October 30, 2025 • 28 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy preview the Panthers road trip to Green Bay to play the Packers, discuss how the offensive line will look this weekend, celebrate the fact that the Panthers have two talented running backs, and so much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
For Happy Half Hour. Hello friends, and welcome to a
very special edition of The Happy Half Hour. They're all special,
but you know why this one's special because I saw
the sun today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Listen, I work good thing. I don't talk in words.
I grabbed my jacket on the way out this morning,
and on the walk in here, I was like, I'm hot.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It feels so good. I forgot how much I missed
the sun after three days in Seattle in which it
just rained constantly and it was Charlotte last three days.
I mean it just ugh. I hate weather like.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Se And you know what's funny, I guess this is
the difference between me and Darren. The last three days
are my ideal weather.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
How is that possible? It's a love it. It's damp.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I love it. It's just like you fell Jimmy is crisp,
and especially this time of year. I love that kind
of weather, this time of year where it's just like
a little moody and like in its fields and it
impors you to like light a candle and turn on
Harry Potter, like it's just kind of like, you know,
(01:09):
like this time of year is kind of a little
it's all dark and not like dark in a bad way.
But it's just like more like cozy vibes, and the
rain and the fog, it all lends itself to a
cozy vibe.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You know what else it is it's cold and it's
miserable and nobody likes it and you're weird. So that's
so I don't know. I'm happy. The sun is out.
It's it's once again Charlotte, North Carolina, the center of
the universe. And we're glad to be here. And you
know why else? We're glad to be here because this
episode of The Happy Half Hours brought to you by
our friends at Deep Eddy. Check out the new logos
(01:45):
if very nice. If you're listening to us on the
on the radio, or whatever you call your podcast platform.
If you're listening to us audio only, just use the
Theater of the Mind, the Happy half Hour logo, the
Deep Eddy logo. We appreciate them supporting us. You've us
the deadline for the Sweet Sip Sweep Steaks, but five
you're on will join us here on November ninth when
(02:07):
the Saints play and get all kind of cool stuff
from them. We appreciate our friends Deep Eddy. They have
gotten here just in time, because it's midway through the season,
it's cold and people may may need a little something
to warm them up. So I don't know, but we
will also need to be warm this weekend because we're
going to Green Bay.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I think it's technically going to be colder in Charlotte
than it's going to be in Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I am I at once. I hate cold weather and
I want no part of it. And also when I
go to Green Bay and it's pleasant, I feel cheated. Right.
It's like when I go there, I I gear myself
up to be miserable. I expect to walk into a blizzard,
and if there is no blizzard, then I just what
am I doing? And then I'm just in Gastonia or
(02:49):
somewhere some small town.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
My dad and some of his family, Oh, it will
be slightly colder in Green Bay this weekend, but not
much than it is Charlotte. My dad and some of
his family one time wanted to come to a game
in Green Bay and they're like, we want it to
be like They're like, we're praying for like cold weather,
you know. They're like, we want frozen tundra Lambeau cold
weather game. And I was like, well, you're coming on
(03:11):
December sixteenth, buddy, so you're gonna get it. They get there,
it's like eighteen degrees at kickoff, and at first they're like,
this is great, this is it. And at halftime they
texted me, They're like, I haven't moved, Like, I haven't
moved an inch.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I am frozing cleacher.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, And I was like, well, you asked for it,
you got it. And afterwards that my dad was like, yeah,
that was colder than I was prepared for.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah. Now see, I'm with maybe it's just the old
guy street cred, but I'm with Special Teams coordinator Tracy Smith.
I asked him this morning how he feels about Green
Bay's like, Nope, don't like it, not one bit. Would
take a would take a dome every single time, and
I will happily kick indoors where it's seventy two degrees
every week of the year. And I think that's me.
I'm just at that. I'm just at that point of
(03:57):
my life where I like to be comfortable. I don't
like op orkid. I am an orchid. I'm a delicate
flower and I need to be treated as such. So anyway,
we are going to Green Bay, and when we get there,
we are pretty sure we're gonna see some Bryce Young
playing football again.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's what it looks like. He moved around in practice
on Wednesday. Wednesday was a lighter day. It's what Canal
is called a modified day. They were able to do
that because they had guys like Bryce some other guys
that needed to kind of just get their legs back
underneath them. And you know, then brad Ezac joked this morning,
he's like, you know, Bryce was trying to go like
full throttle, full speed, and it's like Bryce slowed down.
(04:34):
This is a modified day. You'll get Thursday's full practice.
And so that's really gonna be the test. What does
he look like today in a full speed I think
today's pads. What does he look like in a full practice.
That'll really kind of give them an answer of where
they can go from here. But Bryce himself looked excited.
He seemed to be moving around. Okay, from my non
(04:55):
you know, I'm not a doctor, and this day at
a holiday and express last night and Bryce shung looked
like he was moving around. I'm fine and practiced yesterday.
We'll see what he looks like today though.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, Well, I'm not a doctor either. I did marry one,
which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Smarter. That's the smarter move right now.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Although being a pediatrician doesn't really come into play much
in football. She sees very few acls. But anyway, No, yeah,
I just think having him back out there and moving
around on his own, I mean, Bryce has bounced back
pretty quickly. He's only ever missed the one other game
in twenty twenty three, his rookie year with the ankle injury.
So we'll talk to him later this afternoon. You should
(05:31):
absolutely check out Panthers dot com for the latest on
that because we will be visiting with Bryce later this
afternoon to get all his thoughts on how he's feeling
and coming back and getting back in the lineup. But
there's a lot of stuff going on at that position.
One of the things we found out yesterday when Dave
Canalis was talking to us is that Andy Dalton might
have been playing hurt for the biggest part of that
(05:52):
game on Sunday against the Bills. He he whacked his thumb,
his right thumb, his throwing thumb, or the thumb on
the hand with which he throws against a Bill's defender
in the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's like second play of the game.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It was a little bit. Yeah, it was his second pass.
It was on the play where he was trying to
throw to Bryce and tremain out in the flat. Mitch
Evans got held inside and the TV copy spent most
of the replay showing Mitch Evans getting held and never
so much Andy Dalton kind of wincing a little bit.
I went back and looked at ALL twenty two and
you can kind of see him kind of come out
of it with that little, you know, action, And he
(06:30):
did not practice yesterday, which led to a transaction today.
