August 14, 2025 • 16 mins
Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy recap the joint practice with the Texans, discuss how the Panthers are embracing the heat in Houston, look ahead to this Saturday preseason game, and so much more!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, and welcome to a very special Houston edition
of The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
This looks like Houston right here, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We're coming to you from an undisclosed location. Actually it's
an adjunct training room. That's a cold tub right in
front of us that I may jump into later, which
will give.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
You five dollars if you do the rest of the
which is from that cold which.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Is perfect because we're right across from a bend that
says dirty whirlpool shorts.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
This is the glamorous life for the NFL folks, and
we're bringing you all the latest from Houston right here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Actually, cold tub.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Ain't a bad idea because it was about, based on
my meteorological expertise, a million degrees.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
This morning is somewhere around there. And you know this
is going to be so cliche. It's not the heat,
it's the humidity.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The heat itself wasn't horrible. It was in the mid eighties.
How to breathe.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
The humidity was stifling.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, that's a seventy eight due point.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, we talk.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It was like eighty three humidity two point at one point.
I think I told you I was walking on the sidelines.
One of the guys kind of looked over it stopped me.
He goes, I can't breathe.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
In this, and it was. It was. It was like
a wet blanket right there. On top of that, it was.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
A little thick out there today, no doubt about that.
But Dave Canalis signed up for that. He wanted to
see it. He talked, He's talked a lot all off
season about play Jacksonville in week one on the road.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Got to be ready for that.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And you know, today's practice was kind of interesting because
he admitted, you know, they started well, they closed well,
but he said there was a period in the middle
where a lot of penalties, and he said, our guys
got tired, our guys got hot, our guys got tired,
they started making mistakes and pushing through. That kind of
stuff is the reason we're here, other than the fact
that Houston's a delightful place right here by the dirty
(01:42):
whirlpool shorts bin and we you know, we're.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Enjoying our time here. But Dave wanted it hot.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
He wanted to see them react because if there's a
theme to this training camp for Dave Canalis, it's learning
how to be resilient, pushed through this.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
And he talks all the time about finish. You know,
how are we going to finish the offense on the
offensive side, because they were split Panthers offense versus Texans
defense vice verse. On the other field, the offense, I
think came through in that two minute drill and scored
right there at the end. And you know, you saw
that pop up in several games on the second half
of last year. And you know, they took four games
(02:18):
to overtime, Three of them were a win, one of
them was a fumble away from a win, and there
were games where they fought back into the fourth quarter
even on some of the losses, like the Chiefs and
the Eagles. So can you then make that one extra
play to finish? That's what he wants to learn. That's
what he wants them to learn here, and this was
a good lesson in it. There is Christmas music playing
(02:41):
in the background. I think we've entered some other dimensions.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
There's an iceberg under there.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's like we're at the North Pole and Hell at
the same time, where you know we're actually in hades
on the other side.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Of the world. The Caribbean.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
But yeah, I mean you mentioned the two minute drill.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I mean Bryce was Bryce was doing Bryce things down
the stretch and really first both offenses, first offense, second offense.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Both got to the end zone and that moved the ball.
Two minute work at the end.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Of practice, and I was over there on that field Bryce.
If you haven't seen it on Panthers dot com, check
it out. Bryce and Tremaine with the play of the day.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
He went yard.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Jalen Cooper wasn't practicing today. He was back here sick
getting some antibiotics. He wasn't feeling well, so he took
the morning off to get himself right.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Hopefully he plays. But Bryson Tremain's out to run around
with the ones.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Made a big play forty yards down field, and it
just underscores another one of those themes of this camp,
which is another wide receiver, wide receiver making big plays.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
It's it's a lot of depth at that spot.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And Tremain's an interesting cat to me because after Dan
Chasinho left, he was a guy not a lot of
people talked about, but he might have had a roster
spot here because he's so good at special teams.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Tremaine's got a huge frame.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
He's like six four ten two fifteen somewhere in that run,
so he's got the range to go get it and
runs pretty well. He catches the ball. You know, he
was injured during OTAs and was kind of hanging around
and a lot of people looked at him and thought
he was like Teos brother or something hanging around team
because he does look a little bit like t Mac.
