On criticism of Carolina’s in-game celebrations
“Teams that you don’t like, you’re going to say something like, ‘Oh, man, I don’t like them. They’re too cocky.’ But let your team be winning, you’ll be cocky right with them.”
Unlikely to be 1-in-1 with WR Odell Beckham Jr. the whole game
“I’ll be waiting back there in the shadows until my time comes.”
On the Giants’ paltry season total of 16 sacks
“Everything’s cyclical. Everything goes through a cycle. Players transition out and in … I think with where we’re heading, hopefully we’ll be able to keep that on a high level. Compared to what the Giants are going through, I think they’re on a little bit of a down cycle.”
On former Giants’ executive Dave Gettleman
“Dave’s a football guy. Give him a screen and a projector, whatever we call it today and give him players to evaluate and he’s exceptional. So, he’s done an outstanding job and they have certainly picked the right man as the general manager.”
When asked how the Panthers have forced a league-best 33 takeaways
“Most of their third downs that their opposing teams are in are seven and plus and so that means they’re doing a good job on first and second down getting you into third-and-long situations and that puts a lot of pressure on the opposing offense to try to hold the ball a little bit longer”
Kick off temperature should be in 40s, which isn’t too bad
“I think this offense is built for weather … We have a line that is physical and comes off the ball, backs that run the ball, we’ve got a quarterback with the ability to run it and he’s a tough sucker, and he throws the ball well in all different conditions … We went up there in Minnesota and didn’t play well, but we’re a different team than we were last year.”
On being able to bring first-round LB Shaq Thompson along slowly this season
“He’s wired the right way. He’s wired like a Panther. When he isn’t on the field, he’s taken the right approach, he pays attention in meetings, he pays attention on the sideline to get those mental reps when he’s watching Thomas [Davis] and Luke [Kuechly] and A.J. [Klein] that lead by example and do things the right way.”
On TE Greg Olsen and LB Luke Kuechly joining offensive line for a “nerd man-date“
“They’re kind of like the younger brothers of the team, so they kind of get included in all the groups.”
Point of the week
“Nobody is satisfied with where we’re at. 13-0 was never the goal. If you go 13-0 and lose the Super Bowl or lose in the first round, it’s all for nothing.”
