October 20, 2025 • 22 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy react to the Panthers 3-game winning streak, discuss how to keep the streak alive against the Bills in week 8, talk about Bryce Young's ankle injury, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Happy Half Hour. Hello friends, and welcome to the
Happy half Hour, a very special edition of the Happy
half Hour. As they all are, We've.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Got to having a lot of happy half hours.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
That's right. It's extra it's extra happy when the Carolina
Panthers win football games, you know when else, it's extra happy.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
When you get Deep Eddie Vodka swag.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
When you're enjoying gifts courtesy of our fine friends at
Deep Eddy Vodka. Listen, folks, the clock is ticking. You
have six days, count them six. All entries have to
be in by October twenty six. If you too want
to enter the Sweet Sip Sweepstakes, back here for your
chance to win two count them two tickets to the
November ninth game against the Saints, all courtesy our friends
(00:44):
at Deep Eddie Vodka. All you've got to do is
come up with your custom cocktail with one of these
fine Deepetty products, and you too could join us right
here at Bank of America Stadium on November ninth against
the Saints. There will be Deep Eddy Swag and the
Deep Eddy Sweet. You'll get access to the One Carolina Club.
It's a good time. It's where all the cool kids
are gonna be And really, is there anything cooler than
(01:06):
a sports writer in a free quarter zip? This is
practically our.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Uniform to say, that's Darren's entire wardrobe. Yeah, I got
a quarter zip one time at the Chick fil A
Bowl game. It was yeah, yeah, the Peach Bowl. You
know they called the chick.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
They save my pleasure when they handed it.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
They should have And that is to this day still
one of the most comfortable quarterszips I've ever gotten.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That will be the end of that talk. This is
a Bojangles. This is a friend of Bojangles podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I received a Peach Bowl quarter zip.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Spots are redacted.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
That's right. You readdact that sponsor if you please. At
any rate football, many people are happy about the result. Yesterday,
the Carolina Panthers won thirteen to three at New York six.
What did I say?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thirteen three?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Man? You'd think of sports writer. We'd get the score
right from time to time. Detail It was right on
Panthers dot Com. I remember that part. Panthers went thirteen
to six on the road, first win in this season,
first time they've been five hundred this deepend of season
since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
They're even above five hundred, right.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, first time above five hundred this deepend of season
since twenty nineteen. There's a lot of numbers coming out us.
But of course today's news obviously cast a little bit
of a pall over that we'll find out as the
week goes on. How bad Bryce Young came out of
that game with an ankle spring left in the third quarter,
did not return to the game. Dave Canalis told reporters today, Hey,
(02:31):
we're to handle on this day to day. It's going
to be a thing. We're going to see. Here's what
I know about Bryce. There was no evidence of panic
last night. Rico Dalt will talk to him after it.
He said, you know, he said, everything's gonna be okay,
not a big deal. Everybody's suggesting this is not going
to be a lengthy absence, if an absence at all.
Dave Canalis all was he was going in coach mode.
(02:53):
It's day to day and we'll see what he does
on Wednesday. So tune in to Panthers dot com on
Wednesday to see what that injury report looks like. But
the good news for the Carolina Panthers is they're playing
the kind of football that allows them to survive things right,
and whether that's the absence of quarterback, whether it's the
six starting offensive line in seven weeks, whether it's you know,
(03:17):
this guy out, this guy out, people moving around in
and out of the lineup. They have proven themselves to
be over the last month a fairly resilient football team,
and that's the thing Dave Canalis is trying to train
them up to be.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And you know, you've got a veteran quarterback in Andy
Dalton that if he is the one who plays on
Sunday when he had to step in like yesterday, this
is a team that has really become a run first
team or run heavy team, and a lot of times
that requires a quarterback that knows how. It's not just
simply turning around and handing the ball off. It's it's
(03:51):
knowing when to get check in and check out of runs,
when to maybe move runs to the different side, take
advantage of different matchups and zones, things like that. Andy's
a very veteran quarterback, a very capable veteran quarterback that
knows how to get them in and out of those plays,
how to get everybody in the right position. We saw
him do that last year at times, we've seen him
(04:13):
do it a lot in practice, and so you know,
like this is not a guy that's that's coming in
off the bench as a Green quarterback. Is a guy
that's been in the league for a long time that
knows how to read defense and study defenses and move
guys around. And not at all to discredit what Bryce
(04:34):
has brought to this offense and what possibly not and
we still don't know, but what possibly not having him
could do to it. He has gotten really really comfortable
in this offense, and everyone around him has become more
comfortable as he has become more comfortable. But still some
still an offense that is going to ride the backs
of Rico Dada on Cuba Hubb more than anything. And
(04:55):
you see too, like you saw it again yesterday, Andy
Dalton didn't xavierly Get have a really good connection? Canl
is kind of I don't know if it was a
joke or not. I took it as a joke. He
may have been serious that it may have something to
do with it that Andy spent all those years throwing
to AJ Green, so he's used to looking for a
big body receiver downfield. You know, all of that to
(05:16):
say you're in a good position when you're backup, or
your second option is Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I think that was a mostly serious point. I mean
because aj Green was a good size wide receiver and
him and Andy Dalton connected for a lot. By the way,
you mentioned, Andy Dalton's done this for a long time
with great success. Andrew Dalton is twenty sixth on the
NFL's all time touchdown pass list, tied with some guy
named Dan Fouts, who when he threw his last touchdown,
(05:43):
he moved into a tie with Dan Fouts. That was
for twenty fifth. They's since been passed by some guy
named Patrick Mahonme.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh, yeah, he'll do that too.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, crept ahead of them. But Andy's been doing this
for a long time. He's pretty good at the football gang.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How far is he away from twenty five?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
He has well, he is one touchdown away from tying
Sonny Jurgensen for twenty fifth place on that twenty four
would be Derek Carr at two fifty seven. We're getting
ahead of ourselves. We're all about to work here at
the Happy half Hour. We honor the work in this podcast,
and we're only concentrating on Monday today, So anyway. So
(06:19):
we will see as the week goes on what Bryce
is able to do. Dave said, you know, hey, we're
going to see what Bryce wants to do because Bryce
is pushing ahead to try to do everything he can.
