What Carolina Panthers coach Frank Reich said after loss to Miami Dolphins
The Carolina Panthers started surprisingly fast — jumping out to the largest lead of their season (14 points) — before surrendering 35 unanswered points en route to a 42-21 loss to the Miami Dolphins on the road on Sunday.
The Panthers are 0-6 heading into their bye Week 7. This is only the second time in franchise history Carolina has been winless through six games; the first was the 1998 season, when the team started 0-7.
From the performance of rookie quarterback Bryce Young, to an explanation on a key first-half gamble and more: here’s a recap of what head coach Frank Reich said in his postgame press conference.
Keys behind Panthers’ hot start on offense
“Just thought there was good execution in all three phases. Thought we were running the ball well, had a good mix of run and pass. Hit a chunk play to Adam (Thielen) and then we were able to run it in. That’s the first (touchdown). The second one, we moved it down there, had an incompletion on first down and then Bryce (Young) made a great throw to Adam in the back of the end zone. So just two drives where Bryce was super sharp, the offense was good, we were protecting well, running the ball well, mixing it — feeling how we should feel.
“Then a drive, it was the next drive maybe, or a couple drives later, we crossed midfield, we go with the fake punt, and obviously we just missed that. Missed an opportunity there. And then on offense, too, we got down in there one time, had a fourth down, and we threw into the end zone, so we missed some points there, missed a field goal. So we had a few more opportunities on offense that we didn’t convert.”
Any difference in play calling Sunday than first five games?
“I’ll have to go back and analyze it, but we went in thinking it was going to be a mix of huddle and no huddle. Honestly, I was thinking we were going to come out primarily in no huddle. And then what happened was, we had success early, we were running the ball, and I called a couple huddle plays that were successful, so I said, ‘Well, we’ll just eat up clock and move the ball down the field.’ And then that stalled out.
“So that was all part of the plan. The plan was to go some no huddle, some huddle. I felt that we did, at times, move the ball effectively, especially early on, but I didn’t feel like it was much different (from the first five weeks).”
On establishing a good run game for first time all season
“I mean, that’s what we want to do. ... At the end of the third quarter, I asked the guys, ‘How many runs do we have right now?’ And at the end of the third quarter we had 23 runs. You know? And we were behind by two scores. So that feels to me like a pretty good mix of run and pass. If you’re playing good football and it’s a close game, or you’re winning, you’re going to get a bunch of runs in the fourth quarter.
“So there are positive things to build on. Obviously you lose by three touchdowns, so nothing feels good about it. Nothing. But we’ll look at the tape, and I know there are good things on the tape, so we’ll get better from the good and the bad.”
What went wrong in 35 unanswered points by Dolphins?
“I mean, we know their offense, when they get hot, they’re hard to stop. They got some big time playmakers. I mean, Tyreek (Hill): man, when he hits that thing running, it looks different. And it feels different. When he goes in that motion and hits full speed — you can watch that on film, but when you feel it on the field, he’s a difference maker. Obviously he had a huge day. I mean, he averaged over 20 yards a catch. So credit to him and their offense.”
Looking to build on positive in bye week
“We’ll dive really hard into the self-scout. Sometimes you like for the bye to happen a little bit later, but after six games, it’s a good sample size to feel some things from a self-scout standpoint. So we as coaches, we’ll work hard on that. We have a process that we go through, which is kind of a systematic process of how we look at ourselves in all three phases before we take the weekend for the bye.
“Players will come back. I am going to have the players come in this week for a couple days. Tomorrow to watch the film, and then Tuesday and Wednesday just to have something on Tuesday and Wednesday for us to learn and get better from tape and looking at some of the self-scout. And looking for ways we can continue to build on the positive. What we’re talking about, we’re doing it the right way, with the right people, and we just gotta keep fighting and believing. And so that’s what we’re going to do.”
On messaging to the team amid 0-6 start
“We got 11 games left. I mean, anything can happen. ... If you commit to getting better, and you commit to hanging together, then we can do some damage. We can win football games. We can win a lot of football games. So that’s what we’ll do.”
On Bryce Young’s performance vs. Dolphins
“I think he’s getting better every week. I thought he was seeing the field very well today, you know, particularly in the first half. Really the whole game he saw the field well. So I really like the direction he’s going. The offense, overall, has to be better, but there are some positive things there.”
On critical fourth-down, first-half fake punt with game tied
“It was close. Laviska (Shenault) made a nice effort. We knew going in all week, just talking to (special teams) coach (Chris) Tabor, he did a great job. The guys did a great job. As a head coach, that’s the first fake punt I’ve called. So they made me a believer during the week that this could work. And we just missed it by a few inches.
“We said we’d go anywhere all the way up to fourth-and-10 because we thought it would be a big play. Obviously it would’ve been better to run that on fourth-and-6 rather than fourth-and-10. But it was executed well, just came up a few inches short. ...
“It was the perfect spot to call it at. Good time in the game. They’re an explosive offense, and you can punt it down there, and they’re going to get it at the 20-yard line or whatever, and in two plays they’re going to be right back at the 50. So I felt good about the decision, the execution just came up a couple inches short.”
On running back/wide receiver Laviska Shenault’s ankle injury
“Don’t know yet. It’s an ankle, so you know how those go. We probably have to wait 48 hours to really determine how severe the timetable is.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2023 at 5:18 PM.
