Happy Half Hour Episode 51: Conetoe

on a roller coaster. I think to be here for the podcast, at least that's what it sounds like, Will, Will, Where are you now? Um, I'm near Conato, cone To.

I don't know, pretty sure it's not gonna be cone To Wilson Wilson, Okay, Wilson host, Yes, you're you are definitely seeing some of the garden spots of eastern North Carolina right now, Yes, sir, oh yeah, And I'm sure that my my signal is about to go out as we get further and further into the swamp of of what this is out here, so well, you know, you know, cone Toe is never great for receptions, so anytime I

go through there. But Will is will Is um on his way to a wedding, A very important wedding, but it's just lovely enough to call in anyway, UM, which we appreciate. It's dedication, dedication. He shows up every day, win or lose, no matter what the final score was, and he's going to give it as all. Uh, Will, what's uh? Let's start with your statut the week. Usually we wait um for a while, but I thought we'd get right into it. Tis the week? Sure, Yeah, I mean I try to stay ahead of the chains. The

first down marker. Darren teated something about that last night. Um, shout out to act by the way, before I get into this. Oh, he's got notes, So I'm sorry, Will, I didn't give you your proper time to to praise Darren's mountaineers. Oh this is great. I think we leave all the technical difficulties and yeah, I think we should. He's clearly driving to Yeah. Does he know that we can't hear he's still talking about a stads week. He's still going on about Appach State. All right, Hey, you're

back back. I'm back. Oh my god, this is awful. Great. All right, let me let me try to get this stat in real quick. Here we go. So the last time that Hassan Reddick played the Giants last year, he had not one, not two, not three, not four, but five sacks on Daniel Jones. Um, he's been he's been leading this sack race right now with Brian Burns. And he's also getting a lot of tackles for loss. I think he's tied for second in the NFL and tackles

for loss right now. So I can't wait to see what Reddick is going to do against this the Giants offense on Sunday. No kidding, I wonder if Daniel Jones sleeps well the night before he sees his on Reddick after that he absolutely shouldn't he. I mean, Hassan wrecked those guys last week last year. And the thing about him is his sacks have come in bunches. You know, he's getting a sack and a half a game. He's been getting consistent pressure. I mean his two the other week,

we're the only two over the last couple. But it's um. Yeah, I think this week, considering the state of the Giants offensive line, there's a reasonable chance he gets back on the board. Absolutely, Darren, you said when we found out that Will was going to call in. We weren't sure about the service. You said that if need be, you would do Will staut of the week as Will with an impression. So before we let Will go, do you wanna you wanna give it a go? Not one, not to,

not four, but five sacks. That was less enthusiastic than it should have been. That just couldn't sound less like Will's voice impression to other people. It's okay, are good? Enjoy cone To in case we lose you. Yeah, well you guys have a great weekend. You and and have a great weekend. Thank you for the dedication to call in um and uh and be prepared with your stat of the week. Y'all have fun this This one's gonna

be a good one. I can't wait to listen to it. Yeah, all the stuff we say about apparently not cone To, it's apparently pronounced Kanita. I did not think it was Conete. Yeah, I thought it would probably be anything other than Conete. Our apologies to Kanita residents. Yes, we're very sorry. Blame it on Will. If you have at panther stats guy, if you have any issues, that sounds so bad, all right, Well you gotta go after that. What a way to

start out, What a way to start things off. Only the highest quality, you know, production value, um, sound quality. That's what we're bringing to you on the Happy Half Hour. But that's what Will brings to the table. He he just comes every day. He's prepared, he's got its material. While he's driving down you know, I knows Highway sixty four wherever it is in Kinita or coln To, as the case may be. And uh, he's part of the team. So he's going to show up for the team. I

love it about him. I do so. He's the best. And uh, and we hope he has a good week. And Will we'll only talk about you, you know, here and there. Just listen to this episode. You know, he's listening to hear what we have to say about him. We'll just sprinkle it in every once in a while as far as he knows. Yes, let's talk about last week's game. What a roller coaster. That game contained multitudes. I mean it really did it age all of us by a year. I mean we were last we were