You know, we saw him today. He was walking around
being Bryce and he was doing Bryce things in the
Bryce way. So we will see as the week goes on.
But here's the thing that's encouraging about this Carolina Panthers team.
(06:41):
In the past, they have been in spots where if
quarterback goes down, it's, oh God, what's gonna happen. Yeah,
the Carolina Panthers are truly living that complementary football life
right now. I mean, I did not anticipate when I
entered this season that the Carolina Panthers were going to
become a top ten defense in the NFL. I just didn't.
(07:02):
I thought the goal is, Okay, you set all the
wrong kind of records a year ago. They brought in
a bunch of new dudes. Let's get up in the
middle of the pack. See where that gets us. Where
they have gotten is to the kind of defense that
can change games in a lot of ways. They had
five sacks going into yesterday, left with eleven.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
J C.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Horn had one interception on the season, five on career,
left with eight. I mean, he just are He's coming
off a two interception game. Derek has two sacks of
their six. Derek bats down three passes. You've got dudes
on the front and back of this defense who can
change the game at any given moment. Yeah, and they did.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And to back up your point too, that you were making,
Canals said that today, you know, I think we're playing
really you see that all three phases are coming into
a win, and that makes all the difference. It does
make it a little easier if you do, you know,
have to to sit your quarterback for a week. Trevor
etn yard kickoff return yesterday. That started the second half
(08:03):
really really well.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And they've talked about wanting to get Trevor involved in
the run game. But oh, by the way, there's Tube
Hubber and Rico Dollo in front of him on the
death chart.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
My favorite thing that they do with Trevor, they've done
it about three or four times now, and they did
it yesterday is Trevor starts flexed out and then he
runs to the backfield and then he runs in a circle,
and then he runs around Bryce and the other running
back and then he runs out to the he runs
and flexes out on the other side.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
There's stuff happens.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
He just ran fifty yards before the ball was even snapped.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Well, and again, some of that incorporating some of that
motion adds to what they've been able to do offensively.
Dave Canalis talked about it with the decision to keep
Jimmy Horn up this week instead of Hunter Renfro. Once
Jalen Kocher got back in the lineup, He's like, hey,
we're averaging two more yards of play when Jimmy's out there,
because when there's motion, it gives the opposing defense one
(08:55):
more thing to look at and one more thing to
account for. I'm starting to look Keigley because that's the
thing I do. That's just such a casual jerk thing
to say. I was talking to Luke Keagley the other
day and he said, but I was talking to Luke
about this, and he said, it is complicated, and it's
just an extra thing you've got to account for as
a linebacker. When somebody's got that kind of speed, you
(09:17):
don't know which way he's going with it. And it
creates a problem. Man. It's one of those things. If
Luke Keigley says it's a problem, I am willing to
accept that that is problematic.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
And I think you're seeing that come to fruition more
and more as this offense evolves. Because especially yesterday, like
I know, stat sheet wise and even a little bit
watching it wise, like the offense probably fell and looked
a little clunky at times. I think some of that
was just getting guys back geting. You know, your offensive
line changed again. Still still very very good and capable
(09:49):
and efficient offensive line, but it is still a little different.
Coker was back for the first time this season. You know,
they did have to switch quarterbacks when Bryce went out.
All that to say, you see that the concepts coming
to life, Like you see guys getting open, you see
guys running downfield. That was also a really good Jets front.
Anytime you have to face Quinn Williams guys like that,
(10:11):
anytime you have to face Sauce Gardner, that makes life
a little more difficult. But you saw guys getting open,
You saw the play calls kind of coming to life,
and the concepts of what they want to do, even
even instill what you know might would be considered quote
unquote an ugly offensive win.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, you take it. I mean, here's the thing you mentioned.
Saus Gardner and Quinn and Williams, two really good football players.
Steve Wilks really wanted to show out, and honestly, the
defense was not the deal for the New York Jets yesterday.
They've held two teams with over five hundred records to
thirteen points each of the last two weeks, and the
Broncos and the Carolina Panthers and lost both games.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
So, I mean, Broncos put up thirty three yesterday, that's right,
they scored thirteen.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
And you know they've been moving the ball around pretty
good too, So the Jets can play a little defense.