But he stood out in camp because he is a big,
(04:18):
physical guy, and you know, to the point, Bryce has
always been good in those two minute situations. And I
thought it was interesting and we've got all this stuff
for you at Panthers dot com.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
CJ Stroud his old friend. They played pee wee football
against each other.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Hey, you basketball against each other, CJ said today. He said,
Bryce one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen. And
you kind of forget based on the way their career started.
I mean, CJ obviously came into a better position. You know,
he was offensive rookie of the Year on a ten
win team that went to the playoffs, and Bryce didn't
(04:54):
enjoy a lot of those same benefits in his first
year in Carolina.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
But the way he bound back last year. People still
think of.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Him that way, and I think it's important for people
back home to remember because they are so hyper focused
on everything that's happened to Bryce that globally, the opinions
of him are still pretty good.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
And we've seen this off season in particular, some of
the things that made him so special, because, like you said,
CJ said that today, We've heard Tetoroa say that before too,
because they played each other in high school. And one
of the things that made Bryce so special was his anticipation.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
And we saw that with the t.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Mac throw during the Browns game on that one drive,
and then there was a clip you were watching the
offense today, but there was a clip I saw floating
around Twitter where he hit Laget down the right sideline
and when the ball left Bryce's hands, Excel is still
way back here getting caught up by a defender, but
he got loose from him and caught it in a
(05:54):
spot that only Bryce and Xcel knew he was going
to be.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And so just textbook anticipation.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
A lot of other stuff happening on that other practice
field that you were spending a lot of your time
at Trevin Wallace wouldn't hear for the start of practice.
He had some personal stuff. He flew down this morning
and joined the team, came out midway through practice.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
They weren't deep at that.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Position to begin with, after Josie Jewel was released at
the beginning of camp.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Called and cheerless it's hurt.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
So basically they were like Christian rose Boom in a
cast of thousands up here this morning. Bammark Lay linebacker, Yeah,
Ban Martin Scott was out there a little bit, Thomas
and Kombe, who's a special teams guy who lines up
outside a lot in John rat Again, everybody was kind
of taking turns in there just to kind of get
through and that's just kind of where they're at until Trevin.
(06:42):
The anticipation is he's going to be out there Saturday.
Started to say Saturday night, but that's a noon kickoff
here locally, which is a good thing.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
We'll get home earlier.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
But anyway, they expect Trevin to be back Saturday for
the game. But it gave a different look. Despite the
defense had.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
A pretty good day.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I mean, they were flying around over there on the
other side of the field, picking off CJ a number
of times.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Yeah, and of course you know it goes back and forth,
back and forth.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
This is still a c J.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Stroud led offense that's been pretty good in the past
couple of years. But there was a lot of give
and take the run defense now again, granted we're comparing
this to what it has been last year, but it's
a noticeable shift forward. And there were a lot of
guys getting their nose in there. He saw a lot
of times that safety's kind of throwing themselves in there.
(07:31):
Leith and Ransom at one point just completely threw himself
into the box to stop a run play and he
did so, and one of the guys standing next to
me was like, like, there goes freaking Ransom or something
like that. And we saw Marek do the same thing
Nick Scott a couple of times. At one point c J.
Stroud kind of got out of the pocket and starts
running around and you think he's about to do like
(07:52):
one of those things he does, and here comes Dereck
Brown chasing him down, gets him all the way out
of bounds, and was joking about it later like, man,
I'd like run a long way to get to him,
but he got him out of bounds on what was
considered a sack, and that's not the only job he
got sacked today. Pat Jones kind of stayed in the
backfield on his reps. And it's hard completely to judge
(08:16):
a sack in these practices when the quarterback is in
a non contact jersey. And asked Pat, like, how do
you judge just that? What do you consider a sack
for yourself? And He's like, basically, if I'm back there
and I get a hand on him, you know, I'm
considering that a sack. He got back there at least twice.
