This week on a Happy Half Hour.
Tory Holt had the benefit of playing part of his career with Kurt Warner. He played with Isaac Bruce. He played with Marshall Falk. He played with a Hall of Fame left tackle in Orlando Pace. His rookie year, he played for a Hall of Fame coach and dig for me you know, I mean a Hall of famer Steve played with on offense zero touchdown Cow.
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 welcome to the Happy Half Hour. It is a very special off season edition of the Happy half Hour. It is a special They're all special, but some are more special than others. And I think this one's going to be great that And you know why why Because it's in it to us by our friends at Southern Star, an official burbon partner of the Carolina Panthers, celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas. This is this is a time of year where you sit by a crackling fire,
maybe enjoyable Southern eight Star. It's still a eggnog season for me, and it will be until about April, I believe.
So do you ever watch Big Bang Theory?
I have what, Yes, I have enjoyed the bank.
There's a Christmas episode of Big Bang Theory where Sheldon was drinking egnogg and they were making fun of him for it because he supposedly doesn't like anything about the holiday, and he's like, Eggnog's a year round drink. I'll drink this pool side.
No doubt you could. I I keep some around the house just in case.
It just there's something about drinking something that is egg and cream based in the middle of summer that just doesn't sit right with my stomach. Ah you know, Wow, we went off the reils and lie.
Yeah, we got to eggnog in a hurry in this episode. And this is I. I hijacked an entire episode of Jordan and Jake last year by talking about eggnog, and I convinced both of them to enjoy some and they did so.
Did they or did they enjoy it?
That one enjoyed it more than the other? I will say that, but I did get both of them, and I have the group text to prove it. Of them enjoying eggnog on Christmas a year ago. So anyway, that's the eggnog portion of the Happy half hour. Let's get onto the news and one of the things I wanted to talk about. We're in a little bit of a news dry spot on the Carolina Panthers. There's not what
we'll take it. We'll take that. I mean again, I have told all my friends and family after the last you know, four or five off seasons, when you're constantly changing coach, general manager, quarterback year after year after year, there is no off season, and when January is a scramble, you're never quite rested when you get to March, which
is always a little bit of a shame. But this year we're things are normalizing, and the way the Carolina Panthers ended that season, you know, there's a lot more optimism about the team and the fact that they're able
to build something. Now. So now that we've got a minute and we're not you know, filling out track with all the candidates who are coming in here to interview for jobs like coaching, GM and quarterback, we can actually talk about other stuff that's going on in one of luxury and one of the things I wanted to dig into in a space where we've got a little time to explore, is the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Love it, as most of you know if you are consumers at
the Happy half Hour in Panthers dot com. Two of our very own our finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, Luke keithleyan Steve Smith, both extremely deserving, both had incredible careers here and you know are there, you know, very deservedly. But this process is one that I don't think enough people know enough about. One of my pet peeves as a voter, I'm one of the forty nine voters for the Hall of Fame. That roster
is available online. One of the things that's always a little bit of a pet peeve for me is anytime you start talking about Hall of Fame, people are like, oh, that guy's a lot first time, no questions asked, and it's like, if you knew how hard this process was, which it should be, and it absolutely should be. My standard line is always, because we have the opportunity to elect up to five modern era players every year, is don't tell me which one you want in, tell me
which ten you want out. And with some rules changes which we can get to in a second this year that may mean twelve and so it's super hard to get in out. Yeah, and so it's super hard to get in. And I wanted to just take a little bit of time this week to kind of explain some of that process so people have a little better understanding going into it. Again. Let me say, as a precursor, I will stand on a table and proselytize I will become evangelical while talking about why Steve Smith and Luke
Keighley belong in the Hall of Fame. I believe it firmly in both cases. So I will say that upfront. But I'll also say this about the process, to say there are no guarantees in this process. So just as kind of a top level overview, over the course of
the year, we get a ballot of fifty names. The Hall of Fame instituted some changes this year, which included a committee of former Hall of Famers guys who are in the Hall of Fame taking that initial vote of our list of one hundred and seventy preliminaries, which included guys like Jordan Gross, Jake Glom and you know, guys who were excellent players Hall of Honor members, but maybe not quite Hall of famers. And they Winnow that down to fifty for us. Okay, we voted down to twenty five.
