November 13, 2025 • 23 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy discuss the emotional ups and downs of the last two weeks, preview this Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons, look back at the 2015 season, and so much more!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, and welcome to another episode of The Happy
Half Hour, brought to you by our friends at Deep Eddy.
Look at that confirmed The people in the Deep Eddy
Sweet at the Saints game the other week did have
a magnificent time, as you always do when you enjoy
Deep Eddy products with your friends in moderation. So that's
that's always the important thing there. We appreciate those guys
(00:27):
supporting our show and supporting the people. So welcome to
week one hundred and seventy five of the NFL season.
It feels like we've been doing this since about last
October without a break, but yeah, we are here.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It is week How many.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Eleven eleven week are into the double digits?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
This is eleven? Yeah, baby, bye week. Can't get here
fast enough. That is a thing that I need.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Tracy Smith got asked today about like the rookie wall,
because this is around the time when the college season
is starting to wrap up and so, and you know,
the NFL season still has a good bit of weeks
in front of you, and so it's when rookies start
to hit a little like, oh I still have to
play for another eight weeks. What are you talking about?
And I couldn't help but laugh because I thought to myself, like,
(01:12):
I'm hitting my rookie wall, like, but no, we're having fun.
It's good. You get into a groove and so it's
like you don't even know anything different. That's can alysis
said at a couple of different times, you know, like
you get into a groove. We play Sundays at one o'clock,
and you know what your schedule looks like when that happens.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And that's gonna be okay until we get to next
week and Monday night football thinking and which Monday is
a Tuesday, and then and then that Wesday is a Monday,
and then Wednesdays at Thursday.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
And then Thursday is Thanksgiving, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
So yeah, next week's going to be all kinds of
jacked up. I am not going to know what day
it is in addition to knowing what time it is,
but I know what time it is. Right now, it's
time to talk about Week eleven and your Carolina Panthers
it is. You know, we brought this up a little
bit on Monday, and it's kind of come into relief
because the emotional swings of the last two games. People
(02:06):
are feeling some kind of way. I just keep going
back to that two and fifteen, five and twelve, five
and five, and this team has found something resembling equilibrium.
I mean, they have, you know, shown that they can
bounce back from the big losses. If you think about
the Patriots game filed by the Miami game, if you
think about the Bills game filed by the Packers game.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
They have shown the ability to do this.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
In the past, you know, which ostensibly serves them well
heading into Atlanta, a place that has not generally treated
them kindly, But they have shown that kind of resilience
to when things get sideways in really bad all in
a hurry to be able to play good football on
the backside of it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Christian Roseboom had a pretty interesting quote this week. He said,
you know, we have figured out pretty well how to
respond to adversity. We need to learn how to respond
to success, which was kind of the idea of coming
off of the Green Bay week. But now to your point,
they are coming off what I think anybody would describe
(03:07):
as a pretty adverse game. They have shown the ability
to respond well to that. Can they do that again
against an Atlanta team that I mean I know their
record is what it is, but you watch them and man,
their tough, and it looks like a completely different team
than what came in here week three.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
At first, he was in fact experience last week here
back to America Stadium, except for our friends in the
Deep Eddies week. But yeah, I mean that was tough
and there's no getting around it. And there is one
of the things that's fascinating to me about this team
and the people on it is watching them navigate those
emotional highs and lows. I mean, we went through a
(03:44):
stretch where people were as happy as they could possibly be.
And I remember a week ago we asked Bryce Young.
I asked Bryce Young about that kind of joy and
tapping into that and how he changes when the situation
around him is so positive. And I realized after the
(04:05):
press conference yesterday, I actually asked, Bryce, when you're as
angry as you were last week, is there a place
for anger?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
The amazing thing to me about Bryce Young is the.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Answers to those two questions were almost identical. Yeah, I
mean he talked about checking in with himself, tapping into
whatever he needs that week, and using whatever's there. I mean,
that's kind of what you have to do in this
job if you're a quarterback of an NFL team. But
he is the model of be the same guy every day.
(04:36):
He does not change. I mean you'll see a smile
on his face and he'll be feeling good. You'll seem
angry like he was last week after the Saints game,
and then when you come back on Monday, he's right
back into that Bryce mode where he is just like listen,
doesn't matter where Ohno this week, trying to get one
to oh. I mean, that's the way the kid is wired.
That's the way he thinks. And so it's interesting to
(04:59):
me to watch him from week to week navigate these
highs and lows and be that same dude every day.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
And that's what I think this team needs. They you
need emotional leaders on a team, and I think they
have them. You look at guys like like JC right now,
Rico Chew, but you know you've got your emotional leaders,
you need your steady leaders as well. And that's what
Bryce has become, just to kind of to keep the
(05:27):
train moving along at the right path.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, no doubt, And I mean it's he is surrounded.
I have to constantly remind myself. He's twenty four years old.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, that is a.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Year younger than Michael Pennix, who is starting in Atlanta
and has been doing this one year fewer in the NFL.