They knew it was going to be that kind of
ugly it up game, clutch and grab, and.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
The Jets also like to load their box. And especially
if you if you know that your offense is running
through Cuba and Rico, Like, what do you think the
Jets are gonna do. They're gonna get in there and
try to stop.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That, no question, and they did. I thought it was
funny when I saw some of the comments of the
Panthers weren't able to really run the ball. Yesterday they
ran for one hundred and twenty five yards and that's
basically top twelve in the league kind of average per game.
If you look at it like that, and it's just
when it's not two forty, it's like, what are you
(11:36):
guys even doing out there? Only gaining one hundred and
twenty five on the ground? What's wrong with you? But
Canalis did say going into this week his plan is
to keep going with what he's doing with Rico and
Cuba and just kind of alternating them in series by series.
I think you'll probably see, this is my guess, you
start to diversify that a little bit and you'll see
(11:57):
more of that Jimmy Jets sweep action. We will see
more of the Trevor running around as an alternate in
the backfield. I mean, we've seen ric O'doddell hand the
ball off to Chewba Hubber this year, so they've got
all kind of wrinkles.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Rico told me yesterday he said, we want to run
three to zero, which is three running backs, no tight ends.
I said, can I be there when you tell Pat
macpherson that?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And he said no, he said now I'm telling the
coaches that we want to run triple option. Let me
throw the he said, I'll tell I'll be the quarterback.
I got chewbone one side, Trev on the other, and
I'll throw it to him. Ric o'doddle did play quarterback
in high school.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Who says, no, let's go wishbone? What do you say?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Dan Mullen used to say that all the time at
Florida We're gonna run the wishbone offense, and it never
came to life.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I would love that, the old man and me would
love to see a little bit of wishbone football in
the NFL. Sore on the table, I'm sorry, I didn't
mean to mess up your desk here. At any rate,
this is the danger of me and loose items. This
is what happens. But at any rate, so we've talked
about Bryce, We've talked about the defense, we've talked about running.
(13:07):
I mean, obviously big game coming up this weekend Buffalo
Bills with our many old friends, and we'll talk about
that more later in the week when we visit on Thursday.
But whether it's Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott, whether it's
Shaq Thompson, whether it's Sam Franklin, it's like an endless parade.
And oh, by the way, about a third of the
population of the city of Charlotte. I believe it's from
(13:28):
Buffalo based on the flags I see on cars, and
you know, people telling me how to drive and how
we don't know what to do when it snows. But
we notice you all move here and we don't go there,
So we love it when we love it when the
Buffaloights and the Buffalonians come to town. They're they're always
gracious where they tend to bring their own furniture to
(13:49):
break rather than breaking down.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
That's that's that nice Midwestern spirit there. I guess they're
not Midwest or Northeast.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Northeastern. It's Lake effect furniture, so Northeast at any rate.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens when
they come in. But things will inevitably change a little
bit if price isn't able to go. But to your point,
Andy operates in a way that kind of allows things
to normalize. We saw it last year in Las Vegas.
You know, he kind of came in and it was
(14:16):
a little bit like coming in late in the game.
You know there were some moments where it was a
little bit off, but he starts hitting shots downfield and
that thirty three yard completion of Exl and you talked
to Excel this afternoon. I mean, that's an example of
what Andy's able to do.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, and X said that when they got the call
in the huddle, he didn't know if it was coming
to him, but he was like, I kind of figured
he might throw it to me. And again that kind
of goes back to just the chemistry that those two
have as well.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
And it worked.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
That was a huge play call too, to do that
and in that moment, good call and it worked. You know,
when you've got a guy like Andy that you can
trust to go out there and make that play call,
then it allows you to keep keep on your call sheet,
as Canalis would say. And you know, now can he
do it this week too? I guess another really really
good defensive front. I mean, look at the Bills front seven.
(15:07):
They've got I think Joey Boza at Oliver Shaq Thompson
and are you pulling up their roster?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
They got all kinds of dudes. The Buffalo Bills. This
just in good at football. I know there's been. I
know there's been a lot of panic about them with
some of the results right before their bye week, but
they're one of those teams again, Sean for to Sean
mcdermot's one of those guys who's good at coaching, and
so you give him a bye week to work on
some of their issues, and you know they've kind of
reached that point. I mean, that's the place that Carolina
(15:36):
Panthers are trying to get to. They're trying to create
that stable platform where you're good at a consistent level
and then you try to peak off of that. But
the Bills are the Bills are one of the standards
in the league. They're one of the teams, so this
is going to be another good test. I like. One
of the things I've enjoyed watching this team do is
(15:56):
they've kind of won in three different ways the last
three weeks. I mean, they have the historic comeback against
the Dolphins, they win a shootout against the number one
offense in the league, and the Dallas Cowboys, and then
you kind of had to win that ugly game and
I love that. Andy's like, yeah, man, they all count
as one, so ugly pretty doesn't really matter. And the
ugly part is not anything anybody's getting two hungry.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And you know what's funny too, is, like this is
about to sound real crumudgeony. Is we call it an
ugly win because it was a defensive win. That's what
it was. I'm sorry, Like, anytime you go out there
and you get six sacks and Derek Brown is batting
down balls here and there, anytime you get two interceptions,
you hold a rushing defense below one hundred yards again,
(16:43):
I mean, I mean a rushing attack below one hundred
yards for a third straight week. I mean, that's a
good defensive performance. I do know the just didn't have
Garrett Wilson, but they still have guys and you know,
Justin Fields has been a quarterback in this league for
a while. And anytime that you can go out there
and have a defensive performance like that, that's that's encouraging.