They give it to the Hall of Fame committee. We take that list of fifty, turn it into a list of twenty five. Then we turn that twenty five into fifteen and two separate votes. That's where it gets interesting. There is a meeting and it is an old school, you know, Roman democracy. I mean, we wear togas, there are special hats and handshakes.
I'm gonna choose to believe that's true.
It's very secretive. Is there a There is a secret handshake as a matter of fact. Now and one of the things that happens, and we have to be sort of circumspect about some of this. One of the things the Hall has done in the last couple of years that's been super neat is create this knock show, is
what they call it. You saw it last year with Julius Peppers, when Bruce Smith, the NFL's all time sack leader, shows up on Julius's doorstep by surprise to inform him, congratulations, Julius Peppers, you are now in the Hall of Fame such a cool moment. Julius has talked about that, and he was like he was completely taken by surprise. He knew his you know, family was running around doing their normal thing and it seemed a little off, but he didn't know what was going on until Bruce Smith shows
up on his door with a camera crew. The Hall is trying to preserve that so the family gets involved in you know, it's almost like a sting. They'll set them up at a certain point to have somebody So, yeah, Claudia knew that somebody was coming to the house and it was a very special thing for Julius. So they want to create that mystery. They want to create that
suspense and to unveil that moment, you know. And Julius has said having Bruce Smith, having that guy be the one to tell him he was getting into the Hall of Fame made it that much more special. And so that the Hall has asked everybody involved in the process to not talk about when the meeting is, what happens in it, those kind of things, because they want to preserve that special moment for the guys. So that all as preamble to say, there is a meeting, fifteen names
are discussed. You'll vote fifteen down to ten, then ten down to seven. This year the process changed and the old days you used to vote ten to fifteen to ten, ten to five, and at five you would just vote up or down, and if you got eighty percent of an updown vote you got in. Well, that became a little bit of a rubber stamp. Some people complained thought there were too many Hall of Famers getting in, so
the Hall made some adjustments this year. And one of this year's adjustments is now we take it to a final seven and at seven, each voter gets to vote four to five and at that level, if you get eighty percent of the vote, there you're in the Hall of Fame. Well you, as a student of mathematics.
I was about to say, this is a lot of math.
The math ain't mathing. We might not get five, and the probabilities are that you could be looking at a class of three or four or five, but no more than five from that group of fifteen. So all of that to say, it's really hard to get in the Hall of Fame, which it should be. So if all of your favorite players don't get in, hopefully that sheds a little light on how hard it is to get in. And again if people aren't aware, just so you know
who the fifteen finalists are. There were nine of last year's final fifteen who didn't get into the Hall of Fame on this year's ballot. Again, they are Jared Allen, Willie Anderson, the right tackle I should have said, Panthers legend Jared Allen, of course, who played his final season here, Willy Anderson, the old Bengals right tackle, Antonio Gates tight end from the Chargers, Tory Holt, and Darren Woodson, the
Cowboys safety from the nineties. Those guys were in the six through ten last year, so they were the ones who just missed the cut last year. Then you had Jarry Evans, a long time Saints guard who was key to Drew Brees, a small quarterback, being able to do all the things he did, which became instructive when you saw Robert Hunt get that bag to come protect re young Eric Allen, longtime Eagles cornerback who is closing in on his deadline. You only get twenty years of eligibility,
and this is year nineteen for Eric Allen. So as Panthers fans know, Sam Mills got in in his final year of eligibility a couple of years ago, so there was a lot of stress there. Fred Taylor, the Jaguars running back, Reggie Wayne Colts receiver are very On. Steve Smith was a semi finalist for each of the last three years, and then he got into the final fifteen this year. Then you had five first time candidates. Luke Keighley, who everybody here knows and loves, Eli Manning, Okay, controversial.
Spacey had That's been a controversial pick even while he was playing, No question, it was always going to be a question.
Yeah, And Adam Vinitieri of the Kicker, the guy who hit all the kicks, and then Ravens guard Marshall Yanda Ravens outside linebacker trell Suggs, and Suggs is actually the highest ranking person on the all time cyclist who's not in the Hall of Fame. Oh okay, and he's a couple he's a little bit ahead of Jared Allen.
