Panthers Live Press Conference
[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] Here [Music] you are. [Music] Where are you? Heat. Heat. [Music] 1%. [Music] [Music] Down [Music] well down well down well down well down well down well down well down well down well down well down. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] 4. [Music] Down. Down. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] ready. All right. Uh, first and foremost, got to give a lot of credit to the Jets. um the way that they, you know, gave us great challenges in our run game to try to find, you know, positive yardage and, uh, you know, they were an aggressive group and, uh, the guys challenged us in every way you could think of, you know, in the pass game, uh, with the pressures in the run game, all those things. Um, so I got to just tip my hat to them. You know, we’re grinding out trying to find solutions and find yards and, um, you know, Andy was able to come in there, get a critical third down for us. Xavier with a big day, just all the hard work paying off. Um, and then of course just can’t say enough about the defense coming away with, you know, six sacks, uh, a couple of interceptions there and just really playing excellent football all the way through the game. Okay. Update on the condition of Bryce. Yeah, Bryce. We’re evaluating him for the right ankle. Um, so we’re taking all the information and we’re going to look at him when we get home some more. Um, and see where we’re at. We’ll let you know. He twisted it maybe trying to avoid the sack. Yeah, on that long third down. Yeah, I was trying to get out of trouble there and got caught up a little bit. So, we’ll update you as soon as we have, you know, more information. Now, were you guys able to stick to whatever plan you had coming into the game with regards to how you would use Chuba and Rico, or was it were there alterations that you guys had to make just based on what the defense was showing you? Yeah, it just came out like we thought, you know, we just switched some series and and let those guys go out there and play some football for us. And um you know, we were able to find some yards in different ways, some screens, some different things like that. And then, um, you know, as they were trying to, you know, make things difficult, you know, we we were able to get the ball on the edge a couple of times, um, with Rico in there. So, I just thought it was a good day. both guys running physically uh running aggressive and and it ended up paying off for us. Dave, you mentioned a couple of interceptions both by JC Horn. Even the timing of when they happened, how would you describe his impact? Yeah, just clutch play. Um doing right, doing right longer and that’s that’s our definition of finish and putting himself in position to make those plays and um and really just his ability, his ball skills, you know, to be able to come up with those plays um was huge for us, you know, and gave us a chance to put it away two drives before the end um really with the interception. Uh, but the defense just showed up collectively, you know. Um, you know, Princeley, another guy that just, you know, showed up for us today and, you know, got banged up a little bit and went back out there and finished. And I thought what a great step for him of just just telling the team how much this means to him uh to be out there and be available for the guys on a chance Bryce can’t play next week. How’s the offense changed with when you go to Andy? Yeah, we’ll look at we’ll look at all that and see what the best version of us is, but right now it’s running the football and Andy can handle all those things and you know the pass game, the reps, the time on task with the group that we have. We got to stay within our core of our system and you know Andy’s fully involved in all that. So if he does play that that’ll be the the mode. Dave Rice has been remarkably durable throughout his first three years. That was a supposed knock on him coming in for y’all to hold him out the end of that game. Does that speak to the potential severity of this? We’ll see. We’ll we’ll we’ll look at all the information. We’ll make sure we trust our docs and uh and get the full evaluation and we’ll go from there. Dave, when did you realize Doo wasn’t going to be able to go? What does it say about the group that you’re able to continue to plug in so many guys there? Yeah, I think the injury happened on Thursday and um you know, we started moving him around, trying to mobilize it. We just couldn’t get his strength back to a point where we felt safe about playing him, putting him out there. and you know the the beautiful timing of Austin Corbett coming back and you know I got to watch the film but you know first first impression is that Austin did a great job just continuing to allow us to play our style of offense. What does having a winning record at this stage of the season mean after the struggles of the past few seasons. Uh we just take it one game at a time. Um we celebrate the wins, celebrate the heck out of it just now and uh the the resilience of this group, the focus uh the toughness to finish when we needed it. Guys making plays on the offense on special teams. I thought