(17:04):
That's and I know, you know people might say, like, oh,
what it was just the Jets. They've played games really
really closely, and yeah, to your point, you went in
a bunch of different ways, and this past week was
a defensive win. Yeah, I want to let's go. Let's
go with that phrase defensive win, not ugly win.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, I will not discriminate against a low scoring game.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
It's Will Muschamp told me one time. Have I told
the story before?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Probably?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Will Muschamp told me one time that his ideal win
was two to nothing because the only score was a
defensive score.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
I could get down with that. Would that be scoagami.
We'll we'll have to look that up, but we'll research that,
but we'll get into all that. The the other thing
about yesterday's game, in talking about the many people who
were contributing to it, is with those six sacs, I mean,
you see a Sean Robinson get in there. You see
(17:55):
Trayvon Mehri get in there. Nick Gorton got lose for
his friend sack and a half in the NFL Princely
after Derek landed on him. Derek Brown can make an
impact on a game plan. Dereck Brown can make an
impact on a prince Lea when he falls on top
of him. Because that's a lot of Derek falling out
of the sky. And so Princely was announced as questionable
(18:16):
for a little bit to return, was back in the game,
got his half sack and kept it moving and just
incorporating more and more dudes. A week after Pat Jones
goes on IR to be able to get more people involved.
Boogie Basham's out there run around. Even t I Thomas
Encombe special teamer was out there on some defensive snaps.
It was. It was really such an all hands on
(18:37):
deck kind of defensive win. Everybody had a hand on it,
including your guy Trevin Wallace.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Including Trevan Wallace. But I was also just gonna say too,
like credit to dj Wantam, he kind of gets lost
a little bit in the conversation because everyone is understandably
enamored with the rookie pass rushers, and you know, Pat
Jones had done so much. A lot of that is
coming because DJ Wantum's getting pressure and kind of collapsing
the pocket and pushing the guys out into the like
he's played really well too.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
And you get and you get a turk. Wharton back
in the line got all pushed too. We got pictures.
One of my favorite pictures on Panthers dot com, uh
from the last twenty four hours. I don't even remember
what time of day it came in or which story
was in. Was Terse and Wharton flying through the air
at Breeze Hall and it's like, Okay, this is slightly terrifying.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I would love to know the physics of how that is.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
It's turks bring turks bringing the impact when he does
stuff like that. So, uh, good win for the Carolina
Panthers again. Four and three feels pretty good. Yeah, it's
a it's a very different conversation than when it was
one in three and everybody was freaking out and wondering
what was wrong with this football team and where did
everything go wrong. They've got things stabilized. We talked last
(19:49):
week about playing that normal football again. Learning to win
a game like yesterday is another big step in that.
So it was all in all a successful trip to
New York. You you enjoyed a little New York too,
didn't you.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I love me some New York. When early got to
hang out with my mom. We did a Central Park
TV and movie tour.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
There and.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Show it went and saw the Lion King, which was incredible.
I should do that with my dut Finally, it was
funny enough because you were saying like, oh, I'm gonna
drop the pin because I talked to Luke Keikeley about
motion actually had a conversation with Luke Keekeley about The
Lion King on Broadway. Oh yeah, but yeah, it's fascinating it.
Go see it if you ever get the chance. A
(20:33):
really really cool show. The way they do the animal
movements and stuff like that. Luke show tunes is that
his appreciated Lion King. I loved what I got from
our conversation. I was gonna say something else to add
to that too, talking about New York.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You saw the Raconia, you went back. I love Steve Martin.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I peeked at the fountain to get clues from this season. Man,
it was right on the tip of my tongue what
I was about to say.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Did you have an authentic slice at Saborro, one of.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The my favorite New York pizza joint?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Uh no, did go find a local pizza joint on
the Upper West Side that was really nice?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I can't remember what I was gonna say, though, it'll it'll, it'll.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Come to it. It'll come to her between now and Thursday.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
So that'll come slow. Friend.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
We got by the way, speaking of Thursday, the clock's ticking.
You've got till now between now and October twenty six?
