Happy Half Hour Episode 83: Look Good, Feel Good

It's the Happy half Hour podcast with your friends Darren, Augusta and Kristen. And we're taping this episode on a Wednesday morning because it is Thursday Night Football week, which means everything gets truncated into a few days. Darren's already of course, this is a podcast you can't see. But Darren's already laughing. Yeah, I'm glad you said it was Wednesday morning, because I've kind of lost track of time anymore. Week. The only reason I know it's Wednesday morning is because

it's the day before a game. That's the only and it's Thursday Night football, so that's the only way I couldn't place it. They even threw us in the cafeteria. Yesterday, Jackie wrote waffle Wednesday on the board at breakfast and I was like, wait, what, huh what? No, you know, it wasn't Wednesday yesterday, It's Wednesday today. But yeah, football coaches, it's football. Weeks are built on routine. So you know, on Monday you watch the film from the previous game.

Tuesday's player's day off. Wednesdays the big practice day, and Thursdays the next big practice day. Friday, you're just polishing stuff up, walking through and then you're out the door. Well, on a short week, Monday was both a Monday in a Tuesday and a little bit of Wednesday, and Tuesday was Wednesday and Thursday combined. And so I guess that makes today Friday. Today is Friday. Technically according to the football it's Wednesday. So I mean, listen, I have pants on,

I have I am at confirmed. So we've got that going for us. That's about his best you can hope for during a short week. Ben McAdoo laughed. He was talking about something unrelated the other day and he said, it's about putting ten pounds and you know what in a five pound bag, And that's what a short week in the NFL, you do six days worth of work in three and make the best of it. Yeah, and you know, we landed on Sunday night. We all are lucky enough to fly on the team plane when we travel.

We landed on Sunday night, UM, and the players had to report to the stadium for treatment. You know, That's that's part of this truncated week, which is everything is so condensed. They've got to turn their bodies around. They gotta turn the page mentally after the game in Cincinnati and be ready to play UM in twenty four plus hours from the time of this recording. AUGUSTA, how's it been for you? This is your first Thursday night football turnaround? Yeah,

it's been fun, chaotic. It feels definitely kind of rushed. I think the weirdest part was how late the practice was on Monday, and then given the time change, which I know we're all also that's another element of everything. It gets dark at like five o'clock. Now it's dark at five o'clock. So we're out here and the sun's going down at practice, and these shadows are super long and it's Golden Hour and got some amazing photos are photographer Kenny did and Darren tweeted about them. But they

were just gorgeous because it was golden our practice. But I mean, you know, you go from last week where it's the middle of the day practice that we're used to go out and it's like the sun is going down and it's Monday and why are we out here? And everything is kind of twisted. But um so at the time change on top of that, everything is kind of weird. It feels like we've entered a new, a

new dimension right now. And I'll be interested to get your take on the actual day of game as well, because it is a very I'm certainly again for us, it is so much less than for the players, right But but even from our perspectives, writers, reporters, waiting until eight kickoff, it's a it's a different thing. You know, it's game day, um, And we had it a little bit in the preseason. We saw it a couple of times.

But there's this you've got the whole day, but you know you don't have the whole day because you've got to be the stadium at this time. There's a game that's coming. But that's its own kind of thing too, because it's uh, it's late. It's just the whole week

is just totally different. You see a little aunty, but in the good way, you know where It's like I look up and it's two o'clock and I'm like, oh, I have something very important in six hours, and I'm just gonna I'm just gonna not think about it too much, don't get in your head too much. I wonder how I need to ask that to some of the players, like how do you go with the whole day routine? Because I think like when you have a one pm or four pm, you don't have a ton of time

to get in your head. But an a p M. If I was in their shoes, my goodness, I'd be like, cool. The good news is you're young, so you can probably still sleep. You know. It's like when I talk to my daughter who's in college, you'll wake up at the crack eleven, and um, I can't do that anymore. I'm

up all night anyway. But um yeah, I mean it is it's a day, it's an event, and I've often you know, the worst thing is a night game on the road, because then you wake up in a hotel and it's like what do I do in this place? All that was us last year in Houston. Yeah, you're stuck and you're like, you go to the stadium like seven hours early. You know, why not let's go for a walk or something. Yeah, I mean it's it is bizarre, but players do and and I've heard Jake talk about

this before. He's like he would get antie on game days and it's like, what do I do with myself? There's only so much film you can watch, you know, you end up just killing time and uh, and you know, but before we know what, it'll be Thursday night football. It's the rematch of Falcons Panthers, all black uniforms, black helmets. I do want to talk about all of that, but oh, we gotta go back to the Sunday game. Put a little bow on it before we I think so, I

think so. What I would like to know is, um, what did you both learn from that game? What are your big takeaways from that game? Even if it's just about how everyone's putting it behind them, Like, what are your big impressions coming out of this week? From that standpoint, the short week is good news because it's not an extra couple of days talking about how bad that was what Austin Corbett told me. He was like, that's a