Trevor ETN did an excellent job today fielding the ball um and making some yards out of that. So, he handled uh all those punts great, which was which was such a good thing, good feeling for us. And then, of course, for Xavier to come through in a one-on-one opportunity, they challenged us all game and to make that play when we had a chance for it was huge. Dave of your assessment of Bryce while he while he did play, he was doing excellent uh throwing in rhythm. Um you know, manufacturing, making sure we’re getting to the right runs based on the looks and all those things. you know, he’s been just continuing to build off of that. Uh just feeling confident about our process and being able to push our football forward. So, he’s been doing a great job. Dave, you brought up JC Horn’s interceptions. I mean, those come in two really key spots where momentum can shift. How much did those turnovers change the game for you and how you attacked the rest of the game? It was huge just from a standpoint of guys expecting their their teammates to show up and make big plays and um just the excitement and the uh the energy that it brought the sideline for him to come up with both of those interceptions in critical situations. And Mike Jack had a couple of really beautiful plays um on a one-on-one go ball down the field in the end zone and then an end cut, you know, a little bit later on the last drive, you know, really close to picking that ball off and then we had kind of a Tai goes to the runner situation on the sideline where they got a first down. He had both hands on it. He’s trying to pull the ball away. So, I thought those guys just played excellent together today. How rewarding is it to see Trevor have a really good return game? Helped to set up uh the touchdown after at the beginning of the season. Had a muff uh replaced them in the game against Atlanta. How rewarding is it to see that faith uh pay off? Absolutely. And just working on his craft every day. Um what is what is mine to what’s my next step? And the next step was fielding those punts cleanly, finding yards. Great. Good for it. But if we catch them all, we save a lot of yards. And he did an excellent job today with that. Dave, this felt like a situation where after Bryce went down that the defense was not going to let you lose. And what what did that speak to that group specifically? Again, just great for the players to feel every phase doing their part. Special teams covering the kicks, returning the ball, getting us positive gains there offensively, making yards, making first downs. Um, you know, third down today, you know, we it was a little bit of a rough day for us on third down, but we found some good completions early on to move the chains to give us chances. Um, but I just love the fact that when everybody has a chance to affect the game, and they do, the trust factor and the confidence of the group takes a step and grows. Building off the winning later in the season, it’s going to be the first time that the Panthers have had an over 500 record going into week eight since 2019. Um, is there any significance to that in terms of what you’re building? We’re one game at a time and uh just taking these wins and celebrating the heck out of it. We have to keep that focus because it’s required of us to go back to work. We’ll celebrate it. We’ll look at the film. We’ll correct the things that we can improve on, but we have to have that kind of resilience and focus is just take a next step, go to the next game. We got a great opponent coming up. Um and I I cannot leave this podium without again just talking about the the Jets, Coach Wilks, um and just the job that they did, you know, and our guys to have the resilience to take care of the football was a big deal today. um especially with the with the challenges that we were presented. So really proud of the group and the way we finished. Do you win a game like this last year with the way that you guys kind of were struggling with complimentary football? Um off the top I can’t really give you a clear answer of that. Um, but I just again that speaks to like each phase. You know, I can ask the group, what are you expecting from your defense and I believe the offensive guys will be able to say these guys are going to play really hard against the run and now creating the pressure, creating opportunities by getting pressure on the quarterback and affecting them. That’s something we can add to us, you know. Um, and then offensively, you know, still being able to come out of the day with a pretty decent run day, even even with the challenges that were presented. Um, we’re learning more about this group and who we are. What did you learn today about the the two back rotation you had and is that something you think you will continue to do? It felt great. It felt great for me to know whoever I was calling the the the run for I expect great execution out of these guys and you know uh Chuba even had a couple of excellent runs, you know, on the perimeter, you know, with screens um and uh bid out some pretty good yards in that regard, too. So, being able to be versatile with our play passes, our screens, and our runs is critical for us to have success. get a little clarity