What Frank Reich said on Bryce Young’s costly fumble, Carolina Panthers loss to Vikings

The Carolina Panthers are still searching for their first win of 2023 season after a promising-turned-deflating 21-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in Bank of America Stadium Sunday afternoon.

From squandering a halftime lead to Sam Franklin’s historic defensive touchdown to Bryce Young’s performance — here are the highlights of what head coach Frank Reich said in his postgame press conference.

Frank Reich’s opening statement

“OK just one injury note. Donte Jackson had a shoulder injury, and he did not return (in the second half). I’ll open it up from there.”

On Bryce Young taking 5 sacks

“Harrison (Smith, who notched three sacks) is a crafty player. They really didn’t do anything that we didn’t practice against, or work against, but at the same time they executed well. We knew they were going to show us a lot of blitz looks. Bring it sometimes, jump out of it sometimes. Play that game. We knew coming in that they might get us once or twice, and they did. I think the big difference here was we didn’t get them once or twice.

“We didn’t get them enough. It’s a good defense, when you pressure like that, when you give that look, they’re going to get home every now and then. But we also have to make them pay. And we had a couple opportunities, and we just didn’t quite get it done.”

How much of the sacks are on Bryce Young?

“I gotta look at the film. I mean, it’s on all of us. We don’t play that game. When we miss an opportunity, it’s all of us.”

On conservative play calling

“Because their line, and because of the threat of the blitz, we had to build in some short stuff and be ready. It’s kind of similar to what the Chargers did last week. They had 400 yards passing and most of it was just short dink and dunk. I’m not going to go into all the strategies and the reasons why that is. You gotta have mix.

“We had some shots called, some we had to check out of for various reasons. We got one penalty on the one deep shot we took. So we just gotta execute better overall.”

On late-in-the-play clock management

“I don’t think there were a lot of those. There were a couple. There were one or two of those, and we just gotta operate a little bit faster. There was one, I called a play for {Adam} Thielen, and then I realized he was out. 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. That was the one where we had to call the timeout. So that is what happened.”

On Sam Franklin’s 99-yard interception returned for a touchdown

“Even going back to preseason, whenever he’s in there, he just finds ways to make plays. So we gotta go back and evaluate the film overall to see how he played for the whole game. But that was a massive play especially, as you said, after the (defensive pass interference). Coming up with a big stop and a pick six, that was a huge deal.”

Reich’s message after the game

“We’re not going to finger point. We’re going to get back to work. We’re going to own it. We gotta get better. Kind of our theme this week was, ‘Talk is talk. It’s time for action.’ And so, that’s what we gotta do. There are a lot of games left. You take them one at a time.

“Whether we win the rest of them, or whatever we do, we’re professionals. We go in. I believe in some ways we’re getting better. In other ways, we still have a long ways to go. I feel like we’ve been in every one of these games in the fourth quarter, and have had the opportunity to win every one in the fourth quarter, so I really don’t think we’re that far away in some respects. I feel like we’re close. In other respects, I feel like we got a long way to go, coaching and playing, to get it right.”

On team’s red zone woes

“Gotta look at those play by play. Last week we did a good job in the red zone. I really liked our red zone game plan coming into this game. I think we got a couple opportunities, but I gotta go back to be sure.”

On Bryce Young third-quarter fumble for Vikings TD

“Free blitzer, and he did a good job of getting the ball out.”

Concerned the postgame messaging is falling on deaf ears?

“I don’t. I mean, it can do that. Everybody knows that. We all know that that can happen. What stops that from happening is the quality of individuals in the locker room and the coaches. So it’s not easy. It’s hard. You’ll have to fight against it. And I think we know what has to happen for us to get better, and I really do think that it starts with myself.

“I mean, we’re 0-4. I’m the head coach. That’s my responsibility to get the team to play better. Start right there. ... I think then we go right next to our captains, and if you go to them, they’re all going to stand up and take ownership of where we’re at. That’s who our guys are.”