Comments from Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, who met with the media Tuesday afternoon.

 

POST-GIANTS DRAMA

 

What's your take on the news of the past 24/48 hours?

"I'm a little disappointed in it to be honest. A lot of it has been assumptions and innuendos. We've not heard from Odell [Beckham]. He hasn't released a statement. Their organization hasn't released a statement, but I keep hearing all of these things that everybody else is saying, so that disappoints me.

"If there is something out there that is factual, truth, that's hard evidence, please present it to us as well so we can react accordingly. We don't tolerate that here.

"The bat is a huge misunderstanding. I know there are reports that this has been done before by other teams and players around the league, bringing a bat to represent those types of things. I think a lot more was made out of the bat than needed to be made.

"I thought Peter King said it best, 'If there's something out there, then let's put it out there.' Let's get the facts out there so we can get it dealt with, so this organization can deal with it. We don't condone that and we won't stand for it. If there is some truth to it, then we are most certainly going to react to it and handle it appropriately. Until there is, there's nothing for me to do.

"That's the thing I struggle with. Everyone wants to sit here and tell us, this happened or that happened. Really?!? Until we hear something concrete, and we get a phone call with something concrete, we're not going to react to it.

"This is a very important social issue, and we shouldn't be treating it as what it is, and that's a distraction. There's a situation that the league is going to take care of and we'll let the league handle that. Whatever comes out of it, comes out of it. We're not pushing anything from the league. We're reacting to what's being thrown at us by people who are saying that they're being told stuff.

"Who's telling you? It drives me nuts to hear, 'An unknown player.' That doesn't help me. If it is one of my players, then I'm going to sit down and talk to that player specifically and find out exactly what was said so I can make a determination and we as an organization can handle it because we don't condone it here.

"I think the problem in this situation is that there is a lot of hearsay, and I don't know, maybe this is spin control by somebody. The truth is that until it's out there, let's just wait. Having said that, I want to get onto Atlanta and be happy to answer any questions about Atlanta, potential Pro Bowl, or Christmas."

Well, there's a lot of attention on practice squad safety Marcus Ball. Why did practice squad players go on this trip when those guys don't typically travel?

"This was for their hard work. These guys word hard and do a lot of things and this was an opportunity to reward them. We take five on one game and five on the next away game, so we're going to have five in Atlanta. It's just a reward. They don't get a lot and they're out there every day. I don't think I've ever heard a practice player complain about their opportunity, so this was just a chance to be there and be with the guys and, unfortunately, it got taken out of context."

Did you talk to Marcus?

"Yes, he's given me no reason not to believe what he told me. He said nothing. I heard nothing, several of the people around him heard nothing to be construed as something homophobic. Having said that, unless there is audio or something to show me–I've seen some of the clips, but honestly those clips are benign–they're going to say one thing or the other. People are going to interpret it how they want. Give me some concrete evidence so I can sit down and get it taken care of. If not, then let's move on to the next thing."

Would you rather talk about how you'd handle things if you have a chance to be 16-0 or all of this drama outside?

"Honestly, I'd like to talk about playing Atlanta is what I'd really like to do."

But isn't this part of doing business at 14-0 and dealing with the attention and the soap opera of it all?

"Without a doubt. This is a reflection of what we had to deal with, and again, it's all part of it. It's my job to take it and get it all focused in for our players so that we go forward. We have a great group of guys that I'm very proud of and they've played hard this year. They've done a lot of good things but, unfortunately, there are outside things we have to focus on which takes us away from it. To have something come out that doesn't make sense that guys want to talk about other guys. Let's focus on playing the game. We'll show up on Sunday and play the best we can. At the end of the day, we'll see. That's the only day you can handle things."

When you talk about team's personality, do the events of the past 48 hours put a dent on the team's swagger?

"I don't think it should. I'm going to quote Dave Gettleman because it's a great quote: 'Don't put yourself in position to fail.' Let's be smarter than that. As we go forward, we're going to play Atlanta, and maybe that's an indication of someone trying to get us out of our game. Let's not worry about that and focus on playing the game. We need to do that. There are still a lot more games to be played for us and it starts on Sunday with Atlanta."

Could you clear up the bat thing for those who don't understand it?

"It's no different than what's been done before. Reggie Bush did it with New Orleans and they won the Super Bowl. It's a symbol of hitting the home-run play or 'bringing the wood.' It's just a little thing and guys have been doing it and our guys have done it for a while. People made more out of it than what needed to be made, and as I said, maybe it's somebody's attempt at spin control. Who knows?"

Will the bat carrying continue?

"No."

If you don't think there is anything wrong with the bat thing, why end it?

"I'll hear it if I don't. That's the truth of the matter. I'm going to end up hearing it and avoid the situations and circumstances, let's just eliminate it. So, that's what we're going to do. Again, it's the 'No Fun League' for a reason."

Will there be any discussion with the league or the Giants organization about all of this?

"I'm not going to go there. I'm staying where I am right now. I think I've gone more than I needed to."

 

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ON JOSH NORMAN

 

How is Josh handling his recent media attention?

"I'm pleased with who he is as a football player and a young man. This is a young man who has come a long way. When he first got here, he battled with us as coaches with getting in line and getting him to develop and become a complete player and play within the scheme of things, whether man or zone.

"As we went through this, he started to see it and last year we saw him really take off with good games down the stretch for us. He started the last seven or eight for us and played very well. If you combine his stats from this year and last year, he did some impressive things. He should get notoriety for being one of the really good corners in this league, for that and that alone. Look at what he's done and how he's played.

"Let's get beyond the comments and other things and look at what he's done as a football player. Look at the stats and who he's played against and if they've had success or not. That's the way you should rate people. I think we miss that.

"I think Ryan Kalil said it best, he's been in the league nine years, and the NFL is a soap opera, and people will continue to tune in. We're always looking for the next story, not the story we should be talking about. Like Atlanta or a young man's ability and if he'll be a Pro Bowl player. That's the stuff I'd much rather see us talk about. As Ryan said, this is a soap opera. People want to tune in to other things."

How crucial is it that Norman stays himself but is within the system as a player?

"You want him to stay Josh. You want him to keep his personality and his energy level up. The one thing we've always had to do or wanted to do in the past and we tried to do in the game was go to him and say, 'Don't cross the line. Stay close, but don't cross it. Be smart about it.'

"There was an instance in the game where the back judge came to me and said, 'Coach,' and I said, 'Why don't we go talk to him?' So we went and talked to him and said it to Josh and from that point on he really brought it down. It was the referee coming to me and asking me to help. Right after we were done with that, [official] Terry McAulay came to me, and I reiterated with the rest of the guys.

"It's one of those things that there is a line and we were told we're at the line. You can ask Josh about it, ask the referees about it and I did exactly what they asked."

What was the transition for Norman to fit into the system?

"The biggest thing is that Josh plays with such great vision, but sometimes he'd get himself in trouble because his eye discipline wasn't where it needed to be. Now he's learned to look through receivers to the quarterback now. He's learned not to focus on one element because that gets you in trouble. If I look to the quarterback and start drifting one way and this guy is running a nine route to the sideline then there's separation. These are the little things he needed to understand and get that.

"When we played a certain type of man technique he had to understand leverages and where your help is. Those are all the little details that young players had to learn and understand and those are one of the things he had to develop. We talked about his man coverage skills and how to best play it. How to put yourself in position. Those are all things he and [secondary coach] Steve Wilks have gone through since they've been together."

Do you still remember that training camp practice when he was a rookie and had all those interceptions?

"One of the things I had to get past, as this was his rookie year, there's a difference between training camp, preseason games and the real things because there are no consequences. When you add some consequences, then things change a little bit, and that's all part of his development and understanding that stuff. He now gets it. You got back and look at last year and how he's played against people. That to me is what you should judge him on."

Why do you think people are refusing to call him a shutdown corner?

"That's fine. We're not going to worry about that. We're going to focus on what he does for us. We put him in position to help us and look at the statistics at the end of the game. If it's in our favor great, if it's in their favor great, but the bottom line is that those aren't consequential things. Right now we're 14-0, playing Atlanta, we need to win the football game and that's what we intend to do."

 

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ON THE NFL 'SOAP OPERA'

 

Cam Newton dealt with a whole bunch of outside noise after the Tennessee game. With what he's done since, how much pride do you take in that?