Mike Quite. Mike White is now on the fifty three
man roster from the practice squad. He arrived here a
week ago, and he's an interesting cap because he's played
some in the league and he started games, and so
what this does is it gives him cover a in
case Andy's not ready to go or B. When you
(06:54):
go into a week with your starting quarterback coming off
a week off, you just want somebody with that kind
of experience backing up. I mean, they obviously want that
Hendon Hooker backed up last week because Mike White had
only been here for three days, so Hendon got to
call last week. Looks like Mike White would get that
call this week.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Mike White at one point, he has started seven games
in his four this will be his fifth season, one
two of them, one two of them when he won
two and then for a while there, Oh yeah, it
was twenty twenty two when he was starting for the
Jets there for a bit. I feel like I wonder
if Dale's going to turn around and throw something at
us if I try to trick you into saying this,
(07:34):
don't do it. You know what his nickname was during
that time.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Oh, we're not going to do that. No, we're not
going to do that. He just I mean, Mike is
the new guy, and it's always kind of interesting to me.
As DL looks over approvingly at the dad of this
show taking over again, that was to me, yeah, I know,
but it's it's interesting because, I mean, you were around
when Mike was talking last week. He was still the
(07:57):
new guy getting to know everything. But talking to Brad
iadzway this morning, they said, you know, hey, we're really
conscious about first teaching guys are words when they walk
in the door. Okay, you probably called this something else
in another place but here we call it this, So
when those words start coming in a hurry, it's can
you apply our language to your concepts? And in a week,
(08:18):
Mike's figured that out pretty well.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, and he talked about that last week too, you know,
he said, it's the key is always just making the
connection to whatever you called it before or ran, you know,
and finding those connecting dots and then going home and
kind of reconciling it in your mind to what it's
going to be now. He credited both Joe Flacco in
his past and Andy Dalton here for kind of helping
(08:42):
him like accelerate that education and knowing because those are
two guys that have both been in the league for
a really long time.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You're calling them old is what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That They called themselves that and helping figure out like
the little tips and trips and ways to connect it
and looking at old tape. But yeah, you know, Mike
White has played some ball before. I don't know what
we'll see on Sunday, but he does have some experience
to step in there if need be. And like you said,
he's he was very He was really impressive when we
(09:16):
talked to him last week, just kind of hearing his
thought process of how he jumps into a new team
and what he does to catch up. Also spent some
time with Josh Allen last year, so he got some
some education there as well, and hearing him talk about
his process and the most important things he has learned
from some of those guys like Joe Flacco, White, like
Josh Allen, now, like Andy Dalton, just guys that have
(09:38):
been doing it at a high level for a while,
or just been doing it in the league period for
a while. And so I can see why, you know,
Brad Zac Dave Canalis are like, Okay, well he's had
a week under his belt, that's enough time. Let's go
ahead and put him in there as a backup.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah it. And there's a lot of moving parts on
that offense this week. You know what's wild. They are
in a situation now Brady Christiansen goes on ir after
tearing his achilles. I'm still just heartsick for Brady christians
And the poor kid has been through injury after injury
the last couple of years. He's got to be wondering
what to do differently in his life. But he's he's
(10:14):
come back, He's played well when he's been in there
and played well at every position on the offensive line.
Brady's on IR now Austin Corbett comes back because Caid
Mays didn't practice on Wednesday and doesn't look likely to
play this week, so Austin's back in the middle. They
are looking at playing the seventh different combination of starters
(10:36):
this week in nine games, no matter who starts at
right tackle. And you know, Dave said yesterday there was
still a chance Taylor Molton could get back in there
after leaving it halftime the other day. But whether it's
Taylor Molton, whether it's Josh Niman, it's still gonna be
a new combination. So that's seven and nine games. The
amazing part of this is with all these changes, it's
(10:57):
still five guys who've been here at least three years.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I was just about to say, like, even with all
the changes, it doesn't necessarily feel patchwork, right, Does that
make sense? Like it feels like maybe musical chairs a
little bit, But it's still the same players for the
most part, pun intended, right.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I mean, we've seen it, we've seen the other side
of it, and those guys were all around in twenty
twenty three and we're part of the revolving door at
guard in twenty twenty three, when you were rolling in
guys like Gabe Jackson and Brett Toth and Calvin throck
Morton and JD. Derenzo and all of our old friends
who were no longer here, but there were new guys
(11:35):
walking in every day of the week, and they were
dragging people in off the street and starting them on
Sunday and it was just a mess. But in talking
to those guys yesterday, this doesn't feel like a mess
because if Chandler Zavola comes back and is able to go,
he's practicing again this week after being on IR for
the last four. If Zavalla comes in and starts at
right guard where he started in weeks three and four,
(11:58):
and Corbett's at center, and then it's a fairly regular lineup. R.
You still got Icky and d Lou over here on
this side, and Yosh has played a bunch of football
and you know him well.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
A line that they have played with before.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Well, no, it's it's a new combination. Because Corbett only
started the first.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Two games right Chandler Okaya.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Came in in week three after exactly it's a lot
to keep up with friends.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
A lot of credit to to to Joe and Harold
good So to Joe Gilbert and Herod good Gosh, that
is the second time today. Strike to Joe Gilbert, Harold Goodwin.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
And Dean Patsing don't forget about pats.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
A lot of credit to those guys. They intentionally cross
trained guys the last couple of years, a lot of
cross training in the off season to be prepared for
a situation such as this. We've said it before, we'll
say it again. Like a lot of credit to them
to making sure that guys are ready so that they're
not pulling in people that they're going to meet on
a Wednesday and start on a Sunday. They're able to
(12:58):
just kind of say, okay, this happened. Now, Austin, go
back in there, or go back here, or Yash go there. Now.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
They've still got some relatively new friends, Nick Saymac Jake
Kerhan made his Panthers offensive debut last week when he
had to rug in when he had to plug in
for Brady in the fourth quarter. That almost led us
to one of my favorite stories of the season.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So far, Mitchell Evans.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Mitchell Evans was very nearly the rookie tight end was
very nearly a rookie offensive tackle. And Mitch is just
a ballplayer. He's all ball. That's what I like about him.
