Happy New Year, everybody Happy half hour? Is it a coincidence those two things start with the same word, I think, not welcome to it. It is twenty twenty four, and I think a lot of people are ready for a fresh start, aren't they. Cassidy retweet it is. You know, it's always a weird time in the NFL calendar because you know, you think about seasons ending at certain points, and I think if everybody could have punched the clock after last week's game at Jacksonville, they might have signed
up for that. But here we are. There's another game to go. I guess we'll talk about that one in a little bit, but before we get on, I mean we truly do. I think we need to look back on last week, Not so much the game itself. I mean, the game itself was an abject disaster. They lost whatever.
Twenty six twenty.
Six or was it one hundred to nothing?
At that point, the points don't matter.
I knew it was something to nothing, so whatever the other side of that equation was didn't matter as much. But I don't, obviously don't want to spend too much time on the game itself because it was dreadful. But I do think there are things to take away. I mean, the offense was as bad as we've seen it. It was Chicago level bad. It kind of went back against some of the stuff that had been working, some of
the run games, some of the move Bryce around. But the reason I wanted to talk about the game, and you're uniquely positioned to talk about this cast having covered
the Jaguars and been around Trevor Lawrence. You wrote last week about kind of the parallels between his rookie season and Bryce's rookie season, and as you watch that thing unfold or sink or whatever verb you want to put on it, last Sunday, I was wondering, you know what you kind of took back to, you know, your experience in Jacksonville, watching Trevor kind of go through some of the same kind of stuff as a rookie.
It was interesting, especially because of the parallels between the two. I mean, these are both guys that were number one overall picks. You know, bray Shawn was a Heisman winner, Trevor was a Heisman runner up. Guys that won national championships while in college, that kind of and they were both brought in not only is number one overall picks, because not all number one overall picks are created the same.
There are some teams that just kind of maybe had a bad year and at that point it's like, hey, let's tank and let's go for it. But these are both two guys that were brought in with enormous expectations and had an entire franchise put on their shoulders as a rookie, and then we're told, okay, save.
Us, yeah, and that you're that guy.
Well, you're that guy. Don't let us down. And that sort of weight can be crippling. And I think what's important to recognize though, is that even though it could be crippling, there's a difference between guys that can't handle it and guys that might stumble under that their first year and then figure out how to carry it. And I think that's what we saw Trevor do, and that's what you're starting to see Bryce do as well.
And obviously you were there during the COVID times, you know, all the interviews. It seems like we're done by zoom and that kind of thing. But how did Trevor handle that season? I mean, what was he like going from eminently successful Clemson quarterback who has tremendous hair to guy in the middle of a you know, he was the dog sitting at the table with the alice on fire saying this is fine.
He does have tremendous hair. Does it really does like sunshine hair. The thing that Trevor did that always stood out that I have noticed in Bryce Young as well, is Trevor took all of the fault, the criticism, the responsibility on himself, and not in necessarily even an unhealthy way, but in a barrier way. He put himself as a rookie, out in front to protect all of the guys in
the locker room behind him. When everything would go wrong, he would fall on the sword whether it was his fault or not, and a lot of times as the rookie, it was his fault. If we're being honest, I think he broke Peyton Manning's record for a number of interceptions in a year coming in as a rookie. I want to say he threw thirty or thirty two something around there that number. And as the season went on, it sort of became like a Okay, well let's just see
what I can get away with. There's not going to be anything to get out of this season other than lessons, and that's something that I am a little curious to see.
I want to go back and maybe watch some tape and listen to some old interviews to see how Bryce handled that, because about three quarters of the way through the season, maybe even a little before that, when it became imminently clear that that season was a wash, Trevor took on a reckless attitude in a way, but a good reckless attitude of Okay, all I'm going to get out of this year is figuring out what I can and can't get away with in the NFL. And that's
on the field. There's a lot of off the field as well. On the field, it was I'm going to figure out what I can and can't get away with in the NFL. And that's why you saw his interception numbers balloon again in those last four games or last five games, because he was sort of figuring out his windows, figuring out his timing. But that helped imminently the next year.