He thinks he got back there maybe even more than that,
but we saw him at least twice. There's still this
(08:39):
is like I said, this is still cz h Stroud,
This is still Nick Chubb running the ball. And he
did get loose a couple of times to pick up,
you know, five six yards at a time. Never really
broke off a big one, but they kind of kept
it bottled up much more than I might would have anticipated.
And then, like you said, picked him off a couple
(09:00):
of times. Chris Barnes picked off Davis Millster in one
drill just kind of acted like he threw it right
to him. And then Mike Jack picked off CJ. Stroud
in the end zone. Again, it was a perfect read
by Mike. It wasn't even a you know, in the
right place, right time. He went and put himself in
the right place to pick it off. And then Nick
(09:21):
Scott picked it off as well, batted a ball up
and came down with it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know how coaches will always say when they're stalling
for time at a press conference immediately after practice, well,
until we get to see the film, we won't.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Really know how this all went.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I feel secure in saying this joint practice went a
little bit better for the Carolina Panthers in last week's
against Cleveland Browns. I mean not that there was anything
necessarily bad. I mean it was just a really active
day for a lot of guys, and you did see
plays being made downfield. You did see that defense run
around making a bunch of plays. I mean, Mike Jack
is a guy who broke up a lot of passes
(09:57):
last year because he was opposite J. C.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Horn and got targeted a lot more.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And even though on a day like today when Jac
wasn't out there practicing and he's probably not going to
play Saturday, because of that left thumb.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But Mike is still so active and playing really well.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
He's comfortable here in a way he hadn't been in
the past and has really look good.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I mean, there's you're starting to see.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
You know, obviously they've got a good bit of progress
still to make and probably you know, it's hard to
tell if this is a finished product in terms of
personnel and defense, but you can see those guys beginning
to improve. We've talked a lot about how much deeper
they are on the defensive line. They made a point
to go out and get Bobby Brown, Tershall and Wharton
in free agency.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
They've done a lot through the draft to add to.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
The pass rush with Nick Gordon Princeley coming in. But
Pat Johns, DJ Wanham. You see strides being made on defense.
And that's why I think this Texans practice was so
good because you moved up a level in competition. No
offense to our friends with the Cleveland Browns, but this
is ten len playoff team the last two years, and
(11:04):
that's why this was such a good practice for these
guys because they moved up level in competition and they
played better in response to it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And you know, in a weird way.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
I think it almost ended in such a way that
it can be positive moving forward because it ended with
a two minute drill. I think there was like minute
twenty on the clock. Offense had to go somewhere around
seventy five yards, had to score a touchdown. Yeah, because
of what the score was, and CJ. Stroud did exactly
what he does and he just moved right down the
field kind of picked him apart. But you know, both
(11:33):
Pat Jones, Trevon Merricks or Trevon Merrick said afterwards, like,
you know, that's kind of the thing you can move
forward from. There's a lot to take because there was
a lot that went right, but coaches will always tell
you you can teach a little bit more too from
when stuff goes wrong, and there's stuff from that two
minute drill that they can learn off of from as well.
(11:53):
But overall, a really really good day for the defense.
To your point too about Mike Jack, I mean, because
he had his hand in a few pass breakups as well.
He had one that got called DPI. That might have
been a little bit of home cooking here. I don't
know if you can consider it home cooking at a practice.
Can you get a home call at a practice. Yeah,
(12:14):
had one that he argued was not DPI and looking
at the eight K wall, I think he might have
had a good argument, but it did get called. But
he also had a couple other pass breakups as well.
I think last year those that corner unit was kind
of seen as like JC and the Gang, like JC
and whoever else was there, And obviously Mike was the
(12:35):
starter for most of the year, and now it almost
feels like JC and Mike, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
A couple other news and notes out of this joint practice.
