Happy Half Hour Episode 30: Exit Interviews

and I'm really glad I did. It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends Kristin Balboni and Will Brian presented by Morris Jenkins. That's right, it's that time of the week, The Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins and Mr Jenkins told me his plumbers and a c Tex secretly where panthers jerseys under their uniforms. When you're plumbing her conditioning is acting up. Cole Morris Jenkins, or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. Kristin here with my

good buddies Will and Matt and guys. A lot has happened since the last time we spoke. Last Wednesday, the season has concluded for the Panthers, and UM, we are in the throes of of a GM search right now and it is it's going quickly. So excited to talk about both of those things with you guys. But will I think we should start with the latest on the GM search. And you know, again we're recording this Wednesday morning. It could all change by the time this comes out.

But but this is what we know right now, which is that the Panthers have interviewed six candidates already, will go through them in just a second, UM, and we expect them to continue interviewing candidates. UM. So that's where

we are. If you if you remember this time, literally this time last year, the Panthers were interviewing head coach candidates and you thought, you know, maybe they're this the process might take a little bit, there'll be a lot of interviews, UM, and then May zeroed in on Matt Rule. They made that decision quickly, and things happened very quickly. So that's why we're you know, we're recording Wednesday morning.

But by the time this comes out or you might get a chance to listen to it, things could be UM moving in place. Really really really quickly. So UM, it's exciting. I definitely am looking forward to to kind of seeing um who they end up zeroing in on and kind of what what's gonna come next. Yeah, let's go through the candidates that they have interviewed already. There's a great piece on Panthers dot com detailing all of those candidates and it goes in alphabetical order, So that's

what we'll do as well. So first up as Quaisi Adapo Mensa will what do we know about him? Very young? The VP of football operations for the Browns. Um went to Princeton, kind of has a background that's a little bit interesting. Not necessarily tons of years in in kind of scouting or personnel, but Um has spent time as

a commodities trader. He was with the forty nine for seven years prior to the Browns football research and development, So you know, kind of these words that we've heard a lot on the Panthers organization, uh with Dave Tepper and kind of looking at a different way of of seeing this. So UM really really interesting and UM intriguing candidate. Obviously, Cleveland going to the playoffs this year for the first time in a long time, so you know, has that

going for him. And he was one of the two persons um that were interviewed on Monday, so too were he and Jerry Reece for re interviewed on Monday, and then the other four yesterday on Tuesday. You know, it's interesting because anytime there is something in a candidate's background or a football person's background that doesn't start with like they were in the football front office right out of college, we always talk about it. But he did spend seven years with the fort so and so in my opinion,

that just adds to the football knowledge that he's acquired. Um, and and then this year with the Browns. So um eight years in football and as you said, will former life as a commodities trader just really interesting. He seems just um. He seems like a very cool, engaging candidate from the interviews that I've watched on him before. And certainly, um,

what the Browns have done this season. Certainly hope everyone is healthy and safe there with the news yesterday, but what they have done over all the season has been great and he has a lot to be proud of. UM. So let's go next. As I said, alphabetical order, we got Nick kiss Ario. We just take him out. We already know that he has been hired by the Texans, right well, yeah, the New England Patriots director of player personnel. The report last night UM that they came to an

agreement with the Texans. UM. I don't know that that's finalized, finalized yet, but it seems like he's pretty much pegged to go to Houston, all right. Next up in alphabetical order, Jeff Ireland, as you said, one of the candidates that they spoke to yesterday, and of course this is one of the more well known names on this list. Yeah, he was the former general manager with the Miami Dolphins, UM,

and he's currently the assistant GM for the New Orleans Saints. Obviously, we know what the Saints have done the last twenty years, UM, but he's uh, he's been with them more and more more rea and ly obviously that draft in two thousand seventeen with yeah, I mean, oh my goodness, like that's that's kind of set them up for for all these NFC South titles that they've had. So certainly he has

