December 1, 2025 • 28 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy recap Sunday's thrilling win over the LA Rams, react to early Pro Bowl voting numbers, prepare for the Panthers BYE week, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy half Howard, Hello, friends, look at that. There's so
much festivity happening around us. Welcome to the Happy half Hour.
We got a tree, We've got our sponsors. Yeah, yeah,
there's a little l for no Onlman and I don't
know what that is, but he's festive.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
He's sitting here, he's ready to partake in some deep Eddy.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's right, he's sitting next to the deep Eddy. So
if that starts, if the level starts going down over
the course of December, you'll know whose fault it is.
He is not mine. Thank you to our friends from
deep Eddy who bring you this fine holiday festival of
good feelings. And after the Carolina Panthers did their business
to the Los Angeles Rams yesterday afternoon, there was a
(00:44):
lot of festivities in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Friends, there were I was driving home last night and
there were so many people out in South End and
their panthers closed, still celebrating having a good old time.
And buddy, did they earn it? Like that one was?
Everybody was a part of that one. Ashon Robinson kept
saying last night that he was like that was complimentary football,
complimentary football, complimentary football. Over and over and over. And
(01:08):
you know, Dave Canalis also gave a lot of credit
to the fans and he said, you know, they played
a huge, huge part of it. We could hear you
in the press box even behind the glass, the keep
chanting chance, the Cuba chance, although Mike Jackson did politely
request to remember not to do those on offense. But
you know, it was an exciting time.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
People got caught up in the moment, got caught.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Up in the moment, and it was raining, it was cold,
like nobody would have been blamed if they had dipped out.
But people stayed, People were loud, made a difference, made
a difference on the third down where the Rams took
a delay of game towards the end of the game
that backed them up into a surefire passing down and
Derek Brown took advantage with a game winning sack fumble.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, no doubt, and we'll and we'll get to all them.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Sorry, I got kind of ahead of myself. I got excited.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
That game contained multitudes, but you did touch on one
thing I wanted to mention. Dave Canalis is the son
of a preacher, and you can tell that because he's
got the cadence of a preacher every now and then,
because he just kind of dropped very casually into that
postgame presser. It was wet, they were loud, and I
was like, oh, Preacher's gonna bring it home. Here it comes,
(02:17):
you know, and he did. It was such a cool
atmosphere here at Bank of America Stadium, not necessarily a
full house, because I think the weather diminished some of
that Thanksgiving weekend a lot of people are traveling, might
have dampened some of that literally and figuratively. And you know,
it's one of those games where, however many people were
(02:38):
inside the doors, in ten years, two hundred and fifty
thousand people will say they were there. Oh yeah, I
was there that day. I was there the day Chuba
Hubbard's dragging people around, Jalen Cooker's pulling a guy like
a waggon down field for the last ten yards. I mean,
that's what it's going to be like. It was that
kind of memorable game as you may have heard. I've
(02:59):
been around here for a minute, I have heard. It
was as memorable a game, just the whole setting scene,
meaning of it, as I've experienced in a long long time.
I mean, it's gonna be one of those things the
way people remember and DL will recognize as he crawls
through our shot in a little bit that Steelers game
(03:20):
in ninety six and the goal line stand to beat
the Steelers, win the division, you know, go to the playoffs,
all that kind of stuff. In the second year of existence,
first year in this building. It's gonna be like that
because your Carolina Panthers learned on Sunday afternoon that they
can do this thing. They as much as any particular
(03:40):
of the game, and they've made steady improvement over the
course of the year. We've talked about taking the long
view of this thing. That moment right there when the
best team in the NFL rolled into your building and
you gave them the business. They decided at that moment, oh,
we can do this. This is a we can that.
This is us. Dave's always talking about this, this might
(04:03):
be us.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And that's a game where they found themselves in those
games last year and couldn't find a way to close
them out and to finish them. That's been the difference,
it seems like this year is finding a way to
close out those games. There have been some losses. A
lot of the losses have been blowouts for the most part,
other than the Cardinals game early on. That was a
(04:26):
game they had a chance to come back and win,
but they got down big to start. The other losses that,
you know, I'm thinking the Bill's game. The Saints game
was a close one that they didn't They weren't able
to bring it out a win. But a lot of
these closer games they have found ways to win, none
bigger than this one. And sometimes you can look at
(04:47):
those games and go, oh, well, the Rams did this,
or didn't do this, or you know, they messed up there.
The Rams didn't play a bad game at all yesterday.
They didn't play an unlucky they didn't have an unlucky game.
They were clean. They didn't have a penalty until two
and a half minutes left in the game, and it
was that delay of game.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
They scored four touchdown.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They scored four touchdown. They were explosive, they bottled up
the run here and there at different times. On defense,
they got after Bryce with Byron Young. I mean, the
Rams played a good game. The Panthers just played a
better game. And that's the kind of games where they've
been looking for to know, Okay, we can win. We
(05:28):
can win the low scoring ones like we did in
Green Bay. We can win these shootouts. They already want
to shoot out with Dallas earlier this year, but that
one kind of had an asterisk next to it a
lot of times in the national narrative because of what
the Cowboys defense was at that point. You can't deny
this one. They won the game in every way they
possibly could have. Now, it's about the consistency. Okay, you
(05:50):
had a disappointing loss last week, huge win this week.
You go into the bye week, and then you come
back after a bye week and you play a currently
two to ten team saying they'll have another game between
now and then. How do you make sure you're not
a letdown again and to keep that consistency.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, it truly is. I was talking to Ikiakwanu, and
there's only a handful of guys. I mean, the topic
comes up every now and the last time the Panthers
did this, the last time you were in a playoff hunt.
When you're playing these meaningful games, Some of these guys,
about a dozen or so of them, were still around
in twenty two for the end of the Steve wilks
eras interim coach when they got on that weird run
(06:28):
and they actually played for the division lead on New
Year's Day down in Tampa. But this game out here today,
yesterday reminded me a lot of the Detroit game the
week before. And those of you who were here will remember,
because it was twenty degrees outside, freezing cold. Everybody was miserable,
and the Carolina Panthers ran for three hundred and twenty
(06:51):
yards and it wasn't because it was fancy, and it
was because they wanted to do that specific thing in
an aggressive way to the Detroit lines, and they did it.