sitting there. I mean it was it was bad, bad, bad, bad bad, Okay, good bad good bad bad good, And at one point right before the two minute drive where they tie the game and send it into overtime. I looked at Will in the press box and honestly said, none of the people in the stadium are going to know how to act if the Panthers come back and win this game, because it's been the roller coaster was going down the hill most of the day rather than

you know, the climb or anything. But it was yeah, I mean, it was just all over the board and it was impossible to gauge the reaction. And then when Sam hits at forty one yard past Ian Thomas, it's like, oh wait, this isn't over yet, unfourth and ten, the least on fourth and ten when nothing else had worked in a long time, and all of a sudden, Ian Thomas, of course, you know, noted deep play thread I, and Thomas makes the play of the game to get him

back into it. And then Robby Anderson, who hadn't caught anything all day long, catches a touchdown too. And in between that, but Sam ran with his legs for the for the biggest play of the of um of the offense so far right like that, you know, fifty eight minutes of terror and two minutes of whoa potential, this is what they can do. So it was it was such a bizarre game. But I mean, you could just tell that by the time they got to overtime that defense was gassed. They had been out there all day.

You can't play eighty nine snaps and expect the eighty nine when to be fresh and energetic and be able

to run with anybody downfield. And they did. They looked tired and and so that's why I think there's been so much talk this week about wanting to run, wanting to shorten the game, wanna try to prevent mistakes, and all that kind of stuff, because they just got to draw it in and make it a little more conservative and be a little less of all the extra stuff and a little more of the good basic stuff that takes up time. And I want to ask you about

starting with that drive. If you're a Panthers fan, what are the pot now. Look, I say this as a full equivocation. I'm not because I'm employed by the Panthers. I'm not trying to say, oh, you know, you're the good things. But we'll and we'll talk about we'll talk about the bad things as well. But starting with if you are a Panthers fan who was invested in the rest of this season, what did you see out of

that game that makes you hopeful for the future. To me, it was that drive that they could come back and again, like I said, I'm qualifying this over and over again,

it's still lost. I I understand that, but for them to be able to win that offense had not been able to connect on anything all game long, to go down the field um when the pressure was on it was fourth and ten, and to not only drive all the way from your own end zone and and score, also to get the two point conversion and then they got some help from Minnesota's kicker in order to keep

it tied up. That was something that in watching every single game last year, I believe there were eight opportunities for them to either win the game or tie in situations like that when I was very long shot, situations where you gotta go yards and get a two point conversion UM and then your defense will still probably have, you know, time on the clock where they've got to

defend this um. And they did it, and I thought, despite the loss, that would make me, as a Panthers fan, feel a lot better and it was almost like the end of the Dallas game too. It's like it ultimately didn't matter. You still lost the game. But seeing them stand up, I mean, seeing those guys both their backs and do a couple of things was an encouraging sign because again, nobody wants to dredge up last year, but chance after chance late in games and they never really

did a thing. And I mean to see them, you know, whether it was in vain or not, to see them in that situation get into some kind of rhythm do positive things. It can't it might not help, but it can't hurt. I mean, you at least know what it's like to be in that situation to get something going late when nobody thinks you can. Again, teams are playing

you differently there. Yeah, you know, Minnesota was not bringing pressure on that last drive the way they had throughout the game, and that matters same with Dallas late in the game down there. But it's still, like I said, it might not be a positive, it might not be a sign of greater things to but at least it's

not an added negative. So I like the fact that they can get in a hurry and move those things and and Honestly, when we were talking in the preseason, I mean coming out of training camp, the things Sam looked best at was two minutes, yes saying, the thing Sam looked most efficient at was hurry up, you know, no huddle, get to the line, bing bing bing bing bing. It's not big home run balls. It's just a collection of the little stuff that keeps keeps the chains moving

and gets the team downfield. Now, a lot of those training camp Sam two minute drives weren't big heroic touchdowns. They were get them in position for a field girl, and in a lot of cases that's going to be a positive thing. So I will you know, we understand, we're not trying to make it something. It's not there. Three and three, they've lost three in a row, but

