December 6, 2024 • 24 mins
This week on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy recap the Panthers week 13 performance against the Bucs, preview this week's tough matchup with the Eagles, look ahead to the offseason and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This week on the Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This may arguably be the most tough outing that they
will have had all year. Eagles defense Pancers offense. I'm
really interested to see because Bryce the past three weeks
has handled not only blitz but pressures so much better.
What does he look like when Jalen Carter and Nolan
Smith are bearing down on him? You guys that he's
faced before. By the way, what's.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It? It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your
friends Darren Ghent and Cassidy Hill. All right, hello friends,
it is time for yet another edition of the Happy
Half Hour. We got all kinds of stuff to talk about,
including that horn flourish that cast you. We'll break that
(00:47):
down later. If we're gonna do our own sound effects,
we're gonna have a lot of problems, Matt, a lot
of problems.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I do my own stunts.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, but anyway, this is the Happy Half Hour by
Southern Star and official Bourbon partner The Carolina Panthers celebrate
the spirit of the Carolinas, and for the second week
in a row, they all most had something real.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
To sell post. Well you know what they say, if
wishes and hopes were oh wait, dang, what is the phrase, if.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
My aunt had huyos, she'd be a wagon.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
No, it's like if if some butts were wishes and butts,
we'd all have a Merry.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Christmas candy and nuts.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Close enough.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, there you go. So anyway, that's where we are.
Panthers losing overtime to the Buccaneers. Uh. Coming on the
heels of Panthers lose on the last second, You'll go
to the Kansas City Chiefs and and things feel different
than the record would indicate.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
They feel different, and that is indicated by the fact
that this loss hurt yeap, Like the Kansas City loss,
you're like disappointed because you're like, man, we were right there.
It could have happened. But you kind of like take
what you take, the positives from it and move on.
This loss hurt. And I don't know if this loss
would have hard as much at the beginning of the year,
(02:05):
But now you're starting to see this team kind of
figure out who they are, who they want to be,
and you look at that game and go, that was winnable.
That was winnable in many different ways. You think one
or two different things go different, or one or two
things go differently in that game's a win. But that
also kind of goes back to what Dave Canalysis said
(02:26):
and what we have said week after week. As long
as Dave Canally says it, will say it, and that
is finish. And you know, if there's a couple of
things that are just finished in that game, it's a win.
And so even though it's it's a loss, it's a
good touching point. It's a good teaching point for Dave
Canalis as they continue to build this thing. And it
makes me think about this game that's coming up on
(02:47):
Sunday a little differently than I probably would even a
month ago.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh no doubt, Yeah, no doubt. I mean, And that's
the thing. There were very real There have been games
this year the Carolina Panthers loss because they didn't have
any business being in them. That was a game they
lost for very tangible and specific reasons. They score one
touchdown in the red zone, kick too many field goals,
they let Bucky Irvin go for a buck fifty against them.
(03:10):
You know, there's all these very specific things. They missed
two field goals that they could have done differently, and
we'd have a completely different conversation right now. Yeah, And
I mean, there are so many of those, and that's
what frustrated those guys so much, and it did. It
was telling to me that a the players in the
(03:31):
locker room were crushed losing that game to the Bucks
because they knew they had it in their hands. They
knew they had the opportunity, you know. And again, even
without the Adam Thielen touchdown, that wasn't There were so
many of them that they were frustrated with themselves. But
this building, for the second week in a row, had atmosphere. Yeah,
(03:53):
I mean that sounds when we're walking underneath this stadium,
you know, and a lot of times, not that anybody cares,
but to go under behind the curtain. I will duck
down before a game is over watch on a monitor
from the room where the press conference is about to happen,
just because I'm trying to file rapid reactions, which many
of you enjoy on Panthers dot Com right at the gun.
(04:15):
To do that, I've got to be in that room.
I could hear that from under the stadium. I mean,
this place was shaking coming down the stretch at the
end of regulation and in overtime, and this place had
a little bit of a vibe, and that was not
the case early in the year at different points. I
(04:37):
mean last year, certainly, at no point last year, I
don't think other than maybe the Atlanta game.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Even then, wasn't that the game where like everybody scrammed.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, I mean, the weather's been terrible, but anyways, there's
something cooking. And that's been my big takeaway from this
from the last couple of weeks is they may be
three and nine, they may be you know, whatever percentage
points remaining to be playoff eligible, all that kind of stuff.
(05:07):
I don't want to get to in the weeds on that,
but what they've found is a voice, They've found a personality.
They've found the kind of football they want to play
when they're good, when they're in games in December that
do matter for playoff positioning, when they're in games for playoffs.
I just think that's as valuable as anything that's happened
(05:28):
this season is they've sort of figured out who they are.
Dave Canalis keep saying, we're gonna we're trying to be us,
We're trying to get to us. They've figured out what
us is. Now they got to play better football and
get more people.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
You know, I was standing in the locker room today.
It was I mean me or I good thing, I
don't work in words. It was me, Robert Hunt and
our coworker Rob and Robert Hunt was asking us, like,
who are some of the most impactful players you've ever covered?
And Rob was go back to that twenty fifteen team
(06:02):
alive and he was like, you know what they just had.
He's like, that team just had guys you know that
could get it done on the field, that were great
in the locker room. And Rob Hunt said, we'll stick
around another year or two, You're gonna see that team again.