a lot kind of on his resume. But as you said, which I think is an interesting point, um assistant GM in college scouting director, but he, to my knowledge, will focuses pretty heavily on on that on the college side, on the draft. That's kind of his niche with the Saints, which is which is just an interesting point when you look at what, um, what the Panthers have said they are looking at overall, which of course he's been a GM in the past, but um, that is kind of

his role. I'm trying to, you know, drill down on what each of these guys is doing currently and where they're um, I guess strengths or experiences lie. Yeah, And I think we can talk about this a little bit more after we go through these. But you know, I think the Panthers are certainly looking for you know, a little bit of everything. Um. You know, very obviously strong background in that college scouting universe, UM, you know, really

strong set for success, um and knowing that well. But I think also you know, a sense of you know, not to be puny here, but you know, general management. You know, like literally don't seem like to be important for the job, right, But it's not. It's not just looking at film and scouting. It's it's so much more.

It's building a team, it's it's coordinating that team, it's working with Matt Rule and the coaching staff, and let's be real, it's there's an understanding of where this thing is going in the next several years down to Rock Hill, and you have to be engaged with a much larger

vision for the football operations within that world. You know, this this world is getting a lot bigger than it has been in Carolina, up here in Uptown Charlotte, and I think having someone that's ready to embrace that rather than see it maybe as a distraction, you know, I'm not sure, but I think at least someone that embraces all of the new opportunities that that presents UM as well as making sure we're getting the right players in here,

absolutely all right. Next, we have Monte Austin fort Um, director of player personnel for the Titans, but spent a long time with the Patriots organization. Yeah, so I think his background, obviously with with the Patriots, you know, kind of lens to uh, you know, seeing their success, seeing what they were able to do with UM with relatively little. You know, they were able to bring people in and put them in in the right places. And they want

a lot of championships doing it. So I think whenever you see that Patriots line on a resume, you know it means something, UM, and I think that that's that's a big stamp for him. Absolutely. Next in alphabetical order is Jerry Rees. You mentioned that he along with Quasi Adapa Mensa, were one of the two candidates that interviewed Monday night. UM. You know, of course a well known name as well. Yeah, he was the general manager for

the Giants. UM was was let go in two thousand seventeen. UM, I'm pretty sure that that's who Dave Gentleman took his position, and UM when when Gettleman went up to New York, the former Panthers GM that took his position in New York. So, but I mean he's obviously years and years and years of experience, UM in the job, has done it before. UM won some Super Bowls with the Giants, so you know, very experienced kind of knows knows what he's doing for sure.

And then finally UM in alphabetical order of the candidates that the Panthers have spoken to for GM is Joe Shane, who UM is currently the assistant GM under Brandon Bean with the Buffalo Bills um, but has a panther's background, a heavy panther's background, got his start with the Panthers. Yeah. I mean it feels like almost everyone in Buffalo has some sort of panther's background. But it has been incredible,

incredible and really great to see how much success. You know, people were talking about Brandon Bean is the executive of the year up there. Obviously Joe Shane's worked very closely with him. Um, you have Dan Morgan that's up there working in that in that department. Um. So there's a lot of names. And Shane you know, started here, you know as an intern, um, you know, working in the scouting department with the Panthers. So he knows the organization. Um,

he knows what Carolina is about. Uh, and he's kind of seen a lot of things with the way that that being has kind of tried to set that organization up. And obviously, you know, if you can have success people talk about sometimes in in free agency and in the you know, in the the scouting realm of like oh, you know, can you sign a free agent to a

place that's not a huge market. If you can get people to come to Buffalo and be successful in Buffalo, then you can be successful anywhere is you know, I mean they're what they're doing up there is is incredible and I think that's a new kind of stamp of people wanting to to find some Buffalo people to bring into the organization. Yeah. Absolutely, So those are the six candidates UM that have been interviewed by the Panthers. That's