And that's what that game reminded me of yesterday. It
was just I was having flashbacks to Detroit twenty two
because it was just a drum beat of running. I mean,
(07:11):
you got those steady tube of Hubbard five and six
yards at a time, just straight down the middle, no finess,
power blocking, power running, and it was a statement of
intent game. Rather than any masterful X and ODE design
or any play calling Dave Canalis did. It was just, hey,
we're gonna run it on you. Watch us do this. Yeah,
(07:33):
And that's what they did throughout the day.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And you know what was really interesting as well was
I went back and watched the Sean McVay press conference
after the game, and he said it was no secret
what they were gonna do. He and he's right because
Dave canals record out all Chuba Hubbard basically said it
all week leading up to the game. We're gonna run.
We're gonna run. We're gonna run. Everybody in the building
knew what they were gonna do. When Sean McVay said, like,
it was no secret what they were gonna try to do,
(07:56):
they they talked about it. We knew they were gonna
try to run it, and they still just did it.
And that's always a good feeling as a team when
you you know and they know, and everybody knows what
you're gonna do, and you're just stronger and bigger and more.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
What's the word, I'm looking aggressive? Aggressive? Yeah, here's the thing.
Here's the angel on top of that tree this week,
folks too, that's Cuba Hubbard. Uh. Chewba Hubbard got back
to being Chewba Hubbard. He was a guy. He dealt
with some injuries the middle of the year. He had
a cap problem knocked him out for a couple of games.
He admitted that he wasn't himself for a couple of
weeks after that, he looked like Chewba Hubbard again, and
(08:36):
you saw. I mean, this was the first time. I
asked him and Rico both after the game about it,
and I said, is this kind of proof of that
concept of what it looks like when you're both eating
and he said yeah. I mean, Cuba said, I love
doing this with my dog. Rico and these two were
getting along. They're adults. It's not like a competitive thing.
There's no bad feelings or anything like that. Because Canalis
(08:58):
talks about it all the time, like you want to
have two guys who can run at one hundred percent
on every snap there in the game. And I mean,
Cuba is He's such a key part of this thing.
And I think that's why this game stood in such
relief for me and what in thinking about the development
of this team. Cuba Hubbard is one of the standard
(09:20):
bears for what Dave Canalis wants to do. This guy
is mister work ethic. I am a dad. I have
a fetish about work ethic. I want to talk about
it all the time. I want to emphasize it to people.
I saw a stranger with a kid and a Cuba
jersey on the way into the game, and I was like, yeah,
good work, dad, way to put your kid in a
hard workingman's jersey. I love that. And that's just it's
(09:43):
one of those things. Cuba embodies all that stuff that
Dave Canalis preaches, and he has since the day he
walked in the door. I mean, he's had to work
for what he earned. He spends the time, he prepares,
he does all those things every week three hours before kickoff.
You know, you can count on me talking to Jim
z Okie on the Panthers pregame show hearing a national
(10:05):
anthem that is being rehearsed prior to the game, and
Cuba's down there on the jugs machine three hours and
change before kickoff. He's out at practice an hour before
every single practice, getting himself ready for that day. And
he started bringing people along when Xcel had to drop
in Philadelphia last year. He's on the drugs machine with
Cuba the next weekend practice. Corey Thornton, Bless his heart,
(10:27):
who's out for the year with a broken ankle. Corey
became part of the Cuba Youth and was showing up
early for every practice, and having those dudes who will
drag people along and show them the way is so
central to kind of building that program. So I mean
that's why I came. There are a million particular things
you could zoom in on about that game, but I mean,
(10:49):
just thematically, it was so important for these guys because
it was your dude's doing it. It was Cuba leading
the way offensively, which just I mean, he runs like
a metronome. He keeps the rhythm for the entire thing.
And Bryce made plays. Listen, Bryce had another good day,
uh you know, three touchdowns, another game winning drive, eleven
(11:12):
for his career, more than anybody at his age in
NFL history, more than any quarterback in the NFL period
over the last three years since he's been in the league.
I mean, he keeps stacking it up and he keeps
making plays like that. But that stuff's available because you've run,
you can you can throw forty three yard darts on
fourth and two because you've got the Rams playing you, honest,
(11:34):
because this man right here, Touba Hubbard, was getting work done.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And then also just to kind of add to that
the flip side of it too, there might if they're
both healthy. There might be a week playing i mean
next week or playing the Saints whatever, that next game
is where Rico is the one that gets a few
more carries. They actually got pretty even carries. Rico had
one more, Yeah, Cuba has seventeen recoil. This was a
(11:59):
ra team where the defense kind of allowed them to
run between the tackles a little bit more. That's where
Cuba kind of makes his bread and butter. Rico's really
good on the outside. Depending on what defense they're playing,
it might be a game where Rico has a better
you know, yards per carry and gets a few more.
This week it was Cuba. It kind of proved that
(12:21):
you need both of them, you know, Versus Atlanta, Rico
was a little bit more of a bellcal even though
Cuba I think was averaging like six yards of carry
that game. They're both necessary. This is what we talked
about all off season because they offer different things, because
they are different types of backs. You want both of them.
I think you really have started to see that the
(12:41):
past few weeks. That was a perfect balance with both
of them yesterday, and because Rico still made his runs
as well, he kept things moving. He had somewhere he
was able to bounce outside. He had a huge first
down pick up at one point that way, I think
this is what Dave Canalis had kind of always envisioned.
And it might not be a fifty to fifty time
share every week. That's fine, it might swing week to week.
(13:04):
But then to add on to all of that, to
have the guys, and especially to have a guy like
Cuba who's like, how are we going to do it
the week to week? Don't care, like, let's just get
it done, that's so crucial. You talk about him dragging
guys along and training, he was dragging guys on the
field yesterday too. They all were. Jalen Cocher drug Emmanuel
Forbes for the last ten yards into the end zone
(13:24):
for his touchdown.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, it was. It was definitely that kind of game
where it was going to be physical and the team
that you know was going to administer more punishment was
the one that was going to win that game, and
yesterday it was the Carolina Panthers. I kind of joked
with you during the game there were people yelling, Uh,
last week, there were people yelling about, oh, Dave Kanalis
(13:45):
should give the play call into somebody else. Midway through
that game, I said, surprise, he gave it to Darren
Gant to run it. That's right, He's gonna run it
thirty five times today. Every it's when it's any question
about what's about to happen, I will look at Cassidy
next to me in the box and I'll say, you
know what this is, don't you.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It could be like fourth and twelve and he's like,
you know what, this is a running down.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
There was one play yesterday though, where Darren was like, Nope,
don't like this, and then they got it. It was
it was a fourth down. I think they ran it.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
No, I forget what it was. It might have been
the Jalen Cocher fourth down.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
No, no, no, no, it wasn't. It was like a
two back set with uh it was a fourth down. Yeah,
I think they might have run it. I want to
say Rico picked it up.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
It was the fourth down before the eventual field goal
down here on this end of the field, because they
you know, they converted it and then got stopped and
then kicked the field goal. But rather than fourth in one,
I was in the I was of the mind of
go ahead and kick the fifty yard field goal. Let
fits do his thing from there. Uh, because I do
like points. Don't get me into any J J. Janssen
(14:51):
greg Olsen conversations about two point conversions in time of
game and stuff like that. I just I like having
points and I like being in that position of controlling
as much as I can control.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So that just turned it into more of a chip
shot for Fitzgerald.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, they got there the hard way, but that was
kind of the nature of that game. Again, this was
a running game. This was a Chewba Hubbard kind of game.