And you kind of can't help but believe Rob Hunt
when he says stuff. And so that was, well, he's
(06:24):
been around it, yeah, and he's been around it.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He was on a Miami team that had been you know,
in some other places and then got good. So he's
seen this climb before. And I think that's part of
the reason he was of interest to them, in addition
to the fact that he's massive and moves like a
much smaller man while being a much much larger man.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, and he certainly brings the personality as well. And
so you know, these three wins feel a little differently
than the two did at this point last year, and
we'll kind of see where they go from here.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
This is three pointing towards something as opposed to two
pointing toward another.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Rebuild, counting two on the way down. Yeah, kind of
just looking ahead to this week, as we were saying
at the top, like it's gonna be interesting to watch,
and let's just call a spade a spade. This is
gonna be a tough outing. This may arguably be the
most tough outing that they will have had all year
because they are facing the league's number four overall offense,
(07:23):
number one rushing offense, they're twenty eighth in passing because
they don't have to pass, and the number one defense
team third in sacks. The defensive part of it, Eagles
defense Panthers offense. I'm really interested to see because Bryce
the past three weeks has handled not only blitz but
pressures so much better. What does he look like when
(07:46):
Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith are bearing down on him,
two guys that he's faced before, by the way, and
what does he do with that secondary that you know
has two rookie corners but also has I think Darius
Lay's question. But you know, we'll see if he's out
there has Chauncey Gardner Johnson who doesn't know how to
be anything but tenacious, you know, has a stingy little
(08:09):
secondary and a stout front seven. But we've seen Bryce
kind of really kind of come into himself against those
sort of pressures the past three weeks. What does he
do when he's faced with some of the best of
it in the league right now?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, well, I mean the last couple of weeks, here's
what he's done. He's done one of two things. He's
either stepped into the pressure and delivered to throw, or
he's gone into what they call baller mode, which I love.
I mean, they just kind of declare that in their meeting.
I mean, you you wrote so much and so well
this offseason about their quest to get the ball out
in two point seven seconds. They just decide at a
(08:47):
certain point two point seven goes out the window, and
you go into baller mode, make something happen. If you
need to escape the pocket, go look. And I mean
that's where you've seen Bryce get out and make some
plays and make some of those anticipation throws out on
the move and I mean, there were people in this
building last year when everything was sideways who were just
screaming to the heavens, get Bryce out on the move,
(09:09):
do the things he was good out at Alabama. And
I mean, that's to me gonna be one of the
defining quotes of the second half of this year. Is
that's Alabama Bryce. When Trevin Wallace said that after the
KC game, that'll be in the book one of these days.
I mean, you'll reach that point where he got back
to being Alabama Bryce. But Alabama Bryce is that guy
who rolls the pocket, who moves things and is looking
(09:32):
downfield and looking around while moving. And that was the
thing he was always so good out at Alabama. Is
that being able to scan on the move and find
an Adam feeling downfield. You know, the crazy one handed
catch in overtime was Bryce and Adam feeling basically improvising.
(09:54):
But it's not improvising because it's months in the building
and it's and it's something that takes time and communication
and getting to know each other. But he wasn't making
those throws earlier this year.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
One another one too, that we saw that kind of
got lost in the shuffle because it happened much earlier
in the game, but he went out on a scramble
drill I want to say in the sete no, the
first Yeah, in the first quarter. I mean he was
wrapped up, he was sacked and he got out of
it and Tommy Tremble was running down the right sideline
and just stuck his hand up in the air and
(10:27):
Bryce found him for a huge gain. That was a
gutsy little move and a gutsy throw that turned into
a big play. Back to the two point seven stuff too.
You know, Canalis had kind of gotten away from talking
about that during the season, and I think it was
just because of kind of the way the season was going.
The past couple of weeks, he has brought it back
(10:48):
up himself, unprompted more than once, and that tells me
that they're seeing Bryce clicking with it, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Well, and again, different guy we're seeing right now. I
don't think there's any debate about that. I mean Bryce
is playing with a different confidence and a different I
hate to say swagger because when you talk about quarterbacks
and swagger, everything is measured against one impossible standard in
Carolina Panthers history, and I don't mean Jake Delome.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know, Or you don't think Jake Dolomses swagger.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You know. If we would have known what the word
swagger meant in nineteen ninety nine, Steve Berlin had it.
But that's not what I mean. And you know Bryce
is never gonna be that guy. Okay, that guy is
one of one. He is for a reason and literally
number one, literally number one. Bryce is never gonna be
that guy. But you see a little bit more now,
(11:44):
you know, the little dance, the little jimmy coming out
after eating that runs for a touchdown. I will not
I'm actually doing it right now. You just can't see it.
So for all of you people into the theater of
the mind here on the Happy half hour, I am
currently doing the Seng dance as far as you know.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Don't let you know.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
But it's it's more fun, and I think that's the
biggest thing. I keep going back to finding that voice
and figuring out who they want to be. They want
to be the team that leans on people. They want
to be the team that relies on Bryce to do
smart things rather than physically amazing things. They want to
be the team that eventually plays tight defense and they
(12:26):
don't have people for it right now. They just don't.
