On Cam Newton’s preseason debut

“Initially he was high a couple of times and indecisive. Once he settled in and started to move you saw him gain confidence and he made plays … He was a little antsy and he wanted to make some things happen. We missed some opportunities. If he completes the pass to Kelvin (Benjamin) in the one series, everyone is excited about it, which he didn’t. But what he finished up with is what we’re hoping for and we’re going to continue to work towards.”

Overall impressions from the game

“It was a little disappointing what happened with the defense in the first couple of series allowing them to move the ball down. Eventually we bowed our neck and forced some field goals but we can’t hold on to them. It’s happened to us for the last two weeks in a row … Offensively, again we started a little slow … The most exciting play was the one that wasn’t completed. Kelvin made a nice move. He got vertical and broke into the sideline when Cam overthrew him. But that’s what we’re hoping for is those kinds of connections and we’ll work to get that done.”

What he said to Benjamin going into halftime

“I told Kelvin that this is going to happen. A guy is going to try to get inside your head and get you to play outside of your game and that’s what we talked about. I told him that when they start doing that it’s because they know you can do some good things … Hopefully he’ll get out of it but this is also one of those things where you have to stand up for yourself. There’s a point where you have to draw a line and a guy has to understand that if you do this and continue to do this then I’m going to draw a line in the sand. I told him that if you want to go get back at somebody, just go make a play.”

When asked about Josh Norman’s emotion

“We took him off the field. What we want guys to understand is that we have to maintain our composure on the football field. That’s why we lost in the playoffs. It started with me. I made the mistake of getting caught up in that emotion. We have to learn how to control that. If we’re going to be a playoff team, we’ve got to do those things the right way and we’ve got to be able to handle it.”

On his preseason debut

“We had a slow start tonight which is unacceptable. We have to stay on schedule and not waste opportunities like the shot to Benji (Kelvin Benjamin). Kansas City is a good football team and we didn’t match their intensity early, but it was good to put a few drives together and score some points.”

When asked how it felt to scramble in a game for the first time since he had ankle surgery

“I know I had surgery, everyone knows I had surgery. It’s a constant build up. I haven’t pressed the throttle all the way down to the floor until today, trying to see how much I can do. It was kind of like a shock at first. It’s one thing where you’ve got to tell your mind that you’re not hurt. I’ve been treating it as much as possible and trying to get as much as I can to make it feel better so when it’s out there you know it’s supposed to hurt and sometimes it does hurt, but it’s just like a temporary pain.”

On the offense’s slow start

“It was kind of embarrassing for me to lead my offense out there and not have a first down. But when we did get things going it was fun to see, fun to sit back and watch.”

On scoring for the first time since 2012

“It’s been a while since I’ve touched the endzone. It’s preseason so it’s good to get my feet wet and get back into the groove of things. Me and DeAngelo (Williams) got to do our little celebration which was fun.”

On Jonathan Stewart’s two-touchdown performance

“You see how the guy runs, he runs so hard. He doesn’t go down. He fights for every yard. I think with that you get some of the nicks and knacks that he gets … When he does get back out there you realize why he is so special and why you keep giving him chances to come back.”

On Newton’s scrambles, when the quarterback’s supposed to be taking it easy

“It’s hard, you think you are on the right angle and then Cam does some kind of circus thing and takes you off of it. You just run around and try to make a block and try to keep him out of harm’s way.”