Panthers News: Frank Reich, Hayden Hurst, C.J. Henderson and Bryce Young
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers HC Frank Reich's expectations
Tonight's game promises to be another stern test for the Carolina Panthers. The result might not matter, but fans won't want to see another rollover performance from a team that has high expectations in 2023.
This bares more significance on the offensive side of the football. In particular, the offensive line should get all they can handle from Wink Martindale's blitz-heavy defense that can cause absolute havoc when early momentum is generated.
Frank Reich brought up this specific topic via David Newton of ESPN. And based on the head coach's comments, it looks like this is going to be a critical part of the team's overall evaluations of the protection before coming to some formal outcomes in the coming days.
"It's going to be a really good challenge for our offense against their defense, just because Wink is very exotic with his pressure package. There's going to be a blitz zero, there's going to be all kinds of pressure. That gets me excited. We get to see how these guys react. … Can they see [the pressure]? Can they function? If they're going to bring all pressures, which they probably will, they may get us on one or two, but somewhere along the line we need to make some big plays. We'll see who can make those plays."
- Frank Reich via ESPN
Regardless of whether it's preseason or not, the Panthers' offensive line better be up for this one. Last weekend's inept output can be seen as a blip, but that won't be the case if the same occurs again and could lead to big changes.