And God bless all the guys who are out there
are doing their best right now. But a lot of
those guys were you know, career backups who are in
starting roles or rookies who weren't expecting to play nearly
this many snaps this year, and it's tough sledding. I mean,
they just you know, Giero Vero talked about it today.
(12:46):
You know, it's not all just the guys, but a
lot of it's the guys. And as they continue to
add more guys, then they'll be the team they want
to be. And you can see those little little hints
of it right now.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It's hard not to imagine. And again, if wishes and
butts were candy and nuts, that's what it is. You
don't have America.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I have some butts were candy and nuts. We don't
have Americ Christmas.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
We'll get it right around.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I still like mine, which is if my aunt had
wheel se'ed be.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
A wagon hardless. It's hard not to imagine what the
defense would have looked like if Derek Brown was still
out there. I mean, we're human at the end of
the day.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That's going to be the greatest free agent signing ever
this off season, adding Derek Brown.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Adding Derek Brown back saying you know when you.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Add a player like that to this team, Yeah, it's
going to be like an impact signing, and you know
it's obviously going to make a huge difference. But that's
going to be one of many things that happens. I mean,
they're going to be active in free agents in free
agency right now. It's season ended today, they'd be picking
fifth in the draft. Also, a lot of people would
be saying, why is the season ending the Thursday, a
(13:52):
week fourteen? We make the rules, Yeah, exactly. So you
know you're looking at a high top ten pick. I
mean probably somewhere in the Florida eight range, depending on
how these.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Next you can get a game change goes.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I mean, you you can find somebody and we'll get
into draft stuff later on, but it's going to be
somebody who ought to be able to start from day one.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I walked into an office here the other day on
our second floor and dB was just sitting in a
very small, uncomfortable looking chair, and I was like, Dby,
what are you doing here? And he it was the
pr office and he's like, this is my office now,
I run this place. Yeah, And I was like, and
but what was funny about it was it was an
off day for the players, and.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
You know who wanted to be here? You know who
was more uncomfortable than dB who the chair?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
That's true, And it's like all of you other people
sitting in here, y'all couldn't give him one of your
nicer chairs. But I just thought it was funny too,
because it was an off day for the players, and
he just wanted to be in the building. Yeah, And
he just wanted to be here.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And be around, right, And Derek's been around the whole
time we had It was actually an interesting question. I
enjoy writing the Ascy Old Guy mail Bag because we
find people send in questions that actually make me think sometimes,
which you know, sometimes I act like I'd seen it
all and done it all around this place, just because
I've been wandering around for thirty years. But somebody asked
(15:09):
about Derek Brown being on the sidelines during games. And
I mean, I know, Derek's in the building source my
two eyes every day, but he hadn't been on the
sideline prior to last week's game. Primarily because of self
defense reasons. Derek Brown. Derek Brown was on a scooter
for a long time. He had a souped up Rascal
scooter that was a pretty impressive piece of engineering.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I found it on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And then he was on crutches for a long time.
And you can't have guys on crutches on the sidelines
because football happens all around them and if somebody comes barreling,
you know, out of bounds and runs into Derek Brown
while he's compromised in his ability to move and protect himself,
then they could be a bigger problem. So gus guys
have to hang back, and they're usually in a suite
(15:54):
somewhere upstairs until they're able to be there on the
sideline and be in the And Derek is definitely eager
to be in the MiGs.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
His voice on the sideline could could help to keep
people calm.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, I mean, dB is he's seen some things here
in the last a little bit and he's definitely eager
to get back to where it's the kind of defense
that he was used to being on previously. And and
and then some So we'll see how it goes. But
Philly this weekend yep, sa Kwan Barkley play hard. You
know this is gonna be a challenge for those guys.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, that's gonna You sounded like somebody when you said that,
were you doing an impersonation.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Not that I'm aware of. I mean, I am just
batting a cold. Maybe it's Foghorn Leghorn, well Steve Spurry
or Falhorn Leghorn kind of, I think. But no, I
mean it's yeah, it's it's gonna be tough. I mean,
the Eagles are really good at football. This just in
that's analysis that you can only get here at the
Happy half hour. I know the people at Southern Star
(16:57):
are really glad they're sponsoring this thing now.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But you know.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Regardless the Eagles game five games left the rest of
this season, and whether this team finishes three and fourteen,
five and twelve, whatever, the four and thirteen, whatever the
number may be, I think the greater lessons are going
to stand. And I mean we'll see fine tuning of
some of that over the next five weeks. But I
think we've learned a lot of what we're going to
(17:21):
learn about this team right now, which is maybe they
found a quarterback yeh who they trust going in the
next year, maybe they can build on this passing game.