great thing about having a Thursday night football game. To turn the page that much in a sixteen seventeen games season, there is going to be one every year where any team just looks like a flat tire. And to be fair, the Bengals had that game the game before the Panthers against the Browns. Although the Panthers appear to be some kind of gooch that whoever plays them, whoever they play, loses the next week, they are they are teams that play the Panthers one week are o and eight the

next week, So it's got to count for something. Bes the Bengals were screwed, so um yeah, I mean, there's one of those every year, and I didn't necessarily expect it to be last week, especially with the way they played the previous two weeks and beating the Bucks the way the fourth quarter in overtime went down in Atlanta the other week. You thought they were playing hard, they were fighting, but there's just an emotional pitch of those two weeks that's hard to sustain over a long period

of time. And you knew eventually the Wheels would fall off and the guys just wouldn't play well. But I didn't expect it to happen the way it did that quickly and all at once. That that was one of the damnest first halfs of football I've ever seen in my life. There down thirty five to nothing. They didn't move the ball at all. What nine yards passing in the first half. PJ threw a couple of picks. He was bad PJ again. Um, they just the only first down they achieved was by Ingles penalty. So it was

that kind of day and everything went wrong. So you know, Baker goes in the second half, and I kind of laughed in the post game because to his credit, I mean, there's you know, anytime there's a quarterback change, people are gonna want to talk about that, and people somebody asked Baker something about, well, you had a really good second half, and he kind of laughed, like, come on, this wasn't real.

It was a real defense. I was playing. Told their starters it was very great inflation the fact that he did anything at all. You know, they were just trying to get out of there. So to his credit, he wasn't putting too much on that three touchdown drive second half. He was able to author there. So it was a mess and it's over and again those guys are glad to be able to talk about anything else because that

was awful. That's true, O Gausta, what have you heard and talking to the players, So basically right now, it's it is like you said what Corbett said, just kind of moving forward. I was going to point out too, I know I talked about glows and grows last week. I was gonna talk about two glows from a very a game full of opportunities to grow. But Terris Marshall and Rheim last year both had their first career touchdowns and I talked with both of them. I talked with

Terris after the game for terrorists. It was I got to try to preview right before it. But you know, he was, uh he was seeing some of his college teammates. He saw Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and and uh so, so getting to do that, it's like, that's gonna be memorable for him. So if you look at it from an individual standpoint, that cool. And then Raheem Black Share just one of the most just grateful players to just be here on this roster. I love talking with him.

We saw him yesterday in the hallway and he was like, that was Jonathan Taylor, like over there was so cute, so uh, you know all these things so um but yeah, I think uh that that that that they're moving forward, Like even talking with her him this week, you know, what was it like in your first touch on He was like, I mean we lost. I really don't want to, you know, talk too much about it, Like he was

very honest about it. Um, just moving forward, also moving forward with p J kind of keeping some consistency with a short week. Um that I you know, Steve Wilkes explained that decision. It's a short week and Sam's activated, but you know, we'll have time to actually practice because that's what's interesting is that they're not actually going through like padded practices right now. It's just a bunch of walkthroughs,

a bunch of walkthroughs, um, which makes sense. So it's it's it feels like truncated almost like in a way where it's like, okay, moving forward, not making a ton of adjustments that kind of thing. Yeah, I mean that is the nature of a short week and Thursday night football is that you have got to go with what's already there for the most part, because there is As you said, I guess there's no time to um get

too crazy and make too many different adjustments. So Darren, Okay, I know this isn't question that you can't answer, but I always like to ask you these cords. If you're a fan, you're coming out to this game, what do you expect? Like? What should you expect? Is it the team that faced Atlanta uh eleven days ago or is it the other than a tropical storm that? Um, but those games often get weird, and weird isn't always bad in the NFL. I mean, sometimes some things happen and

you can never account for the conditions in advance. But um, I truly think. I mean, they have been so competitive the two previous weeks, and Steve Wilkes does appear to have this bunch's attention, uh, And I think with what happened earlier this week, they come on from Cincinnati and change out two coaches, let a couple of guys go. I think if anyone's focus wasn't on Steve and and what he's trying to get across, it probably should be

after that. So I would be surprised if they played the way they did in the first half again, since now I really would, uh, and in the absence of Christian McCaffrey and the absence of all the stuff that was normal the first part of the year, you know, go back to what they did the two weeks prior, which was a whole lot of Deonte Foreman Cuba Hubbard

has practiced. This week's a little better, so because so I think they could have a little more of a run game established this week, and especially if it's gonna be raining, I think that's gonna be a priority, is is getting that part of it established. You know, we know they made improvements on the offensive line. They've shown signs against the Bucks and the Falcons that they can run the ball, and when those two things happen, then

p J can occasionally make some plays downfield. But that's the first thing that needs to happen, and it never happened up in Cincinnati the other day. So I think they should bounce back. I think they're getting closer to it. Um, you know, they're they're gonna have to stop some people on defense. They're gonna have to keep Marcus Marriott in the pocket and keep him from rambling around for thirty