That's hard listed narrow down. Yeah, because then you also have like, okay, let's take Vinitari for example. That's somebody that I think you could objectively say belongs in the Hall of Fame given given his record and the kicks. The kicks he made and when he made them, he won them a couple of Super Bowls, right.
Four of them?
Yeah?
Yeah, But then you.
Have the age old question, can you put a kicker in as a first time right?
And I think that's reasonable. I mean, without revealing too much about the process. One of the things I do as a voter, I'll usually start my thought process with who are the guys who just missed last year? And so you get Jared Allen, Tory Holt, Willie Anderson, Darren Woods, and Antonio Gates. I'll kind of begin my thought process there. Why there, just because they were so close a year ago and we have already talked about all these guys.
I mean, this is the sixth year in the room for Tory Holton, Reggie Wayne, so when Steve Smith enters the process this year is a first time finalist. We've been discussing Tory and Reggie, and Tory stuck his head up a little bit above Reggie last year and got to that cut of six through ten, so it felt
like there was a little separation there. But I'll usually begin with those guys and to me, and every voter is different, and I am one of nine, a lot of your longtime writers who have covered teams for a long time, that kind of stuff, And then you know there's some others. The Hall of Fame committee includes some former Hall of Famers. Dan Fouts, James Lofton, Bill Pollion
is on the committee original Panthers gym. It's usually fifty, but people have dropped off the committee through retirements and different things over the years, and they didn't get that fiftieth spotfield this year. So I'll do it noted, noted and get the hat though, right, yeah, exactly. We'll teach you all the secret handshakes and stuff like that. But to me, a first ballot Hall of Famer ought to
be a special, special thing. And the thing about this year's list is I think there's a special guy on it in Luke Keighley because one of the things in going through research for Luke, I mean, Luke played eight years, was named All Pro seven times, he went to seven Pro Bowls. He was an All decade pick. Side Patrick Willis, who got in last year in his third year of eligibility.
So there is some track record because Patrick Willis's resume is practically identical to Luke's, except Luke has a NFL Defensive Player of the Year award that Pat doesn't have, so there's a little bit of difference there. But Luke's seven of eight All pros stood out to me and
we start doing a little research. The question I posed, and the question I began researching, is of the people who played at least seven or eight years, not only who had the most All Pro selections, because when you get into guys who played fifteen twenty years, all pros can stack up. I mean, there's some guys who are thirteen, twelve, eleven. The thing I wanted to look at with Luke, because
he was such concentrated excellence, is the percentage. And by going by being named All Pro seven out of eight years, do you know how many people made All Pro teams at a higher percentage than Luke, Keigley, Tom Brady? Not even them, really, not even them, because they played such a long time and in an era of great quarterbacks where it gets diluted a little bit. There are two people in NFL history who did this.
Are they like modern NFL modern ish?
At least one of them is hmm. And again both of these might be one of them a quarterback. No, neither are a quarterbacks. Oh yeah, because the combination of short career and sustained excellence throughout that short career kind of narrows that list because if you play a long time the offense, they're both offensive players. Randy Moss, Well, all right, I'll go ahead and tell you, Okay, Barry Sanders was named All Pro ten times in ten seasons,
perfect one hundred percent. Some guy named Jim Brown, Oh yeah, eight All Pro nominations in nine seasons. Those are the only two guys who did it at a higher percentage than Luke Keighley. I mean, that's the company he's keeping, And that's one of the things when I go into that meeting, It's one of the first things I talk about, because it's like, Luke Keighley did everything you can do in the amount of time he played.
Because I've seen that Patrick Willis argument around social media a good bit, and I keep meaning to go, look, so this answers my question on how many years it took Patrick Willis to do it versus how many years it took.
Luke to Yeah, Patrick got in last year in his third year of the like, how.
Many years it took Patrick Willis to get those stats?
Oh, because it was same eight years. Okay, they had the same eight year career, and I can do this from memory at this point because they both played eight years. They were both seven time Pro Bowlers. Willis went to or was named a six All Pro teams to Luke seven. Both defensive Rookie of the Year their rookie years, both All Decade picks, and again the only difference is one All Pro mention and also Luke has a Defensive Player of the Year.
So Patrick Willis playing a Super Bowl.