You know, they'll want to continue to add parts on
offense too. Just because Dan Morgan is a guy a
lot of people believe is going to invest heavily in
defense this offseason, that don't mean they don't need another
(17:43):
wide receiver to help this team. And I think they're
going to be pretty active in that regard. So they're
going to be busy. We're going to find things out,
you know, little individual things, and you know there's gonna
be opportunities like Shaw Smith Wade gets back in the
lineup this week at nickel. If Shaw Smith Wade can
be your nickel going into next year.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
That takes care of a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Takes care of a number of things, and it also
makes this a pretty good draft.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I mean, if you get what you think you're going
to get out of Jonathan Brooks, if Xavier Leget continues
to develop again, Trevin Wallace got a lot of snaps
they didn't think he was gonna get this year, that's
gonna accelerate his process. Jatavian Sanders has made enough place
to make you think that's going to be a thing
that develops as part of this offense. If you get
(18:32):
two contributors out of any draft you feel.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Okay about it, they might get if you get five,
and so Jaydon Crummedy, So that that leaves we've gone
through all of them except for Jaydon Crummedy, who has
spent most of them season on ir but they seem
to really really like what they're going to get out
of him. And the other one is Michael Barrett, which
ipso facto is Mike Jackson.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Correct, you traded your seventh round pick. You're starting to
make the roster for a guy who starts every game
at cornerback for you this year and play at a
pretty decent level.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
So you got five out of seven that are already
contributing in a in an impactful way and or learning
to contribute more down the road. One that you're still
learning about in one like like you said, you turned
into a veteran starter. Yeah, got a bad draft.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
It was it sure was something, But well we'll get
to all that and more. It's been there's been so
much going on, I lose track of what day of
the week it is. You know, we're less than three
weeks from Christmas.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Right, My bank account knows that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
That late, that late Thanksgiving, late Thanksgiving rolling all over
me right now. I woke up yesterday it was like,
it's three weeks from Christmas. I'm not ready for this. Yeah,
but uh yeah, it's been great though. Thanksgiving break was good.
Hope everybody's was great. You know, had opportunity to see family.
I know your family was in town. That's what it's
(19:52):
all about. Find your people, hang out with them. Saw
a show. Speaking of which, your jukebox assignment this week
was to go to the Last Waltz was to listen
to the end section of the Last Waltz I a
couple of Bob Dylan songs along with the band.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I have something to admit.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh no, I forgot to do it. You forgot to
do it? Well, that's never happened. This is this.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
First week I for this is the first week I Cassidy,
have forgotten to listen to the song.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Now I may have to make you watch the entire
movie just to get you caught up on the band's catalog.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
What did I do the week you forgot to listen?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
This way? We just went on to the next thing.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I'll let you. I give you a whole other week.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You're you're a better person than I am. But no,
speaking of the band, I mean one of the things
got to do over the holiday that was cool is
here in Charlotte at the Visuali Theater in elizabeth Great
Room by the way to see a show. If you
ever have an opportunity, I highly recommend it. They do
a Last Waltz tribute show and the Last Waltz as
people like Cassidy who do not know it's it's the
(20:54):
band's final concert from nineteen seventy six Thanksgiving nineteen seventy
six the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco. The band, featuring Levon
hillm and Robbie Robertson, brought in all their friends from
Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, ringo star Van Morrison,
and a cast of thousands, and Martin Scorsese filmed it
turned it into a movie. The two songs I gave
(21:17):
you were two of the last three numbers in that movie.
We went to see a tribute show at the Visualize
Friday night. Wife and I went with some friends, well,
our friend Duffy and his wife Carla Hu and Duffy's
some music industry veteran. So we're standing there at the
concert talking about the band, and Levon Hilm and Robbie
Robertson and Duffy just kind of casually mentions, Yeah, when
I was at Fender, we did a project with Robbie
(21:38):
and he said, it's like, whoa dude, you know, every
now and then I walk around I walk around this
building and you forget that Luke Keiakley's not a part
of everybody's life where they just see him walking down
the hall and be like what Luke. But you know,
just the way my guy Duffy just kind of casually
dropped that. Yeah, when I was working with Robbie Robertson,
he said, Robbie, I love that kind of stuff. So
(22:03):
I did. However, listen to your really long Tailor's Swift song,
your super long Taylor Swift song, ten minutes of Taylor
just opening up a veint. I gotta ask when you
when you listen to Taylor Swift records, do you ever
consider that she makes these records and sings these songs
(22:24):
for people like you instead of going to therapy.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Because you when I went to the Eras tour, Yeah,
and she got to the all too Well section. I
turned to my friend. My friend and I have a
saying about all too well ten minute version Taylor's version.
It's cheaper than therapy for somebody.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Man, that girl's going through it.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I like being able to I don't listen to it
all the time, but when I'm just like.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
But when I need to listen to it, I really.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Sometimes you just need to open a vein. And every
girl knows what a good car cry can do for you.
And yeah, no, but I do love the bridge of
that song. That's a good screaming bridge, Like that's you
turn the volume up and you're just like, maybe we
got lost in translation. Maybe I asked much.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
I you're feeling it right.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I will wait to assign you a song since I waited,
since I missed.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Mine, that's fair enough. I may just go back and
listen to the last Walter because that's a thing I
do a lot this time.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
But I will give you a heads up the next one,
just to complete this whole circle. So that's the emotional
part about that relationship. She wrote a follow up. The
song is about Jake Jillenhall. She wrote a follow up
song that's like the Petty One that's called I Bet
you think about Me, and next week that will be
your home.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Oh god.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
But and that one's funny, and it's with Chris Stapleton.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
God bless Travis Kelsey and Taylor. I hope they, you know,
I hope those crazy kids keep it together. I you know,
all you really, anybody is. But my god, if that
ever gets sideways, that poor boy, he don't know what
he's in for.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's gonna make a great album though.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Oh my god. So anyway, we will cover all of that.
We'll actually talk about more football and stuff too, as
we do every week here on the Happy half Hour.
