Jim Harbaugh in the Carolinas?

And it's time to talk a little Panthers football with Lauren Brownlow, sad Panthers fan.

Were you sad Panthers fan on Sunday even more than usual? It was like a slow bleed. You know, it was a slow bleed out.

They never make it quick for me. You can see it happening, like in slow motion. You know it's happening. You know how this will end. And I knew like from the moment of Darnold's first turnover, I'm like, here we go. You know, but I held out some hope. And then as it kept happening, you're like, yep, yep.

This is how I think it will. I hung on until the final Darnold turnover. And then I was like, I'm out.

I know they made it a game or whatever kind of technically in the very technical sense of the word, but I was out by then. I, you know what? It's like life's too short and I have enough stresses on me to like have hope for this team and this franchise to do anything significant until they show me that I should believe that again. If that makes sense, it all makes sense whenever. Look, a lot of people can can empathize with being a fan of a franchise that seemingly has no direction and is poorly run to boot. I have been a Mets fan my entire life, Lauren Brownlow. I understand. Yes. Right. Well, I'm a recovering Jets fan.

I'm not a Jets fan. That's right. Yeah.

Forgot about that. We've we've given them a while, though. You hung in a while.

I did. I hung in for a long time. I hung in until about three years ago. And if I were a Jets fan, this year would have killed. This was such a Jets year. Right. They were right there. Now they've lost five in a row and now they're nowhere. But here's the thing.

In the fourth quarter, when Darnold hit she Smith with the Shy Smith, Shy Smith with the touchdown pass, it's twenty one to ten. So take me into the emotions there. I still was just like, that's it. Like, I had a little bit of hope at that moment.

I really did. But I think it was the drive after, if I'm not mistaken, or it was at least very early. Yeah. It was early, early in the fourth. It was right after that drive that the Patriots basically are the Patriots and the Patriots. Exactly.

Basically like score in like two plays or whatever it was that another long bomb to Mike Evans. And I'm just saying, look, Steve Wilkes, I love you, dude. I really do. But do we have safety help? Would it have even mattered? I don't know.

You know what I mean? Like, who are you going to put on Mike Evans? It's a fair question to ask, because at the like at that point, Panthers fans were like, put in the dude that we just hired who was like serving coffee eight days ago, like Josh Norman. I love Josh Norman.

I love Josh Norman. And I'm not saying that he like at that point, would it have been worse? I don't know. You know, maybe not. But it was like, can we get some safety help on that guy? And I just knew that's the thing. The Panthers do not have the defensive backs to cover hips, right?

Plano do not. They get in a rhythm. We're done because the Panthers are just not a team that can outscore anybody. So when they scored that fast and then the Panthers, I think went three and out or either that or turn it over. I'm just like, this is over. Like, even though they're not down yet, they're about to be. That fourth quarter also felt like it took 10 years.

Honestly, I was just like it was agonizing because you knew you knew what was going to happen, you know, but it just took a long time. It did. Lauren Brownlee was joining us WRAL sports fan at L.E. Brownlow on Twitter.

You must, though, be excited to know that David Tepper sat down and talked about the Panthers job with Jim Harbaugh. Start a journey, not a fad. Kick off your fitness journey with up to five hundred dollars off Peloton Bike, Bike Plus or Tread packages. Choose the package that will take your training to the next level with accessories like our cycling shoes, heart rate band, non slip grip, dumbbells and more. Join now and you'll see why ninety two percent of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later.

All access membership separate offer ends January 8th. Twenty twenty three excludes Bike, Bike Plus and Tread basics. See additional terms at one Peloton dot com. Oh, hmm. OK, I hadn't heard that one. I didn't hear he wants an offensive guru, which, you know, I'm sure he feels will protect him very well from any blowback he'll get from not hiring Steve. Well, right. It's cool. And you know what?

That also means that the hire is in his hands. Are there scarier words to hear right now? No. If you like the Panthers like and that's my issue with it. Right.

Like there are people that have been you know, there were my mentions. They were like, I don't like, you know, Steve Wilkes not going for another one for sound or various coaching decisions. I get it.

You might have a point, but the alternative is letting David Tepper do this hiring thing again. Is anyone ready for that? I know I'm not. I don't want to see that happen again.

And it makes me very nervous. I also feel like Wilkes deserves at least a year of like, you know, you want to call it a trial period, call it that. I don't care. You know what I mean? I think he deserves that. And I think he's a guy that cares about Charlotte cares about the franchise cares about the players. And I think that they clearly have bought in for him in a way they never did for Tepper's hand pick guy. So why, you know what I mean? Like, do we really trust David Tepper to just go out there and hire the right guy for the job?

