Comments from Panthers' coach Ron Rivera on Monday Carolina's Week 2 win over the Texans.

After watching tape, was there anything the offensive line did that particularly stood out?
"No, I thought they did exactly what the were coached to do. I thought the coaches had a nice game plan going into it. The players executed it the way we wanted. We did give up a couple sacks. One was a blitz and the other was when the quarterback pulled down and tried to run the ball and J.J. Watt came underneath and made the play. They did exactly what we wanted them to do. The thing I'd like to see improve is the run blocking. We had a couple chances if we could finish some blocks, we could have really popped a couple of runs. Jonathan [Stewart] ran as hard as he could. [Mike] Tolbert ran well, and Cam [Newton's] runs were very well timed. A lot of good things and positives. I was very proud of how the offensive line handled it. They got good support from running backs and tight ends."

You stuck with Philly when he was struggling, what did yesterday mean for you to see him make those plays?
"It's the same thing with Ted [Ginn], they're guys that something bad may happen but watching them rebound and come back; it speaks to the resilience of this football team. The last couple years we've had some ups-and-downs and the guys have stuck with it and made things happen as our guys continue to develop as a football team this year. I'm not sure what our character as far as the 2015 team is going to be, but seeing guys stick with it and make plays is big. I was very happy for Philly. I think this just proves I was right, we don't want to call him Corey any more, we're calling him Philly."

What did you think of Philly jumping to make the TD catch?
"That's an aggressive play and that showed me he understands. During the preseason he wanted the ball to come to him, he was letting the ball come into him. Then you start watching that and the one he caught on the sideline when he took a pretty good hit. He went and snatched it that ball. He was aggressive to the football. Use those hands, use that great hand-eye coordination that he's got. Go out and grab that ball. Going up and getting it the way he did, showed he understands it. He has to attack the football to be successful."

What about his 'Lambeau Leap' after the TD?
"It showed it's for the fans. They want us to succeed and want us to do well. If you're not, they're going to let you know it, too. They're our fans. They've been here to support us and at the same time, let us know we have to be better."

Is there and update on Luke Kuechly?
"There really isn't one right now. He didn't come in early. He's probably coming in around now. I gave the guys a day off. The big reason was because there were almost 200 plays in this game, including the special teams plays. I knew the guys were going to be tired. My understanding was that this was the longest regular-season, four-quarters game we've ever played. Somebody told me that after the game and I started thinking about the last time we played a real long, hot game that our guys needed a little extra break, so I gave them the day off. A 'Victory Monday.' We didn't expect a lot of guys to start coming in. Hopefully, I'll get a little bit of an update later today."

Will the 'Victory Monday' be a theme this season?
"We'll see. It depends if it's a satisfying victory or not. I thought it was a really good game yesterday. We talked about making this a team victory, and every component of the team contributing. As I said yesterday, the only component I was concerned with was the field goal protection, but the truth of the matter is that it came off a little low from the kicker. He hit it really well, but it was a little low because it was a longer kick. I don't think he needed to drive it as hard as he did; he could have gave it more air. Again, he's kicking the ball extremely well and doing things we need him to do. We're going to keep working and get better at that."

You said you were okay with the field goal protection?
"I thought the protection was good. When you get a chance to look at it on tape there really is no push. They timed their jump very well and I think because it was a bit of a longer kick, I think he drove it more than he needed to."

What was your thought process on the drive leading to that FG attempt?
"We were going for the win, to seal the victory. If we punted it, then something bad could have happened, same with if we go for it. To me, that was the decision. Try to make it a two-score game, and with the amount of time, it would have played nicely into our hands."

What about taking a shot on the third-and-long before that instead of getting a more manageable FG attempt?
"[Newton] had his options. As he came out and took the snap, he got the safety to pull to the right side and he had Greg [Olsen] a step in front and just laid it out too far. It's one of those things where, if he takes a step back and looks at it, he has Philly underneath for a little dump off. He read it properly and he got the safety to pull to the side. I have no problem with the decision he made; it was aggressive. He did what he thought was best for the team."

How much did that decision speak to the confidence in the defense?
"Not just the confidence in the defense, but the confidence in the kicker. It's a chance to go up two scores. I would have liked to see us make it, and then kick the ball into the end zone and make them go 80 yards and get an onside kick, but it didn't work that way. Defensively, we were playing really well. I appreciate the way they played. Sean [McDermott] did a nice job; his staff put together a nice plan. As did our offense, too."

