This week on a Happy Half Hour.
There are a stretch of games coming up. I try not to get too far ahead, but when you look at this first half of the schedule, it t seems like Chicago, Washington, the Giants, etc. I mean, there's nothing in there that's so overwhelming that you couldn't see this team winning a handful of games before that bye week.
Touchdown, cow Row, It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. Here are your hosts, Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Hello friends, and happy Victory Thursday. I'm declaring it victory Thursday. Not because the Carolina Panthers won a game last week. They did not. I am declaring it victory Thursday because last night our friends at Charlotte FC defeated the hated Chicago Fires to four to three, earned four to three to clinch a playoff spot for the second year in a row. So congratulations to our friends at Charlotte f C.
It was almost it was really four to two, and they snuck a three in there right there in like the last minute.
It's it's no fun if it's ever easy. But congratulates it to our friends from FC. And that is how we will begin this week's Happy half Hour, Happy about soccer, happy about playoffs in the Carolinas, And welcome to the Happy half Hour, presented by a Southern Star and official bourbon partner of the Carolina Panthers. Celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas with the playoffs and cool stuff and normal football by the Carolina Panthers. How about that gang?
Maybe this, Maybe Charlotte f C is a good omen for the Panthers this year, although you said they made the playoffs last year too, they.
Made the playoffs. Maybe not, but you know they beat Chicago last night. Chicago's on deck this week.
Right, and I think they also play our boss man Greg pointed out to me last night they also play Washington the same weekend the Panthers played the Commanders.
There you go.
So maybe we'll go for a full sweep.
Let's see, let's see what happens.
But we'll start by seeing what happens on Sunday.
Yeah, first things first, Let's see what happens this week with the Carolina Panthers and the Chicago Bears. Yet another Andy Dalton revenge game. Yeah, we're gonna get a lot of those. We had Cincinnati last week not so good but well not so bad either at the same time. And that's the thing about this week. It's been so unusual walking the building. It's not like it doesn't feel like,
oh my god, they lost a game. It's like when they came out of that Bengals game last week, everybody was feeling pretty good about life, just because there were points and they were competitive, and they were down and came back a little bit. So it was a lot of that progress that a lot of people have talked about. And you know, as weird as it sounds, people are feeling pretty good about things.
And it's not even so much like feeling good in a moral victory sort of way, but feeling good in a hey, we're right there sort of way. That Bengals game showed them, you know, especially back to back with the win against the Raiders. Even though the Bengals game was a loss, there was a lot of Okay, we did this part really really well, and we did this part wrong, but that part's addressable, so let's fix that, and then we've got this all going together again and
moving forward. So a lot to work with from that Bengals game, even though it was a loss. And I think they were like a little mad too, to realize that they could have won that game, no question. And you know, sometimes being a little pissed off as the best motivator, especially for a competitor.
Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. I mean, and they kept talking about very specific things, and that's that sign of progress. Dave Canalis keeps talking about wanting to see this team progress, wanting to see him take the next step. They have taken it the last two weeks offensively, because what we've learned is that this team has a little bit of an identity. We've learned that they can run. We've learned that they do have a good offensive line.
Even with a guy out with injury. The entire group stepped up and maintain that personality of being a physical running team. And that's why getting shut down on the first drive at fourth and goal at the one really kind of bothered those guys. I mean, Robert Hunt talked about it haunting him for a long time. I can picture Big Rob losing sleep at night, you know, days later, over one yard they did not get because that's kind
of who they want to be. They want to be the team that goes for fourth and one and converts it. So you know, with Andy Dalton at quarterback, they are not going to be a big quarterback sneak team. But what they can do is get behind the big boys and line up, hand it to Tuba and let him do his thing. Right now, you know, I think there are things obviously that they want to improve beyond that
one yard they didn't get. There were drop passes, but that's the thing I mean, and they kept going back to those very specific things like a drop pass, like a failed forth down conversion, And that's so far from where we were at points last year and earlier this year, where everything looked a little unsettled. So I mean, to me,
that stands as progress. And I've kind of joked about, you know, normal football, but these last two games have looked like normal football, normal football games contested by normal football teams. So let's see what happens.
