SB Nation User Blog: r3

NFL Fillms interview with Steve Smith: Passionate Panther

r3 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:00:16 -0000

NFL Fillms interview with Steve Smith: Passionate Panther

"Find out what really drives Panthers WR Steve Smith on the field, plus what he's like off it."

Steve Smith sits down with Steve Sabol for a one-on-one interview. A fascinating look behind the mask.

News: Texans trade DT to Chargers (not to us)

r3 — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:31:54 -0000

With the Panthers in dire need of help at DT, particularly experienced help, it's worth noting that the Texans traded former first-round pick Travis Johnson to the Chargers for a sixth-round draft pick, which could conditionally turn into a fifth-round pick. Johnson has been a disappointment for the Texans since his selection in the 2005 draft, and is best remembered for his angry response to Trent Green's low block that not only flipped the unsuspecting Johnson but also gave Green his second severe concussion in as many seasons.

I can't make an argument that Johnson would be a good fit for our defense, nor do I know much about him as a player. But I know as surely as I know that the earth is an oblate spheroid (it is NOT round) that we are desperate for DTs right now, and we have a recent history of taking a former first-round DT bust and turning him into a productive player, ala Damione Lewis.

So, at the low low asking price of a sixth round pick, would this have been a good move for us?

Poll

Should the Panthers have pursued former Texans DT Travis Johnson?

Yes, at that price it's a good option for our depleted line.

8 votes

Yes, but even a 5th or 6th round selection is too high for that guy.

5 votes

No way, he's not much of a player, and he tweaked on an unconscious Trent Green. We don't need him here.

12 votes

No, not when Player X is available! (Leave a comment, tell us who Player X is)

3 votes

28 votes | Poll has closed

The Official NFL Rulebook

r3 — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:16:44 -0000

The Official NFL Rulebook

After spending a while trying to find the official rules governing certain odd little situations, and being really frustrated by the "NFL 101" scope of the NFL.com Rulebook page, I finally came across this PDF of the 2006 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League.

Alternatively, you can purchase a copy of Roger Goodell's latest thriller on Amazon if you want something a little more recent.

"Press Hop." Phat beats. Pro ballers. Can it get any better? Not at all Panthers related, but it's...

r3 — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:21:02 -0000

"Press Hop." Phat beats. Pro ballers. Can it get any better?

Not at all Panthers related, but it's awesome and has NFL pressers in it. So I feel like it fits. You've probably all seen this already, but just in case you haven't...

Kemo's Achilles Tendon Is Torn

r3 — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:29:55 -0000

Kemo's Achilles Tendon Is Torn

The worst case scenario is reality. The Panthers' run defense has suffered a major blow with the announcement that Maake Kemoeatu has torn his achilles tendon.

Top 6 Players the Panthers Cannot Afford To Lose In 2009

r3 — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:23:57 -0000

MichaelP made a couple of astute comments (as he always does) that the Panthers' disappointing seasons that followed playoff appearances (the sad sack '04 and '06 seasons) were more the result of major injuries, and less about "hype" and "expectations" and all the attendant hoopla. Specifically, he noted:

Losing Steve Smith and Kris Jenkins along with being down to our 5th-string RB in ’04.

...

Losing Delhomme for the last three games of ’06, when we went 1-2 and came up one game short of the playoffs. Or losing Morgan, Wharton, and Hartwig within the first two weeks of the season?

I might add Mike Rucker's end-of-season ACL tear in '06. Not that I'm piling on. Just sayin', is all.

Sure, we sucked mightily those two years due to big-time injuries at critical positions. So let's spit in the eye of Fate and see who we could lose this year that would produce the same level of horrid results, countdown list style: Top 6 Players For The Love Of God We Had Better Not Lose!