I think we would be remiss to not acknowledge what
a lot of people said in that postgame. Bryce Young's
got that dog in him in certain situations. I mean,
(15:27):
when his back's against the wall, when you're in that
late game situation, those numbers don't lie. I mean, eleven
game winning drives is something. I mean, he's got a
vibe about him that when games are close, they're in it.
At the end, he'll get that little sly smile on
his face and it's like something's getting ready to happen.
And fourth and two forty three yard touchdown pass, of course, Yeah,
(15:50):
why not that.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Fourth and two to a team Mac for the touchdown.
That may have been the best throw I've seen Bryce
s Young make, Yeah in his NFL career. Like it
was not only the throw being just completely on the money,
but to get to t Mac, I think he was
his like third progression in that play. He started left,
he went right. It was supposed to be a little
(16:13):
like leak out to the tight end just to get
past the sticks. And Bryce was like, eh, I got
t Mac streaking down the field past tom Manuel Forbes,
who had not given up a touchdown since week four
until he gave up one the previous drive to Jailing Coker. Yeah,
but he had, you know, not given a touchdown up
in weeks. And here I got my rookie streaking across
the middle of the field. Sure, let's get it to
(16:33):
him in the rain, in the cold, to deliver to
to find Tea Mac and then to deliver that ball
in that situation. And like again, this was no piddly
little pass rush coming down on him. This is Byron
Young Jared Verse like, this is a huge This is
a good pass rushing RAMS team. And to stand in there,
(16:53):
he had a great pocket. Shuba Hubbard had a huge
block on that play to give Bryce a little bit
more time as well. He blocked that the guy was
starting to spin off Ikey and I need to go
back and see who it was. The guy was starting
to spin, not Ikey, Taylor Moton, I'm sorry, was spinning
off Taylor Moton, and Cuba blocked him back into Taylor
and from there Moten just kind of grabbed him and
held him up and Bryce had time. All the factors
(17:15):
came in and then the throw itself one of, if
not the best throw I've seen Bryce Young making his
NFL career.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yolo. Bryce is a sight to behold. I mean, he
is such a controlled young man. His press conference vibe
is always so understated. He never wants to go to
overboard saying anything particularly you know, colorful or anything like that.
But when he's out there on the field and he
gets that look in his eyes ites like uh oh,
something's coming and it doesn't happen every week. I mean,
(17:43):
he's you know, I understand why people are, you know,
feeling some sort of way about the Carolina Panthers because
it's not the same thing every week. You know, you do.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Get the sign of a growing team.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
You get clonkers like San Francisco or like New Orleans,
and then every now and then you get one of
the oh you get the Green Bay game, and it's like,
holy crap, this team's really figuring it out. Canal has
said today, I mean it's a sign of a maturing team.
It's a sign of a team that's still learning this stuff.
And that's one of the things I think is kind
(18:13):
of the bedrock lessons about the twenty twenty five Panthers
is young quarterback Twenty four year old Bryce Young still
the youngest quarterback in the division. The Falcons and the
Saints have drafted guys who are older than him each
of the last two years. Funny still young GM and
Dan Morgan still a young coach In Dave Canalis, a
lot of people are doing things for the first receiving
(18:36):
in their life. Dave Canalis coached his thirtieth game of
NFL football as a head coach.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's actually crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
I mean it's wild.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Think about it. If you go to a Super Bowl,
that's like only that's a season and a half.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, that is how long he has been on the job.
I mean he's done this thirty times. Because he's around
He's been around Pete Carroll for so long, He's adopted
so many those vibes that you kind of feel like
Dave's been at this a lot longer than he has.
But he's been calling plays for two and a half seasons,
he's been a head coach for one and a half season, basically,
(19:11):
and there's stuff happening around him all the time that's
brand new experience for him. And I think that goes
for a lot of people across the board. I mean,
you've got guys around here like Dom Caper's, you've got
the Jim Calwell's offering experience from time to time. But
these are young people doing things. And you know what
happens when you get a bunch of young people together,
(19:32):
Mistakes get made. Sometimes they're learning, they're growing, but man,
it's every now and then when they catch one like that,
it's exciting to see.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And like on that note, and I'm sure somebody will
fact check me, and Matt will tell me if there's
something in the YouTube comments that may fact checking me.
I don't think they have really, for the most part,
made the same mistakes game to game. Mistakes have absolutely
been made in different games, but they haven't at least
this year, to my knowledge, really made the same mistakes
(20:03):
from one loss to another, or from a game to
a I mean, can you can you think of any
I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
The first two the only time they've lost back to
back games. And by the way, there was quite a
story on Panthers dot Com getting game when she this
one right here, who I like a lot, never mind
how I treat her sometimes, this one right here wrote
about how the Panthers hadn't lost back to back weeks
since weeks one and two. So they've figured out that
(20:29):
resilience piece of it. You would just rather not need
to be resilient. Yeah, time, I think that's.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
One of the what it makes for a better story.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
That's one of the growing challenges that they'll figure out
over time. But for right now, given the opportunity, as
the wise old man once said, it beats the alternative.
So yeah, we'll take We'll take the resilience exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
And you're growing together. I mean, I know we've said
this before, but J. J. Jensen said this at the
end of last season.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You know, when you're.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Sitting there and at what a five and twelve season
and and it's like, oh, okay, well there's improvement. But
here we go again at the same time, and JJ said,
you've got a GM, a quarterback, and a coach that
are on the same timeline. Do you know how rare
it is in the NFL to have all three of
those things on the same timeline. He's like, this is
so exciting for this team. Yep, And buddy, he was right, yep,
(21:18):
no doubt. Don't tell JJ that though he doesn't his
head doesn't need to get any bigger.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, that's all right. Hey, speaking of growing, we gonna
need a bigger tree because this next one up here
on the top of the tree, that would be That
would be dB. And of all my heads on sticks,
the Derek Brown head on a stick might be the biggest.
