January 2, 2025 • 29 mins
This week on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy react to Jaycee Horn being named a Pro-Bowler, discuss Miles Sanders possible return, preview this week's game against the Atlanta Falcons and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This week on a Happy half Hour, the question about
jac was never an ability, it was availability. In this year,
he's in the top ten of the league and snap's
played while missing an entire game. So the fact that
jc Horn has proven he's got a thousand snaps in
him in a year, I think that kind of takes
care of that question.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's the cow wha?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star,
an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Here are your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Hello friends, and welcome to the Happy New Year edition
of The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh I like what you did there, I see what
she did?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, all things happy only happy today, Happy New Year,
Happy half Hour.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
You know this brings up actually a quick question I've
been wanting to ask you for a while because for
whatever reason, I feel like you'll know the answer to it,
and I just keep.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Forgetting appreciate you giving me that much.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Gad, what does old Lang's song mean?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Old Lang sign?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah? That one?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, Okay, we'll get to that later. So right now,
I really we've got it. We've got to be grateful
for the people who bring this fine show to all
our listeners, the good friends at Southern Star. The Happy
Half Hours presented by Southern Star, of course, an official
bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers, celebrate the spirit of
the Carolinas and there's all kind of stuff to celebrate.
(01:34):
It's Pro Bowl Day, ladies and gentlemen. J C. Horn,
how about that?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well deserved? He has had quiet a year and a
year that I think the Panthers were expecting God of
him when he was drafted and just has had injuries
stop him every step of the way. You know, something
that a gerro have ever told him when he when
he found out, was you know, you've had a long
row to get here, just with injuries and then with
(02:02):
the way teams play you.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So this is well deserved, and he is right.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
It really is amazing, And it's amazing for a couple
of reasons. I mean, Number one, this football team's four
and twelve. Four and twelve teams generally do not get
a lot of Pro Bowl recognition. Number two played zero
primetime games this year, which means the vast majority of
the people in the football world didn't see a lot
(02:27):
of J. C. Horn this year. Number three, fan voting,
which is a component of this thing, included only one
Panther in the top ten, and that was Raheem Blackshear
and kick returns. So I mean, any of the Carolina
Panthers who got recognized at all got recognized by their peers.
That was player and coach voting. And it goes to
(02:48):
show that among that subset of people out there in
the world, they look at J. C. Horn and say, yep,
there's that guy.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah. That's a good point about the fan voting too,
because you know, you also you good on social media
and you see stuff and you think that that is
the presuming thought, and you have to remember that that's
often a vacuum because you know, you get on social
media and you see one or two clips of JC
versus Mike Evans and the end zone giving up a touchdown,
(03:15):
and you think that was his whole season the way
it's kind of shaped, and that narrative is shaped, and
it really was not. That was the anomaly, not the
standard for JC this year. He locked a lot of
guys up. I think Dave can Alice said this yesterday
and I'm like ninety eight point five percent sure he
was correct.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So I'm gonna go ahead and quote him on.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
This, and if it's you in math, I trust it implicit.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, should have seen me trying to do a subtraction,
probably in the press box the other day, and I
think Darren almost got me a bottle of water.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I was stressing myself out so much.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
There was smoke coming off your head.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
But Dave Canellis said yesterday that j C and Mike
Jackson are are like the top corner duo and their
ability to shut people down as a corner duo, and
a lot of that, I mean, and a lot of
credit to Mike Jackson for the season he's had, but
a lot of that has to do with j C.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Horn too.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And the question about Jac
was never an ability, it was availability. And this is
the year he has played fifteen games. He missed last week.
Here's what's amazing about JC, and it's partly because this
defense hadn't been terribly good across the board this year.
JAC missed last week's game and is still tenth in
the league in defensive snaps. Wow, he's in the top
(04:29):
ten of the league and snaps played while missing an
entire game. That just shows you. I mean, the dude
was out there ninety seven point six percent of the
snaps this year, one thousand and thirty six snaps. That's
a season's worth for a lot of teams. And if
the Panthers can get better on defense, they won't play
that many snaps in the future. So the fact that
j C. Horn has proven he's got a thousand snaps
(04:51):
in him in a year, I think that kind of
takes care of that question. And I always always felt
bad when j C was portrayed. You know, a lot
of times when guys have injuries that are different things,
it's like they get painted as injury prone. Somebody would say,
Austin Corbett's injury prone. Well, he toren ACL and then
he popped a biceps tenant, How are these two things
(05:12):
related with JC Hornet was a broken foot the following year,
he comes back, plays most of the year, breaks his
wrist tackling somebody on his zero degree day out here
against the Lions. How are those two things connected? They're not,
you know, but he is able to come back from
all this stuff, you know, which is just unlucky.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I'm about to say it may be unlucky.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, it's just bad luck a lot of times. I mean,
it's like with you know, if it's always one soft
tissue thing over and over and over and maybe you're
doing something wrong. But when it's three different things, you
kind of throw up your hands and say, you can't
blame somebody for that. So, you know, Dave Canal has
talked about that with us. Yesterday, you got their story
(05:53):
on Panthers dot com. Everybody ought to check out about
the way JC got to this point, and you know,
he talked about you could see the plan, you could
see his plan, the way he worked it, the way
he stayed true to it all off season, you know.
And Jonathan Cooley, the cornerbacks coach passing game coordinator, talked
about it too, said you could you see it on Sundays,
(06:15):
but where you really see JC make that step is
on Wednesdays. And it's the way he works and the
way he shows up daily. And I think there is
a common thread to what the Carolina Panthers are trying
to build here. And if you look at who they've
invested in this offseason, it was Derrick Brown. Was Dereck
Brown known for a being great his job right, b
(06:35):
showing up every day and being at the front of
the line for work. Chewba Hubbard was Cuba.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Do stays two hours more than everyone else and just
keeps working.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
He just stays working and he puts in the time.
And so I think Dave Canalis has kind of got
this sort of culture of grinders going. I mean, look
at the people who defined this team. It's Cuba Hubbard,
it's Adam thiel and your Walter Payton Mann of the
Year nominee for this team. Feeling's the patron saying of
undrafted dudes. Yes, and he's got a you know new
(07:09):
flock to shepherd now around this place, and Jalen Cochr
and Dan Schas and all the you know, undrafted fling
youth that's running around this place and get T shirts.
