Cat Scratch Reader: All Posts by Evan Leekley

2013 Carolina Panthers position review: Fullback

2013-06-10T16:50:02Z

With new Offensive Coordinator Mike Shula taking over, fans are working under the assumption that the running game will see a re-birth, a re-emergence if you will. While this is a noble idea, the reality is: an offense that has finished seventh and 12th the last two seasons is not going to be completely over-hauled. There will be some tweaks. There will be an emphasis on faster, quick-hitting, north/south runs, but the shotgun will remain the prominent formation and Cam Newton will still run the zone-read.

Another sign that the offense will be similar under Shula is the decision to keep FB Mike Tolbert in a FB role. If the Panthers were going to flashback to 2003--back to their 'three yards and a cloud of dust' days with John Fox, they would have signed a proven blocking-oriented FB in the offseason.

Either way, the Panthers will look to returning starter Mike Tolbert as a blocker, a runner and a reciever at the FB position. There was one interesting addition at the FB position, however, as the Panthers signed UDFA Michael Zordich from Penn State. Let's evaluate the what role these players look to fill in 2013...

Mike Tolbert:

The 'bowling ball with spikes on it' may be more of a tailback, but he also serves as the Panthers' primary FB. Tolbert was not asked to lead-block very much last season (his first year with the Panthers). He wasn't asked to do much of anything, in fact, until the team began to use the running game a bit more extensively. Tolbert finished the year with only 183 yards on 53 attempts (3.4 ypc), but managed to 'vulture' seven TDs and picked up 24 first downs. Tolbert was arguably more effective as a receiver, amassing 268 yards on 27 receptions (9.9 ypc), with 13 first downs.

All the more glorious were Tolbert's touchdown dances. For that brief moment, as the 5' 9", 250lbs back works his magic, there is no wrong in the world. Speaking of dancing, Tolbert recently stated that he wants to be the next football player to appear on the show "Dancing with the Stars." I think they're scared, but we'll see if anything develops there.

Chance of starting week one: 99%, chance of making the roster: 99%

Michael Zordich:

Zordich played in 51 games with seven starts at Penn State. He played both fullback and linebacker as a freshman before moving to fullback full-time as a sophomore. Zordich finished his career with 115 rushes for 384 yards with nine touchdowns and 22 catches for 200 yards. The bulk of Zordich's work came in his senior season (2012), where he ranked second on the team with 301 yards and four touchdowns on 80 carries, in addition to being the primary lead blocker for a 1,000-yard rusher for the second consecutive season.

Zordich has good pedigree. His father (also Michael) was an All-American safety at Penn State. The older Zordich played 12 NFL seasons at CB and safety. He is currently serving as the safeties coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The younger Zordich will look to compete with Tolbert and Richie Brockel (who was technically part of the TE preview) for playing time. If a play-call asks the FB to carry or catch the ball, then Tolbert will likely be on the field... But the one area where Zordich could contribute is as a lead-blocker--an area where Tolbert and Brockel are both below average. Zordich must first face the uphill climb that is making the roster.

Chance of starting week one: 1%, chance of making the roster: 40%

Lastly, for your enjoyment... all of teh gifs:

via assets.sbnation.com

via thenewsportsguru.com

via www.juanelway.com

Open the Gates!

2013-06-05T19:00:06Z

A prominent complaint from fans last year was the amount of time it took to simply get inside the stadium. In some cases, fans were allowing themselves an extra 45 minutes but still missing the opening kick-off--if not parts of the first quarter.

With all of this less-than-glowing customer feedback, the Panthers--through the use of their own analytical team--have decided to make some changes:

"We spent a lot of time last season studying our ingress, when our fans arrive, how they arrive, how they circulate around our building, and we decided that we were going to make some modifications," said director of stadium operations Scott Paul. (Read more at www.panthers.com)

The idea is to widen the entrance ways at the North and East gates by eliminating the dubiously place planters from either side. This should allow them to place roughly twice as many 'screening stations' at these gates, effectively cutting the 'ingress' time in half.

The Panthers' construction crews have already broken ground, so the project is on pace to be completed well before the start of the regular season.

Even with the faster 'ingress' (I just wanted to use that word one more time), CSR recommends leaving your tailgate/Uptown pre-game establishment at least 45 minutes before kick-off.

Cam Newton's press conference was full of awesome

2013-05-29T17:35:04Z

Cam Newton took a few minutes to talk with the media about a myriad of things on Wednesday at BOA stadium.

Forgive the author for not having a complete transcript, but some of the topics covered were the new offense under OC Mike Shula, the difficulty in competing with the defense in practice--specifically the beastly starting LB group, some of the new weapons at his disposal, his weight-loss, a league-wide QB foot-race and of course--just Cam being Cam.

