Tuts do whoa.
It's time for the Happy half Hour, presented by Southern Star, an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. Here are your hosts, Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
A good quarterback can thrive in chaos. A great quarterback can slow down time to negate the chaos. There's a moment before the ball is snapped, when everything is still. That's when the quarterback assesses everything around him, who is where, who is rushing? Who is his best matchup. When the ball is snapped, twenty two pieces are thrown into the air and the passer has a finite amount of time
to put it back together. Dave Canalys has made a career out of helping a quarterback slow down that time, put the pieces back together with these and make the decision in the quickest window possible. Throughout his career, he's analysed film and practices and the best of the best in the game to determine if a quarterback can get the ball out in two point seven seconds, he has the best chance of making the right decision and lowering
the risk of turnovers. Canalis has now spent this off season thus far helping quarterback Bry shan get his throwing time down to that two point seven seconds, but of
course it's easier said than done. In this particular happy half hour, we were able to sit down with bry Schan, offensive coordinator Brad Izick, and corner JC Horn to discuss the philosophy of two point seven, how to adjust the receivers to make it viable, and why Deontay Johnson has become such an important part of this process for the Panthers.
Bry Schank has spent this off season working on perfecting his throwing time and making it not as much about the actual time but the idea of bending time to his will. Young spoke about the philosophy of two point seven, the importance of working on the scramble drill or second play, and how he is molding it all to his game.
A couple of.
Weeks ago, you and I were talking and you said that the two point seven time thing, to you, is more of a philosophy than like a set time. What is the philosophy?
It's just being as efficient as we can through our reads, and then kind of knowing what reads or stuff that we should be able to get through realistically, and what reads are like you know, are kind of bonus stuff. And then knowing once you get to that point, and plus you know you're probably gonna you know, expecting movement again.
You know, I have all the utmost faith in my line and uh, you know, and and and protection up front, but you know, it's the NFL, and there's people that pay a lot of money on the other side, so make their jobs hard.
So you know, again being realistic.
We talked about two point seven, you know, being realistic, knowing what we should be able to get through, what we should be able to anticipate their being movement and things starting to break down, and then knowing you know, when we get into that time period, it's kind of on us. You know, we gotta We're gonna have to extend something, We're gonna have to uh make something, have to get there, and then if we get don't get through there escaping and start the second play with that.
Uh. The second place specifically is that like think, okay, it makes sense, but I wanna hear it from your point of view, Like this play is done, let's start the second one of this scramble is that the is that that internal clock going golf? Is that just seeing what's the very what's not.
Yeah, kind of a mix of little mix of both.
Uh.
Again, most of the time it's just so it it internal clock and then again through concept you can if you've got five reads or you know you got four because you know, the bat guy taking up a protection and you get through four, you know a lot of concepts. You know, you're gonna know the concepts that if you get through four and they're not stuff that's gonna stay on the move or you know is whatever it is, you're gonna have to uh, you know you're gonna have to extending.
You know, from a.
Defensive standpoint, you know, you gotta guard four to five shits of routes and then you know when you move. You know, our receivers do a great job during scrambled jail of seeing that breaking off their route and then coming at a different angle.
And you know, for the DBS, you know, it's like you gotta.
Guard a route and then now all of a sudden, you thinking about guarding one route. Immediately they you know, they you know, a receiver and scrambledill is gonna like break off to a different area.
So it's kind of why we say the second play for them.
It's like running a second route kind of starts a second mind everything resets for DB's receivers us.
So that's kind of the mindset for.
Dave said yesterday that Deontae has been the best at that through camp.
Like on the receiver end.
Why is he so good at it and why does it work for the.
Two of y'all?
Uh?
I think j just has a great natural feel, uh, really good body control. It's great just to you know, he could be running full speed one way and and stop on a diamond get back the other way, uh from that route. So it just has a great instinct for a great feel. Again, I've i've uh all the faith in the world on all the other receivers as well, But you know, it's just someone who I he's been been playing for a while, has a great feel for
that stuff. So for everyone, we're just kind of trying to continue to build on that.
It seems like maybe maybe it's Patrick Holmes, maybe it's whoever. Like that scramble stuff has become so like people like to see it as a highlight, But can you compete in the NFL without the deep ball?
You know, I think really it's again I I I think for for for us, we wanna be as as balanced as possible. You know, Uh, I think it every you know, every play is is different.
You know.
For us, we part ourselve on being able to take all the defense gives us. You know, we wanna establish the run, put off that run. But you know, obviously we're we're gonna, uh look to push the ball down the field when the opportunity presents itself. So you know, I think for us, it's it's you know, trying to create a as efficient of an operation as possible.
The efficient operation kind of just going back to the timing part of it. Da've mentioned that's so much when he first got here, whether it's a philosophy, whether it's a a p horn going off in your head or around you, can you really change that if you've been playing quarterback.
A certain way the whole time, Uh yeah, your whole life.