This week on the Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
This may arguably be the most tough outing that they
will have had all year. Eagles defense Pancers offense. I'm
really interested to see because Bryce the past three weeks
has handled not only blitz but pressures so much better.
What does he look like when Jalen Carter and Nolan
Smith are bearing down on him? You guys that he's
faced before. By the way, what's.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It? It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your
friends Darren Ghent and Cassidy Hill. All right, hello friends,
it is time for yet another edition of the Happy
Half Hour. We got all kinds of stuff to talk about,
including that horn flourish that cast you. We'll break that
(00:47):
down later. If we're gonna do our own sound effects,
we're gonna have a lot of problems, Matt, a lot
of problems.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I do my own stunts.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, but anyway, this is the Happy Half Hour by
Southern Star and official Bourbon partner The Carolina Panthers celebrate
the spirit of the Carolinas, and for the second week
in a row, they all most had something real.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
To sell post. Well you know what they say, if
wishes and hopes were oh wait, dang, what is the phrase, if.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
My aunt had huyos, she'd be a wagon.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
No, it's like if if some butts were wishes and butts,
we'd all have a Merry.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Christmas candy and nuts.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Close enough.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Yeah, there you go. So anyway, that's where we are.
Panthers losing overtime to the Buccaneers. Uh. Coming on the
heels of Panthers lose on the last second, You'll go
to the Kansas City Chiefs and and things feel different
than the record would indicate.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
They feel different, and that is indicated by the fact
that this loss hurt yeap, Like the Kansas City loss,
you're like disappointed because you're like, man, we were right there.
It could have happened. But you kind of like take
what you take, the positives from it and move on.
This loss hurt. And I don't know if this loss
would have hard as much at the beginning of the year,
(02:05):
But now you're starting to see this team kind of
figure out who they are, who they want to be,
and you look at that game and go, that was winnable.
That was winnable in many different ways. You think one
or two different things go different, or one or two
things go differently in that game's a win. But that
also kind of goes back to what Dave Canalysis said
(02:26):
and what we have said week after week. As long
as Dave Canally says it, will say it, and that
is finish. And you know, if there's a couple of
things that are just finished in that game, it's a win.
And so even though it's it's a loss, it's a
good touching point. It's a good teaching point for Dave
Canalis as they continue to build this thing. And it
makes me think about this game that's coming up on
(02:47):
Sunday a little differently than I probably would even a
month ago.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Oh no doubt, Yeah, no doubt. I mean, And that's
the thing. There were very real There have been games
this year the Carolina Panthers loss because they didn't have
any business being in them. That was a game they
lost for very tangible and specific reasons. They score one
touchdown in the red zone, kick too many field goals,
they let Bucky Irvin go for a buck fifty against them.
(03:10):
You know, there's all these very specific things. They missed
two field goals that they could have done differently, and
we'd have a completely different conversation right now. Yeah, And
I mean, there are so many of those, and that's
what frustrated those guys so much, and it did. It
was telling to me that a the players in the
(03:31):
locker room were crushed losing that game to the Bucks
because they knew they had it in their hands. They
knew they had the opportunity, you know. And again, even
without the Adam Thielen touchdown, that wasn't There were so
many of them that they were frustrated with themselves. But
this building, for the second week in a row, had atmosphere. Yeah,
(03:53):
I mean that sounds when we're walking underneath this stadium,
you know, and a lot of times, not that anybody cares,
but to go under behind the curtain. I will duck
down before a game is over watch on a monitor
from the room where the press conference is about to happen,
just because I'm trying to file rapid reactions, which many
of you enjoy on Panthers dot Com right at the gun.
(04:15):
To do that, I've got to be in that room.
I could hear that from under the stadium. I mean,
this place was shaking coming down the stretch at the
end of regulation and in overtime, and this place had
a little bit of a vibe, and that was not
the case early in the year at different points. I
(04:37):
mean last year, certainly, at no point last year, I
don't think other than maybe the Atlanta game.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Even then, wasn't that the game where like everybody scrammed.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Yeah, I mean, the weather's been terrible, but anyways, there's
something cooking. And that's been my big takeaway from this
from the last couple of weeks is they may be
three and nine, they may be you know, whatever percentage
points remaining to be playoff eligible, all that kind of stuff.
(05:07):
I don't want to get to in the weeds on that,
but what they've found is a voice, They've found a personality.
They've found the kind of football they want to play
when they're good, when they're in games in December that
do matter for playoff positioning, when they're in games for playoffs.
I just think that's as valuable as anything that's happened
(05:28):
this season is they've sort of figured out who they are.
Dave Canalis keep saying, we're gonna we're trying to be us,
We're trying to get to us. They've figured out what
us is. Now they got to play better football and
get more people.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
You know, I was standing in the locker room today.
It was I mean me or I good thing, I
don't work in words. It was me, Robert Hunt and
our coworker Rob and Robert Hunt was asking us, like,
who are some of the most impactful players you've ever covered?
And Rob was go back to that twenty fifteen team
(06:02):
alive and he was like, you know what they just had.
He's like, that team just had guys you know that
could get it done on the field, that were great
in the locker room. And Rob Hunt said, we'll stick
around another year or two, You're gonna see that team again.