Practically, I did Patrick Willis. Now you put me on the spot and I'm drawing a blank. I mean, Patrick Willis in general was on some better teams and better defenses alongside navorro Bowman, and they did some special stuff. So it's it's one of those things that it's a tough distinction to make. But again, if I've said anything while rambling on about this process, it ought to be hard. But I think that one of the things about Luke
that makes him stand out to me. And we'll see once the results are announced at NFL Honors on February fifth or sixth, whatever, day, that is, the Thursday before the super Bowl. You know, we'll see what happens when the results are announced, because you know, we won't know as a committee what those final results are because with the whole seven vote for five, we don't know who got the eighty percent. Back in the old days, when you knew the final five, you had a reasonable expectation
of who was getting in. But there's a little bit of mystery for us involved here too.
So that's fun. You don't know that they walk out on stage.
There you go. So it should be tricky, but it's always being able to talk people through this process I think sometimes helpful, just because it is so complicated. And you know, again, I have been in this process, been a voter for gosh, I don't know, twelve fourteen years something like that. The Dallas Ice Storm super Bowl was my first year on the committee, whatever year that was, and I've kind of drawn a blank on that now. But so han't been through it a number of times.
I'm sensitive to how complicated this is. And I mean because every fan always believes their guy is always the one to go in, so it's it's super tough. And again, I begin generally my thought process. And I'm not saying I do this every year, but with who was this close to getting in last year and a guy like Tory Holt has done all the things. You know, he was bothered by some injuries a little bit like Luke, and his career is a little bit shorter than what
you look at with Reggie Wayne and Steve Smith. But Tori achieved at a high level and was an elite offensive player. I mean, his stats were at the top of the league at the time. He was playing both with and without a Hall of Fame quarterback. But when I begin talking about Steve Smith, I mean some of the things I have tried to bring to people's mind is this man's eighth all time on the career receiving
yards list. Eighth. Seven people in the history of football since they started playing football in exchange for money, only seven of them have more yards than Steve Smith. All of them are in the Hall of Fame, except for Larry Fitzgerald, who had ineligible. Yet Steve's eleventh on the all time receptions list.
I wonder if I could.
We want to let you through that because a lot of it, there's a lot of history there. But you know, Steve has the achievements in terms of the receiving yards. Steve Smith won the Triple Crown in two thousand and four. He broke his ankle in the opener missed the entire rest of the entire season. That season did not go well for the Carolina Panthers. They started one in seven and en route to seven and nine closed late. Mussim Muhammad had a great year, But Steve comes back the
next year wins come Back Player of the Year. He also won a triple Crown. He led the league in receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, and he did it for a team that ran the ball more than it threw the ball, which almost seems impossible. But remember, folks, John Fox was the coach of that team, the man who said a punt is not a bad play. So you know, to me, Steve being able to win a triple Crown in a situation where his own coach would rather run it than pass.
It or punt it.
Yeah, or punt it, I mean Steve, Steve was out there doing it. One of the things I have mentioned to voters in advocating for Steve is when you look at a Reggie Wayne he had the benefit of playing with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison and Edrin James and a Hall of Fame coach in GM and Bill Pollyan and Tony Dungeye Tory. Holt had the benefit of playing part of his career with Kurt Warner. He played with Isaac Bruce. He played with Marshall Falk. He played with
a Hall of Fame left tackle in Orlando Pace. His rookie year, he played for a Hall of Fame coach and Dick for Meal. You know, I mean hall of famer Steve played with on offense zero. I mean it's just and again nothing against those guys, but I have always contextualized Steve's career by saying he did this in an environment where it was hard for receiver, harder for receivers to get those numbers. Because when the other defense is game planning a game, I mean, you know what
it's like. Now you go into it. You know, you go into a game with the Bucks, what does a game plan say, don't let Mike Evans kill you. You know, Steve got that treatment week in week out because on the other side of the ball from him in two thousand and five, just to pull one out of thin air. It was thirty seven year old Ricky Prowl and Carry Colber. Love them, love them both, but.
They're not Steve Smith.
They're not Steve Smith. So Steve was getting double covered constantly. He was getting all the attention of opposing defensive coordinators, and you know that made it a lot harder to do the things he did anyway. Yeah, he also did it at five nine and three.
Quarters and three quarters. That's important.