6- Jon Beason - Losing the heart of our defense wouldn't be quite as bad as losing Morgan was in... well, all those (many, many) seasons when he got hurt. We've got Dan Conner as a more-than-capable (we hope) backup, which should otherwise allow the rest of the defense to keep rockin'. When Morgan went down, we had to move Witherspoon inside where he wasn't as effective and our weakside play was severely diminished. While Conner wouldn't be the Pro Bowl/All-Pro type player that Beason is, the hope is that he would at least allow the other LBs to remain focused on their positions.

5- Travelle Wharton - This is counter-intuitive, since we've got guys who can step in to fill the LG role. But Wharton's real value comes in his ability to step into the LT position in a time of need. If Gross is out for a series or two, or a game or two, Wharton moves over and the drop-off is not epic in scale. If Otah goes down for any serious length of time, then Gross can move to the RT, Wharton slides to LT and we plug in a guard. All of our contingency plans revolve around Wharton's ability to slide out to Tackle. If he's out there, it means we're not going to be as effective as we could be. But if he's not there, we're really screwed (See: Abraham v. Delhomme, 2007).

4- Chris Gamble - Big, big problems. Last season, Carolina was 8th best in the league at shutting down a QB's #1 receiver. We were 18th and 17th at shutting down their #2 and #3, respectively. That's the sort of drop off between Chris Gamble matched up on their top guy versus Richard Marshall against their third guy. We lose Gamble, then we're likely looking at CJ Wilson starting opposite Marshall, with Sherron Martin at nickel. That, my friends, is not a good position for us to be in.

3- Ma'ake Kemoeatu - As bad as it would be to lose our best pass defender, it would be one thousand times worse to lose our best run defender. You think we have trouble getting off the field on third downs now? Try it when the other team's looking at 3rd and 1 fifteen times per game, and our biggest D Tackle is an undrafted guy from the practice squad we signed off the Montreal Alouettes roster. If we don't have Ma'ake, we don't stop the run. Ever. Imagine the pain you felt in overtime of the Giants game last year, watching Derrick Ward go crazy, except that's happening in the second, third and fourth quarters.

2- Steve Smith - Armageddon? I don't think so. Not having Smitty costs us two or three games and knee-caps our passing attack, but it's not the end of the world. Remember the last time he went down, 2004? Moose had his best season, made it to the Pro Bowl and was named first team All-Pro (then signed with Chicago, and... nevermind, too painful). Wouldn't quite happen the same way, but the offense could adjust. We just lose the big play is all, and there are places where that'll cost us. Conversely, with him gone, Jake's not forcing the ball into places it doesn't belong (see: Nnamdi Asomugha v. Delhomme, Oakland '08).

1- Jake Delhomme - Yes, this really is Armageddon. Old Testament, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! The Panthers cannot operate without competent and capable leadership at the quarterback position. We have seen no proof that we have anything of substance behind Jake (and whether Jake himself is a thing of substance... well, that's your call). We suffer at least five more losses without Jake. Seriously, if Jake goes down, we may very well be looking at new team management next season.

Any other vital players you think deserve to be on the list? Any on the list that shouldn't be? Obviously, if we go through halfbacks like we did in '04 or the '05 playoffs, we're screwed no matter how you shake it up.

Interested in Sports Illustrated photography?

r3 — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:08:10 -0000

Interested in Sports Illustrated photography?

This really is Panthers-related.

MP posted a link to an SI article from the Super Bowl about Jake sticking around to watch the Pats celebrate.

Reminded me of another great SI-related article from the Panthers' Super Bowl appearance, this one about the photography workflow that Sports Illustrated goes through for an event like this. Since it's obviously 5 years old, all of the technical details (what computers, what software) are all out-dated. But the process is still basically the same, and the article's just fascinating.

It is for me, anyway. But I'm a photographer. So I'm reading through the Photoshop stuff going "Oh, really?" And it's interesting as a time capsule piece about the industry conversion from film to digital, which magazines were the last to embrace.

But I think anybody can really enjoy quotes like this: "I've never seen so many guys say so many good things about their own take, and there's nothing but shit on the screen."

Trgovac's Kids Not Well Liked?

r3 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:46:11 -0000

Trgovac's Kids Not Well Liked?