There was a dignitary on hand, that's right, our very
on Dom Capers entertaining guest. As he walked in, it
was like the Godfather had walked into practice, and in
a lot of ways he is because Dom Capers, as
you old heads like me remember, was the inaugural coach
of the Carolina Panthers, the inaugural.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Coach of the Houston Texans.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He you know, he kind of laughed about being crazy
enough to sign up to the coach two expansion teams, but
he did a good job with it. The job he
did in Carolina was the reason that Houston Texans hired
him to get the started here in two thousand and two,
and you know, Dom's.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Just one of those legendary figures.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I enjoy seeing him on the field because it reminds
me of what it's like for somebody who loves his
job so much. I mean we talked earlier in the
summer Dom came back.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean Dom was injured.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
He popped a hamstring off the bond during OTAs had surgery,
was off his feet for two weeks, which is a
nightmare for Dom Capers.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
He wants to be.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Out there on the elliptical working out every day after practice.
He wants to be on the practice field, and it
wasn't until the first day of training camp back home
in Charlotte when he was able to get back out there.
So seeing Dom out there on the field greeting people
like a dignitary was cool to see.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
He when we were walking around at one point he
was like, this is weird. He's like this because I
guess this first time he's really been back. But he's like,
you know, I remember when we put all this in,
pointing around at all the practicability, He's like, this is
weird being back out here. Yeah, but you know when
your dom Capers, everywhere you go has a memory, when
you're that embedded in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
He likes walking down the halls in the stadium and
be like, I remember when that was something else.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So and so used to sit here just doing down
the line.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
He celebrated a birthday this week too.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's right, Dom turned seventy five, and so may may
we all age as gracefully as Dom Capers did. So
a couple other nuggets. Nick Gordon had to be taken
from the field to day taking in a cooling trailer,
get some ivs. They're trying to take care and Nick,
get him squared away. You know, he's from here, and
he kind of fell victim to the heat a little
(14:40):
bit during practice. That shows you, you know, just how
hot it was out here today.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Sometimes you can get too hot too fast, and it's
hard to get your core temperature back down, which is
kind of what Canalis essentially said. Happened that they were
just having a little bit of trouble getting his core
temperature back down. Wanted to be careful there.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yep, and so hopefully Nick bounces back. They're talking about,
you know, trying to maybe get him back in the game.
We'll see what the next couple of days bring. And
you know, after a practice like that, you never know
when stuff pops up and when somebody has you know, something.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
After the fact that they didn't realize at the time.
So we'll see.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
What's a factor into the decision on how much they
play Saturday.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
That's right today too, that's right. Canalis is gonna wait
and see. He's talking about playing him a little bit
more maybe than they did the other week against Cleveland.
Maybe a third series for each of the first two
groups or each of the first groups.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
So we'll see how that goes. But there's a lot
to come.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Keep it locked on Panthers dot com for all the
latest uh stay tuned to the Panthers YouTube channel for
all the latest video And by the way, if you
haven't enjoyed Luke Keighley on Car Talk with JJ Janssen,
a nice tight fifty minutes of Luke Keighley.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You know how I.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Say, the answer to any problem is more. We got
more Luke Keighley on the Panthers YouTube channel. By the way,
I'm a little salty with Keighley and I had to
text him back is today because the previous record for
cart talk appearances was thirty five minutes, held by me
in a blizzard.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So I told Keithley, let me see you bring it
in the snow, big boy.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You're riding around in the ac with JJ there. I
was out there braving the elements. So anyway, check that
out on the YouTube channel. Keep it locked on Panthers
dot com. We'll have all the ladies from Houston for
the next couple of days in that game on Saturday.
Until then, we'll see you next time on the Happy
half hour. Right here, and hand me a pair of
(16:31):
them dirty warbles. No, hand me a pair of clean
Whirlpool shorts. I'm getting in this hub. We'll see y'all
back at the house.