The three quarters is very important because if you ever leave out the three quarters, we'll let you know. Steve Smith will remind you about the three quarters and make sure you include that.
I took a shot at who could be ahead of him on the all time list.
On the receiving yards with yeah.
And I don't have I don't have the full list, and some of these could be wrong, but if I get one or two out of them, I'll be a little proud of myself.
All right. Randy Random moss YEP number four, Jerry Rice number one.
Oh, Larry Fitzgerald, you gave me that one. Don Hudson.
Don Hudson is not I mean he played in an era when the numbers weren't what they are at this point, and then Don Hudson is one hundred and sixteenth on the all time receiving yards. Reggie's actually tenth on the receiving yards list.
Okay, that's all I got so far.
Yeah. The other guys ahead, the seven guys ahead of Steve on the receiving yards list, Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald not eligible yet, terryl Owen's almost put too on there, Randy Moss, Bruce, Tony Gonzalez, Tim Brown.
Oh, Tony Gonzalez. Yeah, see, I forget about him because he's not.
A Yeah, but you know all those guys other than Larry Fitzgerald who will become a Hall of Famer very quickly. I mean, you know again when you start talking about first time eligibles, Julius was first time eligible last year, and we were talking about guys on the all time sack list, like Jared Allen, who's in the one thirties. Julius was at one fifty nine and a half. And it's like, when you're twenty some sacks more than the other guy in a two time All decade player, you
can jump the line. Larry Fitzgerald has the kind of numbers that He's probably gonna jump the line over guys who have been discussed for some time. But it is t in the Hall of fame to is in the Hall of fame for.
Some reason, because I thought about him and put I almost put him on this list, and then I held off because I thought for some reason, I thought he didn't play long enough to have gotten up there.
Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. I mean, it's Steve Is. Steve put up the numbers. He did it, and he did it for a long time. And he did it at five foot nine without the most and three quarters without the most help in the world, but.
Right without the quarterbacks to do it.
We'll see.
And again Jerry Rice had Oh my God, blind my blanket, thank you oo.
That was almost scary and part of the materials I shared with my fellow voters leading up to the final meeting, I mentioned that there were four guys at that point. Jamar Chase has since joined this club. There have now been five players since the Super Bowl era who have won the Triple Crown. They are Jamar Chase, Cooper Cup in the last couple of years, Steve Smith, Sterling Sharp, Jerry Rice, Jerry Rice did it with Joe Montana and Bill Walsh, Sterling Sharp did it with Brett Farv and
Mike Homgren. Right, Cooper Cup did it with Matt Stafford and Sean McVay. You know, Jamar Chase did it with the twelve President, Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow at quarterback.
Every time I see his name, yeah you.
Should if I've done nothing else here. And Steve did it with Jake Noloman, John Fox. Yeah that's different. Yeah, that's different. Gang. So I want to throw.
A little aside in here just for the people that don't know. You keep saying about this is what I'm saying, this is what I say, or this is what I'm like telling them. Room explain in like thirty seconds your role as presenter.
Basically what we do. And again in this meeting it is a big old democracy. Somebody will begin the conversation by making a brief presentation about the player, and so I'll stand up and say some things about Steve. Then there's a discussion. There's a chance for rebuttal people will make a point, somebody will add to somebody will say, well what about you know? And I'll answer questions about people, but we just as the.
As the person who covered Steve and Luke, you're the one who kind of leads those discussions, right.
And it's generally the people who've covered the guy during his career. And that's why, you know, if you look on the Hall of Fame's website and there's a section of that about the selection process that has the list of voters and and most of them are veteran writers who have been around for a long time and covered these guys. My friend Dream William's mother football in Texas.
She presents the Cowboys guys when they come through. So I mean, it's people who've had eyes on these guys and have some historical perspective.
I remember asking one time. It's someone who I used to work with, Pete Pete Darty. He was putting together his notes on Leroy Butler before the meeting that year, and so I was asking him about the process and I was like, so, what does the person do that covered, Like, I mean, are some of these conversations longer than others? And he's like, yeah, some of them are long, some
of them are pretty short. He was like, for example, the person who covers the Colts when it came time for Peyton Manning's year, stood up and said Peyton Manning and then sat back down pretty much. Yeah, and he's like, that's pretty much that whole discussion.
