Speaker 1: It's time for a Happy half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristen Belboni, Will, Brian and Darren Gamp. It's the Happy
Speaker 1: half Hour podcast with your friends, Will, Darren, Kristen and
Speaker 1: Matt and guys. We have like real football that matters
Speaker 1: to talk about, right, Panthers are one and now it's
Speaker 1: crazy we've spent six months talking about theoretical construct Darren Sandals. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like the segments on Darren's I think we should happen.
Speaker 1: That's really what drives listenership. That's sending our numbers through
Speaker 1: the roof. But uh yeah, now there's football and stuff.
Speaker 1: We've actually seen things and there are things to count
Speaker 1: and measure. So and despite all that, we're still going
Speaker 1: to spend this podcast talking about Darren Sandals whole, the whole.
Speaker 1: So go ahead and just fast forward. We'll be talking
Speaker 1: about Darren Sandals to shame. There's not a video component
Speaker 1: of this to see the there is on Twitter if
Speaker 1: you follow Panthers Bill. I'm pretty sure he puts some
Speaker 1: stuff out there. Yeah, he's probably putting my feet out
Speaker 1: there into the universe if nobody really wants that. Not
Speaker 1: a line I thought we'd say in the first two
Speaker 1: minutes of this podcast, he's probably putting my feet out
Speaker 1: there to the universe. Derailed it. I'm sorry. No, that's
Speaker 1: what people come to the Happy Half Hour podcast. If
Speaker 1: you want, you go listen to Jake and Jordan. If
Speaker 1: you want real football talk, we're here to talk about
Speaker 1: Darren's Sandals. Oh man, all right, let's start. Let's just
Speaker 1: go chronologically. I mean it feels, I'm sure to you guys,
Speaker 1: it feels to me. I don't know what it feels
Speaker 1: like to anyone listening. Feels like the game against the Jets.
Speaker 1: The home opener was approximately seventy five days ago at
Speaker 1: this point, and it's been what four Let's go back there,
Speaker 1: and then we'll talk about what we've seen in practice
Speaker 1: and then and then look at the Saints game. So um,
Speaker 1: let's first, let's over the defense. Right. All the storylines
Speaker 1: I felt like coming in the national storylines were, of
Speaker 1: course about Sam Donald facing his former team even for
Speaker 1: the Jets. No definitely done something about Robbie Christian McCaffrey's returned,
Speaker 1: all of those very valid storylines. All those guys played great,
Speaker 1: But man, this defense, what a great game. Shack Shack
Speaker 1: and Jermyn Carter come out in single digits, and that
Speaker 1: was great, and Shack looked like a new man. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was running around with an energy. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: not that he doesn't play with energy anyway, but Shack
Speaker 1: was clearly fired up, and he was clearly playing at
Speaker 1: a higher level than we've seen him lately. And it
Speaker 1: was kind of interesting. Rule was talking the other day,
Speaker 1: and you know, the thing that stood out to me
Speaker 1: about that defense was how broad based it was. And
Speaker 1: I mean, you you've got ten quarterback hits on Zack
Speaker 1: Wilson by eight different guys, you know, five guys with
Speaker 1: six sacks, and it was just such a a broad based,
Speaker 1: collective effort. And when Rule was talking about Shack yesterday,
Speaker 1: you know he mentioned when Da Kwan Jones is in
Speaker 1: his gap, shot can run free. You know, that's what
Speaker 1: Shack was doing. It's when guys aren't in the right place,
Speaker 1: and that's when you see people shuffling around. But because
Speaker 1: he knows Da Kwan Jones is going to be in
Speaker 1: the right place at the right time, he can fly
Speaker 1: to the ball. And my god, was he flying to
Speaker 1: the ball. He absolutely was. He was around it the
Speaker 1: entire time. You know, it's it's funny when you think
Speaker 1: about you could name how many guys on defense that
Speaker 1: that had a great game. Like I was thinking about
Speaker 1: another guy was flying around to the ball, hasan reddick.
Speaker 1: He's probably gonna get mentioned like seventh on the list
Speaker 1: of guys who had a great game, which is exactly
Speaker 1: what you want if you're Phil Snow or Matt Rules.
Speaker 1: Brian Burns gets a sack in the first drive, and
Speaker 1: it's like, no one talks about Brian Burns for the
Speaker 1: rest of the week because Derek Brown flattens him in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. I mean, it's just like that was
Speaker 1: seventeen sacks in a month ago. We don't even remember anymore.