The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello friends, and welcome to a very special Houston edition
of The Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
This looks like Houston right here, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
We're coming to you from an undisclosed location. Actually it's
an adjunct training room. That's a cold tub right in
front of us that I may jump into later, which
will give.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
You five dollars if you do the rest of the
which is from that cold which.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Is perfect because we're right across from a bend that
says dirty whirlpool shorts.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
This is the glamorous life for the NFL folks, and
we're bringing you all the latest from Houston right here.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Actually, cold tub.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Ain't a bad idea because it was about, based on
my meteorological expertise, a million degrees.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
This morning is somewhere around there. And you know this
is going to be so cliche. It's not the heat,
it's the humidity.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The heat itself wasn't horrible. It was in the mid eighties.
How to breathe.
Speaker 4 (00:51):
The humidity was stifling.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Yeah, that's a seventy eight due point.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Yeah, we talk.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
It was like eighty three humidity two point at one point.
I think I told you I was walking on the sidelines.
One of the guys kind of looked over it stopped me.
He goes, I can't breathe.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
In this, and it was. It was. It was like
a wet blanket right there. On top of that, it was.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
A little thick out there today, no doubt about that.
But Dave Canalis signed up for that. He wanted to
see it. He talked, He's talked a lot all off
season about play Jacksonville in week one on the road.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Got to be ready for that.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And you know, today's practice was kind of interesting because
he admitted, you know, they started well, they closed well,
but he said there was a period in the middle
where a lot of penalties, and he said, our guys
got tired, our guys got hot, our guys got tired,
they started making mistakes and pushing through. That kind of
stuff is the reason we're here, other than the fact
that Houston's a delightful place right here by the dirty
(01:42):
whirlpool shorts bin and we you know, we're.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Enjoying our time here. But Dave wanted it hot.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
He wanted to see them react because if there's a
theme to this training camp for Dave Canalis, it's learning
how to be resilient, pushed through this.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Kind of stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
And he talks all the time about finish. You know,
how are we going to finish the offense on the
offensive side, because they were split Panthers offense versus Texans
defense vice verse. On the other field, the offense, I
think came through in that two minute drill and scored
right there at the end. And you know, you saw
that pop up in several games on the second half
of last year. And you know, they took four games
(02:18):
to overtime, Three of them were a win, one of
them was a fumble away from a win, and there
were games where they fought back into the fourth quarter
even on some of the losses, like the Chiefs and
the Eagles. So can you then make that one extra
play to finish? That's what he wants to learn. That's
what he wants them to learn here, and this was
a good lesson in it. There is Christmas music playing
(02:41):
in the background. I think we've entered some other dimensions.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
There's an iceberg under there.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's like we're at the North Pole and Hell at
the same time, where you know we're actually in hades
on the other side.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Of the world. The Caribbean.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
But yeah, I mean you mentioned the two minute drill.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I mean Bryce was Bryce was doing Bryce things down
the stretch and really first both offenses, first offense, second offense.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Both got to the end zone and that moved the ball.
Two minute work at the end.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Of practice, and I was over there on that field Bryce.
If you haven't seen it on Panthers dot com, check
it out. Bryce and Tremaine with the play of the day.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
He went yard.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Jalen Cooper wasn't practicing today. He was back here sick
getting some antibiotics. He wasn't feeling well, so he took
the morning off to get himself right.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Hopefully he plays. But Bryson Tremain's out to run around
with the ones.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Made a big play forty yards down field, and it
just underscores another one of those themes of this camp,
which is another wide receiver, wide receiver making big plays.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
It's it's a lot of depth at that spot.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And Tremain's an interesting cat to me because after Dan
Chasinho left, he was a guy not a lot of
people talked about, but he might have had a roster
spot here because he's so good at special teams.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Tremaine's got a huge frame.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
He's like six four ten two fifteen somewhere in that run,
so he's got the range to go get it and
runs pretty well. He catches the ball. You know, he
was injured during OTAs and was kind of hanging around
and a lot of people looked at him and thought
he was like Teos brother or something hanging around team
because he does look a little bit like t Mac.