He's just no nonsense Midwestern guy. He's from Ohio, played
at Notre Dame, and he's he's just a tight end.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
But they went up to him middle of the third
quarter and said, hey, Mitch, you know you're next, right,
And Mitch kind of laughed and he was like, well,
it was like okay, cool, let's do it. And they
believe he could do it. I mean, he's a he's
a big, stocky guy. He I had some fun talking
to him about that. But he was at Wadsworth middles
School in Wadsworth, Ohio the last time here a Lotsworth's lineman,
(14:04):
and did not enjoy it so much so in fact,
he said being a guard on the middle school football
team and barely playing was so miserable an experience he
almost quit football. So Mitch, we're really glad you didn't,
and we're really grateful that they got him back at
quarterback for the Wadsworth High school team in ninth grade
so that he could continue to play football and bring
joy to our lives.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I would pay good American money of Darren's money if
someone could find game tape of Mitchell Evan's playing offensive
line for Wadsworth Middle School. Darren will pay you for that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I will, Yes, we will. Well, apparently he never played
because he kind of he kind of laughed and he said,
and I said, Mitch, there's no real way to ask
you this delicately, and he said, are you asking if
I sucked? Yeah? And so Mitch a lot of fun.
We like him. But fortunately they were able to avoid that.
Fortunately they are getting some guys back healthy again, so
(15:00):
they're gonna have to adjust. It's shame not having Brady. Yeah,
Cad May is probably out this week according to Dave Canalis,
so adjustments will continue. And you know what, we're kind
of expecting adjustments to continue in the backfield.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Too, Yeah, Dave canal Is said on Monday. You know,
obviously you don't want to ignore what Cuba has meant
to this team and to this running back unit. Guy
was one thousand yard back, ran them to a couple
of wins last season as well. You also can't ignore
what Rico Ddle has been doing the past couple of weeks.
(15:35):
You know, I think you had the numbers on Monday,
he was like seven point seven yards during the two
weeks when he was.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Starting seven point three per carry.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And then still five point three the last two weeks
when no splitting carries. Running back is so almost more
than any other position, is so much about the hot hand,
you know who has and people always talk about running
backs like getting a lather as well and you but
those two kind of those two things kind of go
hand in hand. And right now and this is this
(16:05):
is no disrespect at all or anything to you, but
right now, Rico kind of has the hot hand. You
watch it on tape, you see it in the numbers,
and you kind of just have to ride that. Now,
as teams get more and more tape of Rico running
behind this offensive line, will that change? Maybe maybe not.
We'll have to find out. But you know, you, as
(16:26):
Dave Canal said, you can't ignore what Rico has been
doing the past few weeks. He was asked again or
he was then asked on Wednesday, have you decided on
what that rotation will look like? What is that gonna
be on Sunday? And he kind of said, like, I'm
gonna keep that to myself. You'll find out on Sunday. Right,
He's not gonna give the packers any extra preparation if
(16:47):
he can get away with it, So I guess we'll
see on Sunday what that looks like. It also is
important to remember that whoever trots out there first is
it may just be the look they need to get
on the first snap. It's it's how the game goes
where it really matters. And you know, I think you've
seen too, like Cuba has not been ineffective. He's still
(17:09):
been doing Cuba things. It's just Rico has really got
a hot hand right now.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, And I think that's fine. The reality is, and
we've talked about this a lot. I mean, it takes
two of them. The known philosopher's Rob Based and dj
ez Rock told us that it takes two to make
a thing go right. And we've seen it, whether it's
Stephen Davis to Sean Foster, DiAngelo and Stewart, et cetera,
et cetera. It takes multiple backs. And even if Rico
(17:35):
gets the bulk of the work this week, there's still
gonna be a moment this year where Chuba Hubbard is
a big part of this thing. So I am I
am not going to worry about either of those gentlemen.
I think it's actually kind of a I find it
a little reductive a lot of times in our hot
take culture. And I'm not gonna get all meta and
start talking about the media here, because nobody cares about us.
(17:55):
But when we made all these things binary so that
we had to have something to debate about, we really
cheapened the conversation because all nuance is lost. It's a
it's a good thing to have more than one running back,
not a bad thing. Friends, So more is always better
than fewer. So they've got more running backs, they've got
plenty of options on the offensive line. So they're feeling
(18:17):
okay about that. Now what happens on the other side.
That's where it gets a little more complicated, because the
Green Bay Packers went out and traded for him a
Micah Parsons, and that's a guy who can just reck stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
I mean, if you can get a Michael Parsons, that's
not a bad deal.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It's kind of like in It's kind of like in
Ferris Bueller. If you have the means, I highly recommend.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Especially if like it's gonna cost you just no disrespect
to Kenny Clark. But if it's just gonna cost you
a Kenny Clark as a deal, you take. And man,
he has come as advertised, an't he?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
He?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
He Everything their defense does and I think I said
this in the Know Your Foe on Panthers dot com
if you want to go read it. Everything they're defuse
it does runs through Michael Parsons. Their secondary is determined
by how quickly or how not quickly he gets to
the quarterback. He can rush from any spot on the field,
(19:13):
and then he can He opens up so much lanes,
so many lanes for other people too, because he takes
on double teams. He can still work through those double teams.
He has six and a half sacks, but he also
takes them on and opens up stuff for Rashan Gary,
who has seven and a half sacks this year. So
if if you're running a defense where Rashawan Gary is
(19:34):
your free rusher, pretty much that's that's a little intimidating
for opponents. That's gonna make it an interesting week for
the you know, for Ikey for either Yosh slash tailor
Yosh has the benefit of having been in Green Bay
for a good bit of time. He didn't play there
with Michael Parsons, but he did play there with a
Shawn Gary against this other the rest of this front.
(19:57):
So you know, he might have a little bit of
a head up there on some of the things they're
trying to do. But it's gonna be a good matchup.
There have been games where Michael Parsons has been negated
like that. It is possible this year. There is a
blueprint there. There have also been games where he had
three sacks, like he did versus the Cardinals. There were
(20:18):
games last week where he brought down Aaron Rodgers or
led to an open lane for Rashon Gary to do so.
And so it is possible to negate him. But buddy,
it's easier said than done. I think the best thing
you can do is, honestly, just try to slow him
down and give your receivers time to get open.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
It's almost like you want to run the ball.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
It's almost like you want to run the ball.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
It almost seems like it was on purpose.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, So, and it is possible to run the ball.
This is a good Packers defense. But you can run
the ball on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
For sure, no doubt. So It's gonna be interesting to
see how that comes together. We've been to Green Bay
many times. We let off this show talking about going
to Green Bay and freezing our tail. So the first
time ever walked into lambeau Field was in ninety six
for the NFC Championship game. Yes, I am that old.
It was a sparkling three degrees that day, and three
(21:10):
is not enough degrees, friends, That is way too few
degrees for Darren to be comfortable ever, But been going
there a lot over the years. It's always a special
place to go play. You went back and watched a
game against the Packers this week as you circle back
on the twenty it.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Was so funny. I went to type in week nine
of Carolina Panthers twenty fifteen and it said Green Bay
and I was like no. I was like no, twenty fifteen.
