Panthers Live Press Conference
It’s just [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music] Here. [Music] [Music] for [Music] everybody. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. [Music] Down. [Music] 4. [Music] [Music] Happy birthday. [Music] enough. [Music] This is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Thank you. [Music] Everybody. [Music] [Music] [Music] Everything. [Music] Another [Music] four. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Chicken [Music] here. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] All right. Uh, great day. Hey, great to get back on the grass. Um, it’s always what brings us back. It’s the work. It’s the focus required as we got another opponent, division opponent, uh, going down to Atlanta this weekend. Um, excited about just getting this thing back on track in terms of our execution, our fundamentals, some of the things that we talked about coming out of the game. Is Derek’s knee his surgically repaired knee? It’s on that side, not related. Um, this is just something that came up and we decided to just limit him a little bit today. Um, just to try to get him back on track. He’ll be ready to practice tomorrow. Are any of those injuries IR worthy? They are not. No, no, you’re good. Yeah. So, with those short-term injury outlooks, it’s a pretty decent amount of names. How do you kind of factor in the plan this early in the week when you do have just generally that many? Yeah, we just have to consider all of our options and uh look at who can help us, you know, get some get some guys up in those positions if they’re not able to make it. Um I think outside of uh let’s see uh Trevan Trevan will be weak to week really right now and uh you know this the shoulders aggravated. He’s been dealing with some things as as you’ve all seen um in games. Wasn’t able to finish the game and um just you know we put all of our all of our uh brains together and you really saw an opportunity to just try to get him on top of this get out in front of it get him back to you know his full confidence and strength and mobility and all that. So um that’s uh that’s Trevan. Uh, Lean injured his hand in the game. Um, had a little bit of a a surgical procedure to clean some stuff out and that just happened yesterday. So, today was, you know, we couldn’t put him out there in a practice in any way, shape, or form. We’ll track him dayto day. See if we can get him out there in some capacity tomorrow. Um, and then not sure what his uh status will be like for the game. Um, it it all depends on how this thing heals up and and calms down. So, Trevan will not play on Sunday. Yes, he will not. Trevan will be out this week. Uh, Rico, Rico. Rico’s just dealing with the quad, so we just decided to give him the day off and uh, you know, treat it and uh, just take him off his feet today a little bit. The plan is to get him back out there tomorrow. We’ll evaluate him in the morning, but the plan is to get him out there uh, to practice to take some reps and uh, and get himself going. And the ham procedure, do you have any details about what that was? I don’t really want to go into specifics, but he just had to had to have uh, basically generally he had a wound cleaned out. And so, um, you know, anytime you have some type of a surgical procedure, it’s just we got to be careful about it getting banged around, especially when it’s fresh, you know, but, um, I’ve seen these things turn around quickly, but we have to be smart. We have to take it dayto day. With Rico and the quad, it seems like that’s something that popped up in the Green Bay game and you guys have a monitor last week. Knowing that he’s had those physical kind of situation here and you cramped up earlier, does that lead you to kind of think that maybe getting a little bit more rotation in there may make sense even though you kind of rode him the last couple weeks? could be. Um, you know, my thought is to just continue to try to play him the way we’ve been. Um, but Chuba got in there, you know, when he had to come out a little bit in the game and ran hard. Um, had some really nice runs. So, again, it’s a good situation for us, a great opportunity for us to have both guys that I really trust to be able to do that. You think kind of, you know, gained his footing again just over the last couple of games, kind of showing his burst? He certainly is looking stronger and stronger, you know, and this is attributed to his hard work and the way that he attacks, taking care of his body and um getting himself back, you know, to to where he wants to be. So, um really just like, you know, tip my cap to Chuba for the way he’s attacked it and that’s that’s the way he attacks everything and uh you know, he’ll have his opportunities in there and I expect him to, you know, continue to contribute. Out or with Trevan out, what kind of opportunity do you see that open up behind him and what do you see from those guys there? Yeah, I can talk about Claude Cherless. got in at the end of the game. Um and uh he really, you know, did some good stuff. Played some physical ball, knocking things back, made an really nice tackle inside the 5yd line. Um they were moving the ball, you know, pretty good in that drive, but uh he certainly flashed and he’s been doing an excellent job on special teams. So, this creates an opportunity for Claude um and the whole group, you know, and they all have to be ready to go. Um it’s what we ask our guys, prepare like you’re about to go in and and have that mentality, and Pete Hansen’s done a great job of preparing these guys that way. You’ve obviously been in the league for a while, but the veteran on the practice squad status thing is only a couple years old. How has that kind of helped the outlook with injuries and planning and knowing that you have somebody like Chris Barnes for instance on practice squad that you can go to? Yeah, it’s been very valuable, you