what we know right now. As we've said, uh quite a few times already, this could all change by the time this episode comes out. But but even so, it is I think value able to see the people that they are bringing in UM and and and what they're looking for. So will you talked about it a little bit, but let's talk a little bit deeper about you know, what we know that that David Pepper and that rule

are looking for in a general manager. As you said, it seems like based on what we've heard, they want someone that's going to be um, you know, more than just the football side, as you as you put it so well, general managing, right, I think there's certainly going to be an element of you know, that catch word

analytics and all the various things that that means. I think that's become it's almost become a mockery of itself that like this word oh, you know, like going for fourth down and so you know, there's what it really entails is just it's a larger view of all the different tools that could be used to help do your job better. And uh, it's not just one stat it's not a computer program, it's not some you know, I T person that you it's it's all of these things

that make help make decision making easier. Yeah. I think baseball went through this, you know, with saber metrics and analytics several years ago. And that doesn't mean that you know that they just use those numbers and that's it, and there aren't scouts and things like that. It's just a I mean, this is right up there with Will saying that someone needs to be able to general manage

to be a general manager. But it's I think you're looking for a well rounded candidate that um you know, puts a good puts a good scouting team into place, puts a great evaluators into place, but also um has the bigger picture in mind in terms of all of the different things that are that are going on, and that that role entails. I also think, you know, as you said, analytics is a buzzword, but with the salary cap projected to be much lower, UM, I think everyone's

gonna have to get creative. And so I would imagine that that that is UM on their minds as they look for someone who can really come in, as you said, look at everything and then try to make the best decisions with the widest amount of information available. And and it really is it's working with with head coach Matt Rule and kind of his vision for UM. You know, he he has a very clear vision for building a program. UM. And this isn't you know that this is a there's

a long term view to this UM. As I mentioned, you know, there's rock hills on the horizon. Uh, there's a really really young defense. UM. Obviously there's question marks kind of in different places on the offense, maybe a little bit UM in terms of you know, who's who's going to be a free agent coming up this year. So there's some of those things to deal with in the near term. But in the long term, I do think it really is about putting a lot of things

in place to have sustained success. UM. You know that's something that that uh, David Tepper has talked about he he wants us to be great for a long time. UM. And in order to do that, you have to you have to kind of have a plan in place. You have to create that foundation, and then you have to kind of win on the margins. Um is something that

you've heard him talk about before. The NFL is a play that wants a team to be in the playoffs one year and out of it the next, and another team to be out of the playoffs and always have a chance to go right back in. UM. It's a league of parody that tries to make things as equal as possible. So to have sustained success, you have to have kind of ways to to win in places where um, you know other people aren't you know, to to find to find those little edges, um, to to to gain

and to hold them. Um. And I think that will be really important in this search. Just listening to you talk right there, did you throw your hat in the ring for GM? I think you just made your pitch. Is that a good well? Your stats guy, you take a bit, you know, but you take a larger view. I was an intern for the Panthers back in the day, which apparently, you know, makes makes me a candidate. You and Joe Shane Uh, We're going to take a quick break here on the Happy Half Hour Podcast and we

come back. We're gonna wrap up the season with our own version of exit Interviews. Hi, this is Dewey Jenkins. After my four years in the Night the RNE and I moved to Charlotte, even though neither of us were from here. I was from the Mountains of Virginia and she was from Florida, but we agreed that Charlotte was where we wanted to build our future together. I was a full time student at U n c C by

day and ran a janitorial business that night. And a few years later I bought a little air conditioning company and that's how I met you, and I'm really glad I did. Back here on the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins, and Mr Jenkins told me that he loves football and he looks forward to this show all week. When you're plumbing your air conditioning is acting up,

called Morris Jenkins or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. All right, So, at the end of the seasons, as most football fans know, the guys come in, they clean out their lockers, and they do exit interviews. You do it an evaluation. They're just like any any job when it's time to say goodbye. So I thought we would do our own exit interviews for this season, just kind of wrap things up. I got just a couple of questions here. I want to see what you guys think. Okay, are you are you

