âTough and trying timesâ for No. 1 pick Bryce Young
Seven months after using the first pick in the NFL Draft on Alabama quarterback Bryce Young, the Carolina Panthers fired the coach they had chosen to guide him into his career.
Frank Reich was shown the door on Monday with the Panthers holding a 1-10 record and six games remaining in Young’s rookie season. Carolina also fired quarterbacks coach Josh McCown.
“It’s really hard,” Young said on Wednesday. “These are real relationships. These are people’s lives, of course, and you spend almost double-digit hours a day, at times, in the building day after day after day. So much time is spent, and, obviously, you build strong bonds and strong relationships over that time. It’s hard. It’s a really harsh reality of the business.”
With the Panthers ranked 29th in scoring and 30th in yards among the NFL’s 32 teams this season, Young can’t help but feel as though Reich would still be the coach if he’d been more productive.
“We all take ownership, especially offensively,” Young said. “It’s all of us. We all look in the mirror. We all had things we could have done better. We all want to do better. It’s a collective unit. There’s no finger-pointing from players, coaches. We all could have been better. We have to improve. …
“Especially this being a new team, we wanted to come in and conquer things together and accomplish our goals together. We all take responsibility in that not being the case.”
In 10 games this season, Young has completed 216-of-350 passes for 1,877 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions and run for 161 yards on 25 carries. He’s been sacked 40 times. Young has had four of his five worst passing-efficiency ratings in Carolina’s past four games.
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“I do feel like there’s been growth, there’s been improvement,” Young said. “I think the biggest thing is that growth and improvement translating into success on the field as a unit, as a team, because ultimately that’s all that matters. That’s all I care about is us having success, us winning. That’s the nature of this business, and I think that’s the biggest thing that has to change.”
Special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor is the Panthers’ interim head coach. Offensive coordinator Thomas Brown will call the plays, a duty that Reich handled for most of the season. Passing-game coordinator Parks Frazier is now the quarterbacks coach.
“Really, it’s just rallying around the people in the locker room, the people that are here,” Young said. “These are tough and trying times. These are hard times. But, ultimately, we play for each other. Working with everyone every day, I have a tremendous amount of respect for all my teammates, all the people that are here, and we have to rely on each other, we have to lean on each other. We don’t want to let each other down. We want to push each other. Through that, just being able to play for each other and rely on each other is what allows us to keep working and stay driven.”
The Panthers will play for the first time this season without Reich on Sunday, when Carolina visits the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 3:05 p.m. CST for an NFC South game.
Young said the Panthers are approaching the game with “the mindset and the attitude that it is important, it does matter. Playing the Bucs this weekend is a huge game, regardless of whatever. Our next game is all we’re entitled to. That’s the most important thing for us as a team is going down and working to execute on Sunday. That’s all that matter. …
“We have six games left. That’s meaningful. That matters.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.