Is that what that card you didn't give me, said Matt.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Right here.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, there's the card Matt didn't give me. October twenty
six is you're a deadline to enter the Deep Eddie
Sweet SIPs Sweepstakes. You can win tickets to that November
nine Saints game and maybe come up with some good
looking Deep Eddie swag like I'm wearing here, So get
your entries in between now and the twenty six tune
into Panthers dot com all week for all the latest
on all the news and happenings in a big week
(21:49):
of Carolina Panthers football, and until Thursday. We will see
you later here from the Happy Half Hour
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Firef
The Happy Half Hour. Hello friends, and welcome to the
Happy half Hour, a very special edition of the Happy
half Hour. As they all are, We've.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Got to having a lot of happy half hours.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
That's right. It's extra it's extra happy when the Carolina
Panthers win football games, you know when else, it's extra happy.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
When you get Deep Eddie Vodka swag.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
When you're enjoying gifts courtesy of our fine friends at
Deep Eddy Vodka. Listen, folks, the clock is ticking. You
have six days, count them six. All entries have to
be in by October twenty six. If you too want
to enter the Sweet Sip Sweepstakes, back here for your
chance to win two count them two tickets to the
November ninth game against the Saints, all courtesy our friends
(00:44):
at Deep Eddie Vodka. All you've got to do is
come up with your custom cocktail with one of these
fine Deepetty products, and you too could join us right
here at Bank of America Stadium on November ninth against
the Saints. There will be Deep Eddy Swag and the
Deep Eddy Sweet. You'll get access to the One Carolina Club.
It's a good time. It's where all the cool kids
are gonna be And really, is there anything cooler than
(01:06):
a sports writer in a free quarter zip? This is
practically our.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Uniform to say, that's Darren's entire wardrobe. Yeah, I got
a quarter zip one time at the Chick fil A
Bowl game. It was yeah, yeah, the Peach Bowl. You
know they called the chick.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
They save my pleasure when they handed it.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
They should have And that is to this day still
one of the most comfortable quarterszips I've ever gotten.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
That will be the end of that talk. This is
a Bojangles. This is a friend of Bojangles podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I received a Peach Bowl quarter zip.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Spots are redacted.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
That's right. You readdact that sponsor if you please. At
any rate football, many people are happy about the result. Yesterday,
the Carolina Panthers won thirteen to three at New York six.
What did I say?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Thirteen three?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Man? You'd think of sports writer. We'd get the score
right from time to time. Detail It was right on
Panthers dot Com. I remember that part. Panthers went thirteen
to six on the road, first win in this season,
first time they've been five hundred this deepend of season
since twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
They're even above five hundred, right.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, first time above five hundred this deepend of season
since twenty nineteen. There's a lot of numbers coming out us.
But of course today's news obviously cast a little bit
of a pall over that we'll find out as the
week goes on. How bad Bryce Young came out of
that game with an ankle spring left in the third quarter,
did not return to the game. Dave Canalis told reporters today, Hey,
(02:31):
we're to handle on this day to day. It's going
to be a thing. We're going to see. Here's what
I know about Bryce. There was no evidence of panic
last night. Rico Dalt will talk to him after it.
He said, you know, he said, everything's gonna be okay,
not a big deal. Everybody's suggesting this is not going
to be a lengthy absence, if an absence at all.
Dave Canalis all was he was going in coach mode.
(02:53):
It's day to day and we'll see what he does
on Wednesday. So tune in to Panthers dot com on
Wednesday to see what that injury report looks like. But
the good news for the Carolina Panthers is they're playing
the kind of football that allows them to survive things right,
and whether that's the absence of quarterback, whether it's the
six starting offensive line in seven weeks, whether it's you know,
(03:17):
this guy out, this guy out, people moving around in
and out of the lineup. They have proven themselves to
be over the last month a fairly resilient football team,
and that's the thing Dave Canalis is trying to train
them up to be.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
And you know, you've got a veteran quarterback in Andy
Dalton that if he is the one who plays on
Sunday when he had to step in like yesterday, this
is a team that has really become a run first
team or run heavy team, and a lot of times
that requires a quarterback that knows how. It's not just
simply turning around and handing the ball off. It's it's
(03:51):
knowing when to get check in and check out of runs,
when to maybe move runs to the different side, take
advantage of different matchups and zones, things like that. Andy's
a very veteran quarterback, a very capable veteran quarterback that
knows how to get them in and out of those plays,
how to get everybody in the right position. We saw
him do that last year at times, we've seen him
(04:13):
do it a lot in practice, and so you know,
like this is not a guy that's that's coming in
off the bench as a Green quarterback. Is a guy
that's been in the league for a long time that
knows how to read defense and study defenses and move
guys around. And not at all to discredit what Bryce
(04:34):
has brought to this offense and what possibly not and
we still don't know, but what possibly not having him
could do to it. He has gotten really really comfortable
in this offense, and everyone around him has become more
comfortable as he has become more comfortable. But still some
still an offense that is going to ride the backs
of Rico Dada on Cuba Hubb more than anything. And
(04:55):
you see too, like you saw it again yesterday, Andy
Dalton didn't xavierly Get have a really good connection? Canl
is kind of I don't know if it was a
joke or not. I took it as a joke. He
may have been serious that it may have something to
do with it that Andy spent all those years throwing
to AJ Green, so he's used to looking for a
big body receiver downfield. You know, all of that to
(05:16):
say you're in a good position when you're backup, or
your second option is Andy Dalton.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I think that was a mostly serious point. I mean
because aj Green was a good size wide receiver and
him and Andy Dalton connected for a lot. By the way,
you mentioned, Andy Dalton's done this for a long time
with great success. Andrew Dalton is twenty sixth on the
NFL's all time touchdown pass list, tied with some guy
named Dan Fouts, who when he threw his last touchdown,
(05:43):
he moved into a tie with Dan Fouts. That was
for twenty fifth. They's since been passed by some guy
named Patrick Mahonme.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Oh, yeah, he'll do that too.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, crept ahead of them. But Andy's been doing this
for a long time. He's pretty good at the football gang.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
How far is he away from twenty five?