That's two years younger than Tyler Shuck, whose name I
learned to pronounce a week ago this time and realized,
I mean, this man's off his parents' insurance and he's
got a lot more life experience than Bryce Young has,
but not as much NFL experience. So having that is
(06:00):
something he needs because one of the things that's been
a storyline all week this week is kind of the
lack of shots in the passing game and the general
struggle of the passing game itself. And to me, we
tend to put these things in contrast to what happened
tail into last year. This is a vastly different situation
than the tail in the last year because tailing the
(06:22):
last year, brys Young was throwing a lot of passes. Dad,
I'm feeling in David Moore and having old dudes out
there on the field with you is a very different
experience than throwing it to a bunch of twenty two
and twenty three year olds like he's doing right now.
So even though XL has been at it a year,
even though Jalen Kocher's been out of a year, Jimmy
(06:44):
Horn's a rookie team as a rookie, when you look
at it like that, it's such a different experience. So
this entire process is growing right in front of our eyes.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Right And you know, Brad is It talked today too
about like having the guys have time on task that
he showed them some clips from the back half of
last year to just kind of remind them of what
it can become. The more and more you do this together,
because you did last year, have guys like you said,
I don't thinking David Moore. David Moore, he one of
(07:16):
my favorite you talk about being the same. One of
my favorite things about David Moore is that he does
not mess up. Like he might not be as big
as Excel, as fast as t Mac, as shifty as Jimmy,
but he is never in the wrong place and he
never messes up. And that's a safety blanket for a
(07:37):
quarterback to know. If nothing else, I know exactly where
David Moore is gonna be when he's gonna be there,
and I can check down to that if I need to,
And so not having that does make a big difference,
and you're seeing the guys kind of figure that out
themselves in real time. With Bryce, that makes a difference
with those deep shots and with things like that. And
(08:00):
you know, Itzick talked a lot too about like kind
of getting the guys to understand it's it's about making
the most of your targets, but also setting yourself up
for windows come. He used a great phrase that was
really really kind of threw me for a loop at first,
but about protecting your babies, meaning he used t Mac
(08:21):
as an example. But he's like, you know, t Mac
and Bryce are really really good on that. Inbreaking route,
He's like, that's not a secret. Everybody knows that, he said,
But we don't want defenses to see him line up
in one position and though, oh, that's the one that's coming.
He said, you've got to set everything up so that
you can run that one. They still having to protect
the deep ball, the out route, things like that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, yeah, people can't see this behind the screen. DL
hasn't come into the shot yet. But when you said
protect the babies podcast, Matt just kind of flinched.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
He's like, what happened to the baby the Babies movie?
Oh guy, is everything okay, okay, everything okay, Matt, Your
baby's good. Baby's good. Baby's good. That's good to know.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Matt's in that glory time. This is a secret that
only a parent knows. That first month or so, baby
don't do all that much. So baby just kind of
sits around and everybody, everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Looks at it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Baby does nothing but ruin your sleep.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Put that baby in the bucket, which is what I
always called the car seat with the handle on top
of it. Put that baby in the bucket, Put it
in a car, drive around, it'll go to sleep. So
but yeah, Izach was talking about a completely different thing.
And and the point is the development. The point is
all these young kids are growing together. As an offense,
(09:35):
You need another coffee?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I do actually need another coffee?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
How many is that for you today?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I've only had one so far. I was Matt and
I were both laughing because we were both dragging when
we walked in here, and I was like, at least
you have an excuse, you have a newborn baby. Mine
was just I was up late working and I ended
up getting really interested in a ten year old episode
of Holiday Baking.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
There's a whole other world. We live completely different lives.
We live completely different.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I remember watching this season ten years.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
At a certain point, don't you just turn the TV
off and go to sleep?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I needed the conclusion.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Man I I my wife is.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
She is not used to my habit. I would just
leave the TV on. I like to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah. I would fall asleep with the TV on all
the time, which, man, I woke up a lot too
charmed on TNT because I'd fall asleep watching West Coast
basketball and there would be Shannon Doherty in a bunch
of witches on my TV first thing in the morning.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
When I woke up.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
So uh so that's a story about getting distracted in
the middle of a podcast and you really need some
caffeine in you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I was at the coffee machine this morning in Austin
Corbett sail As. I was, you know, getting some coffee
out of the big recept there, and I said, watch
this two pumps.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So everybody got it. Topical coffee, humor, lazy.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It's week eleven. We haven't had a bye week.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
We're all a little punchy. Speaking of two pumps.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Rico Daudel is going to be back on the field,
we think today that's the plan.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
According to Dave Canalis.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
He's had his Wednesday off with the little quad issue
that pops up. They're doing a little maintenance on Rico
to make sure he's ready to go, and I think
that's going.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
To be a big part of it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Dave talked the other day about having the confidence in
Cuba and Cuba looking really good and getting Rico back
there on the field and having that steady drum beat
of the run game is going to make everything easier
on those guys, because I don't think everybody's going to
defend you the way the Saints defended you last week.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Man, that was the Saints sold out to stop that.
The Falcons have a really, really good pass defense. Does
that mean you can run on them a little bit more?
I don't know. You're gonna find out. But what is
interesting is like, that's if you're gonna negate the Packers.
I'm sorry, not Packers. I was getting to that. If
(12:08):
you're gonna negate, you're gonna negate the Falcons pass rush.