And now you take j C. Horn, who is a
pedigree athlete, I mean son of Joe Horn. He was
born to be this guy in the NFL. And he
(07:29):
pairs that ability, that talent, that stuff that's so easy
to see with the kind of work ethic that the
grinders like Chewba Hubbard and Adam Thielen in those dudes
all respect. So I think he and Derek are two
examples of that. Yeah, you're good at football, but you
also work like a guy who.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Was undrafted, right, And you mentioned Jonathan Cooley in there too.
Got to throw a little credit his way to like
the way he he runs those dB drills and practices
is impressive and a grind as well.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, and Cooley came from the Rams. You know, he's
had Jalen Ramsey in the past. You know, he knows
what it's like to coach those guys who were that guy.
And I mean just to listen to him talk about
JC and what he's done so far this season, it's
been impressive. But uh, j C is the only Pro
bowler on this roster. But there are a couple other dudes,
and we and we've mentioned a few of them, but
(08:24):
the highest I mean, and it's alternates. And now that
it's Pro Bowl games and it's not an actual game
that people try to get out of actively, a lot
of the alternates don't go as much as they went to.
But I do think it's instructed the Cats that got
the alternate recognition Number one being Rob Hunt. Yeah, you
know again, pedigree athlete a hundred million dollar free agent contract.
(08:46):
You kind of expect certain things, but look at the
job he's done this year.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I didn't know if that was the pause for audio.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, no reason, So that that was me offering you
a chance to say nice things about Rob Hunt.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
For some reason, that seemed like the pauls you usually
do for audios.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
If I was waiting, so.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
We're waiting for podcasts. Matt in the background to give
that quiz a look like one of I suppose it.
But here, ladies and gentlemen, we've taken you behind the
curtain again. You're at the happy half hour. This is
how your sausage gets made.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Oh, I need to finish my coffee before I come
do these things. Blame JJ Janssen for this, but I
blame JJ for a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
You would have been on time and prepared and ready
for these quick transitions and this snappy cater and rep artel.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I blame Darren Bates more than JJ. On that one.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I was standing in line for the almond milk coffee
machine that's the one I need, and somebody was finishing
up their coffee. My hands got sticky from the syrup,
and I turned around to wash it, and in the
ten seconds it took me to wash my hands. I
turned back around. Darren Bates, it snuck into the almond
milk goofee machine.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You people in your fancy coffee, Darren Bates deserves preferential treatment. Well,
we'll get our coffee in when we can. And if
you just drink trucks out black like I do you
want ever have a life, you can just get out
of the pot. So Robert Hunt, Rob Hunt.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Everybody like you said about JC with the fan voting
and it being more his peers, I think a lot
of peers look around and they see Robert Hunt as
one of the better tackles, I mean guards in this league.
And they would be right. I want to say, no
Sacks giving up this year. That was heading in that No,
(10:24):
that was even after the Bucks game.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, I mean he's put up how much stock you
choose to put into PFF, you know, pressure ratings and
all that kind of stuff. Rob's rated really highly my
PFF and it's well learned. But I think one of
the things he's done is len a personality to this team.
I mean, if you think back to that Vegas game
when he got out on the screen and just flattened
(10:46):
something threw him out of the club. That was that
moment when it's like, oh God, that guy's different. Yeah,
we ain't seen one like that. I mean last year
was the year of the revolving door at guards seven
on the left, eight on the right, and instead of that,
you get big old Robert Hunt running down the field
throwing dudes out of the club.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
He is everything you want in an offensive lineman. He
can flatten guys, He can flatten them at will. He's tenacious,
he won't he won't give up on a block, and uh,
that's what you want when you have somebody protecting your
quarterback and then as soon as the helmet comes off,
(11:24):
sometimes a little earlier.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Than it might need to.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
As we picked on him about recently, he's one of
the most you said, he's lend a personality to this team.
He's also lent a personality to this locker room. And
I know that has nothing to do with Pro Bowl holding,
Pro Bowl voting, but it is why his teammates love him,
and probably why teammates around the league, you know when
he was with the Dolphins, love him as well. But yeah,
(11:47):
he's you go and just watch the film sometimes of
Robert Hunt, and he doesn't stop, and he'll We had
him micd up for a game and you go watch
that miked up. It's so funny because it's like he's
talking to the defensive lineman he's blocking them, and he's like, no, no, no,
you're not gonna get in. You're not gonna get in.
I'm stopping you this like you ain't. Oh you thought
you got me, but you didn't. Like he's like teasing
(12:08):
him as he does it. Yeah, and that you know
you can't help but love that. It's probably even if
you're a defensive line, but it's probably fun to play
against a guy like that.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Rob's good people, He's uh, he has you know. Like
I said, he's shown up and he's done the thing.
And he's been good at football for a long period
of time. Again, nine hundred and sixty seven snaps this
year and he's played every single one of them.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
He's the impressive.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
He's the only dude on offense who's played every snap
this season. So it's it's been good. I mean Panthers.
You know again, last year's offensive line was kind of
a mess, the way guys were getting hurt and it
was just this guy or after this guy, I mean
a constant procession of dudes through that room. This year,
they've gone from sixty five snap our sacks allowed to
(12:52):
thirty six I think thirty six for the you know,
basically cut your sacks in half, and again you'll spend
one hundred and fifty million bucks on Rob hunting, Damian Lewis,
you expect that to get better. But I do think
there's a carryover effect that when you stabilize the middle
at you know, all of a sudden, nobody's yelling about
ikey Akwanu nearly as much as they used to. You know,
(13:14):
you realize how good Taylor Moten is on Sundays when
he's got big Rob stand next to him.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Makes it that really more than almost any other unit
on the field is required of a full unit. I
wonder what those sack numbers are if you take out
the two Tampa Bay games where they just blitz Bama
blitz the whole time.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, well, I mean thirty six thirty six on the season.
Eleven of them come in two games against Dallas and Tampa. Yeah,
that kind of got away from him in a lot
of ways. But but you know, I think it's the
thing you want to build on going into next year,
when you've kind of figured out over the course of
this year that Bryce you Young, can in fact play football.
(13:53):
He's pretty good at quarterbacking. You found out that this
year that that next Pro Bowl alternate, Cuba Hubbard, pretty
good at football, almost twelve hundred yards ten touchdowns this year.