on what happened right after Bryce’s injury. Did he come up to you? Was he having problems walking? What happened after that sack that made you say, “Okay, we need to take him to the locker room.” It was all the trainers just doing doing their job of evaluating him and and being able to say whether he could get back out there and put put, you know, force on that ankle and change directions and do the things we need him to do um within our scheme. And uh you know, just felt like we couldn’t get him back out there soon enough. And we’ll give you more information as we gather that. Just to clarify, is there a sprained ankle at at a minimum? Again, I I I don’t want to give any specifics. I don’t have the specifics right now. So, I think we’re just going to have to just do our evaluation and go from there. It was there was some speculation he got pleaded. Was it more of a I I have no idea. I didn’t see it. Okay. Dave, there was six sacks today and then the Merrick one specifically, it looked like he disguised it really well. What did you see from that unit as a whole and then that sack in particular? time on task, guys working on uh the different rush patterns that we’re using for the week. They change them up a little bit every week, but the guys haven’t, you know, being really focused in on the details of how to execute them. The timing of it and all that is getting better and better. So, um I just think it’s a credit to the coaching staff and the players taking to the game plan and executing it at a high level really today. You say if Bryce was high or low ankle sprain? Uh I’m not going to give any specific details. We’ll give you more information. You did say though, just to be clear, he was having trouble putting like weight on it. Yeah. and otherwise he would have been back in there. Okay. So, thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Locker rooms open. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Good job. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Happy birthday. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. [Music] [Music] [Music] I don’t think [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. and hey, [Music] hey, hey, hey. [Music] Do it. JC, I mean, it’s been talked about the LA the lack of interception production throughout your career. You’ve got three in seven games. I mean, what’s different this year? Um, just capitalizing on opportunities. Um, I feel like I’ve been out a lot in my career, so just putting together a string of games and, you know, having opportunities to make plays on the ball, you just try to come up with it and make the most of it. The one-handed snags, is that just a little bit of extra sauce or just the position you happen to be in? A little bit of both. Little bit of both. Um, I practice them in practice. Y’all see like indie drill and stuff like that. I I catch a lot with one hand, but yeah, it just just happened to happen like that. What did you see on that first interception? Huh? What did you see on that first interception? Um, really just the ball. Uh, I was playing low on it cuz I knew we was in quarters and I had the safety coming over, so I was playing low on it. So, I knew I it wasn’t much grass behind me. So, when when they said when they was yelling ball, I just looked up and just played the ball. What is the feeling for you when not only you’re getting picks, you see Mike Jackson making play six sacks collectively. What is the impact of what you saw from this defense? Um just just us standing together as a defense. Um we knew coming into the game, you know, they had a good defense and we were going to have to outplay them. You know, that’s one thing Coach E said all throughout the week like we going to have to create takeaways um and outplay their defense and that’s what we did today on on all um every position group. you know, defensive line dominated, stopping the run and, you know, getting back their pressuring the quarterback. And I think we missed probably like three or four sacks, too. So, uh, they they played their ass off and, you know, we just got to get back to the drawing board tomorrow and get ready for next week. JC styles um with Tyrod Taylor coming in in the second half. How’ you guys adjust to that? He definitely looked to be pushing the ball down the field a lot more than Justin Fields did. Oh, we just adjusted on the go, you know. Um, we knew with him coming in in the second half, it was going to be a lot more uh passing and um, he not the threat that Justin is running the football. So, uh, we knew we were going to have to be on top of our game and communicate in the back end and make plays on the football. When you made those two interceptions, each time it felt like an inflection point potentially that they could kind of really capitalize and and trade momentum there. Did you kind of feel that after each interception that you guys had gained momentum back? Uh yeah, a little bit. But you know, just the way the game was going, we were trying not to get too excited, you know, after the turnovers because we knew we were going to have to go back out there like even that last drive to, you know, get them off the field. Um so we just tried to stay focused. You know, we