I mean, in real life, Derek's got a large head.
Derek's a large human being, and that played a big
part in this game. Early on, that first Nick Scott interception,
(21:46):
I think that came off about right. Yeah, it came
off somewhere in the Derek Brown facial region and straight
in the hands of Nick Scott. Nick ain't gonna give
away that gift, but it was. It was the early
indication that Derek was gonna make a big impact on
this game. I mean he deflects that early pass, it
gets turned into the interception. When the game was on
(22:08):
the line and Matt Stafford had the ball, you know,
possibly on the verge of doing Matt Stafford things. Derek
Brown chasing him down, knocks that ball loose, sack, force, fumble,
ball game.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah. Ashan Robinson was so funny. He's like, as soon
as I saw that ball come out, I thought to myself, like,
oh that's ballgame. Like at that point it was over.
That's what you want those guys to do when the
game is on the line like that. You need your
Derek Browns to step up and make a play. That's
why you pay him all that money. That's why you
make him a captain. That's why this is. This is
kind of his team. He has really taken the reins
(22:40):
of that locker room this season. We've seen it time
and again, over and over, big things, small things. He has.
He may not always even be the most vocal. He's
so funny, which people don't realize, but he's willing to
just kind of like work and he'd take He speaks
up when he needs to, and he makes sure that
locker room is moved in the same direction. You've got
(23:01):
your more vocal guys like Ashan Robinson, who's just a
mastro or maestro at like pregame speeches. Ashan Robinson is
so good at those. But he's working in tandem with
Derek Brown. Those two know what they want this team
to be and what it can become. And it's really
Derek who is the leader of that locker room, I
would say almost more than anybody else. And those are
(23:22):
the guys that when the game is on the line,
you trust them to make a play. And he did
it in the biggest way.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I also again, oh sorry, let me I forgot to
add something. Also in a good leader mode, humble as
he is, dB gave a lot of credit to everybody
else on that play. He said the only reason he
was able to get to Stafford, and he's right if
you go back and watch it is because Turk collapsed
the pocket and pushed Stafford up. And then he said,
you know, as soon as the ball was out, DJ
(23:49):
Wanham was there to pick it up and he made
the comment, you know DJ wantum. He said he has
affected the game so much this year in ways that
never show up on a stat sheet, but he's always
there to help facilitate a play and he was in
the right place at the right time because of that.
You know, it wasn't luck. He knew where he was
supposed to be for a play to get made, and
(24:10):
he was there when Derek knocked that ball out, was
able to pick it up for the recovery.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, no doubt. And again, we'll we'll talk a lot
more in the weeks to come about the next things
next and playoff implications and all those kind of things.
But I really do believe that in a lot of ways,
this game was a huge step in the development of
a young team because primarily because cats like these two
your core guys people. Dan Morgan has extended You give
(24:37):
a man a contract, you're telling the world this is
what we want to be about. They extended Derek, They
extended Cuba the middle of last season. J C. Horn,
even though he wasn't out there on the field yesterday,
is that guy at cornerback. He leads all cornerbacks in
the NFL and Pro Bowl voting and fanbase to go
vote Pro Bowl. So everybody go vote for JC and
(24:58):
go vote for this guy. The fact that Derek Brown's
not among the top ten in Pro Bowl voting at
his position is just ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Two years ago, when dB set the NFL's all time
record for tackles in a season by defensive lineman, he
was not in the top ten of fan voting. Still
went to the Pro Bowl because the coaches and the
players they know. So if you want to be smart
like coaches and players and smart like us, go vote
for dB for the Pro Bowl. He'd appreciate that. And
also it's just the right thing to do. I mean,
(25:28):
come on, so here we go. It is seven and six,
going into a bye week. I feel like the angel
on top of that tree should start singing, you.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Know, Charlie Brown tree.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Never Yeah, it's very festive. Don't you make fun of
that little tree? It's a good little tree.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Did I make fun of it?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
See, you've got a negative attitude. Sometimes you'll take things
in a direction nobody ever intend.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I told our photographer Andrew Stein, one of the good,
great ones here, he said something to me earlier, and
I said, you know, somebody's been getting a little mauvy lately,
And he goes, am I getting mouthy? Or am I
just finally coming into my own here at the.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Panthers one or the other. But a lot of people
are starting to come into their own with the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's almost like I set you right up there.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That's right, you did. It's called bringing it back around
to the top. I mean, it really did. Guys are
coming into their own. They're starting to believe that this
is an actual thing that is happening, and maybe it is.
They're seven and six. They've got a week to sit
back and rest and relax and take a little time.
Here's a pro tip. If I ask you where you're
going for the bye week, what are you going to
(26:33):
tell me?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
None of your business.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
That's right, that's the only appropriate answer. Once upon a time,
Steve Smith started to tell me a story about a
trip him and his family we're going to take. And
I said, that's a great story. I'd love to write
about it. He said, Nope. You tell people where I'm going,
he'll rob my house. So don't rob Casty's house. She's
gonna be there, don't come to mind. I'll be sitting
on the porch with a dog and a gun as
far as you know. But no, it's bye week. We
(26:56):
all need a break. It's been fantastic. It's been a
lot to break down. There's a lot more coming your
way on Panthers dot com, So keep it locked onto
the dot com, keep it locked onto the YouTube channel
for the next week. We've got goodies scattered out for
you all week. We got all kinds of stuff playing.
But that's gonna take care of us for today, and
that's gonna take care of us for this week. Next week,
(27:19):
after we're rested and relaxed, possibly tan as far as
you know, I'm not telling you where I'm going, but
I could be tan. After all that, we'll start setting
up playoff possibilities, because that's a real thing we're talking
about in December now.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
No more talk about draft picks.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Aikiakwan who said, we've talked about changing the narrative, and
we have. We ain't talking about draft picks. We're not
talking about ruining other people's season. They've got something to
play for themselves and so I can't wait to see
it all come together. We'll see you and we'll start
down that process of that last month of the season
next week when we circle back on the next Happy
half Hour
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Firef
Happy half Howard, Hello, friends, look at that. There's so
much festivity happening around us. Welcome to the Happy half Hour.