You know he's a fourth alternate. But again, this is
Chewba Hubbard, a fourth round pick who was a backup
and then a backup, and then they bring people in
(14:14):
left and right around him, and all he's done is
turn himself into that guy.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Who was ahead of him. Because on one hand, you're
sentting here going fourth alternate Chewbo Hubbard after the year
he's had. But on the other hand, he plays in
the NFC where Saquon Barkley plays, where Bucky Irving plays. Sure, uh,
who else would have been ahead of him?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Bah blah blah. I'm trying to I'm pulling up the
rosters while you.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Pulled us up. Let me ask you a philosophical question.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It'll hit me.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Do you think Saquon Barkley should be allowed to play
on Sunday?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I think if Saquon Barkley wants to play you know,
here's the thing, They've got bigger goals. So I'm okay
with teams doing what's best for the entire team. I
appreciate Saquan wanting to pursue his individual blah blah blah,
But at the same time, I mean, there's a team
thing happening here. And if he goes out and gets
(15:08):
stinged up this week and in available to the Philadelphia Eagles.
I think we've seen over the course of the year,
we've seen, specifically in a game against Carolina Panthers, that
the Eagles can only run the ball and beat somebody, right,
that they don't have to pass. So you know, I
would put the team goals ahead of his individual. But
(15:29):
you know that's just me. I understand him being a
little salty about it too.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying and do agree.
That's got to be a tough one to swallow it though,
when you realize how long that's been standing and that
nobody's really sniffed it, or at least not this close. Yeah,
and he's what two hundred away? Yeah, I mean that
would be tough to get in a game.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Right if he was thirty yards away from some Milestone.
I could see letting him play the first quarter and
then get him on out of there doing the cam
Ord thing. But at the same time, I mean, when
it's two hundred, come on, But that would be tough, great,
great year anyway, your NFC running backs or Sakwon Barkley,
(16:12):
jamiir Gibbs, Josh Jacob so we.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Can okay, does make sense, So we can.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Reasonably assume that Bucky Irving is somewhere in there after
a pretty brilliant.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
He's recentcy biased on my mind, you know, and that's fine.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I mean the fact that Chewba Hubbard's getting recognized at
all because again, this guy is the grinders, grinder, I
you know, I perhaps overvalue work ethic guys and overachievers
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I mean, it's kind of good thing to overvaluate.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's kind of My personality always lends itself to seeking
out those kind of people, and that's why it's cool.
Teams need to have a lot of grinders and a
lot of overachievers. They also need to have talent, so
it's good when you're talented. Players like Derrick Brown, like
j C. Horn also happen to hang with the with
the grinders. But Cuba is just anything he's gotten as
(17:03):
a player, from a starting job to a bunch of
yards to a contract extension, he has earned and he
is earned just by staying late and showing up early
and doing all those little things right to find out, Oh,
by the way, he happens to be good at football.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This is going back to something we were saying just
a second ago. Eight of the top ten rushers in
the league. Really, nine of the top eleven are all
in the NFC. Yeah, so that was gonna be a
tough one to break through this year. The other two
are are Derrick Henry and Taylor India.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, so you go Sakwon, Kiren Williams, Bijon, Josh Jacobs,
Demir Gibbs. Yeah, it stacks up on that one side
pretty good. And then you got Bucky Arvin, James Connor,
I mean, different dudes. So it's tough. But again, to
be on a four and twelve team that never shows
up on primetime, no love in the fan voting, I
think speaks to the fact that people around the league
(17:58):
recognize him. The other the other alternate, Johnny Hecker, is
this a lifetime achievement? Alternate Award maybe, but that's okay
because Johnny Hecker has been the punter of a generation.
When you get all decade honors for the twenty tens,
you know, people are gonna remember that is Johnny the
same guy he was when he was in his early twenties. No,
(18:19):
I mean he's almost JJ Jansen's a well, not quite,
but he's getting up there and he's not Johnny Hecker anymore.
But we've seen this year. I mean he keeps stacking
up punts inside the twenty and I mean I can
think off the top of my head or two or
three immediately where he lays one down at the twobe
in San.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Franco lemannic John Washington, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, you know there was one against the Chargers where
it's like Boom lays it on the one and he's
you know, he's still got that ability. Does he still
have the same physical leg strength he used to have?
Maybe not, But at the same time, he he's good
for the room because a he's still good at punting.
He's also got an arm.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I had to say. He also presents the threat.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, he creates opportunities for the special teams. I mean,
you have to honor his ability to pass. And that's
something you say about exactly one punter in the NFL,
and it's John Hecker. So good for Johnny for getting
a little of the fifth alternates hunters people too. Yeah,
I don't know. I don't know that there's any bonus
money or any even a plaque for fifth alternate. But
(19:23):
we should go by and give Johnny laurel and hearty handshake.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Laurel. That's funny, and that's a good one. Derek.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, it's blazing Saddles. That should be required watching for
you in the off season.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
You also don't want to rest on your laurels.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
You never do. You never do, and we do not.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I have seen blazing saddles.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
There you go. Well, it's uh, there's one week of
football left. We get to go to Atlanta on Sunday
to see our friends in Atlanta, and let's go ahead
and get that one wrapped up. I mean, I don't
mean to minimize it. And listen, Dave Canalis is right.
I love the fact, as someone who appreciates the work
ethic part of this thing, I love the fact that
(20:04):
Dave's like, Hey, whoever's ready to play is going to play.
If that's Miles Sanders coming back off I r. You know,
after a what six week absence to get back on
the field, you need running backs, so go play. And
I think that's part of the larger culture Dave's trying
to build there.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, eight weeks right week.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Ten, we were in Germany the last time we saw
Miles on the field, and Miles one of those dude.
He's a good dude. He's come into it. He came
here as part of a weird situation. I mean, he
was part of the plan of a previous administration that
didn't necessarily fit with a lot of other parts and
found himself in a weird spot. But you know, Miles
(20:42):
has never really publicly been a pain, right. He's always
in a locker room, always shown up, been a good
locker room guy. And that's not easy when you get
one of those guys who's kind of crossed up in
the timeline with coaches and gms.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And Miles was a little bit of a victim this
year of a really, really good Chuba Hubbard season, and
that happens at times. But someone that coaches have always
admired that Dave Canaliss has always mentioned is wanting to
be involved when he can be, so you know, he
gets he gets one week to kind of be the
guy if he's back out there. That's something that we
(21:17):
do have to temper expectations with because they do want
to get him on the practice field again today, which
is Thursday. That's kind of their high intensity day of
the week. We use those terms loosely at this time
of year, but to just kind of see what he
can do, because you know, with the high ankle sprain
when you're running back, you need to kind of see
(21:37):
if they can cut, what they can turn things like that.
