After recording team highs in receptions and targets last week, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. played the role of the Invisible Man on Sunday. And on Monday, head coach Frank Reich took blame for the oversight.
During his presser this afternoon, Reich was asked about Marshall’s total lack of playing time in Week 5. The third-year pass catcher — who was active — tallied a total of zero snaps in the 42-24 loss to the Detroit Lions.
Buy Panthers Tickets“He should’ve played. He should’ve played some,” Reich said. “I wish he had gotten in there a little bit more. That’s my fault. I need to make sure, after the week he had the week before with the nine catches and got a little momentum going, that he and I had a conversation.
“So that was poor communication by me. I wanted to make sure that our guys knew to kind of make sure he had some playing time and that there would be opportunities. So that was my fault.”
The story of Marshall’s NFL career, no matter whose fault it is, has been his lack of opportunities on the playing field. Despite being taken as a promising second-round pick in 2021, he has yet to entrench himself in Carolina’s offense, totaling just 742 yards and one touchdown over 31 games.
Reich was then asked how he lost sight of Marshall on Sunday.
“I did not do a good job of telling our coaches, ‘Hey, this is what I would like to see,'” he replied. “And just defaulted to what we were doing before he got hurt.”
After a nine-catch performance in last week’s loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Marshall seemingly ended up taking a backseat to rookie Jonathan Mingo, who returned after missing that outing with a concussion.