And that's the thing that maybe was a little disappointing about this game versus the Jaguars for Bryce and this offense is because we saw versus Green Bay the offense takes such a huge step forward. I kind of wish they had kept that aggressive attitude because at this point, what else do you have to lose? Kind of let
Bryce figure it out. Yeah, but off of the field was really where I see a lot of these similarities where you know, Trevor kind of put himself up as the I'm trying to think of vocabulary spelling me the name of whatever the statues would be at the beginning of a city, at the front of a city, like you know, the gatekeepers. And Bryce did that last week after the game, and he did that again on Wednesday
this week of his availability. He fell on the sword for a lot of problems that weren't even his funt.
Yeah, I mean, and we wrote about this yesterday. You know, Bryce has been sacked fifty nine times in fifteen games. Thank god he didn't play in Seattle, or we'd be on the verge of records. Steve Berline. I was here for the Steve Berline sixty two sack season in two thousand and I think Steve still kind of walks with a limp, but he was much older then. So but Bryce has done a good job. But even in talking about it, Bryce talks about things he should have done
better or things. I mean, the offensive line at this point in the season is bordering on ridiculous. Nothing against the guys who were out there giving their best to play.
Before the season's over. You're gonna play right guard.
Darian, It's entirely possible. I mean, I might be out there if I'll show you the picture of me at Cataba Middle School later on. But I was pretty fierce and I could probably jump out there. But I mean, if JD. Dorenzo or somebody gets in a snap on offense, you know they've they will have reached ridiculous stage. Seven guys have played left guard this season. Eight different guys have played right guard. Have I mentioned They've only played
sixteen games. They've gotten five games out of their projected starting guards this year because of injury. Brady Christian pops at biceps in in the first game of the season, and Austin Corbett's coming back from last year's new injury or knee injury, gets a new win in mid season after he's back for a minute, and it's just when that blows out the middle of your line. So much of the pressure on Bryce has been straight up to shoot. So I just think it's reached kind of ridiculous levels.
But Bryce continues to say, well, I got to communicate better, I got to get the ball out quick, blah blah blah. I mean, it's just he keeps it about himself, which a leader is supposed to do, and that's admirable. But the kid is also proving that he can take a hit. He keeps getting up. Guys talked about it. I asked Andy Dalton yesterday, I said, what's the lesson in this,
and he said, he keeps getting up. You know, last Sunday when he Roy Robinson Harris lands on him, he said that was the first time he even stayed on the ground for a second. So and then he got up and continued to play, went to the tent for a bit, but he was all right. I mean, Bryce is a tough kid, there's no doubt about that. There's no doubt that he's an accountable kid. I just hope that he's not a broken kid by the time they get things right around him.
And there's a caveat that goes here too. They were playing against one of the leading sack getters in the NFL, in Josh Allen, who set a new franchise record versus the Panthers on Sunday, broke Kalis Campbell's old franchise record. And so this was not for the faint of heart for any rookie quarterback to be playing against Josh Allen. And that's that's something. And we did see in the second half they started rolling Bryce out a lot more, you know, kind of getting him out of the pocket,
letting him roll. I'll say this just for you and Darren. They let him roll on a few naked book boots there you go, just get him away from Josh Allen. And so we did see some adjustments to that and there were far fewer sacks in the second half.
Yeah, a little bit, a little bit, but you're right, I mean this just in Josh Allen good at football, both of them. And it's it's tough, I mean, and it's it was one of those you just kind of got to get through. Uh. Obviously, it's not an ideal situation. And and they'll finish it up this week and you know they'll be going out there, I'm assuming based on just sheer availability at this point. Cad May's broke a finger the other day, and wasn't able to finish the game.