We got a tree, We've got our sponsors. Yeah, yeah,
there's a little l for no Onlman and I don't
know what that is, but he's festive.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
He's sitting here, he's ready to partake in some deep Eddy.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's right, he's sitting next to the deep Eddy. So
if that starts, if the level starts going down over
the course of December, you'll know whose fault it is.
He is not mine. Thank you to our friends from
deep Eddy who bring you this fine holiday festival of
good feelings. And after the Carolina Panthers did their business
to the Los Angeles Rams yesterday afternoon, there was a
(00:44):
lot of festivities in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Friends, there were I was driving home last night and
there were so many people out in South End and
their panthers closed, still celebrating having a good old time.
And buddy, did they earn it? Like that one was?
Everybody was a part of that one. Ashon Robinson kept
saying last night that he was like that was complimentary football,
complimentary football, complimentary football. Over and over and over. And
(01:08):
you know, Dave Canalis also gave a lot of credit
to the fans and he said, you know, they played
a huge, huge part of it. We could hear you
in the press box even behind the glass, the keep
chanting chance, the Cuba chance, although Mike Jackson did politely
request to remember not to do those on offense. But
you know, it was an exciting time.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
People got caught up in the moment, got caught.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Up in the moment, and it was raining, it was cold,
like nobody would have been blamed if they had dipped out.
But people stayed, People were loud, made a difference, made
a difference on the third down where the Rams took
a delay of game towards the end of the game
that backed them up into a surefire passing down and
Derek Brown took advantage with a game winning sack fumble.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah, no doubt, and we'll and we'll get to all them.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Sorry, I got kind of ahead of myself. I got excited.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
That game contained multitudes, but you did touch on one
thing I wanted to mention. Dave Canalis is the son
of a preacher, and you can tell that because he's
got the cadence of a preacher every now and then,
because he just kind of dropped very casually into that
postgame presser. It was wet, they were loud, and I
was like, oh, Preacher's gonna bring it home. Here it comes,
(02:17):
you know, and he did. It was such a cool
atmosphere here at Bank of America Stadium, not necessarily a
full house, because I think the weather diminished some of
that Thanksgiving weekend a lot of people are traveling, might
have dampened some of that literally and figuratively. And you know,
it's one of those games where, however many people were
(02:38):
inside the doors, in ten years, two hundred and fifty
thousand people will say they were there. Oh yeah, I
was there that day. I was there the day Chuba
Hubbard's dragging people around, Jalen Cooker's pulling a guy like
a waggon down field for the last ten yards. I mean,
that's what it's going to be like. It was that
kind of memorable game as you may have heard. I've
(02:59):
been around here for a minute, I have heard. It
was as memorable a game, just the whole setting scene,
meaning of it, as I've experienced in a long long time.
I mean, it's gonna be one of those things the
way people remember and DL will recognize as he crawls
through our shot in a little bit that Steelers game
(03:20):
in ninety six and the goal line stand to beat
the Steelers, win the division, you know, go to the playoffs,
all that kind of stuff. In the second year of existence,
first year in this building. It's gonna be like that
because your Carolina Panthers learned on Sunday afternoon that they
can do this thing. They as much as any particular
(03:40):
of the game, and they've made steady improvement over the
course of the year. We've talked about taking the long
view of this thing. That moment right there when the
best team in the NFL rolled into your building and
you gave them the business. They decided at that moment, oh,
we can do this. This is a we can that.
This is us. Dave's always talking about this, this might
(04:03):
be us.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
And that's a game where they found themselves in those
games last year and couldn't find a way to close
them out and to finish them. That's been the difference,
it seems like this year is finding a way to
close out those games. There have been some losses. A
lot of the losses have been blowouts for the most part,
other than the Cardinals game early on. That was a
(04:26):
game they had a chance to come back and win,
but they got down big to start. The other losses that,
you know, I'm thinking the Bill's game. The Saints game
was a close one that they didn't They weren't able
to bring it out a win. But a lot of
these closer games they have found ways to win, none
bigger than this one. And sometimes you can look at
(04:47):
those games and go, oh, well, the Rams did this,
or didn't do this, or you know, they messed up there.
The Rams didn't play a bad game at all yesterday.
They didn't play an unlucky they didn't have an unlucky game.
They were clean. They didn't have a penalty until two
and a half minutes left in the game, and it
was that delay of game.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
They scored four touchdown.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They scored four touchdown. They were explosive, they bottled up
the run here and there at different times. On defense,
they got after Bryce with Byron Young. I mean, the
Rams played a good game. The Panthers just played a
better game. And that's the kind of games where they've
been looking for to know, Okay, we can win. We
(05:28):
can win the low scoring ones like we did in
Green Bay. We can win these shootouts. They already want
to shoot out with Dallas earlier this year, but that
one kind of had an asterisk next to it a
lot of times in the national narrative because of what
the Cowboys defense was at that point. You can't deny
this one. They won the game in every way they
possibly could have. Now, it's about the consistency. Okay, you
(05:50):
had a disappointing loss last week, huge win this week.
You go into the bye week, and then you come
back after a bye week and you play a currently
two to ten team saying they'll have another game between
now and then. How do you make sure you're not
a letdown again and to keep that consistency.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Yeah, it truly is. I was talking to Ikiakwanu, and
there's only a handful of guys. I mean, the topic
comes up every now and the last time the Panthers
did this, the last time you were in a playoff hunt.
When you're playing these meaningful games, Some of these guys,
about a dozen or so of them, were still around
in twenty two for the end of the Steve wilks
eras interim coach when they got on that weird run
(06:28):
and they actually played for the division lead on New
Year's Day down in Tampa. But this game out here today,
yesterday reminded me a lot of the Detroit game the
week before. And those of you who were here will remember,
because it was twenty degrees outside, freezing cold. Everybody was miserable,
and the Carolina Panthers ran for three hundred and twenty
(06:51):
yards and it wasn't because it was fancy, and it
was because they wanted to do that specific thing in
an aggressive way to the Detroit lines, and they did it.
