On Sunday, Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich called a play for a player who wasn’t even on the field.
After Week 4’s disappointing 21-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Reich admitted to making a mind-blowing botch. That mistake came in the second quarter, when he dialed up a little something for wide receiver Adam Thielen . . . who actually was on the sideline at the time.
“I called a play for Thielen,” he said. “And then, I realized he was out. And I didn’t know he was out fast enough. It was a play that could only go to Thielen. So I had to change the call. And that was the one we had to call a timeout on.”
As was the case in their previous games, particularly the ones under rookie Bryce Young, Carolina had issues getting in their play calls throughout the afternoon. And just like in those last outings, Young had to take some yellow laundry for delaying the game.
Heck, Reich even had trouble when they did have to use those timeouts. Trekking into Vikings territory with two stops left as the first half came to a close, the Panthers erroneously allowed 22 seconds of game clock to tick off after a completion to wideout Terrace Marshall Jr.—leaving them with only 12 seconds at the Minnesota 41-yard line.
So, as Reich also said in that postgame presser, it’s really time for less talk and more action . . . but a little more (and better) communication certainly couldn’t hurt.