I think the specific things you were talking about as well make a difference, because it's less. We've just got to get better and more. Okay, we need to focus on our wrap tackling. We need to focus on the drops again, addressable issues and not just big picture. Well, we've got to be a better football team.
Yeah, but there is there is no question things are going much better. Andy Dalton is playing well. As I pointed out this morning on the social media, Andy Dalton has thrown for over twenty two miles in his career. Now he is he is rolling.
I read that number wrong when I first saw your tweet, and I was like, twenty two thousand? Is he halfway to the moon?
Like you and numbers are not friends? We are not Yill and you and numbers got some messy relationship stuff in your past. I don't know what's going on there.
But listen. I finagled the system so that the last math class I ever took was the first semester of my junior year of high school, and I never took another one again. And the second I walked out of that class, I left it all out of my brain. Yeah, I said, I'm done. I'm done.
Boy. Well, every now and then, I'm going to ask you to math here at Panthers dot com past, so we'll work on that.
But Jaren's going to sit me back to a high school math class and possibly a fifth grade grammar class.
Yeah, one of my favorite things this week, and to the point of Andy Dalton playing well and providing a little you know, personality this team. Five hundred and thirty nine pass yards, five touchdowns in the last two weeks. That's pretty good. Yeah, Andy Dalton's balling out right now. He is on one, as the kids say. But I started getting into kind of the historical perspective on Andy's numbers, and it's amazing. I mean, I don't think people realize
where Andy Dalton is on these all time lists. He's tied for twenty fourth all time in touchdown passes.
Yeah, there's a lot of quarterbacks that have played in the NFL.
Yeah, of all the quarterbacks who have ever played, he's got more of the things than all but twenty four of them.
Yeah, and you put together a list to the twenty four that are ahead of him, Like, I think six are already in the Hall of Fame.
Nine are already in the Hall of Fame. Two are going to be as soon as they're eligible. In Tom Brady and Drew Brees. I mean those two guys are one two and both the touchdown and yards list.
And then the ones there's a few that are still playing.
There's a handful there also, six still playing, some of whom are going to be Hall of Famers. So I just think I am not suggesting that Andy Dalton is a future Hall of Famer. He is probably not. I think he's more in line with guys like Carrie Collins, Vinny Testaverdi, you know, Carson Palmer, Drew Bledsoe, guys who were just pretty good at football for a long long time. And that's okay right now. I think that's what the
Carolina Panthers need to create that sense of stability. But when I asked Andy yesterday, you know, if there were quarterbacks he looked up to, he mentioned being a Texas guy, that Troy Aikman was one of those guys. Andy Dalton has eighty six more touchdown passes and six thousand, one hundred and eight more passing yards than Troy Aigman.
Is there a cat let me? Okay, numbers are impressive. There's probably a small caveat there because Troy Aiateman played with him at Smith, right, but still, yeah, that's it. That's it.
Andy Dalton played with Cuba Hubbard. Those two things are effectively the same, right, Basically, maybe.
Not Chuba Hubbard is now I think fourth all time on the rushing list of Canadian born NFL players. There you go, it's not bad, but yeah, Andy, if nothing else, provides a higher floor to kind of you know, rising tides lift all boats and so let's raise the floor and it'll raise the play of everyone around him.
And we've seen that, no question about it. And you've seen progress from Deontay Johnson. You've seen, Okay, here's what plays look like. You see Legat getting open it and making plays and he's a big, go get it guy. And that's why I think it's going to be interesting, especially in this time where Adam Thielen's not on the field, You're going to see things evolve because it's an opportunity for Mingo, it's an opportunity for Lega to get out
there and make those plays. Because everybody knows that. I mean, the book is already out on Deontay Johnson based on the coverage he saw in second half of that game and what he'll probably get moving forward. People are on it and know that, Okay, that's the first read, and they don't mind saying that out loud.
