Carolina Panthers WR has ‘no clue’ why he didn’t play vs. Lions. Frank Reich takes blame
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Terrace Marshall didn’t play on Sunday against the Detroit Lions — and he and head coach Frank Reich were both disappointed with the lack of playing time.
Marshall expressed surprise.
Reich accepted blame.
“I have no clue why I didn’t play,” Marshall told The Charlotte Observer after team meetings broke on Monday afternoon. He added, “It was surprising. I didn’t expect to sit out the whole game. It just happened.”
Marshall’s absence came after he reined in a team-high nine receptions for 56 yards against the Minnesota Vikings the week before.
It’s true Marshall’s role in the offense was larger in Week 4 than it was in Week 5. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound pass catcher out of LSU was filling in for the inactive Jonathan Mingo against the Vikings, who had served in the concussion protocol earlier that week, and Mingo returned to his normal starting role against the Lions on Week 5 and played 61 snaps.
“He (Marshall) should’ve played,” Reich told reporters Monday. “He should’ve played some. So I wish he had gotten in there some. That was my fault.”
Reich acknowledged the week Marshall had against the Vikings, which included a 14-yard catch, and said that Marshall playing on zero of the Panthers’ 71 offensive snaps was the result of “poor communication by me.”
“I did not do a good job of telling our coaches, ‘Hey this is what I would like to see,’” Reich said. “And just defaulted to what we were doing before he got hurt: That’s normal, (Mingo’s) back, so let’s go back to where we’re going. But I thought Terrace had done enough (to warrant me saying), ‘Hey let’s not just go back to how we were doing this before. He should get some playing time.’”
Despite the 42-24 loss at Ford Field in Detroit, which pushed the Panthers to 0-5 on the year, the passing offense continued to show signs of improvement. Rookie quarterback Bryce Young — if you could erase the two interceptions — had a career day, completing 25 of 41 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. A couple of those throws were the elusive chunk plays this Panthers offense has been waiting on, including a 30-yard strike to Adam Thielen.
Marshall, a 2021 second-round draft pick who was the 59th overall pick, said he was encouraged by the growth of the offense and that he looks forward to continuing “to get better every day and take advantage of my opportunities.”
Reich, despite the result, was positive as well.
“There were a lot of good things offensively,” Reich said. “I felt like we moved the ball. You take away the three turnovers, the thing that was most frustrating is the six pre-snap penalties. Those things have to stop. Many positive things, but these things that are holding us back are really hurting us.”
Other observations from Carolina Panthers
▪ Tight end Hayden Hurst, who started Week 1 with a touchdown reception but has only accumulated eight receptions for 59 yards in the four weeks after that, said that “it’s about manning up right now” at this point in the season. He added, “Throw the record, throw the opponent, out the window. Who gives a s--- about that — we just need to find out who the men are in this locker room and just go compete. That’s all that Frank is asking for. That’s all that we’re asking for.”
▪ Reich expounded on the errant second interception from Young on Sunday, explaining that Young’s intended receiver — Mingo — didn’t run the proper angle on the route, which brought the corner into the play. The coach added that the first interception on the screen qualified more or less as a “fluke.”
