Happy Half Hour Episode 81: You Never Know

presented by Prowling Vineyards Napa Valley. Prowling Vineyards Napa Valley's the official wine brand and wine club of the Carolina Panthers. These premium selections celebrate the great people of the Carolinas and the panthers hunger to achieve excellence on and off the field. Each handcrafted wine mirrors the panthers bold attitude in the iconic flavors on or the two states we are proud to call home. Experience the benefits and lifestyle, giving back to the community as a portion of the

proceeds support the Carolina Panthers charities. Learn more at Prowling Vineyards dot com. That was cool what happened to Kristen? She sounds terrible. I know, right, I'm I'm I'm back back. I guess who's back? Who's back? I'm like Frank I sola um, you know on PT I just subbing in, except I'm subbing in for Wilbon because the cranky old white guy is still in the room. Wait, you made me. It's good to have you back. I knew you wouldn't

stay away. Actually it was kind of cool. Christen's on another special assignment, not like the last special assignment, but taking care of the last special assignment, so it was like, will help, And I was like, yeah, I'll be there. So it's good to have you back. I had my had my pumpkin spice. I'm I'm spiced up. I'm ready to go. So I guess I have to run this now? Right?

Is that how this works? Okay, you're sitting if I'm sitting in there in the Captain's Charity, alright, so you've got to come up with stats then if I'm running, Okay, Okay, I can come up with some stats. I can come up doing to come up with them, or like look them up because I can just you have about fifteen minutes before we get to that part. We got it. The podcast better start reach I go, here, I go.

But I'm going to actually go to you first because the Panthers are one and oh this week, right, one and o. According to everything, we're one and oh and we're going for too and oh in Atlanta, and we're doing it behind the number one center in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus, the one and only Bradley Boseman. Yes, Bradley Bozeman. Gosh, just a delightful person. It's funny to talk with him and then like think about the things he does on the football field, like it's one of

those things. It's like, how is this human who is just so nice and radiates so much joy and kindness also a vicious, vicious center. I mean, that's that's what we finally were marrying, the two of He's always been this incredible story. He's done all the stuff to get back to the community. He's and his wife Nikki have been beloved by Charlotte for all their engagement and it's like, oh yeah, and then he put some people on their butts on the field. That's fun when that happens together.

Exactly got his chance. He got his chance. That's what the story I got to write and the published yesterday that I'm so proud of. Um. It was kind of about you know, I mean, I I appreciated how candid he was with me. You know, He's like it reached a frustrating point because he he had suffered that ankle injury up in New England, took about two weeks to get back on the field and then sat behind paddlef line for six weeks and like paddlef line, you know,

held serve. When he did, he was and that's you know, Bradley told him. He was like, I understood why they didn't make the change. But the day I got the call, that Tuesday before the Tampa Bay game, telling me, you know, I mean I just came in and he had Nicky crowd on the couch and a story UM from the very top of that article. UM that Darren. When he read it, he told me he was like, oh, this is just gold. And I was so proud that I was able to to to get this story and be

able to tell it. But it was about a week before he got the call. Um. He was speaking with a group of middle and high school football players, and they were, you know, just asking him questions about being a professional football player. And then one of the kids just tells them, you know, well, how come you're not starting, and he he just tells him, He's like, you know, uh,

control what you can control. But like the way when Nikki told me that story, she was just I could hear her smile over the phone, you know, and she was like it was so cool that not even a week later, he had no idea at that point when he was talking to those kids, and then it ended up being to where, yeah, like you know, I just control what you can control. I mean, it'll eventually come if you just stay locked in. And now we saw, like you said, number one center. It's it's kind of cool.

It's a great story. And you know, past all the you know stuff that he's doing and embedded himself in the community, he's just he's just a great guy. And I'm thankful that Charlotte has people like the Boseman's for sure speaking of people were thankful for and controlling what you can control, and boys, this is a surprise. P J. Walker. Everybody what of course, of course, I mean, and and

that's the amazing thing about this season. This Carol on a Panther season has already been a Russian novel and it's week eight. I mean, we have seen regime change, We've seen big trades, We've seen other trades. We've seen p J Walker of course light up Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I mean, it's it's just I always joke about it with concerts. This is why you go see the show and always go see the show

because you never know what's going to happen. Not one person in this room, or really people in this greater room that is Bank of America Stadium, expected that thing to unfold the way it did on Sunday and p especially after the Rams game when they didn't really let

p J do anything. But at a certain point early in that game it was kind of like, I really think early in the week, they were like, all right, if we're gonna do this, you just gotta do it, and let him throw down field, let him take some chances, and and listen. I understand why Steve Wilkes was a little hesitant to do that right off the bat, because this is deal. P J Walker, who going into the Bucks game had two career touchdowns and eight career interceptions.