He'll be on turf and a dome this weekend. I'm
sure that's taken into account. But you know, a team
that you can feasibly run against. So it's it's gonna
be interesting in this game for all intentsive purposes. Does
still matter in terms of you know, the Falcons have
(21:58):
to win if they want to be able to get
to the playoffs. Yep, Panthers win, it effects seating for
next year, right, and so you know it's it's not
just a complete wash of a game. And of course
you want to keep building something I.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Should and listen, I mean all the things the Panthers
are trying to do are more cultural than you know, tangible.
I mean, there is no playoff. As you mentioned, they
could still be the third place team in the NFC South,
depending on the way some tiebreakers go. If they win
Saints Louse, they could still be the number three. That
(22:31):
means some difference in schedule. That means you get Dallas
instead of the Giants. That means tripp to Green Bay
instead of trip to Chicago next year, stuff like that
draft position. Obviously, there are nine teams stuck with three
or four wins right now, so draft order could change
dramatically in the next couple of days. So we'll have
all that for you at Panthers dot com. But you know,
(22:52):
mostly they just want to finish this thing on a
high note and avoid some really ugly records.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
The Panthers defense this year, as you might be aware,
has struggled and they were sitting in some pretty unfortunate
spots on the all time list for yards rushing, yards
and points allowed. Right now, they're the seventh highest on
the points allowed to list with a game to play,
so you know, hopefully those guys are able to avoid
a lot of that stuff. Hopefully everybody stays healthy and
(23:18):
then we can get on into the offseason part of
the program.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
And I think too, they just want to leave fans
with a good taste in their mouth.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
That was something that can Alice talked about before the
final home game, was we want to leave the Charlotte
crowd with something good to remember. And then they did
that with that overtime win versus the Cardinals. You know,
because you look at some of the games this season,
even that were losses, but you can come out of
them feeling good. You don't really go into the off
season feeling good after that Tampa Bay game, No, So
(23:47):
you want to leave with a better on a better.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Note, right, And again I think thematically, if we draw
the curtain on the twenty twenty four season after the
Cardinals game, I think that would suit most. Yeah, so
we'll get through that one and we'll get on to
the off season next week. And it is it crawled
up on us. We got through almost eighteen of these things, now, didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
We I don't know if we're through them yet, but
we're close.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We're close. I can I can see it at the
end of the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Well, you can see that my Netflix series or meaning
like you know, whenever I'll sit down after the season.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, when it's over and it's close, so it is.
It's it's weird. I wish the schedule lined up so
like at the end of a calendar year was also
the end of a football season that kind of stuff. Yeah,
but anyway, it's New Year's It's what day is this?
This is January? Second. Second, I always laugh around the
holidays and like with New Years, I mean, because people
(24:47):
go out and celebrate and stuff, and I'm like, it's Tuesday. Yeah,
i gotta be at work tomorrow at a reasonably early hour,
so I'm not gonna go out and do all that
kind of stuff. Anyway. I'm also a very very old person,
so it's.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Uh, you're not that old.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, but yeah, know, here we are, it's Thursday. We're
recording the Happy Half Hour. Oh we got jukebox being
a jukebox.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
You didn't give me a song last week?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, no I didn't. I neglected to, but you had
me listening to Taylor Swift's New Year's Eve, New Year's Day,
New Year's Day, Yes, New Year's Day. You described that
as your favorite Taylor Swift song.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Tael me no no, no, no no no.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I said, it's my favorite of her love songs. Okay,
because not all of her songs are love song.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That's fair. That's fair.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I like it because you said, tell me why. I
like it because it's more of the so many of
her songs are like big, and it's a little bit simpler.
It's just the piano and then there's like a guitar
at the end, and it's just kind of like, even
when everything, even when all the fun stuff is over,
(25:54):
I'm still gonna be here with you. And there's like
one line in it that's like, don't read the last page,
which I do in a book. So it's like kind
of funny, and it's like, but I'll stay when it's hard,
or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes, and it just
kind of sounds like a vow to me. It also
has what I think is maybe one of the saddest
lines she's ever written, which is funny to throw the
(26:17):
saddest line she's ever written into a love song. Do
you know what's one I'm thinking of? Go ahead, it's
the please don't become a stranger? Who's laugh I could
recognize anywhere.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Right, And here's where I got hung up on this song.
Listening to it, I was like, one of the things
that weirds me out about a lot of Taylor Swift
songs is she approaches a lot of her songs almost
pleading with dudes. Yeah, or you know, or somebody who
is an international boss lady who has made more money
(26:50):
than probably anybody in the world in the last couple
of years. On this era's tour, it's like, claim your agency, girl,
you are the one in charge. You decide if you
want to date Travis kelce or whoever. You shouldn't be
asking dudes to please, don't go please days.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
A lot of Swifties.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Like her and Travis Kelcey because it felt like the
first relationship where the guy realized like, holy crap, I'm
dating Taylor Swift right, and appreciated the person and the
superstar because that wasn't because you know, for that, it
was all tortured artists who were like, so what, You're
the biggest pop star who cares?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, there you go. That's that's the way I am.
When I go home, I look at my wife and
I'm like, how could I possibly attained this? You know?
And I'm I'm fortunate to Taylor. I wish Taylor would
embrace her.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
So many people, especially like women, will like the songs
and identify with them because we're not the world's biggest
pop star and so there is a little bit of
like feeling and connected to it.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, but you're a star in your own right.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Ca.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Thank you, Darren.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
And I tell as father of a daughter, I try
to tell him all the time. You are you deserve
exactly what you deserve. So don't make my daddy. Don't
settle for something you know, don't don't just attach her
somebody just to be attached. To make sure it's good
for you, and make sure they treat.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It a therapy session really quickly.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Oh, it's like, come on, Taylor, get it together girl.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
See this is what Taylor does. She brings out feelings.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah we can you talk about things? Yeah we we
don't do we want to talk about things on the
Happy half hour talk about feelings or would we? Would
we rather talk about football and eggnog and cool stuff
like that?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Football is feelings. I don't know, I don't know. It
just sounded good.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I feel some kind of way. We'll have to uh,
We'll have to get to the bottom of that next week,
but we will. The Falcons first, the Falcons first, the Falcons,
and we'll be back next week to wrap up a
Falcons game, wrap up a twenty twenty four twenty twenty
five season, and get on to what's next here on
the Happy hap Out
This week on a Happy half Hour, the question about
jac was never an ability, it was availability. In this year,
he's in the top ten of the league and snap's
played while missing an entire game. So the fact that
jc Horn has proven he's got a thousand snaps in
him in a year, I think that kind of takes
care of that question.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's the cow wha?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star,
an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Here are your hosts.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Hello friends, and welcome to the Happy New Year edition
of The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Oh I like what you did there, I see what
she did?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Yeah, all things happy only happy today, Happy New Year,
Happy half Hour.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
You know this brings up actually a quick question I've
been wanting to ask you for a while because for
whatever reason, I feel like you'll know the answer to it,
and I just keep.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Forgetting appreciate you giving me that much.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Gad, what does old Lang's song mean?