it could have been a lot worse. Three and three and laying down in the last two minutes of that game and not getting overtime and would have made it feel very I agree completely. Some other things I saw, I thought Ke Taylor played an incredible game at surprise to me. I talked to him yesterday. Um and and something that you put in in one of your articles on Panthers dot com that I would get the teas

in there for that, please go check it out. Um. And I asked him about this was Phil Snow saying he doesn't care who he goes up against, and that is so unique for a rookie. It just does not

face him. Now, granted he was in on that last play, probably tried to do a little too much, but I think you take that overall with playing sixty five snaps, tin tackles, three pass deflections of force fumble, um and and because he's a rookie and you know he's going to grow, um, So I mean you've got I just it's it's great to see these young guys or whether there was you know, Cuba consistent improvement every single week,

scoring his first NFL touchdown. We got to see Shy Smith, who will come, Um, I think up big with the receiver injury. So those are some of the just the little things that I saw that I think if you're watching the team again, we're only six games in, you're watching this team and you're looking for who is this team, Who's going to be a factor on this team? Those are things that I was very impressed. And Keith Taylor

is an interesting guy. I mean, it's good that he has no fear because if he is on the field in the future with Dante Jackson, A J. Boyer and say Stefind Gilmore, guess who the other quarterbacks throwing at. Yeah, guess who the other quarterback wants to Pickoreilmore. So buckle up, Keith. And it's good that you're not afraid because you're gonna

get that kind of treatment. So but he is, I mean, Keith kind of impressed me because he really has that level quality of yeah, okay, what's next, Let's do this thing. I mean, it's not a huge deal to him and the idea of oh god, look at the season justin Jefferson's having or look at these other guys, look at Adam Dealing. He's not cowed by it. I mean, the moment is not too big. It is not too big for him. And you know, I thought it was interesting.

I remember when Phil first said that a couple weeks ago, and he was like, you know, j C. And Keith are a lot of like and that they don't care

whose names on the back of the church. And again, Keith Taylor is not j. C. Horne, not trying to say he's j C. Horne but to get competent, too good play out of a fifth round rookie in that situation is is something to look forward to because again, the pieces of that secondary are coming together in a way in which having Keith Taylor as your fourth or fifth guy is a pretty good place to be absolutely And and to your point, it's as you said, he's

not j C. Horne. Very few people are, at least from what we saw from him early before he was injured. But they share a lot of qualities that this coaching staff and I think fans like about j C. Horn. That's what And I think that's a great way to introduce him to fans um who don't maybe don't know much about him aside from you know, maybe height, weight the game, big tall, skinny kid from Washington and you

look at him and he doesn't. He doesn't. He's not as thick in the upper body as j C. I mean, j C. Again, not many people are when you stand beside when you stand beside him. But one of the things the Panthers have made a deliberate attempt to do, especially with their backups, as they build this roster, and that's from the top down and the bottom up, but you know, Bitter has talked to me about specifically wanting

to be bigger at your backups. I mean, rather than have you know, scrawny saw it off, try hard guys as you're you know, backup this or that. If you can make a backup look like Keith Taylor, if you can make a backup defensive end look like Daryl Johnson. All right, now you're getting somewhere. Now you're getting the entire roster more physically where you want it to be. And that's a deliberate attempt. I mean, they want their um, all their reserves to have some kind of physical quality

that stands out. I mean, and you saw it last week when Michael Jordan's comes in to play left guard. I mean, the difference between and Pat l finds coming back from his injury, probably not gonna be back this week, but with Michael Jordan's in the lineup at left guard, it's a whole different profile. When you go six six three fifteen instead of six to six three. It might not sound like a lot, but it's a huge difference. And he plays a physical game. So that's kind of

what Scott's getting at it with with offensive lineman. You want to be bigger, more powerful with your corners. You want them to be longer, because the longer a cornerback is in terms of arms and legs, the less fast he has to run to cover the same amount of ground. I guess you could say, so that's what they want. And again in the short term, small, simple size is even in a law setting. Both those guys I think gave some signs that were at least not negative. Yeah,

and we're at least not negative. And and just attack on one more point, what Scott told me about getting bigger, especially in the secondary, is just you also look at it as what an advantage it is when you look at the opponents in the Division two with how big some of those receivers are. So as it's great to have your main guys have have size, and then also your backups. As you said, Darren, you touched on offensive line. Obviously it's been a concern for the Panthers all season long.