And that's what that game reminded me of yesterday. It
was just I was having flashbacks to Detroit twenty two
because it was just a drum beat of running. I mean,
(07:11):
you got those steady tube of Hubbard five and six
yards at a time, just straight down the middle, no finess,
power blocking, power running, and it was a statement of
intent game. Rather than any masterful X and ODE design
or any play calling Dave Canalis did. It was just, hey,
we're gonna run it on you. Watch us do this. Yeah,
(07:33):
And that's what they did throughout the day.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And you know what was really interesting as well was
I went back and watched the Sean McVay press conference
after the game, and he said it was no secret
what they were gonna do. He and he's right because
Dave canals record out all Chuba Hubbard basically said it
all week leading up to the game. We're gonna run.
We're gonna run. We're gonna run. Everybody in the building
knew what they were gonna do. When Sean McVay said, like,
it was no secret what they were gonna try to do,
(07:56):
they they talked about it. We knew they were gonna
try to run it, and they still just did it.
And that's always a good feeling as a team when
you you know and they know, and everybody knows what
you're gonna do, and you're just stronger and bigger and more.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
What's the word, I'm looking aggressive? Aggressive? Yeah, here's the thing.
Here's the angel on top of that tree this week,
folks too, that's Cuba Hubbard. Uh. Chewba Hubbard got back
to being Chewba Hubbard. He was a guy. He dealt
with some injuries the middle of the year. He had
a cap problem knocked him out for a couple of games.
He admitted that he wasn't himself for a couple of
weeks after that, he looked like Chewba Hubbard again, and
(08:36):
you saw. I mean, this was the first time. I
asked him and Rico both after the game about it,
and I said, is this kind of proof of that
concept of what it looks like when you're both eating
and he said yeah. I mean, Cuba said, I love
doing this with my dog. Rico and these two were
getting along. They're adults. It's not like a competitive thing.
There's no bad feelings or anything like that. Because Canalis
(08:58):
talks about it all the time, like you want to
have two guys who can run at one hundred percent
on every snap there in the game. And I mean,
Cuba is He's such a key part of this thing.
And I think that's why this game stood in such
relief for me and what in thinking about the development
of this team. Cuba Hubbard is one of the standard
(09:20):
bears for what Dave Canalis wants to do. This guy
is mister work ethic. I am a dad. I have
a fetish about work ethic. I want to talk about
it all the time. I want to emphasize it to people.
I saw a stranger with a kid and a Cuba
jersey on the way into the game, and I was like, yeah,
good work, dad, way to put your kid in a
hard workingman's jersey. I love that. And that's just it's
(09:43):
one of those things. Cuba embodies all that stuff that
Dave Canalis preaches, and he has since the day he
walked in the door. I mean, he's had to work
for what he earned. He spends the time, he prepares,
he does all those things every week three hours before kickoff.
You know, you can count on me talking to Jim
z Okie on the Panthers pregame show hearing a national
(10:05):
anthem that is being rehearsed prior to the game, and
Cuba's down there on the jugs machine three hours and
change before kickoff. He's out at practice an hour before
every single practice, getting himself ready for that day. And
he started bringing people along when Xcel had to drop
in Philadelphia last year. He's on the drugs machine with
Cuba the next weekend practice. Corey Thornton, Bless his heart,
(10:27):
who's out for the year with a broken ankle. Corey
became part of the Cuba Youth and was showing up
early for every practice, and having those dudes who will
drag people along and show them the way is so
central to kind of building that program. So I mean
that's why I came. There are a million particular things
you could zoom in on about that game, but I mean,
(10:49):
just thematically, it was so important for these guys because
it was your dude's doing it. It was Cuba leading
the way offensively, which just I mean, he runs like
a metronome. He keeps the rhythm for the entire thing.
And Bryce made plays. Listen, Bryce had another good day,
uh you know, three touchdowns, another game winning drive, eleven
(11:12):
for his career, more than anybody at his age in
NFL history, more than any quarterback in the NFL period
over the last three years since he's been in the league.
I mean, he keeps stacking it up and he keeps
making plays like that. But that stuff's available because you've run,
you can you can throw forty three yard darts on
fourth and two because you've got the Rams playing you, honest,
(11:34):
because this man right here, Touba Hubbard, was getting work done.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And then also just to kind of add to that
the flip side of it too, there might if they're
both healthy. There might be a week playing i mean
next week or playing the Saints whatever, that next game
is where Rico is the one that gets a few
more carries. They actually got pretty even carries. Rico had
one more, Yeah, Cuba has seventeen recoil. This was a
(11:59):
ra team where the defense kind of allowed them to
run between the tackles a little bit more. That's where
Cuba kind of makes his bread and butter. Rico's really
good on the outside. Depending on what defense they're playing,
it might be a game where Rico has a better
you know, yards per carry and gets a few more.
This week it was Cuba. It kind of proved that
(12:21):
you need both of them, you know, Versus Atlanta, Rico
was a little bit more of a bellcal even though
Cuba I think was averaging like six yards of carry
that game. They're both necessary. This is what we talked
about all off season because they offer different things, because
they are different types of backs. You want both of them.
I think you really have started to see that the
(12:41):
past few weeks. That was a perfect balance with both
of them yesterday, and because Rico still made his runs
as well, he kept things moving. He had somewhere he
was able to bounce outside. He had a huge first
down pick up at one point that way, I think
this is what Dave Canalis had kind of always envisioned.
And it might not be a fifty to fifty time
share every week. That's fine, it might swing week to week.
(13:04):
But then to add on to all of that, to
have the guys, and especially to have a guy like
Cuba who's like, how are we going to do it
the week to week? Don't care, like, let's just get
it done, that's so crucial. You talk about him dragging
guys along and training, he was dragging guys on the
field yesterday too. They all were. Jalen Cocher drug Emmanuel
Forbes for the last ten yards into the end zone
(13:24):
for his touchdown.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Yeah, it was. It was definitely that kind of game
where it was going to be physical and the team
that you know was going to administer more punishment was
the one that was going to win that game, and
yesterday it was the Carolina Panthers. I kind of joked
with you during the game there were people yelling, Uh,
last week, there were people yelling about, oh, Dave Kanalis
(13:45):
should give the play call into somebody else. Midway through
that game, I said, surprise, he gave it to Darren
Gant to run it. That's right, He's gonna run it
thirty five times today. Every it's when it's any question
about what's about to happen, I will look at Cassidy
next to me in the box and I'll say, you
know what this is, don't you.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
It could be like fourth and twelve and he's like,
you know what, this is a running down.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
Now.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
There was one play yesterday though, where Darren was like, Nope,
don't like this, and then they got it. It was
it was a fourth down. I think they ran it.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
No, I forget what it was. It might have been
the Jalen Cocher fourth down.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
No, no, no, no, it wasn't. It was like a
two back set with uh it was a fourth down. Yeah,
I think they might have run it. I want to
say Rico picked it up.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
It was the fourth down before the eventual field goal
down here on this end of the field, because they
you know, they converted it and then got stopped and
then kicked the field goal. But rather than fourth in one,
I was in the I was of the mind of
go ahead and kick the fifty yard field goal. Let
fits do his thing from there. Uh, because I do
like points. Don't get me into any J J. Janssen
(14:51):
greg Olsen conversations about two point conversions in time of
game and stuff like that. I just I like having
points and I like being in that position of controlling
as much as I can control.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
So that just turned it into more of a chip
shot for Fitzgerald.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Yeah, they got there the hard way, but that was
kind of the nature of that game. Again, this was
a running game. This was a Chewba Hubbard kind of game.