going to evaluate my job performance? Kristen, Yep, you'll get a you'll get a grade. It's submitted to hr Man. I'm tell you right now. I'm gonna tell you right now, there's room for improvement already. We haven't even started. I feel awkward. Should I be here? Yeah, I'm kidding all right, But isn't that very well? He's like, is this gonna is this gonna be on the test? Am I getting evaluated here? Like in high school? I got to open

up my notebook. First question, biggest surprise, biggest surprise of the season for you. I'm surprised that we had a full season. Yes, I did not think that was possible

with with everything going on. I was just fully prepared for a the season not to start, and then when it started to have to shut down at some point, um just because of everything going on, and you know, from my perspective, I think at least in this building, they have done an incredible job with with keeping everyone safe, contact tracing, daily testing, uh, to ensure that we got here, and um, a lot of people have worked incredibly hard.

So I just think it's I think it's really incredible when you look back at it, that that we were able to get to this point. You know, the playoffs will continue, and that's an accomplishment. Well, what's your biggest surprise? Yeah, I mean I would add to that of I think it's an accomplishment league wide, but I think it's an even more Panthers centric accomplishment of how well they handled it.

You know, there there obviously a few cases at different times that you know, made things difficult, but I think for the most part of this organization, this group of people, um, from staff, from Eddie Levin's, from you guys, from everyone, did a really fantastic job of keeping the Panthers as safe as possible. And I think you know the number of cases and the things that that happened or didn't happen here reflect that. So I would just add that to it. I mean, my, my, your you have yours

is the right answer, honestly. Uh Mine is just the kind of generic Twitter answer, which is Jeremy chin Um. You know, I was that a surprise though, because he was getting he got drafted, and then immediately I saw not a ton of stuff, but I saw some blurbs that were like, oh, the potential defensive Rookie of the Year candidate. And I was like, wow, how this guy, you know, fell all the way to the Panthers in the second round, but immediately people were talking about him

as soon as he got drafted. Did you see that too, Will Or was I really deep doing my research right before I was going to interview him for his draft? Yeah? But I mean it, I don't know, like so much of that stuff in in and I've been burned by it. You're like, oh my gosh, look at this this guy, this guy, you know, like there's so much optimism. I think in April that another word for that is pressure.

That's how I felt when I read that. You know, he just got drafted and already there are these high expectations for him, right I think coming in, you know, I didn't know how much some of these young guys were going to play. You know, I don't know that you knew. Uh, you know, you obviously know they're they're leaning into it with seven rookies in the draft or seven defensive players in the draft, but you never really know, Like sometimes it's like we got to bring him along

a little bit. You know, how much is this guy really going to be involved? And you know the fact that I mean they they had a third round pick that they trade it up to get him, So it wasn't like, you know, we had a second round grade

on him. Maybe not everyone did, um, but you you go with with Shannon, He's played, you know, almost the highest percentage of snaps, he's played in almost every position on the defense, lead the team in tackles, had ridiculous stat lines across the board, had the Minnesota game that stood out, you know, two time defensive player of the month, Defensive rookie of the month. I mean it's hard to you everyone would have laughed at any of us if

we would have predicted that. Um, you know, even if we were like, oh, when I really go out on the limit, I mean it just you can't say that in April and then for him to come through and do it. Um, So yeah, I mean, I think we we figured it out pretty early on, but he kept it going and he was consistent throughout the year. I

was gonna say the offensive production. I thought losing Christian McCaffrey, we wouldn't put together the type of and I know we didn't score lot of points, and I know we struggled in certain areas and like the red zone and whatnot. And I know our running game wasn't super consistent, but like what we're talking about last week, and it is in full effect now, we have four one thousand yards