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Old Lang sign?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah? That one?
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, Okay, we'll get to that later. So right now,
I really we've got it. We've got to be grateful
for the people who bring this fine show to all
our listeners, the good friends at Southern Star. The Happy
Half Hours presented by Southern Star, of course, an official
bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers, celebrate the spirit of
the Carolinas and there's all kind of stuff to celebrate.
(01:34):
It's Pro Bowl Day, ladies and gentlemen. J C. Horn,
how about that?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Well deserved? He has had quiet a year and a
year that I think the Panthers were expecting God of
him when he was drafted and just has had injuries
stop him every step of the way. You know, something
that a gerro have ever told him when he when
he found out, was you know, you've had a long
row to get here, just with injuries and then with
(02:02):
the way teams play you.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
So this is well deserved, and he is right.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
It really is amazing, And it's amazing for a couple
of reasons. I mean, Number one, this football team's four
and twelve. Four and twelve teams generally do not get
a lot of Pro Bowl recognition. Number two played zero
primetime games this year, which means the vast majority of
the people in the football world didn't see a lot
(02:27):
of J. C. Horn this year. Number three, fan voting,
which is a component of this thing, included only one
Panther in the top ten, and that was Raheem Blackshear
and kick returns. So I mean, any of the Carolina
Panthers who got recognized at all got recognized by their peers.
That was player and coach voting. And it goes to
(02:48):
show that among that subset of people out there in
the world, they look at J. C. Horn and say, yep,
there's that guy.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Yeah. That's a good point about the fan voting too,
because you know, you also you good on social media
and you see stuff and you think that that is
the presuming thought, and you have to remember that that's
often a vacuum because you know, you get on social
media and you see one or two clips of JC
versus Mike Evans and the end zone giving up a touchdown,
(03:15):
and you think that was his whole season the way
it's kind of shaped, and that narrative is shaped, and
it really was not. That was the anomaly, not the
standard for JC this year. He locked a lot of
guys up. I think Dave can Alice said this yesterday
and I'm like ninety eight point five percent sure he
was correct.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So I'm gonna go ahead and quote him on.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
This, and if it's you in math, I trust it implicit.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yeah, should have seen me trying to do a subtraction,
probably in the press box the other day, and I
think Darren almost got me a bottle of water.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I was stressing myself out so much.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
There was smoke coming off your head.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
But Dave Canellis said yesterday that j C and Mike
Jackson are are like the top corner duo and their
ability to shut people down as a corner duo, and
a lot of that, I mean, and a lot of
credit to Mike Jackson for the season he's had, but
a lot of that has to do with j C.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Horn too.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And the question about Jac
was never an ability, it was availability. And this is
the year he has played fifteen games. He missed last week.
Here's what's amazing about JC, and it's partly because this
defense hadn't been terribly good across the board this year.
JAC missed last week's game and is still tenth in
the league in defensive snaps. Wow, he's in the top
(04:29):
ten of the league and snaps played while missing an
entire game. That just shows you. I mean, the dude
was out there ninety seven point six percent of the
snaps this year, one thousand and thirty six snaps. That's
a season's worth for a lot of teams. And if
the Panthers can get better on defense, they won't play
that many snaps in the future. So the fact that
j C. Horn has proven he's got a thousand snaps
(04:51):
in him in a year, I think that kind of
takes care of that question. And I always always felt
bad when j C was portrayed. You know, a lot
of times when guys have injuries that are different things,
it's like they get painted as injury prone. Somebody would say,
Austin Corbett's injury prone. Well, he toren ACL and then
he popped a biceps tenant, How are these two things
(05:12):
related with JC Hornet was a broken foot the following year,
he comes back, plays most of the year, breaks his
wrist tackling somebody on his zero degree day out here
against the Lions. How are those two things connected? They're not,
you know, but he is able to come back from
all this stuff, you know, which is just unlucky.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I'm about to say it may be unlucky.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yeah, it's just bad luck a lot of times. I mean,
it's like with you know, if it's always one soft
tissue thing over and over and over and maybe you're
doing something wrong. But when it's three different things, you
kind of throw up your hands and say, you can't
blame somebody for that. So, you know, Dave Canal has
talked about that with us. Yesterday, you got their story
(05:53):
on Panthers dot com. Everybody ought to check out about
the way JC got to this point, and you know,
he talked about you could see the plan, you could
see his plan, the way he worked it, the way
he stayed true to it all off season, you know.
And Jonathan Cooley, the cornerbacks coach passing game coordinator, talked
about it too, said you could you see it on Sundays,
(06:15):
but where you really see JC make that step is
on Wednesdays. And it's the way he works and the
way he shows up daily. And I think there is
a common thread to what the Carolina Panthers are trying
to build here. And if you look at who they've
invested in this offseason, it was Derrick Brown. Was Dereck
Brown known for a being great his job right, b
(06:35):
showing up every day and being at the front of
the line for work. Chewba Hubbard was Cuba.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Do stays two hours more than everyone else and just
keeps working.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
He just stays working and he puts in the time.
And so I think Dave Canalis has kind of got
this sort of culture of grinders going. I mean, look
at the people who defined this team. It's Cuba Hubbard,
it's Adam thiel and your Walter Payton Mann of the
Year nominee for this team. Feeling's the patron saying of
undrafted dudes. Yes, and he's got a you know new
(07:09):
flock to shepherd now around this place, and Jalen Cochr
and Dan Schas and all the you know, undrafted fling
youth that's running around this place and get T shirts.
And now you take j C. Horn, who is a
pedigree athlete, I mean son of Joe Horn. He was
born to be this guy in the NFL. And he
(07:29):
pairs that ability, that talent, that stuff that's so easy
to see with the kind of work ethic that the
grinders like Chewba Hubbard and Adam Thielen in those dudes
all respect. So I think he and Derek are two
examples of that. Yeah, you're good at football, but you
also work like a guy who.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
Was undrafted, right, And you mentioned Jonathan Cooley in there too.
