Panthers’ Ekwonu, Reich explain ‘miscommunication’ that put Bryce Young in harm’s way
The Panthers had finally made it to the red zone on Friday night.
After failing to get within the opposing 20-yard line against the New York Jets the week before, quarterback Bryce Young — with the help of three penalties for 25 yards — anchored a drive to the New York Giants’ 10-yard line.
But as Carolina was set up on the cusp of the end zone on second-and-8, the next play led to an unraveling that eventually forced the Panthers to settle for three points.
Young lined up in the shotgun formation and after the ball was snapped, left tackle Ickey Ekwonu let fellow 2022 first-round pick Kayvon Thibodeaux streak past his left shoulder. Ekwonu tried to recover after realizing he made a mistake, but it was too late, as Thibodeaux smashed into Young for a sack and a seven-yard loss.
The puzzling play by the Panthers’ blindside blocker became the talk of social media throughout the weekend, as Ekwonu was criticized for failing to pick up Thibodeaux, who lined up to lineman’s left side with no one in front of him.
On Sunday, head coach Frank Reich clarified what happened on the miscue.
“It was a miscommunication,” Reich said. “There was a line call made, and thought we heard one thing — two words that sound similar — and in the heat of the battle, we heard the wrong word.”
Reich said the Panthers will swap out phrases for the line calls, as the team wants to avoid future mistakes, even if a situation like this only happens every “couple of years.”
“I’m not really going to blame that on the call,” Ekwonu said. “At the end of the day, I’ve got a job to do, and I didn’t get it done on that play. Whatever adjustments we make, I’ll take it in stride.”
Ekwonu chalked up the mistake to being a “mental error” on his part.
“When there’s a play like that’s obviously glaring — an obvious mistake I made — I like to watch that a lot and talk with the coaches about what I could have done better,” Ekwonu said. “Obviously there, it wasn’t necessarily technique, which was a good thing. It was more just the mental aspect of it. Really locking into the call, that’s all you can do in that situation.”
After the sack play, Ekwonu was also criticized for the follow-up third down outcome. Again, Thibodeaux lined up to Ekwonu’s left shoulder, and again, Thibodeaux got past him for a jarring hit on the quarterback, who released the ball prior to the collision.
That hit wasn’t the result of a mental error, but the one-on-one matchup between the two second-year players.
Still, Ekwonu hasn’t shaken Reich’s confidence in him.
“Lot of confidence in Ickey,” Reich said. “I have no concerns about him playing winning football and being one of the true anchors to our offensive line. And the year that he had last year, the training camp that he’s had, I think not only is he going to be a really good player for us, I think he’s going to be a good leader. We have had a couple miscues that he’s been involved in, but those things will get worked out.”
Ekwonu’s top priority is ultimately to protect Young. The 5-foot-10, 204-pound quarterback’s biggest doubters have constantly pointed to his relatively small frame and questioned his ability to hold up in the NFL. It’s Ekwonu’s job to wipe away that concern by limiting the damage caused to Young’s body by defenders.
To Young’s credit, despite being hit quite regularly in preseason action, the rookie quarterback hasn’t flinched after being roughed up by the opposition.
“He’s the same guy, in and out,” Ekwonu said. “Regardless of the situation, he’s a guy that’s kind of able to reset — reset his mind no matter what happened on the play and just refocus guys. Being able to pop back up no matter what is probably one of (his) biggest strengths.”
Ekwonu isn’t the only offensive lineman to have taken heat for the hits on Young. The entire group has had trouble keeping Young clean, and the challenge has been put on them to adjust and improve their protection ahead of the regular season.
“I think we’re taking it very serious,” Ekwonu said. “Obviously, that’s our job in the room, to be protectors, and we haven’t been getting that done, so it’s definitely a big emphasis in our room. Bryce is obviously a guy we need to take care of.”
Despite the back-to-back blunders against Thidodeaux, Ekwonu subscribes to the offensive line’s mantra of treating every play like the first snap of a new drive. The line likes to preach a “0-0” mindset to give a blank slate to the mental and physical aspect of each play.
Still, Ekwonu doesn’t want a pass for his mistakes. He resets after each snap, but after the game, he wants feedback from coaches and to watch film to fix the problems that he had on a given negative play.
“I definitely take ownership for it,” Ekwonu said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve got a job to do. The game is not going to stop just because you messed up a rep, so kind of have to move on.”