You kind of have to use that Packers game plan,
and that Packer. That Packers game plan really leaned on
the running game, and you the Packers run defense was
ranked high, but it was it was a little bit
of a mirage because they had not faced any top
(12:28):
rushing offenses except for like Washington, I want to say,
and the Falcons have faced some of those top rushing offenses.
They faced James Cook and they beat the Bills, you know.
They they faced Jonathan Taylor last week though, and he
put up some of the best yard we've seen from
a running back in years in a single game. And
so you're gonna have to at least try to run
(12:49):
against them, and you've got to do that to balance
the pack the passing attack.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Anyways, Yeah, yeah, it's it's always something with Atlanta. I've
told my dear friend Wes Durham, who I see a
couple times a year down there, I said, well, as
we've seen some things, and it seems like when we
go to Atlanta we see all kind of weirdness. Last year,
obviously it was the big overtime win, but it's been
all kinds. When you get in that building, whether it's
the Georgia Dolme Mercedes ben Stadium, it's always a little peculiar.
(13:16):
The one thing I think buffers this one a little
bit and keeps it from that wild variance that we've
seen in the past is the Panthers have begun playing
pretty adult defense. I mean, they have made incredible strides
in the last ten to eleven, one hundred and seventy
five weeks. However long, We've been doing this to the
point where that's the kind of thing they can game
(13:38):
plan around.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And there's been a lot of.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Talk this week about Nick Gordon, with comments Nick made
never mind, but he's playing really well. They're getting production
out of him. He's growing into his role on the field,
and that front is stable to the point where they
are able.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
To do a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We saw Derek Brown nine tackles last week, throwing dudes
out the club like he always has, and it's been
impressive to watch those guys grow. You want to talk
about a group growing together. They threw a bunch of
new parts together on the fly and it looks pretty good.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Azerio, Everro is not known to hyperbole. He's pretty even
kill Basseline about a lot of things about a lot
of guys, But he said something he was asked about
Nick Scorton today and he kind of just stopped and
he was really reflective, and he said, I don't know
if I've ever seen a player, especially at such a
young age, play so hard. That's coming from everro that's
(14:34):
a huge compliment. And he said, it's really every single play.
It's every play at practice, it's every play in a game,
it's every warm up rep. And so to kind of
watch that come alive in this defense over the past
few weeks as well has been really really fun to watch.
Feels like we're watching the beginning of a special player.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, and bringing him in in second round, coming back
with Prince mam Me Ellen right behind him. That was
on purpose because kind of like we were talking about
it a little bit ago, with young receivers and bringing
a bunch of the men at once, they knew they
had to freshen up that room. And obviously with Pat
Jones getting injured, those two have been pushed into more
work than they had intended to early on in their career.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But they've responded.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I mean, Prince Lely is showing a little bit of
that rookie frustration little bit. You see him kind of
get a little frustrated when he keeps picking up dings
during games, but he keeps coming back and I mean
Bryce talked about that the other week, how much it
means to him. So you've got a couple of rookies
to build around while they put more pieces in place
on that defense, and that's going to be important for
(15:41):
the long haul.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Can I just say a note on that really quick too?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Of course, I would much rather my rookie.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Be upset that he can't play than be saying he couldn't.
If that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And that's what it is.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I've had people and somebody asked me in a mailbag
the other day about Princely losing it, and I was like,
this man's frustrated because he can't be on the field
and he keeps coming back from stuff. I mean when
he had the rib thing the other the other week,
you know, four months ago, in week three or whatever
it was yes week.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, when Derek landed on him.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
That takes out a lesser man.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Derek Brown falling upon you as the kind of thing
that could knock a man out for a minute. But
Princely was right back on his feet. He was, you know,
he is pushing to stay out there and seeing those
young people push is is kind of a theme on
both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
I'm about to create a narrative as we in the
media do that a coach probably wouldn't say, but this
is our podcast, I'm gonna do it anyways. It feels
a little bit like this weekend could be like my
rookie pass rushers versus yours, because Atlanta's to rookie pass
rushers too, have have really been special. With Jalen Walker
(16:49):
and James Pierce. They even the two of them combined
for a play last week versus the Colts where Jalen Walker,
I'm sorry, James Pierce had a sack fumble on Daniel Jones.
Jalen Walker scooped it up up. So it's a little
bit of like those two versus Nick and Princely. Yeah,
who wins.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
There are a lot of parallels, and that's why I
think this this rivalry between the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's all right, d l we don't mind if you
jump in our shot.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Watching David Langton crawl on his belly like he's in
the army to keep out of our camera shot amuses
me to no end. That's the show behind the show, folks.
But yeah, I think this rivalry is taking a little
bit of a turn because if you go back to
last year's game down there, and I almost said Georgia Dome,
I keep doing that. That's not the name of the building.