What did Mike Remmers do to step up against J.J. Watt?
"It's just the challenge. You're playing against the premier player in the league on defense. He was up for league MVP last year. Mike took the challenge and it was executed well by our guys. We gave ourselves opportunities. You're not going to stop a guy like that but if you contain him and limit his impact, that gives you a chance to win. You guys asked me all week and I tried to explain without giving too much away, but I thought what we had planned and had executed was what we needed."

Not to take the wind out of 2-0, but you started like this last year then went 1-8-1?
"Yes, and we were beat up a lot more, had a younger team, were trying to develop. There are a lot of reasons and we can look at a lot of other things. Bottom line is that I'm not looking at last year, I'm going to be concerned about the one game we have coming up and it's against a divisional foe. We've got to get after New Orleans, they're a struggling football team, they're 0-2, so at the end of the day, you throw the records out because they're divisional foes. They're going to come in here, fired up and ready to play."

Jonathan Stewart had 50-plus snaps again. Didn't you want to limit him?
"I would like to but the situation and circumstances didn't play into that and that's probably the biggest thing we got to look at. Part of the reason [Cameron] Artis-Payne was down is because we're trying to get Kevin [Norwood] going and become part of the offense. There are a lot of things going on that we have to look at. As we go through this early portion, we're going to feel our way through things and get into a rhythm with players. Unfortunately, a part of that is that Jonathan has taken that many snaps."

What does A.J. Klein provide with schemes when Luke returns?
"It does create more opportunities. We're very fortunate right now because when you look at who we have. Somebody wrote today that you have another backup you have confidence in. That to me is tremendous to me as far as your coaching staff is concerned. One thing that happens is when you start changing what you've done and practiced, and last year we went through that with losing [Greg Hardy] and we had to adapt. When you have guys you can plug in, you don't have to change those things. You can keep going forward, and that's what A.J. does for us, especially at that position. Especially at Mike linebacker."

Are you guys at a point where you can rate victories at different levels because you've won enough, or is a win still just a win?
"Every victory is satisfying, but the truth is that when you win you want to make sure you were doing the things you need to do. That there's not this feeling like last week where you feel you had more opportunities and some things that we should have done better. Now we had a victory that I felt very pleased with. Sure we missed a couple of things but this was the team victory that I talked about all week. Every component of the team stepping up and doing what they needed to do. There really was only one component [field goal protection] I wasn't satisfied with and as I looked at tape, what I said yesterday, I was wrong."

How are you able to get to the century mark running when you have a subpar run blocking day?
"It's the quarterback's effectiveness, and it's if we can limit how much he runs, we feel better about that and some of the things he chooses he runs and does great for us. It's been said that he's done things effectively as a runner and it helps us. We have to understand that when teams know we're going to run, when they got eight in the box, we still have to be effective. We have to find a way to be effective, whether it's sustaining your block a little longer, or if it's the wide receivers doing a better job downfield. Because as I said, if we could have sustained a block a little more and got more out of wide receiver downfield, Jonathan was going to pop it for a nice 12-13-14 yard run instead of three- or four-yarder. The safeties come down as eighth or ninth man in the box; that's tough on Jonathan and the runners. They're working hard to get those yards. Cam's effectiveness comes when he's running the ball; you add an extra guy. That's the thing when quarterbacks run these read options, they're the extra guy that counteracts that eighth man in the box. When you do that effectively, now that eighth man isn't as effective."

When you watch the film, should Norwood have caught that ball?
"It's a tough catch. A veteran guy who understands and is comfortable with what we're doing, he runs through that and makes the catch. As he gets more comfortable, he'll run through and make that catch. He should have caught it, but a lot of it is understanding what we're doing so he plays faster and understands the sense of urgency that you've got to do in terms of what we're doing. He's a young guy with a lot to learn and he's only been here a few weeks. He showed some promise. He did nice things on special teams as well. He covered very nicely. He's growing in our scheme. He's going to have to learn to get used to Cam's throw. Cam throws the ball hard and it's a nice tight spiral and it's coming at you very quickly. I think he'll adapt and get used to it."

