Greetings From Your Hometown | Happy Half Hour Ep. 178 | Carolina Panthers

Greetings From Your Hometown | Happy Half Hour Ep. 178 | Carolina Panthers

Hello friends and welcome to a very special edition of the happy half hour wake up cast. I’m awake. I’m here. I’m ready to go. You’re out partying last night getting crazy with the Jonas Brothers. Is that who that was? There. We joked on the way in. It was a contingent of girls here from the Panthers. And we joked that there was um I can say girls cuz I am one. That’s fair. that there was uh a certain age demographic that was there for that concert and it was actually two vastly different age demographics. It was um little girls in pro I would say you know maybe like 8 to 13 and then it was all women that were 25 to 40 and it was those were the two distinct age demographics but had a blast had a ton of fun with the Jonas Brothers in Charlotte. They bring out usually a special guest each show because this whole tour is called like greetings from your hometown and they try to bring out somebody from that town to like do a special with. So we were all tossing around ideas on who it could be like who who are the Charlotte singers you would bring out. George Clinton of Parliament Funkadel. Yeah, that one was on the list. We were going through like Luke Combmes, Rene Brothers, Fantasia, Ait Brothers. It ended up being none of them but it was sweet. They did a finale with their parents and their dad played the piano and sang a song. Their dad is from here and so that was the hometown guest. It was Who knew the Jonas Brothers had their origins right here? Actually, a lot of people cuz their grandmother owns a restaurant here that’s really popular. Which one? Oh, what’s the name of it? Ah, I thought it was not the top of your head. Well, at any rate, whether you’ve eaten with the Jonas Brothers, they’ve never been in my kitchen, but many people have. Uh, welcome to the Happy Half hour. Now that I’ve got Now that What? What is it? Nelly’s. Nelly’s Southern Kitchen. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I’ve heard of that. That is their grandmother. It’s um Yeah, it’s a big week here other than the Jonas Brothers being in town because the New Orleans Saints are coming to town. It’s going to be good to be back in Bank of America Stadium. I mean, I tell people all the time, Charlotte, North Carolina, the center of the universe. The weather, home of the Jonas Brothers. The weather is perfect out there right now. It’s a beautiful fall day. The foliage is kicking and the Carolina Panthers are kicking too after a big win in Green Bay the other day. Everybody’s excited to get back home. But it’s also kind of a weird week because the New Orleans Saints got one win under their belt. They just traded away a couple of players and they’re not feeling great about what’s going on in their lives. But at the same time, your Carolina Panthers are not quite at the point in the development where they can overlook anybody, right? And as Jer Vo said it today during his press conference, he said there This league is built so that anybody in the league can ruin your week if you’re not prepared. So, that’s kind of the mindset your Carolina Panthers have gone into this week with. It’s also a division game. This will be only the second division game the Panthers will have played so far this season. The back half of the season is really heavy with them. And, you know, if you’re going to make a push uh in the division where you’re currently a game and a half behind Tampa, then you can’t overlook any division game. And we’ve se I mean you’re seeing it right now in um the AFC North. like those are teams that you know are are the the difference in talent right now would be considered on paper vastly different but they’re getting into these dog fights with each other and that’s because that’s what happens in divisions and um you can’t there also too I would say I want to say three or four of the Saints losses all came in like one possession games like one score games right and so it’s not like they’ve gotten blown out in every single game. Some of them have been much bigger score differentials. Um, but they haven’t gotten blown out in every single game. They’ve been in a lot of these games. Um, and then there were some that just kind of snowballed away from them. I think what’s interesting is what is the Saints mindset going to be and you can obviously never know. Every team is going to want to win every game. Um, no no team’s ever going to just lay down. But they they did trade away two of their offensive starters this week. Does that have an impact on a locker room? I I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out on Sunday, but yeah, still division game. You can’t overlook anybody. Um and and to your point, Packers, I’m not sorry. I knew I was going to do this. Panthers playing really really well. Obviously, with that Packers win, but like I I think they would all tell you, Evero kind of alluded to it today. I can I can just hear Derek Brown’s voice in my head saying this like we’re not at a point yet where we can afford to overlook anybody. Like there’s still a lot to do. Yeah. and and Derek has taken on that role of the adult in the room. You know, people are used to me being the wet blanket a lot of times in our meetings. I I have to be that guy sometimes, but Derek has taken that on and it’s good for the Carolina Panthers when your best players are also the guys who are preaching that message. And that’s the kind of thing we’ve talked about it over the course of the year. U more than anything else, I think what’s important for the Panthers right now is they’ve kind of established their how. They’ve figured out an identity. They they are learning how they win and they’re kind of wrapping their mind around it right now. And a lot of it comes with cats like Derek Brown being willing to say to everybody else, you know, to kind of wag his finger and say, “You you’re not there yet.” So, you know, they know that. And Derek said it after the game on on Sunday, you know, the Panthers have been that team. They’ve been that team that other people look at as the one you go get an easy win against. and they definitely don’t want to go back to that point and they’re showing signs of emerging from that now and becoming one of those good normal football teams in the middle of the pack in the NFL. So Derek wants he’s seen that he’s lived that he wants to make sure not to go back to that and that’s why he’s he’s willing to kind of be the wet blanket, be the dad of the room and tell everybody to get back to work. On that point too, like you were saying they figured it out how to win. And I’m going to jump topics a little here on you, but whatever. I’ve got the mic right now, so I’m making the rules. At least until I turn it off. Matt, don’t let him do that. Don’t give him that kind of power. If I tell you to land the plane, that means uh wrap it up. We’re done. Yeah. So, anyways, talking about figuring out how to win. I know there’s been a lot of like kind of debate. There’s not necessarily a narrative, but there’s been a debate on um you know, like looking at Bryce’s numbers from Sunday, it was like 11 of 20 for 102 yards. Um obviously there was the wind that was a factor, but you know, he hasn’t necessarily had any games that are like blown out numbers. There have been a couple of though. A couple though, and I think it’s interesting, and I need to actually go back and pull up his page because I’m kind of just doing this off the cuff, off the top of my head. What could go wrong? Yeah, exactly. You’re not going to start mapping spontaneously, are you? I’m just trying to remember off the top of my head, but uh yes, yes, yes. Okay, I was right in 2024. Let’s look I’m sorry, in 2025. Let’s look at 2024. This is fascinating. I’m glad the people who are only listening to the happy half hour presented by our friends at Deep Addy are enjoying this interlude and and I’ll use this interlude and cover for you by talking about our fine sponsor. Look at these graphics in the back. I mean, even with us wearing black, those those logos pop. We enjoy a deep Eddie. It’s good for all seasons. The only win from the past two seasons or the only time that Bryce Chunk has thrown for over 200 yards and won was that Atlanta game in overtime that went to overtime. All the other times, including an 300 plus yard game this season, were in losses against the Cardinals when um they had to they had to throw to kind of get back into it. So, to that point, I think, and Bryce even said this yesterday, like numbers, who cares? Like, there’s really only one number that matters, and it’s win or loss. And that is um kind of to their point of wanting to be a running team and and wanting to control the clock, and they um they figured out how to do that. And and if that means lower passing numbers, so be it. So what? They’re winning. Yeah. And he’s perfectly comfortable in that mode. I mean, Bryce is not a guy who feels like he has to have the ball in his hands at the end of every game. Bryce embraces all that stuff coaches love to talk about, which is a whole team win. And when I talk about the Panthers finding that identity, that’s kind of that place where they’re at. I mean, you know, if you’ve got a Patrick Mahomes or a Josh Allen and you’re willing to say, “All right, big boy, go get it.” You know, cool, good. If you’re not there, if you’re not quarterback, if your quarterback’s not necessarily one of those guys who’s in an MVP conversation all year, what do you do? You build an entire football team. And as they put this thing together over the last two years, you can kind of see that. I mean, last year it was about stabilizing offensive line around them and you bring back a bunch of the same dudes and now all of a sudden when you get in a situation where you’re playing seven different groups of starters in nine weeks and you know maybe looking at at another one coming up this week depending on some injury stuff you never know how that’s going to go. But if you build that stable base around it, it allows your quarterback to grow into this. I was fascinated by Bryce yesterday because Bryce was very he he was very open. He’s always talked about with his foundation he he talks about the importance of mental health and checking in with yourself and he talked about doing that going into that game Sunday. He was like I try to be cognizant of what I need where I am. Am I tense? Am I too loose? Am I you know which way is it going? And and Bryce has that ability. And listen, when quarterbacks start talking about when football people, anybody in this realm starts talking about what’s going on in their head, the way they’re feeling, I think a lot of people kind of recoil a bit like we’re not used to hearing our football people talk like that. But Bryce is in tune with what he is and what he needs. And he’s got a real mature approach about the whole operation. And I think that plays into that broad-based, you know, if you can have a whole team win where it’s because the offensive line’s playing well and can erase Micah Parsons on a given week. It’s because you’ve got two backs in Chuba Hubard and Rico Dael who can go get it done. It’s because you’re throwing it to different receivers every week and one week it’s XL and one week it’s Team and oh by the way, it’s because Derek Brown at defense is playing better than they did at any point last year. Yeah. Um, on that note too, this was just a little aside because you mentioned in there like running the ball to kind of negate Michael Parsons. Michael Parsons said that made a comment