know, over the course of the last year and a half. Um, to have guys that are here in the building getting the training, um, and have playing experience, you know, which is so valuable to have a guy that a guy like Chris Barnes who has called defenses, you know, he’s been the the mic, the green dot, you know, in different places. And, um, you know, that always gives us a lot of comfort. And it’s also just that room as they have conversations, they’re watching film. Uh, the more heads you have to more eyes you have on things, you know, it just really strengthens the group. based on or speaking of green dot, will Christian get it again? Now, we’re we’re working through that. Uh Nick Scorton, what have you seen from him in recent weeks? And then also, you know, he kind of spoke up a couple days ago and talked about the practice from last week, something you also addressed, but is is that unusual to see that kind of uh I don’t know, leadership, I guess, from a rookie like Scorton. you we really we really want the guys to earn respect and the way you earn respect in this league is by how you play, how you prepare and the hard work that you put in. I believe Nick has done those things um early on, you know, in his career here is to show consistency in how he practices, how he prepares and watches film. Um he’s taken coaching. Um AC Carter’s done a great job with Nick just bringing him along. He seems to add things every week and play with technique and um a lot of stuff he can clean up, you know, from the game. Certainly, you know, that’s every week. Um, but just like his mentality, I like the way that he’s just attacks it and, you know, the juice that he brings on game day, chasing things down. So, I’m really proud of the way he’s played, you know, just about the comments and all that stuff. I think it’s a it’s an opportunity. It’s a learning opportunity to say, okay, you know, for us, for our guys, like, you know, speak for your own performance. Um, if you want to make a general comment, you know, about, hey, when we lose, we’re upset, we’re disappointed, you know, but the specific part of it like that, we can do a better job of just keeping those things with within us, you know, and the stuff that we talk about after the game on Monday and all those things. Team respond, you mentioned a practice or more last week not being up to stand. How did they respond today? It was an excellent response. You know, really, really all day in the building. You know, there’s a there’s a sense of focus and and this appreciation that we have to approach every single game the same way. This is a championship opportunity. It’s not a lie. It’s not selling something. It’s true. All these games, especially when you play your division, your division opponents, you know, these are so important opportunities for us as we continue to set up our season going into it. You know, you hate to look back and say, “Wow, we missed an opportunity because we didn’t play our best.” And it always comes down to the same things. It’s about fundamental execution. It’s about making our blocks, making our tackles, you know, having great technique, um, and doing the right thing play in and play out. You know, it’s it’s going to always come back to that. And, uh, the group certainly understands that. We have a process that we believe in, and the goal is to get back on that. And today was a good step in that direction. JC JC was pretty hard on himself Sunday. Like, how have you seen him respond and how crucial is that to have your leaders hold themselves accountable? Yeah, accountability is important for all of us. It starts with me and and whenever we come out into a game and it feels like we’re off as a group, I have to look at the way that I set up the week, the way that we approach the guys and my messaging, I have to evaluate that part, talk to the different coaches that we have on staff and bounce ideas and say, “How can we get these guys more prepared? Let’s talk about when this happens.” When you come off of a of a win going to Lambo like that, the refocus and the the reset to continue to work and capture that part. Those are all important. And certainly JC certainly the different guys on our teams you know taking accountability for the part that they contributed that’s talking about their specific performance you know and um and I love guys taking that and and JC also has to understand too this is a group effort you know this is all of us um who didn’t play up to our standard that day bouncing back from bad losses what what is it about that sort of opportunity to refocus and is there anything about maybe going on the road this weekend and sort of refocusing and sort of getting together in that regard. Yeah, this game is humbling because every single week you play a group of professionals regardless of what the record says. These are pros and there’s phenomenal players in every group and if you don’t play to your best, if you don’t execute and we don’t play complimentary football together, you can lose every week and you can also win by playing a certain way and by taking care of the details and the critical parts of our game. So, um, it’s a reminder, you know, and it’s a wakeup call. And for a team, you know, now with me, at least for a year and a half, like we have to make sure that we lean on our processes. We lean on the things that count on that we count on to get our bodies right, to get our minds right so we can be confident and we can play fast on Sundays. Yep. How’s the player side of Dan Morgan um help you through some of these moments with the up and downs and what you guys are going through and trying to Dan is an incredible resource uh especially because he’s been a captain, he’s been a leader, he’s been in the middle of this and so there’s an expectation that he had for his teammates. And so when he sees things, when he reflects on and I go and we sit down and talk, you know, I