Panthers head coach Frank Reich announced on Wednesday that he is going to resume calling the team’s offensive plays after surrendering those duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown three games ago and Brown had a chance to respond to that change on Thursday.
Brown said that it “pisses me off” that the team’s offensive production has been subpar all year and that he believes everyone on the coaching staff needs to do a better job of putting players into a position to succeed. He said that he and the rest of the organization “stand tall, keeping chopping wood and you find ways to fix problems and help people” after a 1-8 start to the season.
Given the way the offense has performed, Brown said he wasn’t totally caught off guard by the quick reversal of the original move.
“Not going to say it’s something I necessarily saw coming,” Brown said, via Schuyler Callihan of SI.com. “Also not going to say that I’m necessarily surprised by it. We live in a production business, a results-driven business and every decision is supposed to be focused on trying to find ways to help the football team win. He made the decision to give me an opportunity to be a play-caller. He also made the decision to take it back to having him be the play-caller. I have nothing else to do but respect that decision and continue to do a really good job moving forward of helping our football team and our players be in the best spot.”
It is only Reich’s first year in Carolina, but the on-field results have been disappointing enough that bigger changes could come at the end of the season if the in-season machinations don’t result in a marked improvement of play.