What are what are the realistic options? What do you think this offensive line is going to look like going forward? At least let's say, you know, but before the trade deadline. I think the emphasis is just telling these guys the Calgary the cameray is not coming. There's not going to be somebody riding in to save I I think if there was a big trade available, they would have already tried to make it. We know, we know Scott Fitter, as the saying goes, wants to be in on every deal.

So it's not like he's not calling around. They're trying. They're trying to see if other teams want to give up their left tackle or starting guards for you know, future picks and that kind of thing. But that market is not there. I mean, look at what's going on around the league. You know, Ronnie Stanley's out for the year in Baltimore, is not gonna play. I mean there's just injuries left and right and everybody, it seems. Look

at what the Giants are going through. They just put their left tackle Andrew Thomas own injured reserve this week. So everybody in the league is trying to find two or three of those guys and you're just not there. Well, correct me if I'm wrong. Everyone's holding onto them for these obvious reasons, for for depth, and also didn't we see a couple of teams give up draft picks for

backups earlier in the season. That's where the market is in terms of everyone wants good offensive lineman and then good backups to those offensive lineman, and if you have them, you're hard pressed to let them go. So I think the key is they're just trying to stabilize a little bit. And I remember using the phrase with Oak in the pregame when they flipped Taylor Molten left tackle. I said, when Cam Irving was out, I said, they're just trying

to stop the bleeding. They're just trying to get everything stable for a second. And they thought Taylor gave a shot to do that in that one particular game. Now they've moved Taylor back to the right because he's just so much better at the right than he is on the left. And and rather than making two positions weaker, they let let your best offensive lineman do what he's best at. And that makes sense. And you know, John Miller is not a big flashy guy, but he's at

least solid. And if Michael Jordan can come in and continue to play in the run, I mean, it was an obvious difference. Now he gave up some sacks, they're all giving up sacks. I mean, it's it's been a little bit of a problem all season long, and until they solve it, it's you know, we're going to continue to bring that pressure up the middle because they've been vulnerable between the guards. So that's going to continue to happen until they fix it. And you know, Jordan's was

all right. I mean again, he's a guy who started nineteen games. He's big guy, more physical, a little bit stronger, run behind him if you can. Cam Irving has been when he's well, he's been okay. I mean, but I don't think it's ever going to be a perfect situation until you invest a lot of high picks and big free agent money into doing it. Well. All of those

things being said. With the state of the offensive line, with whether it was the drops last week or some decision making bye by Sam, Matt Rule has said quite a bit over this week too, to you, to me, to the media that um, this offense is is gonna look different going forward, and that they are going to

commit to running the ball more. That was the plan going in, but sometimes they get away from it if they're try arailing and they want to try to make big things happen, and he wants to see them run the ball, But thirty one to thirty three times, I mean it's a pretty specific number. Um, what uh, what do you make of that strategy? You've heard it a lot. Um, what's your impression of how that's going to play out? Especially you know it's it's Cuba, it will be Christian

when he comes back. Um, how do you like it? I like the theory of it. I want to see how they put it into practice. I mean, because I had flashbacks and I was telling Will about this the other day to the first couple of years of the franchise, when Caper's was coaching, they had a running back named Anthony Johnson. And Anthony Johnson wasn't much to look at.

Wasn't a pedigree back when you know, anything special. But Anthony Johnson was the kind of guy who would run many, many times, even if he wasn't gaining four or five yards to carry. And Caper's had this phrase, Anthony would go out there and rush twenty seven times for eighty one yards or so, and ridiculous like that. And Dom would say, I thought we ran with good tempo today. What does that mean? It means you ran many times. It didn't really get them all that far, but it

shortened the game. You know, they were able to even if you're running for three point seven yards per carry, If you do that on first and second down, you're not staring at third and twelve. And being in those long down and distant situations is what got them in such a mess last week. I mean, they were constantly

in third and eight, third nine, third and twelve. And that's a recipe for disaster when the offensive line is not ideal and the receivers are dropping balls and Sam goes out and throws pick on the first play of the game. So what do you do to prevent all that? If Cuba Hubbard's running the ball, then Sam's not throwing an interception, Robby Anderson is not dropping a pass, somebody's

not giving up a sack. I mean, it's it gives you the opportunity to lean into somebody to do something different, and gives everybody in the passing game a second to catch their breath and all. So the defense exactly exactly. You're not looking at an eleven minute disadvantage in time of possession. So I just think it's the kind of thing. It's not sexy. Nobody's getting head coaching jobs calling games that way. But it's exactly what they need right now,