on Sunday like that was a boring football game. Like that was shut your mouth like that was a you know it was a boring game plan from the Panthers. Brad Edick laughed today and he’s like, “Okay.” Like he said, “I got a text from my dad after the game that said that was a beautiful football game and his dad was with the the Tampa Bay Bucks kind of during their heyday and he said, you know, they won a lot of games with boring football.” That’s right. And um you’ll take it. And you know what? You can call it boring if you want, but it’s what you’ve got to do to win a game right now. I mean, I I think everybody is kind of wired. they remember what they were around when they were a kid. And whatever football you kind of grew up on is the way you think about football. And I think a lot of people around here, even before they were Carolina Panthers, kind of remember the old Washington teams of the 80s that were built on offensive lines and running the ball and playing good defense. And and because of that, there’s something, I think, inherent about the DNA of Panthers fans because they’ve seen the 96 team get to the championship game based on running the ball, taking care of it, not turning it over on offense, and playing great defense. They remember it based on the 03 team being based on a defense that went from 31st to second in one year and had Steven Davis and Deshawn Foster. And they remember a 15 team going 15-1 without a number one wide receiver, you know, other than Greg Olsen running across the middle of the field because you could run it with Cam and Mike Tolbert and Jonathan Stewart and Fuzzy Whitaker and all those guys, Cameron Artist Payne and continue to do it that way because those guys on the other side including Luke Keequley and Thomas Davis had it locked down. I was watching Monday Night Countdown before the game this past week and they were, you know, kind of talking about what went wrong with the Packers, like, you know, this explosive offense shut down this, that, and the other. And um, Mina kind of made the comment. She’s like, I think what we don’t want to like get lost in all of this is like, sure, the Packers explosiveness might have gotten shut down, but like she said, the Panthers have figured out what works. They’re running the football. They’re stopping the run. That still wins football games most of the time. Having a formula is a good thing and and that being your formula like no matter what football becomes or or changes and you know it’s it goes in cycles like if you can run it and if you can stop the run that’s still going to win you a lot of football games. That stuff’s portable too. You can take it on the road and defense condition. You can uh put yourself in good positions to be like they were last week in Green Bay. And I mean it’s going to be different. I mean obviously back here at home you know the and I do think it’s fascinating how much those guys have talked about don’t get comfortable with it don’t settle in I mean because you know we’ve we see the discussion every week in the NFL somebody gets declared a trap game and you know this could be it I mean but they’ve talked so much about process they’ve talked so much about the way they want to work the way they want to play it’s harder to imagine them falling into that kind of trap right And the fact that you’re coming off such a huge emotional win like Sunday’s which is when a trap game can happen. You could almost argue that that could be what happened with Green Bay. They’re coming off that huge emotional win versus Aaron Rodgers and then this was their next game. But that’s neither here nor there. But coming off of a win like you did Sunday and your next two games both being divisional games, that I think is what can keep you from kind of falling into that quote unquote trap game scenario as well. Mhm. Because this is a this could be a race to the finish. Yeah. With the way this team’s playing. Well, it and the fact that your two Tampa Bay games are two of the last three weeks. No doubt. I mean, you if they continue to play the kind of football they’re playing right now, I if you can envision and without getting ahead of yourself and projecting wins and losses, if you can stay in this competitive 500ish neighborhood going into the last three weeks of the season, guess what? You got Tampa here, Seattle here, and at Tampa Bay to close it out. I mean, a lot of people are gonna want to watch those games because a it could be for the NFC South. It could be for wild card positions. And, you know, who wouldn’t enjoy a good Sam Darnold revenge game? I mean, we we love Sam around here. Sam’s a a Panthers legend and always will be. Made a great t-shirt for us. But, that’s kind of the place they’re at right now. And this is new territory for a lot of fans. And you could see it. I mean, you could see the Panthers fans up in Green Bay the other day. We had some great shots of, you know, the solitary fan out there in a sea of Packers fans just enjoying it because this is such a cool moment and and I think people are picking up on it. That’s why I’m looking forward to getting back here in Bank of America Stadium this weekend. And this kicks off a nice little run, too, because let’s see, this is a home game, but then next weekend is an away game. Yep. at Atlanta, then at San Francisco on a Monday night, San Francisco, but then come home for uh post Thanksgiving game against a redhot Rams team. And so this is a a fun little stretch coming up right here. We knew this is we knew that starting with the Bills up to, you know, Rams and I’m trying to think of who comes right after the Rams um by week that that was going to be Oh, thank goodness. True true story. When I was in college, a young friend of mine, a woman, uh, who was friends of, you know, friend of a friend, she was looking