Pictured: an artist’s rendering of Bradley W. Smith | Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
This week we caught up with ourselves. Self-care, which requires self awareness, is an important part of mental health that we should all be practicing.
Bye weeks are always the calm before the storm for any NFL team. For the Carolina Panthers however, this mid season bye represents a moment to catch their breath and hopefully recover from a storm of early injuries. We here at Cat Scratch Reader also like to take this opportunity to catch our collective breath and re-consider our opinions on this team without the crush of having to prepare y’all for the next game.
We’ll talk about the state of the blog, how likely it is that Kyle Allen is as good or as bad as anyone of has said he is, and every other hot button issue on our usually family-friendly forum. Join me as we open those subjects with our very own Managing Editor, Bradley Smith.
The Panthers set out in 2019 to improve their defense. They clearly succeeded. What has been the biggest or most impactful change leading up to this season?
It’s two things, really. The switch to the 3-4 defense is probably the biggest factor (more on this in a minute), but the addition of Brian Burns, Christian Miller, Bruce Irvin and Gerald McCoy is also a huge factor in to the team’s success on defense so far this year. Switching to the 3-4 has allowed several players to play to their strengths as opposed to being ‘out of position’ in a 4-3 alignment. We’ve seen that with the recent play of Vernon Butler, who after being a disappointment early in his career has had a bit of a revelation in his new role. Shaq Thompson is also playing very well in this scheme, as well as Dontari Poe and Kyle Love. The pass rush is better (who would have thought that adding more speed to the pass rush would improve it?) and because of that, the secondary is playing better as well. Ron Rivera continuing to call plays also helps.
Kyle Allen. Take away the specter of Cam Newton’s return, and what is your opinion of him and how he has played in 2019? How many games would you feel comfortable with him starting?
I think he has played well, and I’m fine with him playing until Cam is 100 percent healthy. That’s the key thing for me. I don’t want to see Cam back under center until he’s healthy enough to play at a high level. Whether that’s Week 8 or Week 15, I don’t want a partially-healed Cam out there. I’m not sure that Kyle Allen is a bona fide starting quarterback yet (the sample size is still too small to make that determination, at least for me), but I think that he’s at the very least a fine backup who can come in for a week or two and keep the ship afloat. Anything better than that is just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned.
Christian McCaffrey, MVP, has a nice ring to it. The only challenge is that he is 0/1 passing this season and projected to have a 0% completion rate through the playoffs. What does McCaffrey need to do to supplant a real quarterback in the MVP voting at the end of the year?
Well he needs to complete more passes, obviously. But being serious for a moment, I don’t think Christian McCaffrey’s going to win the MVP award (even though I think he should; the Panthers are 0-6 or 1-5 right now without him) because it’s an award that’s geared towards quarterbacks. However, if he’s able to produce a 1000/1000 season then he should absolutely be in the top two of MVP voting at the end of the year.
The Panthers have seen an inordinate number of injuries to starters on both offense and defense that have caused players to miss multiple games, if not the season. How do you explain this team’s 4-2 record in the face of those set backs?
I think there are two factors at play here. For starters, it seems like the Panthers finally have some quality depth in the positions where injuries have hit them the hardest. Kawann Short being out for a few games is easier to navigate because of all the defensive line talent we added in the offseason. Switching to a 3-4 also helps mitigate the loss of an interior defensive lineman, and it doesn’t hurt that Vernon Butler has had a bit of a breakout over the last few weeks. The offensive line scares me the most, but we’ve been fortunate that Dennis Daley has been much better than expected. Normally you don’t find starter quality tackles in the sixth round of the draft, but it appears that we have done that with Daley and that has been a huge help after losing Greg Little for a few weeks due to concussions and seeing that Daryl Williams isn’t very good at left tackle.
It also has to be mentioned that having a healthy quarterback helps. I’m not sure Kyle Allen is ‘the answer’, but the fact that he’s 100 percent healthy and Cam Newton isn’t helps the team play better. Norv Turner has done a good job tailoring the game plan to fit Allen’s skill set, and he has done a good job managing the game and limiting his mistakes. (His ball security leaves a lot to be desired, but he has improved that over the last two starts.)
5. Cat Scratch Reader has had to grow under your leadership in an ever-evolving digital landscape. What has been the biggest challenge to that growth so far and what is the least appreciated aspect of running a site like this?
To me, the biggest challenge is that everything is constantly changing. Social media is huge now, so we have to consistently engage with fans on Twitter and Facebook. If you’ve ever been on either platform you already know how challenging that can be. On CSR, we also have to make sure we cater to two groups of sports fans with polar opposite needs. A large group of our readers (and this is true in all digital media today) are just folks who want to read a quick 150-word article that only covers the important details because they either don’t have the time or the desire to read anything more than the who, what, when and where of the story. But, we also have a community of users who are only satiated if we provide them with 1000+ words about the X’s and O’s from the team’s previous game. Those fans are interested in the who, what, when and where of the story, but more importantly they’re also interested in the why, and we have to ensure we’re there to provide them with the why so they don’t go get that information elsewhere. Both types of readers deserve to have information provided to them in a way that makes sense to them and that they enjoy, so as the Managing Editor it’s challenging to ensure that we are able to consistently provide content for both subsets of users. I think one thing that most people don’t realize is that there are at least 10 times the amount of people who read Cat Scratch Reader (or any other SB Nation site) without participating in the community than there are users who frequently post in the comment threads. We have to balance providing information to folks who just want to read the morning news, so to speak, with providing a community where fans can gather together and share opinions and ideas with each other. It may not seem like it on the surface, but that is quite the challenging venture.
I think the least appreciated aspect of running a site like CSR in 2019 is that most people don’t realize just how much time and effort goes into keeping the lights on. I spend a lot of time making sure that everything is running as smoothly as it can, and that’s while also trying to work a regular 9-5 job and be a husband and father. It’s a lot of work, and while I’m not trying to get a pat on the back for it (I mean, I can just stop doing it any time I want because it’s not like I’m forced to do this every day) it would make things go a lot easier if everyone understood just how much work goes into doing this every day. I think there’s a disconnect because if you’re a user who visits the site every day and participates in the comment section you probably spend a good portion of your 9-5 day on CSR. But you get to go home when you get off work and you don’t have to come back for two weeks if you don’t want to. I don’t have that luxury. I have to be available every day because the NFL is a 24/7/365 sport, and if breaking news happens I have to be there to provide a story on it to keep our readers engaged because if I don’t they’ll just start getting their information from someone else.
There are times when people take issue with the way we do things, but I think if they knew just how much work went into it they would probably take a step back and appreciate it more. One of my least favorite criticisms is “that’s a clickbait headline!” because that’s kinda the point of headlines - I have to make you want to click on an article and read it so I get paid for all my hard work. That’s just the way the sausage is made, and while sometimes we do have headlines that are interesting and mildly ‘hot take’, we never intentionally mislead anyone with our headlines or stories. It’s not like we do things like “Top 10 things Cam Newton said in his post-game press conference. No. 7 will blow your mind!” And to make this clear, I’m not saying that I don’t want people to complain or give critical feedback... I’m perfectly fine with reasonable criticism. I just wish folks would take a step back before posting their critique to ask “Is this really worth pointing out? Will my comment actually help things?” If people would do that, and avoid criticizing just for the sake of it, I think everyone would feel a lot better about the state of not just CSR, but the internet in general. Of course, I do realize that this is basically impossible on the internet in 2019, but I figured I’d share my hope for society anyway. Maybe it will help someone reading this, and maybe it won’t. I don’t know.