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[accordion_item title=”Panthers Coach Ron Rivera”]RE: Fewest playoff yards allowed in NFL history

“I thought we did some good things defensively. We were able to contain them. We just did the things we needed to. We caught them at a good time.”

RE: Locker room speech after the game

“I told them we played against a good football team, and we were very fortunate to come out ahead. We played better that’s why we won, but the truth of the matter is we can play a whole lot better.”

RE: Confidence in Brenton Bersin

“I have a lot of confidence in him. I have no issue with that. That was a mistake. He was trying to be a backstop to prevent the ball from going like it did the second time. We all knew that. At that point, let the ball roll. He understands that. He learned a lesson. It was a lesson learned today.”

RE: Expect these results when playing Arizona’s third string quarterback?

“I think the one thing that we did do was play the run very well. I thought we were able to do that. If there was something that I wanted to point to that we did was, I thought we were able to handle the running game pretty well. Our front seven, adding the safety into the box on occasion, really did a nice job. I think that was more of a key than anything else was being able to handle the running game.”

RE: Hitting stride at the right time of the season into the postseason

“We are playing well at the right time but again it depends on who our opponent is. We are going to come in and approach it just as we have the last five weeks. We are going to work on the things we need to work on. We are going to work on our fundamentals. We didn’t play as smart as I would have liked us to play today, and that bothers me. This was a good football team we were playing against. We kept giving them opportunities and they kept trying to take advantage.”

RE: Fozzy Whittaker’s touchdown

“I thought he made a great cut. The play was set up to stay to offensive right. He saw a lane and made a great cut. The backside blocking was tremendous, and I think Byron Bell made the final block that sprung him. Fozzy has a little bit of lightening to him, so it was kind of neat to see.”

RE: How long will team get to enjoy this win?

“They will get tomorrow off. We will come back in on Monday. The reason we will do that is because we don’t know who we will be playing. Coaches will be in tomorrow. We will prep our stuff and kind of prep for possibilities because we won’t know until later on in the evening.”

RE: Was Philly Brown’s injury his shoulder?

“Yes it is shoulder. We will see how it is. They took him in for an x-ray. I haven’t talked to Ryan Vermillion afterwards. There is a little bit of concern.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers QB Cam Newton”]RE: Relief with win?

“We celebrate this tonight. We have to get back on our business tomorrow, see who we play. Truth of the matter, we have to be ready to go. There’s a lot of guys that feel the same way I feel that this win was great for a lot of reasons, but yet, we didn’t come here to end it tonight. We have to have a great week of practice and get prepared for our next opponent.”

RE: How satisfying is it to win and advance?

“Our biggest thing was just to get in. Through hell or high water, we just wanted to find a way to get into the playoffs and see what else happens after that. There’s a lot of guys that are thankful for the opportunity, and we weren’t going to take it for granted today. We started out fast on both sides of the ball as well as special teams, but it kind of fizzled out in the middle. But, that fizzle can’t happen if we expect to do great things.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers RB Jonathan Stewart”]Re: Run game late in the season

“You go through the season, and you have a lot of ups and downs and things don’t go your way, but you stay after it. You work hard, the offseason, all that other stuff, it all comes to this. To be in this situation and reap the benefits, it feels great. The offensive line has come together the last several weeks. The defense is playing the way they’re playing, and Cam, going through what he’s gone through and being able to still stand in there and be our leader – this team right here is special and it’s great to be a part of it.”

Re: What’s the story with the hat?

“Whose hat is this, DeAngelo? [That’s mine.] But who gave it to you? [Austin Dillon.] Austin Dillon. Hey there, buddy. Who’s Austin Dillon? He’s a country singer. [No, he’s not. He’s a NASCAR driver.] He’s a NASCAR driver. Same difference. [What’s his number, though?] Ah…5? 3? 3. Austin Dillon. My homeboy. Thanks, dawg.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers RB Fozzy Whittaker”]RE: Your touchdown catch and run

“It was a great play call from the jump. What we had set up, what they had been showing a lot of blitz looks. On that particular play, they actually dropped out, but the offensive line did a great job of opening holes and giving me a seam to run. Basically that’s all I had to do, was catch the ball and run. Everything else was history after they opened up everything.”