I think we would be remiss to not acknowledge what
a lot of people said in that postgame. Bryce Young's
got that dog in him in certain situations. I mean,
(15:27):
when his back's against the wall, when you're in that
late game situation, those numbers don't lie. I mean, eleven
game winning drives is something. I mean, he's got a
vibe about him that when games are close, they're in it.
At the end, he'll get that little sly smile on
his face and it's like something's getting ready to happen.
And fourth and two forty three yard touchdown pass, of course, Yeah,
(15:50):
why not that.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Fourth and two to a team Mac for the touchdown.
That may have been the best throw I've seen Bryce
s Young make, Yeah in his NFL career. Like it
was not only the throw being just completely on the money,
but to get to t Mac, I think he was
his like third progression in that play. He started left,
he went right. It was supposed to be a little
(16:13):
like leak out to the tight end just to get
past the sticks. And Bryce was like, eh, I got
t Mac streaking down the field past tom Manuel Forbes,
who had not given up a touchdown since week four
until he gave up one the previous drive to Jailing Coker. Yeah,
but he had, you know, not given a touchdown up
in weeks. And here I got my rookie streaking across
the middle of the field. Sure, let's get it to
(16:33):
him in the rain, in the cold, to deliver to
to find Tea Mac and then to deliver that ball
in that situation. And like again, this was no piddly
little pass rush coming down on him. This is Byron
Young Jared Verse like, this is a huge This is
a good pass rushing RAMS team. And to stand in there,
(16:53):
he had a great pocket. Shuba Hubbard had a huge
block on that play to give Bryce a little bit
more time as well. He blocked that the guy was
starting to spin off Ikey and I need to go
back and see who it was. The guy was starting
to spin, not Ikey, Taylor Moton, I'm sorry, was spinning
off Taylor Moton, and Cuba blocked him back into Taylor
and from there Moten just kind of grabbed him and
held him up and Bryce had time. All the factors
(17:15):
came in and then the throw itself one of, if
not the best throw I've seen Bryce Young making his
NFL career.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Yolo. Bryce is a sight to behold. I mean, he
is such a controlled young man. His press conference vibe
is always so understated. He never wants to go to
overboard saying anything particularly you know, colorful or anything like that.
But when he's out there on the field and he
gets that look in his eyes ites like uh oh,
something's coming and it doesn't happen every week. I mean,
(17:43):
he's you know, I understand why people are, you know,
feeling some sort of way about the Carolina Panthers because
it's not the same thing every week. You know, you do.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Get the sign of a growing team.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
You get clonkers like San Francisco or like New Orleans,
and then every now and then you get one of
the oh you get the Green Bay game, and it's like,
holy crap, this team's really figuring it out. Canal has
said today, I mean it's a sign of a maturing team.
It's a sign of a team that's still learning this stuff.
And that's one of the things I think is kind
(18:13):
of the bedrock lessons about the twenty twenty five Panthers
is young quarterback Twenty four year old Bryce Young still
the youngest quarterback in the division. The Falcons and the
Saints have drafted guys who are older than him each
of the last two years. Funny still young GM and
Dan Morgan still a young coach In Dave Canalis, a
lot of people are doing things for the first receiving
(18:36):
in their life. Dave Canalis coached his thirtieth game of
NFL football as a head coach.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's actually crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
I mean it's wild.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Think about it. If you go to a Super Bowl,
that's like only that's a season and a half.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, that is how long he has been on the job.
I mean he's done this thirty times. Because he's around
He's been around Pete Carroll for so long, He's adopted
so many those vibes that you kind of feel like
Dave's been at this a lot longer than he has.
But he's been calling plays for two and a half seasons,
he's been a head coach for one and a half season, basically,
(19:11):
and there's stuff happening around him all the time that's
brand new experience for him. And I think that goes
for a lot of people across the board. I mean,
you've got guys around here like Dom Caper's, you've got
the Jim Calwell's offering experience from time to time. But
these are young people doing things. And you know what
happens when you get a bunch of young people together,
(19:32):
Mistakes get made. Sometimes they're learning, they're growing, but man,
it's every now and then when they catch one like that,
it's exciting to see.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And like on that note, and I'm sure somebody will
fact check me, and Matt will tell me if there's
something in the YouTube comments that may fact checking me.
I don't think they have really, for the most part,
made the same mistakes game to game. Mistakes have absolutely
been made in different games, but they haven't at least
this year, to my knowledge, really made the same mistakes
(20:03):
from one loss to another, or from a game to
a I mean, can you can you think of any
I mean.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
The first two the only time they've lost back to
back games. And by the way, there was quite a
story on Panthers dot Com getting game when she this
one right here, who I like a lot, never mind
how I treat her sometimes, this one right here wrote
about how the Panthers hadn't lost back to back weeks
since weeks one and two. So they've figured out that
(20:29):
resilience piece of it. You would just rather not need
to be resilient. Yeah, time, I think that's.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
One of the what it makes for a better story.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
That's one of the growing challenges that they'll figure out
over time. But for right now, given the opportunity, as
the wise old man once said, it beats the alternative.
So yeah, we'll take We'll take the resilience exactly.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
And you're growing together. I mean, I know we've said
this before, but J. J. Jensen said this at the
end of last season.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
You know, when you're.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Sitting there and at what a five and twelve season
and and it's like, oh, okay, well there's improvement. But
here we go again at the same time, and JJ said,
you've got a GM, a quarterback, and a coach that
are on the same timeline. Do you know how rare
it is in the NFL to have all three of
those things on the same timeline. He's like, this is
so exciting for this team. Yep, And buddy, he was right, yep,
(21:18):
no doubt. Don't tell JJ that though he doesn't his
head doesn't need to get any bigger.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yeah, that's all right. Hey, speaking of growing, we gonna
need a bigger tree because this next one up here
on the top of the tree, that would be That
would be dB. And of all my heads on sticks,
the Derek Brown head on a stick might be the biggest.