You know, four picks for every touchdown he Threw's not the ratio you want to have in somebody who's starting against Tom Brady. So I understand why they were hesitant, But at a certain point, Pj's just cutting a loose I mean, first play of the game goes over the top looking for terrorist, Marshal Tears drops it. But other than that, he was perfect for the first half and

you're just sitting there looking. I mean, we kind of joked while we were sitting in the press box, like, let p J cook, But at a certain point that's kind of what they did, and it p J is probably as good a metaphor for what happened to that team in general Loan Sunday as anything we've seen, because there was no reason to expect it, and there was no reason. I mean, people just had this weird, unexplainable belief that p J Walker was going to do it in the face of all evidence, and yet he did.

P J Walker, of course, of course. And I think as you look forward to this Falcons game and potentially looking forward down down into November, what can this staff, what can this team do to make that not just be this adrenale. You know, this adrenaline for sixty minutes, you know, this thing that just everyone was surprised, no one knew what happened, and boom, this happened, and then

you gotta go. And everyone's got a game plan on p J Walker, looking at all the film of those eight interceptions, finding ways to get him uncomfortable, putting pressure on him. What are the ways that this team counteracts that to keep this going. I don't. I don't know, is the honest answer. And I mean they got to be a nightmare to game plan right now, because in the past, if you were playing against the Carolina Panthers, you knew they were going to put the ball in

Christie McCaffrey's hands. You knew they were going to look for t J. Moore's primary receiving target. You knew, based on whoever the quarterback was, that you could do X, Y and Z. But I don't know how you prepare for this care on a Panthers football team, I really don't. I mean, Deonte Foreman is more of a traditional kind of power back than anything they've had in in place in a long time. I mean even even runs differently

than Mike Davis. You know, he's just uh more, he's more of a rhythm back, and that he's one of those guys who needs eight ten carries at a chunk rather than one play at a time like he was getting before Christian uh was sent to San Francisco. So it is. It's a tough game plan, but they're built for power. It's very basic. If there's anything you know, I think selfishly when I look at a game, Uh, what's the one thing I wanted to be fast? Uh?

And this game could be over in two hours and thirty forty minutes because the Falcons want to run the ball. The Panthers, apparently, based on the evidence of one week, want to run the ball. So we'll see. I mean, it could be a quick one on on Sunday. Make sure to tune in. Don't don't just try to grab the fourth quarter because it might be over by the time you tune in. Uh. This is a preview of

future stats. But here's my early early half stat The Carolina Panthers have played the Atlanta Falcons on Week eight now for the third straight season, third straight on and on each of the last two meetings, they had their highest rushing output of the season. So yesterday or last week was the most rushing yards since at Atlanta the year before. It was the highest rushing average since against

the Falcons back in also in Week Gate. So I mean, we know what they're going to lean into and in the past it's been somewhat successful running the ball down there in Atlanta, So I mean they know what's coming. And you know, we're gonna be watching the injury report this week. You know there's some some guys in the back fear the secondary for Atlanta that may be questionable. I mean, guys to be Hubbard was on the injury report for Carolina, you know, so we we're watching all

that this week. But yeah, I mean that's the hold onto the ball, don't have turnovers and let's let's control the clock. And of course you remember the ultimate an example of that in Atlanta Christmas Eve two thousand six, the Wildcat. Augusta wasn't ready for that one. She wasn't ready for us to kick it back to two thousand six. Hey,

what were you doing in two thousand six ago? I was aware of what was going on, probably in second grade, But I mean I might have a memory or did you did you know that D'Angelo Williams was in the slot or was in shotgun just running left and right? I'm sure no, I don't know. It was Angel right, Yeah, it was two thousand and six. So let's see. When I was eight, I was really into like, I guess, like Barbie Dolls. I don't really know, because that's past my Barney phase, but not yet to like my pop

music face. So probably Disney Channel. I think I was really into Disney Channel. So wasn't han him on Tanna? Are you saying that d J. Moore is going to be motioning into shotgun and then running left and right with pitching to Raheem Blacks here? Yeah? Why not? Why not? I mean really, I mean we joke about it, But that oh six game was born out of desperation. They were out of quarterbacks who could throw football down field

that we goddenly enough. The one touchdown, the passing touchdown, was a one yard passed to Jeff King from Chris Winky. But Winky couldn't throw that week, and Jake was hurt and they were down to Brett Basane and god knows what I mean. Brett was this undrafted rookie from Northwestern, great kids still in the area, successful businessmen, doing fantastic um sponsored by Welcare. Yeah, there you go, that's one um.