Yeah, I mean, I I think that you know, obviously you you haven't turned arounds from some experience with stuff, but uh, for me, for us, you know, it's all about buying into to the system, and you know you're always making little changes, little nuances. You know, we've all had been in different backgrounds, have different backgrounds, different systems, different coaches. So you know, I think as athletes, we're
used to switching little things up. You know, there's always gonna be that core player of who we all are, and there's certain stuff that I you know, you're gonna keep the you know, it's just gonna be you.
But it's just finding a ways to be you within the system. And I think.
Coach and Awas is a great job of talking about that is you know, he he doesn't want guys to just come in and be robots and come in and just be x's and o's on a on a paper on a you know, a piece of paper. He wants us to be ourselves just you know, find our the ways to be ourselves within the system.
And I think we're all kind of working towards that.
Just wrapping up, speaking of being yourself, I know Austin having a baby on Saturday was probably part of this reason for not going under center. But what part of your game can be unlocked in the shot in the pistol?
You know, for me, I I I pride.
Myself in you know, being able to you know, whether it's from undergun pistol, whatever it is, just you know, being able to be efficient in all three and whatever is necessary. And you know, for the coaches, I wanna make sure that whatever they feel like, uh from a schematic standpoint, gives us the best opportunity. I'm able to you know, I'm able to operate at at the same level. So again, I us coaches and whatever it may be.
You know, I feel comfortable wherever uh they asked me to be, so uh yeah, again, I think they're gonna do a great job of balancing, you know, all those different formations and what gives us.
The best show played in the SEC, which obviously has like some of the biggest and fastest. But your first year in the NFL, did it surprise you or did you notice a difference when you're like reading the pass rushers how much faster they might have been or or were they.
Uh yeah, I think it was just uh, I think one of the biggest things that you know, obviously, you know, rookie year whatever, everyone asked, oh, what's the difference, what was the biggest ever? And for me, I think it was just it's just a lot of really good players. I think that you see, you know, you you go up, growing up, you see a lot of good plays. But I think it's just at this level you see so many good players and so many good plays get made
on a consistent basis. I think it was just you know, in college of plays that you get to see made four or five times a game, you're like, oh, wow, that was you see that, you know, on every play from both sides of the wall. So for me, I think it was just again, he's the best players in the world, people that have been playing for a long time. In some people's cases, you know, are are you know, going up against the best every single day.
So you know, for me, it's it's I really enjoy it. I enjoy the challenge.
It's it's great for me as well, just having to be my best knowing that everyone else is being their best.
So, you know, I feel like that was really the biggest.
Thing Brad is it because in his first season as offensive coordinator and with a background as a wide receivers coach, he brings a unique perspective to the pass catching unit and has spent this off season helping them shape their game to this idea of a second play, creating their own internal clock that is intrinsically tied to Young's price has kind of been talking about like finding the second play, and like, especially on scrambles, you know when that clock,
which I'm guessing is around two point seven or three seconds, goes off to find a second play.
Yeah, I think a lot of us.
Just think of it as like, oh, that's a that's a scramble drill, Like they're just kind of it's a sand light out there that But how much of that is still like within a script if that makes sense.
Yeah, there's that one.
There's rules to it, and it's all about just field.
Displacement and like where God finds himself You'd say he's either scrambling left or scrambling right. Okay, where do you find yourself? Where's the open space? We need to you know, occupy that vacant space. And then the second piece when we work it, we preach it to our guys camp is ball finds energy. So it's it's for the guys who are running routes and a scramble occurs or you know, the second play occurs.
It's all about that first initial movement.
Like a corner feels like a concept developing a safety is attaching to a concept.
And then a violent over a different direction.
It just explodes all of their rules. It destroys all their feel for what's going on. It's not I don't want to say it's not normal football anymore, because it is. It's still the second play, but that first initial movement, no matter where you are on the field, it now disintegrates and puts them in some sort of chaos on defense where they're now just trying to Oh gosh, it's
like fight or flight. It's like I gotta go, And we got to initiate that with our first you know, violent movement to the scramble, like violent movement shutting down a route because I'm in space or whatever it is wherever you find yourself.
So we do rule up like finding vacant space.
We do the concepts together that try to help place us in those positions to occupy space. But then also that first initial movement is so important, and it's hard for guys to wrap their head around because they're focused on executing the first play. Okay, every now and again, you gotta sprinkle in, Hey, first play is done, who's gonna show me that They're gonna consistently show us that first violent.
Movement is that thinking like, okay, the first play is done. Now it's time to make that move. Is that something that you want the receivers or whoever's like could be a pass catcher on that play? Is that something you want them watching price to take their clue from. Or do they have sort of a clock in their head as well?
It's there's a clock in their head too, and that goes with the first concept too. They the reason you rep things so many times is you can get so many different looks from the defense that you need to rep all these plays against all those different looks, and you need to building a time clock in your head of oh, this is not this is not normal, right, this is this is an extension of the play been
too long? And that's when we want their antennas and their muscle memory's to think, I gotta go, you know what I mean? This the first one's over. I gotta go, And where can I stick my foot in the ground and get open in this new vacant space for our quarterback?
Is the making the explosive part of it? Is that why Deonta is so good at it?