yard scrambles like he did in overtime. And and you know, it feels like a hundred years ago, but it was what ten days ago when Brian Burns missed that tackle and could have forced them to point, could have forced you know, whatever would have happened next in that game. So, um, I think they're in decent shape considering, I mean as good as shape as a two and seven team that's already fired a head coach and a couple of assistants and traded its best offensive players going to be. It's

a well said, well said, great caveats right there. Like that. Another thing that that I know internally we're all excited about. And um, you know the results of last week notwithstanding, I think the fans are excited about is it is the black helmet game in all caps black helmets, something that the fans have wanted to see for years now. Um. I know there are former players that are jealous that they don't get to wear the all black uniform and

the black helmets. And and that's a big deal. You know, it's Thursday football. Amazon has eighty five trucks here, you know, production trucks. Um, this is a big game. UM, I have a question for for you too, Darren. You've seen a lot of Panthers games, a lot of uniforms. Are you a uniform guy? We know? We know will we know Panthers stats guys. Um the uniform aficionado of the Panthers. He's always got the unique combos when they come out.

Is that something that interests you at all, Darren? Only vaguely, you know, I see. And that's one of the interesting things about this is talking to some of the guys around the locker room. It's not as huge a deal for some of the younger guys because anybody that's played in college the last now you've got eight thousand univers combinations used to alternate helmets, they are used to J. J. Jansen's played nearly two hund games here and they've all

been in a silver helmet. So, I mean he's kind of looking around like, oh, this is different, you know, And he admitted, I don't know what it's gonna be like. I'm not a huge uniformed guy. I'm kind of, as you might have guessed, a little bit of a traditionalist about this. I kind of like silver Bridges black jerseys. I think that kind of the Yeah, I think that's kind of when I think of what a panther's uniform

looks like. That's kind of what's in my mind. And over the years, I know a lot of people really like those alternate blue jerseys, and yeah, and I love the color Rush the blue owned blue for the Thanksgiving game the other year. I just looked at it that kind of it's like a shock to your eyeballs. Um and and that might be a little much, but the white Bridges blue jersey is kind of growing on me. I mean, when guys wear white shoes with that, they

look fast, so it's kind of a neat look. But I'm not a huge jersey guy, so the black on black on black is uh, maybe lost on me. But I also understand I'm not the target demographic. I'm also not a big uniform person. You know that people say, well, what what combo are they gonna wear? And this, and I'm like, I don't know, whatever combo they come out with, you know, is that's going to be on the field.

But I did love the Thanksgiving color Rush jerseys. Those really stand out to me, and I am very excited to see these all black uniforms, especially with it being a night game. You know, I know the people internally worked really hard to to get this um through and and to make it happen, and Augusta, you know, coming from college, I do think it. I think it makes a difference in how excited the players are, how hyped up. You know, you look good, you feel good, you know

kind of a thing. I do think that it gives them a little extra bounce for this game, exactly exactly. Well, it's funny because I went to Georgia as it was so funny. On Saturday when we were traveling, I was warning my Georgia share because George played Tennessee and it was awesome. Shot Thompson that game. It went excellent. Shaq Thompson gets off the elevator and he goes, Augusta, we get it. You went to Georgia, which I think is just the funniest thing ever because yeah, yeah, he was

like just stopped. But I can't. But anyway, it's funny that we're talking about black helmets, black jerseys, because that was something during my time at Georgia. Anytime they brought out the black jerseys, it was like the whole world stopped and everyone was so excited. And and I will say, at least in Georgia's case, it was one of those things where the black jerseys. We were always kind of pinsive about it because we were like, oh, those games

were always very close for no reason. But you know, I think they look really cool. I love seeing the helmets up close there, like Matt Black really cool looking. Um, I am with Darren and you, Kristen. I'm not like

a huge uniform person. My favorite thing about uniforms is tweeting about them and getting the reactions in my mentions when people get so upset about the sock color, and you know, they'll be like, I can't believe the socks are white and the shoes and I'm just like, I don't get this, but I admire this for something so fun, You're putting it out there for engagement. I like, I like this is gonna get of replies. I love it,

and I don't know what they're talking. Like, I'll take a photo of Eddie Pinero and I'll be like, all right here they're in a white jersey again, and someone will be like, why is his suck that way? I just I love it. I love it so I love watching how people get about it, and I want to be a part of that. Maybe someday, maybe I'll analyze my photos of the jerseys and figure out my my deep opinion. I do like the font that they put on the back of the jerseys here. It looks very

block and cool. I agree with that. I agree with that. Alright, well, we are gonna report back from the other side after this Thursday night football game. We know that we'll have a lot to talk about next week no matter what. And in the meantime, everybody, enjoy Thursday night football, enjoy the mini bye week for all the fans on the back end of it, and we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening.