September 11, 2025 • 19 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy discuss how the team is moving forward after Sunday's loss the Jaguars, preview Kyler Murray and the Cardinals offense, share stories from previous match ups with Arizona, and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, and welcome to the Thursday edition of The
Happy Half Hour. Thursday Throwback Thursday. We'll get to throwback
Thursday in a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We'll talk. We'll talk about current Thursday.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Oh no, I like that. Let's live in the present.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Here's a cool thing about doing the Happy Hour happy
that's easy for you to say, Darren, you talk words
for a living.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What on earth?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Uh No, we're not editing that, Matt. We're just leaving
that in. That's the authenticity that you only get here.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
That's Darren.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
That's me, not Cassidy. She's not the one who never
mind anyway.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
He was about to make fun of me. I know it.
I could feel it coming.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, and you were right. Your instincts were correct. It's Thursday.
We got another game to look at. That's cool thing
about the Happy Half Hour going twice a week. Now
we can spend Monday's kind of rehashing the game before.
Now everything's looking ahead, and frankly, that's probably for the best.
Arizona is generally a pretty good matchup, has been in
(01:04):
the past. The Arizona game here last year was a
chance for the Panthers to get themselves right after kind
of an ugly Cowboys game the week before, and that
really created a lot of that momentum going into the
offseason that a lot of people were feeling. And you know,
it was interesting to me. One of the fascinating things
to me about the football is the people who do
(01:25):
the football.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And we talk all the.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Time, and you can get hung up in schemes and
twelve personnel and all the minutia of football if you want.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
But I was talking to.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Bryce and Andy and those guys yesterday about the method
of turning the page, the method of not letting Jacksonville
drag you down or thinking about it too much. And
Bryce talked about, you know, having that mentality of just
turn the page, move on to the next thing. Taylor Molten,
who is a reader of the Stoics, and you know,
(01:56):
as an old person, that's the kind of thing I admire.
But Taylor's talked about that before and he said, you know,
Bryce kind of embodies that Stoic idea ideal. Taylor calls
it one snap clear, It's like one play onto the
next thing. And Timo says he'll like look up into
jumbo tron and see where he had his hands and
make a correction in games, stuff like that, he said,
(02:18):
But you just have to be onto the next thing,
and constantly onto the next thing. And if you're worrying
about what happened a week ago, it's affecting what you're
doing right now. And Bryce was good talking about that too,
But I asked Andy about it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I said, what's that?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
How does that work? Do you guys have a gavel
you had or something in.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The room And he said no. But once team meeting's
over with, we go back to our quarterback meeting room.
And he said, once you take that tape out and
put the next tape in, I don't think they're putting
take I.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Had to say, I don't think they're physically putting in.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
A VH and got a Beta max machine in the
quarterback room. Gang, you can go look that up on
your internet when this is over. But once a chain
games and put the tape from Jacksonville behind them, Andy said,
the mood changes. You can see, guys, all right now
we're on to the next thing. And that's a valuable
(03:10):
life lesson in addition to a football lesson.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Exactly you should always be on to the next thing.
We saw it in the locker room yesterday. Saw it
at practice. There was some residual effects lingering over practice yesterday,
but not in a down trodden, resigned way, but more
in a come out here and prove that that can
that's not going to be who we are sort of way.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, there was a little bit of a j C.
Horne apt to start a fight exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
That's Jac's go to and Al's even said, like it
got a little testing and he's like, I don't mind
telling you all that, and he's like, I kind of
like it, yeah, And so.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
He really does. And that's one of the things and
we talked about this during the offseason. One of the
cool things about this Carolina Panthers team as presently constructed
is they've got a handful of those dudes who are
apt to start a fight at any moment because they
want to keep the standard high. It's not just out there,
you know, bullying people are picking on somebody or do
(04:04):
instigating in that way.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
J C.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Horn, Chewba Hubbard, Derrick Brown.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
These are guys who keep the standard at such a level, yeah,
that they're not going to put up with a lot
of gas and if you're not doing things right, on
the practice field, expect j C. Horn to to let
you that if you're not pushing him to the level
he wants to be pushed in practice, and you happen
to play offense, he gonna tell you about that. Especially,
So I like having a guy like jac who is
(04:31):
a out there making plays on Sunday and B putting
into work to prepare himself and C holding everybody around
him to that standard.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So when j C.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Horn gets a little sassy and Jason Horn's getting hot
and wanting to go in practice on Wednesday, that's probably
a pretty good sign.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
The best one was when somebody did something that he
did not like and he was not involved in the
play at all, and he literally ran across the field
to let them know.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And that's his personality.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean during the summer, during ota is, on days
he wasn't practicing for whatever reason, you know, load management,
he would go stand behind the offense to a observe
and kind of see things from their perspective and learn
about it that way, but also to instigate.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
To instigate. Yeah, he's such a little brother.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
And I love that about JC.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I mean, he's you know, and frankly, the football team
needs that, you know, because you've got your Derek Brown's,
you've got your Cuba Hubbards, you've got your j. C.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Horns.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
People who they have invested in are those kind of leaders.
So when you do that, when you spend your money
on those guys, it's kind of natural to take it
and turn it and point it forward and keep it
moving exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
And they'll need that this week. I mean, Cardinals have
two guys that are just both dynamic and do such
different things with Marvin Harrison Junior and Trey McBride. And
it's no secret tight ends have been kind of a
kryptonite for this defense at times. They actually were able
(05:59):
to hold a McBride in decent shape last year or
keep him from doing too much. Let's see, I think
I have it here last season in that overtime when uh.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Look at you internetting.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Right, Yeah, they held okay, sorry, they held McBride to
three receptions for twenty yards last year. That's a thousand
yard guy at tight endah, so to hold him to
three receptions for twenty yards. There was a lot of
talk this week about how much can you look back
at that tape from last season of that December game
to kind of pull from, because other than a couple
(06:36):
of guys like Will Johnson, the corner, the rookie corner,
a couple of different other guys, the scheme and the
personnel are largely the same. With this Cardinals team. The
same can be said for this Panthers team. So you know,
it sort of crosses each other out. But can they
look at what they did? Can they look and then
Dave Canal's even pointed out, looking at what the Cardinals
(06:57):
did well against us, use that to kind of change
what we need to. So, yeah, what worked well against
Trey McBride last year, use that again this year if
you can. Same thing with Marvin Harrison. I think he
was held, he had a little bit more. He was
held to four receptions on eight targets for thirty nine
yards last season in that game. So what worked well there?
(07:17):
Used that a little bit. It makes it somewhat easier
when you're playing them this early in the season, because
I mean, this is not a divisional opponent. It's not
someone that you're necessarily quote unquote familiar with. But you can't.
But you can go into Week two having only one
game of tape and at least knowing a little bit more,
a little bit more background, a little bit more contact
and color because you did play them so recently and
(07:40):
played them well.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And I fully expected this year for Marvin Harrison to
have a breakout.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I mean I think there were some people who thought
he was going to take off immediately.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
And as you talked about.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
The other day with Tero and McMillan, rookie receivers take
a second a lot of times, and when you look
at what they're doing early on, Marvin Harrison Junior is
an alien. I remember I remember standing at the Ohio
State Pro Day in twenty three when we went up
there to see if C. J. Stroud with somebody this
team might be interested in, huh. And I was standing
(08:14):
there with a little fellow named Steve Smith, okay, and
we were watching the we were watching the workout, we
were watching everything going on during the Pro Day, and
Steve just looked at me and he said, the best
player in this building is not eligible to be drafted
this year, and that was Marvin Jerience and that was
Marvin Junior. So he is, he is big, he can move,
he's got range. I mean, very similar to T mac
(08:35):
in a lot of ways in the stuff he can do,
and I just think I just think there's a lot
of opportunity for him this year to make a lot
of plays.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
That's funny. Ohio State just like pumps them wide receivers
out like they're a factory.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Don't they. They have had some success with that. Yes,
that is a thing for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, and he's definitely going to be one of them,
I think last week versus the Saints, Yeah, he had
five receptions for seventy one yards in a touchdown. That's
a pretty good little day in the first week. So
how do you keep him from going off again? How
do you keep James Connor behind the line of scrimmage?
That's obviously still going to be a point of contention,
(09:17):
a point of focus, given that they did give up
two hundred yards last weekend on the ground versus the Jags.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, I thought it was kind of interesting this morning,
and speaking of that, A zero RIVERA and all the
coordinators talk on Thursday mornings before we come in here
to the studio, and EJ said something about the tackling.
Dave Canally has made a point that in practice on Wednesday,
when they were not in pads. You know, EJ put
the defensive guys through a series of very basic drills,
(09:45):
like the stuff you see early in high school camps,
early in college camps, that kind of stuff where you're
you're getting your feet square, you're wrapping, you're doing all
those fundamental things that lead back to the basics, even
when you're not tackling. And you know, I thought that
was good and and he said something when he was
talking to us this morning, he was like, the thing
that I was encouraged about is the tackling was a
(10:06):
lot better.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, in the second half.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Now, the big seventy one yard rush is obviously problematic,
and even without that rush, they were giving up five
point three per carry in the first half. In the
second half, that's down to a more normal three point
four to seven per carry. Not great, but still a
lot better than where it was. And they were, you know,
they were obviously intent on doing some things differently, and
(10:32):
they kind of did a better job of keeping the
Jags out of some of those big plays in the
second half. But those fundamental things, those tackling things, are
the kind of stuff that can get away from you
in week one. You do your thing, you say your piece,
you do the emphasis in practice, and then you move
on and let's see what it looks like this week.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
And buddy, are you gonna need it this week, because,
I mean, spoiler alert, Kyler Murray's tough to bring down.
I mean, he's a guy. He's somebody that you know.
I talked to Princely and meel And and Nick Courton this
week and they were talking about realizing the speed of
the game because you can tell it at that position
so much more. And prince Lely was like, you know,
(11:12):
I didn't get a ton on one on ones and
he was like, but I was. I could tell like
that ball was coming out quick, Like that ball was
coming out so much quicker than I ever saw it
come out in college. And he's but then you face
a guy this week with Kyler Murray where the ball
might not come out as quick. He's willing to hold
on to it, but that's because he's running around looking
for another play downfield or scrambling. And Pat Jones told
(11:36):
this great story yesterday. It'll probably be on five Things
this weekend, but I'll give you a little preview. He
tells his great story about the Vikings playing the Cardinals
last year and he gets behind the line, He's like,
I have him. He's like, it's a sack. I have him.
And then I look down and realize he's ducked under
my arm and he's five yards away. And he's like,
(11:57):
that's Kyler Murray. That's what you have to do. You
can't you can't think you have him. You have to know.
So it's it's a fun little challenge.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, he absolutely is.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And and it's an interesting game because in a lot
of ways, these two teams are built similarly. They've got
some things in common, but they've got a history in
that history. Frankly leans toward the Carolina Panthers thirteen teen,
thirteen and five all time against the Cards in the
regular season.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Oh, the regular I was counting a total six.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And two at Arizona.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
So things tend to go pretty well for him out there,
including you mentioned throwback Thursday. We were talking about this,
We were talking about this at lunch earlier today. Perhaps
my favorite Panthers Cardinals game of all time.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You're going to NFC Championship.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
No, I'm going two thousand and seven. Wow, The two
thousand and seven Panthers Cardinals game was one of my
favorites because and I got to get a fat ahead
of him. It brought Vinny Testaverdi into our life.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Oh that's it's time for our Vinnie test A Verdi story.
We haven't had one in a couple of months.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, we haven't had a told a good Vinnie story
in a while, so we needed to. Vinny Testa Verdi
came into our lives very accidentally in two thousand and seven,
as he usually does, as one does, but Jake DeLong
elbow blows out early on in that season, leaving David
Carr to back him up. David Carr came here in
(13:23):
large part because Jake delom was the most durable quarterback
he had found, and after taking a beating for a
couple of years in Houston, he kind of wanted to
get in out of the rain. But he went to
New Orleans the week before suffered a compression fracture in
his back, and I remember David Carr standing up telling
us in the locker room after that game. He was like, guys,
you can ask me pretty much anything you want. I'm
(13:44):
so full of muscle relaxers and pig killers right now,
I don't know. I'm so credit to David for having
self awareness in that moment. But they needed somebody to
play quarterback. Yeah, following week, so in comes forty four
year old Vinnie Test of Verdi.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Wow, beats out Matt Prater.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And there and there was competition for his services at
that point because this is in the Kurt Warner era
of Cardinals football. But they needed some help. They needed
a backup was experienced. Their backup was injured or unavailable
or something, so the Cardinals were trying to sign him. Also,
the Panthers had to have him at that moment because
(14:19):
they needed somebody and John Fox, as you may have heard,
wasn't really into the whole young quarterback thing, so they
call Vinnie. At the time, the strength coach was a
guy named Jerry Simmons who had worked with Vinnie back
in Baltimore when he played for the Ravens, and Bennie's like.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, I'll come work with Jerry.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Walks in on Tuesday night, practices on Wednesday, starts on Sunday,
and it was like nothing had ever happened. I mean,
he did a couple of things and you'll probably see
it this week. He had the deep ball to he
had the deep ball to DeAngelo Williams for a long touchdown.
The other impressive thing Vinnie did that day was overthrow
(14:55):
that Steve Smith guy.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, Steve did not think he could be overthrown.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
He was overthrown because Bennie, even at forty four years old,
had a huge arm. I mean, he could ling it
all over the yard, and as happens when you get
into your mid forties, it takes you at a bit
longer to recover. It was like that, I'm as good
once as I ever was. He could throw with anybody
in the league. On Sunday, he just needed more recovery times.
(15:23):
So like Sunday Wednesday, those were kind of his throwing days.
Everything else, Bennie was kind of taking a mentorship role.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
But yeah, it was good. I remember a lot of
things about that trip.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But Vinnie Testaverdi coming into our lives and immediately leading
the Panthers to a win on the road in two
thousand and seven, I mean, it's just nothing you ever expect.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So it was. It was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
But yes, Bennie testa Verdi, D'Angelo Williams, Steve Smith, all
the good times, just as as of course you would
expect he ended up playing against Tim Rattae.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Because Kurt Warner got hurt during that game.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So people thought it was going to be Kurt Warner,
Jake Delome, you know, the older NFL europe teammates, you know,
doing their thing again.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Nope, it was Vinnie Testaverdi versus Tim Rattay.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Of course, that's what people bought the tickets for. I
wonder what Vinnie's up to nowadays.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Vinnie's enjoying life. I'm sure his son was. His son
was playing some college football at some level, you know,
I mean, he's Vinnie. The last time I talked to him,
he was doing well. He was enjoying things.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Just you know.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I think retired quarterbacks are always in a good mood,
but Vinnie was particularly good because he's he's living the dream,
probably playing a lot of golf and probably lifting weights honestly,
because he would. Vinnie was very big and to do
your job the right way, so the conditioning part of it,
I mean, he still worked out like a madman. I
(16:50):
remember Jerry Simmons telling me that story. He's like, way
do you see him when he gets here? Because he
takes such incredible care of himself. That's how he's able
to do this right now.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
That's cool. It's a good lesson.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, it's a good lesson. Look looking forward to getting
out to the to the desert this week. What else
we got we got Ooh, here's a tease for you,
speaking of things that are going to be on Panthers
dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
We got JJ Jansen copy coming your way.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Okay, always always a delight.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
We've we've got a very special JJ is going back
to Arizona. It's a very special occasion, a little confluence
of events here, so you'll have that coming up on
Panthers dot com. One.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I didn't realize how many people on this team necessarily
were from there. Leithan Ransom was saying yesterday that he's
gonna have a huge group there because it's close to
home for him. He grew up in Tucson, about an
hour and a half away, so he's gonna have a
lot of people. Also learned that Sunday was Leathan's first
NFL game to attend. Yeah, isn't that funny. Bryce Young
(17:51):
told me yesterday that, you know, being so close to
southern California there in Arizona, he's gonna have a lot
of family there, probably more than he's he's really had
it a game before, So that's going to be exciting.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And you know what else we got to look forward
to on Sunday? What halftime show? Oh that's right, Sugar Ray,
ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Darren's so excited. I mean it's you know he was,
and that's not sarcastic. He's legitimately excited.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I love a good, un ironic halftime show. One of
my favorites here was Biz Marquee Rob Bass Rip Biz.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Rob Bass from Alabama, and.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know they played here at Bank of America Stadium
a couple of years ago. But you know, Sugar Ray,
Martin McGrath's still out here doing his thing and he's
going to entertain us at halftime, So I.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Look forward to that.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I was trying to explain to Darren earlier about Martin
McGrath's cameos, and I feel like I'm just gonna have
to show him to really to really get the full effect.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You know what, I think, I'm good?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Should I a little bit of Sugar Ray goes in
the comments? Should I buy Darren a Martin McGrath cameo?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah? No, maybe if you do get him to introduce
the Happy half that's a great idea, if you say,
if if we can get Mark McGrath to say, hey,
when I'm looking for Carolina Panthers news and commentary, I
only watch the Happy Half.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Hour on the Panthers YouTube. I don't know if it's
worth it. I don't know if it's worth it.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So until then, we'll get deeper into the Cardinals Panthers game.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
We'll get you ready next week.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
We will see you back here next Monday on the
Happy Half Hour.
Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, and welcome to the Thursday edition of The
Happy Half Hour. Thursday Throwback Thursday. We'll get to throwback
Thursday in a little bit.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
We'll talk. We'll talk about current Thursday.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Oh no, I like that. Let's live in the present.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Here's a cool thing about doing the Happy Hour happy
that's easy for you to say, Darren, you talk words
for a living.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
What on earth?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Uh No, we're not editing that, Matt. We're just leaving
that in. That's the authenticity that you only get here.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
That's Darren.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
That's me, not Cassidy. She's not the one who never
mind anyway.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
He was about to make fun of me. I know it.
I could feel it coming.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, and you were right. Your instincts were correct. It's Thursday.
We got another game to look at. That's cool thing
about the Happy Half Hour going twice a week. Now
we can spend Monday's kind of rehashing the game before.
Now everything's looking ahead, and frankly, that's probably for the best.
Arizona is generally a pretty good matchup, has been in
(01:04):
the past. The Arizona game here last year was a
chance for the Panthers to get themselves right after kind
of an ugly Cowboys game the week before, and that
really created a lot of that momentum going into the
offseason that a lot of people were feeling. And you know,
it was interesting to me. One of the fascinating things
to me about the football is the people who do
(01:25):
the football.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And we talk all the.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Time, and you can get hung up in schemes and
twelve personnel and all the minutia of football if you want.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
But I was talking to.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Bryce and Andy and those guys yesterday about the method
of turning the page, the method of not letting Jacksonville
drag you down or thinking about it too much. And
Bryce talked about, you know, having that mentality of just
turn the page, move on to the next thing. Taylor Molten,
who is a reader of the Stoics, and you know,
(01:56):
as an old person, that's the kind of thing I admire.
But Taylor's talked about that before and he said, you know,
Bryce kind of embodies that Stoic idea ideal. Taylor calls
it one snap clear, It's like one play onto the
next thing. And Timo says he'll like look up into
jumbo tron and see where he had his hands and
make a correction in games, stuff like that, he said,
(02:18):
But you just have to be onto the next thing,
and constantly onto the next thing. And if you're worrying
about what happened a week ago, it's affecting what you're
doing right now. And Bryce was good talking about that too,
But I asked Andy about it.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I said, what's that?
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
How does that work? Do you guys have a gavel
you had or something in.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
The room And he said no. But once team meeting's
over with, we go back to our quarterback meeting room.
And he said, once you take that tape out and
put the next tape in, I don't think they're putting
take I.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Had to say, I don't think they're physically putting in.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
A VH and got a Beta max machine in the
quarterback room. Gang, you can go look that up on
your internet when this is over. But once a chain
games and put the tape from Jacksonville behind them, Andy said,
the mood changes. You can see, guys, all right now
we're on to the next thing. And that's a valuable
(03:10):
life lesson in addition to a football lesson.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Exactly you should always be on to the next thing.
We saw it in the locker room yesterday. Saw it
at practice. There was some residual effects lingering over practice yesterday,
but not in a down trodden, resigned way, but more
in a come out here and prove that that can
that's not going to be who we are sort of way.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
Yeah, there was a little bit of a j C.
Horne apt to start a fight exactly.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
That's Jac's go to and Al's even said, like it
got a little testing and he's like, I don't mind
telling you all that, and he's like, I kind of
like it, yeah, And so.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
He really does. And that's one of the things and
we talked about this during the offseason. One of the
cool things about this Carolina Panthers team as presently constructed
is they've got a handful of those dudes who are
apt to start a fight at any moment because they
want to keep the standard high. It's not just out there,
you know, bullying people are picking on somebody or do
(04:04):
instigating in that way.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
J C.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Horn, Chewba Hubbard, Derrick Brown.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
These are guys who keep the standard at such a level, yeah,
that they're not going to put up with a lot
of gas and if you're not doing things right, on
the practice field, expect j C. Horn to to let
you that if you're not pushing him to the level
he wants to be pushed in practice, and you happen
to play offense, he gonna tell you about that. Especially,
So I like having a guy like jac who is
(04:31):
a out there making plays on Sunday and B putting
into work to prepare himself and C holding everybody around
him to that standard.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
So when j C.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Horn gets a little sassy and Jason Horn's getting hot
and wanting to go in practice on Wednesday, that's probably
a pretty good sign.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
The best one was when somebody did something that he
did not like and he was not involved in the
play at all, and he literally ran across the field
to let them know.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
And that's his personality.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean during the summer, during ota is, on days
he wasn't practicing for whatever reason, you know, load management,
he would go stand behind the offense to a observe
and kind of see things from their perspective and learn
about it that way, but also to instigate.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
To instigate. Yeah, he's such a little brother.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
And I love that about JC.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
I mean, he's you know, and frankly, the football team
needs that, you know, because you've got your Derek Brown's,
you've got your Cuba Hubbards, you've got your j. C.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Horns.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
People who they have invested in are those kind of leaders.