It was like no, it's green Bay. And I was like, Oh,
isn't that just funny? Game was here in Charlotte, not
in Green Bay, but it was still cold and rainy.
It was these games. I got so excited at first
(21:50):
because I was like, Oh my gosh, is this the
you've been watching film game? It was not that was
a twenty eighteen game. I got really excited for a
second though. It was funny, like one of the earlier
drives to watch Cam Newton scramble away from Julius Peppers
and get away from him if you.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Were terrifying, I mean, frank frankly, there are people who
are bigger than those two, but those two are equivalents,
and that they are so big for what they do
that they just look like superhuman.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
They had Julius as an enzyne linebacker this game.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
He was doing a lot of he.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Wasn't doing a lot of stuff. It was funny. There
was a lot of narrative at the beginning of the
game when it was when they were kind of introducing
everything about you know, the Panthers are undefeated, but their
offensive numbers haven't looked great this year. And then very
shortly after that conversation took place, Cam hit Cowtry for
a fifty nine yard touchdown. It was early on and
(22:48):
they were really just like throwing it all over the
yard for that first half and really for the first
two and a half quarters. Right they were there was
at one point they stepped out there on the first
play of the drive and it was like Oh my gosh,
holy deep ball to Devin Function is like he was
just why he was getting mugged the whole time. He
still brought it in for a deep ball. A couple
(23:08):
of plays later, Greg Olson had his five hundredth catch
and it was for a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
There was a peanut greg will tell us that story.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
This maybe Will there was a peanut punch done by
note other than Peanut Talman. It makes sense. He's who
gave it the name. And then and then just again
kind of going along with like the story of that
twenty fifteen offense. Less than a minute to play in
the first half, Kim had another massive deep ball touchdown
to a receiver that I had not heard of until
(23:37):
I watched the Week nine game from the twenty fifteen season.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
His last name was Brown, Philly Brown.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
No, you do my Hollywood Brown.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Phil Philly Brown was the one in Charlotte. Hollywood Brown
is a different brown, maybe.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
The one Billy brownwn. Yes, So I was like, I
don't think that is that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Old receivers named brown named after cities. They come, they come,
and they got third.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Quarter, it's twenty seven to seven. I'm thinking it's time
to turn this game. Off and go to HGTV like
this is one they're clearly gonna run away with. And
then Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb just did Aaron Rodgers
and Randall Cobb things where they hit He hit him
for a fifty plus yard touchdown. It was a catch
and run. Do you know, do you remember, Darren, think
back into the recesses of your mind, what the route
(24:22):
was on that touchdown?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Spider X two why banana?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
No, it was a wheel route. And what do I
know about the wheel route? It's always open. Kurt Coleman
had a safety blitz in that game that started to
freaking rock hill. He came so fast. At one point
they carried Luke Keigley off the field because of an
ankle injury. He had to be helped off the field,
and two drives later he was back on the field.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Like, I don't know what magic they worked, but it worked.
I really liked how I really liked how this was
like an Eddie Lacy versus Mike Tolbert game because it
was like the battle of the big running backs. Who
was gonna win. Also, I had a thought during this game,
and I really want to ask Christian rose Boom later like,
do you think he lets his hair flow out of
(25:07):
his helmet as he plays, because that's how Clay Matthews
did it.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
It maybe he decided to go that way in honor
of me.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
I'm sure that was it. At one point there was
a huge touchdown again that cam through Green Bay gave
it up and the camera went to the sideline afterwards,
and Julius Peppers and Hahi Clinton Dix had to be
separated because they were fighting so much. And I was like, Okay,
I've been around Julius Peppers enough since I've been here
to know that that doesn't seem like something that Dicks.
(25:35):
That does seem like something you would see. Ha Hi
Clinton Dick's getting into a fight on the sidelines, but
not Julius Peppers. So I texted a friend of mine
who's been covering the Packers for about thirty years. I
was like, what happened? And he was like, well, Peppers
was upset because they had blown an assignment to give
up the big play ha ha. He was talking to
ha ha about it ha ha did was ha ha
(25:55):
and got all bowed up about it. And he's like,
they had to be separated and one of the their
Packers players, I think he said his name was Mike Daniels,
had to come over and he was like he was
ready to put Hi high in the ground because you
don't disrespect Julius Peppers like that.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That's right, And so.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, he learned his lesson that day.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Pep is a man not to be trifled with.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Then it's fourth quarter, just over four minutes to play.
Packers are facing a fourth and sixteen. Rogers rolls out classics,
sets himself huge throw to James Jones with Josh Norman
all over him to convert and get down into the
red zone. And I am once again thinking, do the
Panthers know they win this game? Did somebody forget to
tell them that they're supposed to win this game that
(26:39):
we know in hindsight. Then there was Thomas Davis had
an interception on a fourth goal On the next drive.
I think they actually scored after that fourth and sixteen
to get within one's possession. Yeah, and then there was
Cam Through an interception and there was a penalty, So
right away Packers are back in the red zone. Randall
Cobb caught it on fourth down. They were at the
(27:01):
nine yard line and then Roman Harper made an insane
play at the goal line to save a touchdown. The
next play, TD intercepts it. There you go and yeah,
and then this was not the you've been watching film game,
but this was the game where another classic, classic iconic
(27:21):
NFL moment happened. It is still used to this day.
Aaron Rodgers throwing the tablet on the sideline after he.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Lost the TV. Was that the technical malfunction game?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, after he was watching the TD interception on the tablet,
he got so mad he threw it down. That is
still used as a meme to this day.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Will they even fifteen?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
They were called moments? I guess nine weeks into watching
this team, I've fully understood now where the term cardiac
cats came from and why it was applied to this team, because, Buddy,
they took it down to the last minute on just
about every game they could have.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, you know, it also applied to the two thousand
and three team. You know what, use it more than well.
When we're doing the Happy half Hour in twenty twenty eight,
we can go through that season. That might be a
little harder to find. I'll let you borrow my VHS. Yeah,
watch those games on film, so anyway, hopefully we get
another game like that, another classic against the Packers would
(28:16):
be cool to see a lot of storyline, so listen.
A lot of breaking news, a lot of things coming
at you between now and the time kickoff Sunday, so
keep it locked on Panthers dot com for the latest news,
keep it locked on the YouTube channel for all the best.
We appreciate you all visiting with us on the Happy
half Hour, whether you were doing it through the Theater
of the Mind on audio or whether you're catching us
(28:37):
on video later thanks to all our friends from Deep Patty.
We appreciate y'all and we will see you next week
on the Happy half Hour.