Oh yeah, he's so good at setting guys up and he's got such great lateral quickness that he's gotten no problem.
It comes so natural for him.
It came up on that first drive. His catch was a perfect example of it. It actually came up a couple other times in that drive. You didn't get the ball, but you see the one that Bryce threw away too. You can see Deontay continuing to work for him in the.
Back the back of the end zone there.
So he has that naturally, and a lot of that is attributed to his you know, his reps of puts in the ground. I'm gone, I'm the hugest thing alive. He's gotten a lot of catches this offseason from it. But he's also got a lot of experience with Ben Roethlisberger, who extended a ton of plays in Pittsburgh.
I told him yesterday I went back and watched.
Explosive plays from him from the last three years and so many like I think it's whatever Ben's last year was three years ago.
Like twenty twenty maybe, yeah, something like that.
Was there was still some clips on there. So whatever years I used, it included ends last year. There's so many of those, like extension of the play, and Ben's looking for him. So if you consistently are the guy who's putting your foot in the ground and continuing to work, the quarterback naturally is like, that's my guy.
Yeah, where's Dante, that's my guy?
Where's Adam?
You know, where's Mingo? Where's Tommy? Where's the back? Like?
Who whoever? Does it well? And the goal is to have five guys doing it well, so it doesn't matter who it is. It's just, oh, okay, where's my space?
Yeah?
I know a guy's gonna be working for me. So we've worked it in the off season. It's hard to get into their head because it's not like you want to execute the first play right, but you also want to build in the mess of memory of them everybody working and working to space so we're not crowding you know, certain areas for Bryce.
But Bryce has done a great job.
Too of owning, Hey, when a play breaks down, it's not perfect in practice, initiate the second play. It's a great opportunity. Even if you get a clean shoulda beyond off the edge. He sacked you and practiced, they're not going to touch you. Initiate the second play. Let your other guys start working for you. Working these different levels of the scramble drill.
Of the second play.
Yeah, so what does this all mean for a defense? We talked to Eugene Robinson earlier in the summer about this topic, but J. C. Horn was able to provide some boots on the ground insight as to how Young's game has been shaped, what Johnson is bringing. And while the second play really does blow everything up, since Canalis has gotten here, he's kind of pushed Bryce to get his throwing time down, and that like implements itself into
more scramble drills. So be it just from what you've seen in practice, like has that throwing time lessoned?
First of all, I think it's throwing time. He didn't got better with him, you know, just going throughout camp. I remember the person the first couple of practices and when I noticed you, like he was throwing it before they got out of the breaks, Like even if we got it like today, he threw it out out of tay And I just wrote, like down there and the Paul its just soon as you gotta break it was just right there. So when you have no time to make it, play on it.
But I think Brightman doing a good.
Job at this time and just you know, getting the reps down with Tabe, with Thilan and Mingo X and uh they finding they they find it, they rules. So you know, I definitely think you're doing a good job with it.
When Morey one of the other things they've taught him is like, if you get to two point seven, se if you get to three seconds in that place, not there, go to the second place. M Yeah, And that's the scramble from a D defensive back to point of view, how much harder or is it easier? I don't know, is is it harder or easier to defend a scramble?
Drill?
What's it look like from you where they took me? Where they took it?
Cause uh, J if you just look at guys like Pat Mahomes, Josh Allen, you know Lamar, some of the guys that's like the best in the league with scrambling. They're sending plays, you know they offense is offenses tend to do better just because you gotta cover a guy twice as a diffusing that. So it's always tough and you gotta have good eyes, you gotta it's just basically like a cat mouse, like you just chasing cause of quarterback and the receivers though it's.
No play for them.
Yeah, they just running around trying to get over.
So it's DV.
You're not really reading formation or reading tendencies. They just running trying to get over and you just chasing him.
Just the best at it that you re faced.
Quarterback, You saying that I face Uh probably lamar yeah, lamar uh, pretty good at it. I think Joe Burrow real good.
And it's sitting in plays and you know, making throws a different type of throws from different English. And I think Pat Mahomes obviously the best in the league at it, and we see him the shares.
That'll be fun.
But yeah, there's a couple of good guys then that's real good at it.
And then from a panther's point of view, it's they've talked about like Deontay being so good at when Bryce needs to break and kind of scramble, you cover him a lot. Why is he so good at it?
Oh?
Just uh, Deontay got a special way of just getting out of breaks fast, also very acceptive, and he be looking like he like bys and almost and then just cutting break take off on you. So I think that's what made beyontay Rill do with scramble drill like his in and out getting in and out of it races?
I think he wanted investing.
Where to get at cools, ma, ma'am, no problem.
Thank you to all three guys for their time and insight. Over the next few weeks, The Happy half Hour in Panthers dot Com will wrap up our dive into every facet of this idea of two point seven seconds. And if you haven't already, make sure to listen to our first two episodes in this series with former Panthers quarterback Jake Delane and former safety Eugene Robinson. Stay tuned to Panthers dot Com and The Happy half Hour for more as we strive to understand what it takes to slow down time