celebrated the interceptions and the sacks and stuff, but just knowing like I said, we were going to have to outplay their defense. I didn’t get a chance to look this up, but have you had a two interception game while you’re at Carolina? Nah, not not in the NFL. I had one in college. So how does it feel to just to get two? because you know sometimes people question you as an elite corner and it seems like this year you kind of you’re quiet, you’re subtle with it, but you’re you’re letting your play show on the field. Yeah, I mean people going they going to do what they going to say what they want question what they want but you know all I care about as a coaches like I always said organization believing in me um and the players in the locker room that’s that’s the only people I need to believe in me um and I’m just keep keep grinding trying to get better every day. JC, three in a row, first time with the winning record, I think for the first time since 2019. In perspective, what do you make of that? Um, we we doing a good job right now, uh, coming together and winning football games, but, you know, it’s a long season. We got to we got to, like I said, I keep going back to my rookie year. We started 3 and 0. Um, and then it went downhill after that. So, you just got to stay locked in week to week. We going to celebrate this, you know, on the plan, the rest of today, tomorrow. Um, we’re gonna come in there and make corrections and, you know, get ready for Buffalo. What was the celebration in there? Dave said celebrating the heck out of it when he was up there. But how would you describe the celebration after? Oh, it was it was fun. You know, it’s always fun when you we walk out there with a win, you know, especially this being our first road win. Uh, that was one of the the point of emphasis this week, just being able to, you know, bring the show on the road and show we could do it on away games and, you know, we did that today. JC, for the last three seasons, I want to say I know four, you guys have lost a starter on the defensive side of the ball, at least one starter for the season. And you know, this unit got a lot of flack off of last year’s performance. Can you just talk about the ability and the resilience of this group to overcome losing somebody like Pat Jones and getting this road win? Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s tough, you know, losing a playmaker like Pat. you know, you see the game he had uh last week. Um and then just, you know, losing him and, you know, having to put two young guys in there with Princely and Nick. Uh but they stepped up. They both stepped up today. I think Nick had his first career sack. Uh so proud of them for stepping up to the plate. Um and they talented and uh yeah, just, you know, last year was tough, but you know, this year, like I said, it’s the 2025 Panthers. You can’t worry about last year. And we just going to, you know, keep trying to stay together. Like I said, people going to say what they want to say. We just got to stay together and worry about getting better every day. Six sacks. Six sacks for the lineman. You with two picks. Mike Jack with a couple crew. Should have had two picks. Mike. Yeah, I know. He had a couple of good PBUs. When the whole defense is kind of eating like that, are you all feeding off of each other’s kind of adrenaline success? Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Um, I think they describe it as like flow state where we just like me personally, I wasn’t even thinking about the situations cuz like the way we was all, you know, playing on one accord, I knew we were going we going to keep dominating on the defensive side. So, um, yeah, when everybody playing good like that, it made the game more fun, you know, stress free and we we all just out there balling. So, you know, we going to try to, you know, reach that every game. Last one. Next week’s game is going to probably be the most anticipated game at Bank of America Stadium in about a half a decade at least. As much as you’re high off this victory, are you allowing yourself to think about what the atmosphere is going to be like next week with a Super Bowl contender uh at home and probably a game that’s going to get a lot more attention than any Carolina game has had for a while. No, not really. We going to enjoy this one today. We we’ll worry about Buffalo tomorrow. Did you see you saw Trevan’s uh pass break up? Uh Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Trev, that was a great play. That was a great play. Um he was impressive. Yeah. you know, he I think he ran 44 and it was one of the plays uh one of the players in the game he was matched up on the receiver and he was looking at me like, “You want to switch?” Cuz I was on a running back. I’m like, “Bro, just just stay on him. You 44. You you probably faster than him.” So, um yeah, Trevan a hell of a player. Um just to see the growth he made the last couple weeks. Uh just staying with it, you know, when when everybody was tough on him early on. I’m super proud of him and I think he’s just going to keep getting better. Thanks. Thank you. Your friends will be available in his locker. [Music]
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