Hen-no-see

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. We are killing it online. Tune in to The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on WSJS.

So glad to have you! On this Monday Drive, it is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where, as we speak, the famous Toastery Bowl is happening in Charlotte. Shout out to Western North Carolina. Huge win with that bowl sponsorship. ODU facing Western Kentucky.

I'll lean on WD for giving me an update on that. Updating us all on that very important college football game momentarily. That's not the football game in Charlotte we need to be talking about, though. Christmas is one week away. And it's the season of inspiring hope.

That's what so many people love about the holidays each and every year. And for Carolina Panthers fans, Christmas came early with that 9 to 7 win against the Falcons yesterday. Not because Carolina won a football game. Wins and losses at this point of the year.

Irrelevant. Yesterday mattered because of what Bryce Young did on that final drive. That should inspire real hope about his future as a Carolina Panther and, in turn, the future of this franchise. We finally saw what could happen if receivers gave Bryce just a little bit of help. DJ Chark's toe tapping catch is the one that's getting the most attention today. And it was a spectacular catch. Maybe the best catch a Panthers receiver has had all year long. But don't forget about Jonathan Mingo's third down catch. The Falcons, third in the NFL, and third down defense. Getting off the field, preventing teams from converting. And the weather was a problem, as we know.

So much so, Chris Tabor calling a timeout before the end of the first quarter. Worried about having the wind Jonathan Hecker. Why did I call him Jonathan? Johnny Hecker? Jonathan.

Nobody calls him Jonathan. But was worried about having the wind at his back. Bryce Young was throwing into it. He did not have the wind at his back. He was throwing into the wind.

It was raining. And that was one of his longer attempts of the day. A 20 yard throw. It was an out. And watching it from where our perspective was in the press box, you get more of an all 22 view than you do on television.

You could tell immediately. Perfectly timed throw. Bryce let it go before Mingo broke from his route. Mingo ran a great route as well. And you thought it was going to be a catch right at the sideline in stride for Mingo and he's able to run further from there. But given the conditions, pretty clearly the weather held that ball up a little bit.

It was a wobbler, more wobbler, wobblier than usual. Jonathan Mingo had to adjust on the fly. And he did if he caught that ball on third down for 20 yards, one of the biggest plays of the game. Both those catches, examples of the receivers helping out Bryce in a way they had not done through the first 13 games.

Here was Bryce on those catches on the final drive after the game. Third down, obviously in that situation, got to have it and Mingo ran a great route. Got match coverage, ran a great route and made it easy for me. Did a great job coming back to the ball too. So in a big time moment like that, seeing Mingo step up, not surprising at all.

But it was great, it was key. Same thing with DJ, just wanted to give him a chance, give him a shot. Obviously a big play, wanted to get in the field goal position at the time. Wanted to make sure you're keeping the drive going and just wanted to give DJ a chance.

Again, that's been a huge moment. Now imagine the Panthers have better difference makers on the perimeter. Even though the Panthers don't have a first round pick next year, you can find that guy in the later rounds. You can find that guy in free agency.

Carolina, they have money to spend. You can find better receivers than the ones Carolina has. They just need a little bit more help for Bryce and we saw how much of a difference that can make. But it wasn't just the receivers. The offensive line did its job. The Knox we've been talking about all year long, the O line and the receivers, the O line did its job. Not just on that last drive where they didn't allow a sack, they didn't allow four sacks yesterday. First time we've been able to say that in a month with this line, which on average is allowed four sacks per game. Carolina also hit 130 rushing yards for the third straight game.

A coincidence that those are the three games that Chris Tabor has been the interim coach for. Carolina running the football a lot better. So the running game helped Bryce.

He got protection. The receivers were picking up some of the load. And if you want to talk about those balls being attempted downfield, seven attempts of 15 yards or more, despite the rain and despite the wind, you've got to give the O line credit for giving Bryce enough time to throw the ball downfield. They did a nice job yesterday. The stats that Bryce put up, you can knock them and say, oh, he only threw for 170 yards.

But that would be missing the point. The details of this game, his stats were incredible. Given the circumstances. 18 of 24. After the way he played in the dome. How bad that looked in perfect conditions indoors for Bryce to complete 75 percent of his passes. And if you want to go into the six incompletions, Adam Thielen dropped the touchdown. You had one throw away. He could have been at 80 percent completion with the touchdown pass.

If he got even more help. That was a great game. No turnovers.

Think about that. Bryce Young. A rookie quarterback from California, Southern California, played in the SEC.

This is probably the worst weather conditions he's ever played in. 75 percent completion, no turnovers and led a 93 yard drive to win the game. The fourth or fifth quarterback this year to have multiple game winning drives. Chris Tabor made a point to give Bryce credit after the game, as he should. Here was the Panthers interim. Coach Fresh off. His first win is an interim winner.

I mean, that's a guys. Think about that drive he put together that all those kids put together in those conditions with. And people might say, hey, with nothing to play for. There's a lot to play for because whatever is on tape, that that is who you are. So I was really proud of him. I thought he took another great step. I thought that he threw the ball well for for what the conditions were.