Speaker 1: But yeah, a lot of dudes. And and that's the
Speaker 1: thing I mean again, I feel like throughout this offseason,
Speaker 1: we spent six months talking about the way they did things,
Speaker 1: in the way they put things together, and when you
Speaker 1: finally saw it on Sunday, it's like, Okay, well that's
Speaker 1: what an eight deep defensive line looks like, that's what
Speaker 1: you can do with one of those. And suddenly you know,
Speaker 1: Derek Brown has always been a guy. Even at Auburn,
Speaker 1: he was a guy who got more pressure than Sachs.
Speaker 1: And he's never been a big sack guy, and I
Speaker 1: don't know that he's ever going to be a big
Speaker 1: double digit SAT guy like Aaron Donald or anything like that.
Speaker 1: But to see him contributing like that late in a
Speaker 1: game is a function of, oh, now you have more
Speaker 1: than three qualified defensive lineman. This is what can happen
Speaker 1: when you have that put together. And give the back
Speaker 1: end some credit to I mean Jackson, Yeah, Dante j
Speaker 1: C and his first first real game. I mean, Jeremy
Speaker 1: Chen's back there. Like those guys on third down, you know,
Speaker 1: last year they couldn't get off the field, and obviously
Speaker 1: a big product of that is Zach Wilson running for
Speaker 1: his life on third down. But I mean they were
Speaker 1: doing pretty good coverage until you know, I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: a couple of things are gonna happen there in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, but it was still really good coverage from
Speaker 1: the back end. Yeah, it really was. And and I think,
Speaker 1: you know, to me, it's kind of funny here and
Speaker 1: Matt Rule talk about it because he's like enough went
Speaker 1: wrong late that he has coaching points and things. I mean,
Speaker 1: of course, you don't want that to you don't want
Speaker 1: them to potentially mount a comeback. But he is always
Speaker 1: looking for those coaching moments. So the fact that he
Speaker 1: gets to say, are two minute defense was not up
Speaker 1: to scratch, that's what we're gonna be focusing on is
Speaker 1: perfect for him. I'm glad doctors don't view their jobs
Speaker 1: that way. This patient almost died, but he didn't, so
Speaker 1: this is great for us. Um Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: just it. That's how coaches think. But he's got so
Speaker 1: much material to work with based on some things getting
Speaker 1: loose in the fourth quarter. But it's just hard for me.
Speaker 1: And I know it's easy to say Abbodus the Jets
Speaker 1: and and that's true. It was just the Jets, and
Speaker 1: the Jets are a long way from being uh at
Speaker 1: the competitive level they hope to eventually be. But to
Speaker 1: still to see all of that stuff happen in succession,
Speaker 1: just pressure after pressure after pressure and turnovers, it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's what it's supposed to look like. That's what they
Speaker 1: were drawing up all off season. And I don't know
Speaker 1: where you guys stand on momentum and belief for you
Speaker 1: know what, players believing in themselves, but but you could
Speaker 1: feel it. It would against the Jets or not against
Speaker 1: the Jets. I was, I was back by the locker
Speaker 1: room doing interviews post game. You see the guys coming
Speaker 1: out of there with confidence, They're excited. That's gotta feel
Speaker 1: good all week long. That's got to instill in you
Speaker 1: the things that we worked on. We showed, um the
Speaker 1: guys that we brought in, but also you know, they
Speaker 1: brought a lot of guys, some really great veterans. You
Speaker 1: mentioned de Quan Morgan, Fox and the list, a j
Speaker 1: boy who will eventually see play for the play for
Speaker 1: the team in a couple of weeks. But but also
Speaker 1: there's young guys who are perfecting their craft, getting better,
Speaker 1: and they got to show that off. Like like we
Speaker 1: just said, we mentioned Derek Brown, network Rosmatos, Jeremy Chin
Speaker 1: playing at safety this year, and we see the fruits
Speaker 1: of their labor paying off. And I think that does
Speaker 1: something to you in in in week one, that because
Speaker 1: they were pretty maligned last year, even though I thought
Speaker 1: they improved towards the end of of last season. I
Speaker 1: mean the numbers beared out as well. So it's just
Speaker 1: really happy for them and you can see the confidence
Speaker 1: that they have that now, Hey, this works. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: doing well and and and I'm excited about the next game,
Speaker 1: which is going to be a tall task for them
Speaker 1: with the Saints. Um So I'm I'm whether it's against
Speaker 1: the Jets or not, I think everyone is feeling good
Speaker 1: about what they did, especially on that defensive side. Positive
Speaker 1: reinforcement to start the season is never a bad never,
Speaker 1: regardless of the opponent. I mean, I think it's easy
Speaker 1: again because it was two hundred years ago last season
Speaker 1: that team lost nine of its last eleven games, and
Speaker 1: it and it was rough coming down the stretch, and
Speaker 1: and they were caught without a lot of guys. They
Speaker 1: didn't have enough people, you know, so the best efforts
Speaker 1: of some of these individual parts were going for naught
Speaker 1: because the results weren't there. So I mean, just to
Speaker 1: be able to walk in, take a deep breath and say, alright,
Speaker 1: got one, I mean that is huge for those guys.
