This week on the Happy half Hour, he was very stern, you know, with sending him early to the locker room, and he was very pointed and direct, and there wasn't a ton of back and forth between those two. And I think that kind of exemplifies, you know, the side of his leadership where we say, you know, he's he's a firm guy, he's a tough guy, and it's he kind of showed it and then we saw what happened
as a result. TEXTA It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone and Darren Gann. That's right, it's that time of the week. It's the Happy half Hour podcast with your friends, Darren, Augusta and Kristen. Happy Thursday morning, everybody. How we feeling cold? It's a little older now, Yeah, Like it's so funny every year. I was telling Darren, it's like you'd think I grew up in Florida because if it gets below fifty, I'm freezing.
I grew up and I always say the North Georgia Mountains. I was really in the valley, but it still gets pretty cold there. So um, I can't handle the cold. I'm a big baby. I do love it. I love a little coziness. I do like a little fall on. The mistery at the front desk has been teasing me the last couple of weeks. She saw me come in in long pants the other day and she's like, I don't think I've ever seen you in long pants because I try to wear shorts as long as I possibly can.
And she said something smart, and she was like, it's pretty much long pants from here on out, isn't it. It's kind of looking that way. I think it's going up into the seventies next. But yeah, I've turned my my weather talk on him. Such apparent we can just talk for the whole half hour about the weather in North Carolina. Oh God, Kristen's turned into the insurance commercial. I sure, am, I sure, I am, proudly absolutely. I
love to talk about the weather. But we have plenty of other things to talk about on this episode, So let's get right into it. Let's talk about what we have learned from Steve Wilkes. Let's call it week and a half tenure as UM as inter room head coach. Obviously, the game against the Rams did not go the way that the team wanted it to go or fans wanted it to go. Just a lot of injuries, a lot of adversity in that game. But um, but we've seen some some good things and some bad things, so let's
let's talk about it all. So Darren, let's start with you. What have we learned since Steve Wilkes has taken over the helm? Well, I mean, the first and foremost, Steve Wilkes has not inherited an enviable position with everything that's going on at the quarterback position, the guys being hurt. But I do think that Steve's got a tone about him that when things may seem chaotic, he's got such a steady hand on the wheel that you feel all right about it. I mean he is he is not
a guy who projects panic or anything like that. And I think at the end of the day, I mean Steve is kind of an old defensive coordinator. He wants to simplify things, he wants to strip it down. You saw that in the game plan last week. I mean he said, we want to run the ball, and early on in that game they ran the ball well and controlled it. It It was like eleven minutes of the first quarter. Uh,
they had possession and things were looking pretty good. You get a defensive score from Dante, but it just as with a lot of things, with the quarterback situation they've had this year, wasn't necessarily sustainable. But I do kind of, I guess, like appreciate the fact that Steve's got a steadiness about him. You know, he knows this isn't an ideal situation. There's no interim head coach who's ever walked
into an ideal situation. But he's got kind of the personality to handle it and and try to lead guys through it. I mean, it's really the only the only thing you can do when you find yourself in this moment. Well, I'll go with the thing that I have learned about Steve Wilkes because it relates a little bit to yours, Darren, that of you know, he has such a history with the Panthers, But the person on the Panthers who may have known him the longest is long Snapver J. J. Jansen.