You know what I mean? So I was I was really proud of him. The kid's a winner. It should inspire hope.

That's exactly what you're looking for. Knowing that you have the guy at quarterback. Yesterday, you can't watch that game and think the Panthers don't have a guy, a legitimate, competent starter at quarterback. Now he has to do it consistently. Let's hope we see that at some point over the last three games of the year. But that should inspire real hope during the holiday season.

Christmas coming a bit early for the Panthers. On X at WSJS radio, if you want. And that's where we're streaming video. In addition to YouTube and Twitch, you can get in the YouTube comments.

We see those we see the tweets as well. Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred. Well, Dalton, the executive producer of the show, taking your calls. W.D., what do we got on the famous Toastery Bowl? Jerry Richardson Stadium in Charlotte. That's the campus stadium for the University of Charlotte. At the moment, ODU's got to lead 28 to 14. They got about three minutes to go in the third quarter.

Was 28 to nothing. Toppers trying to make a comeback. Getting to the other big game from this weekend. Until the final minute, North Carolina, Kentucky was as good as advertised. High scoring, close throughout, two Blue Bloods jockeying with each other. There was some bad blood, some physicality. And then the game just slammed to a halt. Final minute of the game, ugly play was the difference.

Kentucky wins it. And while a loss is never all on the shoulders of a coach, Gilbert Davis deserves quite a bit of blame for this one. But let's actually start where he's not responsible. The Elliott Cadeau pass to Cormac Ryan. Oh, why wasn't Elliott in for long stretches and then you put him into a key spot there? OK, we don't know quite what the play was.

We don't. I'd be surprised if it was drawn up for Elliott to take a shot there. Wasn't a bad pass if Cormac Ryan was looking. Cormac's not a bad person to get the ball in his hands. He was playing pretty well.

Just bad luck. Freak play. Not really going to blame the coach for something like that.

But, Hubert needs to have a better answer than what he had when he was asked about the design of it. What was the play called in that last play game? You know, there's you have turnovers.

We had 17 of them. So, I mean, that was just an unfortunate situation. And, you know, sometimes you turn the ball over and we ended up turning the ball over at that situation. The play was not to turn the ball over. The turnover in that last possession, was Cormac going on the center screen?

Is that why they hit backwards to Elliott? I don't, you know, I know you guys are trying to make it deeper than just a turnover. It was just, it just, it was just a turnover. I mean, we were trying to get a quick score and it just, we turned the ball over. I don't think it's any deeper than that. OK, if you're just trying to get a quick score, you're trying to get to the basket, who do you want to take the shot?

Is it supposed to be a three? Just like, this is the difference between college and NBA. The coach can get away with an answer like that in college. When in the NBA, it's like, just tell us what the play was. Come on.

Why are you dodging this question? It makes Hubert look bad and makes us wonder whether or not he was drawing up something he was supposed to draw up. And then you get into the game management piece. And this is where Hubert does deserve a lot of blame. It was disastrous in the final minute. Let's go through it real quick. 85-81, North Carolina's trailing by four, 47 seconds left out of a timeout. They took 20 seconds on a play that looked disjointed. Dear travel or carry on R.J., Bill Raftery's yell, it was a travel on Harris and Ingram that they got away with before the free throws. But more importantly, it took 20 seconds for them to get into that play.

If you're a coach, you have to be thinking in that spot. Get a shot up before 35 seconds. So that way you could potentially defend, not have to foul, get the ball back on a second possession, a two for one. But you take 20 seconds. That was out of a timeout. 27 seconds remain. And you take 15 seconds to foul.

Like, OK, we'll do maybe five seconds, whatever. But when you put those two plays together, North Carolina allowed for 10 seconds at least to melt off the clock that it should not have had melt off. In a game that was incredibly close, enough consequence, it felt like a game in March Madness.

And if that happened in March, a lot more people were talking about Hubert Davis today, as they should. Because if this team doesn't meet expectations, Hubert's in trouble. Jacques Alipari after the game was saying, oh, they look like a Final Four team. R.J. Davis is that type of good. And while I agree with R.J. how good he can be, I don't know if I'd go as far to say Final Four good. But they're better than what they were last year. This team is talented enough to warrant expectations. And what's the expectation?

You better get to the tournament and win a game in the tournament and you better finish the season ranked at the top 25. That's something Hubert Davis hasn't done yet. And this is year three.

He doesn't do that. The seats going to get hot real quick. Now comes the moment you have all been waiting for.

All right, whenever you're ready. This is The Drive with Josh Graham. We covered the Carolina Panthers win yesterday, but what about the rest of what happened in the NFL? We're getting late in the year.

We're not naive enough to think that. Many of you probably are following the NFL more than following a two and 12 football team at this point. You might have fantasy teams or teams that right now are fighting for playoff position. So to get to the rest of the National Football League, Panther lists Graham's grades.

Every week is a test for your favorite sports teams. Who passed the test? I don't know.

Who dropped the ball? I don't know. Josh Graham has the answers.

What? Time for Graham's grades. Panther lists, not pantless. Panther lists. I guess you could do pantless too if you wanted to. We are on the radio and streaming video.