Speaker 1 (05:57):
He has well, he is one touchdown away from tying
Sonny Jurgensen for twenty fifth place on that twenty four
would be Derek Carr at two fifty seven. We're getting
ahead of ourselves. We're all about to work here at
the Happy half Hour. We honor the work in this podcast,
and we're only concentrating on Monday today, So anyway. So
(06:19):
we will see as the week goes on what Bryce
is able to do. Dave said, you know, hey, we're
going to see what Bryce wants to do because Bryce
is pushing ahead to try to do everything he can.
You know, we saw him today. He was walking around
being Bryce and he was doing Bryce things in the
Bryce way. So we will see as the week goes on.
But here's the thing that's encouraging about this Carolina Panthers team.
(06:41):
In the past, they have been in spots where if
quarterback goes down, it's, oh God, what's gonna happen. Yeah,
the Carolina Panthers are truly living that complementary football life
right now. I mean, I did not anticipate when I
entered this season that the Carolina Panthers were going to
become a top ten defense in the NFL. I just didn't.
(07:02):
I thought the goal is, Okay, you set all the
wrong kind of records a year ago. They brought in
a bunch of new dudes. Let's get up in the
middle of the pack. See where that gets us. Where
they have gotten is to the kind of defense that
can change games in a lot of ways. They had
five sacks going into yesterday, left with eleven.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
J C.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Horn had one interception on the season, five on career,
left with eight. I mean, he just are He's coming
off a two interception game. Derek has two sacks of
their six. Derek bats down three passes. You've got dudes
on the front and back of this defense who can
change the game at any given moment. Yeah, and they did.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And to back up your point too, that you were making,
Canals said that today, you know, I think we're playing
really you see that all three phases are coming into
a win, and that makes all the difference. It does
make it a little easier if you do, you know,
have to to sit your quarterback for a week. Trevor
etn yard kickoff return yesterday. That started the second half
(08:03):
really really well.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And they've talked about wanting to get Trevor involved in
the run game. But oh, by the way, there's Tube
Hubber and Rico Dollo in front of him on the
death chart.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
My favorite thing that they do with Trevor, they've done
it about three or four times now, and they did
it yesterday is Trevor starts flexed out and then he
runs to the backfield and then he runs in a circle,
and then he runs around Bryce and the other running
back and then he runs out to the he runs
and flexes out on the other side.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
There's stuff happens.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
He just ran fifty yards before the ball was even snapped.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Well, and again, some of that incorporating some of that
motion adds to what they've been able to do offensively.
Dave Canalis talked about it with the decision to keep
Jimmy Horn up this week instead of Hunter Renfro. Once
Jalen Kocher got back in the lineup, He's like, hey,
we're averaging two more yards of play when Jimmy's out there,
because when there's motion, it gives the opposing defense one
(08:55):
more thing to look at and one more thing to
account for. I'm starting to look Keigley because that's the
thing I do. That's just such a casual jerk thing
to say. I was talking to Luke Keagley the other
day and he said, but I was talking to Luke
about this, and he said, it is complicated, and it's
just an extra thing you've got to account for as
a linebacker. When somebody's got that kind of speed, you
(09:17):
don't know which way he's going with it. And it
creates a problem. Man. It's one of those things. If
Luke Keigley says it's a problem, I am willing to
accept that that is problematic.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
And I think you're seeing that come to fruition more
and more as this offense evolves. Because especially yesterday, like
I know, stat sheet wise and even a little bit
watching it wise, like the offense probably fell and looked
a little clunky at times. I think some of that
was just getting guys back geting. You know, your offensive
line changed again. Still still very very good and capable
(09:49):
and efficient offensive line, but it is still a little different.
Coker was back for the first time this season. You know,
they did have to switch quarterbacks when Bryce went out.
All that to say, you see that the concepts coming
to life, Like you see guys getting open, you see
guys running downfield. That was also a really good Jets front.
Anytime you have to face Quinn Williams guys like that,
(10:11):
anytime you have to face Sauce Gardner, that makes life
a little more difficult. But you saw guys getting open,
You saw the play calls kind of coming to life,
and the concepts of what they want to do, even
even instill what you know might would be considered quote
unquote an ugly offensive win.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, you take it. I mean, here's the thing you mentioned.
Saus Gardner and Quinn and Williams, two really good football players.
Steve Wilks really wanted to show out, and honestly, the
defense was not the deal for the New York Jets yesterday.
They've held two teams with over five hundred records to
thirteen points each of the last two weeks, and the
Broncos and the Carolina Panthers and lost both games.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
So, I mean, Broncos put up thirty three yesterday, that's right,
they scored thirteen.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
And you know they've been moving the ball around pretty
good too, So the Jets can play a little defense.
