Panthers vs Cowboys at BOA this Sunday

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Darren Gant, we'll ask the old guy. Panthers.com is joining us. It's a good thing you're in the press box, because I know the visiting media doesn't lend itself to being obnoxious most of the time, but man, I feel for Panthers fans at Bank of America Stadium this weekend. No, I always love visiting with my friends like Clarence Hill from the Fort Worth Star-Television.

I'm a dear, dear old friend. It's always good to get to see him. Yeah, no, it's not going to be a partisan crowd in the direction you normally assume. Dallas does. There are a couple of fan bases that do this everywhere in the league. I know a lot of times people want to bag on fans in Charlotte or things like that, but Dallas does this when they go to Arizona or Jacksonville or anywhere. And same with the Steelers, the 49ers. Obviously, everybody remembers last year the way that thing went.

I mean, it happens sometimes, and when your team's not playing well, fans start reselling tickets because that is a fan's prerogative. You just kind of expect it, and I think really with the Cowboys, probably the Cowboys Steelers are probably the top two Packers in that group also. People want to come to your city, and a lot of times, especially with the Packers, if you're going to go to a road game, you want to go to someplace that's warm, so places like Jacksonville, places like Charlotte become popular destinations. No question. And by the way, for Steelers fans, they probably live here now.

I mean, everybody's moved out of some of those cities. All right, let me get to, I think a couple of positive things, at least a positive development is the hopeful soon return of J.C. Horn. This has had to be for somebody who we all thought would be that guy at cornerback, the shutdown guy who eliminates half of the field, meaning he can't stay on the field. So walk me through where he is, when we can expect him, and how he's holding up. Yeah, I think he's getting closer. I don't know if he's going to be on the field this weekend against the Cowboys, because, I mean, one of the realities of this kind of thing is the hamstring has healed up.

And, you know, it was a pretty significant, he popped that thing pretty good. So he was out for 10 weeks, and I think when you're out for that length of time, it might be unreasonable to expect three days of practice to be enough to get it back out there. I think there is a little bit of an acclimation that you need when you come back after that kind of a layoff, but it's not like he's been sitting on the couch at the house. I mean, he's been out working out. You know, I see him putting in those lonely hours when he's in with the rehab staff in the bubble while everybody else is having fun out on the practice field.

And so, J.C.'s been through this. He's as frustrated about it as anybody. I mean, we talked to him yesterday, and, you know, just from talking to his teammates, I mean, they're just trying to kind of hang back and support and be there for him.

You know, the way you are there for friends who are going through stuff, but he's frustrated. I mean, of course he is, because you said they were hoping he was that guy. He's that guy. I mean, there's no doubt about that. You know, people don't throw at him. You know, Dante Jackson has gotten a lot of targets the last couple of years because he's been on the opposite side of it, and, you know, that's a more attractive option than throwing at J.C. Horn.

But, you know, Dante was pretty good talking about it for the story we posted this morning on panthers.com. It's just, there's not a lot you can say when it's dumb luck. Like, if he was constantly doing the same thing, or if he had a chronic bad back, but these are broken bones on both ends of his body, a wrist and a foot, and then a soft tissue injury in the middle. So, I mean, it's impossible to connect them, and I know it's an unsatisfying answer, but dumb luck is often just the answer. You know, Musen Mohamed had a hard time staying on the field early on in his career, and it was persistent hamstrings and stuff, and he changed his routine and started doing some different things. But how do you do different things?

How do you try to train yourself up better for, you know, somebody sticking a helmet on your ulna in 10 degree weather and having a broken bone? You know, I don't know. It's just kind of, or maybe it was the radius, who can remember. At any rate, you didn't come here for the physiology or the anatomy, you came here for the football. I did, but let me go to more football. So, Frank Reich is going to call plays again. He says it's not about Thomas Brown.

I'm not saying he's, like, covering for Thomas Brown or not, but how can we possibly believe that it's not about Thomas Brown when Thomas Brown only called plays for three games? Zicam knows that when you live life to the fullest, you never want to let a cold slow you down. With Zicam's cold shortening products, you can actually shorten colds when taken at the first sign. And with the winter chill in the air, you need the number one cold shortening brand to help shorten a cold when taken at the first sign this season. Because you should never let a cold stop you from missing out on your favorite moments of the season.

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So I think rather than allowing Thomas to become any kind of target or anything like that, he just wants to put it on himself. Frank has wanted to, I think one of the things he has been sincere in is he wanted to build this staff of a lot of different ideas and voices. And I think it's pretty obvious at this point in the season that it hasn't been a smooth transition. That they haven't seamlessly integrated all those different ideas together. They're still working on this thing. I think when the season's gone the way it's gone, obviously there's going to be pressure, obviously there's going to be a ton of speculation. That didn't start this week, it started weeks ago. I think for Frank's part it was just about, hey I've done this for a long time, I'm experienced in this and I'm the guy who's ultimately responsible for it. So let me be the guy ultimately responsible for it.

Darren Gant is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. I just wish then he would have just continued to call plays before. It almost seems like he bucked to whatever outside pressures there were to let Thomas Brown call plays.

Now he's doing it again, but who knows. I'm not sure that the plays that they're calling, to a certain extent, are really the issues anyway. As opposed to maybe just the fact that as a unit they're just not very talented. And I'm not trying to disparage players, this seems to be, they need upgrades in a lot of positions. That's not crazy.

No, it's not. I mean listen, they're doing this without, and speaking of stories on panthers.com, you should really enjoy the long form piece I did where I talked to Bill Paulian and Bruce Arians about what it was like for Peyton Manning going through his rookie year. I mean he had a Marvin Harrison, but that team was not wealthy and offensive talent. It took him a couple years to get an Edgeron James in there to add a Reggie Wayne in year four.