He's out there with the hand kind of clubbed up the other day in practice, and so I don't know if we're going to see Caid. So sure, Nash Jensen start a game on the other side, let's do that. Uh why not? What could possibly go wrong? But here we are. So anyways, it's it is not all doom and gloom because it is a new year. Uh. There was some moderately good news last night when Pro Bowl rosters were announced. The Carolina Panthers did not have any Pro Bowl per se, which when you go to and
fourteen is not necessarily a surprise. But Derek Brown is a first alternate, and there is a reasonable chance that Derek ends up a Pro bowler because one of the people he is behind on that list is one Javon Hargrave of the San Francisco forty nine ers. And if they do what I anticipate, which is go to the Super Bowl, Derek will suddenly find himself a Pro bowler. It's interesting to me watching this season unfollowed. I mean, Derek has been the most consistent, the best player on
this roster from start to finish. I mean he's he's there every day. He's playing a ton of snaps. I rode early in the year before you arrived, Cassidy. I mean, the guy's playing basically eighty percent plus of the snaps in every game, which is cool when you're a cornerback or somebody like that, or somebody who doesn't have to
move very far. But when you are Derek Brown and you're three hundred and thirty pounds and throwing dudes out of the club left and right, to play the number of snaps he's playing and to play him at the level he's playing is amazing. He's sitting there on ninety six tackles, which is three tackles short of the record since they started counting these things in nineteen ninety four,
which is amazing on its face. But Derek had the kind of season that you would only hope more people would follow along with, because I sat here weekend and week out and it's like, oh gosh, he just threw Zach Martin the you know, the Cowboys All Pro guard. Yeah, he just flung him out of the way. You know, he grabbed Alvin Kamara and just tossed him down the alley like a bowling ball, which we had some fun with in a video here a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, it's just been impressive watching Derek blow up offenses from the inside out. Ninety six tackles over the course of the season.
But he is tackling here for the interior alignment.
Yep, yep, leading all defensive linemen in the league in tackles. He is just doing the thing at a very high level. And you know, I would anticipate, no matter what other, you know, changes happen around here this offseason, this is going to be the year Derek Brown gets extended. And you want to keep that guy here for a long long time because not only is he good at football, he's he's accountable. He shows up, he works hard, he does all the things the right way. So he is
not a pro bowler by definition, just yet. He could end up one. But again, look at the guys he's up against. That Aaron Donald guy also good at football, Dexter Lawrence. You know, Dexter Lawrence is a different kind of of defensive tackle than Aaron Donald. Obviously, he's a big, wide body, but he's still got four and a half sacks this year nineteen quarterback hits, so he's played at a high level himself. And then Hargrave, who's out there in San Francisco, likely to go to the Super Bowl.
So no real shame in being behind those three guys. I think you could divide it up and have your argument however you want to. But the one thing you can't question is has Derek Brown been amazing this year?
Yes, he has, totally agree And when I realized that he was the like we said, leading tackler for defensive Plumban's that's so hard to do from that spot. Sure, some of that too, is because you draw double teams. I would imagine Aaron Donald's tackles numbers are pretty low because he's consistently getting double and triple team event at times. But when you affect the game, that's what you're asked to do as a defensive lignement, and that's what Derek
Brown has done. And so a great point. You know, it's kind of hard to argue slash who could argue either way, but he's very likely going to be there and well deserved.
Yeah, I hope, So Derek deserves that. And among the other alternates that were announced, Brian Burns after making the Pro Bowl. The last two years, Brian's had a down year by any account. He would be the first to tell you that he is a second alternate, and then Johnny Hecker and JJ Janssen are third alternates at punter and long snapper for the Bowl, which is now a flag football game. I have questions as to what a long snapper and punter do during a flag football game,
but uh, you know, we'll we'll see. Maybe if enough long snappers and punters get injured, they can join in and tell us about that. But both of those that's what they do. Yeah, exactly. They stand around and eat snacks and tell jokes, which is kind of what they do a lot of days anyway. But you know, Johnny was in an unusual position last week. Speaking of unusual, We've seen some things here with the Carolina Panthers in the last couple of years, and last week I saw
something that I would say I've never seen before. But I have a kicker getting hurt in pregame warm ups when Eddie Pinero comes up tight and isn't able to kick. You know, Johnny Hecker was sitting there as the emergency kicker for field goals and I asked Johnny after the game. I said, Johnny, what what was your range? Range? Unlimited?
Now I say that when you don't have to kick.
Exactly, other others may disagree. Asked Chris Taber the other day whether he trusted Johnny throwing a pass or kicking a field goal more, and he kind of thought about it for half a second. He said, Oh, yeah, throwing a pass. So it's not an ideal situation, but it feels kind of normal considering the way this season's gone down. So in the spirit of in the spirit of finding people who can do other things. Since Cassidy is new here,
this is exactly. This is your fifteenth day as an employee of Panthers dot Com, so we're still getting to know Castiy Hill. So I want to know, in addition to all the things we know you're good at, like covering football and those kind of things, what is a hidden skill that Cassidy Hill has.
Oh gosh, I have no idea.
Can you juggle?
No, I can't, but I did make somebody do that for a story. Once took him some tennis balls in the locker room.