Speaker 1: And it is still kind of a young team, and
Speaker 1: having that kind of positive energy has to help. And
Speaker 1: kind of a young team will the one of the youngest,
Speaker 1: if not thengest, were they were last week and coaches say,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he's been asked four or five
Speaker 1: times already this week. You know, how much does the
Speaker 1: momentum help? You know, and he doesn't know plays it off.
Speaker 1: It's not momentum and execution. It's real. Let's be real it.
Speaker 1: We're human beings. And as much as you play call,
Speaker 1: as much as you it's day to day. We've we've
Speaker 1: watched it, we're onto the next one. And that's true,
Speaker 1: but it I'd much rather be doing that than the other.
Speaker 1: You know, well, yes, and I think there's something to
Speaker 1: be said. And you know, Matt Role has not said
Speaker 1: that this week, but it's something that he has said,
Speaker 1: which is and and Darren you brought it up talking
Speaker 1: about deck one Jones being in his gap allows Shack
Speaker 1: to do his job. But there this coaching staff emphasizes
Speaker 1: doing your job, and specifically with young guys, not trying
Speaker 1: to do too much. So if if they can take
Speaker 1: this game and say, look at what happened when everyone
Speaker 1: is doing their assignment, look at how good it went.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's there's momentum in that, whether or not
Speaker 1: you want to call it that, right, there's there's there's
Speaker 1: positive reinforcement in and obviously you you temper everything one
Speaker 1: way or another. You know, if you're If you're too down,
Speaker 1: you gotta temper yourself up. If you're too up, you
Speaker 1: gotta tempt yourself down to the middle. But it helps
Speaker 1: to be just a little bit over the middle, you know,
Speaker 1: just a little bit positive, a little bit really confident
Speaker 1: um to the extent that you know you can do this,
Speaker 1: whether it's against the Jets or the Saints or the
Speaker 1: Bucks or whoever it is. That you're confident yourself. You're
Speaker 1: confident in that guy over there. You know he can
Speaker 1: do it too, because you just proved it last week.
Speaker 1: Now this is gonna be harder. Every week is going
Speaker 1: to be a new challenge, but you know in yourself
Speaker 1: you can do and you know exactly how to do it.
Speaker 1: Let's switch over to the other side of the ball,
Speaker 1: the offense. As I said, plenty of storylines. You know,
Speaker 1: there was a storyline every which way you looked coming
Speaker 1: in to week one. What stood out to you the
Speaker 1: most about the offensive performance? Hearing all Christian all the
Speaker 1: time at first half? It really was. I mean, thirty
Speaker 1: touches is a lot, and it's probably too many. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you extrapolate that over seventeen games, that would be
Speaker 1: for the season. And that would be a record. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't think Christians going to touch the ball thirty
Speaker 1: times a game. I think as I went back and
Speaker 1: looked at parts of that game, in particular, Sam Matt
Speaker 1: talked about Sam has been blessed by having this checkdown
Speaker 1: option and Christian McCaffrey, and you could tell that there
Speaker 1: was such an emphasis early on on being careful, not
Speaker 1: making big mistakes, that there were times when there might
Speaker 1: have been another guy and it's like, oh wait, or
Speaker 1: I can just drump dump it off the twenty two
Speaker 1: and he's gonna do something with it. That's a comfortable thing.
Speaker 1: I think as Sam gets a little more at ease
Speaker 1: in this offense and a little more experienced in this offense,
Speaker 1: you will see some of those numbers kind of organically drop.
Speaker 1: I think when Robby Anderson has more than one catch,
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey is gonna carry it fewer than thirty times.