So when you do that, when you spend your money
on those guys, it's kind of natural to take it
and turn it and point it forward and keep it
moving exactly.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
And they'll need that this week. I mean, Cardinals have
two guys that are just both dynamic and do such
different things with Marvin Harrison Junior and Trey McBride. And
it's no secret tight ends have been kind of a
kryptonite for this defense at times. They actually were able
(05:59):
to hold a McBride in decent shape last year or
keep him from doing too much. Let's see, I think
I have it here last season in that overtime when uh.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Look at you internetting.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Right, Yeah, they held okay, sorry, they held McBride to
three receptions for twenty yards last year. That's a thousand
yard guy at tight endah, so to hold him to
three receptions for twenty yards. There was a lot of
talk this week about how much can you look back
at that tape from last season of that December game
to kind of pull from, because other than a couple
(06:36):
of guys like Will Johnson, the corner, the rookie corner,
a couple of different other guys, the scheme and the
personnel are largely the same. With this Cardinals team. The
same can be said for this Panthers team. So you know,
it sort of crosses each other out. But can they
look at what they did? Can they look and then
Dave Canal's even pointed out, looking at what the Cardinals
(06:57):
did well against us, use that to kind of change
what we need to. So, yeah, what worked well against
Trey McBride last year, use that again this year if
you can. Same thing with Marvin Harrison. I think he
was held, he had a little bit more. He was
held to four receptions on eight targets for thirty nine
yards last season in that game. So what worked well there?
(07:17):
Used that a little bit. It makes it somewhat easier
when you're playing them this early in the season, because
I mean, this is not a divisional opponent. It's not
someone that you're necessarily quote unquote familiar with. But you can't.
But you can go into Week two having only one
game of tape and at least knowing a little bit more,
a little bit more background, a little bit more contact
and color because you did play them so recently and
(07:40):
played them well.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
And I fully expected this year for Marvin Harrison to
have a breakout.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
I mean I think there were some people who thought
he was going to take off immediately.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
And as you talked about.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
The other day with Tero and McMillan, rookie receivers take
a second a lot of times, and when you look
at what they're doing early on, Marvin Harrison Junior is
an alien. I remember I remember standing at the Ohio
State Pro Day in twenty three when we went up
there to see if C. J. Stroud with somebody this
team might be interested in, huh. And I was standing
(08:14):
there with a little fellow named Steve Smith, okay, and
we were watching the we were watching the workout, we
were watching everything going on during the Pro Day, and
Steve just looked at me and he said, the best
player in this building is not eligible to be drafted
this year, and that was Marvin Jerience and that was
Marvin Junior. So he is, he is big, he can move,
he's got range. I mean, very similar to T mac
(08:35):
in a lot of ways in the stuff he can do,
and I just think I just think there's a lot
of opportunity for him this year to make a lot
of plays.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
That's funny. Ohio State just like pumps them wide receivers
out like they're a factory.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Don't they. They have had some success with that. Yes,
that is a thing for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, and he's definitely going to be one of them,
I think last week versus the Saints, Yeah, he had
five receptions for seventy one yards in a touchdown. That's
a pretty good little day in the first week. So
how do you keep him from going off again? How
do you keep James Connor behind the line of scrimmage?
That's obviously still going to be a point of contention,
(09:17):
a point of focus, given that they did give up
two hundred yards last weekend on the ground versus the Jags.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, I thought it was kind of interesting this morning,
and speaking of that, A zero RIVERA and all the
coordinators talk on Thursday mornings before we come in here
to the studio, and EJ said something about the tackling.
