Happy Half Hour Episode 65: Storylines Galore

it's a name. I know there's probably not a parade out in the street right now when the Ben McAdoo news was announced, But considering the spot the Carolina Panthers were in and just the challenge of finding offensive help in general, probably not the worst higher they could have made. I mean, to be honest with you, macadoo as a play caller has had success. Uh he was. He was a guy I who worked in Green Bay with Mike McCarthy, helped Aaron Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers had positive things to say

about him at the time. He goes to New York works with Tom Coughlin, so you know there's Matt rule connection um and a shared background, so to speak. And he put up pretty good numbers as a coordinator there. And if you look at the job Eli Manning did when McAdoo was calling plays in the first year he

was a head coach, you think, okay, that's pretty good. Now, it didn't end well for being in New York obviously, and it would probably be hard to get Eli Manning to testify on his behalf now because the way things ended. But you know, as a play caller, mcadoo's had some success. And and that's the problem the Panthers were in right now is they are a hundred guys they might have wanted to talk to. But when nine teams in the NFL are looking for head coaches, good offensive coordinators are

getting head coaching jobs. Uh, so you're back in the position of do I try to find some young whiz kid where they just did that? Um, you were you talked about that a lot. You know, you had kind of the Joe Brady model here. So now you go with someone with head coaching experience, has been around the league. You know, the kind of the different I mean that's laughed in the past. The number one rule of NFL coaching searches. If the last guy was fat, the next

guy I'll be skinny. So what do you have before you had young whiz kid? What do you go for now, you find some old guy. I mean, and it wasn't Dan Henning kind of old. It wasn't that kind of veteran presence. But Ben McAdoo has been around, he's called

the plays, he's done the thing. So I think for a team that is trying to find some stability and some kind of get your feet underneath you for a second, as they try to rebuild that offense without knowing for sure, I mean, they don't have the luxury of knowing who their quarterback for the next five years is going to be. They don't have the luxury of you know, a lot of names right now on that offensive line. But I think a lot of that's going to change over the

next six months. And yeah, we'll see what Ben Macado is able to do with all of it. Yeah, and I think there's a you know, a lot of reaction one way or another two Macado and but that that, I mean, that's kind of the point though, like what what are you responding to? Already? The big thing is who are the players? You know, who are the offensive lineman that you needed? You know what, what's the quarterback situation? It's not so much oh, what's his history? With play calling.

That's obviously important, but who he's calling the plays with is you know, it's kind of still to be determined, and that's in the Scott fitteral Realm. Yeah, what people are responding to right now is the big suit in the slick back hair, and and the fact that at times in New York Been Macca do gave people openings

to poke fun at him. I mean, and he's talked about the suit in the past, and I think, you know, it's just when you don't make very many public appearances and your body changes over time, all of a sudden you I mean, I know, I've got a closet full of fat close I you know that I try to wear out anymore and my wife just looks at me and says, no, no, honey, don't don't put that on.

Don't wear that the work I mean, if if for for those that may remember when d J. Moore first came to Carolina after he was drafted out of Maryland, the suit that he was wearing was was not his best work, not at all. And I still remember Steve Smith's just like J Man, and I think it was Devin Funches that was like that was here to welcome and Devin's like, we gotta work on some things, man,

we gotta work on this. And you know, and now DJ is you know Mr g Q everything, you know, so and Ben's gonna be living down that suit for the rest of his life. That's that's what we do now. But uh yeah, I mean he's he's not the guy I think. You know, when people heard the word rock star out of j Glazer's mouth during a pregame a

while back, I mean, it's not what you envisioned. But you don't get a rock star as offensive coordinator unless you're hiring somebody of the Joe Brady ilk or unless you've got a great quarterback in a really good situation and and coming off five in seasons when a lot of people aren't, you know, I mean, coaches have natural reservations.

And Matt knows that when he walked into the search had talked to him the other week, and he was, you know, cognizant of the fact that not everybody he might want to talk to would be willing to come here. And so that's one of the challenges finding that job. You know, they know that, and and coaches look out for their own interest I mean, as everybody else does in every industry. So trying to recruit someone to this situation where there is some degree of uncertain he's a

little harder. So I think, all things considered, I don't know how Ben Macadoo's gonna work outs will points out. I mean, wisely, it depends on what they do. You know, if you go out in the draft and you bring in Evan Neil or Charles Cross and all of a sudden, you've got left tackle fixed for the next five years,

things seem better and the idea. Okay, if you go out in free agency and you sign a Lake and Tomlin center and Andrew Norwell to come in here and play right guard, and all of a sudden you've got uh, a draft pick and Brady Christiansen and a serviceable pad elf line at center and a an established guard and Taylor Moton Well, then we're having a whole different conversation. Then then things have changed. I mean, then you can put into play the stuff about, okay, how do you