That's better with eggs because it increases an element of risk in that because you don't want to break anything all.
I took just enough piano lessons growing up to think that I can play piano, but other people might disagree. Grew up on a farm, so I can ride a horse, okay, And I spent an ill advised year and a half and sometimes still do this for family and friends. As a wedding planner, let me tell you that takes a special set of skills and delusion to talk yourself into doing that. That was.
Who's worse at a wedding? The bride or the mother in law?
Let me tell you who the Oh I'm glad you said mother in law, because the worst person at the wedding is hardly ever the bride. It's usually a mother. But it's not even the bride's mother. It's the mother of the groom when she does not have a daughter, because.
She goes full Mama bear on the entire process and gets to fulfill the unrealized wedding.
Fantasy and it's like, you know, okay, you get to do the cake. Well, that cake is the center of the wedding, and yeah, the mother of the groom, which she does not have a daughter, is the worst person to deal with during wedding planning. So let that be a lesson to any of you. If you have a son and no daughters and he's getting married, take some pity on that poort wedding planner.
Yeah, all right, we could just continue this trend, turn this into a bit three questions with a newcomer. We know you can ride a horse, play a piano a little, and you are a wedding planner at points in your life. You have been here again, this is fifteen days. You've been a Charlotte Tian all of a sudden.
What is not the word?
What if you? Yes, we are not Charlatan's, although sometimes we can be. We are. We are, in fact Charlotteans. What do you call Green Bayons? Green Bay Heights?
Cold?
That's funny. Is there a name for that? What do you call residents of green Bay?
Green Bayons?
Green Bayons? Green Bay?
I don't know if I ever really heard that come up? Maybe green once or twice, the.
Green Bay hive, like you say, maybe something like that, I don't know.
Good reference.
Yeah, there you go. So, yeah, you're a Charlotte Tin. You've been driving around our fair city for fifteen days. Now what have you learned, what have you seen? Knew that you weren't expecting here in Charlotte that.
I wasn't expecting.
Hmmm.
Uh. This may be just because I have lived in an area without them for the past like ten years. But there are so many interstate connectors here and I keep getting them confused. I missed my exit coming into work this morning.
There you go.
I had to take like a ten minute round about. So that's getting used to that the other thing. And maybe it's just because, like I happened to notice this on a broadcast right before I moved, But I've always thought of Charlotte as the Queen City. Like I knew that was a nickname for Charlotte, but I didn't realize how many other cities also liked to claim that nickname until I was watching I think it was a Bengals game right before I moved, and somebody called Cincinnati the
Queen City. Yeah, And I was like, why, that's what makes Cincinnati the Queen City. But then you get here and you realize this is not just a nickname. It's like a whole identity. Because there's crowns on everything.
There's crowns on everything, our statue is inside the airport.
Now.
I realized this the other day flying to Jacksonville. Our statue has been moved from out in the pns of Queen Charlotte. Oh Charlotte her own self is standing.
Watch Queen Charlotte on Netflix.
No, I did not. I'm terrible at Netflix. I'm terrible at streaming shows. But anyway, you are a Charlotte tean.
I feel like it should be mandatory to watch the Queen Charlotte Show.
Maybe maybe that's on my list for the off season. I've got I've got a big to do list and a big to read list.
And I will pay five dollars for you to come back on this podcast during the off season and give us your review of Queen Charlotte on Netflix.
Yeah, this could be a challenge, This could be a bit. We'll keep doing that so anyway, So all right, we're getting to know you a little bit of a time here on the Happy Half Hour. We will continue that process over the course of the year. We got one more game to talk about next week. It will be a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that needs this one to make the playoffs. The Carolina Panthers could screw things up for somebody else. Burns has been talking about being the
grinch all off season, so he might enjoy that. A lot of people might. We'll see how that goes. Baker Mayfield's all beat.
Up, Baker Mayfield return game.
Yeah, Baker Mayfield revenge game. There's a lot of Baker Mayfield content to explore. Maybe we'll do that next week, but I have a feeling we're gonna be talking about a lot of other stuff next week, because as we get into an off season, it's gonna be different. Gang. There's gonna be a lot of change this offseason, as everybody anticipates when you go to and fourteen plus. Whatever happens this week, we will take a deep breath. We will get into all that next week on the Happy
Half Hour. See all then
Then