Carolina PanthersSunday, October 6, 2019
Head Coach Ron Rivera Carolina Panthers
RE: Being the winningest coach in Carolina Panthers history for regular season wins
It’s kind of cool. It truly is a tribute to our team. I’ve been very fortunate with Mr. Richardson giving me my opportunity, and he stood by me and I was able to get past my third season. Then the players that we have had have been tremendous. The coaches – I’ve been very fortunate enough to have great coaching staffs with guys like that. Mr. Tepper with the things he has given us and the opportunities he is creating for this football team to get better, it’s pretty exciting. I’m just very fortunate. To my family – I’m very fortunate with my family with my parents, my brothers and my wife Stephanie and kids who have been with me the whole way. It feels pretty good. It really does. It’s cool.
RE: Offensive line today
Awesome. Those guys, they’re coached by John Matsko and Travelle Wharton, guys who have been with me a long time. They do a hell of a job with our guys. We talked all week, you guys wanted to know who was going to start, I told you they were going to play. I didn’t tell you who was going to start. They do a heck of a job with those guys. It just shows you when you continue to work hard, you have a group of guys who do the things that they need to do, they can create some running lanes and they did that. They did a heck of a job. We have some backs that can hit and go. Very happy for Christian [McCaffrey] who played the way he continues to play. It was good to see Reggie [Bonnafon] get his opportunities. You know, Reggie Bonnafon is a guy who earned an opportunity last year to be on our practice squad because of how he played in the preseason. We watched him and he grew and grew and continues to grow. Jake Peetz does a nice job with those running backs. Again, we got an opportunity to see a guy go out there and contribute so it was really cool.
RE: Do you have another word to describe Christian McCaffrey?
You guys keep pulling from that thesaurus. There is a whole bunch of words you can use to describe the way he plays and the amount of energy he plays with. That first drive and the one he finished that first drive with was pretty spectacular as well. Again, just a tribute to those guys who are on our football team.
RE: Brian Burns’ game today
He had his moments. He got a little tired as did all our guys. This game was something else. It’s a tribute to Jacksonville. You can’t count that team out. They have a dynamic young quarterback. Apparently, that seems to be the thing that is going on throughout this league. There is a lot of young, dynamic quarterbacks that are making a name for themselves and they’ve got one, with a lot of playmakers around him. Burns is really growing into his position. He has a good group of guys around him too that he feeds off of. Guys like Mario [Addison], Bruce [Irvin] and then the big guys up front. Those guys are doing a heck of a job pushing. He is going to grow into something special. He has a way to go but he is going to contribute and he is going to continue to contribute for us.
RE: Relationship developing between Brian Burns and Mario Addison this season
It’s not necessarily just Mario, but when you really watch the way he works., that group of guys are learning to use each other and work with each other. I think it’s just learning and understanding who you are lining up next too. Really, there is a lot of that unsaid communication that shows you that when you work together and work as hard as they do together, they are going to continue to create those things. It was a lot of fun to watch today and see the things that happened.
RE: Use of Curtis Samuel as a decoy to create opportunities for Christian McCaffrey
Again, it’s just one of those things that happens with the zip. Anytime you get to the outside edge, they have to respect. If they don’t, we will hand it to him. We have shown we will hand it to him and that’s all it takes. Again, that’s enough to freeze or hold that guy and you can put it in the running backs hands. If you don’t have to put it in the running backs’ hands because they aren’t honoring him, we will get Curtis around the edge on them. It’s very important that the guys understand that you have to do your job, do it 100%, full speed and it creates the illusion that you may get the ball.
RE: What did Norv Turner do to get Christian McCaffrey into the one on one matchups against linebackers?
I think we reacted to what they were doing. They were running a lot of man pressures, a lot of man coverages. As soon as they put him outside, and you saw a linebacker go out there, that’s a pretty favorable matchup for us. That’s what happened. It was pretty evident that as soon as we got him outside on the edge, and you saw the linebackers run out there, you knew you had man coverage. That was a matter of getting the ball to Christian as quickly as possible.
RE: Whether he can you put into perspective what Christian McCaffrey has done so far?