Of course, yes, he told me that they have known each other since two thousand four, so almost twenty years when j J was a freshman and Notre Dame and he was coaching DBS and he said, I've I've known him since I was a scrawny little freshman at Notre Dame. And then he said, well, maybe not scrawny, which I
thought was great. But to your point, Darren, Um, I spoke with JJ last week on on Wednesday, so right after the transition, and he said, I think knowing Steve Wolks for as long as I have, that he has the temperament to step into this situation because of the way that he can just block everything out and focus. Um, the way he's a great communicator, clear, concise, uh and ready for the challenge. And it just really struck me
what you just said, Darren. I think we're all seeing that as well, the thing that JJ told me to look out for. So that's something that that I've learned. He goes way back with j J Jansen Augusta, what about you exactly. Well, it's like you said when you said communication style, I felt like you're almost reading my mind, because that's what I was going to say. I was
going to say. It's he's a very stern communicator. I've noticed this not only like on the practice field and obviously when he's talking to the team, but also when he's talking to the media, which as a reporter, I find that refreshing when you have someone who speaks and indefinites or you know, answers things very very clearly. You know, you asked him a question, he'll look you dead in the eye and he'll answer. And I just I I
find that very respectable. And from my position, it's it's it's easier to work with a coach like that, UM. But I also just UM, I think we saw his sort of stern, pointed style UM in a situation that was not ideal along the sidelines against the rams UM when we saw Robbie Anderson and his position coach Joe Daily kind of get into a small little spat a
couple of times. And I saw the video replays of it, but he was very stern, you know, with sending him early to the locker room, and he was very pointed and direct, and there wasn't a ton of back and forth between those two. And I think that kind of exemplifies, you know, the side of his leadership where we say, you know, he's he's a firm guy, he's a tough guy, and it's he kind of showed it. And then we saw what happened as a result, Um, And and now
Robbie is in Arizona. Yeah, let's let's yeah, great segue. Let's talk about that, Darren. Yeah, it was kind of a it was kind of a mess, and it was pointing that direction. And honestly, I think it's fair to say Robbie wasn't thrilled with the way things were going. Again, the offense in general isn't clicking right now when you're thirty second in the league, that's fair to say. UM, and the passing game in particular. And so Robbie is a guy. Every wide receiver wants targets. Everyone of them
wants to be involved. Everyone of them wants to be the guy making plays downfield. Nobody's making plays downfield right now. So Robbie wasn't necessarily happy. Um. You know, there was there was some talk about his relationship with Matt Rule being a component of it, But I don't know that that's necessarily it. I mean, Robbie just wants to be you know, involved in you know, featured more in a passing game that's got success. And you know, we'll see
how it works out for him out in Arizona. They obviously needed the help with Hollywood Brown getting hurt um interesting side note, Hollywood Brown had to go see Dr Robert Anderson in Green Bay about his foot and ankle, and now he's replaced in the line up by Dr Robert Anderson, who is uh on his way. He's been practicing with the Cardinals for a couple of days. Now. We'll see if he's out there on the field tonight.
I don't know how quickly Robbie will pick up, but you know, it just became an untenable situation because when somebody doesn't want to be here and kind of makes it obvious that he doesn't want to be around with the way he behaved on the sidelines. I mean, we've seen Robbie get into it on the sidelines before. It was with Joe Brady in the past. He's he's gotten
in those situations previously, and it just got ugly. And when it gets ugly and there in the situation you get in, you get guys gone, and it's got Fitterer got on the phone Monday morning was able to get
two things for one. Robbie so at a six round pick in twenty four and a seven and twenty five is not a lot, But considering the situation and considering what it looked like, getting a couple of things, you know, some extra draft inventory for the future is not the worst thing, because I don't know much good Robbie was doing them in the short term anyway. And and now you spend the rest of the season looking at Terris Marshall's shy smith, see what they've got to offer when
he's healthy exactly. So you got to kind of adjust on the fly when things like that happened. But it, um, it's that time of year. It feels like it worked out well for everyone involved, Robbie included, as you said, we'll see how it goes. So certainly we wish him all the best. But you know, as we sit here Thursday morning, but that is the only trade that has happened, um, But the trade deadline is looming. So what are you two hearing about what the Panthers may or may not do. Well.
The one thing I don't think they're doing is is trying to trade everybody on the roster. I mean, Scott, I've heard the same thing. Yeah, Scott always says you listen to everything, and people listen. People are calling about Christian McCaffrey. You know why, because Christian McCaffrey is really good at football. UM and other people would enjoy having a Christian McCaffrey. It's just a matter of what to say.