It's not even the same building anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
The Georgia Dome is no more.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
But seeing Pennix and Bryce go to to toe and
just you know, the Falcons didn't punt that day, so
that's the kind of game it was. Seeing them go
to too score for score shootout was kind of instructed
to the future seeing the Falcons pour so many resources
into defense. They didn't even send their offensive coaches to
the Combine this year, So it's setting up to be
(18:00):
interesting for the long haul. And I'm still, you know,
the Falcons are still trying to figure out exactly where
they are.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
In the continuum.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But I think that the arrow is pointing up for
them despite the record right now, because again, like the
Carolina Panthers, they got so many young people and they're
growing together. So it's interesting to see that come together.
So we will see what that looks like Sunday at
one o'clock. Speaking of things, going well and things coming together.
(18:28):
You spend a lot of time with the twenty fifteen
They did this week, didn't you when you weren't watching
decade old Julia child Specials or whatever it was.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I think Julia Child's has been away from us for
longer than two decades.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
The classics, they never go out of style.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yes, I watched Week eleven of twenty fifteen that was
versus Washington by their old name, but yeah, Washington, the Washingtons.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
They hated Washington.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
And so I actually saw the score of this one
before I started it because I just needed to look
up what game was, and I happened to see the score.
I usually try, but I do usually try to not
look at the score because I don't want it to
influence my viewing of the game. But I happened to
see the score this one, and I was like, oh,
this is going to be a blowout. And so I
was like half paying attention as it started. That game
(19:20):
got really interesting really quick. The first half of it
was insane. Like I actually did like a quick little
drive chart here Kirk Cousins, because this was Kirk, this
was Washington's You like that Kirk Cousins era Kirk Cousins
throws an interception to Kirk Coleman and the Panthers scored
three plays later. The next drive, Washington comes back out,
(19:44):
Cousins throws a fifty six yard pass for a touchdown.
Three plays on that that was a three play drive
and the Panthers had a long touchdown drive. As soon
as the Panthers had that long touchdown drive, they kicked
it off. Washington ran the kickoff back for a touchdown
right then Cam throws a picks but it's negated by
a Washington flag. It was like a seventy five yard
(20:05):
pick six too. Then they got that drive got to continue.
Cam threw a touchdown to Ted Gin it was ruled
in complete. Ron Rivera challenged it. The call was reversed.
Then was Washington goes back out there. Ealy has a
sack fumble on Kirk and they put together. Panthers put
together a drive to end the half for a field goal.
Seventeen points off turnovers for that first half, like the
(20:28):
first half was drunk, and then the second half they
settled in and it really got to go. I like
half watched the second half at this point, I was
like doing work and I'm like, okay, it's like a
three touchdown game. I'm like half paying attention, although it
randomly ended with a safety. But then at one point
something caught my eye and I looked up and I
watched Jordan Reed fumble a ball that Luke Keigley recovered,
(20:51):
and it reminded me of It just ruined my night, Darren,
because it reminded me of another Jordan Reed fumble when
he lost a Florida Georgia game in twenty twelve, a
loss that eventually kept them out of the National Championship.
Since Georgia won that game, they got to go to
the SEC Championship. Florida got kept out of the National
Championship because this was still during the BCS era and
(21:13):
he was on the five yard line. He's a big
tight end. How do you let I had to go.
I thought I remembered, but I had to go make
sure Jarvis Jones forces a fumble on this big tight
end on the five yard line with like two minutes
left in the game, Georgia wins the game. It just
like made me mad all over again watching Jordan Reid
fumble that ball, because I'm still not over that twenty
twelve year also, but seeing a young Sean McVay coach
(21:36):
Kirk Cousins on the sideline was kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Sean McVay is still young Sean McCay.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, this was really young Sean McVay. He's super each Yeah,
super fun. First half. Second half did nothing but remind
me that I'm still bitter against Jordan Reid.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yeah. I like that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
You're one of those college football people. You carry those
grudges around with you for a long long time.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Earlier when you were talking when we were talking about
like panthers and like overcoming adversity, my college football brain
like ticked. In fact, Matt, this might have been an
LSU game of Florida. LSU Florida was struggling with some
bad calls during that twenty twelfth season. In a particular
game and halftime interview, Will Muschamp comes off the field
(22:18):
and they're like, coach, what do you got to do
for the second half? And he's like, we have to
overcome the adversity on the field, and he like points
right to an official as he says it, And so
you said overcome adversity, and my college football brain immediately
went overcome the adversity on the field.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
That's outstanding. Yeah, that's outstanding.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Right now, I'm trying to overcome the adversity in my
own brain. I could use a weekend off that's coming
in three weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
You could use a cup of coffee.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
I'm like, strangely on a high right now. It's like
I caught a second win.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I was gonna say, you get talking about college football,
and you're up there. When I start watching college football,
I tend to go to sleep because the games take
so long to play.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Patchetry takes time.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I get.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
But anyway, we will recap it all. We'll see you
guys back here next Monday. We'll talk about Panthers Falcons.
We'll talk about coffee choices. I don't know it's fall.
You never know what's gonna happen. But we will be
back next Monday to recap the Falcons. Keep it locked
on Panthers dot com for all the latest teams YouTube
(23:20):
channel for all the video and cool stuff we've got
coming your way. Thanks to our friends Deep Eddie for
presenting yet another episode of the Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
We'll see all next week.
The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, and welcome to another episode of The Happy
Half Hour, brought to you by our friends at Deep Eddy.