No, it’s hard to put it into perspective. He is a tremendous football player. He is a hard worker. He is a guy who just plays the game with such passion and he is a heck of a guy. We are very fortunate to have him on our football team.
RE: A lack of sacks and the ability of the defense to keep getting takeaways at the key moments?
It’s crazy because we cut our guys loose. We didn’t drop any of them. We tried to put them into rush lanes and he was able to filter his way through a couple times. A couple times he got the ball out early. We made some mistakes too, defensively, in the secondary which is surprising. I was a little disappointed in our inconsistency as a coverage unit. We allowed ourselves to get out of flight**(5:59) a couple times. We were close on a couple plays, but close gets you beat. We’ve got to go back and look at these things and get these things corrected.
RE: Joey Slye misses; a lot of penetration from Jacksonville
Yes, there was. That is something we’ve got to take a look at and we’ve got to get that shored up. You can’t have that. We made that game harder on us than we really needed to. We left seven points for sure on the field, and potentially fourteen. We can’t do that and expect to beat good teams. We were fortunate today that we were able to get ahead and stay ahead.
RE: Did you think Joey Slye was trying to kick around a blocker? No. I think he may have felt that and hurried himself through. It’s one of those things that once it happens once, it’s one of those things that he may have sped up his times. It will be interesting to see what Chase [Blackburn] tells me because Chase will let me know what the times were and if he sped up he was probably feeling the pressure.
RE: Kyle Allen’s performance today
I thought he did some really good things. He has to understand he doesn’t have to drop the ball on the first series. The fortunate thing was it bounced back to him. I thought he did some good things. He missed some opportunities and he knows it. That’s the best thing. But once he got a good feel for them, I think he operated pretty well. It took a little bit to get comfortable because this team brought a lot of pressure, a lot of man pressure. When that happens, things change, and I think he adjusted well. I think he handled it all the way down throughout the game.
RE: Reaction from team towards Reggie Bonnafon in locker room
I’m telling you, it was really cool. Again, this is a young man who made the team based on what he did last year in the preseason. He made the practice squad. We told him we were going to give him an opportunity to be a running back. He was a kid in college who played quarterback, who played wide receiver, who played running back and never really knew where he would fit. He came out and had a great training camp this year, make our 53. It was just a matter of him getting opportunities. We got a good young stable of backs, led by Christian [McCaffrey] and Reggie [Bonnafon] and Jordan [Scarlett] and Elijah [Holyfield]. We have some good young guys who eventually are going to get their opportunities. They just have to continue to work like Reggie has and get themselves on the field.
RE: Does this win feel like the wins from earlier in your career with a lot of rushing yards and creating turnovers?
Yes. It’s one of those things that we continue to work on and stress. You have to be able to run the ball successfully. If you can, you give yourself a good chance to win because you control the clock and keep the other team off the field. Although, as I said, they have a young, dynamic quarterback that did some really good things. He is going to be a special one in the league I think. he did some nice things.
RE: Dennis Daley’s performance today
I saw him do some really good physical things. He got beat a couple times on a couple of quick moves. But again, for the most part, he was working a lot at guard so this was really the first true week where he was plugged in at left tackle for the whole week and really just kind of started to get it going. I was pretty excited for him. He is a young man who has worked very well, had a good rookie minicamp. Just from that point has really done a lot of good things. We felt pretty comfortable with him in there. There are some things we will take a look at and get those things corrected but I think Dennis has a bright future in this league.
RE: Luke Kuechly’s influence on the defense
It’s interesting and this is one of the things that you can point out. That last play, he could have easily intercepted that ball but he just knocked it down because he knew that was the most important thing was about winning the football game and not about personal stats. That right there to me just epitomizes him as a football player and as a person that he does the right thing. I do stress that our young guys can learn from our veteran guys that do the right thing.
RE: What did DJ Chark do to cause trouble for defense today? Part of it was the quarterback was able to extend the play a little bit and DJ and got across the formation a couple of times. But we put Ross [Cockrell] in a couple of tough positions and he was literally just a step away unfortunately on that first touchdown. The second touchdown to the corner, they caught us a little bit out of position. Quarterback pumped it and got us to move. You have to give credit to their game planning as well because that’s what they get paid for. He did a nice job on that play too. Again, credit to them.