at the college football scores one week and she said, “Where’s BYE?” And I said, “Connect. That’s Brigham Young. Young East. That’s Yeah. And she had no idea. She The idea of by week stomped her by was on the score ticker and she And it stomped you just there, too, didn’t it? I’m not proud. It did. Oh, boy. That’s That’s too That was such confidence. Well, and that’s what threw her for a little bit. Jenny was confused by that and so were you now. So, wow. I have to just own that one. Yeah, you just kind of you’re going to wear that one for a minute. You sure are. But, uh, we’ll just put up a sign. Fooled Cassidy, you know, shows since Cassidy was stumped. We’ll just put the chart up there. Zero uh once again. But, uh, no, bye-week’s coming up. I mean, it it’s weird because the way this season has progressed, you’ve kind of got to this point and everybody’s like, “All right, cool. This is neat. Now there’s four and a by week and then four more.” It’s going to be kind of a race to the finish, but it takes on its own momentum at this point in the season, especially when you can feel like it’s pointing in a certain direction and everybody’s engaged in it. Everybody’s feeling good about what’s going on here. So, good times. Still got to get through Sunday, though. Um, no doubt. New quarterback for the Saints. This will be the second start for Tyler. His name is pronounced, His last name is pronounced not how it’s spelled, correct? I want to say Suge. I think it’s show. Show. It’s not necessarily how it’s spelled. All I know about him is he’s old enough to be off his parents’ insurance. So, but young enough to be a rookie. Yeah. Young enough to be a rookie quarterback. The new college football landscape now. Yeah. 26. It is. It is pronounced shock. I was Yeah, it is pronounced shock. Like all day since Darren was right or wrong. Day since Darren was wrong, man. I’m locked in Panthers football. I’m in the tunnel. I’m But yeah, that he’s a guy, you know, Nick Scott said yesterday like you watch him and he’s like, you know, he’s still he’s still young, but he’s got a lot of of intangibles. He’s like, I think he’ll play in this league for a long time. And um so do they what does it look like now that they’ll have had two weeks to kind of develop this offense under him? Um does that change things at all? Obviously Rasheed Heidi not being there is going to change things. Does that mean Chris gets more balls? Do they bring somebody else up? Um they don’t use a lot of wide receivers so it’s it’s going to be interesting. But Alvin Chimera has not really done much this year either. And so but he is still Alvin Chimera. I mean, he’s got the resume, he’s got the reputation, so you can’t take him lightly. Um, yeah, Cam Jordan on the other side, that’s not somebody that’s ever gonna give up in a game. And so, no. And and he’s giving them fits. I mean, the Panthers are 15 and 15 against the Saints all time here in Bank of America Stadium, but they’ve won three of their last four against the hated Saints right here in the friendly confines. So, it’s a big week. I think a lot of people are excited. Big week all the way around. Our friends at Charlotte FC are about to go game three Friday night. Be here for that one against the hated NYCFC’s. We hate NYCFC. That is a mouthful. Yeah, it is. You should see You should see what it looks like when they’re playing their home games in Yankee Stadium. Their field’s about this big. It’s very It’s very little. They call themselves the pigeons. The pigeons. I don’t know. I’m I’m Forgive me. I’m not super into MLS, but our broadcasters were calling them the pigeons. I don’t know if that’s a term of endearment or something that they have embraced themselves. I think might just be winging it, but I’ve heard it from other like Apple TV people, too. So, I don’t know. But yeah, so the pigeons, that is probably the least fearsome mascot I’ve ever encountered. I know. You ever been in Central Park trying to eat like some peanuts or something with them pigeons come by? Them things are pretty fierce. They want those. They want everything. You got attack pigeons. Yeah. But uh we’ll we’ll get the pigeons out of here. We’ll uh we’ll show them what it’s like here in Charlotte, North Carolina. But I’m excited. Friday night, Charlotte FC playoff game, game three. Win or go home, right? Win or go home. We’re already home, so it’s a good thing. Uh so Charlotte FC Friday night, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon. Hey, our winners of the Deep Eddie contest will be at the Sunday game, right? That’s right. We’ll have to check them out pregame. We’ll slide over to that Deep Eddie suite and see what’s going on over there. I’m sure they’ll have some swag for us to go with that which they have already sent us. Maybe you can wear that Christmas sweater that looks so good on me. I have started listening to Christmas music. So, it’s a little too soon for that. No, Darren, don’t try to take my joy. No, I I want everybody to be happy, but it’s too soon for Christmas music. We got We got to We got to embrace Thanksgiving. We got to embrace the gratitude of the season. That’s uh what we’re all here for. We’re thankful for you guys tuning into the Happy Half. We’re thankful for our friends at Deep Eddie. Chuck the Duck sitting up there on top of the bottle. He’s got the best seat in the house. Speaking of the best seat in the house, we’ll see you right here Friday night for Charlotte FC, Sunday afternoon for Panther Saints. Until next time, this has been the Happy Half hour. [Music]

Today on the Happy Half Hour, Darin and Kassidy praise Derrick Brown for continuing to step into a leadership role, preview the Panthers home game against the Saints, discuss the special teams unit, and so much more!

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