When you know he's the first read and you know he's going to be a primary target that opens everybody else up on the field. Though yep, and granted, like you said, that means at I'm feeling is not one of those that gets opened up. But you know, you draftedly get in the first round for a reason. You can use Cuba Hubbard out of the backfield on swing passes and will the wheel route is always open, so
you can use him on those little plays too. Having Deonte on the field, like I said, it just you can trust him with fifty to fifty balls and if there's a ball where it looks like it might be okay, more sixty forty for the defense. Now you've got another wide receiver who's probably running a little more open.
Because of it. It just opens a lot of things up. And having that guy who has seen it, has done it, has the experience, you know, it kind of creates those lanes and creates the opportunities for a lot of other guys. So right now, the Carolina Panthers offense is doing some good work. On the other hand, it gets a little dicey on the other side of the ball, and I think some of the one of the things I've said
about this team is. You know, we went through two really rough games at the beginning of the year, change quarterbacks. The last two have been a little bit better. You know, I'm the guy who tries to take the longer view of things. The things that were true about the Carolina Panthers in July and August remain true. This team is not overburdened with pass rushing weapons. They are still trying to figure that out, and that showed up in a
big way Sunday against the Bengals. When you're playing against a Joe Burrow and there's a t. Higgins and a Jamar Chase on either side of the field, you can't blitch, you can't create pressure. And then when you're not getting it from the traditional organic sense, you know, that makes it tough to move people around. So it's it's kind
of rough sledding. The other day. I mean, when the Bengals go four straight touchdown drives boom boom, boom, boom boom, especially to start the third quarter, that was kind of it. So it's, you know, it's one of those things. I think some of that stuff's going to be a little
more available this week going against the Bears. You know, even though Caleb Williams has had an up and down start to his own career, he is not Joe Burrow, so I think because you're playing a rookie that loosens a few things up offensively, he.
Is still someone that likes to scramble around. That's just a little bit of hangover from his time at USC where he had to be superman. He had to win every game. He didn't have a defense he could rely on, so it was all on him, and he still has some of that in him. But we saw last week with the Bears in one of their two wins, that was Caleb's worst stat line of the season, but in a way it was it was still his best completion
percentage and he didn't turn the ball over. So he did what he needed to do as a quarterback of a team with a good defense. But you almost kind of hope that you get them into a shootout a little bit to force him to run around, because then as a rookie, maybe you can get him into some coverage, sacks and things like that.
Yeah, how weird is it that we're talking about the Carolina Panthers hoping to get in shootouts right now?
I said last week, I thought it was going to be a shootout and it wasn't quiet, but it wasn't quite a shootout, but it was inch and right up towards it.
It is moving in that direction. So it's been interesting. And we started a show talking about, you know, Charlotte FC and playoff atmospheres and last night being here in the building when they clinched that playoff BIRTHDA that was pretty cool. I think the other thing that really stood out to me about last week's game against the Bengals is this crowd was into it.
Yeah.
I mean you've got people out in the park lot spray painting their hair orange before the game. They're coming in there hollering and being loud at all the right times in the fourth quarter, and it's like, Wow, this is what it's supposed to feel like. Yeah, people are into this thing. You know, people like points, people are into the scoring stuff. So it's it's good times right now and it's kind of interesting to see these guys develop a little bit of that personality as a football team.
And on to Chicago, we'll see what we'll see what it looks like. Because there are a stretch of games coming up. I try not to get too far ahead, but when you look at this first half of the schedule, it teems like Chicago, Washington, the Giants, et cetera. I mean, there's nothing in there that's so overwhelming that you couldn't see this team winning a handful of games before that bye week. Yeah, and or an amount of ball games handful implies five, I suppose, but that that may be
pushing it. But this team's in a position to win some games right there.
They're definitely capable of winning. I almost think this may be a bold take that may cut this out to save me. I think the I think the Washington game will be tougher than the Chicago game.
With the I mean Jayden Daniels on a heater right now. Yeah, there ain't no doubt about that. It's uh, well, we'll see how that develops. But we take them one week at a time. Here at the Happy half.
Hour, So that's in Dave Canalis, that's what he's that's what he's about.
No doubt. We're all about that grind. We're also all about the happy half hour jukebox. You had me listening to Spotless by the Lumineers. I forgot what song Zach Brian. Here's a you know that song's kind of dark too, you know, speaking of messy relationships like you and math. That was practically a Taylor Swift song there just happened to be saying.