Speaker 1: You know, those kind of things are gonna work hand
Speaker 1: in hand. But I think it was important for Christian too,
Speaker 1: at a certain level to get out there. I mean,
Speaker 1: guy missed thirteen games last year and we've always hurt,
Speaker 1: so getting through one like that was good news. And
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, it's Christian mc caffrey. He's one
Speaker 1: of the best players in the league. So yeah, give
Speaker 1: the given the ball. I I kind of laugh in
Speaker 1: the in the mail bag and on Twitter, people keep saying,
Speaker 1: shouldn't they use Cheba Hubbard more? No, because Christian McCaffrey
Speaker 1: is better than Chewba Hubbard. He's better than most people
Speaker 1: in the NFL, so he should get a lot of touches. Yeah,
Speaker 1: your best option. But I do think we started to
Speaker 1: see it correct itself, the numbers start to balance themselves
Speaker 1: out going into the second half. To right, That's when
Speaker 1: I mean it really felt like every ball was going
Speaker 1: to Christian. As you said, I don't know if the
Speaker 1: safety net or whatnot, but it was okay, all right,
Speaker 1: this is gonna work. We're gonna keep doing this in
Speaker 1: the in the first half, Sam season right there. You know,
Speaker 1: he's great. Um, But it felt like even as they
Speaker 1: moved away from from that first half and got deeper
Speaker 1: and deeper into the second half, we started to see
Speaker 1: a little bit more DJ. We saw the big play
Speaker 1: to Robbie, you know, um, so we'll see, We'll see
Speaker 1: what happens against the Saints. I think DJ Goes continues
Speaker 1: to go down as one of like the quietest big
Speaker 1: time receivers. I mean, you know, when do you look
Speaker 1: down and you're like, oh, he's got eight yards already.
Speaker 1: I feel like every game. I feel like we do
Speaker 1: that every game. He's he's just a guy, and he
Speaker 1: comes up with big first downs, like he he knows
Speaker 1: where the sticks are, He gets catches, he gets a
Speaker 1: little bit of you know, maybe it's not like a
Speaker 1: big eye popping highlight yak, but six yards of yak
Speaker 1: to go from third and one to first down are huge,
Speaker 1: and he knows exactly how to do that. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a guy that you know, you hope he gets six, seven,
Speaker 1: eight catches a game that Sure, there's these sideline catches
Speaker 1: that are incredible, two on each side, but you know,
Speaker 1: the stuff going over the middle where he's able to
Speaker 1: you know, to kind of to split the defenders um
Speaker 1: and on the jets, yea, it's really important to have him.
Speaker 1: And I think with all the stuff of of Donald
Speaker 1: to Robbie and Christian all that, I mean, DJ is
Speaker 1: just he's he's so important for this offense. I also
Speaker 1: like it when Will talks about Yak yeah, he just
Speaker 1: says it is. Yeah, yack is a what's the collective
Speaker 1: of yaks? Is it a herd of yaks? Is it
Speaker 1: a priv Somebody who's listening to this podcast will know that,
Speaker 1: and they will tell us I or is it or
Speaker 1: is it just yeact like RBI because yards is the
Speaker 1: is the plural? Alright, I'm going down, Yeah, going down
Speaker 1: a rabbit hole. Well, let's let's turn our attention to
Speaker 1: the third unit, which is special teams. We've had some
Speaker 1: movement there. We saw Ryan Santoso as the kicker for
Speaker 1: the Panthers in one game miss that extra point made
Speaker 1: what two short field goals? Right, um and um, and
Speaker 1: the Panthers, you know, But I think the big thing
Speaker 1: was that there was an opportunity for what was it
Speaker 1: a fifty two yard yard field goal early in the game,
Speaker 1: and the Panthers elected not to go for it, which
Speaker 1: kind of told you what you needed to know. And
Speaker 1: and I don't think it was a surprise that they've
Speaker 1: now moved on brought in Zane Gonzalez, and I don't
Speaker 1: even think that it's necessarily a negative towards Santos. So
Speaker 1: he was fine, he was you know, I don't know
Speaker 1: that he's materially different than Zane Gunzalis in any way,
Speaker 1: but he doesn't cost you a seventh round pick now,
Speaker 1: and if there's not going to be a gigantic differ,
Speaker 1: you want to explain just in case, I mean, you've
Speaker 1: written about it, but just in case anyone hasn't heard
Speaker 1: that what that was. When they traded for santo So,
Speaker 1: it was termed a conditional seventh round pick, and the
Speaker 1: condition was he'd be on the roster for two weeks,
Speaker 1: so basically that he had the preseason game and one
Speaker 1: week of regular season to sort of sell himself. And
Speaker 1: short of that, I mean, if they weren't I mean,
Speaker 1: if they were absolutely convinced santos So was the guy
Speaker 1: and he was gonna be a nine kicker and bury
Speaker 1: every kick off into the back of the end zone
Speaker 1: for a touch back. They had given up seventh round
Speaker 1: pick for that. But anything short of that, I think
Speaker 1: they kind of opened the door to them, are we
Speaker 1: sure we want to do this? So by him not
Speaker 1: being on the roster for two weeks, I don't know
