What Will Carolina's Offense Look Like? Who Will Call the Plays? Reich Conveys His Thoughts
Frank Reich called the offensive plays during his four-plus years as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he'll do so in Carolina. As a matter of fact, that's something he is still mulling over.
"I'm going to wait to see that we get the offensive staff together," Reich said during his introductory press conference on Tuesday. "Obviously, I've always enjoyed doing that. Felt like I've had a good bit of success doing that. It feels to me there's a little bit of a trend going away from that. I want to continue to re-examine that and it just depends on how the staff comes together and the coordinator thing. I'm excited about the prospects about some of the guys that are out there that could be our offensive coordinator. So, I'll wait to make the final decision on that."
Carolina's search for an offensive coordinator is well underway despite only one name currently being mentioned for the job. On Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that the team has requested permission to speak with Jacksonville Jaguars pass game coordinator, Jim Bob Cooter, for the OC job. Cooter does have some experience calling plays, albeit not much.
Over the next several days, more names will be thrown into the mix and based off who those candidates are, it should indicate which direction Reich wants to go in terms of who handles the play-calling duties.
Regardless of who calls the shots, Reich made it very clear that there will be an emphasis on running the football - something Carolina did extremely well in the back half of the season with D'Onta Foreman, who is a pending free agent.
"It's a passing league but you have to run the ball to be a championship team. I mean, there's exceptions to that but when you look at the analytics, the statistics over the years, you've got to be effective running the football and efficient running the football. That's one of the reasons why I'm excited about this roster. I know we can do that. We'll get the pass game right. I know we can run the football and we're going to run the football. That just builds off play-action, off the RPO stuff, all the movement stuff. Offensively, what you're always trying to do is to create conflict in the defender. Put a seed out of doubt in the defender's mind. It starts with running the football. And the second principle is, you have to get the ball vertical down the field. You have to get chunk plays. It's hard to go 14-play drives all the time. "
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