Lea: Panthers lackluster offense falls on Reich, not Young

By Chris Lea, WRAL-TV sports anchor/reporter

Charlotte, N.C. — It seems to be the on-going theme for the Carolina Panthers. Their defense, even though severely hampered with multiple injured players, is what keeps them in games.

Sam Franklin got the start at safety for the injured Xavier Woods and cashed in the Panthers first defensive score this season on a 99-yard pick six Sunday versus the Minnesota Vikings. Linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill snagged the Panthers second interception of the game, which set the team up to make a field goal at the end of the second quarter.

Those two takeaways accounted for 10 of the Panthers 13 points in their 21-13 loss to the Vikings.

Even though the Panthers offense dominated time of possession, holding the ball 38:29 of a possible 60 minutes, they were inept. Unacceptable from a coaching staff that was hired specifically for their years of offensive knowledge by head coach Frank Reich. But maybe it's not the staff. Maybe it's not their rookie quarterback. Maybe it's Reich himself to blame.

Rookie quarterback Bryce Young has totaled just 503 passing yards through three games this season. That's an average of just 167 yards per game. At first glance it could look like that's Young's rookie deficiencies. However, last week, veteran backup Andy Dalton threw for 361 yards, a total that was more than Young's first two weeks combined.

Young's longest completion this season were a couple of 22 yarders, one of which was completed to Adam Thielen against the Vikings. Dalton's lone Panthers start against the Seattle Seahawks on September 24th saw 47 and 22 yard pick ups in the same game. Personally, I came away with the feeling that Dalton had no restrictions placed on him, while it seems Young is in dink and dunk hell with the coaching staff. Dalton seemed to be able to have access to a different part of the playbook than Young has access to.

If Reich doesn't trust Young, why start him? Why not start Dalton instead and wait until he messes up to bring Young in as the starter?

Young is also running for his life behind an offensive line that doesn't seem to be able to hold water. Young was hit six times and sacked five times against the Vikings.

The run game was also non-existent. 31 carries for 83 yards as a team with the average of 2.7 yards per carry isn't going to cut it week-after-week.

Additionally, there doesn't seem to be any creativity in play design or scheme. Lackluster runs, tunnel screens-galore and a host of flats, slants, comebacks and curl routes, all within 10 yards, is all this offense can seem to come up with in the passing game. Plus, there's not a lot of pre-snap motions or window-dressing to keep defenses guessing and on their toes. That's letting defenders sit on routes even more on wide receivers that already aren't getting a lot of separation.

All of these instances are things that Young himself can not fix or alter. This is all a failure of the complete offensive system which falls on the shoulder of Reich, who is calling the plays instead of offensive coordinator Thomas Brown. Reich should not be on the hot seat this early in the season and talks of such is premature.

For now.

But if the Panthers offense continues to look like this over the course of the season, Reich should either be relieved of his duties or given a short leash to start next season like what Matt Rhule had in 2022.

For owner David Tepper's sake, he'd better hope Reich injects new life into this team sometime soon, or he'll continue to suck the life out of a fan base that's tired of supporting a bottom-third NFL franchise.

99.9 The Fan's Dennis Cox and myself discuss more of what's wrong with the Carolina Panthers, plus we take you inside the locker room in the latest 'Panthers Playbook' episode. Listen below.