Speaker 1: what the Giants anything. It was like it's like when
Speaker 1: you sign up for Apple TV and binge watched Ted
Speaker 1: Lasso in one week and then you cancel it after
Speaker 1: the free trial because you're too cheap to pay five
Speaker 1: bucks for a month. Um, it feels like a personal
Speaker 1: attack on me, Aaron, Okay, but them, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: they just decided not to spend the thing to keep
Speaker 1: Santos so and and we'll see basically, and here's another
Speaker 1: one of those kicker minutia roster rule things. By signing
Speaker 1: Zane Gonzalez off the lines practice squad, he's basically going
Speaker 1: to be here for at least three weeks. When you
Speaker 1: sign a player off somebody else's practice squad, there's a
Speaker 1: salary guarantee and a roster spot guarantee. Now, if Sane
Speaker 1: Gonzalez stinks, can they just make him inactive and go
Speaker 1: get another kicker next week? They can, but they're probably
Speaker 1: not gonna. So I think we've got three weeks of
Speaker 1: Zane Gonzalez in our future if you were a betting man. Now, granted,
Speaker 1: we've we've gotten to see him what one day in
Speaker 1: practice as of right now. So, UM, I know this
Speaker 1: isn't the most fair question to ask you, is it
Speaker 1: gonna be? Do you think that we'll see more than
Speaker 1: just Zane Gonzalez, or do you think he might be
Speaker 1: the answer for the Panthers a kicker. I think for
Speaker 1: the short term he's the guy, I mean, but I
Speaker 1: also think they've kind of reached that spot where it's
Speaker 1: gonna be somebody until he starts screwing it up. And
Speaker 1: you know, they've proven already this season now that they're
Speaker 1: on their third kicker, that you know, they're not afraid
Speaker 1: to make a change. So I don't think Zane Gonzalez
Speaker 1: has an incredible amount of rope, but you know, I
Speaker 1: think they would really prefer to not change kickers every week. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, to make that call, Scott, you want in
Speaker 1: the business of doing but that's kind of where you are.
Speaker 1: I mean, if if you don't have the guy, you're
Speaker 1: just parading through a bunch of guys as long as
Speaker 1: it works. And there have been points in Zane gonzalez
Speaker 1: career when he looked like he might be the guy.
Speaker 1: He was on field goals two years ago for the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: um and pretty good. He missed some he missed some
Speaker 1: kicks down there, and you know, eventually every team just
Speaker 1: gets to that point kind of the way the Panthers
Speaker 1: got with Joey of all right, we gotta do something.
Speaker 1: Even you know, we like you, we think you'll work
Speaker 1: through this, but we got to change something. And he
Speaker 1: got caught on the other side of it out there.
Speaker 1: And for Panthers fans that kind of feel like in
Speaker 1: their fields about, oh my god, how can we never
Speaker 1: get a kicker? I missed John Casey and you know
Speaker 1: John Casey's don't grow on trees. And you know, sorry,
Speaker 1: Adam Vintaria had such a long career. You find a guy, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're they're not letting him gone. Justin Tucker's out there
Speaker 1: and we're the only team that can't find one. You
Speaker 1: know that this is not this is not unique to
Speaker 1: Carolina in a lot of ways. There's there's been teams
Speaker 1: in the last five years that just can't can't quite
Speaker 1: find the guy, you know. So it's not just like
Speaker 1: a Carolina thing. It feels like and I don't want
Speaker 1: to quate a kicker to a quarterback necessarily in terms
Speaker 1: of importance, but it feels like the very same thing
Speaker 1: that happens with quarterbacks, which is you try to find
Speaker 1: the guy for your team and then hold onto him,
Speaker 1: and if you can't, you try some different options, right,
Speaker 1: and the importance of having someone who is at a
Speaker 1: certain threshold or better is paramount right at that position, um,
Speaker 1: and you're just trying to figure out who that is
Speaker 1: unless you have the Justin Tucker, you know. But we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens. And not too many people do, I mean,
Speaker 1: And you know, it's interesting. Greg's eerline is supposed to
Speaker 1: be one of the good ones, and he goes out
Speaker 1: there in the opener last Thursday night and misses a
Speaker 1: couple of field goals in an extra point and it's like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, what hap But I mean, that's just
Speaker 1: that's kind of the nature of that position, and those
Speaker 1: guys are used to it. And in Zane blessed his
Speaker 1: hard he's got a good perspective on it, because when
Speaker 1: he was talking yesterday, somebody asked, Yeah, when you're on
Speaker 1: a practice squad, do you kind of hope guys miss
Speaker 1: because and every time a kick or misses a field goals,
Speaker 1: some guy on a practice squad gets your wings, you know,
Speaker 1: and they go get another job someplace. And he's like,
Speaker 1: oh man, that's bad karma. You don't want that. You
Speaker 1: don't want to be in a position of rooting against guys.
