 that are incredible, two on each side, but you know, 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.560 the stuff going over the middle where he's able to 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:36.000 you know, to kind of to split the defenders um 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.360 and on the jets, yea, it's really important to have him. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:42.600 And I think with all the stuff of of Donald 0:13:42.600 --> 0:13:44.959 to Robbie and Christian all that, I mean, DJ is 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.600 just he's he's so important for this offense. I also 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.840 like it when Will talks about Yak yeah, he just 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:55.560 says it is. Yeah, yack is a what's the collective 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.920 of yaks? Is it a herd of yaks? Is it 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:01.760 a priv Somebody who's listening to this podcast will know that, 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.960 and they will tell us I or is it or 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.000 is it just yeact like RBI because yards is the 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:11.880 is the plural? Alright, I'm going down, Yeah, going down 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.480 a rabbit hole. Well, let's let's turn our attention to 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:16.640 the third unit, which is special teams. We've had some 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.400 movement there. We saw Ryan Santoso as the kicker for 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.080 the Panthers in one game miss that extra point made 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:26.240 what two short field goals? Right, um and um, and 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.920 the Panthers, you know, But I think the big thing 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.400 was that there was an opportunity for what was it 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:38.600 a fifty two yard yard field goal early in the game, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.520 and the Panthers elected not to go for it, which 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.520 kind of told you what you needed to know. And 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.840 and I don't think it was a surprise that they've 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.160 now moved on brought in Zane Gonzalez, and I don't 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.960 even think that it's necessarily a negative towards Santos. So 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:55.720 he was fine, he was you know, I don't know 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.360 that he's materially different than Zane Gunzalis in any way, 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:01.560 but he doesn't cost you a seventh round pick now, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:03.960 and if there's not going to be a gigantic differ, 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.000 you want to explain just in case, I mean, you've 0:15:06.000 --> 0:15:08.240 written about it, but just in case anyone hasn't heard 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.280 that what that was. When they traded for santo So, 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.480 it was termed a conditional seventh round pick, and the 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:17.280 condition was he'd be on the roster for two weeks, 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.360 so basically that he had the preseason game and one 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.440 week of regular season to sort of sell himself. And 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:25.800 short of that, I mean, if they weren't I mean, 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:28.720 if they were absolutely convinced santos So was the guy 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.280 and he was gonna be a nine kicker and bury 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:33.520 every kick off into the back of the end zone 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.080 for a touch back. They had given up seventh round 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.480 pick for that. But anything short of that, I think 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:40.960 they kind of opened the door to them, are we 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.200 sure we want to do this? So by him not 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.480 being on the roster for two weeks, I don't know 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.400 what the Giants anything. It was like it's like when 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:50.720 you sign up for Apple TV and binge watched Ted 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.320 Lasso in one week and then you cancel it after 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.080 the free trial because you're too cheap to pay five 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.160 bucks for a month. Um, it feels like a personal 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:04.000 attack on me, Aaron, Okay, but them, yeah, I mean 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:07.160 they just decided not to spend the thing to keep 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:11.000 Santos so and and we'll see basically, and here's another 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:15.120 one of those kicker minutia roster rule things. By signing 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.480 Zane Gonzalez off the lines practice squad, he's basically going 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:20.560 to be here for at least three weeks. When you 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:22.960 sign a player off somebody else's practice squad, there's a 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:26.800 salary guarantee and a roster spot guarantee. Now, if Sane 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.880 Gonzalez stinks, can they just make him inactive and go 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.720 get another kicker next week? They can, but they're probably 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.840 not gonna. So I think we've got three weeks of 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:39.960 Zane Gonzalez in our future if you were a betting man. Now, granted, 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.080 we've we've gotten to see him what one day in 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.680 practice as of right now. So, UM, I know this 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.200 isn't the most fair question to ask you, is it 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.640 gonna be? Do you think that we'll see more than 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:52.680 just Zane Gonzalez, or do you think he might be 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.040 the answer for the Panthers a kicker. I think for 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.640 the short term he's the guy, I mean, but I 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:01.320 also think they've kind of reached that spot where it's 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:04.720 gonna be somebody until he starts screwing it up. And 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:08.000 you know, they've proven already this season now that they're 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:11.439 on their third kicker, that you know, they're not afraid 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.719 to make a change. So I don't think Zane Gonzalez 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:16.920 has an incredible amount of rope, but you know, I 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:21.400 think they would really prefer to not change kickers every week. Yeah, 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:27.439 you know, to make that call, Scott, you want in 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.640 the business of doing but that's kind of where you are. 