What Will the Panthers' Offense Look Like Under Thomas Brown?
"It's always been a part of the plan," Carolina Panthers head coach Frank Reich said Monday when he officially handed over the offensive play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Thomas Brown.
"It's something Thomas and I discussed from the time that he was hired. I'm excited for Thomas. I'm excited for our team and our offense. Thomas is a stud. He's a great leader. He's a brilliant offensive mind. We all have a lot of confidence in him and the timing is right. Thought that his bye week was going to be a checkpoint and really been thinking hard about it the last couple weeks and kind of knew it was leaning this way. I'm excited to turn that over to Thomas and I know he's going to do a great job for our team."
Carolina's offense has struggled in more ways than one throughout the first six weeks of the season and with the bye week, now is the best time to make a change. It allows Brown to adjust to his new day-to-day responsibilities, get comfortable in this new role, and also provides some extra time to develop a rhythm and chemistry with the offense leading into that first game he calls next week against Houston.
"Super appreciative of Frank giving me this opportunity," Brown said Tuesday afternoon. "Not just talking about the play-calling opportunity but talking about just from the very beginning. Because normally in this profession you stick to who you know, guys you've worked with before and we had no prior background together. So from the very beginning, he's been very open and honest about his approach. Most times, these jobs are filled before the interview process even starts, so giving me a chance to go through that and express my ideas about the offense and what we're going to bring to the table. And obviously continuing to learn and grow from him has been a great deal for me."
Brown reiterated Reich's statement from Monday that the offense won't undergo a complete change. It's going to be the same plays and scheme, it just may have a little different flavor to it when it comes to what plays are called in certain situations and what personnel is on the field.
One thing that most are interested in seeing is how much of an influence Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay will have on Brown's approach to calling the shots. Brown spent two years in L.A. as the running backs coach and one year as the tight ends coach. He's considered to be one of the NFL's offensive geniuses and really does a good job of presenting a muddy picture to a defense with all of the pre-snap motion and window dressing.
"I have a ton of respect for Sean McVay," said Brown. "He's one of the best and brightest minds I've ever been a part of but we are different. How we see the game and activate the game will be different, but I've definitely learned about how you attack defenses using formation variation, formation marriage, and motion adjustments so that'll continue to be a part of what we do moving forward.
"The one thing I've never struggled with in life is being myself. That's never really a hard part for me. I think it's about trying to figure out how to put our guys in the best spot to be successful. Thinking about one, how you attack a defense, and also, who do you have to do it with from a player standpoint? More so players over plays."
Another reason why the offense won't look vastly different is because one, Brown has had a hand in the offense since day one. Reich has continuously stated that it is a collaborative process and it really has been. In order for Reich to hand over the play-calling to Brown at any point, there had to be a perfect blend of what Reich and Brown were comfortable with. And secondly, there's no benefit to installing a completely new scheme in a matter of 12-13 days, quite frankly because it's impossible to do. They have to continue to fine-tune the areas they do okay in, clean up some aspects that must be addressed, and eliminate parts of the offense that just simply aren't working.
I project that with Brown calling the plays, we will see a much smoother operation. Reich doesn't have his hand in too many things at once and is able to oversee not only the offense but the whole team. It'll free him up to have more conversations with the position coaches and coordinators as well as players who are involved in the game.
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