from scrimmage players. But it's a double sided coin. I'm a little surprised in the lack of production from the tight ends because when Joe Brady was at l s U Thad Moss and a couple of the other guys, they were pretty involved. So I was a little surprised that it wasn't that. But I think Curtis kind of filled that that tight end role and he ran the ball pretty effectively too. So I would say the offensive production, in spite of losing Christian McCaffrey being so high, that's

a great point alright. Next one, uh, we talked a lot about how young this team is, especially on the defensive side. Who's somebody you look at and say, oh, that guy is gonna be good, And you can't say it about Jeremy Chin. I'm taking Jeremy Chin off the board, because that's what we would all say. Who somebody will that you look at and you're like, wow, give him a couple of years, give him, give until next season, you know. Troy Pride, I I think he was thrown

into the fire. I think that he's a guy that has a really good approach to all of this. And sure there are some moments where it's like, oh yikes, But I felt covering Julio Jones as a rookie, you know, so as you said, there's gonna be a learning curve, right he was out there on islands, and I think you could see his progression. You could see him getting better. Um, and I think you can only if he takes this offseason the right way rather than like, man, that was rough.

But if like, if I could do that, I can do anything. Like it's never gonna get any harder than it was this year. It really it can't. So I think if you take that that approach to it and keep getting better and saying it's gonna get easier, it's gonna I'm gonna get better. This is all gonna get better. Um. I think he's got a really bright future because he he really embraced the challenge that he was put into.

And I think that, you know, hopefully, obviously hopefully he's okay and did the season on I R R UM. You know, you can you know, rehab a little bit from that, But I know, I think that he's a guy that you're going to be hearing his name a good bit in the next couple of years. Mine is Derek Brown, and that's it's a little obvious because you know,

he was the first round pick. The first round picks don't always pan out, um, And you know, I think by the end of the scene, mean, he's just he's a full grown man, and we saw him start to get comfortable. He told me, Um, you know, the biggest difference between college and and the NFL is that you can't just like out physical someone on the line like you have to. They're they're using their brains. They are, you know, um so intelligent. Offensive. He was like, you know,

NFL offensive lineman. It's just it's totally different. It took him a while to really um to get there, you know, to to really I think he knew that from the beginning, but then just to figure out hand placement all that kind of stuff. Um, and he had he stuggled with penalties earlier the season, and I think that tapered off

towards the end there. But man, I just think when he fully comes into his own, when he is completely comfortable, when he has that year one to year too, um jump and you know, that experience under his belt, I think he's going to be a force on that line for for years to come. And of course another guy that was thrown into the fire because KK short sn

not beside him. Um, you know, Zach Kerr was out for a few games here and there, and so he's he was really like sometimes like the most experienced on the interior beside Braban roy Um. And then you got the tour on on on the edge. And then Brian Burns, second year player, he's like, you know, the wily veteran out there just in his second year. And I thought that line, I mean, you look at what they did against Aaron Rodgers, who had been sacked like fourteen times

going into that game. Overall, the season, and and they got to him five times, and and Derek had two of those sacks. And I'm pretty sure, if my memory serves, created that pressure for Brian Burns to get there at least one. So I think he's We've seen him develop progress and start to come into his own and I just think the more and more experience he's get he gets,

I think he's gonna be scary out there. So I saw him pick up two offensive linemen in one of the first games, just like on brute Force, and I was like, oh my gosh, like wow, um, So I'm excited just to watch him progress. Yeah, that was my answer to just because I think, like you were saying, the emergence of Brian Burns in his second year and how dominant Jeremy Chin was at points in this year, I think he kind of got overlooked. But plus he's alignement.

You know, it's not always he's not going to necessarily get the ten sacks or whatever that that some of these defensive ends get. But I thought he for a top a top ten pick. I thought he was absolutely as advertised, and I thought he dominated at points in the season. And so I think he got a little overlooked because of the Jeremy Chin and Brian Burns emergence. But I thought, I thought, I think we have a really good one in Derek Brown for years to come.