They knew it was going to be that kind of
ugly it up game, clutch and grab, and.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
The Jets also like to load their box. And especially
if you if you know that your offense is running
through Cuba and Rico, Like, what do you think the
Jets are gonna do. They're gonna get in there and
try to stop.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That, no question, and they did. I thought it was
funny when I saw some of the comments of the
Panthers weren't able to really run the ball. Yesterday they
ran for one hundred and twenty five yards and that's
basically top twelve in the league kind of average per game.
If you look at it like that, and it's just
when it's not two forty, it's like, what are you
(11:36):
guys even doing out there? Only gaining one hundred and
twenty five on the ground? What's wrong with you? But
Canalis did say going into this week his plan is
to keep going with what he's doing with Rico and
Cuba and just kind of alternating them in series by series.
I think you'll probably see, this is my guess, you
start to diversify that a little bit and you'll see
(11:57):
more of that Jimmy Jets sweep action. We will see
more of the Trevor running around as an alternate in
the backfield. I mean, we've seen ric O'doddell hand the
ball off to Chewba Hubber this year, so they've got
all kind of wrinkles.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Rico told me yesterday he said, we want to run
three to zero, which is three running backs, no tight ends.
I said, can I be there when you tell Pat
macpherson that?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And he said no, he said now I'm telling the
coaches that we want to run triple option. Let me
throw the he said, I'll tell I'll be the quarterback.
I got chewbone one side, Trev on the other, and
I'll throw it to him. Ric o'doddle did play quarterback
in high school.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Who says, no, let's go wishbone? What do you say?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Dan Mullen used to say that all the time at
Florida We're gonna run the wishbone offense, and it never
came to life.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
I would love that, the old man and me would
love to see a little bit of wishbone football in
the NFL. Sore on the table, I'm sorry, I didn't
mean to mess up your desk here. At any rate,
this is the danger of me and loose items. This
is what happens. But at any rate, so we've talked
about Bryce, We've talked about the defense, we've talked about running.
(13:07):
I mean, obviously big game coming up this weekend Buffalo
Bills with our many old friends, and we'll talk about
that more later in the week when we visit on Thursday.
But whether it's Brandon Bean and Sean McDermott, whether it's
Shaq Thompson, whether it's Sam Franklin, it's like an endless parade.
And oh, by the way, about a third of the
population of the city of Charlotte. I believe it's from
(13:28):
Buffalo based on the flags I see on cars, and
you know, people telling me how to drive and how
we don't know what to do when it snows. But
we notice you all move here and we don't go there,
So we love it when we love it when the
Buffaloights and the Buffalonians come to town. They're they're always
gracious where they tend to bring their own furniture to
(13:49):
break rather than breaking down.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
That's that's that nice Midwestern spirit there. I guess they're
not Midwest or Northeast.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Northeastern. It's Lake effect furniture, so Northeast at any rate.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens when
they come in. But things will inevitably change a little
bit if price isn't able to go. But to your point,
Andy operates in a way that kind of allows things
to normalize. We saw it last year in Las Vegas.
You know, he kind of came in and it was
(14:16):
a little bit like coming in late in the game.
You know there were some moments where it was a
little bit off, but he starts hitting shots downfield and
that thirty three yard completion of Exl and you talked
to Excel this afternoon. I mean, that's an example of
what Andy's able to do.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Yeah, and X said that when they got the call
in the huddle, he didn't know if it was coming
to him, but he was like, I kind of figured
he might throw it to me. And again that kind
of goes back to just the chemistry that those two
have as well.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
And it worked.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
That was a huge play call too, to do that
and in that moment, good call and it worked. You know,
when you've got a guy like Andy that you can
trust to go out there and make that play call,
then it allows you to keep keep on your call sheet,
as Canalis would say. And you know, now can he
do it this week too? I guess another really really
good defensive front. I mean, look at the Bills front seven.
(15:07):
They've got I think Joey Boza at Oliver Shaq Thompson
and are you pulling up their roster?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
They got all kinds of dudes. The Buffalo Bills. This
just in good at football. I know there's been. I
know there's been a lot of panic about them with
some of the results right before their bye week, but
they're one of those teams again, Sean for to Sean
mcdermot's one of those guys who's good at coaching, and
so you give him a bye week to work on
some of their issues, and you know they've kind of
reached that point. I mean, that's the place that Carolina
(15:36):
Panthers are trying to get to. They're trying to create
that stable platform where you're good at a consistent level
and then you try to peak off of that. But
the Bills are the Bills are one of the standards
in the league. They're one of the teams, so this
is going to be another good test. I like. One
of the things I've enjoyed watching this team do is
(15:56):
they've kind of won in three different ways the last
three weeks. I mean, they have the historic comeback against
the Dolphins, they win a shootout against the number one
offense in the league, and the Dallas Cowboys, and then
you kind of had to win that ugly game and
I love that. Andy's like, yeah, man, they all count
as one, so ugly pretty doesn't really matter. And the
ugly part is not anything anybody's getting two hungry.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
And you know what's funny too, is, like this is
about to sound real crumudgeony. Is we call it an
ugly win because it was a defensive win. That's what
it was. I'm sorry, Like, anytime you go out there
and you get six sacks and Derek Brown is batting
down balls here and there, anytime you get two interceptions,
you hold a rushing defense below one hundred yards again,
(16:43):
I mean, I mean a rushing attack below one hundred
yards for a third straight week. I mean, that's a
good defensive performance. I do know the just didn't have
Garrett Wilson, but they still have guys and you know,
Justin Fields has been a quarterback in this league for
a while. And anytime that you can go out there
and have a defensive performance like that, that's that's encouraging.