Look at that confirmed The people in the Deep Eddy
Sweet at the Saints game the other week did have
a magnificent time, as you always do when you enjoy
Deep Eddy products with your friends in moderation. So that's
that's always the important thing there. We appreciate those guys
(00:27):
supporting our show and supporting the people. So welcome to
week one hundred and seventy five of the NFL season.
It feels like we've been doing this since about last
October without a break, but yeah, we are here.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
It is week How many.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Eleven eleven week are into the double digits?
Speaker 2 (00:46):
This is eleven? Yeah, baby, bye week. Can't get here
fast enough. That is a thing that I need.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Tracy Smith got asked today about like the rookie wall,
because this is around the time when the college season
is starting to wrap up and so, and you know,
the NFL season still has a good bit of weeks
in front of you, and so it's when rookies start
to hit a little like, oh I still have to
play for another eight weeks. What are you talking about?
And I couldn't help but laugh because I thought to myself, like,
(01:12):
I'm hitting my rookie wall, like, but no, we're having fun.
It's good. You get into a groove and so it's
like you don't even know anything different. That's can alysis
said at a couple of different times, you know, like
you get into a groove. We play Sundays at one o'clock,
and you know what your schedule looks like when that happens.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
And that's gonna be okay until we get to next
week and Monday night football thinking and which Monday is
a Tuesday, and then and then that Wesday is a Monday,
and then Wednesdays at Thursday.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
And then Thursday is Thanksgiving, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
So yeah, next week's going to be all kinds of
jacked up. I am not going to know what day
it is in addition to knowing what time it is,
but I know what time it is. Right now, it's
time to talk about Week eleven and your Carolina Panthers
it is. You know, we brought this up a little
bit on Monday, and it's kind of come into relief
because the emotional swings of the last two games. People
(02:06):
are feeling some kind of way. I just keep going
back to that two and fifteen, five and twelve, five
and five, and this team has found something resembling equilibrium.
I mean, they have, you know, shown that they can
bounce back from the big losses. If you think about
the Patriots game filed by the Miami game, if you
think about the Bills game filed by the Packers game.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
They have shown the ability to do this.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
In the past, you know, which ostensibly serves them well
heading into Atlanta, a place that has not generally treated
them kindly, But they have shown that kind of resilience
to when things get sideways in really bad all in
a hurry to be able to play good football on
the backside of it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Christian Roseboom had a pretty interesting quote this week. He said,
you know, we have figured out pretty well how to
respond to adversity. We need to learn how to respond
to success, which was kind of the idea of coming
off of the Green Bay week. But now to your point,
they are coming off what I think anybody would describe
(03:07):
as a pretty adverse game. They have shown the ability
to respond well to that. Can they do that again
against an Atlanta team that I mean I know their
record is what it is, but you watch them and man,
their tough, and it looks like a completely different team
than what came in here week three.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
At first, he was in fact experience last week here
back to America Stadium, except for our friends in the
Deep Eddies week. But yeah, I mean that was tough
and there's no getting around it. And there is one
of the things that's fascinating to me about this team
and the people on it is watching them navigate those
emotional highs and lows. I mean, we went through a
(03:44):
stretch where people were as happy as they could possibly be.
And I remember a week ago we asked Bryce Young.
I asked Bryce Young about that kind of joy and
tapping into that and how he changes when the situation
around him is so positive. And I realized after the
(04:05):
press conference yesterday, I actually asked, Bryce, when you're as
angry as you were last week, is there a place
for anger?
Speaker 1 (04:13):
The amazing thing to me about Bryce Young is the.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Answers to those two questions were almost identical. Yeah, I
mean he talked about checking in with himself, tapping into
whatever he needs that week, and using whatever's there. I mean,
that's kind of what you have to do in this
job if you're a quarterback of an NFL team. But
he is the model of be the same guy every day.
(04:36):
He does not change. I mean you'll see a smile
on his face and he'll be feeling good. You'll seem
angry like he was last week after the Saints game,
and then when you come back on Monday, he's right
back into that Bryce mode where he is just like listen,
doesn't matter where Ohno this week, trying to get one
to oh. I mean, that's the way the kid is wired.
That's the way he thinks. And so it's interesting to
(04:59):
me to watch him from week to week navigate these
highs and lows and be that same dude every day.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
And that's what I think this team needs. They you
need emotional leaders on a team, and I think they
have them. You look at guys like like JC right now,
Rico Chew, but you know you've got your emotional leaders,
you need your steady leaders as well. And that's what
Bryce has become, just to kind of to keep the
(05:27):
train moving along at the right path.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, no doubt, And I mean it's he is surrounded.
I have to constantly remind myself. He's twenty four years old.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, that is a.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Year younger than Michael Pennix, who is starting in Atlanta
and has been doing this one year fewer in the NFL.