I mean, in real life, Derek's got a large head.
Derek's a large human being, and that played a big
part in this game. Early on, that first Nick Scott interception,
(21:46):
I think that came off about right. Yeah, it came
off somewhere in the Derek Brown facial region and straight
in the hands of Nick Scott. Nick ain't gonna give
away that gift, but it was. It was the early
indication that Derek was gonna make a big impact on
this game. I mean he deflects that early pass, it
gets turned into the interception. When the game was on
(22:08):
the line and Matt Stafford had the ball, you know,
possibly on the verge of doing Matt Stafford things. Derek
Brown chasing him down, knocks that ball loose, sack, force, fumble,
ball game.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah. Ashan Robinson was so funny. He's like, as soon
as I saw that ball come out, I thought to myself, like,
oh that's ballgame. Like at that point it was over.
That's what you want those guys to do when the
game is on the line like that. You need your
Derek Browns to step up and make a play. That's
why you pay him all that money. That's why you
make him a captain. That's why this is. This is
kind of his team. He has really taken the reins
(22:40):
of that locker room this season. We've seen it time
and again, over and over, big things, small things. He has.
He may not always even be the most vocal. He's
so funny, which people don't realize, but he's willing to
just kind of like work and he'd take He speaks
up when he needs to, and he makes sure that
locker room is moved in the same direction. You've got
(23:01):
your more vocal guys like Ashan Robinson, who's just a
mastro or maestro at like pregame speeches. Ashan Robinson is
so good at those. But he's working in tandem with
Derek Brown. Those two know what they want this team
to be and what it can become. And it's really
Derek who is the leader of that locker room, I
would say almost more than anybody else. And those are
(23:22):
the guys that when the game is on the line,
you trust them to make a play. And he did
it in the biggest way.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I also again, oh sorry, let me I forgot to
add something. Also in a good leader mode, humble as
he is, dB gave a lot of credit to everybody
else on that play. He said the only reason he
was able to get to Stafford, and he's right if
you go back and watch it is because Turk collapsed
the pocket and pushed Stafford up. And then he said,
you know, as soon as the ball was out, DJ
(23:49):
Wanham was there to pick it up and he made
the comment, you know DJ wantum. He said he has
affected the game so much this year in ways that
never show up on a stat sheet, but he's always
there to help facilitate a play and he was in
the right place at the right time because of that.
You know, it wasn't luck. He knew where he was
supposed to be for a play to get made, and
(24:10):
he was there when Derek knocked that ball out, was
able to pick it up for the recovery.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, no doubt. And again, we'll we'll talk a lot
more in the weeks to come about the next things
next and playoff implications and all those kind of things.
But I really do believe that in a lot of ways,
this game was a huge step in the development of
a young team because primarily because cats like these two
your core guys people. Dan Morgan has extended You give
(24:37):
a man a contract, you're telling the world this is
what we want to be about. They extended Derek, They
extended Cuba the middle of last season. J C. Horn,
even though he wasn't out there on the field yesterday,
is that guy at cornerback. He leads all cornerbacks in
the NFL and Pro Bowl voting and fanbase to go
vote Pro Bowl. So everybody go vote for JC and
(24:58):
go vote for this guy. The fact that Derek Brown's
not among the top ten in Pro Bowl voting at
his position is just ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
Two years ago, when dB set the NFL's all time
record for tackles in a season by defensive lineman, he
was not in the top ten of fan voting. Still
went to the Pro Bowl because the coaches and the
players they know. So if you want to be smart
like coaches and players and smart like us, go vote
for dB for the Pro Bowl. He'd appreciate that. And
also it's just the right thing to do. I mean,
(25:28):
come on, so here we go. It is seven and six,
going into a bye week. I feel like the angel
on top of that tree should start singing, you.
Speaker 2 (25:37):
Know, Charlie Brown tree.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
Never Yeah, it's very festive. Don't you make fun of
that little tree? It's a good little tree.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Did I make fun of it?
Speaker 1 (25:46):
See, you've got a negative attitude. Sometimes you'll take things
in a direction nobody ever intend.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
I told our photographer Andrew Stein, one of the good,
great ones here, he said something to me earlier, and
I said, you know, somebody's been getting a little mauvy lately,
And he goes, am I getting mouthy? Or am I
just finally coming into my own here at the.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Panthers one or the other. But a lot of people
are starting to come into their own with the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
That's almost like I set you right up there.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
That's right, you did. It's called bringing it back around
to the top. I mean, it really did. Guys are
coming into their own. They're starting to believe that this
is an actual thing that is happening, and maybe it is.
They're seven and six. They've got a week to sit
back and rest and relax and take a little time.
Here's a pro tip. If I ask you where you're
going for the bye week, what are you going to
(26:33):
tell me?
Speaker 2 (26:34):
None of your business.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
That's right, that's the only appropriate answer. Once upon a time,
Steve Smith started to tell me a story about a
trip him and his family we're going to take. And
I said, that's a great story. I'd love to write
about it. He said, Nope. You tell people where I'm going,
he'll rob my house. So don't rob Casty's house. She's
gonna be there, don't come to mind. I'll be sitting
on the porch with a dog and a gun as
far as you know. But no, it's bye week. We
(26:56):
all need a break. It's been fantastic. It's been a
lot to break down. There's a lot more coming your
way on Panthers dot com, So keep it locked onto
the dot com, keep it locked onto the YouTube channel
for the next week. We've got goodies scattered out for
you all week. We got all kinds of stuff playing.
But that's gonna take care of us for today, and
that's gonna take care of us for this week. Next week,
(27:19):
after we're rested and relaxed, possibly tan as far as
you know, I'm not telling you where I'm going, but
I could be tan. After all that, we'll start setting
up playoff possibilities, because that's a real thing we're talking
about in December now.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
No more talk about draft picks.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
Aikiakwan who said, we've talked about changing the narrative, and
we have. We ain't talking about draft picks. We're not
talking about ruining other people's season. They've got something to
play for themselves and so I can't wait to see
it all come together. We'll see you and we'll start
down that process of that last month of the season
next week when we circle back on the next Happy
half Hour
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Firef
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