Speaker 1: But uh, you know it's that's there a little fraternity
Speaker 1: so well, And that's a great perspective from someone who
Speaker 1: you inherently have about half the people in a stadium
Speaker 1: or depending on where you're playing, or have the people
Speaker 1: at home rooting against you every time you walk on
Speaker 1: the field the other team's fans. So he's like, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to put that on anybody else. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: got enough of that as kickers. You've got you've got
Speaker 1: a fan base rooting against you every single time you
Speaker 1: step on the field. I like it when the kickers
Speaker 1: a self actualized human being. I think that's a good thing.
Speaker 1: Darren market down here now. Darren is a zing Gonzalez fan. Alright.
Speaker 1: So a great way to start off the season for
Speaker 1: the Panther, There's no doubt about it. Um. But now
Speaker 1: this week they are focused on the Saints. You know,
Speaker 1: it's great. I saw the I was like I said
Speaker 1: back in the locker room after the game, and uh,
Speaker 1: there are these signs you know that let's say Jets
Speaker 1: the opponent this week. Immediately after the game, those come down.
Speaker 1: The Saints signs go up. This is the opponent. We're
Speaker 1: not We're not waiting. We are focused on this, this
Speaker 1: next um, this next opponent, this next challenge. And it's
Speaker 1: a good thing too, because the Saints looked very, very
Speaker 1: good in in Week one against the Packers. Yeah they did.
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston not throwing a hundred interceptions, That's that's different. Um.
Speaker 1: A lot of people remember him as the thirty and
Speaker 1: thirty guy, but I think being around a lot of
Speaker 1: people remember him for some other reasons as well. But
Speaker 1: I think, you know, being around Seawan Payton makes you
Speaker 1: a better quarterback, whether you're Drew Brees, Tasty Meal, Jameis Winston,
Speaker 1: whoever it is. We've always known the guy's talented, but
Speaker 1: putting him in that system has turned him into a
Speaker 1: different looking cat. And I don't know that Jamis is
Speaker 1: going to go through the entire season throwing five touchdowns
Speaker 1: and no picks in each game. Uh, that also would
Speaker 1: be a record, UM, But he looked pretty sharp the
Speaker 1: other day. And if they can keep him in a
Speaker 1: clean mode, if they can keep him protected, and they should.
Speaker 1: They have a very good offensive line, you know they've
Speaker 1: got a shot. But I'm curious to see with the Saints.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the ultimate football cliche, You're never as
Speaker 1: good as you look when you win, or as bad
Speaker 1: as you look when you lose. This Sayings still have
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff going on. They still don't have
Speaker 1: Michael Thomas, they still aren't at home, they're living in
Speaker 1: a hotel in Texas because of Hurricane Ida. Um, they're
Speaker 1: still without half the coaching staff for a good chunk
Speaker 1: of the coaching staff because of COVID. There's all this
Speaker 1: stuff going on, and you wonder, can you keep that
Speaker 1: level you were at against the Packers for two weeks
Speaker 1: in a row while dealing with all that stuff in
Speaker 1: the middle. I'm worried because I feel like they will
Speaker 1: for this week. I mean, there's something about them, and
Speaker 1: there's something about the way that all that stuff just
Speaker 1: feels like so much fuel. You know, well, and and
Speaker 1: we saw it now. Granted, this is an entirely different
Speaker 1: team as that Super Bowl winning team, but but that
Speaker 1: is that is who the people of New Orleans and
Speaker 1: their identity I think, as as a football team comes from.
Speaker 1: And they do thrive when when things are are going
Speaker 1: wrong and they and have to overcome them. And Darren
Speaker 1: and I think that's a mentality that's built into that
Speaker 1: organization no matter who is out there on the field.
Speaker 1: And ben Sean Payton Darren brought this up earlier the
Speaker 1: week talking to me about like that that season of
Speaker 1: hurricane training. By the end of it, Yeah, in O five,
Speaker 1: by the end of it, when they were playing an
Speaker 1: LCU stadium and it was just so much and it
Speaker 1: just by November December, that stuff wears on you. But
Speaker 1: week two you're still kind of writing. And we talked
Speaker 1: about the positive reinforcement or a momentum debate. Look at
Speaker 1: what they did when all of the when all of
Speaker 1: that was was facing them in week one, the O
Speaker 1: the O five Saints come in here week one and
Speaker 1: beat the Panthers, who would go on to the NFC
Speaker 1: Championship game that season, and then go week two to
Speaker 1: play the Giants, who were a playoff team that year
Speaker 1: and lost and proceeded to lose thirteen in the next fifteen.