can always kind of pick that part of his brain to say, “What does this feel like to you?” um being on the really good teams that you’ve been on, you know, over the course of the of of your career or dealing with injuries, dealing with off-field issues, all that. He’s lived a lot of these things. And so he’s an amazing resource that way. Um and you know, and has a really positive approach about it, too, about finding solutions to things um versus trying to find excuses for why things happen. He’s always good about finding solutions. Okay, so how do we go about this? Um how do we attack this uh this issue? We’ll do a couple more. It was national response, you know, really uh T-Mac has pretty uh wildly like wide variance in his first and second half splits. Um what are you noticing from him in the second half and the way coverages are attacking him maybe differently than early on the games? Um to make it more general, I think this is specifically talking to our pass game as a whole. Um and we’re all a part of that, you know, from the coaching staff to the players, um to the protection unit and all that. And this is something that we’re continuing to attack that we’re working through uh to try to make this part of our game come alive. You know, we’ve had flashes of it and we can see we can see the flashes that our guys our different players bring, you know, and um we have to be consistent with it and we have and it’s our job as a coaching staff to make sure that we do the right things to put guys in position to be successful and not make it so easy for a defense, you know, to hone in on where T-Mac is in formation and what is he running out of these. We got to protect the angles of the cut, you know, and um and we got to move move guys around and and make sure that the other guys come alive. I’d love to see Jaylen and Xavier come alive in their ways in the tight end group, which I have a lot of respect for. All these guys can be really useful. We just have to put it all together and find our rhythm. This is a Falcons defense that’s really gotten after the quarterback. Like, what jumps out when you watch them on tape and how do you negate that? Yeah, it’s effort and depth. They have a really good group of rushers, whether it’s inside or outside. And then, you know, and then Alice comes in there in a mug type of situation. And he’s got an excellent way of being a part of the stunts and adding himself into a fiveman rush. And they use their DBs also, you know, with different blitzes. And I think Jeff has done a really great job of having variety in how they attack the pass game uh from a rush standpoint. Um, but at the end of the day, they got some talented guys and they got some young speed on the edges and they got Leonard Floyd, too. And on any given play, he looks as good as he ever did. So, uh, this is a group I really respect. We’re aware of that. You know, we have to be mindful of of the different ways they’re going to try to create that rush. Um, and bottom line is it starts with effort and this is a group that really plays hard. They’ve looked like that since the beginning of the season with Jimmy Horn. Um, because you’re getting more yards when you have miss game. There been any considerations for him on special teams more than he’s practicing. Yeah, he’s practicing getting ready for the return game and all those things back. Will he’s step back in at right guard. We’re working through that right now. Um, we have some good options. Uh, both guys that I really trust and, uh, you know, this is, you know, for me it’s like another opportunity for competition. I think it brings out the best in the guys. Um, so we’re working through that. Yep. All right. Thank you. [Music] Fantastic. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Daddy. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Thank you. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Aren’t you [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] I don’t think [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Remember, [Music] [Music] [Music] questions for Bryce. Bryce, did anything stick out to you as you, you know, finally had some time to go back and look at Sunday’s game on film? Uh, yeah, just just some just lack of execution. Um, you know, looking back as a unit. Um, you know, plays left out there, stuff that, you know, we just have to do a better job of executing. Um, again, we give credit uh to them, we they execute better than we did. Uh, but the the page has turned. Again, it’s all about Atlanta this week. It’s all about the Falcons. Um, so we’ve learned from that. Um, we’re excited for the plan and we’re excited for the opportunity to to have a week of work, put a put a week together, and then give ourselves the best chance to uh have success on Sunday. Bryce, what were you guys able to do last time against him obviously as a big win um against the Falcons and what can you what can you learn from that one? Yeah. Um you know, first off, you got to turn the page. You you know that that doesn’t entitle you to anything. There’s uh you know, there’s no correlation. You know, we have to go in there again. It’s going to start 00 no matter what. And we have a ton of respect for them. We know them well obviously division opponent. So um you know, you want to learn from stuff. Know that obviously they’re going to make adjustments. We’re going to make adjustments. There’s going to be a different look. So, um, obviously you watch the film, you watch they’ve been doing, um, and then you’re, uh, you have a plan, then you’re ready to to react as the game goes. You guys have been good at bouncing back from like bad losses or whatever. How how much does that refocus you, if at all, and sort of make you sort of re reenter? Yeah. Um, you know, coach talks about it all the time, just just find opportunities to refocus. He talks about that in the immediate on game days, after plays, after