But he stood out in camp because he is a big,
(04:18):
physical guy, and you know, to the point, Bryce has
always been good in those two minute situations. And I
thought it was interesting and we've got all this stuff
for you at Panthers dot com.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
CJ Stroud his old friend. They played pee wee football
against each other.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Hey, you basketball against each other, CJ said today. He said,
Bryce one of the best quarterbacks I've ever seen. And
you kind of forget based on the way their career started.
I mean, CJ obviously came into a better position. You know,
he was offensive rookie of the Year on a ten
win team that went to the playoffs, and Bryce didn't
(04:54):
enjoy a lot of those same benefits in his first
year in Carolina.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
But the way he bound back last year. People still
think of.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Him that way, and I think it's important for people
back home to remember because they are so hyper focused
on everything that's happened to Bryce that globally, the opinions
of him are still pretty good.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
And we've seen this off season in particular, some of
the things that made him so special, because, like you said,
CJ said that today, We've heard Tetoroa say that before too,
because they played each other in high school. And one
of the things that made Bryce so special was his anticipation.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
And we saw that with the t.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Mac throw during the Browns game on that one drive,
and then there was a clip you were watching the
offense today, but there was a clip I saw floating
around Twitter where he hit Laget down the right sideline
and when the ball left Bryce's hands, Excel is still
way back here getting caught up by a defender, but
he got loose from him and caught it in a
(05:54):
spot that only Bryce and Xcel knew he was going
to be.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
And so just textbook anticipation.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
A lot of other stuff happening on that other practice
field that you were spending a lot of your time
at Trevin Wallace wouldn't hear for the start of practice.
He had some personal stuff. He flew down this morning
and joined the team, came out midway through practice.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
They weren't deep at that.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Position to begin with, after Josie Jewel was released at
the beginning of camp.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Called and cheerless it's hurt.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
So basically they were like Christian rose Boom in a
cast of thousands up here this morning. Bammark Lay linebacker, Yeah,
Ban Martin Scott was out there a little bit, Thomas
and Kombe, who's a special teams guy who lines up
outside a lot in John rat Again, everybody was kind
of taking turns in there just to kind of get
through and that's just kind of where they're at until Trevin.
(06:42):
The anticipation is he's going to be out there Saturday.
Started to say Saturday night, but that's a noon kickoff
here locally, which is a good thing.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
We'll get home earlier.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
But anyway, they expect Trevin to be back Saturday for
the game. But it gave a different look. Despite the
defense had.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
A pretty good day.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
I mean, they were flying around over there on the
other side of the field, picking off CJ a number
of times.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
Yeah, and of course you know it goes back and forth,
back and forth.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
This is still a c J.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Stroud led offense that's been pretty good in the past
couple of years. But there was a lot of give
and take the run defense now again, granted we're comparing
this to what it has been last year, but it's
a noticeable shift forward. And there were a lot of
guys getting their nose in there. He saw a lot
of times that safety's kind of throwing themselves in there.
(07:31):
Leith and Ransom at one point just completely threw himself
into the box to stop a run play and he
did so, and one of the guys standing next to
me was like, like, there goes freaking Ransom or something
like that. And we saw Marek do the same thing
Nick Scott a couple of times. At one point c J.
Stroud kind of got out of the pocket and starts
running around and you think he's about to do like
(07:52):
one of those things he does, and here comes Dereck
Brown chasing him down, gets him all the way out
of bounds, and was joking about it later like, man,
I'd like run a long way to get to him,
but he got him out of bounds on what was
considered a sack, and that's not the only job he
got sacked today. Pat Jones kind of stayed in the
backfield on his reps. And it's hard completely to judge
(08:16):
a sack in these practices when the quarterback is in
a non contact jersey. And asked Pat, like, how do
you judge just that? What do you consider a sack
for yourself? And He's like, basically, if I'm back there
and I get a hand on him, you know, I'm
considering that a sack. He got back there at least twice.