RE: Was Christian McCaffrey dealing with cramps at the end of the game?
Yes, yes he was. He was cramping up. We are mostly going to rest him. Just so you know, his new normal will take into effect this week. He will be fine.
RE: Multiple flags today
There were a number of competitive calls. You know, the quarterback stuff. You have to protect the quarterback obviously. But at the end of the game we had three straight penalties that gave them three straight chances into the end zone which was disappointing. But we have to be disciplined. We have to understand that you are going to get hard counted, you are going to get quick movement from the quarterback and the center and everyone is going to jerk around and you are going to jump offside and you can’t do that. You just have to be more disciplined. We have to be more disciplined and we have to go back and take a look at that and get that corrected.
Quarterback Kyle Allen Carolina Panthers
RE: Thoughts on the game
It was a back and forth game. Credit to the Jaguars, they played a complete game. They were a tough opponent, and we appreciated the crowd today.
RE: First quarterback since Kurt Warner (1999) to win first four starts in NFL
It helps when you rush for 285 yards, I’ll say that. I don’t know, I mean it’s cool. I’m happy for this team. To bounce back from a rough start, and now we’re 3-2. A long way to go obviously, but I’m happy with the way we fought. I think you can see that with us on the field, we’re never out of the game. We’re going to keep fighting no matter what, and we are going to win games in different ways because we can. Today was the running game. Couldn’t be more excited for our offensive line. Especially Christian [McCaffrey], and then when Christian goes down Reggie [Bonnafon] too. It’s just huge. It’s amazing the plays they made today.
RE: Celebrating after the two long rushing touchdowns
Yes, it makes my life a lot easier.
RE: Today’s passing
I think there was a couple I wanted back today, but overall I think we made plays when we needed to in the passing game on third down. We stalled at the beginning of the first half which wasn’t good. We want to put some drives together, but at the end of the day we made plays when we needed to make them. We ran on the back of our rushing game today, and some days it’s going to be like that. We just ran our hot hand, and you could see we were blocking extremely well. We knew our assignments really well. Christian was hitting the gaps really well, and then Reggie too. It was a good all-around effort.
RE: Alex Armah’s performance
It’s huge, and he stepped up and had a bigger role this week with Chris [Manhertz] out. Even on that first series he caught that ball in the red zone. He ran a return route that our ‘F’ receiver Jarius [Wright] usually runs, and he was in the right spot at the right time. Credit to him for being ready when his number’s called. He does a lot of things great in the running game. He does a lot of things great on special teams, and he’s a huge part of our team.
RE: Building confidence
Winning’s fun. It’s as simple as it is. Winning is fun. It’s just a tribute to the fight of our team. I think that’s the biggest part of it, we continue to fight. We’re never out of the game. I think both sides of the ball, and special teams believes that.
RE: What he’s learned through four career starts
I think just looking at it, the biggest thing I’ve learned is you’re never out of the game in the NFL. You’ve seen that from the Jaguars perspective too. Even after that fumble they still had a drive to come back and win it. For me, it’s just been about continuing to fight no matter what happens. Last week with the fumbles, continue to fight. This week, they kept scoring after we scored. Just continue to fight, it’s a long game. A lot of stuff can happen. We were up big early, and they came back. For me, the biggest thing I’ve learned is to continue to fight because you’re never out of the game.
RE: Fumbling on the first drive
It’s almost tradition at this point. I’m continuing to work on it. Obviously, it’s not acceptable. I’m glad we fell on it that time. Just continue to work on it.
RE: Luke Kuechly recording his 1,000 career NFL tackle
What does he mean to this city? Luke’s just an incredible player, and an incredible person. He’s the heart and soul of that defense. He’s one of the best players in the entire NFL, regardless of the position. Incredibly happy for him. I think it was bound to happen from the second he stepped on the field in the NFL. He’s an incredible player. He’s going to continue to be an incredible player for a long time.