I may not be wearing them right now, but it's only a chest up shot. We got to keep you guessing. Use your imagination. A through F. Panther lists. Graham's grades.

Starting with A. The Baltimore Ravens. They had the best win yesterday on the road in prime time. You beat a division leader.

You did so by 16 points. Even though Keaton Mitchell, he's a pirate, went down with an injury. I love this Ravens team and I tried to figure out why I love him so much.

And it's not because half my family is in Maryland and are Ravens fans and the former producer of the show, Robert Walsh, for whatever reason, loves the Ravens, too. Though I think it's because of their skill guys and how much I respect their scouting department. Identifying players that were awesome in college but didn't play at the traditional powerhouse schools. Boston College.

Zay Flowers went to BC. He's a Raven. Gus Edwards went to Rutgers.

He's a Raven. Isaiah likely was awesome at Coastal Carolina. Keaton Mitchell undrafted out of ECU. They just identified these guys that have turned into really important players. And very few on the offensive side are from Alabama or from LSU or from Georgia. You have some of those dudes on defense, but offensively not so much.

B. The Houston Texans. They won at Tennessee and they did so without C.J. Stroud. Did you know that Case Keenum played for the Houston Texans?

Sure you did. The Texans win in overtime and now they're tied with the Jaguars for first place in the AFC South. It's just another reminder of how much better that situation is in Houston than what Bryce Young is dealing with. They can lose C.J. Stroud, who might be the rookie of the year in the NFL, and it doesn't really matter all that much. Hey, let's just plug Case Keenum in. That's how good of a coach Tabiko Ryans has been.

That's the culture that he's fostered, and they have more talent than we see here in Charlotte as well. C. We'll go with the Miami Dolphins here. Blew out the Jets. That's very... Oh, hum. Meh.

I see. But it did rob us, it appears, of the possibility of Aaron Rodgers' return. W.D., don't you owe me something for that?

If Aaron Rodgers didn't play a game? I don't know, do I? Did we make a bet on that? I can't remember. I don't think we did.

Right. But Rodgers is not going to return to play for a team with no playoff hopes if they would have won that game against the Dolphins, which they didn't come close to doing. Rodgers could have been cleared by Wednesday, according to some reports, after rupturing his Achilles on the first drive of the Jets' season. D. The Dallas Cowboys. You're coming off five straight wins. Three of those five wins were by 30 or more. And you lose by three touchdowns? Come on.

I get it. The NFL could lose on a given week, but by three touchdowns? It was a game that we gave out in Grant's Gamble, and I'll throw that out there. The Bills minus two. We were unflappable with that pick.

The rest, not so much. We could get to that at a later point, but this feels like the Dallas Cowboys' destiny. Riding high at points, Dak will be in the MVP conversation with the gaudy numbers he puts up. But then on the road facing a good team, you get exposed, just like they were exposed in San Francisco. They were exposed in Buffalo yesterday, and it feels like that's where we're headed in the playoffs.

F. The Atlanta Falcons. Who feels worse today than Atlanta does? You just lost to 1-12 Carolina. You probably should have won the game. You're inside the red zone, and Lord knows what Desmond Ritter was thinking, rolling out of the pocket left and throwing it right to Xavier Woods. But on top of that, you lose to a division team, and both Tampa Bay and New Orleans, who you were tied with going into the day for the division lead, won yesterday.

They both won. So the Falcons are put in a really bad spot, and their head coach, Arthur Smith, probably on the hot seat too. That's been Graham's Grades for this week. Tonight, I'll be at Joel Coliseum. Wake Forest has its first of two home games this week. Later in the show, we're going to be doing weekly positivity on a Monday, because sometimes you could just have a bad case on the Mondays.

It's the thing that happens. And we will be giving away tickets to see Wake play as our show is going on Thursday afternoon. They face Presbyterian Thursday at 3 o'clock. Hoes. The Hoes.

That's correct. So if you would like tickets to go see Wake Forest face the Hoes, you can do that. Tonight, they're facing Delaware State. Wake's going to win both these games. How impressive is this stat, really? Steve Forbes is unbeaten. Never lost as Wake's coach in non-comproton games. He is 23-0. How impressive is that, really?

I mean, I think it's worth something. Now, most of those games are against Delaware State or, you know, the Hoes, the Presbyterian, fill in the blank. There were some close calls. Had to beat up state at the buzzer last year.

But there are some good ones in there. Northwestern and the ACC Big Ten Challenge. Florida and the ACC SEC Challenge this year. Rutgers last week, two weeks ago. Georgia last year. So they're not all bad teams that Wake Forest is going up against. So by the end of the week, he might be 25-0. High marks. Well? And the Deacs would then be 9-3 on the season going into ACC play?

Nine times. Therefore, they did not play an ACC game the first weekend of December like many teams did. Virginia Tech will visit Joel Coliseum not this week, but next week on December the 30th.

I'll be there tonight. Again, we're giving away tickets for the next two home games. I'm looking at this game at Jerry Richardson Stadium, home of the Charlotte 49ers. It's the Famous Toastery Bowl.

