On Sunday, head coach Frank Reich and the Carolina Panthers fielded an all-too-familiar product that yielded an all-too-familiar result. So now, at 0-5, all they can do is look inside of themselves and inside of their jerseys.
Inside of their jerseys lives the mantra of the organization, “Keep Pounding.” And Reich, following his team’s fifth straight loss, reflected on the miserable start and brought up the inspiring and immortalized saying.
Buy Panthers Tickets“It’s disappointing, it’s frustrating, it’s agonizing, it’s all those things,” he said after the game. “But I never waver, in my belief in what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and what it takes to win. We say it over and over—been through situations like this before and got out of situations like this before. I know, I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it myself—for me, personally. I’ve seen it in teams I’ve been on. I’ve seen it in other teams.”
He probably saw it last year in the Detroit Lions, who began their campaign at 1-5 and finished on the doorstep of a playoff berth. Those Lions, however, weren’t overly sympathetic of Carolina’s struggles, smashing them en route to a 42-24 victory.
For the fourth time in five outings, the Panthers—specifically on offense—came out sluggish and looked overwhelmed for the majority of the afternoon. But Reich remains confident that there’s a solution out there somewhere.
“I know what the answer is,” he added. “It’s not easy. And there’s no guarantees. There’s no guarantees it turns, when and why you want it to turn. So, that’s really the essence of who are we gonna be? And are we gonna keep fighting? And are we gonna keep pounding?”