RE: Comfort running the ball
I’ve always been comfortable running with the ball. I think that’s part of the game, especially if you’re a quarterback. You see Gardner [Minshew II] out there making a bunch of plays. You see a lot of quarterbacks in this league making a bunch of plays with their legs. It’s a huge part of the game if you want to continue to play well, and convert on plays where what you drew up didn’t go right.
RE: Touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey
It was just set up perfectly how we wanted to do it. They blitzed off the left side, and they left Myles Jack one-on-one with Christian. It’s a tough matchup for anybody, not only Myles Jack, even if there was a safety in there. So, we got what we wanted.
Running back Christian McCaffrey Carolina Panthers
Re: Franchise record 84-yard touchdown run. I got the ball to the left with a hole. We ran right at Greg Van Roten, and Dennis [Daley], and obviously Matt [Paradis] did good job. I saw the linebackers flow over the top.
RE: Getting caught from behind
You never worry about it. At that point I’m just thinking a foot race, and do what I can do. Run as fast as I can.
RE: Reggie Bonnafon
I’m just proud of him. I think that’s a testament to his work ethic in everything that he does. We have something special in the running back’s room. It starts with Coach Peetz, he gets us going. He’s an unbelievable coach. We got a lot of guys that are just really bought in, and I think that’s when it’s special. You see what happens.
RE: Season’s first home victory
It felt good. The fans were amazing today. We love being at home. We feel that energy, we feed off the energy. Away or home, we can take it one week at a time and move on to the next one.
Tight End Greg Olsen Carolina Panthers
Re: Scoring early
Yeah, it was huge. Obviously to take the opening drive, it was something we talked about. We’ve gotten off to some good drives through the first four games, and they’ve all lead on turnover – three actual turnovers and one on downs. To finish that drive with a touchdown was huge. Just get that momentum and get off to a fast start is big.
Re: The offensive line
Those guys did a great job. All we heard all week was, ‘Their front, their front, can we block them?’ (RG) Dennis (Daley) and all these new guys up front – we rushed for 285 yards in the NFL. That’s pretty good.
Re: The two long touchdown runs
Yeah, I think they were the same exact play actually. I think they were opposite sides. It was a pretty stable run of ours. We had some good action in the background with Curtis when he comes behind, and they’re some ball-handling stuff and some misdirection stuff that those receivers allow us to do. They have a lot of fast guys on defense. A lot of fast-flow linebackers. It slows everybody down when you have guys coming in ‘zip’ motion and coming behind the quarterback. (QB) Kyle (Allen) does a great job with the ball-handling, as obviously does (QB) Cam (Newton). It’s a lot on the defense. Today, popped two for the touchdowns, but had a lot of other pretty good chunks mixed in there as well.
Re: On responding to whenever Jacksonville scored
We kind of played the ying and yang the whole day. When we sputtered, they got some big stops or a turnover. When we scored, they scored – it was kind of a weird back-and-forth, but the touchdown obviously was huge. The last strip sack – I think it was by (LB/DE Brian) Burns – that was big there at the end of the fourth quarter. We got to do a better job on offense finishing those games out. We got that early first down on the first run by (RB) Reggie (Bonnafon), and then we kind of went backwards. Thankfully, that guy didn’t intercept that ball. For the most part, we got to do a little bit better finishing those games, but for the most part it was a good win.
DE/OLB Brian Burns Carolina Panthers
RE: Second quarter fumble return for a touchdown
I think that was on one of my first couple of plays in. I was just thinking go fast, play fast. He dropped to cut-block me, I played the cut. Mario Addison did a great job pushing his guy to the quarterback to cause a fumble. I saw the ball. See ball, get ball, and take it to the end zone.
RE: Running towards the end zone
Actually, I took off because I thought someone was behind me, but it was Bruce Irvin. After I looked back, I saw I was good.
RE: Fourth quarter strip sack
I was just working. Doing everything I can to get to him. I knew he was going to hold the ball, because he was trying to go deep. I was just working, doing everything I could and just kept hustling.