He's not here anymore, but that doesn't mean we can't still talk about Trgo.

I stumbled onto the Wikipedia revision page for former defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac. Someone (maybe Trgovac himself) had added under the Coaching section: Trgovac also has a family. A wife Angela and two children. Jordan, a girl and Michael, a boy. These children are the best in the world.

Someone came through and wiped that last sentence with the following explanation: Deleted the crap about how his children are "best in the world". I've met them, and they are bastards.

I got nothing to add to that. That's just funny.

Falcons Cut Moorehead

r3 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:53:37 -0000

Falcons Cut Moorehead

Kindal Moorehead was released today by the Falcons. After five seasons with Carolina, Moorehead left via free agency and signed with the Falcons last season. One and done. His best season was with the Panthers in their 2005 playoff run, when he amassed 23 tackles and 5 sacks in a reserve roll.

Hopefully he makes it onto a roster for camp. We'll see where he goes from here.

Pro Bowl Watch: Panthers Earning Respect?

r3 — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:19:15 -0000

NFL.com released a list of Pro Bowl ballots by their writers, and there are a surprising (to me, anyway) number of Panthers making appearances.

Here's the full list.

Of the five ballots cast by their writers, I'll list each Panther who makes an appearance, and the number of ballots on which they appear:

DeAngelo Williams (1)
Brad Hoover (1)
Steve Smith (2)
Jordan Gross (3)
Travelle Wharton (1)
Ryan Kalil (1)
Julius Peppers (4)
Jon Beason (2)
Ken Lucas (1)
Chris Gamble (1)
Richard Marshall (1)

Winning sure does put peoples eyes on you, even if you're not on national broadcasts.

The biggest misses by the writers, from a Panther perspective, are at RB, WR, ILB and K.

Only one mention of DeAngelo, with Portis and Jacobs splitting the rest. AP and The Burner are locks. We've already had a whole post on this, so I won't belabor the point.

But to only have two votes for Smitty is silly. Sure, there's tough competition there, with the Arizona pair, Roddy White, Greg Jennings and Calvin Johnson all vying for four spots. I think Roddy White's presence is mandatory, but everyone's putting both Arizona receivers in, which I think is ridiculous. I don't have a single thing bad to say about either receiver, but look at the system they're in and tell me that they're more deserving than Calvin Johnson and Steve Smith, guys who are the only arial threats their teams have.

Jon Beason, based on his rookie year and this year should be a lock for one of the two ILB spots, but he's only on two ballots. Yes, both Barrett Rudd and London Fletcher had good seasons. But can't we all agree now that these two roster spots should, for the next ten years, go to Patrick Willis and Jon Beason? They are the class of the NFC ILB position. Let's just etch this one in stone and stop worrying about it.

As for John Kasay, I can't see how anyone could deserve the spot more than Kasay. Perfect on the year except for a 58-yarder. I mean, sure, Matt Bryant went through an unfathomable, emotional loss and still performed when it mattered most, and perhaps he deserves the trip for his fortitude. I'd be fine with that. But Robbie Gould (23/26, long of 48)? John Carney (29/31, long of 48)? Ryan freakin' Longwell (26/31)?!? A guy who misses five field goals should go to the Pro Bowl? Gah!

Okay, I'll stop my complaining now, and move on to the interesting bits beyond that stuff.

Jordan Gross looks like he'll finally make a trip to Hawaii, oddly on what I would say has not been his best year. Of course, it's also happening just as we're removing the franchise tag. Ick. That might spell trouble for the team, but I am glad he's being recognized for his talent.

The most interesting omission is Jared Allen, making only one appearance, while Justin Tuck, John Abraham and JPep get all the rest. I think that's completely fair, since those three guys are all complete players who do fantastic against the run and the pass, and Allen's more limited in his all-around game. But for the last three or four years, it's been my secret dream to have John Abraham and Julius Peppers lining up alongside one another. It looks like that's going to happen this year.

I look forward to hearing everyone else's opinions.