I don't think Famous Toastery exists anywhere outside of western North Carolina, which is such a huge win for this to be on ESPN and that branding to be all over the place. Not much of a football game they're getting, though. Old Dominion.

This is live action. Old Dominion leads Western Kentucky in a nail-biter, 28-0. Oh, boy. There's still 13 minutes left to go in the first half. This is the part where I remind you that I was very close to firing off on Western Kentucky plus four.

Send me that cash out, family. Thank goodness. Well done.

My intentions or thank goodness I pushed off on that gut feeling and narrowed things down. Picks were one and three this weekend. I had a good weekend, though, on my picks. Go figure. Five and one now. Oh, stop. No.

You're not picking out the game specifically. Hey, Abby LeBar's doing this game. Stop. There you go. Hey, Abby LeBar's on the sideline. Change the subject. I hear you.

I just saw her appear on my TV here. Five and one. But you're not, though. How am I not? You're just disagreeing with some of my picks. You're not seeking out these games.

No, but I'm giving my opinions on these games, and they were correct. I vehemently oppose you keeping a record. Well, I'm going to, so five and one on the season. And also, you're just going to do this halfway through the year, like with a quarter of the year to go.

It's absurd. All right, let's go. Oh, I'm so excited. And three, two, one, go. Back to the drive with Josh Grab.

You can either reach out in our YouTube comments, our Twitter slash X mentions at WSJS radio, or give us a call at 336-777-1600. Eric Montrose passed away today at 52 years old. I'm fine opening up the phone lines on a topic like this. I know Tar Heel basketball matters so much around here. And you might have a story watching a game he was involved in or an exchange speaking with Eric. That's the thing that's stood out the most today. All the comments that I've seen from people who have stories, interactions with Eric Montrose, and all of them have one common theme, just how kind of a man he is.

336-777-1600 and all those various ways that you can reach out to the show as well. Before we get into that, tonight's schedule on WSJS, Monday Night Football. It is the Seattle Seahawks hosting the Philadelphia Eagles.

This is an awesome game. Both teams need to win. The NFL has been so great this year that even the games that don't look awesome turn out to be awesome. Take last Monday night where you had the doubleheader. Who really cares about Titans Dolphins and Packers Giants?

Well, those games gave us oodles of content. Fantastic games, fantastic finishes in their own ways. And I suspect tonight it's going to be awesome too because both these teams have so much at stake. If the Eagles lose, they will be out of the race for a number one seed. With three games to go, they will be a game back of the San Francisco 49ers who won again yesterday. The Niners just a few weeks ago beat the Eagles head to head, so they have that tiebreaker. Philly is given an opportunity here.

Dallas has won five in a row, but they were beaten by three touchdowns yesterday. Meaning that Philly can grasp the number one seed again in the NFC East. They can get first place in the NFC East, sole possession of it, with a win tonight.

That's what's at stake for Philadelphia. If the Seahawks lose, they're likely not making the playoffs. They're a six-win team right now. When I look at the NFC standings, I currently see eight teams that have seven wins. Only seven teams get in. Eight teams have seven. Seattle has six. You need to win tonight to stay in that running. Again, there are only three more games left to go after this one. So who wins? Give me the Seahawks. I don't know what the line is. I venture to say maybe Philly's favored. Check on that for me. My picks weren't so great this weekend.

Went one and three, so what do I know? But I like Seattle to win this game for a few reasons. Number one, they need it more.

You can't fake urgency. Philadelphia, they're looking for playoff positioning. Based on the games yesterday, they actually clinched a playoff spot. I believe the first team in the NFC too clinched a playoff spot. They need it more. Seattle needs to win tonight to have a shot to make the playoffs, it feels like.

And they're at home. And Philly has been on the struggle bus in recent weeks. And an area that Philly's struggled in all year is their pass defense. And you know that Geno Smith wants to dial up some deep passes.

And Philly's had some problems there. So Seattle, in a great home environment in primetime, I think they win tonight's game. What's the line? Eagles minus three and a half.

Oh, the line. My fault. My fault. Is that right?

Yeah, it's Eagles minus three and a half. Okay. I'm just thinking.

Yeah, you looked at me funny. We're going to add that to this week's picks. Uh oh. We're getting back.

Getting my face back. Let's do it. Wow. Seahawks.

An audible. Seahawks plus three and a half. Have you done this before? No.

It's new. It's a shame by the one and three week. We're going to go with the Seahawks tonight. Oh boy. That's what we're going to do though. Two and three sounds a lot better than one and three.

We're going with Seattle later tonight. Shifting things. It's hard to find the words to accurately capture how great the loss of Eric Montras is. But here's what Tar Heel coach Hubert Davis offered earlier today. This was in a statement that North Carolina Athletics put out. It's short.

There's no fluff to this. You could tell this comes straight from Hubert Davis's heart. Who played with Eric Montras some 30 years ago.

Quote, I'm devastated. Eric was my friend. He was my teammate. Eric loved being a husband. He loved being a dad. He loved being a Tar Heel. And he loved Carolina basketball. I miss him.