Dave Canally has made a point that in practice on Wednesday,
when they were not in pads. You know, EJ put
the defensive guys through a series of very basic drills,
(09:45):
like the stuff you see early in high school camps,
early in college camps, that kind of stuff where you're
you're getting your feet square, you're wrapping, you're doing all
those fundamental things that lead back to the basics, even
when you're not tackling. And you know, I thought that
was good and and he said something when he was
talking to us this morning, he was like, the thing
that I was encouraged about is the tackling was a
(10:06):
lot better.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Yeah, in the second half.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Now, the big seventy one yard rush is obviously problematic,
and even without that rush, they were giving up five
point three per carry in the first half. In the
second half, that's down to a more normal three point
four to seven per carry. Not great, but still a
lot better than where it was. And they were, you know,
they were obviously intent on doing some things differently, and
(10:32):
they kind of did a better job of keeping the
Jags out of some of those big plays in the
second half. But those fundamental things, those tackling things, are
the kind of stuff that can get away from you
in week one. You do your thing, you say your piece,
you do the emphasis in practice, and then you move
on and let's see what it looks like this week.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
And buddy, are you gonna need it this week, because,
I mean, spoiler alert, Kyler Murray's tough to bring down.
I mean, he's a guy. He's somebody that you know.
I talked to Princely and meel And and Nick Courton this
week and they were talking about realizing the speed of
the game because you can tell it at that position
so much more. And prince Lely was like, you know,
(11:12):
I didn't get a ton on one on ones and
he was like, but I was. I could tell like
that ball was coming out quick, Like that ball was
coming out so much quicker than I ever saw it
come out in college. And he's but then you face
a guy this week with Kyler Murray where the ball
might not come out as quick. He's willing to hold
on to it, but that's because he's running around looking
for another play downfield or scrambling. And Pat Jones told
(11:36):
this great story yesterday. It'll probably be on five Things
this weekend, but I'll give you a little preview. He
tells his great story about the Vikings playing the Cardinals
last year and he gets behind the line, He's like,
I have him. He's like, it's a sack. I have him.
And then I look down and realize he's ducked under
my arm and he's five yards away. And he's like,
(11:57):
that's Kyler Murray. That's what you have to do. You
can't you can't think you have him. You have to know.
So it's it's a fun little challenge.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
Yeah, he absolutely is.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And and it's an interesting game because in a lot
of ways, these two teams are built similarly. They've got
some things in common, but they've got a history in
that history. Frankly leans toward the Carolina Panthers thirteen teen,
thirteen and five all time against the Cards in the
regular season.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Oh, the regular I was counting a total six.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And two at Arizona.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
So things tend to go pretty well for him out there,
including you mentioned throwback Thursday. We were talking about this,
We were talking about this at lunch earlier today. Perhaps
my favorite Panthers Cardinals game of all time.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
You're going to NFC Championship.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
No, I'm going two thousand and seven. Wow, The two
thousand and seven Panthers Cardinals game was one of my
favorites because and I got to get a fat ahead
of him. It brought Vinny Testaverdi into our life.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Oh that's it's time for our Vinnie test A Verdi story.
We haven't had one in a couple of months.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, we haven't had a told a good Vinnie story
in a while, so we needed to. Vinny Testa Verdi
came into our lives very accidentally in two thousand and seven,
as he usually does, as one does, but Jake DeLong
elbow blows out early on in that season, leaving David
Carr to back him up. David Carr came here in
(13:23):
large part because Jake delom was the most durable quarterback
he had found, and after taking a beating for a
couple of years in Houston, he kind of wanted to
get in out of the rain. But he went to
New Orleans the week before suffered a compression fracture in
his back, and I remember David Carr standing up telling
us in the locker room after that game. He was like, guys,
you can ask me pretty much anything you want. I'm
(13:44):
so full of muscle relaxers and pig killers right now,
I don't know. I'm so credit to David for having
self awareness in that moment. But they needed somebody to
play quarterback. Yeah, following week, so in comes forty four
year old Vinnie Test of Verdi.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Wow, beats out Matt Prater.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And there and there was competition for his services at
that point because this is in the Kurt Warner era
of Cardinals football. But they needed some help. They needed
a backup was experienced. Their backup was injured or unavailable
or something, so the Cardinals were trying to sign him. Also,
the Panthers had to have him at that moment because
(14:19):
they needed somebody and John Fox, as you may have heard,
wasn't really into the whole young quarterback thing, so they
call Vinnie. At the time, the strength coach was a
guy named Jerry Simmons who had worked with Vinnie back
in Baltimore when he played for the Ravens, and Bennie's like.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Yeah, I'll come work with Jerry.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Walks in on Tuesday night, practices on Wednesday, starts on Sunday,
and it was like nothing had ever happened. I mean,
he did a couple of things and you'll probably see
it this week. He had the deep ball to he
had the deep ball to DeAngelo Williams for a long touchdown.