That's two years younger than Tyler Shuck, whose name I
learned to pronounce a week ago this time and realized,
I mean, this man's off his parents' insurance and he's
got a lot more life experience than Bryce Young has,
but not as much NFL experience. So having that is
(06:00):
something he needs because one of the things that's been
a storyline all week this week is kind of the
lack of shots in the passing game and the general
struggle of the passing game itself. And to me, we
tend to put these things in contrast to what happened
tail into last year. This is a vastly different situation
than the tail in the last year because tailing the
(06:22):
last year, brys Young was throwing a lot of passes. Dad,
I'm feeling in David Moore and having old dudes out
there on the field with you is a very different
experience than throwing it to a bunch of twenty two
and twenty three year olds like he's doing right now.
So even though XL has been at it a year,
even though Jalen Kocher's been out of a year, Jimmy
(06:44):
Horn's a rookie team as a rookie, when you look
at it like that, it's such a different experience. So
this entire process is growing right in front of our eyes.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Right And you know, Brad is It talked today too
about like having the guys have time on task that
he showed them some clips from the back half of
last year to just kind of remind them of what
it can become. The more and more you do this together,
because you did last year, have guys like you said,
I don't thinking David Moore. David Moore, he one of
(07:16):
my favorite you talk about being the same. One of
my favorite things about David Moore is that he does
not mess up. Like he might not be as big
as Excel, as fast as t Mac, as shifty as Jimmy,
but he is never in the wrong place and he
never messes up. And that's a safety blanket for a
(07:37):
quarterback to know. If nothing else, I know exactly where
David Moore is gonna be when he's gonna be there,
and I can check down to that if I need to,
And so not having that does make a big difference,
and you're seeing the guys kind of figure that out
themselves in real time. With Bryce, that makes a difference
with those deep shots and with things like that. And
(08:00):
you know, Itzick talked a lot too about like kind
of getting the guys to understand it's it's about making
the most of your targets, but also setting yourself up
for windows come. He used a great phrase that was
really really kind of threw me for a loop at first,
but about protecting your babies, meaning he used t Mac
(08:21):
as an example. But he's like, you know, t Mac
and Bryce are really really good on that. Inbreaking route,
He's like, that's not a secret. Everybody knows that, he said,
But we don't want defenses to see him line up
in one position and though, oh, that's the one that's coming.
He said, you've got to set everything up so that
you can run that one. They still having to protect
the deep ball, the out route, things like that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
Yeah, yeah, people can't see this behind the screen. DL
hasn't come into the shot yet. But when you said
protect the babies podcast, Matt just kind of flinched.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
He's like, what happened to the baby the Babies movie?
Oh guy, is everything okay, okay, everything okay, Matt, Your
baby's good. Baby's good. Baby's good. That's good to know.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Matt's in that glory time. This is a secret that
only a parent knows. That first month or so, baby
don't do all that much. So baby just kind of
sits around and everybody, everybody.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Looks at it.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Baby does nothing but ruin your sleep.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Put that baby in the bucket, which is what I
always called the car seat with the handle on top
of it. Put that baby in the bucket, Put it
in a car, drive around, it'll go to sleep. So
but yeah, Izach was talking about a completely different thing.
And and the point is the development. The point is
all these young kids are growing together. As an offense,
(09:35):
You need another coffee?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I do actually need another coffee?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
How many is that for you today?
Speaker 3 (09:40):
I've only had one so far. I was Matt and
I were both laughing because we were both dragging when
we walked in here, and I was like, at least
you have an excuse, you have a newborn baby. Mine
was just I was up late working and I ended
up getting really interested in a ten year old episode
of Holiday Baking.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
There's a whole other world. We live completely different lives.
We live completely different.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
I remember watching this season ten years.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
At a certain point, don't you just turn the TV
off and go to sleep?
Speaker 3 (10:15):
I needed the conclusion.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Man I I my wife is.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
She is not used to my habit. I would just
leave the TV on. I like to do that.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah. I would fall asleep with the TV on all
the time, which, man, I woke up a lot too
charmed on TNT because I'd fall asleep watching West Coast
basketball and there would be Shannon Doherty in a bunch
of witches on my TV first thing in the morning.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
When I woke up.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
So uh so that's a story about getting distracted in
the middle of a podcast and you really need some
caffeine in you.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
So I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I was at the coffee machine this morning in Austin
Corbett sail As. I was, you know, getting some coffee
out of the big recept there, and I said, watch
this two pumps.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So everybody got it. Topical coffee, humor, lazy.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
It's week eleven. We haven't had a bye week.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
We're all a little punchy. Speaking of two pumps.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Rico Daudel is going to be back on the field,
we think today that's the plan.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
According to Dave Canalis.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
He's had his Wednesday off with the little quad issue
that pops up. They're doing a little maintenance on Rico
to make sure he's ready to go, and I think
that's going.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
To be a big part of it.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Dave talked the other day about having the confidence in
Cuba and Cuba looking really good and getting Rico back
there on the field and having that steady drum beat
of the run game is going to make everything easier
on those guys, because I don't think everybody's going to
defend you the way the Saints defended you last week.
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Man, that was the Saints sold out to stop that.
The Falcons have a really, really good pass defense. Does
that mean you can run on them a little bit more?
I don't know. You're gonna find out. But what is
interesting is like, that's if you're gonna negate the Packers.
I'm sorry, not Packers. I was getting to that. If
(12:08):
you're gonna negate, you're gonna negate the Falcons pass rush.