Close quote. So many of us are going to miss him too. Eric Montras. What I think about when I look at him and what separates him from most people that we're fortunate enough to be around. He's one of those rare people on the planet who excelled at literally everything he ever did.

Truly excellent. Not only did he play basketball growing up in Indiana. He played it well enough to play at the University of North Carolina to play it for Dean Smith. And not only did he play for Dean Smith. He won a national title for Dean Smith in 1993.

And not only did he do that. He scored 16 points in that championship game beating Michigan in 93. Not only was he an analyst for the Tar Heel Sports Network.

Sitting next to Woody Durham and then sitting next to Jones Angel. He was also tabbed with doing national games for Westwood One. Doing NCAA tournament games.

They don't just let anybody do that. It's because of how smart, how good Eric Montras was. Eric Montras, when he was a student, was an academic All-American. Not only does he say All-American academically at North Carolina. And heck, he played baseball and was drafted by the Chicago Cubs out of high school.

I think he was the 64th pick. Literally everything Eric Montras touched turned to gold. Maybe not literally in that instance. But you see what I'm talking about. Now those are, we'd all be so lucky to have half of those achievements. We'd all be so lucky to do those types of things that people remember. That people know to achieve that type of way. Despite all of those achievements, which are great. Very few people today are talking about those achievements at all. And that tells you the type of man that he was.

Look at the outpouring. Listen back to what Hubert Davis talked about there. He wasn't talking about, was such an excellent player. Oh, he helped us win a national championship. He's talking about him as a husband and a dad and a teammate.

When you see what most people are writing, there's something to it. You could just lean on the achievements in talking about a man after he passes. But everybody is talking about the person.

And the achievements, as great as they are, are secondary to that. Now, full disclosure, I didn't know Eric incredibly well. But being in the media here for as long as we have now.

Longest running local sports talk show in the triad. We've had Eric gone several times. Every time we ask, he's gracious.

To come on. Even when he doesn't. Gracious in turning us down. Which wasn't very often. He was busy doing something else. Probably with many of the charities that he was involved in. But always so kind, so smart, so engaging, whenever you interacted with him. Impossible to miss him with his height when he walked into a room.

But I will tell this story. I remember when North Carolina had Luke May on the team. This is about five years ago. It got out that Luke had built a relationship with a few kids at a kids' hospital. I think at the UNC kids' hospital. Children's hospital. Sick kids. Luke May had a relationship with them. And we were wanting to do something around that or spotlight it and highlight it.

And diminishing something that is objectively a great thing to do. Luke May looked at it and said, It's not that big of a deal for me to spend the time with the kids that I have. Because every single time I'm in the children's hospital, Eric Montras is there, too.

I think that's what he said to me. He goes, Every time I was there, Eric Montras was there, too. And then I started asking other folks around the program about Eric Montras and the heart that he has for kids. And they all told the same story. It just felt like every time they touched base with Eric Montras, Hey, what are you doing?

I'm going to the hospital for this. Always with the heart to try and put smiles on kids' faces. And that's what makes the news particularly tough today. Because many of the kids he dealt with were in the cancer ward and fighting cancer.

We learned earlier this year Eric Montras was diagnosed, and then we learned he wasn't going to be able to travel with Carolina and do basketball games. And then we learned today he succumbed to cancer at 52. Fifty-two years old.

That's still so young. And the first thing you think when you see someone pass away at an age like that, well, how much family did he have? Three kids. A wife and three kids who just lost their dad a week before Christmas.

So if prayer is part of your routine, as it is for me, if it's not, okay, spare a thought. Think about the Montras family. Say a prayer for the Montras family that is dealing with such a difficult season and a season that so many are experiencing joy.

Eric Montras passed away today at 52 years old. Moving things along. We have a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter that's a good friend of ours, Darren Gant, to talk about the Carolina Panthers win yesterday in Charlotte amid the conditions.

But this is a question I had as I was watching. Was that Bryce Young's best game yet as a Carolina Panther? Well, ask Darren Gant. Plus, I'll be shamed for picking that game incorrectly.

Next. You're on the drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. This is weather that suits running the football. And even though Carolina has been better at that the last couple of weeks, this is weather that better suits the number six rush offense in the NFL, the Atlanta Falcons. Bijan Robinson.

And he lost the football. It belongs to Carolina inside the Atlanta 25. Atlanta, better than Carolina is.

And I think the weather suits them and the motivation factor favors them too. Give me Atlanta by double digits. Eddie Pinheiro will try to boot the Panthers to a win to give Chris Tabor his first win as an NFL head coach.

And he's done it. North Carolina, Kentucky. I feel pretty comfortable saying right now that 90 points will be required to win this game.

You might even get to 100. I think the Tar Heels win it. Final score. Wildcats 87.

North Carolina 83. You didn't have to do me like that. That was tough. Tough weekend for yours truly in the picks. But shout out to the Carolina Panthers for getting a win. Darren Gant now joins the show. You know him.

Hall of Fame voter. Panthers dot com. Read his content after a Panthers win yesterday.

