Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera

(on finishing this game after the performances at the end of the last couple of games)
“It was good. It really was. Again, you can’t give teams opportunities to come back. Every chance to make a play, you have to. We were able to tackle them, keep them inbounds, keep the clock going and then being able to finish it off with the fumble – that was awesome.”

(on Cam Newton’s celebration after the final touchdown)
“I know that he wants to give the ball to a young fan. So I just think that’s part of it. I know the hard thing about it is he should be a little more mindful that this is somebody else’s stadium and try to be respectful and do it in the right manner. He does. He tries to find a young fan and give it to the fan. I get it, and again, as long as we’re not getting out of control, I think we’ll be OK.”

(on handling being 9-0)
“We take it one game at a time, but it’s the elephant in the room. We can’t deny that, but again, it’s really about the next game. It really, honestly is. All the record tells you is that you’re in position for the next thing, and that would be the play-offs. So hopefully we can continue to play well and give ourselves an opportunity to get there. We’ve got another game coming up and that’ll be the focus. The players will get to enjoy the next couple of days. They’ll get an opportunity to talk to the media and talk about the game and really, I know you all remind them that they are 9-0, but the truth of the matter is once we get started on Wednesday, the focus goes right back to who we play next.”

(on Newton’s completion percentage)
“It was 81 percent? Well, again, he continues to work with the receivers. It’s all the extra work that they’re putting in as a group, as a unit, as individuals. When you watch them in practice and something happens, as soon as we go to the defensive side, him and whoever he had trouble with, they’ll go to the other field and they’ll run that route until they get it right. So, I just think that they’re putting in a lot of extra work to give themselves a chance to get better.”