Like that sounds great. I wish it could be true. I just don't know that I believe it can be true right now. The difference between Harbaugh and Matt Ruhle is that Harbaugh had success in college, right? Rather had success in the NFL, right? That's the difference. But there is a similarity.

Right. He knows what he's doing. The similarity between Harbaugh and Ruhle is this.

And here is where I'm scared. Yes, it's the person making the hire. And that is David Tepper. But the reason Matt Ruhle was the head coach of the Panthers is because Tepper thought, well, if we don't act now and blow him away, he's going to go somewhere else. Because frankly, our job ain't all that attractive compared to other NFL jobs. So remember, David Tepper, they like they went to his house and they carried his luggage. They did all they put on that elaborate show. My fear is that he's going to show up at Harbaugh's house with like a stack of like flat front, beige, khaki Dockers.

And that's going to be enough for Jim Harbaugh to come and be the Charlotte Carolina Panthers head coach. That might be those aren't free, you know, especially if he offers to have like someone who will press them every day or something or pleat them. They don't even complete them. They don't have to be pressed.

You can get those free. Yeah, no. But yeah, I mean, look, it's honestly the thing about it is like, is it the best NFL job ever?

No. But I really sometimes feel like David Tepper's own attitude about the area he now lives and owns the professional sports franchise often bleeds over into the way he runs the team. Like, it's still an NFL job. My dude, you know, you don't have to beg anybody.

I'm sorry. You don't. And you don't have to just get the biggest name out there. You should want someone who wants to be here. You know what I mean?

Like that should matter at least a little bit. And I don't mean like love the Charlotte area necessarily. That's not a deal breaker, but want someone who sees something in this team that they liked and that they feel like they can do something with and they can tell you exactly what they think they need to get this team over the top and to the next level. You shouldn't be trying to sell them. You know what I mean?

I feel like they should be trying to sell you. You wouldn't treat a player like that, you know? So why would you treat a coach like that? Like it just, I think it creates a lot of the problematic dynamics we saw during that rule, you know, tenure, like you don't need to be begging someone to come coach an NFL franchise. Like that's not a thing that anyone needs to beg anyone to do. The only reason to do that would be if you were trying to get an existing NFL coach to leave their job and come take yours.

That's the only thing, the only reason you would do that. Look, I like Steve Wilks. I think it matters that I believe the Panthers matter to him. And I realize that I am too close to the situation. But the example of Rod Brind'Amour and the Carolina Hurricanes should be one that should make David Tepper and others in the same position take notice because it matters more to them. They care about the team. And, you know, and conversely, it matters more to the players when they see it matters that much to the coach. You know, yeah, it just does. I just don't get it. But he doesn't get our area right.

Like he looks at us as a bunch of podunk hillbilly people. I'm telling you, it's whatever. It's fine. We all know better. Right.

So I'm not going to worry about it. But like, you know, he acts like that. I mean, he acts like the pantry.

The Panthers have had zero success before he got here, which is like blatantly false, by the way. And like, he just acts like, remember, he said he brought music here. I know it was like a slight misstatement or whatever, but we've had big concerts here in the state, my man.

Yeah. In Charlotte, too. Like, it's not like it's the first time Billy Joel come around these parts of town or whatever. Like, it's not like you're not like reviving this like southern redneck area that has no culture or anything like there was plenty before you got here, dude. And if the more you condescend to southerners, especially like the less we're going to like you.

Did you slip into a southern accent there for just a short second? It comes out when it comes out. I have no control over it. I understand.

It's it's 100 percent fine. He brought soccer. When I get a bit sassy, it comes out. He brought the beautiful game to Charlotte. Right. We've never heard of such a wild game before. What? Soccer? Never.

We've never been exposed to such wonders. Like, get out of here. Well, I hope you had fun this season. I don't know. I don't know if it was fun. They gave you hope at the end. A lot of time off from them, which was fun for me.

I prioritize my kid, you know, very nice stuff with him. And that was great. Excellent. I thank you for coming on, Lauren. I appreciate it.

Anytime. Start a journey, not a fad. Kick off your fitness journey with up to five hundred dollars off Peloton Bike, Bike Plus or Tread packages. Choose the package that will take your training to the next level with accessories like our cycling shoes, heart rate band, non slip grip dumbbells and more. Join now and you'll see why 92 percent of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later. All access membership separate offer ends January 8th, 2023. Excludes Bike, Bike Plus and Tread basics. See additional terms at one Peloton dot com.