I think. And we'll see, we'll see, um you know how it goes into practice in this Giant's game against a team that is very banged up. Yeah, I mean, they've still got listening. I've seen enough weird games in covering this team for a long time. I've seen him lose to the win unless Falcons, you know, and a

number of other odd ball occurrence. That's what makes the nfel great, right and and sometimes heartbreaking if you're on if you're on the business end of it, is the parody that any team, any Sunday can beat another team, no matter the record. We've seen it happen plenty of times. And in looking at the headlines of the New York papers in the area of papers up in New Jersey, I saw one of them the other day in a tweet said something something science Comma in a winnable game

against the Panthers. So I mean, as as messed up as they've been, as main problems as they have right now, and it's a lot, they still look at this one as a chance to get right. So I mean, and and that's kind of where the Panthers are. Until you stop a long losing streak, that's the way the world's going to view you. But in the NFL, I mean, listen, there's still enough chances. They've got some impact players on defense.

They can create some problems. And if you're gonna give the ball away, there's a couple of guys over there that can take it well. And I was doing a film breakdown Thomas Davis yesterday and he said two things that stuck out to me. One, if you've got guys that are trying to prove that they belong, trying to make their mark on this Giant's team, if they're filling in right, you know, and said, that's always a dangerous situation. Not that anyone here is overlooking what the Giants are

bringing to the table. They're preparing just as they would, you know, for for any game. And then also, Dale just could pull the ball down and run and they've had trouble with that. I'm I was just sitting here curious. I I was daydream in a second. Who do you think wins a race between Sam Darnald and Daniel Jones. Oh, that's a good question that Daniel j didn't he measure out. It's something I have no research in front of me. This is when we need will we're totally winging. I

haven't Yeah, this could all be wrong. Um, and I say leave it in Matt. Who knows. Um. I think someone was saying yesterday that he measured out as like one of the fastest guys they you know, put a clock on one of his long runs and he's surprisingly fast. Yeah, but so is Sam, Yes, exactly. That's what's interesting about those two guys. I mean, neither one of them are Lamar Jackson, but they both can make some things happen. And Daniel Jones needs to be mobile, I think because

he is. He's hurting in terms of skill position. You know, Tony is probably not gonna play this week, Kan probably not gonna play. I mean, it's it's tough out there for him right now. So being mobile is of benefit. And it's also a little unpredictable because when plays break down and people start scrambling, that's when you don't have a plan for that. That's when you're, oh, God, what do we do now? Where's he going? And Sam's benefited from a little bit. You have to respect that with

Daniel Jones. Absolutely, That's what I was talking to Thomas Davis and he said, he's one of these guys. You know, whether people talk about it or not, you're playing man, you don't want to have your back turn to him because then you can take the ball down run and all of a sudden they're down the field. So I'm I'm sure that's something the Panthers are focusing on this week, Darren. Before we go, I have a couple of quick questions for you. I wanted to do a walk down memory lane,

if that's okay. I love I love your stories, um, and I thought we would share some with our listeners. So I just got like three questions here. I just wanna throw him out at you. First question, who is one of your favorite noncurrent Panther players, someone not on the roster that you've covered in your time here man. Well, we've talked about Steve Smith before and what what a character he can be at all times. I mean, he's

just genuinely Steve. But I mean I was fortunate to be around here early and get to know Sam Mills a little bit, and I mean Sam is such a person of great character, But Sam was Sam was so invested in the project that every little detail he was kind of looking after, and he wanted to look after his people. There was a kid early on, Shaun King,