RE: Can you believe you are scoring touchdowns in a playoff game after how far you came from training camp?

“I definitely can believe this because that is who I am. I have always believed in myself, and being a part of this organization and this family is truly a blessing. I don’t take it lightly and I don’t take it for granted.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers WR Kelvin Benjamin”]Re: How did you guys stay together?

“The slogan in our heads is ‘Keep Pounding.’ That’s all it is. It’s in all of our heads. We come in here and the whole organization just Keep Pounding. Adversity’s gonna come. You’re gonna to have dropped balls. You’re gonna to have missed tackles. You’re gonna have sacks. You’re gonna have interceptions. We just gotta keep going out there as a team and stay strong, stay together.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers TE Greg Olsen”]Re: Playoff win

“This was a special year for us. It’s been a special month. Just to continue to fight, some of the things we went through, and then our fans to stick with us, and now to get this home playoff win. We haven’t had one in a long time. I’m happy for our fans, happy for the guys on the team, our coaches, everybody. This is a good moment for us, but we still feel like we have some time left.”

Re: Panthers’ defense

“That’s unbelievable, in the NFL, to hold a team to 77 yards. It could have been even better. We gave them pretty much all their points with turnovers. You know, hats off, our defense really set the tone today. They’re incredible, they’ve been incredible now for two years, and they’re playing as well as ever.”

Re: First half mistakes 

“It was really sloppy. It really didn’t have to be close. We let them back into it with a couple turnovers, and we didn’t take advantage of a couple short fields. But our defense really was the story of the day.”

Re: Next opponent

“Either way we’re going to have to go on the road. We either have to go to Seattle or Green Bay. That’s the life of where we’re at right now, with having to go on the road to get to the Super Bowl, and we’re fine with that. We feel like our game is built for the road. We feel like we can go up and play, but it’s going to be a challenge. They’re the top two teams for a reason. So we’re going to have our work cut out for us but I think guys are excited for the opportunity.”

RE: Family honored pregame

“That was a really special moment to be able to share that with my kids and my wife and my family down on the field. I was thankful for the organization to ask me, and it’s just been a special day. This has been just a tremendous year on a lot of different aspects, it has been up and down. We’ve had our good and our bad, but it seems like we are having a lot more good lately so we are going to enjoy this year as long as we can.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers C Ryan Kalil”]RE: Playoff win

“Winning’s fun, man. Winning’s fun. And you want to feel like this. It’s fun for the team. It’s fun for the families and friends. It’s fun for the whole community. I mean, the city’s different when you’re winning. And that’s exciting. I think that’s such a cool thing about sports that it can really do that. And I think, knowing that feeling and knowing how we felt last year after that loss to the Niners, I think we’re carrying that with us. And the young guys who weren’t here, making sure we explain that to them and they understand that. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we don’t feel that way again.”

RE: Ron Rivera

“The best analogy about Ron is how as a player you want to be throughout a game and throughout a season. You don’t want to ever get too high, and you don’t ever want to get too low, and that’s how he stays. I think that’s a great model to base your team around. That’s a great attitude to have going in week in, week out. I think he does a good job of that. We have a big win; it’s back to work. We don’t play so well, it’s back to work. And we stay like that. The victories are great, and he lets us enjoy them and we still get excited about it. He lets us have personality and be who we want to be, but he does a good job in really controlling the mindset and the attitude of the team. I think that’s what you want in a head coach.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers DE Charles Johnson”]RE: Why Panthers didn’t give up

“Just guys leading, TD (Thomas Davis) and Luke (Kuechly), (Ryan) Kalil, (Greg) Olsen, those guys leading. Coach Rivera always believed in us and he told us we keep getting chances, keep getting chances – we’ve got to execute on these chances and we just kept going, kept pounding, kept showing up. A lot of guys are showing up right now.”

