During Monday night’s game, the Panthers twice took quarterback Bryce Young out and replaced him with Andy Dalton in short-yardage situations. That led to questions about whether coach Frank Reich is concerned about the diminutive Young getting hurt on quarterback sneaks.
Reich was asked about that and said he thinks Young can sneak if he needs to, but he acknowledged it would be nice to limit Young’s exposure to injuries in pileups.
“Some of those things you just want to limit the exposure of Bryce to,” Reich said. “Bryce can do any of it, but you got an experienced veteran. There’s no golden rule that says he can’t come in and play a couple plays in the game. Look what the Saints did. I know Taysom Hill’s a different story, but why not do that to a lesser extent if it can be utilized in a positive way?”
Dalton didn’t actually sneak the ball on either of his plays. One play, a fourth-and-1, was called off because of a false start penalty, and on the other play, a third-and-1, Dalton took advantage of the defense expecting a quarterback sneak and instead flipped the ball to Miles Sanders, who ran for five yards. But putting Dalton in on short yardage seems to suggest that if the Panthers are going to run a quarterback sneak, Reich would prefer that Dalton does it.
Reich said he has made similar quarterback switches in the past, noting that he used his backup quarterback in short yardage during his time with the Colts as well.
“That’s not unprecedented by any stretch of the imagination,” Reich said. “We had Jacoby Brissett, we brought him in on some short-yardage situations.”
It sounds like an approach Reich will continue to take, with Dalton perhaps getting a snap or two a game when the Panthers want to sneak it, or make the defense think they might sneak it, and not put Young in a situation where he’s being smothered by 300-pound linemen.