Speaker 1: You know, they weren't a good team that year, but
Speaker 1: they were able to rise up a time or two
Speaker 1: against all those circumstances. And yeah, that OH five game
Speaker 1: in l s Ue where there's about ten thousand some
Speaker 1: people in one of the biggest buildings I've ever been
Speaker 1: in my life. Uh, that was strange and that was weird.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean that was also sixteen years ago
Speaker 1: and a coach Ago and Sean Payton. As it turns
Speaker 1: out pretty good at this What would you be telling
Speaker 1: the team right now if you're if you're Matt Rule, Darren,
Speaker 1: you know he's going to continue. Oh god, I almost
Speaker 1: did a Matt Rule impersonation and nobody wants them, especially me. Um,
Speaker 1: But Matt's going to keep doing his normal Matt thing,
Speaker 1: which is we're gonna work on Thursday, and on Thursday,
Speaker 1: we're gonna work on third down stuff and we're gonna
Speaker 1: polish that up. I think they've got an opportunity, um,
Speaker 1: because I can't again, the Saints defense is very good.
Speaker 1: They're also walking in this week without Marshawn Lattimore, without
Speaker 1: Marcus Davenport because some injuries, and that's where I wonder
Speaker 1: about all those things stacking up. I mean, suddenly, when
Speaker 1: you're without a ladder more level corner, then what are
Speaker 1: you gonna do with DJ and Robbie? Right? You know,
Speaker 1: how are you going to cover him? When Tarris Marshall's
Speaker 1: on the field. Knowing that Christian still exists in this system.
Speaker 1: It creates a unique problem. And I'm curious to see
Speaker 1: if they're able to hold up defensively as much as
Speaker 1: I'm curious to see I mean, I just kind of
Speaker 1: expect Jamis to regress to the mean a little bit.
Speaker 1: I expect that he's gonna throw some picks at some point,
Speaker 1: and we'll see if they're able to keep the kind
Speaker 1: of pressure they had last week, you know, whether that
Speaker 1: forces him into some of that stuff. It's it's a
Speaker 1: great point, um, and I don't think anyone is going
Speaker 1: in saying, you know, James Is gonna have another five touchdowns.
Speaker 1: But the reality is you went up against a rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback of a new head coach in a team that
Speaker 1: had but two wins last year for the first game.
Speaker 1: And now, as you said, Darren, you got a Sean
Speaker 1: Payton trained quarterback who has experience as a veteran in
Speaker 1: the NFL and knows, we know he has natural talent.
Speaker 1: And that's the pointed. This week very different and they
Speaker 1: have my stat of the week, they have Alvan Kamara
Speaker 1: holds of the week a K a K forty one.
Speaker 1: As as they say versus CMC two. These guys I
Speaker 1: think will be forever linked. You know, they came out
Speaker 1: of the same draft class. They played each other twice
Speaker 1: a year in the division, and heading into this game
Speaker 1: all these years later, they have the exact same number
Speaker 1: of career receptions. Wow, how is that possible that they
Speaker 1: both have exactly three and twenty nine catches, which is
Speaker 1: tied for third most by any running back backs through
Speaker 1: the first five seasons of a career. Like these two
Speaker 1: are there, there's something about they're very different, but there's
Speaker 1: some similarities that that it's it's really fun when they
Speaker 1: and that they're both great. They're great. They do a
Speaker 1: different way. It's great catch the ball, they make people miss,
Speaker 1: They have a no is for the end zone. Their
Speaker 1: playmakers that you have to dedicate people to that you
Speaker 1: always know where they are. Um, and it's it's it's
Speaker 1: sad they don't actually get to like run at each other,
Speaker 1: because that'd be kind of fun to see whether they
Speaker 1: could tackle the other one. Um, but it it that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a matchup, or that's gonna be you know,
Speaker 1: the thing to watch. We don't know about a lot
Speaker 1: of these New Orleans playmakers. A lot of those guys
Speaker 1: are gone, like Jawn Johnson two touchdowns. The returner had
Speaker 1: a fifty five yard touchdown that no one's ever heard of.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously Michael Thomas is not out there, but
Speaker 1: they have Kamara, and they have a great offensive line,
Speaker 1: and and you know that that's enough to win in
Speaker 1: this league right now? Absolutely absolutely, And the exact same
Speaker 1: amount of catch, exact same three nine. That's interesting, especially
Speaker 1: considering Christian mccaffreys only played three games last year two
Speaker 1: and a half. Really, right, so that's how much of
Speaker 1: elite he had on him. But I mean, I still
Speaker 1: think I mean to have that exact same number in
Speaker 1: any way. It's just it's crazy. That's why. What did
Speaker 1: you do when you looked that up and saw that?