Safety Tre Boston Carolina Panthers
RE: Complimentary Football
I guess it’s practice. Practice sometimes goes like the game did today. Sometimes we have great practices where offense and defense are rolling, maybe not special teams, maybe the other two, maybe not the others. Today we kind of did a good job of just transitioning, understanding where the momentum is in the game, and we have to continue to have it. When we came in at halftime, we spoke about how we wanted to continue to keep the momentum, when we go out, we really have to start out fast. When we did go out, we started with the three and out and then the touchdown. When you talk about things and you execute them, it allows the group and the team to understand, hey this is what we are about, we can do this man. And when we get into these crunch games, we know we are going in there trying to win. Some guys go in there and they question themselves, if they are going to win. I think we are a team that is fighting, we know what type of team we are.
RE: First home win in almost a year. What did it mean to go out and get the win for the fans?
For me, it is big. We protect our dirt, we protect our bank, we’re thieves so we try to protect it. When we come in here, we have to have an ownership of playing in here. Our fans have to know that they have a big impact for us as well. So to come in here and get this dub, starting the year off 0-2 in this stadium, we wanted to come back and truly be blessed with the fans that we have and the football that we play around here. So to go out there and execute today, it feels good to get back on the road, our fans being out there to be able to cheer for us in the right way.
RE: When I say Christian McCaffrey you say what?
Like that. I say, that boy good, that boy great, that boy amazing. He is something we have never seen before. It is something truly special. I have been able to take from older guys, older vets that when we are watching greatness, to really hone in and understand what is happening in front of you. I have watched every single game, and I didn’t know it was like this. Kuddos to him, he is cold.
Kicker Joey Slye
RE: Missed field goal and extra point
Both went right. Both were just a deep plant by me. Probably over-strided a little bit in my jab, and just cut both of them. It was feeling good in the net on the sideline. Hit a pure ball, went out looking to hit a pure ball and just over-strided it a little bit, cut a little bit right.
RE: Bouncing back
It’s just having the same approach I had when I was doing well. Go back, we have execution Wednesday and Friday. I had a really good week of kicking this week, didn’t miss any during our live reps. Just come in with the same mentality I had last week and just evaluate. I’m going to look at some film, I’ve got some coaches that I work with. W+e’ll talk this weekend. Just kind of see the things I missed, the things that put me in a situation where I wouldn’t miss and then keep refining the technique. Honestly you can’t approach it any different. You’re going to have good days and bad days. You’ve just got to come in with the same mentality every week.
DE/OLB Mario Addison Carolina Panthers
RE: His role in the Brian Burn’s fumble recovery
We had three D-ends in, three outside backers and one big guy. I knew (Andrew) Norwell liked to be aggressive but this time he was passive, so I stabbed him and grabbed his hands and ran back to the quarterback as hard as I could before he could recover. Then, when I pushed him real hard into the quarterback, the quarterback lost the ball, Burns picked it up and took it in for the touchdown.
RE: Winning at home
A win is a win. We play in London next week and it’s going to feel better flying all the way out of the country to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It’s going to feel good coming off a win, man. We definitely deserve it, and we still haven’t scratched the surface yet. We still haven’t had that dominant game that we know we can, but I know these guys want it and I want it as well.
Guard Greg Van Roten
RE: Performance of the running back position
It’s not a surprise to see Christian (McCaffrey) do that and we know what Reggie (Bonnafon) is capable of. Good to see him get some touches today. It’s always nice as an offensive lineman to watch those guys run for 80 and 60 yards. That’s a relief.
RE: Adjusting to new offensive tackles playing with him
It’s a challenge, I wouldn’t say it’s difficult. Like you said, it’s the third tackle I’ve played next to this season. It’s the sixth tackle I’ve played next to in 21 starts here. It is a challenge but all the guys in the room are capable of playing and I think you’re seeing that, and it kind of speaks to the depth we have and the quality of coaching we get from (John) Matsko and Travelle (Wharton). Those guys do a hell of a job to get everybody ready and it just shows up on Sunday. So it’s just a matter of hearing the play call, knowing what you have to do and taking the best way to get there. I think Dennis (Daley) did a great job today in his first NFL start. You can’t ask for much more than that.