They're not going to give him away. I I don't think you're going to see a situation where you know they're not going to trade Christian for a fourth round pick or something. They're not just throwing a guy away. If somebody calls and offers, I think you're obliged to listen. I think you have to listen to every offer and see because you know, realistically, the Carolina Panthers are going to be going into an off season where they want to find stability at quarterback and a lot of people
think that means drafting one. And if you're trying to draft quarterback, you know, I don't think it's the pick you're going to get in exchange, but any picks you add helps you in the process. So if you need to move up and get a particular guy that you like, or you need to package picks and trade from Matt Stafford, I mean, you never know. When we didn't know at the time Matt Stafford was going to be available, when
he became available. So I think you you just kind of gotta look at its inventory if you make a deal for at or whatever picks it happens to be. And and I don't think they're absolutely intent on trading him. I mean, I think if they don't get an appropriate offer, they don't get what feels like value, why would you just give the guy away? You wouldn't so because he has high value to your team right now with the way he's been playing. And that's that's the thing that's
important to remember. After not seeing a lot of Christian for the last two years, the Christian we're seeing right now, it's like, Wow, this guy is getting it done again. And and I think that's what's got a lot of people interested. But I don't think, you know, they're not trying to trade off Brian Burns or it's not like they're just trying to accumulate future draft picks for the next full time head coach that they're gonna hire in twenty three. So it's not a fire sale, it's not
give everybody away. It's not clear the decks or anything of the sword, and and they're not going to take pennies on the dollar for guys. I mean, there are assets here, and I think that's worth remembering at a time when everybody's talking about what's going wrong, what's you know, who could be on the way out those kind of things.
I mean, this is still a team that going into twenty three, still has Brian Burns, still has Derek Brown, still has j. C. Horne, still has Jeremy chen of a defense along with Dante d J. Moore on the other side, the starting five off on the offensive line that's played every snap so far this year and has some good depth in Bradley Boseman and Cam Irving and Michael Jordan's you know that stuffs in place, and so I think there is things that you know they're going
to want to build all and so you look at and you listen, and I don't think it's a fire sale by any stretch of the imagination, but you never know what could happen. I've heard the same thing. You know, there are a lot of as you name just a few of the really talented players on this team, and they've been developed and are are playing well at a
lot of different positions. And um, I've heard the same that that's not something that's on the radar, right, Trying to keep those pieces in place is important, so we'll certainly see what happens. We never know, of course, That's why we love and sometimes hate football, right we never You never know what's going to happen. But I always appreciate we're in the football business, but also the news business. We all know that our lives can change with one
phone call. We sure do we sure to do. Um. But but Darren, you talked about stability at quarterback, so let's talk about quarterback as it stands right now, Augusta. We have heard, uh Steve Wiks say that it will be Why are you guys laughing? Huh, I'm just there's there's a lot, and there's a lot. I mean, if you think about it, there is a sense of stability because I Steve Wokes told us to be prepared for the same starter and the same backup. That backup is Jacobs.
That is one way to look at it. But yeah, it is a sense of stability. It is continuity, get doing by week. Oh my goodness. No. Um. I got to seak with Jacobison on Monday, and uh, I just I really enjoy talking to him because he has such a such an honest outlook about things. But at the same time, like I I genuinely asked him. I said, okay, look like you come off the practice squad. You've been here since August thirty one. So I was writing late August, and I was like, it's about as late in August
as you can get. You get here from Seattle on a red eye, learn everything really quickly, and then lo and behole. P J Walker ends up, you know, hurting his neck. He's fine and he'll play this week, and he practiced yesterday. But um, all that to say, you know, I was like, the circumstances, like they're wild. He goes, oh, they're wild. Like he gave it right back. He's like, it is absolutely wild. Um, having to learn on the fly.