series, and then, um, you know, after games, after weeks. Um, so that that’s been a theme for us. Um, again, after good, after bad, whatever it is, uh, we we put emphasis on on refocusing, making sure that we um, you know, we get lost in the work. You know, we we we’re processoriented. So, um, you know, that’s that’s the battle right now. And, you know, we’re excited to have the opportunity. Do you remember any common threads after Buffalo or after New England? Um, the following week? No, nothing. Nothing. That was There’s no magic uh, no magic speech, nothing different. Uh, you know, coach does a great job of being consistent um with our with how he is and the schedule he he has us do and everything like that. So, we know what to expect. We we know the work it takes. It’s it’s just about getting to it. Talking on the same topic of refocusing. Uh, a lot was made about the team not perhaps not having the most focus practicing last week. How do you think the group responded this uh at least today, Wednesday? Um, you know, it was a good day of practice today. Um, we’re all competitors. We all want to um make sure we understand how much practice correlates. We want to make sure we give ourselves the best chance. We we have that mindset every week. It’s not any different this week. So, um you know, good start. Um you know, again, we’re we’re in our work Wednesday uh flow and tempo and you know, we’re we’re doing all all we can to get the best out of that. Tomorrow will be a big day. You know, we had to go all that stuff, same routine. So, um good start. We have to long week ahead of us, so we have to keep capturing it. on that topic and as a leader on this team, did you take it upon yourself to address the guys to sort of like, hey, let’s have a little more focus this week or anything along those lines? Yeah, there was there was talks. We’ll keep that in house, but um you know, there there are discussions and again for us it’s a new week. Um the page has turned. You know, we’re all excited for this week. We’re all excited for this opportunity to work. Excited to go to go to Atlanta division opponent against a team we respect. So, um yeah, we’re we’re excited for today. Just to clarify, were those talks last week or to start practice this week? No, we’ve we we had talks, you know, just keep it in house. What can you guys do to get the more explosive plays going outside of execution? I know that’s one thing, but is it that they aren’t being called? Is it that you aren’t throwing the ball? What’s what’s why has that been elusive for this offense? Um, no, it’s just it’s just a group thing. Um, you know, obviously you want to be diligent about uh, you know, sticking to the plan and then, you know, we just have to take advantage of opportunities when they come. You know, they’re uh, when you watch watch the tape and, you know, obviously we all watch a lot of film just from watching the opponent. They come in different ways. They all all come in different different sides. So, um, we just have to be ready for that opportunity. Um, you know, no fingerpointing. We all look in the mirror. We all want to be accountable. Um, obviously stuff like that can can help us. So, um, it’s just being opportunistic and and executing. You know, you didn’t want me to bring it back, but I did. Um, I think both of those are important on the accountability front. JC was very critical of himself postgame Sunday and he said he told the defense that it was on him understanding it’s not your not your side of the ball, but what does it do knowing that type of accountability, that type of leadership is on that defensive side? Yeah, I mean, one, it’s not surprising at all. Again, you know, we JC’s been, you know, he’s huge for us, um, obviously on the field, but outside of that as a leader, you know, he he he’s always doing the right things, always working hard. super vocal. So, um you know, from from a defense knowing that again they’re always, you know, they’ll they’ll come back, you know, and it’s been been it’s never been ever since I’ve been here, it’s been the same way. You know, they’ll be the first to tell you no matter what. We they’ll take accountability and we’re the same way as offense. You know, we want to all be accountable. So, I’m grateful to to have a group of guys around me that they look in the mirror first. They want to get better. They want to, you know, there’s no ego. Everyone wants to do whatever they can individually and then within their their room and then as a unit then as a team just to have success. So, uh, I’m grateful to be in an environment like that. You returning to the site of arguably your best game as a pro. How much fun was that week 18 last year? I don’t know. It was last year. So, um, this year it’s whatever was week 11 week. This year it’s week 11 and we’re zero and zero. Um, right now it’s Wednesday and we’re about to watch the p the tape of practice today. So, um, that’s that’s all I’m at. But aren’t there things you can take from that performance uh personally and as an offense that could help you this week and this year? Uh different coordinator, different system, uh different uh different things. You know, they’ve had changes. Again, we deep enough in the year where we, you know, your stuff you watch, but right now again, you you watch this year’s stuff. You watch how they’re playing. Um I always have confidence in my team, always have confidence in myself. You know, that’s not something I need to lean on something else for. and uh what’s tangible is this week, so that’s all that matters. It’s been It’s been eight weeks since that first Falcons game. And what have you seen just from them when you were viewing film that’s different that kind of got your eye head in this week? Yeah. Um well, they’re the the way they’re playing. Not saying it’s different from the beginning, but it really just jumps off the tape. The um physicality in which