"I'm very proud of him because of how he handles himself. It's crazy to me hearing people worry about that, but very few people want to mention the fact that he's befriended Braylon Beam. He's a young man dealing with cancer and yet every game the kid is there, Cam goes over and dabs him up or hugs him or high-five. Unfortunately, that isn't enough news and part of the soap opera, so we don't want to talk about that. How about if we did? In that locker room, you have Thomas Davis and Charles Tillman who are NFL Man of the Year winners. Jared Allen has won the Salute to Service Award. Greg Olsen is up for it this year and that's on the backburner because of the soap opera."

When you say the NFL is the soap opera, you were on a team that had a video that was highly discussed? Is it more soap opera now than then?

"To me, it's a sign of the times more than anything else. We were outrageous in '85. I'll admit that. We had the personalities to go with it in Jim McMahon, Richard Dent, Walter Payton, William Perry. We had some great people. Fortunate enough back then that we didn't have to deal with the scrutiny of social media. I think it's a huge difference. What the public sees now to what they didn't see back then is tremendous. There are a lot of guys who would say, 'If you know what we did back then,' and there's some truth to that."

What did you make of Richard Dent's comments about Newton?

"That's fine. Richard is entitled to his opinion. He's a Hall-of-Famer. I heard Dick Butkus say some things, too, and everyone is entitled to an opinion. You just go from there and form your own. Somewhere along I missed – it's apparently no longer important to befriend a child who is going through cancer. It's not enough to go play Santa Claus and go to a high school and give money away to the school. It's not enough. That's unfortunate that we've gone past that. I thought that's how we wanted to judge our athletes as good people, but yet that's not enough for us."

 

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INJURY UPDATES

 

Will you be extra cautious with Jonathan Stewart's foot injury?

"Yes, we are. He's feeling good. He's out of the boot now and walking around without it. They've been doing the stuff with him that he needs to do right now, and he's coming along. It's only been a week. Cameron Artis-Payne played well and gives us confidence in a young guy like that to go forward. We're going to be conscious and smart, and we'll see how he is later in the week. Right now, he's just doing what he needs to do with the trainers."

Are there any negatives if you gave him a month off and then unleashed him in the postseason?

"No. The last time he had a whole bunch of time off was last year, and we all remember what happened when he came out against New Orleans and what happened from that point on. So, I really don't think there is. I feel pretty comfortable if he gets a week or two more weeks off."

Are you leaning towards him having the week off?

"They were talking about seeing how he is on Thursday so we'll see and go from there. But if I'm going to err, I'm going to err on the cautious side."

How has he been in discussions with having extra time off?

"Jonathan has been really good about it. He just talks about how he feels. He said, 'I feel better and it's good to have my foot out of the boot,' but we'll see. He's going to do what the trainer says. Jonathan is one of those guys that really does listen to what the trainers tell him and follows those regiments. We'll see how it is later in the week."

Kyle Love wasn't on the practice field today?

"Kyle's in the protocol. He sustained a hit during the game. They took him off the field, and when we came in, he was showed and already in the protocol, so we have to treat him accordingly."

 

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ON THE FALCONS

 

What do you think you did so effectively against Atlanta and Matt Ryan two weeks ago?

"It was a number of things. We were able to score early offensively because it helps the defense. When you put the tape on and watch him play last week and I didn't see a lack of confidence. He did some really good things. They have enough motivation to play well against us and they're still in it. We have to take care of business."

What's it mean seeing a team twice in three weeks?

"I don't know. It just depends how you look at it. There's not a lot of opportunity to change unless you're preparing for that. In other words, you prepared last week for something you want to carry over to the next time you play them. I don't expect an awful lot of change. We've all had an opportunity to watch their Jacksonville game and they did some really good things in all phases of the football team and guys made plays for them. Look at their offense and Kyle Shanahan got a real good rhythm with his play-calling, and that gives you cause for concern because you don't want them to get into a rhythm. They're a good football team and explosive offense which you see when you put the tape on. Defensively, they had an opportunity to make plays and got after the passer, control the run and line of scrimmage and it was a good game to watch on tape."

 

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MISCELLANEOUS