He thinks he got back there maybe even more than that,
but we saw him at least twice. There's still this
(08:39):
is like I said, this is still cz h Stroud,
This is still Nick Chubb running the ball. And he
did get loose a couple of times to pick up,
you know, five six yards at a time. Never really
broke off a big one, but they kind of kept
it bottled up much more than I might would have anticipated.
And then, like you said, picked him off a couple
(09:00):
of times. Chris Barnes picked off Davis Millster in one
drill just kind of acted like he threw it right
to him. And then Mike Jack picked off CJ. Stroud
in the end zone. Again, it was a perfect read
by Mike. It wasn't even a you know, in the
right place, right time. He went and put himself in
the right place to pick it off. And then Nick
(09:21):
Scott picked it off as well, batted a ball up
and came down with it.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
You know how coaches will always say when they're stalling
for time at a press conference immediately after practice, well,
until we get to see the film, we won't.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Really know how this all went.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I feel secure in saying this joint practice went a
little bit better for the Carolina Panthers in last week's
against Cleveland Browns. I mean not that there was anything
necessarily bad. I mean it was just a really active
day for a lot of guys, and you did see
plays being made downfield. You did see that defense run
around making a bunch of plays. I mean, Mike Jack
is a guy who broke up a lot of passes
(09:57):
last year because he was opposite J. C.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Horn and got targeted a lot more.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
And even though on a day like today when Jac
wasn't out there practicing and he's probably not going to
play Saturday, because of that left thumb.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
But Mike is still so active and playing really well.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
He's comfortable here in a way he hadn't been in
the past and has really look good.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I mean, there's you're starting to see.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
You know, obviously they've got a good bit of progress
still to make and probably you know, it's hard to
tell if this is a finished product in terms of
personnel and defense, but you can see those guys beginning
to improve. We've talked a lot about how much deeper
they are on the defensive line. They made a point
to go out and get Bobby Brown, Tershall and Wharton
in free agency.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
They've done a lot through the draft to add to.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
The pass rush with Nick Gordon Princeley coming in. But
Pat Johns, DJ Wanham. You see strides being made on defense.
And that's why I think this Texans practice was so
good because you moved up a level in competition. No
offense to our friends with the Cleveland Browns, but this
is ten len playoff team the last two years, and
(11:04):
that's why this was such a good practice for these
guys because they moved up level in competition and they
played better in response to it.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And you know, in a weird way.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
I think it almost ended in such a way that
it can be positive moving forward because it ended with
a two minute drill. I think there was like minute
twenty on the clock. Offense had to go somewhere around
seventy five yards, had to score a touchdown. Yeah, because
of what the score was, and CJ. Stroud did exactly
what he does and he just moved right down the
field kind of picked him apart. But you know, both
(11:33):
Pat Jones, Trevon Merricks or Trevon Merrick said afterwards, like,
you know, that's kind of the thing you can move
forward from. There's a lot to take because there was
a lot that went right, but coaches will always tell
you you can teach a little bit more too from
when stuff goes wrong, and there's stuff from that two
minute drill that they can learn off of from as well.
(11:53):
But overall, a really really good day for the defense.
To your point too about Mike Jack, I mean, because
he had his hand in a few pass breakups as well.
He had one that got called DPI. That might have
been a little bit of home cooking here. I don't
know if you can consider it home cooking at a practice.
Can you get a home call at a practice. Yeah,
(12:14):
had one that he argued was not DPI and looking
at the eight K wall, I think he might have
had a good argument, but it did get called. But
he also had a couple other pass breakups as well.
I think last year those that corner unit was kind
of seen as like JC and the Gang, like JC
and whoever else was there, And obviously Mike was the
(12:35):
starter for most of the year, and now it almost
feels like JC and Mike, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
A couple other news and notes out of this joint practice.