they’re playing. Um obviously uh playing uh playing really aggressively. They’re making a lot of plays. It’s a really good group. Um they have some young guys that um you see them continue to make jumps and get better and better as the year goes, playing more and more comfortable. Um you know, settling in, being the the players that they’re that they are. Um so we have a ton of respect for them. Um you know, at all three levels. Um they they do a good job executing their scheme, have a good scheme. So um yeah, you know, we’re familiar with them. Again, we have a ton of respect for them as an as an opponent. It’s a great opportunity for us to to go up against a great unit. So uh this week’s just about giving ourselves the best opportunity to do that. On that, Bryce, do you have to like pay special attention to like rookies that you play early in the year, understanding their learning curve, maybe a little bit steeper than than some other guys? Yeah, you take that into account for sure. Um, you know, you see guys and um, you know, you you see them when you see them in whatever, week three or whatever. You know, you see them and you can see traits and you see how they’re settling in, how they’re playing and you know, you it’s it’s a little bit different with a rookie coming in after whatever however many 10 weeks, 11 weeks in. You know, they’re going to be playing better. They’re going to be more comfortable. They’re be doing things. That definitely shows up with this Atlanta team. Uh, they have a really good group of young guys playing better and better. Um, doing, you know, really good things. So, um, yeah, you definitely take that account. Um, and same with with guys that are new to the system, that are new with you see guys start to settle in. You see how, you know, people feel comfortable and how they play better together. Um, you know, units as as the year goes on, just they have more time together, they play better. So, um, yeah, again, definitely see that with this with this Atlanta team. Have a ton of respect for them. So, I’m excited for the opportunity. Explosive plays. Um, you and T-Mac have great chemistry from 20 under 20 yards together, but from 20 of us, it it hasn’t been there. Why do you think that is? And and what has to happen for that to open up a little bit? Yeah, just just execution. Again, um, you know, we I always we we’re both two people who look in the mirror who want to be better, you know, want to want to want to hit every every shot. And, you know, I’m grateful to have a guy like that. Um, one who, you know, is a player he is, but also, you know, has that approach, you know. So, uh, just about taking care of, uh, taking care of, uh, of of opportunities, you know, when they’re out there, making sure that, you know, we’re taking advantage of them, um, and executing. Um, but again, I have all the conf, you know, again, it’s all 11. It’s a play cards. They do a great job. So, I have all the confidence in the world in us and, you know, we’re going to do whatever it takes to win. You talked about, you talked about being loose and having fun. Is anger useful? I think it can be. Um, you know, again, it everything everyone’s different and everything on a day-to-day basis changes. You know, there’s times um personal or you look at other people. Again, you’re always you’re always looking at what you need. You’re always looking at what you need to bring and always um evaluating on a day-to-day basis um on a gametoame basis what it is you may need. So, there’s times that you know, you could use whatever emotion that it is to kind of aid you in playing. Um, and then for me personally, you know, it’s always about seeing where I’m at, figuring out what I need, what I need to add, what I need to take away, and trying to be in the best mindset to go and have success. You think you’ve scratched the surface on playing your best ball, or is there more in your bag that you just you haven’t seen yet? Um, you know, again, I’m I’m not a huge big picture person. I’m not a huge uh what if. Um, again, I I have a lot of confidence in myself. I have a lot of confidence in this group. Um, and at the end of the day, I want to win. Um, I don’t I don’t I don’t care about what can be. I don’t care about um whatever narratives there are. I want to win football games. I want to help this team win. I want to do whatever that takes. Um, so my my goal and my focus is always going to be on that. Um, and I’m really not super big into speculation. Last question, please. Your uh foundation had an event last night. Can you tell the story about um how mental health became such an important thing for you and why today it’s important to you? Yeah. Um yeah, mental health has always been important. I was grateful to grow up around um a lot of people that were in the mental health space space. Um you know, my uh a lot of people in my family were big and I was able to um kind of reap the benefits of being able to talk openly about mental health and mental wellness. Um, and you know, growing up and especially through sports, you see everyone in such different walks of life and it’s not, you know, that’s that’s not always the case. It’s not dialogue. People struggling to seek help or or people struggling just to um value wellness, whatever it may be. It’s not always all bad. Um, so, um, again, for me, I feel like that’s something that unites us all. That’s something that’s equal regardless of our walk of life or occupation. Um, and you know, I’ve been able to have a lot of meaningful conversations um, and watch people’s lives be impacted, uh, have a play in that. And um it it’s I’m super grateful to have those experiences. So um it’s super near and dear to my heart, to my foundation’s heart, and I was super um you know, super grateful for the event we were able to put together last night. Appreciate you guys. [Music] [Music]
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