I agree. Okay, So next up in the exit interview you, I want to revisit a couple of things that we talked about um earlier in the season, at the quarter season mid season mark position group you most want to hang out with. We all had our answers back at either the quarter pole or halfway through. I know, I said d Line, I said receivers. Well, you might have

said receivers. Is it still the same? Are you still Are you still riding with the group that you picked earlier in the season, I thought, I said d Line. Maybe we both said de Line and Miles said receivers, right, because I feel like I stole it from you because you got really mad. You're still going with the line at the end of the day, have you, I mean, have you watched any of the teammate tests. I mean, yeah, that was my idea. We have. I watched them, You

watched them? Yeah, he's awesome eat obviously he'd eat Ziggy Zach all right, And last thing I want to revisit from from earlier in the season in weirdest moment. We talked about that, I think four weeks in what what's been the weirdest moment of this just very unique, challenging, uh wild season where you just kind of looked out and said, wow, I would say mine just off the bat um and I might have said this earlier in the season. Was my first NFL game on the sidelines.

It was one o'clock. There were no fans there um, which may be the only time at Bank of America Stadium that that ever happens. And I was talking to coach Rule about it, and he said, you know, really, in retrospect, it almost kind of felt like a scrimmage, like when you really got out there like and and I completely agree. I was like, oh, this is like this. As soon as I got out there, I was like, well, this is going to go down in the wind lost

column and it just didn't feel like that. Now they played like it did, and you know, they tried to make this come back against the Raiders no preseason, but it was just it was hard to imagine the atmosphere. So that's but at the same time, very grateful that we had football and we're able to do it. But that way is I think kind of the weirdest moment um for me this whole season and just a real microcosm of of what the season was. Well, what's yours?

So I guess so two points one. I'd say Also with that game, watching sur I mean, there are so many things of serve her from that game, but watching Surper just with the flag all by himself. He he came to work that day, Per came to work. I remember saying, I was like, he is bringing the energy. How hard it is to do that an empty stadium? Right? He was literally he was more energetic than I've ever seen him in an empty stadium just running around with

this flag. And it really was I mean, there was a reason that Robbie like brought it up on the bench because it was all that was going on it Like what is that bear doing? I mean, it really

was um so like that. But I'll also I distinctly remember the um the intro and then the beginning of the Thursday night game against Atlanta and we you know, we had the windows open while we were sitting and obviously that was you know, one of the first games where they had maybe a little bit more fans, um, like the Roaring Riot had a section for it, you know,

people wearing black, you know, wearing the all black. It just felt in that moment like okay, now I remember, you know, because it kind of felt like it had been so long since you really kind of got amped for for a football game with really it was what still like a third a quarter full, you know, less than that a fifthful, but it just felt like we're

we're inching our way back. Um. You know, obviously wish that game would have gone a little bit differently, but you know, right there at the beginning, it felt good. It felt really good, uh, from everything that people were doing, from like the production team, from from all the stuff with working with the Riot to get them a section, and the fans that were there and standing and cheering like it. That that one felt really good and kind of a sign of hopefully, you know, future future season's

future games to come. For me, it was without question, all the radio broadcast, especially the road games and it being so different because I think we only traveled to one road game, correct, I think too? Okay, um, yeah, so the rest of six road games we're doing from here and not to mention because of all the protocols. We got some people in the studio, we got some people in Booth eight, some people in booth two, so

everybody was kind of spread out. Kristen was in a booth, not with Mick, and then sometimes she was downstanding, not even on the sideline, but in the stands. So all that was just kind of funky. But if if you're listening, especially the untrained ear, I think it went off without a hitch. And I thought we all sounded great. Well, not me, but I thought you all sounded great. And uh, that was super bizarre at first, but by the end of the year it kind of felt like we were

professionals at it. So I was very fortunate and happy to be a part of that. And it was definitely an odd experience, but when I'll definitely remember, yeah, and hats off to our entire radio organization, which is also the podcast organization, but you know, everyone under executive producer David lincton. It's the amount of work that went into making those broadcasts, as you said, um, hopefully indistinguishable from when we are actually there was was just incredible. That's