It's more about like neither one of us are perfect, but that's okay because we don't. We can't try to be perfect just to be with each other.
Let's go be not perfect together, so it's perfect. It's an interesting style. Here's the funny thing about Zach Brian. When Christian McCaffrey was hosting a fundraiser a couple of years ago, Zach Brian came here and played it for Christians Foundation, and Christian was all into it. And to times, Zach Brian was still kind of this h YouTube star
before he had gone mainstream. And when I was talking to Christian doing some stuff for the website about this concert, I said, Christian, man, I didn't think you'd be into Zach Brian. He kind of got this hurt look on his face and he was like, why would you think that? And I was like, I don't know, I just kind of thought of you as a little more. But yeah, Christian McCaffrey, our old friend is still uh is still in Zach Brian. I dig him. He is he is authentic,
he is genuine, and those are all good things. Speaking of genuine and authentic, I had you listening to John Prime last week. Uh.
I always liked John Prime, but I had not heard that song before. That was a fun, little ditty, fun little love story. Yeah, it took me. I had to listen to it a second time to make sure that he did end up with the dancer from the first two verses, and then I got distracted again in the bridge, so I went and listened to it a third time, and I was like, Okay, yes, that is who the woman was. But that was fun. I liked the the course of that.
That song includes one of my favorite lyrics ever. Can you guess which it was?
Let me let me google the lyrics.
Well, I can just spoil it for you while we're we can pretend and through the magic of editing MAC act like you're googling right now. But when John Prime sang, I sat there at that table and and acted real naive because oh ye, that topless lady had something up er sleep gang. That's writing right there, that's just writing. And as a writer. The first I remember the first time I heard that, I was like, whoa, So just the uh painting a word picture as we like to say.
See topless lady had something up er sleeve did catch my ear? The yeah every single time.
That is that is good stuff. So anyway, all right, what do you got for me this week?
Well? I actually went back and forth between a couple of songs, and I sat in my car this morning and listened to one and I tried to listen to it as Darren and I was gonna go with that one, and then as I was walking in I changed my mind, specifically because the song I changed my mind to I've listened to probably over one hundred times. And to your point about writing, there are still a few lyrics in that song that, after listening to it this many times,
still make me sit back in my seat. So we're gonna go with what has actually become a mainstream hit, but I think started out as a very good indie song, stick Season by Noah Khan.
All Right. I saw Noah Khan at the uh is that how you say it? Is it? Con? We just go con saw him at the eleven Life Festival here in town.
Eight then you probably heard him play sticks.
I probably heard it. I'm not sure off the top of my head which one that is right now, but we will give it a listen.
Uh, there is one thing he does with his writing that I'm not super crazy about where he times it.
But you know, we'll give it a shot. We'll give it a shot. Speaking of writers, the United States of America lost one of our great heroes last week, and Chris Christofferson Rhodes scholar, former Army helicopter pilot, singer, songwriter, actor, renaissance man. He is one of he's one of the most influential writers that have ever lived. He just happened to do it to the tune of music, and I just it was one of those things that floored me. You say bad words when you hear that he had
passed last week at eighty eight. This man has lived a life. He was a unique individual in every sense of the word, and a hero to a lot of people, including me. So I've been listening to I've been depressing everybody around me all week listening to Chris Christopherson songs because a lot of them are a little dark, Because this man lived a little bit of a dark life in a lot of ways. But you know from songs
like Me and Bobby McGee that everybody's heard to. You know, Sunday Morning coming Down that Johnny Cash turned into a hit. He wrote, whether you realize it or not, some of the most influential songs in the American canon. So we will listen to some Chris Christopherson this week, specifically the Pilgrim chapter thirty three. There aren't actually thirty two other chapters, but you can listen to the Pilgrim. I will listen
to a little Noah con. We'll come back next week and talk about Panthers Bears and see if the Carolina Panthers get their first ever win in the city of Chicago in the regular season. They have one there before when Steve Smith had like a million yards in the playoffs in five but it's been a minute since that happened. So we'll see what happens in Chicago, and we'll see you guys next week on the Happy Half Hour.