But that's kind of I think I talked about last week with the mindset of the backup, and it's it's so interesting, you know, I wrote about it yesterday. I sort of went down the list of like, Okay, so p J. Walker, he heard his neck, but he's fine, and he took all the first team reps, and then Jacobison he'll be behind him. Baker Mayfield still isn't clear but he's still running around and he's still you can
tell he wants to get out there so badly. And then say, I'm Donald returned yesterday, and the response on Twitter that I saw whenever I tweeted a photo of him was very excited, which was cool. Um, And just to clarify because I know we know this because we're reading all the articles. He's designated to return from i R. So we returned to the practice field, but we are not anticipating him being ready to go. And just just to make sure that our listeners aren't aren't showing the
same excitement as Twitter. Right, So, yeah, it's still some time. It's some time. They're played football in seven weeks, so I think it's reasonable to let him practice for a couple of days before he gets right back into it and he'll need a little time. But uh, it's also a different Sam Donald is pointed out by Christian McCaffrey. He's got a sweet beard. I was gonna be the beard. It's uh, Sam's one of those guys. I can't grow
a decent beard. Sam has and Christian said yesterday he's got big lepre con energy, and so Sam was like, wait a minute, I'm taking this from Christian McCaffrey. It was kind of funny, funny go back and forth. But yeah, the bearded Sam darn Old could be back and and could be a factor, honestly, because we don't know. We don't know right now how long Baker might be out. If Baker's coming back, and and I asked Steve Wilkes last week. I said, when Baker comes back and he's healthy,
is he absolutely the starter? And Steve said something other than yes, absolutely. I mean he talked about those guys are going to compete for it again. So there was a competition once upon a time, and then Baker came back and hadn't played great before he got hurt. So all things are kind of on the table right now. So the idea that we might see Sam Donald at some point this year, we might see p J. Walkers
some more, we might see Baker Mayfield again. You know, right now as we sit here on Thursday morning at ten thirty in the morning, where it's kind of hard to tell what's coming next. Well, whoever we see over these next few weeks is is very lucky in the fact that this offensive line has been playing together and they have been playing well, as our very own Panther stats guy, Will Brian is going to tell us and
he's done enough. Will's stat of the week? All right, So, as promised, live from our undisclosed location inside Bank of America Stadium, here's Panthers stats guy with this week's stat of the week. So ikey, yeah, he's okay. He's been playing pretty well right there. In the last two weeks. He has a seventy five point eight pass blocking grade according to PFF. That's the highest among rookie tackles in the NFL over that span. And it's not just him.
The entire offensive line has really been playing quite well. Their pass blocking grade over the course of the season so far ranks seventh in the NFL. So what once was a weakness really has become a strength. Really is strange days that we're talking this way about a Panther's offensive line. I can always count on you and putting it in perspective. Thanks man. We need theme music for that. I think Quinn will comes in. He needs to have his own theme song. I think you should see him. Well,
come in. I'll see if I can write something for next week. Maybe home a few bars. I would love that. But it's a great point, right This offensive line has um become very stable and Um is doing a good job. And again, it just blows my mind that we're having these conversations because watching last year, fourteen lineups in seven team weeks and literally guys walking in off the street. You know, they claimed Michael Jordan off waivers from the Bengals at initial cuts, coming out of the coming out
of training company ends up starting team games. So you know, last year was just a grab bag. Every week it was a different group. And now for the same guys, same five guys to start and play every snap of the first six games. Now, Pat Elflndes on the injury report this week hadn't practiced. So you know, if Pat's not able to go, having a Bradley Bozeman, who started forty eight games the last three years for the Baltimore
Ravens is a pretty good place to be. And again, after last year, I know it just clouded my judgment. But but Queen Boseman, Jordan's Cam Irving who here's a tease for you coming up this week on Panthers dot Com. We've I'm working on a story about Ikey and his development and and the role cam Irving plays in it, and it's pretty I think it's going to be a pretty cool little story, So be on the lookout for