Watch various content, too. That's on Panthers dot com. Darren, what most annoyed you yesterday? Was it all the hilarious jokes about the the empty seats or all the people complaining about the quality of game that was nine to seven?

Well, I don't know why anybody would complain about the quality of game. I was talking to Wes Durham, friend of ours at halftime. Longtime Falcons announcer Elan graduate, and despite his lack of formal education, has gone on to a successful career. He he and I agreed that of all the Panthers Falcons games we've ever seen, it was in the top five or 10 Panthers Falcon. It was it was what you expect in this series. I mean, these are the two teams that gave you Christmas Eve 2006. DeAngelo Williams runs the Wildcat and they don't throw it all. And the only touchdowns a one yard Chris Winky to Jeff King pass, because that's about as far as Chris Winky could throw it with his busted ribs. That's not the Panthers have won that game nine to six in the past.

So it that one at least had a touchdown in it, even if it was for the other team. So, you know, the game was the game that I don't listen. I don't fault anybody. I try to tell I try not to tell people how to fan.

And if you did not want to sit in the monsoon yesterday for three or four hours, I can't necessarily blame you, although I did tell people throughout today. We had a lot of people in our comments on the social medias who were sending pictures of their kids and they had a great time. And this is the first game I ever went to with my wife together. And we had a ball sitting out at I mean, those people created a memory that kind of transcends anything that happens at a ballgame and whether their team won or lost. So good for the people being around their people.

Good for the people who showed up and stayed all day. They had a good time. Players enjoyed it. Players appreciated the solidarity out there in it with them.

So, you know, I think it was fine. Seat jokes are always the worst because everybody thinks they are a amateur crowd estimator. I saw people say that there were only a thousand people at this game or there are only fifteen hundred people.

I've seen the term turnstile count. It was greater than that. I mean, you're you're basically looking at about a third of a building, which, frankly, considering the conditions, wasn't all that bad.

Getting to the actual game. Was that Bryce Young's best game of the year? Oh, yeah. I mean, it was his best seven minutes and thirty five seconds of the year. I can tell you that he he kind of walked into a really bad situation. I mean, they gave him, you know, God bless Josh Ritter or Josh Ritter, Desmond Ritter dropping off. Who is Josh Ritter and why am I invoking him right now? I'm Josh, so I could see why that happened. Yeah, it happened. But anyway, Josh Ritter is a delightful singer.

A friend of friends of mine enjoy his music. At any rate, Ritter provides the gift, gives him the ball at the five yard line seven and a half minutes ago. None of us really envisioned that that was going to the house for a game winning clock killing drive. But there was I mean, he was five of five for sixty eight yards on that final drive, completing passes downfield when he hadn't all year in perfect condition. So I think he showed a little something. I'm always hesitant to make any one particular thing a referendum on the whole season or the whole career or body of work, any of that kind of stuff about people. But it was a good drive for a guy who needed one. And the point that I made earlier is there are people at this point in the year wins and losses not really that relevant when you don't have the first overall pick or first round pick in that matter. And I think with Bryce, you just want to see something that makes you feel like, oh, OK, now I get it.

I understand. And when you lose games, it's easier to ignore it, to dismiss it. But when you win and it's ninety three yards, I think what most stood out to me is we saw how good it can look when Bryce gets just a little bit of help, like Mingo adjusting as Bryce threw in the wind, in the rain on that third down play and DJ chart catching it the way he did. And I know line didn't allow a sack on that drive. And for the first time in a month, didn't allow four sacks.

And I mean, they've run the football now for three straight games really well. We're seeing you hope that the Panthers can upgrade the roster in the offseason at the skill positions and maybe even on the offensive line better than it is right now. And health will probably figure out some of that on the O-line, too. Thank you for pointing that out, because I don't think enough people recall that when Gabe Jackson came in in the second half, he became the.

Eighth player to suit up at right guard for the Carolina Panthers this year. So, yes, health will do a lot for the health will do it. But I think there's an offseason that can do it, though, too.

And your comments that Bill Polian gave to you about the biggest jump is from one year to the next. From the first year to the next, where the next coach takes over and can handle Bryce Bryce playbook day one in January versus waiting until May to know who the quarterback is. Like Frank Reich had to wait before working with Bryce. I think this game goes a long way in showing people who might be doubters how this can work. Yeah, I think it could. And again, all this is going to hinge on who the next coach is, what he wants to run. Is he a square peg square hole guy or is he going to take a bunch of power blocking offensive lineman and insist they try to do something else that they're not really suited to?

We'll find out. And if he wants to run a different style, that's his prerogative. He's just going to go get some different lineman to do it.

But I do think it's reasonable. All those things you said again, they need to add weapons at wide receiver, probably another one at running back. What they could use is somebody who does all the things that we thought Miles Sanders was going to do. They could use, you know, and again, they could certainly use Brady Christensen and Austin Corbett, who played five games between them this year. That would probably go a long way to stabilizing some of that pressure up the middle.