I was tempted to do that last year with ju. It was very tempting. I didn't because, as you may have noticed, you've listened to me ramble about the whole of fame for twenty minutes on the Happy half hour. I can talk. Yeah, And so one of my fellow voters told me one time he was he was delighted when Kevin Green got in a while back and he was like, now I don't have to listen again anymore. So but yeah, I mean, some of these are very
short discussions. When Peyton Manning comes up, when Tom Brand eventually comes up, that will be a very short discussion. There is no need for them. So yeah, and there's a lot of guys coming up soon. But this year's this year's meeting promises to be fascinating. You know, Eli's gonna take up a lot of time. Did he win to Super Bowls? Beating Tom Brady and the greatest team ever in a couple of the most memorable games in
Super Bowl history? He did was he a two time Super Bowl MVP by playing at his best in those moments you're supposed to play your best. He did. Was he also one seventeen and one seventeen all time, a dead solid perfect five hundred record? He was you know, did he lead the league in interceptions every now? He was generous with the balls.
She'll always say, you know what kind of cracks me up to is like, there's always one play people point to and they're like, that's the play that defines Eli's legacy. It was a bad.
Ball, Yeah that I don't think anybody coaches you to catch it on top of your head, pinning the ball against your helmet and grabbing on it.
I like you. He's a lot of fun. He was a lot of fun to watch when he played. But yeah, it's gonna be an interesting discussion. Yeah, it's one of those things too where it's like, even with the Super Bowls, you have to ask yourself, if he had a different last name, would this be as much as a discussion.
It's impossible to divorce that from any discussion of Eli Manning. But you know, again, it's supposed to be a debate. It's supposed to be hard to get in, and they've made it hard to get in, So we'll see. And I would encourage everybody to tune in to NFL Honors the Thursday before the Super Bowl because when you see the reactions of those guys, when you see what it means to them to hear their names called, I mean, I still I still kind of laugh thinking about last
year with Julius in Las Vegas. Julius Peppers is a god among men. Julius Peppers is a gigantic human being. Julius Peppers is above all us mere mortals who watch football. He just played it at such a high level for so long. And also he's six foot seven and three hundred pounds. When Julius was in Vegas last year going through this process, he was like a little kid. He was giddy. And I remember him saying, when I checked into the hotel and I saw Barry Sanders, I was like,
that's the club I'm in now. And when you see that realization, when you see it dawn on these guys, you realize the importance of this whole process. So it's complicated, it's going to be.
That's what makes it special.
That's what makes it special. And if our guys don't get in this year, I think they have the case will be made that they belong in that room for years to come. And yeah, a lot of times, the old stat is if you're a finalist three times, if you're in the final fifteen, as many as three times, ninety one percent of those guys eventually get in the Hall of Fame. So it's not necessarily eventual yet for any of our low but because this is first year
in the room for both of them. But you know, I think there is a general sense that both of them are deserving of continued conversation and listen, we don't know. We won't know until Honors. And if I'm sitting in New Orleans watching Luke Keigley come on the stage, that's going to be a little bit of a surprise to us too. So that's a little bit of a peek inside the process. And it's you know, I just wanted to take a little time because I get asked about
this stuff a lot. I did a hit on F and Z last week where they asked me about this, and that's a segment where they've got three minutes for me to get in and out of something in we.
Just spent thirty minutes little And I.
Feel bad because I could talk about this stuff all day, and you know, having been involved with it for some amount of time, and I want people to appreciate the depth. And you know how hard it is for these guys to get in, because again you're talking about guys who are among the all time greats. I mean, Antonio Gates isn't deemed qualified to be a first time Most people say, oh, yeah, Antonio Gates, he's a lock, right. He didn't get in his first year. Julius was the ninetieth first ballot Hall
of Famer last year. Sometimes the universe works out, it gives us a gift. But Antonio Gates has got more touchdown passes than anyone who's ever played his position. You know, Adam VINITII has most of the things, you know. I mean when Mortin Andersen came through and Morton Anderson scored more points. The entire object of football is to score points, and he had more of them than anybody who ever played the game, and it took him five years to get in.
That's why I think it should be noted to. And I know Spiddy's been trying to get through the door for a couple of years now, but like using Luke for example, like to make the final fifteen in your first year, that's still an accomplishment, no doubt. That's something you can be proud of.