For Happy Half Hour. Hello friends, and welcome to a
very special edition of The Happy Half Hour. They're all special,
but you know why this one's special because I saw
the sun today.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Listen, I work good thing. I don't talk in words.
I grabbed my jacket on the way out this morning,
and on the walk in here, I was like, I'm hot.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
It feels so good. I forgot how much I missed
the sun after three days in Seattle in which it
just rained constantly and it was Charlotte last three days.
I mean it just ugh. I hate weather like.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Se And you know what's funny, I guess this is
the difference between me and Darren. The last three days
are my ideal weather.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
How is that possible? It's a love it. It's damp.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
I love it. It's just like you fell Jimmy is crisp,
and especially this time of year. I love that kind
of weather, this time of year where it's just like
a little moody and like in its fields and it
impors you to like light a candle and turn on
Harry Potter, like it's just kind of like, you know,
(01:09):
like this time of year is kind of a little
it's all dark and not like dark in a bad way.
But it's just like more like cozy vibes, and the
rain and the fog, it all lends itself to a
cozy vibe.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
You know what else it is it's cold and it's
miserable and nobody likes it and you're weird. So that's
so I don't know. I'm happy. The sun is out.
It's it's once again Charlotte, North Carolina, the center of
the universe. And we're glad to be here. And you
know why else? We're glad to be here because this
episode of The Happy Half Hours brought to you by
our friends at Deep Eddy. Check out the new logos
(01:45):
if very nice. If you're listening to us on the
on the radio, or whatever you call your podcast platform.
If you're listening to us audio only, just use the
Theater of the Mind, the Happy half Hour logo, the
Deep Eddy logo. We appreciate them supporting us. You've us
the deadline for the Sweet Sip Sweep Steaks, but five
you're on will join us here on November ninth when
(02:07):
the Saints play and get all kind of cool stuff
from them. We appreciate our friends Deep Eddy. They have
gotten here just in time, because it's midway through the season,
it's cold and people may may need a little something
to warm them up. So I don't know, but we
will also need to be warm this weekend because we're
going to Green Bay.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I think it's technically going to be colder in Charlotte
than it's going to be in Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
I am I at once. I hate cold weather and
I want no part of it. And also when I
go to Green Bay and it's pleasant, I feel cheated. Right.
It's like when I go there, I I gear myself
up to be miserable. I expect to walk into a blizzard,
and if there is no blizzard, then I just what
am I doing? And then I'm just in Gastonia or
(02:49):
somewhere some small town.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
My dad and some of his family, Oh, it will
be slightly colder in Green Bay this weekend, but not
much than it is Charlotte. My dad and some of
his family one time wanted to come to a game
in Green Bay and they're like, we want it to
be like They're like, we're praying for like cold weather,
you know. They're like, we want frozen tundra Lambeau cold
weather game. And I was like, well, you're coming on
(03:11):
December sixteenth, buddy, so you're gonna get it. They get there,
it's like eighteen degrees at kickoff, and at first they're like,
this is great, this is it. And at halftime they
texted me, They're like, I haven't moved, Like, I haven't
moved an inch.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
I am frozing cleacher.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yes, And I was like, well, you asked for it,
you got it. And afterwards that my dad was like, yeah,
that was colder than I was prepared for.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah. Now see, I'm with maybe it's just the old
guy street cred, but I'm with Special Teams coordinator Tracy Smith.
I asked him this morning how he feels about Green
Bay's like, Nope, don't like it, not one bit. Would
take a would take a dome every single time, and
I will happily kick indoors where it's seventy two degrees
every week of the year. And I think that's me.
I'm just at that. I'm just at that point of
(03:57):
my life where I like to be comfortable. I don't
like op orkid. I am an orchid. I'm a delicate
flower and I need to be treated as such. So anyway,
we are going to Green Bay, and when we get there,
we are pretty sure we're gonna see some Bryce Young
playing football again.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's what it looks like. He moved around in practice
on Wednesday. Wednesday was a lighter day. It's what Canal
is called a modified day. They were able to do
that because they had guys like Bryce some other guys
that needed to kind of just get their legs back
underneath them. And you know, then brad Ezac joked this morning,
he's like, you know, Bryce was trying to go like
full throttle, full speed, and it's like Bryce slowed down.
(04:34):
This is a modified day. You'll get Thursday's full practice.
And so that's really gonna be the test. What does
he look like today in a full speed I think
today's pads. What does he look like in a full practice.
That'll really kind of give them an answer of where
they can go from here. But Bryce himself looked excited.
He seemed to be moving around. Okay, from my non
(04:55):
you know, I'm not a doctor, and this day at
a holiday and express last night and Bryce shung looked
like he was moving around. I'm fine and practiced yesterday.
We'll see what he looks like today though.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, Well, I'm not a doctor either. I did marry one,
which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Smarter. That's the smarter move right now.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Although being a pediatrician doesn't really come into play much
in football. She sees very few acls. But anyway, No, yeah,
I just think having him back out there and moving
around on his own, I mean, Bryce has bounced back
pretty quickly. He's only ever missed the one other game
in twenty twenty three, his rookie year with the ankle injury.
So we'll talk to him later this afternoon. You should
(05:31):
absolutely check out Panthers dot com for the latest on
that because we will be visiting with Bryce later this
afternoon to get all his thoughts on how he's feeling
and coming back and getting back in the lineup. But
there's a lot of stuff going on at that position.
One of the things we found out yesterday when Dave
Canalis was talking to us is that Andy Dalton might
have been playing hurt for the biggest part of that
(05:52):
game on Sunday against the Bills. He he whacked his thumb,
his right thumb, his throwing thumb, or the thumb on
the hand with which he throws against a Bill's defender
in the first quarter.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's like second play of the game.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
It was a little bit. Yeah, it was his second pass.
It was on the play where he was trying to
throw to Bryce and tremain out in the flat. Mitch
Evans got held inside and the TV copy spent most
of the replay showing Mitch Evans getting held and never
so much Andy Dalton kind of wincing a little bit.
I went back and looked at ALL twenty two and
you can kind of see him kind of come out
of it with that little, you know, action, And he
(06:30):
did not practice yesterday, which led to a transaction today.