Cam said that the 'new' offense would much like the 'old' offense, with the most notable change being the verbiage. He intimated that the actual play-call would be shortened--for the sake of brevity--so the players could move on faster and focus on their individual job for that play. The reporters (Person) were trying to get him to say that it would be a more traditional offense emphasizing the running game and play-action passing, but Newton gave nothing away.

Cam addressed the fierce competition in OTAs--and mentioned the linebackers specifically, citing Beason's fast recovery [author cringes] and what he means to the defense from a leadership perspective.

Joe Person asked Cam about some of the new offensive weapons at his disposal. He seemed genuinely excited about Tedd Ginn and Dominic Hixon and the speed and explosiveness they add to his group of receivers. Person asked if those two characteristics were lacking last year, before Ginn's and Hixon's arrival, but Cam sort of scoffed at that notion, implying that Smith and Murphy were also capable of blowing the top off the defense.

When asked about his offseason weight-loss, Cam said that he's lost 12lbs since last season, and that puts him (before a big dinner last night) at 243. He said that you couldn't really tell by looking at him (as that's maybe 5% of his body weight) but that he set that as a goal in January. He didn't say why that was his goal, but he might have gave it away later when asked about other QBs and who is the fastest guy in the league...

You might remember that Michael Vick proclaimed that he was still the fastest QB in the league a week or two ago. When asked his take on this, Jordan Gross decided to drop this epic video bomb, and it totally derailed Newton, to the delight of the crowd. When Newton got serious again he said that Vick is still very fast (faster than he) and that he'd leave that 'title' between RGIII, Colin and Mike.

Jumping back in to the weight-loss thing, he did say that he doesn't want to be the fastest guy, he just doesn't want to be the guy getting caught from behind. I wouldn't say that he got caught from behind last season, but there were a couple of long runs he broke off where the safety sort of had an angle on him and cut him off well enough to prevent a TD. Maybe that's what prompted him to set his weight-loss goal?...Just trying to read between the lines here.

Lastly, here are some tweets for your enjoyment...

I learned Cam ate hot wings yesterday
— James Dator (@James_Dator) May 29, 2013

Cam on being leader and team captain - captain not just patch on the jersey, going about it everyday to make it happen
— Bobby Rosinski (@BobbyRosinski) May 29, 2013

"I don't want to be the fastest quarterback, I want to be the guy who can't be caught" -- Newton
— James Dator (@James_Dator) May 29, 2013

Cam - feeling of a loss has a greater impact then that of a win
— Bobby Rosinski (@BobbyRosinski) May 29, 2013

YES! The first Newton malaprop of 2013 "rubbing batter on the cake". I was worried he was getting too trained for these
— James Dator (@James_Dator) May 29, 2013

As polished as Cam Newton can appear, every now and then he just simple-and-plain stomps all over the American idiom. I find it refreshing.
— Darin Gantt (@daringantt) May 29, 2013

Jordan Gross photobombed Cam's press conference today, and it was awesome. sbn.to/146TxSG
— Cat Scratch Reader (@CatScratchReadr) May 29, 2013

CSR Open Thread: The Carolina Panthers' Offensive Coordinator in 2013 is?...Survey says?

2013-01-18T17:52:05Z

We know The Panthers' OC position has come down to three candidates:

Former Browns HC Pat Shurmer (shudders), Bengals assistant Hue Jackson and the Panthers' current QBs Coach Mike Shula.

Feel free to: discuss who the best candidate is, to talk about the schematic... ness..., or to just derp out on a Friday afternoon. ( I know which one I'm doing.)

This is now an open thread! (But over the top language will be moderated.)

Tip of the hat to user BEVE for the suggestion.

Gillette No Debate Contest - Week 7: Who is the most dominant player on the field and in EA's Madden 2013?

2013-01-11T02:00:08Z

This weeks' Gillette No Debate Contest focuses on EA's Madden 2013, and it's most dominant players--while also taking into account their real-life on-the-field resume...

The first nominee is Geno Atkins, DT, Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals 3-technique DT is a monster. He is 6-foot-1, 301lbs--the perfect size for a 4-3 under tackle. Amp it up to All-Madden difficulty and try to run between the tackles against the Cincinnati Bengals. You just can't do it.

Not only is Atkins a terror against the run, he also abuses centers and guards in the passing game, often creating that dreaded interior pressure that exposes your QB to big hits from the edges. You've done it before... the 20 yard drop-back and sack. Against the Bengals, you can thank Atkins for those.

It's very easy to make a case for him with his real-life play. The 24 year-old racked up 53 tackles and lead all 4-3 DTs with 12.5 sacks in 2012.

The next nominee is Von Miller, OLB/PRS, Denver Broncos

Something I've noticed about playing Madden 13 against teams with fast, athletic OLBs is it is very hard to run the ball to the edges. Miller makes it impossible. In games against Miller, he almost always makes double-digit tackles (10 minute quarters), as well as several tackles for loss--and that's just when he's defending the run.