And you kind of can't help but believe Rob Hunt
when he says stuff. And so that was, well, he's
(06:24):
been around it, yeah, and he's been around it.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
He was on a Miami team that had been you know,
in some other places and then got good. So he's
seen this climb before. And I think that's part of
the reason he was of interest to them, in addition
to the fact that he's massive and moves like a
much smaller man while being a much much larger man.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, and he certainly brings the personality as well. And
so you know, these three wins feel a little differently
than the two did at this point last year, and
we'll kind of see where they go from here.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
This is three pointing towards something as opposed to two
pointing toward another.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Rebuild, counting two on the way down. Yeah, kind of
just looking ahead to this week, as we were saying
at the top, like it's gonna be interesting to watch,
and let's just call a spade a spade. This is
gonna be a tough outing. This may arguably be the
most tough outing that they will have had all year
because they are facing the league's number four overall offense,
(07:23):
number one rushing offense, they're twenty eighth in passing because
they don't have to pass, and the number one defense
team third in sacks. The defensive part of it, Eagles
defense Panthers offense. I'm really interested to see because Bryce
the past three weeks has handled not only blitz but
pressures so much better. What does he look like when
(07:46):
Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith are bearing down on him,
two guys that he's faced before, by the way, and
what does he do with that secondary that you know
has two rookie corners but also has I think Darius
Lay's question. But you know, we'll see if he's out
there has Chauncey Gardner Johnson who doesn't know how to
be anything but tenacious, you know, has a stingy little
(08:09):
secondary and a stout front seven. But we've seen Bryce
kind of really kind of come into himself against those
sort of pressures the past three weeks. What does he
do when he's faced with some of the best of
it in the league right now?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, well, I mean the last couple of weeks, here's
what he's done. He's done one of two things. He's
either stepped into the pressure and delivered to throw, or
he's gone into what they call baller mode, which I love.
I mean, they just kind of declare that in their meeting.
I mean, you you wrote so much and so well
this offseason about their quest to get the ball out
in two point seven seconds. They just decide at a
(08:47):
certain point two point seven goes out the window, and
you go into baller mode, make something happen. If you
need to escape the pocket, go look. And I mean
that's where you've seen Bryce get out and make some
plays and make some of those anticipation throws out on
the move and I mean, there were people in this
building last year when everything was sideways who were just
screaming to the heavens, get Bryce out on the move,
(09:09):
do the things he was good out at Alabama. And
I mean, that's to me gonna be one of the
defining quotes of the second half of this year. Is
that's Alabama Bryce. When Trevin Wallace said that after the
KC game, that'll be in the book one of these days.
I mean, you'll reach that point where he got back
to being Alabama Bryce. But Alabama Bryce is that guy
who rolls the pocket, who moves things and is looking
(09:32):
downfield and looking around while moving. And that was the
thing he was always so good out at Alabama. Is
that being able to scan on the move and find
an Adam feeling downfield. You know, the crazy one handed
catch in overtime was Bryce and Adam feeling basically improvising.
(09:54):
But it's not improvising because it's months in the building
and it's and it's something that takes time and communication
and getting to know each other. But he wasn't making
those throws earlier this year.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
One another one too, that we saw that kind of
got lost in the shuffle because it happened much earlier
in the game, but he went out on a scramble
drill I want to say in the sete no, the
first Yeah, in the first quarter. I mean he was
wrapped up, he was sacked and he got out of
it and Tommy Tremble was running down the right sideline
and just stuck his hand up in the air and
(10:27):
Bryce found him for a huge gain. That was a
gutsy little move and a gutsy throw that turned into
a big play. Back to the two point seven stuff too.
You know, Canalis had kind of gotten away from talking
about that during the season, and I think it was
just because of kind of the way the season was going.
The past couple of weeks, he has brought it back
(10:48):
up himself, unprompted more than once, and that tells me
that they're seeing Bryce clicking with it, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Well, and again, different guy we're seeing right now. I
don't think there's any debate about that. I mean Bryce
is playing with a different confidence and a different I
hate to say swagger because when you talk about quarterbacks
and swagger, everything is measured against one impossible standard in
Carolina Panthers history, and I don't mean Jake Delome.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know, Or you don't think Jake Dolomses swagger.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
You know. If we would have known what the word
swagger meant in nineteen ninety nine, Steve Berlin had it.
But that's not what I mean. And you know Bryce
is never gonna be that guy. Okay, that guy is
one of one. He is for a reason and literally
number one, literally number one. Bryce is never gonna be
that guy. But you see a little bit more now,
(11:44):
you know, the little dance, the little jimmy coming out
after eating that runs for a touchdown. I will not
I'm actually doing it right now. You just can't see it.
So for all of you people into the theater of
the mind here on the Happy half hour, I am
currently doing the Seng dance as far as you know.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Don't let you know.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
But it's it's more fun, and I think that's the
biggest thing. I keep going back to finding that voice
and figuring out who they want to be. They want
to be the team that leans on people. They want
to be the team that relies on Bryce to do
smart things rather than physically amazing things. They want to
be the team that eventually plays tight defense and they
(12:26):
don't have people for it right now. They just don't.
And God bless all the guys who are out there
are doing their best right now. But a lot of
those guys were you know, career backups who are in
starting roles or rookies who weren't expecting to play nearly
this many snaps this year, and it's tough sledding. I mean,
they just you know, Giero Vero talked about it today.