But yeah, it was just an incredible confluence of events because they were out of quarterbacks and John Fox just kind of decided, we can't do anything else, so we're just gonna always run. So that's what they did. I don't think it's going to be that extreme. Again, You've got p J. Walker at quarterback, so why not let that man cook? But yeah, every time things get weird down in Atlanta, they really do well. I was just

thinking about, like yesterday, I asked Steve Wilks. I was like, so, with Cuba's injury, you know, the by committee approach, will you still be doing that because that's pretty much just think back to two weeks and you're sitting here and you're like, man, we're about to see Deonte Foreman and a bunch of raheine black shar if Cuba is not ready to go, you know, and he could be, and that's fine, but if you're still planning on splitting the reps like that, you're gonna get that rookie who had

his first two carries last week back in there and and everyone's super excited about it. I love talking to Foreman in the locker room this week, and I asked him about Raheem and he was he just starts smiling. He's like, oh man him. I love him. He's so cerebral. He's always looking to ask a bunch of questions and talking to I just I really like him. I've been excited for him to see an opportunity perhaps um, but even just getting his first you know, I mean rookie

Virginia Tech. I think he was undrafted from the Patriots, came over here and like the middle of August or September, and and look at him go. It's so funny. Like just think about like where we are right now, the unpredictability of everything, and we're sitting here and it's like if we're taking a by committee approach and Cuba is not a hundred percent, that could see a lot more Raheem black Shar, which I think is exciting because we saw his kick returns. Exactly about to say, I want

to see him be able to return some kicks. He can get out there all of a sudden, you got the ball in the forty five and between that and Pinero and Hecker, I mean, this special teams is special. Look at you, look at that look I see, I see what you did there. But yeah, I mean, and that's the thing. When you're in this situation, all the

other stuff has to go right. And look and think about what we've talked about again, it feels like we've been talking about a two year campaign, a land war in Asia, and it's we've seen seven football games land war in Asia, and I mean it really is winter. But they've been playing clutch and grab on defense and those guys were worn out a couple of times, got scored on late. You've got the numbers behind that, and

you've put them out there all season long. I mean, it's been tough in the fourth quarter, but Sunday, when just a little bit of offense worked, you saw what it looked like. And that's what they're hoping for. But throughout this thing, it's been leaning on the defense, lean on the special teams, and and and they are a lot better this year, There's no doubt about that. Johnny Hecker still looks like the all decade punter from the two thousand tens. And you know. I mean, he's still

getting it done at a high level. So it's interesting to see. Eventually we're probably going to say, let Johnny cook and and let him throw the ball. And there were a couple of moments where it looked like he was going to do that on Sunday, and and that one still that one's still in the holster. So we'll see. Stay tuned. So I want to ask you all about

you brought out the defense? What can we At some point over the summer it felt like there was almost too much depth at cornerback and then and then as you can tell by the yeah oh yeah Tay Hayes. But you look at that group and Dante kept I looked at the snap counts. I'm thinking he may have played. He only missed four snaps and those were very four memorable snaps because he's actually hobbling off the few old and trying to stand up. What did it take for

that secondary to do what they did against Brady? Well, it's so interesting. I talked with Tay about that. Um, first of all, let take Cook. I'm a stand here. He's just such a nice guy, rap like love to death. But I talked with him yesterday and Um he I was looking at snap counts for an article I wrote that should be posting sometime today. Um came in for three if Dante was out for four. He told me he was like, I'm locked into the game. Obviously we

all are. He's like, but I'm watching Dante because I He's like, I tell Dante for every game, like the last two I've been active. I'm like, Okay, look, if you need one play, just tell me. I got you one play. And uh. He goes. And I can tell when he's like pulling out his leg and I'm getting ready and I'm like, oh, here I go, here, I go, here, I go, just like aching for opportunity. Um, which I mean obviously there's the difference between Dante Jackson and he Hayes.