work around what Sam Donald offers? How do you maximize what he brings? You know, throughout his career, whether it was in New York or here. Last year, Sam has been dealing with that stuff of when he's well protected, he can fill in the blank. We never had an opportunity to do that in New York and he barely had an opportunity to do it here. So um, yeah, we'll see. I mean, it's gonna be a fascinating offseason

because a lot of stuff can change. Speaking of changes changes, yeah, man, we woke up this morning and and eurote An article and here we are with a whole new NFC South, my goodness, and what an NFC South that could be. Uh Man, Sean Payton walking away from New Orleans is a uh game changer literally for this division. I mean, the one thing you could count on. I mean, they

had it. Helps when you've got Drew Brees for fourteen of your fifteen seasons in New Orleans, you're gonna be competitive if you've got a Hall of Fame quarterback under center. But man, look at what they did forty nine wins over the last four years. Prior to last year. You know, it was just Sean Payton and Drew Brees at the top of their game. And they didn't push through and win a Super Bowl like they did previously in their run. But that was one of the best teams in the

NFL for four years in a row. Now Drew Brees retires, all of a sudden things change. But now Sean Payton walks away. And it's easy to look at the Saints and say, what are they gonna do? Because they're sitting there. You know, they are used to being way over the cap and trying to restructure contracts and kick the can down the road and push money into the future and

all that kind of stuff. But I think when you go into an off season knowing you're changing coach, knowing you're over the cap, knowing you don't have an answer at quarterback because Jameis Winston, who they brought in last year to be the guy, gets hurt in the middle of the year. All right, are the Saints in that spot where they just go hard reset and say, all right, we gotta clean up the books, we gotta get out

from under some of this mess and see what happens. Yeah, and obviously who the new coach will be, you know, how they make those decisions, Those are all to be determined. And then you look around and the potential challengers to the top. You had Tampa Bay that had kind of gone all in on, We're going back to back, We're doing all these things. And now after this final drive in a Matt Gay field goal from the Rams, it's

like that just seems to fall apart all of a sudden. Yeah, they looked old in a hurry for most of that game. Now they made the run and made it close late to set up those Rams heroics and to force him. But when that game was twenties having at three, you're looking at the Bucks like, oh god, these guys got old all at once. And that was without Tristan Worths.

He was inactive for the game. He was hurt. Then they had another injury upfront during the game and it kind of affected a lot of what they were doing. But man, the Bucks had built. Part of the reason Tom Brady was able to succeed is they spent a lot of draft picks and money onlinnement and had a

really good line. And with Worths out, you're patching and they the Rams just kept sending dudes a Donovan Smith, I mean, different guys over and over and in waves, and they were getting a lot of pressure and Tom was looking old, and it was like, WHOA, that team is vulnerable you know, especially without Antonio Brown who left under dubious circumstances the other week. Chris Godwin has been out for a while with that A C. L. You know, you've still got my daring in the secondary on the

back of the defense. Yeah, I mean, they're beat up and they're old, and you wonder what it's gonna be. And if Tom bless him for everything he's done. And and I've been the idiot for a long time. I went through long stretches where I had to look at Tom Brady and say, ah, that's been It's been a great run, but that's it. And then he keeps just making me the biggest moron in the world. He kept winning everywhere he went. So um. I mean, if Tom Brady comes back, there's no reason to think the Bucks

aren't gonna be good next year. But if Tom Brady didn't come back, then it's all of a sudden, what are you doing? Who? Who? And again, it's going to be a crazy offseason, not just in this division but in the entire NFC, because you know, if Tom Brady retires, the Bucks are kind of up against it. Now if they go trade for Aaron Rodgers, all of a sudden things are better there? Right? And then what happens in

Green Bay? And then what happens in Green Bay? Or what's going on in Seattle with Russell Wilson, I mean, who seems to create his own drama for the last couple off seasons? And what are they doing? Is he really satisfied being with Pete Carroll? What the forty Niners doing? Is Jimmy Garoppolo the guy? Or did they transition to Tray Lance who they gave up a lot of stuff to draft last year? You know, what's Minnesota doing with Kirk Cousins. What is happening in Dallas around Dak Prescott?