Got to throw a little credit his way to like
the way he he runs those dB drills and practices
is impressive and a grind as well.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Yeah, and Cooley came from the Rams. You know, he's
had Jalen Ramsey in the past. You know, he knows
what it's like to coach those guys who were that guy.
And I mean just to listen to him talk about
JC and what he's done so far this season, it's
been impressive. But uh, j C is the only Pro
bowler on this roster. But there are a couple other dudes,
and we and we've mentioned a few of them, but
(08:24):
the highest I mean, and it's alternates. And now that
it's Pro Bowl games and it's not an actual game
that people try to get out of actively, a lot
of the alternates don't go as much as they went to.
But I do think it's instructed the Cats that got
the alternate recognition Number one being Rob Hunt. Yeah, you
know again, pedigree athlete a hundred million dollar free agent contract.
(08:46):
You kind of expect certain things, but look at the
job he's done this year.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
I didn't know if that was the pause for audio.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, no reason, So that that was me offering you
a chance to say nice things about Rob Hunt.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
For some reason, that seemed like the pauls you usually
do for audios.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
If I was waiting, so.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
We're waiting for podcasts. Matt in the background to give
that quiz a look like one of I suppose it.
But here, ladies and gentlemen, we've taken you behind the
curtain again. You're at the happy half hour. This is
how your sausage gets made.
Speaker 3 (09:17):
Oh, I need to finish my coffee before I come
do these things. Blame JJ Janssen for this, but I
blame JJ for a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
You would have been on time and prepared and ready
for these quick transitions and this snappy cater and rep artel.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
I blame Darren Bates more than JJ. On that one.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I was standing in line for the almond milk coffee
machine that's the one I need, and somebody was finishing
up their coffee. My hands got sticky from the syrup,
and I turned around to wash it, and in the
ten seconds it took me to wash my hands. I
turned back around. Darren Bates, it snuck into the almond
milk goofee machine.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You people in your fancy coffee, Darren Bates deserves preferential treatment. Well,
we'll get our coffee in when we can. And if
you just drink trucks out black like I do you
want ever have a life, you can just get out
of the pot. So Robert Hunt, Rob Hunt.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Everybody like you said about JC with the fan voting
and it being more his peers, I think a lot
of peers look around and they see Robert Hunt as
one of the better tackles, I mean guards in this league.
And they would be right. I want to say, no
Sacks giving up this year. That was heading in that No,
(10:24):
that was even after the Bucks game.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, I mean he's put up how much stock you
choose to put into PFF, you know, pressure ratings and
all that kind of stuff. Rob's rated really highly my
PFF and it's well learned. But I think one of
the things he's done is len a personality to this team.
I mean, if you think back to that Vegas game
when he got out on the screen and just flattened
(10:46):
something threw him out of the club. That was that
moment when it's like, oh God, that guy's different. Yeah,
we ain't seen one like that. I mean last year
was the year of the revolving door at guards seven
on the left, eight on the right, and instead of that,
you get big old Robert Hunt running down the field
throwing dudes out of the club.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
He is everything you want in an offensive lineman. He
can flatten guys, He can flatten them at will. He's tenacious,
he won't he won't give up on a block, and uh,
that's what you want when you have somebody protecting your
quarterback and then as soon as the helmet comes off,
(11:24):
sometimes a little earlier.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Than it might need to.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
As we picked on him about recently, he's one of
the most you said, he's lend a personality to this team.
He's also lent a personality to this locker room. And
I know that has nothing to do with Pro Bowl holding,
Pro Bowl voting, but it is why his teammates love him,
and probably why teammates around the league, you know when
he was with the Dolphins, love him as well. But yeah,
(11:47):
he's you go and just watch the film sometimes of
Robert Hunt, and he doesn't stop, and he'll We had
him micd up for a game and you go watch
that miked up. It's so funny because it's like he's
talking to the defensive lineman he's blocking them, and he's like, no, no, no,
you're not gonna get in. You're not gonna get in.
I'm stopping you this like you ain't. Oh you thought
you got me, but you didn't. Like he's like teasing
(12:08):
him as he does it. Yeah, and that you know
you can't help but love that. It's probably even if
you're a defensive line, but it's probably fun to play
against a guy like that.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Rob's good people, He's uh, he has you know. Like
I said, he's shown up and he's done the thing.
And he's been good at football for a long period
of time. Again, nine hundred and sixty seven snaps this
year and he's played every single one of them.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
He's the impressive.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
He's the only dude on offense who's played every snap
this season. So it's it's been good. I mean Panthers.
You know again, last year's offensive line was kind of
a mess, the way guys were getting hurt and it
was just this guy or after this guy, I mean
a constant procession of dudes through that room. This year,
they've gone from sixty five snap our sacks allowed to
(12:52):
thirty six I think thirty six for the you know,
basically cut your sacks in half, and again you'll spend
one hundred and fifty million bucks on Rob hunting, Damian Lewis,
you expect that to get better. But I do think
there's a carryover effect that when you stabilize the middle
at you know, all of a sudden, nobody's yelling about
ikey Akwanu nearly as much as they used to. You know,
(13:14):
you realize how good Taylor Moten is on Sundays when
he's got big Rob stand next to him.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Makes it that really more than almost any other unit
on the field is required of a full unit. I
wonder what those sack numbers are if you take out
the two Tampa Bay games where they just blitz Bama
blitz the whole time.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Yeah, well, I mean thirty six thirty six on the season.
Eleven of them come in two games against Dallas and Tampa. Yeah,
that kind of got away from him in a lot
of ways. But but you know, I think it's the
thing you want to build on going into next year,
when you've kind of figured out over the course of
this year that Bryce you Young, can in fact play football.
(13:53):
He's pretty good at quarterbacking. You found out that this
year that that next Pro Bowl alternate, Cuba Hubbard, pretty
good at football, almost twelve hundred yards ten touchdowns this year.
You know he's a fourth alternate. But again, this is
Chewba Hubbard, a fourth round pick who was a backup
and then a backup, and then they bring people in
(14:14):
left and right around him, and all he's done is
turn himself into that guy.