RE: Teammates say you’re a leader

“I don’t call it leading. If I’m going to say something, I’m going to say how I feel. I just put it out there. I’m just trying to be straight, direct, forward. I don’t call it leading. I just say how I feel in that moment, at that time and guys respond to it. I’m not trying to hurt [them], I’m just trying to better the team.”

RE: Do you feel like this was your fifth playoff game in a row?

“Yeah. It’s so pumped up that you playing the game like it’s a playoff game. I think just the way the last couple games the way we been playing, we been playing them like playoffs anyway. So it’s been coming natural to us, and guys are starting to focus in and believe it, and it’s showing out there on the field.”

RE: Giving up 78 yards

“I wasn’t even paying attention to it. I was going by series by series, play by play. So, I didn’t even know until he just came and said something.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers LB Thomas Davis”]

RE: Fan reaction at the end of the game

“It was a whole lot of excitement and rightfully so. It’s been a long time since we won a playoff game around here. Our fans were excited, they were behind us, they were energized and we fed off that energy. It was all about going out and doing whatever we could to get this win for our fans. That was our motivation.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers LB Luke Kuechly”]

RE:  Holding the Arizona offense to under 100 yards

“Anytime you can limit a team to less than 100 yards it is a good feeling. The thing that makes that so cool is that you look at it and think why did that happen? The first thing was Brad (Nortman) kicked the ball well, he put them inside the 20 yard line multiple times and the offense controlled the ball. You look at that number and you think it is all defense but Brad kicked the ball extremely well and the offense held the ball and anytime you can do that and control the field position it makes our job a ton easier.”

[accordion_item title=”Panthers CB Josh Norman “]RE: On the defensive performance

“You’ve got to have a great defense to get to the playoffs right? Defenses win championships, so we are going to take our opportunities. We are going to do our best and do our due diligence. We are going to come out each and every week and give our best effort.”

RE: On defense shutting down Arizona in the second half

“We put a sundae topping on that thing. We put a cherry on top today. As you see, we had the rain, we had elements, and we sure did have our fans, and they were electric. Golly it was electric.

RE: On defense holding Cardinals to 78 yards

“We know who we are, we’re the Carolina Panthers defense. Menacing. We’re stifling, and we’re going to get after you. And we know there’s blood in the water. Them sharks they gonna go eat. No matter what it is, our defensive backs, we’re gonna get our hands on your wide receivers, and we’re gonna let our line go get shark bait.”

RE: Controlling your emotions

“I was calmer today than I was last week. I simmered down a little bit. I was trying to maintain myself and preserve myself in the right ways without trying to overexert myself. We will be back, and we will be going at full steam next week.”

[accordion_item title=”Cardinals Coach Bruce Arians”]RE: You did the next man up all season, did you just run out of people?

“I never buy into that. I let you guys do all of that stuff. We have to make game plans to win games and ask players to do things we think they are capable of doing to win games. I never buy into injuries losing games.”

RE: Pass late in the third quarter that didn’t get the pass interference, you feel started the shift?

“No doubt about it and I think everyone saw it except for the guys in the striped shirts.”

RE: Referees

“They didn’t fumble the ball. Referees are what they are. They are the best part-time paid employees in the world. They didn’t lose the game.”

RE: Why Ted Ginn Jr. brought the ball out

“You will have to ask him because it wasn’t a very good decision. Bringing it out is one thing, fumbling is another.”

[accordion_item title=”Cardinals WR/KR/PR Ted Ginn”]

RE: Mindset going into deep kick by Carolina

“I took a chance. It’s part of the game. That’s what you do. It just didn’t work. You try to make plays. It just didn’t work well for me.”

RE: What specifically happened

“I fumbled.”

RE: Did you feel pressure to make something happen?

“I’m not going to say that. We play as a team. I went out and did my individual duties and I had a mistake. It comes with the game.”

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