I mean, I mean, honestly, do we can we be sure that Sean Payton ain't gonna end up coaching Dallas Cowboys? No, we we cannot be sure because he's so close with Jerry Jones, and um, you know, I mean if he goes to Dallas, that's a different situation. What the rest of the NFC East is, Like, your guest is as good as mine. What's Washington doing at quarterback next year? I have no idea is Daniel Jones ever going to be any good or Okay? From physicals. Temp not sure

right now. And what about Matt Ryan? What's Matt Ryan has the largest salary cap number of any player in the NFL for two forty eight point seven million. Of the falcons two eight million salary cap is devoted to Matt Ryan right now. Um, so when a quarter of your cap is tied up in a thirty six year old guy, I mean, granted, a thirty six year old guy who's still pretty good at football. Yeah, it's a lot of stuff going on here, is what I'm trying

to say. Thank goodness, we're not around the Joe Burrows and the Justin Herbert's and the Patrick Mahomes and the Josh Allen's and all that going on over there. Yeah, I mean truly, when you look at the way the league stacked right now, all those great young quarterbacks are on the other side. So at least, I mean, and again that's kind of what I wrote this morning. I'm not going to try to lie to you and tell you the Carolina Panthers are in a great shape going

into this offseason. They got a lot of stuff to do, but it's at least easier than it was a week ago, especially if Tom Brady retires now of a sudden. You know, I'm not suggesting they're gonna win a division or anything like that, because they got a bunch of items on their own shopping list this offseason, but it's at least easier. Do you think, is there any chance Tom Brady play for a team other than the Bucks next year? You know, it's possible, and some people have speculated about that, and

and really that's the thing that one guy knows. And Tom is always and he's a California kid, and he and he spent his entire career on the East Coast. Does he want to get back closer to home? And is there is there an opening for him closer to home? I mean, the Rams aren't in the market for a quarterback. They they kind of dig what they've got going on right now in Matt Stafford and the forty niners. You know, there's a there's an r there, aren't they with Jimmy

Garoppolo right now? And you would assume that if it's not Garoppolo, then they're in a cast here a lot with Trey Lance. But maybe I don't know. I mean, there's what if many things that could happen. I love this league. What if the forty Niners go on to win the Super Bowl in l A, get rid of Garoppolo, bring in Brady for next year. I mean, I'm here for the chaos. I mean, right, let's let's do it. Yeah, it's uh, there's a never ending supply of storylines in

this league. Gotta know that for sure. But yeah, it's a there's all this stuff going on. But in going through that and right in it this morning, you just realize it comes through loud and clear how wide open the NFC in general is. Because I mean, who's actually good in the NFC that you know is going to be good next year? The Rams, maybe, the Cardinals maybe maybe I don't know, man, but we haven't mentioned them as having drama. It's at least they have a young quarterback.

It's been a long time since they were really good. Remember when Cam Newton rolled in there and beat them that day and that dropped them to eight and two, and that may have triggered the avalanche. I mean it never really got it didn't get back after that hot start. And I think there are a lot of people, you know, to to date, they are not on that list of

teams looking for new coaches. But you know, with the way things have ended in the last couple of years, you know, Cliff Kingsbury is going to be one of those guys who walks into next year on that hot seat list. And they've earned it. I mean, they kind of look like front runners a little bit, and you know, it's interesting the way they designed themselves. I mean, Kyler Murray is an exceptional talent. He's one of those guys who's fun to watch because he runs around, he does

the thing. But man, if they get into a December game where they need to line up and you know, they're sort of susceptible to somebody punching them in the mouth a little bit, and that's, um, that's a construction thing that I don't know that it's easily fixed. So we'll see. So we've touched on a little bit already. But to finish off, out of these four teams left, who do you who do you like? This weekend? Rams? Niners? Here's and then just pretty much Chiefs. Right, here's the thing.

You know what I don't know, I don't know the Bengals a team of destiny. I kind of dig what the Bengals are putting down out there. I mean, Joe Burrow does not care. He truly, He's like, it's interesting thing that you know he's following up Buffalo because Joe Burrow reminds me a little bit of young Jim Kelly. He's got his shoulders back. Man, this thing ain't too big for Joe Burrow. He dresses funny, he's got that

swag about him. You know, he's probably more confident than anybody who quarters backs the Cincinnati Bengals ever ought to be. But man, it's working, and Jamaar Chase is incredible. I was one of the people who thought they might have made a mistake during the draft when pinasul is sitting there and there's the left tackle. You need to protect that quarterback. And my gud, after Joe Burrow takes nine sacks against the Titans, you you start to wanner, Oh God,

they're gonna break Joe Burrow. Um. But it's worked so far and they're going to need to protect him. I mean, they'll be one of that one of those teams, you know, like the Carolina Panthers who were looking for a lot of offensive line helped this offseason. But man, there's there's just something about having that kid at quarterback and having that opportunity that's just so exciting for an entire fan base.