not a five draft pick. He got suspended for marijuana back in the old days, and he had strong feelings about marijuana and why it shouldn't be illegal in the NFL and it's not necessarily anymore. And I was talking to Sean about it because you knew he would talk about it, and I was a young reporter and Sam was no old linebacker. He walked by me when I was finished with Shaun King and he was like, Darren, how you gonna ask Sean that? You know what he's gonna say, come on? But it was so it was

such a caring response from Sam. I mean, he was just trying to shepherd his people around and look after him. But I mean that kind of I remember that as an example of kind of Sam's humanity and looking after He was like, come on, we don't have to do that to Sean, do we You know what he's gonna say. But I mean, that's just the kind of character he was.

And I mean there were so many little instances like that about Sam, just the small you know, kind of small kindnesses to his teammates that he was always looking out for people. I loved it. I love that story. That's incredible. I'm glad that you shared that. All Right, what's one of the most memorable Panthers practices or or a training camp practice that you've attended so many? Um, we saw fire one day. Well, yeah, John Fox's first

many camp practice. As a matter of fact, we were sitting there on the hill at practice fields on Cedar Street, and uh, this would have been two thousand two, so it was still kind of early cell phone and everybody was still getting used to having all the technology in the world your pocket. And we're sitting there watching practice.

They're stretching, they're going through doing the whole thing. They start doing a couple of drills and stuff, and then we look out across the fence across the tree line.

Those trees were about twenty years younger than they are now, and there was smoke, and like seven or eight reporters are sitting there on the hill watching smoke billow up from the condos across sea, and we were kind of like we were all sitting there with that look your dog makes when he sort of tilts his head and looks at you blank and you're like, I know this isn't right right, And then somebody finally said, hey, we're

all carrying phones. Should somebody call nine one one? And so we did, and other people had by that time, but the condos across the street caught on fire and people were running across street. The old um strength coach Jerry Simmons. Actually Jerry was kind of a short guy, a little bow legged. He went and put a foot up on the fence and jumped over that black impressive and he caught his hand and tore it across. The

Palm's band had a big gash. But Jerry was just this huge, strong guy and he was actually over there kicking doors down with the fire department, trying to get people out of this thing. But now that's a strength and conditioning coach. Yeah it is, uh and you know, mule kicking down doors along with firemen with axes. So Rob, I remember Rob Brizlely used to be the p I oh for the fire department. He was like, we got a job for him if he's finished over here. Yeah

the battering ram. Yeah, and everyone was okay, every I think everybody turned out to be okay. I mean, obviously there was some property damage, but yeah, you go to you go to cover many camp practice and all of a sudden news breaks out. How many of you wrote about that? Alright? Alright? Last question. What's one of the most memorable answers you've received from a question you've asked, whether it was an oppressor or in service of writing

an article. What's something that stands out to you? Man, There've been so many. He just put his leg up on another chair, so I know this is gonna be good. Where to begin? There really have been so many. One of the things I'm always interested in is when the new guy comes in, like Ryan Winslow, the punter the other week, was like working for his uncle's sporting goods companies. Like, you know, I've ever told him I signed. I should probably tell him I'm not going to be in the

rest of the week. Yeah, you probably should do that, Ryan. But I always loved those stories of where guys were when they got the call. And um, Joe Nedney, former kicker prior to Ryan santos So the tallest kicker in Panthers franchise history. But Joe Neednee Rolls in sometime late nineties early two thousand's, John Casey had gotten hurt and Nenny comes in and I remember saying he was a Bay Area guy, had been with San Francisco, and I said, so, what were you doing when you got the call, Joe?

And just flat out Joe. Ninny just looked at me and he said, well, I was walking to the liquor store. Actually that I was not, So tell me more about your training methods. Joe. Nidney extremely tall kicker. You got to think that was during business hours, right, Usually no one's calling you a nine o'clock at night or whatnot. But he never really blanked either. It's like, where were you when you got to calling laperstore? All right, Joe?

That's that's incredible, um, and and that's where we're gonna leave it. It's not gonna get much better than that is That is amazing, Darren. Thank you. I hope Will made it okay through Cone Toe. We'll see him on the other side and we'll be back with all of you next week.