a great point, all right. Last up, to to round things out, Will, We've been doing stat of the Week all season long. I think we need will stat of the Seasons of the week. Well. Yeah, it's kind of a combo of stats. I think it's just you look at the the offense and you look at you know, the four guys with over a thousand, a franchise record for fewest punts, franchise record for most fourth down attempts. UM. It was kind of a watershed year for a different um,

a different amount of offensive production. And yet you know, the red zone. They were only scoring touchdowns in the red zone. And I think you look at that number and I think it's a little misleading because there were some weeks, some games, some stretches where they were really good in the red zone. UM. Part of that was the three games that Christian McCaffrey played, UM, and I think that is hopefully a harbinger for kind of what's to come. Like you get Christian McCaffrey back, this team

can move the ball. They're not gonna go three and out. Fewers three and outs ever, I mean they're not gonna go three and out. They're gonna move the ball down the field. And then it's just about figuring out what to do with the weapons you have, kind of inside the thirty, inside the twenty. Um you know, there were there were some really rough games where it's just really bad. There was some really good games. It wasn't just a

they're kind of bad every game. Um So, I think that's an interesting way of looking at all of the offense. And I think it's a way of saying we're close, you know, rather than like, oh my god, like there were so you know, we should have won all these games. That's like I would say, Okay, I think it means you're close, rather than this kind of depressing outtake on

the way that Twitter has looked at it. Um So, I mean, I guess I guess those are all the kind of the things that feed into a very interesting statistical year on the offensive side. Do you think those

stats are unique? They're obviously not unique to the Panthers, But do you think that those stats are indicative of any type of league wide change in schematics so the way that the game has played, or do you think that that is truly just a huge credit to a coach rule and coach Brady in the offense, I think everybody's going for it more on fourth down, right, isn't that right? Well, across the league that yeah, for fourth

downs up, punts are down. I mean, this is the fewest punts I'm pretty sure the fewest punts or second fewest in the last forty years. Um. So I think more people are going for it, more people are there. There's just it's just really hard to get a team to go three and out now. I think so many teams are kind of employing past plays or run plays where they're gonna get six yards on first down because uh, you know the way defenses have to handle things with

pass interference, you know the way that that's regulated. I mean, it's just it's just really hard to kind of go one on one, pin your ears back and you know jam receivers. So there there really is there's a lot of space for that kind of second and four to get that second and four, and we all know how hard it is to stop a team, um when when they get that. So I think more and more teams are getting first downs, they're moving the ball. There are very few three ounce and punts, um, and teams are

going for it. Like if you have fourth and one or fourth and three, you're probably gonna go for it. Um, do you think that, sorry, I mean to interrupt, you do do you think that there will be more teams in the future, immediate future with two, three, four players, maybe five players on a team like the Chiefs who get those one thousand all purpose yards. Yeah, I I would say so. But it's also it is really hard

to um. It's it's it's pretty unique, I think, because it means that UM and and I don't mean this is like a slight to anybody, but you know, Robbie got it pretty early, and Robbie hasn't necessarily you know, his last maybe five games weren't nearly as productive as maybe his first five, UM, but Curtis's were. So it's I think it's rare sometimes where you kind of have a huge shift in productivity from one to another to kind of allow that. It's it's so much of kind

of a statistical anomaly. I think you're more often going to see guys get two thousand yards like Derrick Henry where they're the guy and they're the bell cow or you know, two or three guys that are really but to have four, in some ways it means that some guys are gonna, you know, get a lot at some points, and then they may not get as much at other points, rather than they're always the ones getting the ball um And so I think that was kind of that's that's

what made this one even more rare or more interesting. All Right, we're gonna close it out with our weird question of the So since the Panthers are conducting their GM search, I thought, why don't we conduct our own with fictional characters? So what I want from both of you best and worst fictional GM candidates? All right, No, there are no restrictions. Doesn't even have to be a human if you don't want, It's up to you however

you want to take it. Who would be? You know, we talked about the criteria for what makes a good GM. What the Panthers are looking for. Let's start with best, Matt, what fictional character would be the best GM in your mind?