Mike Quite. Mike White is now on the fifty three
man roster from the practice squad. He arrived here a
week ago, and he's an interesting cap because he's played
some in the league and he started games, and so
what this does is it gives him cover a in
case Andy's not ready to go or B. When you
(06:54):
go into a week with your starting quarterback coming off
a week off, you just want somebody with that kind
of experience backing up. I mean, they obviously want that
Hendon Hooker backed up last week because Mike White had
only been here for three days, so Hendon got to
call last week. Looks like Mike White would get that
call this week.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Mike White at one point, he has started seven games
in his four this will be his fifth season, one
two of them, one two of them when he won
two and then for a while there, Oh yeah, it
was twenty twenty two when he was starting for the
Jets there for a bit. I feel like I wonder
if Dale's going to turn around and throw something at
us if I try to trick you into saying this,
(07:34):
don't do it. You know what his nickname was during
that time.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Oh, we're not going to do that. No, we're not
going to do that. He just I mean, Mike is
the new guy, and it's always kind of interesting to me.
As DL looks over approvingly at the dad of this
show taking over again, that was to me, yeah, I know,
but it's it's interesting because, I mean, you were around
when Mike was talking last week. He was still the
(07:57):
new guy getting to know everything. But talking to Brad
iadzway this morning, they said, you know, hey, we're really
conscious about first teaching guys are words when they walk
in the door. Okay, you probably called this something else
in another place but here we call it this, So
when those words start coming in a hurry, it's can
you apply our language to your concepts? And in a week,
(08:18):
Mike's figured that out pretty well.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, and he talked about that last week too, you know,
he said, it's the key is always just making the
connection to whatever you called it before or ran, you know,
and finding those connecting dots and then going home and
kind of reconciling it in your mind to what it's
going to be now. He credited both Joe Flacco in
his past and Andy Dalton here for kind of helping
(08:42):
him like accelerate that education and knowing because those are
two guys that have both been in the league for
a really long time.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
You're calling them old is what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
That They called themselves that and helping figure out like
the little tips and trips and ways to connect it
and looking at old tape. But yeah, you know, Mike
White has played some ball before. I don't know what
we'll see on Sunday, but he does have some experience
to step in there if need be. And like you said,
he's he was very He was really impressive when we
(09:16):
talked to him last week, just kind of hearing his
thought process of how he jumps into a new team
and what he does to catch up. Also spent some
time with Josh Allen last year, so he got some
some education there as well, and hearing him talk about
his process and the most important things he has learned
from some of those guys like Joe Flacco, White, like
Josh Allen, now, like Andy Dalton, just guys that have
(09:38):
been doing it at a high level for a while,
or just been doing it in the league period for
a while. And so I can see why, you know,
Brad Zac Dave Canalis are like, Okay, well he's had
a week under his belt, that's enough time. Let's go
ahead and put him in there as a backup.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah it. And there's a lot of moving parts on
that offense this week. You know what's wild. They are
in a situation now Brady Christiansen goes on ir after
tearing his achilles. I'm still just heartsick for Brady christians
And the poor kid has been through injury after injury
the last couple of years. He's got to be wondering
what to do differently in his life. But he's he's
(10:14):
come back, He's played well when he's been in there
and played well at every position on the offensive line.
Brady's on IR now Austin Corbett comes back because Caid
Mays didn't practice on Wednesday and doesn't look likely to
play this week, so Austin's back in the middle. They
are looking at playing the seventh different combination of starters
(10:36):
this week in nine games, no matter who starts at
right tackle. And you know, Dave said yesterday there was
still a chance Taylor Molton could get back in there
after leaving it halftime the other day. But whether it's
Taylor Molton, whether it's Josh Niman, it's still gonna be
a new combination. So that's seven and nine games. The
amazing part of this is with all these changes, it's
(10:57):
still five guys who've been here at least three years.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I was just about to say, like, even with all
the changes, it doesn't necessarily feel patchwork, right, Does that
make sense? Like it feels like maybe musical chairs a
little bit, But it's still the same players for the
most part, pun intended, right.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I mean, we've seen it, we've seen the other side
of it, and those guys were all around in twenty
twenty three and we're part of the revolving door at
guard in twenty twenty three, when you were rolling in
guys like Gabe Jackson and Brett Toth and Calvin throck
Morton and JD. Derenzo and all of our old friends
who were no longer here, but there were new guys
(11:35):
walking in every day of the week, and they were
dragging people in off the street and starting them on
Sunday and it was just a mess. But in talking
to those guys yesterday, this doesn't feel like a mess
because if Chandler Zavola comes back and is able to go,
he's practicing again this week after being on IR for
the last four. If Zavalla comes in and starts at
right guard where he started in weeks three and four,
(11:58):
and Corbett's at center, and then it's a fairly regular lineup. R.
You still got Icky and d Lou over here on
this side, and Yosh has played a bunch of football
and you know him well.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
A line that they have played with before.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Well, no, it's it's a new combination. Because Corbett only
started the first.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Two games right Chandler Okaya.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Came in in week three after exactly it's a lot
to keep up with friends.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
A lot of credit to to to Joe and Harold
good So to Joe Gilbert and Herod good Gosh, that
is the second time today. Strike to Joe Gilbert, Harold Goodwin.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
And Dean Patsing don't forget about pats.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
A lot of credit to those guys. They intentionally cross
trained guys the last couple of years, a lot of
cross training in the off season to be prepared for
a situation such as this. We've said it before, we'll
say it again. Like a lot of credit to them
to making sure that guys are ready so that they're
not pulling in people that they're going to meet on
a Wednesday and start on a Sunday. They're able to
(12:58):
just kind of say, okay, this happened. Now, Austin, go
back in there, or go back here, or Yash go there. Now.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
They've still got some relatively new friends, Nick Saymac Jake
Kerhan made his Panthers offensive debut last week when he
had to rug in when he had to plug in
for Brady in the fourth quarter. That almost led us
to one of my favorite stories of the season.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
So far, Mitchell Evans.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Mitchell Evans was very nearly the rookie tight end was
very nearly a rookie offensive tackle. And Mitch is just
a ballplayer. He's all ball. That's what I like about him.
He's just no nonsense Midwestern guy. He's from Ohio, played
at Notre Dame, and he's he's just a tight end.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
But they went up to him middle of the third
quarter and said, hey, Mitch, you know you're next, right,
And Mitch kind of laughed and he was like, well,
it was like okay, cool, let's do it. And they
believe he could do it. I mean, he's a he's
a big, stocky guy. He I had some fun talking
to him about that. But he was at Wadsworth middles
School in Wadsworth, Ohio the last time here a Lotsworth's lineman,
(14:04):
and did not enjoy it so much so in fact,
he said being a guard on the middle school football
team and barely playing was so miserable an experience he
almost quit football. So Mitch, we're really glad you didn't,
and we're really grateful that they got him back at
quarterback for the Wadsworth High school team in ninth grade
so that he could continue to play football and bring
joy to our lives.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I would pay good American money of Darren's money if
someone could find game tape of Mitchell Evan's playing offensive
line for Wadsworth Middle School. Darren will pay you for that.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
I will, Yes, we will. Well, apparently he never played
because he kind of he kind of laughed and he said,
and I said, Mitch, there's no real way to ask
you this delicately, and he said, are you asking if
I sucked? Yeah? And so Mitch a lot of fun.
