Has Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young been overloaded with info? ‘That’s not how I see it’
Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich admitted on Wednesday that the team has simplified its game plan a bit amid its 0-5 start — a response he claims “every coach in the history of the NFL” would make.
Does that have anything to do with Bryce Young’s difficult start to his NFL career?
“Every coach will tell you: ‘When you’re 0-5, what’s the answer? Do more? No. The answer is to do less,’” Reich told reporters Wednesday. “Every coach in the history of the NFL (would say), ‘Hey, we’re 0-5, we’re 0-3, we’re 0-4 — do less.’
“Does that mean you gave him (Young) too much? Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know the answer to that. I just know that we gotta get better.”
Of all the stalwart traits that Young boasted at Alabama and in high school — from his dazzling improvisation, to his accuracy, to his leadership and so on — the one that made him such a popular lock at No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft was his ability to process information quickly. Young scored a remarkable 98 on the S2 Cognition test, which tests NFL prospects’ ability to quickly and accurately process information — and all anecdotal evidence indicated his intelligence gave him a unique edge.
But a handful of games into his NFL career, winless and with more turnovers (6) to his name than touchdowns (5), every facet of the team’s operation has been simplified, Reich said, including the offense.
This all leads to a question, which was originally brought up in a CBS report this past weekend: Was Young being overloaded with information?
Young doesn’t think so, he said.
“That’s not how I see it,” Young told reporters before practice Wednesday. “I trust Coach Reich, I trust the staff, they’ve done a great job of preparing me. Of preparing us. Being able to help my development and allowing me to grow.”
How Carolina Panthers have ‘simplified’ game plan
Simplifying the playbook could mean a bunch of different things, of course. It could mean anything from shortening the amount of plays — say, taking a 40-play playbook and shrinking it to 35 — or condensing the language that’s coming from the sideline in-game, to more.
One of the most visible changes Young has made is to start wearing a wristband while playing and referring to it between the plays. Reich said the quarterback began doing that a couple weeks ago.
“Couple weeks ago, just to speed up the procedure,” Reich said. “Just pure math of it, it has to be faster. If I don’t have to give the whole play-call, if I can just say ‘Run No. 37.’ There’s something to that.
“Now listen, I’ve called a lot of plays for a lot of quarterbacks who don’t want to wear a wristband, I understand the other side of it. But the fact of the matter is: These days, in most offenses, if you want to move guys around — personnel, shift and motion — you can’t do that without using language, and words, that make the play-call lengthy. So in those instances, you use the wristband.”
Young said he didn’t mind wearing the wristband, using his coaching refrain of trusting the coaches to make the right decisions to drive the point home. He also acknowledged the transition that the pro game, from an offensive operational standpoint, is different than in college or in high school. The non-pro levels largely rely a lot on hand signals, whereas the pros use spoken play calls.
He also acknowledged, simply put, that the simplification of the offense has seemed to work.
Others in the offense agreed.
Laviska Shenault, the wide receiver and running back and returner who virtually touches every aspect of the Panthers’ offense, said that the game plan has “most definitely” helped the offense.
“I wouldn’t say it necessarily affects (me),” he said. “For example, even if you take out five plays, you could still have the same amount of opportunities. I don’t think it really affects anyone (individually), honestly. It just enables you to move quicker, think quicker and more smoothly. Stuff like that.”
Running back Chuba Hubbard, whose role in the offense has been upgraded some the past few weeks, agreed.
“To be honest, no matter what the game plan is, I go in with the same mindset every single week,” Hubbard said. “Obviously, to execute, no matter what it is, complex or easy. Study the defense and just go from there.”
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Simplifying offense has seemed to work for Bryce Young
Simplifying the offense has had a noticeable impact on production. Take last week’s contest against the Lions. Young, for instance, threw a career-high three touchdowns and 247 yards, and connected on two passes of 20 yards or more.
Any offensive momentum was ultimately undone by three turnovers — two of which came on back-to-back plays and led to 14 first-half points — but there were positives hidden in there nonetheless.
Young, simplified offense or not, reiterated that real offensive success will come when the execution meets the moment.
Reich echoed his rookie quarterback’s point — and added something else.
“Insanity is doing the same thing (and expecting a different result), right?” Reich said, explaining why he made a change to the offense. “So that’s what we do as coaches. Not for the quarterback, for the whole team. We did it on offense, we did it on defense, we did it on special teams. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Do the basics. Let the players play fast.
“Sometimes it takes that to do it.”
Carolina Panthers injury report
Did not participate: Justin Houston (rest), Miles Sanders (shoulder), Adam Thielen (rest), Xavier Woods (hamstring), Chandler Zavala (neck).
Limited: Derek Brown (knee/ankle) Brian Burns (ankle), Taylor Moton (knee), Calvin Throckmorton (calf), Austin Corbett (knee), Stephen Sullivan (hip)
Key note: Donte Jackson, who was inactive against the Detroit Lions with a shoulder injury, was a full participant during Wednesday’s practice.