It was such a consistent problem for him this year. I don't know what your relationship to famous toastery is, but it's making me smile. I enjoy toast. It just makes me smile that a Western North Carolina establishment has its name attached to a bowl game that right now is going down the stretch. Western Kentucky just blocked the kick. They were down 28 to nothing in this game.

It's 35-28 and they got the ball with less than three minutes to go. Some real fun belt stuff happening. Get down you crazy hilltoppers.

Now, I have no really existing relationship with either suburban Harrisburg or famous toastery, but I do enjoy chaos. Yes, and it's in Charlotte, in your town at Richardson Stadium right now as that goes down the stretch. Speaking of the Sun Belt, you are an App State graduate.

We've got App State stuff behind me here. The Mountaineers are Cure Bowl champs, first bowl win in three years. This team was three and four and they won six of their last seven. How do you feel about the Mountaineers at this moment? It's a great day to be a Mountaineer, but then again, aren't they all? I mean, they're all great days to be a Mountaineer. I did not see appearing in the conference championship game or going to a bowl in the cards at three and four.

I didn't see a lot, frankly. But, you know, they did it and they won a bowl game in a really ridiculous manner. And I thought it was interesting that Tabor basically admitted watching Appalachian State for inspiration. I think that's what I took out of that conversation. That's why I asked him about it after the game and he pretty much said, let's not fumble it six times.

You know, legends of the game refer to each other. So Sean Clark, Chris Tabor, take a bow. It's a big week for guys who are willing to ugly it up and ride it out and play the long game. So, no, it was it was interesting. I loved seeing it. I didn't know how they were going to run the ball without Nate Noel.

Best wishes to him out there in the portal and so many others. The question I have is, is this the last time we see Kanye Roberts in 14? I mean, the number has been retired. They let him wear the jersey after the retirement ceremony the other week and he was wearing it in the ball game. So my question is, hey, why did Kanye not have to change numbers at halftime the other week?

And does he get to wear it the rest of his ASU career? I don't know. Somebody smarter than me can answer that. But it was cool to watch. I mean, you know, again, I am a agent of chaos. I prefer it. So show me I would all these nameless, faceless bowl games.

I don't know. But make them interesting. That's why I love our friends at Duke's Mayo, because they have turned a mid-level bowl into an event just based on being a curiosity. So I'm all for it. Yay, marketing. Last thing for you.

Yay, marketing. I'm going to the Avett Brothers New Year's show in Raleigh. Excited for that. We might have tickets to give away later this week to that show at PNC Arena. You're going to be in Jacksonville for New Year's. That's fun. You know, Avett Brothers, Jacksonville, Carolina, New Year's Eve.

Those are practically the same. I think Jacksonville's two and five at home. Just throwing that out there. Their next home game. I may get in the pool. I may go cannonball that day.

Do that. What's your next show on the docket? I don't know. There's a festival coming to Charlotte. I don't know what I don't remember what it's called.

Loving Life or something. Stevie Nicks is among them. Who's that young fella? That Noah person?

Oh, that performs with the Jonas Brothers? That one? I forget the guy's name. Noah Kahan or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That guy.

The young people like him a lot. I may go to that. I mean, there's a festival in my town. You know how I feel. Go see the show. I don't know.

I got to get back into it and get out there a little bit because it's been a it's been a slow couple of months. I was actually walking through the neighborhood the other night. There's like a little area Christmas tradition where everybody walks through the neighborhood and has a glass of eggnog while they walk and sing and have a good time. And there was a band of a bunch of high school students and they were playing war pigs. So I wasn't expecting war pigs during the merry meander in Elizabeth. But here you go.

It worked. If the Panthers do, in fact, not pick in round one next year of the draft. I'm going to Merle Fest night one. Old Crow Medicine Show is going to be there. And I'm thinking that I might have an extra ticket for Daring. That would be pretty cool.

If I if I knew for sure they weren't picking in round one, I would probably get all over that. Old Crow is a great show. One of my favorites. They did a cover tour basically of the Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde album, played the entire double album from start to finish, and then did about 45 minutes of their own stuff. It was a great show. Not a good show. A great show. Steep Canyon Rangers.

Never seen them there opening for them. Oh, that's awesome. You can't beat that with a stick. That's what I'm saying. So, hey, I'll I'll just keep a pair of tickets there.

You hang on to those, put a pin in those. And if if the general manager of the Carolina Panthers, whether that's Scott Fitter or a person to be determined, we don't know, promises me that he's not doing anything on Thursday night, I'll go with you. Boom. Darren, thanks for doing this, buddy. I'll see you again any time. There he goes.

Darren Gantt, panthers dot com. I'm sorry, I'm a little winded. A lot of talk. This is The Drive with Josh Graham. Hello, everybody. Oh, it was great. It was great. These are a lot more enjoyable after wins. So great.

Hi, everybody. Bryce Young has such a delightful vibe to him when he's not being sacked seven times and throwing the ball away five to six times in a game. Just to delight. He's youthful. Yes, it's because of his size, but also his face, too. He seems like a Disney character. They're like.

It was hard for me to put a finger on it until earlier today. I'm like, oh, he reminds me of Simba from The Lion King. That's the vibe that. Hello, everybody.