Speaker 3 (14:19):
Who was ahead of him. Because on one hand, you're
sentting here going fourth alternate Chewbo Hubbard after the year
he's had. But on the other hand, he plays in
the NFC where Saquon Barkley plays, where Bucky Irving plays. Sure, uh,
who else would have been ahead of him?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Bah blah blah. I'm trying to I'm pulling up the
rosters while you.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
Pulled us up. Let me ask you a philosophical question.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It'll hit me.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Do you think Saquon Barkley should be allowed to play
on Sunday?
Speaker 1 (14:46):
I think if Saquon Barkley wants to play you know,
here's the thing, They've got bigger goals. So I'm okay
with teams doing what's best for the entire team. I
appreciate Saquan wanting to pursue his individual blah blah blah,
But at the same time, I mean, there's a team
thing happening here. And if he goes out and gets
(15:08):
stinged up this week and in available to the Philadelphia Eagles.
I think we've seen over the course of the year,
we've seen, specifically in a game against Carolina Panthers, that
the Eagles can only run the ball and beat somebody, right,
that they don't have to pass. So you know, I
would put the team goals ahead of his individual. But
(15:29):
you know that's just me. I understand him being a
little salty about it too.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah, I completely understand what you're saying and do agree.
That's got to be a tough one to swallow it though,
when you realize how long that's been standing and that
nobody's really sniffed it, or at least not this close. Yeah,
and he's what two hundred away? Yeah, I mean that
would be tough to get in a game.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Right if he was thirty yards away from some Milestone.
I could see letting him play the first quarter and
then get him on out of there doing the cam
Ord thing. But at the same time, I mean, when
it's two hundred, come on, But that would be tough, great,
great year anyway, your NFC running backs or Sakwon Barkley,
(16:12):
jamiir Gibbs, Josh Jacob so we.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Can okay, does make sense, So we can.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Reasonably assume that Bucky Irving is somewhere in there after
a pretty brilliant.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
He's recentcy biased on my mind, you know, and that's fine.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I mean the fact that Chewba Hubbard's getting recognized at
all because again, this guy is the grinders, grinder, I
you know, I perhaps overvalue work ethic guys and overachievers
and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I mean, it's kind of good thing to overvaluate.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's kind of My personality always lends itself to seeking
out those kind of people, and that's why it's cool.
Teams need to have a lot of grinders and a
lot of overachievers. They also need to have talent, so
it's good when you're talented. Players like Derrick Brown, like
j C. Horn also happen to hang with the with
the grinders. But Cuba is just anything he's gotten as
(17:03):
a player, from a starting job to a bunch of
yards to a contract extension, he has earned and he
is earned just by staying late and showing up early
and doing all those little things right to find out, Oh,
by the way, he happens to be good at football.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
This is going back to something we were saying just
a second ago. Eight of the top ten rushers in
the league. Really, nine of the top eleven are all
in the NFC. Yeah, so that was gonna be a
tough one to break through this year. The other two
are are Derrick Henry and Taylor India.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, so you go Sakwon, Kiren Williams, Bijon, Josh Jacobs,
Demir Gibbs. Yeah, it stacks up on that one side
pretty good. And then you got Bucky Arvin, James Connor,
I mean, different dudes. So it's tough. But again, to
be on a four and twelve team that never shows
up on primetime, no love in the fan voting, I
think speaks to the fact that people around the league
(17:58):
recognize him. The other the other alternate, Johnny Hecker, is
this a lifetime achievement? Alternate Award maybe, but that's okay
because Johnny Hecker has been the punter of a generation.
When you get all decade honors for the twenty tens,
you know, people are gonna remember that is Johnny the
same guy he was when he was in his early twenties. No,
(18:19):
I mean he's almost JJ Jansen's a well, not quite,
but he's getting up there and he's not Johnny Hecker anymore.
But we've seen this year. I mean he keeps stacking
up punts inside the twenty and I mean I can
think off the top of my head or two or
three immediately where he lays one down at the twobe
in San.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Franco lemannic John Washington, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Yeah, you know there was one against the Chargers where
it's like Boom lays it on the one and he's
you know, he's still got that ability. Does he still
have the same physical leg strength he used to have?
Maybe not, But at the same time, he he's good
for the room because a he's still good at punting.
He's also got an arm.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I had to say. He also presents the threat.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, he creates opportunities for the special teams. I mean,
you have to honor his ability to pass. And that's
something you say about exactly one punter in the NFL,
and it's John Hecker. So good for Johnny for getting
a little of the fifth alternates hunters people too. Yeah,
I don't know. I don't know that there's any bonus
money or any even a plaque for fifth alternate. But
(19:23):
we should go by and give Johnny laurel and hearty handshake.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Laurel. That's funny, and that's a good one. Derek.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah, it's blazing Saddles. That should be required watching for
you in the off season.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
You also don't want to rest on your laurels.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
You never do. You never do, and we do not.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I have seen blazing saddles.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
There you go. Well, it's uh, there's one week of
football left. We get to go to Atlanta on Sunday
to see our friends in Atlanta, and let's go ahead
and get that one wrapped up. I mean, I don't
mean to minimize it. And listen, Dave Canalis is right.
I love the fact, as someone who appreciates the work
ethic part of this thing, I love the fact that
(20:04):
Dave's like, Hey, whoever's ready to play is going to play.
If that's Miles Sanders coming back off I r. You know,
after a what six week absence to get back on
the field, you need running backs, so go play. And
I think that's part of the larger culture Dave's trying
to build there.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Yeah, eight weeks right week.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Ten, we were in Germany the last time we saw
Miles on the field, and Miles one of those dude.
He's a good dude. He's come into it. He came
here as part of a weird situation. I mean, he
was part of the plan of a previous administration that
didn't necessarily fit with a lot of other parts and
found himself in a weird spot. But you know, Miles
(20:42):
has never really publicly been a pain, right. He's always
in a locker room, always shown up, been a good
locker room guy. And that's not easy when you get
one of those guys who's kind of crossed up in
the timeline with coaches and gms.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
And Miles was a little bit of a victim this
year of a really, really good Chuba Hubbard season, and
that happens at times. But someone that coaches have always
admired that Dave Canaliss has always mentioned is wanting to
be involved when he can be, so you know, he
gets he gets one week to kind of be the
guy if he's back out there. That's something that we
(21:17):
do have to temper expectations with because they do want
to get him on the practice field again today, which
is Thursday. That's kind of their high intensity day of
the week. We use those terms loosely at this time
of year, but to just kind of see what he
can do, because you know, with the high ankle sprain
when you're running back, you need to kind of see
(21:37):
if they can cut, what they can turn things like that.