that on Panthers dot com. So excited to read that because I that's something I've noticed from game one on the sidelines, you know, doing radio sideline is just um, I dare, and I don't want to steal your phrase. It's the perfect phrase of cam Irving being the Ikey whisperer. You know, he's really taken that that role as he's not playing much to guide and develop and support um Ikuanu. And it's incredible. So I can't wait to read that. And this Aquanto kid pretty good at football. Think he's
going to be pretty good. I think he's gonna be Okay, let's let's talk about injuries overall. Though. You mentioned Pat elf Line being on the injury report and um, you know, aside from the quarterback um issues and injuries in the last game against the Rams, which we've already addressed, that defense, especially that secondary was pretty thin in that last game and they were already missing some key pieces. You know, you're Frankie Lulu's your j C Horns so Augusta Darren,
what are YouTube hearing about? Who may or may not be healthy, who may or may not play the state of the defense Yesterday, Steve Wokes had a ton of optimism, especially around the cornerback so Dante. He said that Dante Jackson told him that he'd be able to play um with that ankle, and he wasn't dressed out in practice yesterday, but I wouldn't. I'm not. I'm not reading into that too much. Um. And then J. C. Horne was back, which was really good news. Um, he was in the
Green limited at some capacity. Jersey Frankie Luvu same deal though he's been taking the Green jersey on and off even when he was playing. So Um, there's some general optimism I think around that, which is so good because, I mean I wrote about it after the game in Los Angeles. List. I mean they were Tay Hayes was out there and they had just he had just been called it from the practice squad, so it was they plays in Jacobison, Yeah to practice squad guys that had
important roles in that game. Yeah. Yeah, So so um, but I think there's a general since of optimism yesterday. It was good because Yesterday was like the PADS day since they moved it from Thursday to Wednesday, so you kind of get to see, like who's gonna go out there. I saw J. C. Horn, you know, getting good work in after last week. I think he spent the entire week, you know, in sweats and not dressed out, so that's that's definitely positive. And then he missed the trip because
it's a rib and and all of that. But yeah, I actually pulled up the injury list like before we started because it's gotten so long and I'm going to start forgetting them. Um. But yeah, and then c J. Henderson concussion protocol. He wasn't even out there yesterday. Saw in the locker room now, so he's around just standard with concussion programs. But yeah, they were running out of
dudes y Sunday. I mean they had Ta Hayes and Ere and Mosby out there playing defensive snaps on the end and um, yeah, that's not an ideal situation because you were running out of dbs. When Dante gets hurt and doesn't finished a CS in active c J Concussion protocol and all of a sudden you look up and keep Taylor and Tay Hayes are the only two corners
you've got left. So you know, thank goodness for guys like Miles Hartsfield who can do a lot of different things, because they kind of need guys who can do a lot of different things in the situation they were in. But it was good. And I tuck j C a little bit in the locker room and and he feels pretty good about being able to play this week. He just, um, j C is one of those guys. He's always gonna want to play and he's always gonna want to push it. So you you hope he gets healed up and uh
then set himself back or anything like that. But it was definitely a positive sign to see him out there on the practice field yesterday because he's a guy they're gonna need because let's be honest right now, playing against a team like the Bucks. Uh they did not look great last week against the Steelers. But oh, by the way, Tom Brady also pretty good at football, So it's gonna be a little bit of an all hands on deck. You're gonna need Frankie Luvu out there trying to move
the old man off his spot. You're gonna need j C. Horn in the back covering because those Bucks receivers have made some plays in the past, so uh, they are definitely going to need those guys this weekend. We'll see what happens, right, Bucks come into town on Sunday and uh, we'll see how it all goes. Guys, are should we make pirate jokes? You can? There's there's an yeah it. Uh. I was looking back at the film of the Rams game, especially the second half, and it was rated R. That
was pretty good on the spot, Darren, I laughed. Is that going back to me though, becoming a parent laughing at those things and talking about the weather that might be we've we I know my go to guy in our staff meetings is Alex Grant because I know, no matter how terrible a joke I tell, my guy, Alex is gonna laugh. He does the same thing with me too. He's great for like a nice sympathy laugh, like all
I see your effort on this sho. He's such a good teammate because some of the as jokes, they'll just looked at him the other day. It's like, don't encourage, don't tell jokes. We should always encourage, Darren, especially when it comes to pirate jokes. Thank you both so much, happy happy half hour, and we'll see you next week.