He gives off with his cheerful nature. Rice Young, let's get into the locker room sound. Derek Brown's going viral for this clip that we posted. Saw that Ari Mera, who's a big NFL reporter, put it on his social media. The athletic ESPN put it up on its platforms. Well, we'll just let you hear it.

And it's full context. Derek Brown. We walked up to him.

Just wanted to know how perhaps the future Pro Bowler. Fell after beating the Atlanta Falcons. We get to talk about it.

How nice does that feel? Good, man. Falcons going on vacations like we are.

And it was a long, tough game. But I tell you what, man, I'm happy. Just happy to get a win. They're going home just like we are. They're going on vacation.

Hello, everybody. Just got that. That's what the Falcons are going to say when they see the concierge down in Honolulu.

Down in Maui. Whoa. That's what they're going to see.

Derek Brown. They're going to be on vacation just like we are. It seems like that's the case with both Tampa and New Orleans winning yesterday. All three of the other NFC South teams were tied for first place in the division going into yesterday. The Falcons were the only team to lose.

Brian Burns, he admitted he had similar motivations as Derek Brown, and then he admitted something else. What makes this most satisfying to you? Pretty much just ruining like having a chance to ruin, you know, their chances of doing anything. You know, obviously we're not going to clinch anything, but it feels good to mess up their Christmas.

How are you celebrating? Oh, you know, I can't see nothing. Hen no see. I can't see nothing. I'm having a great night tonight.

A few things to pull there. Just out of context, if I didn't give you the question that I asked. I'm not even talking about there at the NWD. I'm talking about him talking about wanting to mess up. Like Christmas. Brian Burns sounds like a if we want to talk about Bryce Young sounding like a Disney hero, like a character. Brian Burns sounds like a Disney villain, but it feels good to mess up their Christmas.

I'd say you sound like Cruella de Vil. Oh, yeah. Be great to get these Dalmatians and make myself another, you know, coat. But it feels good to mess up their Christmas in our office. You don't see this, but right down the hall from where we're sitting, there are more than one hundred and fifty, two hundred toys sitting there to try to better Christmas for kids. How do you feel about that, Brian Burns?

But it feels good to mess up their Christmas. What? Out of context, that's not so great.

And then the part at the end. He likes the hen dog, man. I don't think I've ever had a hen dog type of night. I don't think so.

That'd be another great thing for people to pull from this show out of context. Josh Graham. Yeah, I was just listening to him. He was talking about never ever having a hen dog.

Hen no see. Ever having one of those types of nights. He had himself a great night. You heard it there.

I have no doubt his foreshadowing turned out to be accurate. Having a great night tonight. Mm hmm. Brian Burns is. This might be my favorite locker room exchange. We caught up with our guide. D.J.

Chark, who I got little glasses that blink, you know best from that. If you've been listening to this show for a while. I don't know why. I just enjoy the awkward exchanges best.

And he had that great sideline catch at the end of the game. And I wanted to ask him about it. But.

You know, external forces. Interjected. D.J. better throw or better catch better. Who is the locker room D.J.?

I don't know. They playing some heat right now. The way it sounds like that sound. I want to play this again. But that's I just want you to picture the way that W.D. loves interrupting me any time I bring up the Carolina Hurricanes with the horn that plays. The timing of which this song played to interrupt D.J. Chark's answer was as if W.D. was at the controls doing a joke. D.J.

better throw or better catch better. Who is the locker room D.J.? Who? Who is? Who are we guessing? I have one guess. You know, I'm going to limit it to one corner of the locker room. I think you know where I'm headed. Like, I want Panther fans or you just listening to picture that in the back corner of the locker room. Oh, yeah. There are three lockers.

And in order, it is Brian Burns, J.C. Horn and Dante Jackson. That is a loud, fun corner of the locker room. So much fun. It is. A lot of content from this show has come from that corner. Us learning about ping pong tournaments between Brian Burns and J.C. Horn. Where that drop comes from. I don't know that, but if I had a guess.

That's another thing that happened from that corner that I would guess that the Ox is somewhere in that corner. The latest AP basketball poll dropped the Tar Heels after the loss to Kentucky fell a couple of spots a couple of weeks ago. They were at seven. Now they're they went down to nine after losing to UConn. They went down to eleven after losing to the Wildcats. Duke stays at number twenty one. Clemson and Virginia are both ranked.

Miami is the top team receiving votes outside of the top twenty five. So for ACC teams are ranked five, pretty close to getting five ranked and. How's this for a week for Duke in Carolina? Carolina faces Oklahoma and remember we were talking about them and people pooed what I was saying about how difficult the slate was when I said, oh, yeah. By the way, don't forget about Oklahoma on that schedule. Their unranked Oklahoma and Charlotte.

Well, Oklahoma's now seventh in the country. Seems like a pretty difficult game that they have in Charlotte. The Tar Heels do. Duke. We were talking about Baylor being unbeaten. They're not unbeaten anymore. Lost in Detroit to Michigan State. Big win for Tom Izzo's group. Duke still faces Baylor, a crispy Baylor group.