He'll be on turf and a dome this weekend. I'm
sure that's taken into account. But you know, a team
that you can feasibly run against. So it's it's gonna
be interesting in this game for all intentsive purposes. Does
still matter in terms of you know, the Falcons have
(21:58):
to win if they want to be able to get
to the playoffs. Yep, Panthers win, it effects seating for
next year, right, and so you know it's it's not
just a complete wash of a game. And of course
you want to keep building something I.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
Should and listen, I mean all the things the Panthers
are trying to do are more cultural than you know, tangible.
I mean, there is no playoff. As you mentioned, they
could still be the third place team in the NFC South,
depending on the way some tiebreakers go. If they win
Saints Louse, they could still be the number three. That
(22:31):
means some difference in schedule. That means you get Dallas
instead of the Giants. That means tripp to Green Bay
instead of trip to Chicago next year, stuff like that
draft position. Obviously, there are nine teams stuck with three
or four wins right now, so draft order could change
dramatically in the next couple of days. So we'll have
all that for you at Panthers dot com. But you know,
(22:52):
mostly they just want to finish this thing on a
high note and avoid some really ugly records.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
The Panthers defense this year, as you might be aware,
has struggled and they were sitting in some pretty unfortunate
spots on the all time list for yards rushing, yards
and points allowed. Right now, they're the seventh highest on
the points allowed to list with a game to play,
so you know, hopefully those guys are able to avoid
a lot of that stuff. Hopefully everybody stays healthy and
(23:18):
then we can get on into the offseason part of
the program.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
And I think too, they just want to leave fans
with a good taste in their mouth.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
You know.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
That was something that can Alice talked about before the
final home game, was we want to leave the Charlotte
crowd with something good to remember. And then they did
that with that overtime win versus the Cardinals. You know,
because you look at some of the games this season,
even that were losses, but you can come out of
them feeling good. You don't really go into the off
season feeling good after that Tampa Bay game, No, So
(23:47):
you want to leave with a better on a better.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Note, right, And again I think thematically, if we draw
the curtain on the twenty twenty four season after the
Cardinals game, I think that would suit most. Yeah, so
we'll get through that one and we'll get on to
the off season next week. And it is it crawled
up on us. We got through almost eighteen of these things, now, didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
We I don't know if we're through them yet, but
we're close.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We're close. I can I can see it at the
end of the tunnel.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Well, you can see that my Netflix series or meaning
like you know, whenever I'll sit down after the season.
Speaker 1 (24:25):
Yeah, when it's over and it's close, so it is.
It's it's weird. I wish the schedule lined up so
like at the end of a calendar year was also
the end of a football season that kind of stuff. Yeah,
but anyway, it's New Year's It's what day is this?
This is January? Second. Second, I always laugh around the
holidays and like with New Years, I mean, because people
(24:47):
go out and celebrate and stuff, and I'm like, it's Tuesday. Yeah,
i gotta be at work tomorrow at a reasonably early hour,
so I'm not gonna go out and do all that
kind of stuff. Anyway. I'm also a very very old person,
so it's.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Uh, you're not that old.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, but yeah, know, here we are, it's Thursday. We're
recording the Happy Half Hour. Oh we got jukebox being
a jukebox.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
You didn't give me a song last week?
Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah, no I didn't. I neglected to, but you had
me listening to Taylor Swift's New Year's Eve, New Year's Day,
New Year's Day, Yes, New Year's Day. You described that
as your favorite Taylor Swift song.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Tael me no no, no, no no no.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I said, it's my favorite of her love songs. Okay,
because not all of her songs are love song.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
That's fair. That's fair.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
I like it because you said, tell me why. I
like it because it's more of the so many of
her songs are like big, and it's a little bit simpler.
It's just the piano and then there's like a guitar
at the end, and it's just kind of like, even
when everything, even when all the fun stuff is over,
(25:54):
I'm still gonna be here with you. And there's like
one line in it that's like, don't read the last page,
which I do in a book. So it's like kind
of funny, and it's like, but I'll stay when it's hard,
or it's wrong, or we're making mistakes, and it just
kind of sounds like a vow to me. It also
has what I think is maybe one of the saddest
lines she's ever written, which is funny to throw the
(26:17):
saddest line she's ever written into a love song. Do
you know what's one I'm thinking of? Go ahead, it's
the please don't become a stranger? Who's laugh I could
recognize anywhere.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Right, And here's where I got hung up on this song.
Listening to it, I was like, one of the things
that weirds me out about a lot of Taylor Swift
songs is she approaches a lot of her songs almost
pleading with dudes. Yeah, or you know, or somebody who
is an international boss lady who has made more money
(26:50):
than probably anybody in the world in the last couple
of years. On this era's tour, it's like, claim your agency, girl,
you are the one in charge. You decide if you
want to date Travis kelce or whoever. You shouldn't be
asking dudes to please, don't go please days.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
A lot of Swifties.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
Like her and Travis Kelcey because it felt like the
first relationship where the guy realized like, holy crap, I'm
dating Taylor Swift right, and appreciated the person and the
superstar because that wasn't because you know, for that, it
was all tortured artists who were like, so what, You're
the biggest pop star who cares?
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, there you go. That's that's the way I am.
When I go home, I look at my wife and
I'm like, how could I possibly attained this? You know?
And I'm I'm fortunate to Taylor. I wish Taylor would
embrace her.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
So many people, especially like women, will like the songs
and identify with them because we're not the world's biggest
pop star and so there is a little bit of
like feeling and connected to it.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Yeah, but you're a star in your own right.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Ca.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Thank you, Darren.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
And I tell as father of a daughter, I try
to tell him all the time. You are you deserve
exactly what you deserve. So don't make my daddy. Don't
settle for something you know, don't don't just attach her
somebody just to be attached. To make sure it's good
for you, and make sure they treat.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
It a therapy session really quickly.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Oh, it's like, come on, Taylor, get it together girl.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
See this is what Taylor does. She brings out feelings.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah we can you talk about things? Yeah we we
don't do we want to talk about things on the
Happy half hour talk about feelings or would we? Would
we rather talk about football and eggnog and cool stuff
like that?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Football is feelings. I don't know, I don't know. It
just sounded good.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
I feel some kind of way. We'll have to uh,
We'll have to get to the bottom of that next week,
but we will. The Falcons first, the Falcons first, the Falcons,
and we'll be back next week to wrap up a
Falcons game, wrap up a twenty twenty four twenty twenty
five season, and get on to what's next here on
the Happy hap Out
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