(12:46):
You know, it's not all just the guys, but a
lot of it's the guys. And as they continue to
add more guys, then they'll be the team they want
to be. And you can see those little little hints
of it right now.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It's hard not to imagine. And again, if wishes and
butts were candy and nuts, that's what it is. You
don't have America.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I have some butts were candy and nuts. We don't
have Americ Christmas.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
We'll get it right around.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I still like mine, which is if my aunt had
wheel se'ed be.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
A wagon hardless. It's hard not to imagine what the
defense would have looked like if Derek Brown was still
out there. I mean, we're human at the end of
the day.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
That's going to be the greatest free agent signing ever
this off season, adding Derek Brown.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Adding Derek Brown back saying you know when you.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Add a player like that to this team, Yeah, it's
going to be like an impact signing, and you know
it's obviously going to make a huge difference. But that's
going to be one of many things that happens. I mean,
they're going to be active in free agents in free
agency right now. It's season ended today, they'd be picking
fifth in the draft. Also, a lot of people would
be saying, why is the season ending the Thursday, a
(13:52):
week fourteen? We make the rules, Yeah, exactly. So you
know you're looking at a high top ten pick. I
mean probably somewhere in the Florida eight range, depending on
how these.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Next you can get a game change goes.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
I mean, you you can find somebody and we'll get
into draft stuff later on, but it's going to be
somebody who ought to be able to start from day one.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
I walked into an office here the other day on
our second floor and dB was just sitting in a
very small, uncomfortable looking chair, and I was like, Dby,
what are you doing here? And he it was the
pr office and he's like, this is my office now,
I run this place. Yeah, And I was like, and
but what was funny about it was it was an
off day for the players, and.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
You know who wanted to be here? You know who
was more uncomfortable than dB who the chair?
Speaker 2 (14:36):
That's true, And it's like all of you other people
sitting in here, y'all couldn't give him one of your
nicer chairs. But I just thought it was funny too,
because it was an off day for the players, and
he just wanted to be in the building. Yeah, And
he just wanted to be here.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And be around, right, And Derek's been around the whole
time we had It was actually an interesting question. I
enjoy writing the Ascy Old Guy mail Bag because we
find people send in questions that actually make me think sometimes,
which you know, sometimes I act like I'd seen it
all and done it all around this place, just because
I've been wandering around for thirty years. But somebody asked
(15:09):
about Derek Brown being on the sidelines during games. And
I mean, I know, Derek's in the building source my
two eyes every day, but he hadn't been on the
sideline prior to last week's game. Primarily because of self
defense reasons. Derek Brown. Derek Brown was on a scooter
for a long time. He had a souped up Rascal
scooter that was a pretty impressive piece of engineering.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I found it on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And then he was on crutches for a long time.
And you can't have guys on crutches on the sidelines
because football happens all around them and if somebody comes barreling,
you know, out of bounds and runs into Derek Brown
while he's compromised in his ability to move and protect himself,
then they could be a bigger problem. So gus guys
have to hang back, and they're usually in a suite
(15:54):
somewhere upstairs until they're able to be there on the
sideline and be in the And Derek is definitely eager
to be in the MiGs.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
His voice on the sideline could could help to keep
people calm.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah, I mean, dB is he's seen some things here
in the last a little bit and he's definitely eager
to get back to where it's the kind of defense
that he was used to being on previously. And and
and then some So we'll see how it goes. But
Philly this weekend yep, sa Kwan Barkley play hard. You
know this is gonna be a challenge for those guys.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Yeah, that's gonna You sounded like somebody when you said that,
were you doing an impersonation.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Not that I'm aware of. I mean, I am just
batting a cold. Maybe it's Foghorn Leghorn, well Steve Spurry
or Falhorn Leghorn kind of, I think. But no, I
mean it's yeah, it's it's gonna be tough. I mean,
the Eagles are really good at football. This just in
that's analysis that you can only get here at the
Happy half hour. I know the people at Southern Star
(16:57):
are really glad they're sponsoring this thing now.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
But you know.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Regardless the Eagles game five games left the rest of
this season, and whether this team finishes three and fourteen,
five and twelve, whatever, the four and thirteen, whatever the
number may be, I think the greater lessons are going
to stand. And I mean we'll see fine tuning of
some of that over the next five weeks. But I
think we've learned a lot of what we're going to
(17:21):
learn about this team right now, which is maybe they
found a quarterback yeh who they trust going in the
next year, maybe they can build on this passing game.