I'm not sitting here saying like, oh, yes, he should start. No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's it's exciting the way they all had to walk in and talking with Keith Taylor especially, you know, he talked about how I mean he even in that reserve role last year to a lot and then this year he's back in it. He's like, it's one of those things that I just expect all the time. He's like, I expect if I

have to come in, I should be ready. He takes a lot of extra time watching film by himself and picking up offensive tendencies. And it's just one of those things where I think they kind of have seen the writing on the wall. I think when I wrote my article where we really saw the injuries kind of manifesting come up was in Los Angeles when Keith Taylor played sixty percent of the snaps and Tay Hayes played nineteen,

which was like his highest thirty since nineteen. The numbers get all jumbled, but um, let's and lot's the numbers. I'm not a number guy, like well, but um, it's one of those things where, um, they're they're just they're staying prepared, and uh, there's a lot of attrition there right now. J C's back to practice, but he told me the ribs is one of those things it's hard to rehab. You know, you just got to be patient.

And he's not a patient guy. He's like, you know, they're limited me at practice, are telling me how many snaps I can go because it's just it's hard, you know, Um, on the ribs. It's not one of those things you can just kind of have to wait it out and be gentle. You can't just like do something extremes. So yeah, and they but to write all summer we talked about depth at cornerback, and I mean, Tay Hayes was the sixth of five and that's why he was on the

practice squad to beginning of the year. Um Stanley, Thomas Oliver gets hurt and now everybody's taking turns being hurt for portions. Jake Anderson was out for a c J was in and out of the game, Dante was in and out of the game, and Dante. It's kind of interesting to me the way people react. People react poorly to Dante coming out with an injury, but he keeps

going back in. I mean, and that's the thing that's kind of impressive about the situation is a lot of guys will go down and stay down and Dante keeps getting up and so I don't know, I that's one of those fan reactions that always kind of confused me a little bit. What do you want a guy to do? I mean, something you've heard me say over and over, injuries are luck. A lot of times, and and so I I don't understand why people get mad at him for luck, But at the same time, he keeps getting

up and keeps getting back in the game. And you know, that's what it took. And and again I've mentioned this a number of times over the last five days. No one expected this. So to pull off this thing that no one expected, you had to have hurt guys taping it back up and getting back in there. You had to have p J Walker playing a game he's never played in his life against Tom Brady, and all of these other things just came together in this incredible package.

So we've talked a little bit about last week, We've talked a little about next week. I want to just kind of throw this out to you guys, because you know, I've kind of been out in the world amongst the Panthers fans, and they're all they're all asking the same question, how do we get a top five pick and go to the playoffs at the same time their own pace there.

I mean, right now, if the season ended today, the Carolina Panthers would pick third overall, which is plenty of position to draft a quarterback if that's what you please. And they are also one game out of first place in the Vision, so get it all over you. I mean, that's where are And that's why it's almost I would think as a fan, it's almost liberating because the burden of expectation you have been freed from that yoke. I mean, it's when you fire coach and you're in an interim situation.

It's the ultimate house money deal because anything that happens is bondus. You know, you already know this thing went off the rails and didn't go how you expected it to. That's what happens when you change coaches in mid season. But for Steve Wilkes, for p J. Walker, and I'll throw Baker Mayfield and Sam Donald into that too, because it almost feels inevitable that we're going to see each

of them again at a certain point this season. Um, there is no there's no way to expect anything that's coming. So I do I think it's got to be a little bit freeing for a fan to not know what's coming because there's no reasonable way to expect it. And and honestly, you look at the stats, and you look at Falcon stats and Panthers stats side by side, and these are not too great teams, and that part of

it you can argue with. But at the same time, one of these teams is gonna have, you know, could have a share of first place in a division after Sunday's game. And I think for me, it's a wanting to go into December, wanting to come out of that Denver game, to go into Seattle, to go into Pittsburgh Detroit and have it be cold, put on your sweatshirt, go to your tailgate, and have something to look forward

to to be like today is gonna be fun. Because if this happens, that this happens, and this happens, then holy cow, you know that's what this is. You know, you talk about showing up to see the thing. You want to show up to see the thing that has some import you know, you want it to to mean something, and it when it's cold and it's football weather and it's Thanksgiving and it's Christmas, you want people talk talking

about your team too. And I think for me, like this idea that fans had in their head, this this argument is out. Oh you know, here we go. We're gonna lose tennan row and we're gonna get like that. No, sorry, all the people who advocate for tanking have never actually been in an NFL locker room or met an NFL player. Because again, for the p J Walkers of the world, the Brandley Bozeman's of the world, the Ta Hazes of the world, this is their opportunity to do what they've

dreamed their whole life of doing. So good luck telling that guy you're supposed to lose. Good luck telling all these other cats out there on the field. Deonte Foreman has been in a spot before. He was a backup with the Titans last year and wasn't planning on playing a lot and Derrick Henry gets hurt and all of a sudden he becomes the guy and ran for over five hundred yards second half of the season. So he he's been in his position before, so it means something