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:33.440 I mean, if if you don't have the guy, you're 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.159 just parading through a bunch of guys as long as 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.080 it works. And there have been points in Zane gonzalez 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:41.480 career when he looked like he might be the guy. 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:45.000 He was on field goals two years ago for the Cardinals, 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.800 um and pretty good. He missed some he missed some 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.000 kicks down there, and you know, eventually every team just 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:53.920 gets to that point kind of the way the Panthers 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:57.200 got with Joey of all right, we gotta do something. 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.680 Even you know, we like you, we think you'll work 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:03.000 through this, but we got to change something. And he 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:04.840 got caught on the other side of it out there. 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:07.399 And for Panthers fans that kind of feel like in 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.280 their fields about, oh my god, how can we never 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.199 get a kicker? I missed John Casey and you know 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.960 John Casey's don't grow on trees. And you know, sorry, 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.960 Adam Vintaria had such a long career. You find a guy, yeah, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.719 they're they're not letting him gone. Justin Tucker's out there 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:24.639 and we're the only team that can't find one. You 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:26.879 know that this is not this is not unique to 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.359 Carolina in a lot of ways. There's there's been teams 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.000 in the last five years that just can't can't quite 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.119 find the guy, you know. So it's not just like 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.920 a Carolina thing. It feels like and I don't want 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.280 to quate a kicker to a quarterback necessarily in terms 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:42.400 of importance, but it feels like the very same thing 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:45.760 that happens with quarterbacks, which is you try to find 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.320 the guy for your team and then hold onto him, 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.160 and if you can't, you try some different options, right, 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.760 and the importance of having someone who is at a 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:59.200 certain threshold or better is paramount right at that position, um, 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.159 and you're just trying to figure out who that is 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:05.000 unless you have the Justin Tucker, you know. But we'll 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:07.320 see what happens. And not too many people do, I mean, 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.600 And you know, it's interesting. Greg's eerline is supposed to 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.520 be one of the good ones, and he goes out 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:14.919 there in the opener last Thursday night and misses a 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:16.959 couple of field goals in an extra point and it's like, 0:19:16.960 --> 0:19:20.560 oh my god, what hap But I mean, that's just 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:23.640 that's kind of the nature of that position, and those 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.240 guys are used to it. And in Zane blessed his 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:29.320 hard he's got a good perspective on it, because when 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:32.359 he was talking yesterday, somebody asked, Yeah, when you're on 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.520 a practice squad, do you kind of hope guys miss 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.360 because and every time a kick or misses a field goals, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.960 some guy on a practice squad gets your wings, you know, 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.360 and they go get another job someplace. And he's like, 0:19:43.400 --> 0:19:46.919 oh man, that's bad karma. You don't want that. You 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:50.520 don't want to be in a position of rooting against guys. 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.760 But uh, you know it's that's there a little fraternity 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:56.920 so well, And that's a great perspective from someone who 0:19:57.160 --> 0:20:01.000 you inherently have about half the people in a stadium 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:02.960 or depending on where you're playing, or have the people 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.399 at home rooting against you every time you walk on 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.159 the field the other team's fans. So he's like, I'm 0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:10.320 not going to put that on anybody else. Yeah, we 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.400 got enough of that as kickers. You've got you've got 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.760 a fan base rooting against you every single time you 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:18.919 step on the field. I like it when the kickers 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.680 a self actualized human being. I think that's a good thing. 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.679