The other impressive thing Vinnie did that day was overthrow
(14:55):
that Steve Smith guy.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, Steve did not think he could be overthrown.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
He was overthrown because Bennie, even at forty four years old,
had a huge arm. I mean, he could ling it
all over the yard, and as happens when you get
into your mid forties, it takes you at a bit
longer to recover. It was like that, I'm as good
once as I ever was. He could throw with anybody
in the league. On Sunday, he just needed more recovery times.
(15:23):
So like Sunday Wednesday, those were kind of his throwing days.
Everything else, Bennie was kind of taking a mentorship role.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
But yeah, it was good. I remember a lot of
things about that trip.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But Vinnie Testaverdi coming into our lives and immediately leading
the Panthers to a win on the road in two
thousand and seven, I mean, it's just nothing you ever expect.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
So it was. It was beautiful.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
But yes, Bennie testa Verdi, D'Angelo Williams, Steve Smith, all
the good times, just as as of course you would
expect he ended up playing against Tim Rattae.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Because Kurt Warner got hurt during that game.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
So people thought it was going to be Kurt Warner,
Jake Delome, you know, the older NFL europe teammates, you know,
doing their thing again.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Nope, it was Vinnie Testaverdi versus Tim Rattay.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Of course, that's what people bought the tickets for. I
wonder what Vinnie's up to nowadays.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
Vinnie's enjoying life. I'm sure his son was. His son
was playing some college football at some level, you know,
I mean, he's Vinnie. The last time I talked to him,
he was doing well. He was enjoying things.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Just you know.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
I think retired quarterbacks are always in a good mood,
but Vinnie was particularly good because he's he's living the dream,
probably playing a lot of golf and probably lifting weights honestly,
because he would. Vinnie was very big and to do
your job the right way, so the conditioning part of it,
I mean, he still worked out like a madman. I
(16:50):
remember Jerry Simmons telling me that story. He's like, way
do you see him when he gets here? Because he
takes such incredible care of himself. That's how he's able
to do this right now.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
That's cool. It's a good lesson.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Yeah, it's a good lesson. Look looking forward to getting
out to the to the desert this week. What else
we got we got Ooh, here's a tease for you,
speaking of things that are going to be on Panthers
dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
We got JJ Jansen copy coming your way.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Okay, always always a delight.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
We've we've got a very special JJ is going back
to Arizona. It's a very special occasion, a little confluence
of events here, so you'll have that coming up on
Panthers dot com. One.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I didn't realize how many people on this team necessarily
were from there. Leithan Ransom was saying yesterday that he's
gonna have a huge group there because it's close to
home for him. He grew up in Tucson, about an
hour and a half away, so he's gonna have a
lot of people. Also learned that Sunday was Leathan's first
NFL game to attend. Yeah, isn't that funny. Bryce Young
(17:51):
told me yesterday that, you know, being so close to
southern California there in Arizona, he's gonna have a lot
of family there, probably more than he's he's really had
it a game before, So that's going to be exciting.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
And you know what else we got to look forward
to on Sunday? What halftime show? Oh that's right, Sugar Ray,
ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
Darren's so excited. I mean it's you know he was,
and that's not sarcastic. He's legitimately excited.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I love a good, un ironic halftime show. One of
my favorites here was Biz Marquee Rob Bass Rip Biz.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
Rob Bass from Alabama, and.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
You know they played here at Bank of America Stadium
a couple of years ago. But you know, Sugar Ray,
Martin McGrath's still out here doing his thing and he's
going to entertain us at halftime, So I.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
Look forward to that.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I was trying to explain to Darren earlier about Martin
McGrath's cameos, and I feel like I'm just gonna have
to show him to really to really get the full effect.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
You know what, I think, I'm good?
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Should I a little bit of Sugar Ray goes in
the comments? Should I buy Darren a Martin McGrath cameo?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah? No, maybe if you do get him to introduce
the Happy half that's a great idea, if you say,
if if we can get Mark McGrath to say, hey,
when I'm looking for Carolina Panthers news and commentary, I
only watch the Happy Half.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Hour on the Panthers YouTube. I don't know if it's
worth it. I don't know if it's worth it.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So until then, we'll get deeper into the Cardinals Panthers game.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
We'll get you ready next week.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
We will see you back here next Monday on the
Happy Half Hour.
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