(17:04):
That's and I know, you know people might say, like, oh,
what it was just the Jets. They've played games really
really closely, and yeah, to your point, you went in
a bunch of different ways, and this past week was
a defensive win. Yeah, I want to let's go. Let's
go with that phrase defensive win, not ugly win.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Yeah, I will not discriminate against a low scoring game.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
It's Will Muschamp told me one time. Have I told
the story before?
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Probably?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
Will Muschamp told me one time that his ideal win
was two to nothing because the only score was a
defensive score.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
I could get down with that. Would that be scoagami.
We'll we'll have to look that up, but we'll research that,
but we'll get into all that. The the other thing
about yesterday's game, in talking about the many people who
were contributing to it, is with those six sacs, I mean,
you see a Sean Robinson get in there. You see
(17:55):
Trayvon Mehri get in there. Nick Gorton got lose for
his friend sack and a half in the NFL Princely
after Derek landed on him. Derek Brown can make an
impact on a game plan. Dereck Brown can make an
impact on a prince Lea when he falls on top
of him. Because that's a lot of Derek falling out
of the sky. And so Princely was announced as questionable
(18:16):
for a little bit to return, was back in the game,
got his half sack and kept it moving and just
incorporating more and more dudes. A week after Pat Jones
goes on IR to be able to get more people involved.
Boogie Basham's out there run around. Even t I Thomas
Encombe special teamer was out there on some defensive snaps.
It was. It was really such an all hands on
(18:37):
deck kind of defensive win. Everybody had a hand on it,
including your guy Trevin Wallace.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Including Trevan Wallace. But I was also just gonna say too,
like credit to dj Wantam, he kind of gets lost
a little bit in the conversation because everyone is understandably
enamored with the rookie pass rushers, and you know, Pat
Jones had done so much. A lot of that is
coming because DJ Wantum's getting pressure and kind of collapsing
the pocket and pushing the guys out into the like
he's played really well too.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
And you get and you get a turk. Wharton back
in the line got all pushed too. We got pictures.
One of my favorite pictures on Panthers dot com, uh
from the last twenty four hours. I don't even remember
what time of day it came in or which story
was in. Was Terse and Wharton flying through the air
at Breeze Hall and it's like, Okay, this is slightly terrifying.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
I would love to know the physics of how that is.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
It's turks bring turks bringing the impact when he does
stuff like that. So, uh, good win for the Carolina
Panthers again. Four and three feels pretty good. Yeah, it's
a it's a very different conversation than when it was
one in three and everybody was freaking out and wondering
what was wrong with this football team and where did
everything go wrong. They've got things stabilized. We talked last
(19:49):
week about playing that normal football again. Learning to win
a game like yesterday is another big step in that.
So it was all in all a successful trip to
New York. You you enjoyed a little New York too,
didn't you.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I love me some New York. When early got to
hang out with my mom. We did a Central Park
TV and movie tour.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
There and.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Show it went and saw the Lion King, which was incredible.
I should do that with my dut Finally, it was
funny enough because you were saying like, oh, I'm gonna
drop the pin because I talked to Luke Keikeley about
motion actually had a conversation with Luke Keekeley about The
Lion King on Broadway. Oh yeah, but yeah, it's fascinating it.
Go see it if you ever get the chance. A
(20:33):
really really cool show. The way they do the animal
movements and stuff like that. Luke show tunes is that
his appreciated Lion King. I loved what I got from
our conversation. I was gonna say something else to add
to that too, talking about New York.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
You saw the Raconia, you went back. I love Steve Martin.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
I peeked at the fountain to get clues from this season. Man,
it was right on the tip of my tongue what
I was about to say.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Did you have an authentic slice at Saborro, one of.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The my favorite New York pizza joint?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
That's right?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Uh no, did go find a local pizza joint on
the Upper West Side that was really nice?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I can't remember what I was gonna say, though, it'll it'll, it'll.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Come to it. It'll come to her between now and Thursday.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
So that'll come slow. Friend.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
We got by the way, speaking of Thursday, the clock's ticking.
You've got till now between now and October twenty six?
Is that what that card you didn't give me, said Matt.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Right here.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Yeah, there's the card Matt didn't give me. October twenty
six is you're a deadline to enter the Deep Eddie
Sweet SIPs Sweepstakes. You can win tickets to that November
nine Saints game and maybe come up with some good
looking Deep Eddie swag like I'm wearing here, So get
your entries in between now and the twenty six tune
into Panthers dot com all week for all the latest
on all the news and happenings in a big week
(21:49):
of Carolina Panthers football, and until Thursday. We will see
you later here from the Happy Half Hour
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Firef
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