So I have I have a couple, but I think the first one that came to mind was Lucius Fox from the Batman trilogy with the Christopher Nolan, Because that dude, he always he always meets demands and he could get some weird requests from from Bruce Wayne and then he's always on the cutting edge of new technology and new analytics. So if we're looking for a tech savvy, analytics savvy guy, I think I think we can trust Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and then Saw Goodman from Better Call Saw

and Breaking Bad. He's creative, problem sever and he'll go above and beyond for the clients. So I think those are Yeah, you're very so proud. Oh my gosh, face looked up a little bit. Um. Alright, I like your hires. Will he got anybody? I mean, how can you follow that? I mean, yeah, I love this question. I was like, oh, Brad Pitt, I mean obviously Brad Pitt from Moneyball and you know it wasn't but he's been. But that's Billy Bean though he's already in a different yeah, like he's

in a different sport. But Billy be I don't know, like loved his daughter, like I always cry that movie, you know, like that song is so perfect. He like he gets it. He should have gone to Boston whatever. Okay, alright, I like whatever, I'm gonna go. Cheryl Yost from Remember the Titans, I mean I think she showed potential at a very young age. She was really running that team's Yeah, she's a love football since she was a kid. You know.

She she told um Denzel that he was running a camp, you know that she left from what she could see, Coach Boone ran a solid camp here. So I think I think she's one of those people that you know as an adult, Um, you know, she's rising through the ranks and you go she and she says like, well, yeah, I've you know, loved football since I was eight, you know, was there with my dad every step of the way. And she had she had a conflict of entrance to with Denzel taking over for a dad, and she still

was unbiased. So that's that's a really good I mean, she's showing that at eight. What's what's she going to be like after, you know, years of experience rising through the rinks. That's my pick, all right? Um, how about worst Matt Joffrey Brat Although he's dead, so I guess he wouldn't make a very good Like I said, no restrictions, but yeah, that would be it would not be very good. Just off the top of my hope. That's a good one. Uh well, what about you the uh the FBI guy

and die hard over from Carl Winslow or whatever. Yeah, that guy was awful. I like it. Um, I'm gonna go. I can't believe you didn't do this one will. I'm gonna go Michael Scott for obvious reasons. He'd be friends with everybody, but it would be a terrible It would be a bad would want to be friends, he wouldn't. He wouldn't cut a single player, even if they deserve to be cut. He would just keep them out of fear that sign them to stuff, yeah, sign them to

stuff if they got upset with him. His press conferences would be great though, Yeah, they would be phenomenal. They would. They would be Twitter look at the media and just be like, how the turntable mug, world's best GM, world's best GM. Absolutely, that's the mug, all right. I think Matt won this game. Matt really came to play. Okay, one bonus, one honorable mention. I don't know how I feel. You guys need to decide, or that's why you have to decide. He's listed as a wild card. Frank Reynolds

from Always Stunny in Philadelphia. He's always been considered a ruthless businessman in his prior life and then his funds seemed to be endless, and he provides all the schemes. He's always got the money and the plans, and so I don't know, he's kind of a wild card because he's like a like an anti hero or an anti GM. So you guys will have to decide that one by any means necessary, which is I mean, look, salary caps

going down, you need somebody like that. Yeah, good ideas. Um, my initial reaction was worse, but then you kind of talked me into it. I don't know, Well, what do you think I'm I'm all for it. Hey, I'm all for it GM with the Panthers. You heard it here first. I'm the happy off our podcast. Yeah, Matt came to play. Um you did. Uh, we're gonna leave it here. Who knows what we'll be talking about it this time next week.

It's it's it's an exciting time for the Panthers. So thank you everybody for listening, and we'll see you this time next week.