No doubt. And I mean that's that's the thing there. You know, you start looking at things like all decade teams. I've always said, someone made the remark to me that Luke had one of the cleanest resumes they've ever seen. It's like, if you're looking for something to knock Luke Keighley on good luck, even his manners are immaculate. So I heard a fantastic story about Luke. I can share this. I can share this year when this is gonna be good.
In twenty twelve, when Luke was being drafted, the Cincinnati Bengals were picking somewhere around seventeen or eighteen. That's when the Bengals down that's his hometown. So Luke was invited to their local pro day where prospects from the area workout for the Bengals. The Bengals knew Luke Keighley was not going to be available to them at the time
they were picking, but Luke shows up anyway. When the workout's over, Luke takes his unused workout gear, the stuff he didn't wear, and folded it and took it back to the equipment.
Guys, that's adorable.
I know who does love Louke Keikley. In addition to being amazing at football, he does stuff like that, and that's our guy. That's why we all love him anyway. So anyway, so that's the Hall of Fame portion of the Happy half Hour. There's playoffs going on and stuff too. Did you get a chance to watch football last weekend? I know you were out of town in Green Bay.
I did not watch football. I watched no. Sorry, I think that back. I watched the Commanders and Bucks game, and I watched the Packers and Eagles game.
Yeah, I mean, I generally, here's a confession. I feel like this is a safe space in the Happy half Hour.
Oh God, I'm worried about what you're about to say.
I don't watch a lot of wild card games. Oh they're so fun, though, but they're usually bad and they're usually decided by really large margin.
I like college football and you don't.
Yeah, I mean, when people were complaining about the first round college playoff games being decided by twenty points a piece. I'm like, that's wild card weekend, gang, this is what.
We're Did you watch the Bucks and Commanders?
I caught the tail end of it. I saw it.
That was a fantastic game.
I saw a friend of the Happy Half Hour zaying Gonzalees because hero we love saying he's such a he's such a good kid. And uh, to see one go like that, I mean, good, good.
For My favorite part was that, like it doins and it's like, oh no, and then it goes in and when they're showing the reactions of everyone else, they're like, you know, they're riding that roller coaster of like he ah, yay, yeah, And then they show Zan Gonzales and he's just like it's like he never had any doubt that it was going to go in.
Yeah, it was cool. And uh, this weekend though, this weekend is when I settle in to watch football like everybody else. I mean, I'll be honest with you, at the end of an eighteen week season, sometimes I just need to watch not football TV from that and we and we did a little bit of that at gamp Manor this weekend.
But what did you watch?
I will be. We could get into that later, but some some trashy, some good, but mostly we just watched and we're inert for a little bit. But this week is huge. I mean, Baltimore and Buffalo might be the super Bowl, right Those might.
Be the best, might be better than the super Bowl.
Those those might be the best two teams playing ball right now. And they're gonna play on Sunday night.
Yeah, I where's the game at at Buffalo? Hm?
Hmm.
That could make a difference, I feel like on paper, and I'm interested to see your opinion. On paper, Baltimore is the best team in the playoffs right now. They're They're good on both sides of the ball. They're just strong top to bottom. Buffalo. If you take away Josh Allen what like, they're not going to win that game presumably. I mean, Cook is running really well.
Their defense saying if you take away that Mahomes guy, the Chiefs aren't they right?
Okay? At the same point, Baltimore, you you like they can both. Here's the thing. Lamar could could win a game on his own. He's he's got the same capabilities as my Homes and Josh Allen to take over a game The beauty of Baltimore right now is that he doesn't have to because you've also got Hey, one of the best running backs of all time, to help tote the ball, and it lets Lamar play a little bit more free and kind of dance back there. And and
I don't know. And I know there's a lot of questions about their defense because they give up stuff, but they also make a lot of splash plays. Yeah, and so I don't know, Like I just Baltimore, I think, is my team does see go to the end?
Yeah?
I could. They could get beat this weekend, especially if it's in Buffalo.
Yeah, I don't know.
They're just so strong.
I don't know if you've noticed this about me, but I really enjoy old man football. And so if you can, if you can run in January, I dig on that. I'm picking up what they're putting down. And I was watching their games, Baltimore, Baltimore, watching Baltimore the tail end of their game against the Steelers the other night, Saturday night. I was just I kept coming back to the thought the entire world had the opportunity to prevent Lamar Jackson
from adding derry comedy to his offense. Why didn't they.