At 6-foot3, 237lbs, Miller is your prototypical speed-rusher. Yet in the passing game, Miller is not fully maximized if you play against a CPU-controlled Broncos team. They do have some formations that allow the SLB to rush the passer, but he is also dropped into coverage way too much in their base 4-3 with the CPU's automated play-calling. With that, a human user is far more dangerous with the Broncos. Even still--regardless of how he's used--Miller always makes a huge impact.

On the field (in real-life for you Madden junkies), the 22 year-old Miller is a nightmare. Finishing the 2012 campaign with 18.5 sacks, 68 tackles and 6 forced fumbles, it appears that his sophomore season was just a preview of what looks to be a tremendous, dare I say "LT-like" career as an OLB/PRS.

The next nominee is Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons.

Roddy White is simply unstoppable in Madden 2013. In using the Carolina Panthers quite a bit, I am privileged to try and defend White twice a season. He and Ryan seem to carve you up no matter what you throw at them. Off-man, press-man, press-zone, off-zone, cover-1, cover-2, cover-3, cover-4, cover-6, zone-blitz--forget about it. White will get his 120+ yards.

With superb route-running and an accurate QB, very few secondaries can matchup with the Falcons' aerial attack. They'll slant you to death until you cheat up and then they'll beat you over the top on a 'slugo,' and the stretch runs and play-action only take you further out of position on Atlanta's receivers.

Meticulously infuriating--that's sure to be your experience when you play against Atlanta's offense.

On the field of life, White is equally as impressive. Since 2007, White has caught at least 83 passes for no less than 1,153 yards... (That's six years in a row now.)

But it's not all about moving the sticks--White can score. In that same six-year span, White has caught no less than six TD passes, and is averaging 8.17 scores per season. At just 31, (over eight seasons) White has 622 career receptions for 8,725 yards and 52 TDs.

There they are ladies and gentlemen: your Gillette No Debate Contest Week 7 Nominees. Vote in the poll to choose a winner, or give us your nominee in the comments section. Thanks!

Poll

Who is the Gillette No Debate Contest Week 7 winner?

Bengals DT Geno Atkins

26 votes

Broncos LB Von Miller

54 votes

Falcons WR Roddy White

17 votes

97 votes | Poll has closed

CSR 'day after' thread

2012-12-03T16:25:10Z

Please feel free to discuss the Carolina Panthers, post-game reaction, etc.

[Editor's plea: Try to keep it civil, please. Let us remember the things that really matter. Thank you.]

Know Thine Enemy: Carolina Panthers Edition

2012-11-28T17:01:58Z

Hello Chiefs fans!

If you're like us, you are probably talking about coaching changes, new GMs, and the 2013 NFL draft more than you're talking about what we're seeing on the field this season. But, there are still five games to go before this merciless @#$%! of a season is over. First up for your KC Chiefs?... The Carolina Panthers.

As a Panthers fan and member of Cat Scratch Reader (the Panthers' SB Nation blog), I come in peace to discuss our teams, or offer any "insight" I think I might have -- in case you have a question about our organization.

Conversely, if you have a question about the outside perception of your organization, team, etc, ask away!

Not much more needs to be said, but you gotta reach the fanpost minimum, so purple donkey lunchbox mosquito.

Good luck on Sunday! But not really so much if we're being honest.

PS... Please vote in the poll

Hello Chiefs fans!

Conversely, if you have a question about the outside perception of your organization, team, etc, ask away!

Not much more needs to be said, but you gotta reach the fanpost minimum, so purple donkey lunchbox mosquito.

Good luck on Sunday! But not really so much if we're being honest.

PS... Please vote in the poll

Poll

Which 80's cartoon was the best?

He-Man

10 votes

Thundercats

21 votes

Transformers

36 votes

GI Joe

21 votes

The Smurfs

7 votes

Voltron (props to user RockinTheD.ThomasInDonkeyLand for the request)

7 votes

102 votes | Poll has closed

Know Thine Enemy - Carolina Panthers Edition

2012-11-15T14:51:56Z

Hello Bucs fans!

I'm in a dark place right now as a Panthers fan, so I'll just keep this short, as not to sound to morose...

We suck. That is all.

But, if you are curious about any aspect of our train-wreck of a season, please direct them here, and myself or one of my betters will do our best to answer it. Thanks!

PS... We'll be the dashing gentlemen in the black jerseys on Sunday.

Hello Bucs fans!

I'm in a dark place right now as a Panthers fan, so I'll just keep this short, as not to sound to morose...

We suck. That is all.

But, if you are curious about any aspect of our train-wreck of a season, please direct them here, and myself or one of my betters will do our best to answer it. Thanks!

PS... We'll be the dashing gentlemen in the black jerseys on Sunday.