We like him. But fortunately they were able to avoid that.
Fortunately they are getting some guys back healthy again, so
(15:00):
they're gonna have to adjust. It's shame not having Brady. Yeah,
Cad May is probably out this week according to Dave Canalis,
so adjustments will continue. And you know what, we're kind
of expecting adjustments to continue in the backfield.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Too, Yeah, Dave canal Is said on Monday. You know,
obviously you don't want to ignore what Cuba has meant
to this team and to this running back unit. Guy
was one thousand yard back, ran them to a couple
of wins last season as well. You also can't ignore
what Rico Ddle has been doing the past couple of weeks.
(15:35):
You know, I think you had the numbers on Monday,
he was like seven point seven yards during the two
weeks when he was.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Starting seven point three per carry.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And then still five point three the last two weeks
when no splitting carries. Running back is so almost more
than any other position, is so much about the hot hand,
you know who has and people always talk about running
backs like getting a lather as well and you but
those two kind of those two things kind of go
hand in hand. And right now and this is this
(16:05):
is no disrespect at all or anything to you, but
right now, Rico kind of has the hot hand. You
watch it on tape, you see it in the numbers,
and you kind of just have to ride that. Now,
as teams get more and more tape of Rico running
behind this offensive line, will that change? Maybe maybe not.
We'll have to find out. But you know, you, as
(16:26):
Dave Canal said, you can't ignore what Rico has been
doing the past few weeks. He was asked again or
he was then asked on Wednesday, have you decided on
what that rotation will look like? What is that gonna
be on Sunday? And he kind of said, like, I'm
gonna keep that to myself. You'll find out on Sunday. Right,
He's not gonna give the packers any extra preparation if
(16:47):
he can get away with it, So I guess we'll
see on Sunday what that looks like. It also is
important to remember that whoever trots out there first is
it may just be the look they need to get
on the first snap. It's it's how the game goes
where it really matters. And you know, I think you've
seen too, like Cuba has not been ineffective. He's still
(17:09):
been doing Cuba things. It's just Rico has really got
a hot hand right now.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Yeah, And I think that's fine. The reality is, and
we've talked about this a lot. I mean, it takes
two of them. The known philosopher's Rob Based and dj
ez Rock told us that it takes two to make
a thing go right. And we've seen it, whether it's
Stephen Davis to Sean Foster, DiAngelo and Stewart, et cetera,
et cetera. It takes multiple backs. And even if Rico
(17:35):
gets the bulk of the work this week, there's still
gonna be a moment this year where Chuba Hubbard is
a big part of this thing. So I am I
am not going to worry about either of those gentlemen.
I think it's actually kind of a I find it
a little reductive a lot of times in our hot
take culture. And I'm not gonna get all meta and
start talking about the media here, because nobody cares about us.
(17:55):
But when we made all these things binary so that
we had to have something to debate about, we really
cheapened the conversation because all nuance is lost. It's a
it's a good thing to have more than one running back,
not a bad thing. Friends, So more is always better
than fewer. So they've got more running backs, they've got
plenty of options on the offensive line. So they're feeling
(18:17):
okay about that. Now what happens on the other side.
That's where it gets a little more complicated, because the
Green Bay Packers went out and traded for him a
Micah Parsons, and that's a guy who can just reck stuff.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
I mean, if you can get a Michael Parsons, that's
not a bad deal.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
It's kind of like in It's kind of like in
Ferris Bueller. If you have the means, I highly recommend.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Especially if like it's gonna cost you just no disrespect
to Kenny Clark. But if it's just gonna cost you
a Kenny Clark as a deal, you take. And man,
he has come as advertised, an't he?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
He?
Speaker 2 (18:51):
He Everything their defense does and I think I said
this in the Know Your Foe on Panthers dot com
if you want to go read it. Everything they're defuse
it does runs through Michael Parsons. Their secondary is determined
by how quickly or how not quickly he gets to
the quarterback. He can rush from any spot on the field,
(19:13):
and then he can He opens up so much lanes,
so many lanes for other people too, because he takes
on double teams. He can still work through those double teams.
He has six and a half sacks, but he also
takes them on and opens up stuff for Rashan Gary,
who has seven and a half sacks this year. So
if if you're running a defense where Rashawan Gary is
(19:34):
your free rusher, pretty much that's that's a little intimidating
for opponents. That's gonna make it an interesting week for
the you know, for Ikey for either Yosh slash tailor
Yosh has the benefit of having been in Green Bay
for a good bit of time. He didn't play there
with Michael Parsons, but he did play there with a
Shawn Gary against this other the rest of this front.
(19:57):
So you know, he might have a little bit of
a head up there on some of the things they're
trying to do. But it's gonna be a good matchup.
There have been games where Michael Parsons has been negated
like that. It is possible this year. There is a
blueprint there. There have also been games where he had
three sacks, like he did versus the Cardinals. There were
(20:18):
games last week where he brought down Aaron Rodgers or
led to an open lane for Rashon Gary to do so.
And so it is possible to negate him. But buddy,
it's easier said than done. I think the best thing
you can do is, honestly, just try to slow him
down and give your receivers time to get open.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
It's almost like you want to run the ball.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
It's almost like you want to run the ball.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
It almost seems like it was on purpose.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, So, and it is possible to run the ball.
This is a good Packers defense. But you can run
the ball on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
For sure, no doubt. So It's gonna be interesting to
see how that comes together. We've been to Green Bay
many times. We let off this show talking about going
to Green Bay and freezing our tail. So the first
time ever walked into lambeau Field was in ninety six
for the NFC Championship game. Yes, I am that old.
It was a sparkling three degrees that day, and three
(21:10):
is not enough degrees, friends, That is way too few
degrees for Darren to be comfortable ever, But been going
there a lot over the years. It's always a special
place to go play. You went back and watched a
game against the Packers this week as you circle back
on the twenty it.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
Was so funny. I went to type in week nine
of Carolina Panthers twenty fifteen and it said Green Bay
and I was like no. I was like no, twenty fifteen.