What's [Jerricho] Cotchery's status?
"My understanding was a high-ankle sprain, I was told yesterday. He started to play and came back and played on it, then it got stiff. We sat him down. If we got into an emergency, he might have been able to come back. At that point, we just sat him down. The high-ankle sprain does have a tendency to linger but the fact that he came back and could play on it before it got stiff, the doctors hope he'll be ready to go this weekend."

Any concern with the tipped passes you're seeing?
"It goes back to being stout upfront, and they weren't getting to the quarterback and sometimes that happens, so those guys set their feet there, and now they're jumping. I think that's part of it. It may be one of those things we have to look at the quarterback, and now he has to get a feel for where this is, and now you have to step here or there and find those throwing lanes. No concern, though. The disappointing part is that on a few of those, wide receivers were wide open. A couple times. Two of them were to Greg and he a couple nice routes and was waiting for the ball."

Last year there was talk the Saints wanted to take some victory laps around the stadium with their bus, did you hear anything about that?
"You'd have to ask them about that. I'm pleased with the way our fans have handled things for us. The way they come out and support us and have gotten on us when we haven't played the way we needed to, it's good to know they're there and they're responding to it. It's been neat to look in the end zone and see the fans with their kids. It's good when we score a touchdown and somebody runs up and gives them a ball. We've gotten the response we've wanted from our folks to come and cheer for us and let us know when we need to do better. If you look back at the last time we beat [New Orleans] here; it was a playoff atmosphere, and we really need them every time we play at home. Our players respond to their energy and that's been a cool thing for us."

Has Brees looked like he's missing something as you watch tape from this year?
"More so than anything else, they still do what they do. You see the same route combinations, you still receivers running the same routes and same guys out there. Right now it's working into a rhythm. They're a young football team and they've had a lot of change over the last two seasons. It's him working with those guys. When you see the type of players that have moved on from there. They don't have Jimmy Graham and Darren Sproles."

Is it strange seeing a Saints team without Jimmy Graham?
"Yes, it really is. For everything he is as somebody you love to hate, he's a good football player. He's a difference maker. We'll eventually have to see him when we go to Seattle."

What are your thoughts on Josh Norman's performance so far this year?
"He's playing very well. We gave him the challenge against Hopkins this week. He's made some things happen. He's made a couple mistakes. He missed a couple coverages but, for the most part, he kept everything in front of him, drove up and made plays. He's very enthusiastic and exciting, and he had the chance for a great play and read on the ball, it was just a little bit high. He didn't do anything to upset my stomach, so it was good."

How often does he upset your stomach?
"On occasion. He has that tendency. He's an excitable guy. We're looking for him to play hard and have fun with it. It's a heck of a game. If our guys can play well and do the things we're looking for and do the things we're capable of then this could be good."

What did you think about Kony Ealy's performance?
"As you look at the early things, he played his run responsibly. First play of the game, he set the edge and the ball had to get cut back into Charles Johnson and Charles made the big hit. He's playing the run very well right now. Pass rush - he's getting the push he needs to. We'd like to see him work a little more hand violence and sitting down and going through each player and listening to things they have to work on. Kony, for the most part, is getting the push and rush. One thing about Kony is that Mario Alexander comes into the right side and we're putting Kony on the inside. I know he had the two penalties at the end of the game that were a little unsettling, but he played well again. He's got the dirty job and has to do the dirty work. They're not going to show up all the time. If you sit there and take what Mario Addison as three quarterback hits and flushing the quarterback out and say that's what our right defensive end did, and that includes Kony, then you feel good about the position."

What did you make of Thomas Davis' 15-yard penalty?
"Thomas was being aggressive. He saw the running back stick the ball out. He came to me and said he was going at the ball. I said 'Thomas, you gotta be careful because you slid into the guy and hit him in the helmet'. That's where the flags came in and that's what the refs explained to me. He's an aggressive player and saw the guy extend the ball, so he was going at the ball. It wasn't malicious as far as Thomas was concerned. He's got to understand that there is a difference and he's got to work himself through that."

Would you expect to see Luke in non-contact drills on Wednesday?
"Yes, but he still has to go through the protocol because he hasn't seen the independent as of yet. I'm hoping he does see the independent and does pass them and we get to see him in non-contact on Wednesday."