That's like giving Thanos the last year.
Yeah. I mean, you know, he's pretty good at this one part of this game, right, and you're giving him the best person in the league also doing that thing. So I just love the fact that Baltimore can run a lot of different ways. It's kind of like I like the Eagles to a lesser degree on the other side of the bracket, because they are perfectly capable of moving the ball through the air. Jalen Hurts has shown he can make plays to aj Brown Devonte Smith, but my god, they can run.
Here's my hold up with the Eagles. If you can style me Saquan for seventy five percent of the.
Game, which means him gaining like only one.
Right, But if you can steyn me Hurts can move the ball through the year to the to Brown and those and DeVante Smith for a period. I don't think he can do it. He hasn't proven to me he can do it for a whole game. They can't carry a game on their passing game. It almost hit It almost hurt him on Sunday.
It almost hurt him against Carolina Pans.
It almost hurt him against Carolina.
But it didn't because you still go through. I love a team this time of year that you know can win a game by running the ball. So I'm I am. I'm pro Buffalo, all our old friends. God bless Joe Brady and all of the Buffalonians, most of whom eventually moved to Charlotte. I don't know, that's kind of I don't like picking games because it's a weird road to go down for somebody in my business. But I will be that game will have my complete attention. Food will
be prepared in advance. I will be watching every second of Buffalo Baltimore because that's that's Lions Rams. That's must see TV.
Lions Rams. For some reason, is.
Lions Washington not hold my Lions Washington Saturday night? Thank you?
Who are the Rams playing?
Rams? Got Philadelphia? Rams are at Philadelphia with the Carolina Panthers pick on the line, because if the Rams lose the Panther I think that pick will be fifty eight. It's somewhere in my notes. Let me find that, because yeah, that second round pick.
Well that's a long way from eight to fifty eight.
The Carolina Panthers have the Rams second rounder from last year's draft, ad trade. If the Rams lose, that pick will be fifty four. If the Rams win, it'll be fifty eight or lower. Because draft order for playoff teams, the teams that make the final four pick slots twenty nine through thirty two. Okay, So anyway, so that's a brands.
Feel like they're on the precipice of falling apart.
For some reason, the Lions are that team. And I do this with the chie Yeves and Patrick Mahomes a lot, and I did it with the Patriots back in the day. The Lions haven't won yet, so they don't deserve to be quite at that level. But it's almost like I'm gonna keep expecting you to lose and you're gonna keep.
Not right, that's true.
So nothing about what the Lions is doing makes sense. I've got a million guys on injured reserve.
What they've done on defense is is so impressive.
Yeah, God bless Aaron Glenn.
Twenty one on injurers, twenty one defensive players on injured.
Reserve, I think at one point, Yeah, Eric.
Kitty Anzeloni back for the playoffs was huge.
Aaron Glenn's doing work up there, and uh, he's also a little bit threatening because we saw the Lions on TV briefly and Aaron Glenn was on the screen, and my wife's like, that's a very handsome man right there. And if I was a little bit less handsome, I would be threatened by that. But I am not sure you're secure. I am very secure. I am very secure.
And on that note, I actually just got a text message. We'll give a shout out. Do you know who Bobuker is?
Bob Uker?
Yeah? Absolutely, Oh no, Yeah.
That's terribly sad. Yeah, he was one of the legendary broad He was a legendary catcher for a long time in baseball, became one of the legendary broadcasters the game has ever known. And you spent time in Green Bay, so yeah, yeah, and I.
Used to cover a lot of Brewers games, so got to be around him. He's a really cool guy.
Oh that's terrible. Say he's a national treasure.
Retire so like he had his sign off Swan song game, so he at least had that. But yeah, lived a good life.
Just a bit outside. Oh man, that's sad news. This was the happy half hour, saved the sad nude.
Hey, we can celebrate a life.
I was gonna say, we can celebrate the fact that we all got to enjoy a little bit of Bob Bucher, so anyway, that'll take care of us for this week. We will come back next week with more about the playoffs and more about whatever else we feel like talking about, including bingeworthy shows and Bob Bucher stories on the next Happy half Hour.