There was a dignitary on hand, that's right, our very
on Dom Capers entertaining guest. As he walked in, it
was like the Godfather had walked into practice, and in
a lot of ways he is because Dom Capers, as
you old heads like me remember, was the inaugural coach
of the Carolina Panthers, the inaugural.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Coach of the Houston Texans.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He you know, he kind of laughed about being crazy
enough to sign up to the coach two expansion teams, but
he did a good job with it. The job he
did in Carolina was the reason that Houston Texans hired
him to get the started here in two thousand and two,
and you know, Dom's.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Just one of those legendary figures.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
I enjoy seeing him on the field because it reminds
me of what it's like for somebody who loves his
job so much. I mean we talked earlier in the
summer Dom came back.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I mean Dom was injured.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
He popped a hamstring off the bond during OTAs had surgery,
was off his feet for two weeks, which is a
nightmare for Dom Capers.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
He wants to be.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
Out there on the elliptical working out every day after practice.
He wants to be on the practice field, and it
wasn't until the first day of training camp back home
in Charlotte when he was able to get back out there.
So seeing Dom out there on the field greeting people
like a dignitary was cool to see.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
He when we were walking around at one point he
was like, this is weird. He's like this because I
guess this first time he's really been back. But he's like,
you know, I remember when we put all this in,
pointing around at all the practicability, He's like, this is
weird being back out here. Yeah, but you know when
your dom Capers, everywhere you go has a memory, when
you're that embedded in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
He likes walking down the halls in the stadium and
be like, I remember when that was something else.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So and so used to sit here just doing down
the line.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
He celebrated a birthday this week too.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That's right, Dom turned seventy five, and so may may
we all age as gracefully as Dom Capers did. So
a couple other nuggets. Nick Gordon had to be taken
from the field to day taking in a cooling trailer,
get some ivs. They're trying to take care and Nick,
get him squared away. You know, he's from here, and
he kind of fell victim to the heat a little
(14:40):
bit during practice. That shows you, you know, just how
hot it was out here today.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Sometimes you can get too hot too fast, and it's
hard to get your core temperature back down, which is
kind of what Canalis essentially said. Happened that they were
just having a little bit of trouble getting his core
temperature back down. Wanted to be careful there.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yep, and so hopefully Nick bounces back. They're talking about,
you know, trying to maybe get him back in the game.
We'll see what the next couple of days bring. And
you know, after a practice like that, you never know
when stuff pops up and when somebody has you know, something.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
After the fact that they didn't realize at the time.
So we'll see.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
What's a factor into the decision on how much they
play Saturday.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
That's right today too, that's right. Canalis is gonna wait
and see. He's talking about playing him a little bit
more maybe than they did the other week against Cleveland.
Maybe a third series for each of the first two
groups or each of the first groups.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
So we'll see how that goes. But there's a lot
to come.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Keep it locked on Panthers dot com for all the
latest uh stay tuned to the Panthers YouTube channel for
all the latest video And by the way, if you
haven't enjoyed Luke Keighley on Car Talk with JJ Janssen,
a nice tight fifty minutes of Luke Keighley.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You know how I.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Say, the answer to any problem is more. We got
more Luke Keighley on the Panthers YouTube channel. By the way,
I'm a little salty with Keighley and I had to
text him back is today because the previous record for
cart talk appearances was thirty five minutes, held by me
in a blizzard.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
So I told Keithley, let me see you bring it
in the snow, big boy.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
You're riding around in the ac with JJ there. I
was out there braving the elements. So anyway, check that
out on the YouTube channel. Keep it locked on Panthers
dot com. We'll have all the ladies from Houston for
the next couple of days in that game on Saturday.
Until then, we'll see you next time on the Happy
half hour. Right here, and hand me a pair of
(16:31):
them dirty warbles. No, hand me a pair of clean
Whirlpool shorts. I'm getting in this hub. We'll see y'all
back at the house.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com