to all these guys. And that's why, you know, the notion of tanking, and and it was kind of interesting the way Steve Wilkes just kind of brushed it off casually. That's also how Steve Wilkes talks. He's very direct and very to the point and very matter of fact of all this. It's like, of course, we're not taking nobody in that room is thinking about that. Of course we're starting p J. Walker, of course, you know. I mean,

that's just how Steve talks. But listening to him explained to people why that is a foreign concept in that room. It's kind of interesting to hear because I think it reflects every individual who walks through those doors. And that was probably hard, too hard to overcome too if last week I just thought about it. We have not taped since the McCaffrey trades happened that day, which is interesting. I was thinking, I was sitting here and I was like, wait,

do we know about that? No, we didn't, hadn't happened yet. It happened about twelve hours later, um, which is crazy because I would have been like eleven PM and I was like barely awake, looked and I was like, oh goodness, what's going on? Um? But yeah, no, you know, I think seeing that that was one thing I loved with talking to the running backs last week or the earlier this week, whatever a week we are in. Um, it's you know, they're sitting here and they see you know,

headline star players gone. It's it's over the team, the season's gone. Blah blah, blah, they're never gonna run the ball again. And then they do what they're able to do, and they hear like, I mean we love Christian you know, don't get me wrong, they said, but like it was like we were proud of that, you know, because it felt like almost like we were being discounted. You lose the star player who's at our position, and everyone just thinks, you know, well, they haven't done anything yet, and then

they are able to do that. Like that that storyline as a whole, just as a football fan, you sit back and you're like, dang, that's cool. I like seeing that, Like it's that's it, and that's like the not tinking mentality. That's what Foreman is good at. I liked it. So for our long time listeners of this veritable podcast, they know that this week we usually do a some combination of favorite all time Halloween costume or worst Halloween candy. We've we've kind of done that, We've we've kind of

used that tray up a little bit. So I'm gonna go in a different direction for you guys as we close out the podcast. Um, for those all of you that watched the locker room video of Steve Wilkes and the team. Uh, and many of you did, and I've

heard a lot of reaction to it. You may have picked up one lone voice in the corner right before he got the ball, coming from Brian Burns saying a Denzel, which leads me to asking you guys, if we could pull it off, which I doubt that he would agree to or that we would, but hypothetically, which famous Denzel meme or gift would you want Steve Wilkes to recreate? And I have some of them right here. I've sent

some of these to Darren. That's easy for me. You go first, Yeah, I mean the boom, Yeah, training day boom. I mean, in fact, I watched training Day on the plane out to l A and in honor of Steve in his first game. But it's yeah, boom seems appropriate for what's going on right now. There's a lot of boom happening in that room. I also like because I think it's in both training Day and in American Gangster

mom man, mom Man, I love I love that one. Well, I was gonna say, I googled it and I was like, oh, yes, I remember this one because things when I see him. Yeah, okay. Yeah. So he's leaning his head back. He's leaning his head back, holding his heart. He's like, thank god, it's relieved. Relieved Denzel Washington. It's one of those things memes. When you mentioned them, I'm like, oh, yeah, I love me was but I can't name off to my head. I just looked up Denzel Washington me and this one came up.

I use this one of my daily life, Like I need Steve folks doing that also. I mean, come on, if you didn't feel like that after, I mean, or just the scene from the gym with him and remember the Titans. Football is fun? Fun is still fun? It's not funny more? Is it's nothing? It's not fun, It's not Is it not fun anymore? Pei? How much fun are we going to have today? No fun? Sir? We need that. I thought so that. I'm I'm a Denzel I should probably watch remember the Titans. Well wait, wait

what you've never seen it? No, I've never seen it. Oh my goodness, I haven't seen anything. And I've seen that. Okay, we have to stop this right now and put it on Darren two hours later, Darren, I'm gonna I'm gonna watch it with you, I'm gonna sit you down and hold your eyes open and make you watch this movie. We'll have movie night. You make me watch Remember the Titans. I'll make you too, watch Blazing Saddles, the greatest movie ever made. Like a Cowboy movie. It is like it

is like it is like a Cowboy movie. Yes, that is that is fair. Yeah, Happy l Hour everybody. It's we're bridging generation. Oh no, I'll watch it. Before the end of the season. We'll have movie night. So in honor of Halloween, to all our fans out there, I have one word bo