You know, they'll want to continue to add parts on
offense too. Just because Dan Morgan is a guy a
lot of people believe is going to invest heavily in
defense this offseason, that don't mean they don't need another
(17:43):
wide receiver to help this team. And I think they're
going to be pretty active in that regard. So they're
going to be busy. We're going to find things out,
you know, little individual things, and you know there's gonna
be opportunities like Shaw Smith Wade gets back in the
lineup this week at nickel. If Shaw Smith Wade can
be your nickel going into next year.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
That takes care of a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Takes care of a number of things, and it also
makes this a pretty good draft.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
I mean, if you get what you think you're going
to get out of Jonathan Brooks, if Xavier Leget continues
to develop again, Trevin Wallace got a lot of snaps
they didn't think he was gonna get this year, that's
gonna accelerate his process. Jatavian Sanders has made enough place
to make you think that's going to be a thing
that develops as part of this offense. If you get
(18:32):
two contributors out of any draft you feel.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Okay about it, they might get if you get five,
and so Jaydon Crummedy, So that that leaves we've gone
through all of them except for Jaydon Crummedy, who has
spent most of them season on ir but they seem
to really really like what they're going to get out
of him. And the other one is Michael Barrett, which
ipso facto is Mike Jackson.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Correct, you traded your seventh round pick. You're starting to
make the roster for a guy who starts every game
at cornerback for you this year and play at a
pretty decent level.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
So you got five out of seven that are already
contributing in a in an impactful way and or learning
to contribute more down the road. One that you're still
learning about in one like like you said, you turned
into a veteran starter. Yeah, got a bad draft.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
It was it sure was something, But well we'll get
to all that and more. It's been there's been so
much going on, I lose track of what day of
the week it is. You know, we're less than three
weeks from Christmas.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Right, My bank account knows that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
That late, that late Thanksgiving, late Thanksgiving rolling all over
me right now. I woke up yesterday it was like,
it's three weeks from Christmas. I'm not ready for this. Yeah,
but uh yeah, it's been great though. Thanksgiving break was good.
Hope everybody's was great. You know, had opportunity to see family.
I know your family was in town. That's what it's
(19:52):
all about. Find your people, hang out with them. Saw
a show. Speaking of which, your jukebox assignment this week
was to go to the Last Waltz was to listen
to the end section of the Last Waltz I a
couple of Bob Dylan songs along with the band.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I have something to admit.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Oh no, I forgot to do it. You forgot to
do it? Well, that's never happened. This is this.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
First week I for this is the first week I Cassidy,
have forgotten to listen to the song.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
Now I may have to make you watch the entire
movie just to get you caught up on the band's catalog.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
What did I do the week you forgot to listen?
Speaker 1 (20:28):
This way? We just went on to the next thing.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I'll let you. I give you a whole other week.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You're you're a better person than I am. But no,
speaking of the band, I mean one of the things
got to do over the holiday that was cool is
here in Charlotte at the Visuali Theater in elizabeth Great
Room by the way to see a show. If you
ever have an opportunity, I highly recommend it. They do
a Last Waltz tribute show and the Last Waltz as
people like Cassidy who do not know it's it's the
(20:54):
band's final concert from nineteen seventy six Thanksgiving nineteen seventy
six the Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco. The band, featuring Levon
hillm and Robbie Robertson, brought in all their friends from
Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton, ringo star Van Morrison,
and a cast of thousands, and Martin Scorsese filmed it
turned it into a movie. The two songs I gave
(21:17):
you were two of the last three numbers in that movie.
We went to see a tribute show at the Visualize
Friday night. Wife and I went with some friends, well,
our friend Duffy and his wife Carla Hu and Duffy's
some music industry veteran. So we're standing there at the
concert talking about the band, and Levon Hilm and Robbie
Robertson and Duffy just kind of casually mentions, Yeah, when
I was at Fender, we did a project with Robbie
(21:38):
and he said, it's like, whoa dude, you know, every
now and then I walk around I walk around this
building and you forget that Luke Keiakley's not a part
of everybody's life where they just see him walking down
the hall and be like what Luke. But you know,
just the way my guy Duffy just kind of casually
dropped that. Yeah, when I was working with Robbie Robertson,
he said, Robbie, I love that kind of stuff. So
(22:03):
I did. However, listen to your really long Tailor's Swift song,
your super long Taylor Swift song, ten minutes of Taylor
just opening up a veint. I gotta ask when you
when you listen to Taylor Swift records, do you ever
consider that she makes these records and sings these songs
(22:24):
for people like you instead of going to therapy.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Because you when I went to the Eras tour, Yeah,
and she got to the all too Well section. I
turned to my friend. My friend and I have a
saying about all too well ten minute version Taylor's version.
It's cheaper than therapy for somebody.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Man, that girl's going through it.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I like being able to I don't listen to it
all the time, but when I'm just like.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
But when I need to listen to it, I really.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Sometimes you just need to open a vein. And every
girl knows what a good car cry can do for you.
And yeah, no, but I do love the bridge of
that song. That's a good screaming bridge, Like that's you
turn the volume up and you're just like, maybe we
got lost in translation. Maybe I asked much.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
I you're feeling it right.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
I will wait to assign you a song since I waited,
since I missed.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Mine, that's fair enough. I may just go back and
listen to the last Walter because that's a thing I
do a lot this time.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
But I will give you a heads up the next one,
just to complete this whole circle. So that's the emotional
part about that relationship. She wrote a follow up. The
song is about Jake Jillenhall. She wrote a follow up
song that's like the Petty One that's called I Bet
you think about Me, and next week that will be
your home.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Oh god.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
But and that one's funny, and it's with Chris Stapleton.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
God bless Travis Kelsey and Taylor. I hope they, you know,
I hope those crazy kids keep it together. I you know,
all you really, anybody is. But my god, if that
ever gets sideways, that poor boy, he don't know what
he's in for.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
It's gonna make a great album though.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Oh my god. So anyway, we will cover all of that.
We'll actually talk about more football and stuff too, as
we do every week here on the Happy half Hour.
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