Dormant through the first two games of the season, the Carolina Panthers’ passing game finally woke up in Week 3—thanks, in part, a bit of downfield action. Why the change?
On Monday, head coach Frank Reich explained why his offense took more deep shots under backup Andy Dalton than they have under Bryce Young—and it’s not because the rookie is gun shy.
Buy Panthers Tickets“I wouldn’t say that that was the case,” he replied when asked if Young hadn’t taken the same openings Dalton did on Sunday. “I probably called a few more. And there were one or two things that Andy specifically asked for, which I don’t wanna go into detail on. But there were a couple things that he specifically asked for.”
Dalton finished his first start of the campaign having completed 34 of a career-high 58 throws for 361 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. By comparison, Young amassed all of 299 passing yards, two scores and two picks in his two outings.
By further comparison, Dalton—per NFL Next Gen Stats—attempted seven passes of at least 20 yards in the 37-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Young totaled four between Weeks 1 and 2.
One of Dalton’s long balls resulted in a 47-yard touchdown to wideout DJ Chark—one Reich credited offensive coordinator Thomas Brown and passing game coordinator Parks Frazier for.
“And the one we hit to DJ for the touchdown—that was, obviously, great execution by the offense,” Reich added. “But also a good job by Thomas and Parks Frazier and the whole offensive staff—that was a play design that we saw something in the way they played their coverage that we thought we could expose something.”
So perhaps—Reich, Brown and Frazier can see even more when their prized passer gets back under center.
