Cat Scratch Reader— Photo by Grant Halverson/ Having two out of three phases of the game in order isn’t too bad. Two weeks of Carolina Panthers football has shown two separately disappointing offensive performances and two promising defensive efforts. Frank Reich’s 2023 Panthers squad can generously be described as starting slow. Whether they show improvement or not, they are currently miles away from being able to compete. Today we’re going to highlight a couple of individual performances, quickly call a duck a duck, and then point our eyes firmly forwards. What I liked Frankie Luvu...

The Falcoholic— Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports The team’s revamped defensive front should be at the fore of deciding Week’s 1 outcome. One of the pivotal battles to watch in the Atlanta Falcons Week 1 matchup against the Carolina Panthers will be along the interior defensive line. You’d be forgiven if your mind immediately went to Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown, who dominated last year’s matchups against the Falcons. However, I’m referring to the matchup featuring the Falcons’ defensive tackles, where the team invested significant resources this offseason to add the...

Cat Scratch Reader— Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports We continue our countdown to the Panthers regular season opener. We’re only 3 days away from the Panthers 2023 season opener against the Atlanta Falcons, and we look to close out our countdown in the coming days with a look at number 3 on the roster — RB Raheem Blackshear. Blackshear came to Carolina as a signing off the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills in 2022, who brought him in as an undrafted free agent but elected not to keep him on the 53 man roster. He joined a Panthers runningback room sporting Christian McCaffrey, D’Onta...

The Falcoholic— Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports Burns skipped team walkthroughs on Sunday. The Carolina Panthers may have a fresh problem they can’t keep pounding through. The team’s top defender Brian Burns has flaked on a team walkthrough... with the team publicly uncertain if Burns will suit up in Week 1. It all culminates in a potential bonus for the Atlanta Falcons who have yet to find a win in Week 1 under Arthur Smith. Burns just wrapped up a 12.5 sack season and is fresh off of back to back Pro Bowls. He’s the team’s best defender if not the best player entering his age-25...