To get that thing to where it was really humming. And listen, Bryce does not have a Marvin Harrison right now, he's got an Adam Thielen. And he certainly doesn't have a Reggie Wayne or a Edgeron James.

I mean Reggie's probably going to be a Hall of Famer here soon. Edge already is, and you look around, skill, position, talent, I think it's been tough to get those guys together. And that to me is one of the bigger problems here is that a year ago you watched this offensive line and four of the five guys are still out there on the field. They were an effective run blocking line. They were really stripped down, really rudimentary offense, they weren't asking them to do a whole lot, but the things they did, they did well.

And I think when you change styles, it may have ran away from those guys a little bit. I mean, you know, Miles Sanders is a certain kind of back. He's used to running behind a certain kind of line, and it's not the kind of line that he had here. So I mean, I just think in terms of if there's a consistent challenge with this team this year, then getting everybody on the same page.

Is there, how long are they away from maybe having enough personnel, the right personnel, or is it the personnel that they've got just has to develop into what they're trying to do? Because I'm an untrained eye, Darren Gant. This is why we asked the old guy. From where I sit, I see, you know, the necessity to have, you know, maybe four upgrades on the offensive line for three years. Oh, gosh, no.

I don't think it's nearly that drastic. I mean, listen, Icky Aquano became a pinata early this year, and he had some struggles getting used to a guy who drops at different depths, new plays, that kind of stuff. But Icky Aquano is not a bad left tackle. He's actually been pretty good the last couple of weeks, honestly, and looking back at it and talking to people with an educated eye on this thing.

So Icky's been all right. Taylor's a good, solid right tackle. And I think between Corbett and Bozeman, they have two good interior players. Now, one of the things I think is interesting and you referenced the mailbag. We had a question in the mailbag this week, you know, should should Bradley Bozeman be playing guard?

And the answer that might be maybe. I mean, because centers come in two sizes, basically. You've got your smaller, more athletic, frankly, you'll size centers. And then you got big honking guys like Bradley Bozeman.

Bozeman and Khalil do not look alike. So I think they you know, one of the things that's maybe happening now is you've got a big man playing a little man's game. And so, Bradley, when he has struggled this season, it's been when he's needed to get out on guys who were a gap and a half or more away or get out to the second level. And that's not necessarily his game.

I mean, so I don't know. Maybe you find that center this offseason or or look at some different options. I mean, both is a power player. And could he play left guard for you? Could Austin Corbett be your right guard?

Could you maybe find a center? Could I mean, could Corbett play center? Corbett is versatile enough. And he's a little more athletic than Bradley in terms of being able to get out in space. But, you know, I, I think that's the kind of stuff you look at in an off season, though, not in week 11 of a regular season. I don't think you start changing positions with guys unless it's a desperate situation in terms of injury or something like that. You know, that's kind of stuff you work on through an off season. And, you know, I think Bose is a good player regardless because he is strong and he is big and physical and can be a part of things when they're going well.

So it's just like I said, they're they're still trying to figure out the formula for a lot of things. And they weren't quite there going into the season. Darren Gant, before we let you go, appreciate your time, panthers.com. You can ask the old guy, read the notebook, read the long form piece about back in yesteryear with Peyton Manning and the early struggles there. All of that can be. By the way, Bruce Arians never disappoint. No.

When you call Bruce at any time of day or night, he is he is the guy you want to talk to to get a little clarity on certain things. Yes. I can still picture him in his Kangol hat, which is which is always good. All right. So I'm wearing mine right now as we speak.

You're wearing Birkenstocks, but you're not wearing a Kangol hat. Let me let me just talk real quick about health of this team. Hayden Hurst concussion protocol, Brian Burns coming out, he's been a full participant. Are they nearing as much as they can full health?

Getting there, getting there. They're kind of running out of spots. I mean, you get eight designations from return for injured reserve and they're at four right now and closing in on two more. So they've got to be judicious in who comes back. And I think that's part of the reason you saw earlier this year, like Xavier Woods, with this question, you know, those guys don't go on I.R.

because they were trying to do the math and figure out. All right. If we run out of spots. But yeah, Burns is coming back. He's cleared out of protocol and he's going to be, you know, full go, that kind of stuff.

I think, you know, it's worth wondering. I don't know that we're going to see Hayden out here on the field this week. We'll see how he progresses through that thing.

That's another one of those things. And that's why coaches sort of laugh when they get asked about it, because it's an independent neurologist thing. It's not a Frank Wright thinks thing.

So Hayden and I would probably be a little more doubtful about. But Burns should be out there. Things are trending in the right direction. C.J. Henderson, you know, if J.C. is not out there this week, it's probably next week and he's back on the field. They're getting some guys well again.

You know, Ian Thomas coming back this week to help add to the add to the tight end room with Hurst out. So it helps. I mean, they're getting there. But it's been a rough year. I mean, there are years when you're fortunate and there are years when you are unfortunate. And the Carolina Panthers have picked an unfortunate year. I mean, last year was really good. They were able to use that same line together for the last 11 games of the season intact. And they played every snap up until the finale when a couple of guys got hurt.

But they have not enjoyed that same fortune this year. Darren Gantt, always good fortune when we get to chat with you. I appreciate your time. Oh, you make me feel valued. You are. You are. You are my one of my shining lights in a dark season. I do it.

I do it for the people at Darren Gantt, panthers dot com. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks. Yep. See you later.

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