You kind of have to use that Packers game plan,
and that Packer. That Packers game plan really leaned on
the running game, and you the Packers run defense was
ranked high, but it was it was a little bit
of a mirage because they had not faced any top
(12:28):
rushing offenses except for like Washington, I want to say,
and the Falcons have faced some of those top rushing offenses.
They faced James Cook and they beat the Bills, you know.
They they faced Jonathan Taylor last week though, and he
put up some of the best yard we've seen from
a running back in years in a single game. And
so you're gonna have to at least try to run
(12:49):
against them, and you've got to do that to balance
the pack the passing attack.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Anyways, Yeah, yeah, it's it's always something with Atlanta. I've
told my dear friend Wes Durham, who I see a
couple times a year down there, I said, well, as
we've seen some things, and it seems like when we
go to Atlanta we see all kind of weirdness. Last year,
obviously it was the big overtime win, but it's been
all kinds. When you get in that building, whether it's
the Georgia Dolme Mercedes ben Stadium, it's always a little peculiar.
(13:16):
The one thing I think buffers this one a little
bit and keeps it from that wild variance that we've
seen in the past is the Panthers have begun playing
pretty adult defense. I mean, they have made incredible strides
in the last ten to eleven, one hundred and seventy
five weeks. However long, We've been doing this to the
point where that's the kind of thing they can game
(13:38):
plan around.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
And there's been a lot of.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Talk this week about Nick Gordon, with comments Nick made
never mind, but he's playing really well. They're getting production
out of him. He's growing into his role on the field,
and that front is stable to the point where they
are able.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
To do a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
We saw Derek Brown nine tackles last week, throwing dudes
out the club like he always has, and it's been
impressive to watch those guys grow. You want to talk
about a group growing together. They threw a bunch of
new parts together on the fly and it looks pretty good.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Azerio, Everro is not known to hyperbole. He's pretty even
kill Basseline about a lot of things about a lot
of guys, But he said something he was asked about
Nick Scorton today and he kind of just stopped and
he was really reflective, and he said, I don't know
if I've ever seen a player, especially at such a
young age, play so hard. That's coming from everro that's
(14:34):
a huge compliment. And he said, it's really every single play.
It's every play at practice, it's every play in a game,
it's every warm up rep. And so to kind of
watch that come alive in this defense over the past
few weeks as well has been really really fun to watch.
Feels like we're watching the beginning of a special player.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, and bringing him in in second round, coming back
with Prince mam Me Ellen right behind him. That was
on purpose because kind of like we were talking about
it a little bit ago, with young receivers and bringing
a bunch of the men at once, they knew they
had to freshen up that room. And obviously with Pat
Jones getting injured, those two have been pushed into more
work than they had intended to early on in their career.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
But they've responded.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I mean, Prince Lely is showing a little bit of
that rookie frustration little bit. You see him kind of
get a little frustrated when he keeps picking up dings
during games, but he keeps coming back and I mean
Bryce talked about that the other week, how much it
means to him. So you've got a couple of rookies
to build around while they put more pieces in place
on that defense, and that's going to be important for
(15:41):
the long haul.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Can I just say a note on that really quick too?
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Of course, I would much rather my rookie.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Be upset that he can't play than be saying he couldn't.
If that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And that's what it is.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I've had people and somebody asked me in a mailbag
the other day about Princely losing it, and I was like,
this man's frustrated because he can't be on the field
and he keeps coming back from stuff. I mean when
he had the rib thing the other the other week,
you know, four months ago, in week three or whatever
it was yes week.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Yeah, when Derek landed on him.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
That takes out a lesser man.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Derek Brown falling upon you as the kind of thing
that could knock a man out for a minute. But
Princely was right back on his feet. He was, you know,
he is pushing to stay out there and seeing those
young people push is is kind of a theme on
both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
I'm about to create a narrative as we in the
media do that a coach probably wouldn't say, but this
is our podcast, I'm gonna do it anyways. It feels
a little bit like this weekend could be like my
rookie pass rushers versus yours, because Atlanta's to rookie pass
rushers too, have have really been special. With Jalen Walker
(16:49):
and James Pierce. They even the two of them combined
for a play last week versus the Colts where Jalen Walker,
I'm sorry, James Pierce had a sack fumble on Daniel Jones.
Jalen Walker scooped it up up. So it's a little
bit of like those two versus Nick and Princely. Yeah,
who wins.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
There are a lot of parallels, and that's why I
think this this rivalry between the Falcons.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
It's all right, d l we don't mind if you
jump in our shot.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Watching David Langton crawl on his belly like he's in
the army to keep out of our camera shot amuses
me to no end. That's the show behind the show, folks.
But yeah, I think this rivalry is taking a little
bit of a turn because if you go back to
last year's game down there, and I almost said Georgia Dome,
I keep doing that. That's not the name of the building.
It's not even the same building anymore.