Speaker 1: Did you stand up and walk around for a second, like, WHOA,
Speaker 1: I looked at it. I looked at it again because
Speaker 1: something's wrong. Yeah, you go back and check a couple
Speaker 1: of games. You're like, am I seeing this? Right? Does
Speaker 1: someone not update anything? People don't see this outside. But
Speaker 1: when Will comes up with a stat like that, he'll
Speaker 1: usually thump himself into just a couple of times, put
Speaker 1: the arms up as for a chess bump. He'll start
Speaker 1: looking for high fives in the room. Yeah, he's not
Speaker 1: like Tom Brady, though. I won't leave him hanging and
Speaker 1: he's out there looking for one. It's a great stat
Speaker 1: I mean, I am kind of like Christian. I'll tap
Speaker 1: myself up. I just want to be very clear that
Speaker 1: you said Christian, not not me. I don't do that.
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey can get away with it. I cannot, so
Speaker 1: just in case anyone heard that wrong. All right, let's
Speaker 1: end this with the weird question of the week. This
Speaker 1: is really just has nothing to do with anything kind
Speaker 1: of going back to our weird question. Roots are specially
Speaker 1: something that I've been thinking about, um aside from Darren sandals, Um,
Speaker 1: when's the right time to decorate for howman guys, because
Speaker 1: I'm I've been waiting. I've been waiting to well. I
Speaker 1: think it had something to do with the amount of
Speaker 1: heat at training camp in Spartanburg, where I am just
Speaker 1: so ready to uh to flip the page and and
Speaker 1: have it befall. It also could have been the game
Speaker 1: on Sunday, which was so hot and and humid that
Speaker 1: they actually had equipment staff in turns down on the
Speaker 1: field holding up shade over the benches. Um. I tried
Speaker 1: to get in there a couple of times. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this feels nice over here. Um, but when's the right
Speaker 1: time to decorate for Halloween? Because it's still hot in Charlotte.
Speaker 1: I I think whenever you feel comfortable enough pulling the
Speaker 1: plug on pumpkin beer and pumpkin spice latte, then you're okay,
Speaker 1: never never had a pumpkin spice latte, Well, then you
Speaker 1: try one, Uh, if you feel comfortable enough diving into that,
Speaker 1: and then sure, go ahead and start decorating. I I
Speaker 1: have not done the pumpkin beer yet. I'm waiting for
Speaker 1: October one to do that, so I'm hoping it's it's
Speaker 1: not completely no need degrees October one, but very well
Speaker 1: doing that. Then the appropriate time to decorate for Halloween
Speaker 1: is never. I know, we could we combined a question
Speaker 1: and they stay off my lawn at the same time.
Speaker 1: Don't you didn't carve a pumpkin with your kids? I
Speaker 1: did when my kids were small. I can imagine Darren
Speaker 1: telling his kids absolutely not. Yeah, but I I think
Speaker 1: I think we've gone overboard with like all these yard
Speaker 1: decorations and all these people with skulls hanging in trees
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. You haven't seen your neighborhood. That
Speaker 1: neighborhood is neighborhood pumpkin wall. I'm looking forward to see,
Speaker 1: not just that the whole thing is nuts, but I
Speaker 1: think it's easy to go overboard with. And I and
Speaker 1: I'll say that because I I used to live in
Speaker 1: a neighborhood where people had like the big animatronic spiders
Speaker 1: out there. It's kind of like my neighborhood. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's like it's so a little goes a long way.
Speaker 1: But I also think, you know, and again, my kids
Speaker 1: are teenagers now, so we're kind of asked the Halloween
Speaker 1: phase of it. When kids are small, yeah, it's adorable,
Speaker 1: it's fantastic. Nothing's cuter than that. But when kids become teenagers,
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, you're just out there harvesting candy. Get
Speaker 1: off the st I mean, I was gonna come trick
Speaker 1: or treat at your house. You're saying I can't do that.
Speaker 1: Now you can, and we'll probably you know, I'll move
Speaker 1: the drink fridge out on the porch and I'll hand
Speaker 1: you a Pumpkin's at an appropriate time. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: just a little Halloween goes a long way with me. Wow,
Speaker 1: Darren said, never, that's like never. I don't know. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to find out, That's what I'm like. I said
Speaker 1: I would have done it at the end of August
Speaker 1: because I was so turned to the heat, you know.
Speaker 1: But I'm just I'm like, when's the time. I don't
Speaker 1: know I would say. I mean, I think, yeah, the
Speaker 1: beginning of the beginning of the October one. I'm walking
Speaker 1: in here with a pumpkin spice slot see for you.
Speaker 1: I would love that. I'll take you up on that.
Speaker 1: I've never had one. I don't think them ana love it.
Speaker 1: I'll try. We'll see. Let me know. All right, that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for us on The Happy Half Hour podcast.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. We'll see you next week.