That's been a long time since good news. I mean thirty one years since they had won a playoff game. Now of a sudden, they're in the a f C Championship Game, and it's like, why not. I mean, I don't think they're gonna beat the Chiefs because I mean the Chiefs, my god, thirteen seconds, but it's I didn't think they were getting this far. So it's a great

story either way. I want to pull out all the old tapes from that Super Bowl in eighty two between the Niners and the Bengals where they got caught in a so storm and showed up late to warm ups because they couldn't get their busses too. Uh was it the not the Superdome? What do they call that old thing? The Lions Stadium, the Silver Dome, the Silver Dome, that Silver Dome? Yeah? Do you remember that Super Bowl? Yeah?

I do. I mean, And and that's the thing. Bengals forty Niners would be the ultimate KO Super Bowl because the you know, there's um, there's a linel Charlie Daniels song. He says the eleven bishop sitting on a baila. Hey ain't good looking, but he's sure can play. Um, that's the forty niners. Come on, Jimmy. Garoppolo is beautiful. I mean, he's an extremely handsome Empirically speaking, that's what we'd all want to look like if we had the opportunity. But man,

they do everything wrong until they don't. It's just a train wreck and it's moving slowly and you can see the other one coming toward it on the trestle and rite at the last minute, somehow or another, they switched tracks and avert disaster and they win a game. I mean, who thought they had any business going into Green Bay and winning that game? Not me? Um and Garoppolo frankly, at times looked kind of shabby doing it. I mean,

it's like, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work. It doesn't work, It doesn't work well it worked, and you're constantly surprised. And that's why I think people have this negative reaction to Garoppolo. But he gets things done in a weird way and he fits what they're doing. So I don't know that it would work everywhere. I don't know that he's a slam dunk cancer for a team

that's looking for a quarterback hashtag self awareness. But at the same time, it's kind of hard to argue with the results, and it shows what it looks like when you've got all the pieces around him. I mean, Jimmy Garoppolo is the least of the quarterbacks involved in the playoffs, and that's not necessarily a slur, but he's clearly the

fourth of four involved in this thing right now. But they ran a play the other night that I just as an advocate of old guy football, I kind of got a little goose bumpy when you see them put an extra offensive lineman on the field and Sentrick Williams, you know, Williams in motion across the It's like, what are they doing? And you know there were opportunities there. They didn't pop some of those plays the way they could, but it's like, what are your what are you doing?

Kyle Shanahan. Oh, I'm gonna take the best offensive lineman in football and I'm going to turn him into a move tight end. Sure, why not? Of course you are, you know, And that's the forty Niners kind of got that vibe about them. Where they're not going to do things conventionally and until it doesn't work, those guys kind of think it's gonna work. I mean, you have you have running backs playing wide receiver and wide receivers playing running backs, and left tackles playing out in motion, in

motion pulling Trent Williams across. It's just fantastic. The other thing I thought about, as it pertains to the local professional football team, is when Deebo Samuel's out there doing Deebo Samuel stuff, he looks a lot like d J. Moreton. And rule talked last year at times out it when DJ was on that run early in the season and there was the play where he gets downfield and blocking and springing guys in Dallas, and Matt said then he was like, if d J. Moore was coming out twenty

years ago, he'd been a tailback. There's part of me that wonders, and I wonder if Ben mcadoo's got into this on his you know, drawing board. Yet if you start thinking about do you do the debo things with d J Moore? Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you consider it as as a possibility because you know you do have this talent who has the ability to run, and they've done some ends around, some reverses. Put the ball

in his hands. With both him and Robbie Man, I think DJ, with the toughness he has and the ability to break tackles and move around inside, he could go up the middle. Think about you know, I'm not saying you know, this isn't like the people who want to turn Christian McCaffrey into a slot receiver. I think it's something that you experiment with. You should. Anyway, great weekend of football upcoming next week, we're gonna have some We're

putting you on special assignment. We're sending you to the great State of Alabama. Not like Kristen's special assignment, not like that one. That would be a whole different podcast if it turned into one of those deals. Oh my gosh, we're sending you to the Senior Bowl, Darren, Like you're not. You're going mobile. So we're gonna have some reports. My close personal friend, Taylor'sarzer who's from down there, told me it's mobile, not mobile. The emphasis the emphascus is on

the second s label, um mobile. Got it. I'll try to remember that. I'll be a mobile next week. Yeah, so we'll hear from Darren, We'll we'll get to know all of our prospects. Charles Cross he's the name on the mock draft reports this Yeah, he's not there, he's not at the Senior Bowl next week, but all the quarterbacks are. And what moves in the needle more than quarterback talk, nothing really, it's that's that's pretty much cool stuff and I'm looking forward to and we'll have some

stuff later in the week on Panthers dot com. But really, when you look at it, of the seven top quarterbacks in this year's draft, six of them are going to be in Mobile on that guy wee. Cool stuff. I'm looking forward to the awesome. Thanks guys, tuning next week.