Speaker 3 (17:36):
The Georgia Dome is no more.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
But seeing Pennix and Bryce go to to toe and
just you know, the Falcons didn't punt that day, so
that's the kind of game it was. Seeing them go
to too score for score shootout was kind of instructed
to the future seeing the Falcons pour so many resources
into defense. They didn't even send their offensive coaches to
the Combine this year, So it's setting up to be
(18:00):
interesting for the long haul. And I'm still, you know,
the Falcons are still trying to figure out exactly where
they are.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
In the continuum.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
But I think that the arrow is pointing up for
them despite the record right now, because again, like the
Carolina Panthers, they got so many young people and they're
growing together. So it's interesting to see that come together.
So we will see what that looks like Sunday at
one o'clock. Speaking of things, going well and things coming together.
(18:28):
You spend a lot of time with the twenty fifteen
They did this week, didn't you when you weren't watching
decade old Julia child Specials or whatever it was.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
I think Julia Child's has been away from us for
longer than two decades.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
The classics, they never go out of style.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yes, I watched Week eleven of twenty fifteen that was
versus Washington by their old name, but yeah, Washington, the Washingtons.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
They hated Washington.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
And so I actually saw the score of this one
before I started it because I just needed to look
up what game was, and I happened to see the score.
I usually try, but I do usually try to not
look at the score because I don't want it to
influence my viewing of the game. But I happened to
see the score this one, and I was like, oh,
this is going to be a blowout. And so I
was like half paying attention as it started. That game
(19:20):
got really interesting really quick. The first half of it
was insane. Like I actually did like a quick little
drive chart here Kirk Cousins, because this was Kirk, this
was Washington's You like that Kirk Cousins era Kirk Cousins
throws an interception to Kirk Coleman and the Panthers scored
three plays later. The next drive, Washington comes back out,
(19:44):
Cousins throws a fifty six yard pass for a touchdown.
Three plays on that that was a three play drive
and the Panthers had a long touchdown drive. As soon
as the Panthers had that long touchdown drive, they kicked
it off. Washington ran the kickoff back for a touchdown
right then Cam throws a picks but it's negated by
a Washington flag. It was like a seventy five yard
(20:05):
pick six too. Then they got that drive got to continue.
Cam threw a touchdown to Ted Gin it was ruled
in complete. Ron Rivera challenged it. The call was reversed.
Then was Washington goes back out there. Ealy has a
sack fumble on Kirk and they put together. Panthers put
together a drive to end the half for a field goal.
Seventeen points off turnovers for that first half, like the
(20:28):
first half was drunk, and then the second half they
settled in and it really got to go. I like
half watched the second half at this point, I was
like doing work and I'm like, okay, it's like a
three touchdown game. I'm like half paying attention, although it
randomly ended with a safety. But then at one point
something caught my eye and I looked up and I
watched Jordan Reed fumble a ball that Luke Keigley recovered,
(20:51):
and it reminded me of It just ruined my night, Darren,
because it reminded me of another Jordan Reed fumble when
he lost a Florida Georgia game in twenty twelve, a
loss that eventually kept them out of the National Championship.
Since Georgia won that game, they got to go to
the SEC Championship. Florida got kept out of the National
Championship because this was still during the BCS era and
(21:13):
he was on the five yard line. He's a big
tight end. How do you let I had to go.
I thought I remembered, but I had to go make
sure Jarvis Jones forces a fumble on this big tight
end on the five yard line with like two minutes
left in the game, Georgia wins the game. It just
like made me mad all over again watching Jordan Reid
fumble that ball, because I'm still not over that twenty
twelve year also, but seeing a young Sean McVay coach
(21:36):
Kirk Cousins on the sideline was kind of crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
Sean McVay is still young Sean McCay.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Yeah, this was really young Sean McVay. He's super each Yeah,
super fun. First half. Second half did nothing but remind
me that I'm still bitter against Jordan Reid.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yeah. I like that.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
You're one of those college football people. You carry those
grudges around with you for a long long time.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Earlier when you were talking when we were talking about
like panthers and like overcoming adversity, my college football brain
like ticked. In fact, Matt, this might have been an
LSU game of Florida. LSU Florida was struggling with some
bad calls during that twenty twelfth season. In a particular
game and halftime interview, Will Muschamp comes off the field
(22:18):
and they're like, coach, what do you got to do
for the second half? And he's like, we have to
overcome the adversity on the field, and he like points
right to an official as he says it, And so
you said overcome adversity, and my college football brain immediately
went overcome the adversity on the field.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
That's outstanding. Yeah, that's outstanding.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Right now, I'm trying to overcome the adversity in my
own brain. I could use a weekend off that's coming
in three weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
You could use a cup of coffee.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
I'm like, strangely on a high right now. It's like
I caught a second win.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I was gonna say, you get talking about college football,
and you're up there. When I start watching college football,
I tend to go to sleep because the games take
so long to play.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Patchetry takes time.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, I get.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
But anyway, we will recap it all. We'll see you
guys back here next Monday. We'll talk about Panthers Falcons.
We'll talk about coffee choices. I don't know it's fall.
You never know what's gonna happen. But we will be
back next Monday to recap the Falcons. Keep it locked
on Panthers dot com for all the latest teams YouTube
(23:20):
channel for all the video and cool stuff we've got
coming your way. Thanks to our friends Deep Eddie for
presenting yet another episode of the Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
We'll see all next week.
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