It was like no, it's green Bay. And I was like, Oh,
isn't that just funny? Game was here in Charlotte, not
in Green Bay, but it was still cold and rainy.
It was these games. I got so excited at first
(21:50):
because I was like, Oh my gosh, is this the
you've been watching film game? It was not that was
a twenty eighteen game. I got really excited for a
second though. It was funny, like one of the earlier
drives to watch Cam Newton scramble away from Julius Peppers
and get away from him if you.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
Were terrifying, I mean, frank frankly, there are people who
are bigger than those two, but those two are equivalents,
and that they are so big for what they do
that they just look like superhuman.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
They had Julius as an enzyne linebacker this game.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
He was doing a lot of he.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Wasn't doing a lot of stuff. It was funny. There
was a lot of narrative at the beginning of the
game when it was when they were kind of introducing
everything about you know, the Panthers are undefeated, but their
offensive numbers haven't looked great this year. And then very
shortly after that conversation took place, Cam hit Cowtry for
a fifty nine yard touchdown. It was early on and
(22:48):
they were really just like throwing it all over the
yard for that first half and really for the first
two and a half quarters. Right they were there was
at one point they stepped out there on the first
play of the drive and it was like Oh my gosh,
holy deep ball to Devin Function is like he was
just why he was getting mugged the whole time. He
still brought it in for a deep ball. A couple
(23:08):
of plays later, Greg Olson had his five hundredth catch
and it was for a touchdown.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
There was a peanut greg will tell us that story.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
This maybe Will there was a peanut punch done by
note other than Peanut Talman. It makes sense. He's who
gave it the name. And then and then just again
kind of going along with like the story of that
twenty fifteen offense. Less than a minute to play in
the first half, Kim had another massive deep ball touchdown
to a receiver that I had not heard of until
(23:37):
I watched the Week nine game from the twenty fifteen season.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
His last name was Brown, Philly Brown.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
No, you do my Hollywood Brown.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Phil Philly Brown was the one in Charlotte. Hollywood Brown
is a different brown, maybe.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
The one Billy brownwn. Yes, So I was like, I
don't think that is that.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Old receivers named brown named after cities. They come, they come,
and they got third.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Quarter, it's twenty seven to seven. I'm thinking it's time
to turn this game. Off and go to HGTV like
this is one they're clearly gonna run away with. And
then Aaron Rodgers and Randall Cobb just did Aaron Rodgers
and Randall Cobb things where they hit He hit him
for a fifty plus yard touchdown. It was a catch
and run. Do you know, do you remember, Darren, think
back into the recesses of your mind, what the route
(24:22):
was on that touchdown?
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Spider X two why banana?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
No, it was a wheel route. And what do I
know about the wheel route? It's always open. Kurt Coleman
had a safety blitz in that game that started to
freaking rock hill. He came so fast. At one point
they carried Luke Keigley off the field because of an
ankle injury. He had to be helped off the field,
and two drives later he was back on the field.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Like, I don't know what magic they worked, but it worked.
I really liked how I really liked how this was
like an Eddie Lacy versus Mike Tolbert game because it
was like the battle of the big running backs. Who
was gonna win. Also, I had a thought during this game,
and I really want to ask Christian rose Boom later like,
do you think he lets his hair flow out of
(25:07):
his helmet as he plays, because that's how Clay Matthews
did it.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
It maybe he decided to go that way in honor
of me.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
I'm sure that was it. At one point there was
a huge touchdown again that cam through Green Bay gave
it up and the camera went to the sideline afterwards,
and Julius Peppers and Hahi Clinton Dix had to be
separated because they were fighting so much. And I was like, Okay,
I've been around Julius Peppers enough since I've been here
to know that that doesn't seem like something that Dicks.
(25:35):
That does seem like something you would see. Ha Hi
Clinton Dick's getting into a fight on the sidelines, but
not Julius Peppers. So I texted a friend of mine
who's been covering the Packers for about thirty years. I
was like, what happened? And he was like, well, Peppers
was upset because they had blown an assignment to give
up the big play ha ha. He was talking to
ha ha about it ha ha did was ha ha
(25:55):
and got all bowed up about it. And he's like,
they had to be separated and one of the their
Packers players, I think he said his name was Mike Daniels,
had to come over and he was like he was
ready to put Hi high in the ground because you
don't disrespect Julius Peppers like that.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
That's right, And so.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, he learned his lesson that day.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Pep is a man not to be trifled with.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Then it's fourth quarter, just over four minutes to play.
Packers are facing a fourth and sixteen. Rogers rolls out classics,
sets himself huge throw to James Jones with Josh Norman
all over him to convert and get down into the
red zone. And I am once again thinking, do the
Panthers know they win this game? Did somebody forget to
tell them that they're supposed to win this game that
(26:39):
we know in hindsight. Then there was Thomas Davis had
an interception on a fourth goal On the next drive.
I think they actually scored after that fourth and sixteen
to get within one's possession. Yeah, and then there was
Cam Through an interception and there was a penalty, So
right away Packers are back in the red zone. Randall
Cobb caught it on fourth down. They were at the
(27:01):
nine yard line and then Roman Harper made an insane
play at the goal line to save a touchdown. The
next play, TD intercepts it. There you go and yeah,
and then this was not the you've been watching film game,
but this was the game where another classic, classic iconic
(27:21):
NFL moment happened. It is still used to this day.
Aaron Rodgers throwing the tablet on the sideline after he.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Lost the TV. Was that the technical malfunction game?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
Yeah, after he was watching the TD interception on the tablet,
he got so mad he threw it down. That is
still used as a meme to this day.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Will they even fifteen?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
They were called moments? I guess nine weeks into watching
this team, I've fully understood now where the term cardiac
cats came from and why it was applied to this team, because, Buddy,
they took it down to the last minute on just
about every game they could have.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, you know, it also applied to the two thousand
and three team. You know what, use it more than well.
When we're doing the Happy half Hour in twenty twenty eight,
we can go through that season. That might be a
little harder to find. I'll let you borrow my VHS. Yeah,
watch those games on film, so anyway, hopefully we get
another game like that, another classic against the Packers would
(28:16):
be cool to see a lot of storyline, so listen.
A lot of breaking news, a lot of things coming
at you between now and the time kickoff Sunday, so
keep it locked on Panthers dot com for the latest news,
keep it locked on the YouTube channel for all the best.
We appreciate you all visiting with us on the Happy
half Hour, whether you were doing it through the Theater
of the Mind on audio or whether you're catching us
(28:37):
on video later thanks to all our friends from Deep Patty.
We appreciate y'all and we will see you next week
on the Happy half Hour.
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