RE: How have you progressed from the beginning of the season until this point?

“A lot. I just watched the Carolina game from Week 1 and I look like a totally different person. The game has slowed down for me, and I’m playing faster and making more plays.”

RE: What is your relationship with Kelvin Benjamin?

“We are cool, I like KB a lot. We went on a visit together and I saw him at the Rookie Premiere and a couple other times. He is really cool and a great player.”

RE: What visit did you guys go on?

“The St. Louis Rams and we played HORSE, so tell him about how I beat him. I beat him down, and then we played with the St. Louis Rams security guard, and I beat him down too. We were just shooting. I was just shooting deep. He can shoot a little bit, but I took the cake.”

RE: Who would you predict the winner is going to be in this year’s offensive rookie race among the wide receivers?

“Right now if I had to choose I would pick Kelvin Benjamin or Odell Beckham, Jr.”

RE: Why wouldn’t you pick yourself?

“We have the worst record.”

RE: What do you think of Kelvin’s season so far? What puts him up there with Odell in your mind?

“He has just been one of the best. He’s been one of the best rookies in the whole league. I’ve watched a lot of film on him with common opponents, and he is a beast. He is really physical, and he makes the 50-50 catches and he blocks really well too.”

RE: Is there an added sense of pride that you are in one of the best receiving classes in a decade or two?

“Yea absolutely, I take pride in it, it is a special class no doubt. I’ve heard some say that it is probably the best ever so that is great to be at the top of that.”

RE: What is your approach here to the final three games of the season?

“You mean do we want to win the final three? That’s our same approach each week. It’s not three to us, it’s just Carolina, defending champs in our division, we need to get a win. We haven’t played well enough to win games. We need to figure out how to win football games so our approach won’t change.”

RE: The first game of the season, you didn’t know if you were going to get Cam Newton or Derek Anderson. This week it looks like it’s going to be Derek. How does that change your preparation if at all this week?

“It doesn’t change it an awful lot. First off, we’re praying that Cam Newton is okay. He’s one of the stars in our league, great competitor, I just hope that he’s okay. But, we’re going to prepare for the quarterback position like we always do. Of course, they’re different players and we did get an up close, personal look at Derek Anderson who’s a good football player so that’s how we’ll go in to it.”

RE: What did you see out of Derek that impressed you?

“Just how he is as a backup player. You don’t get a lot of reps as a backup player. I know he got more that week because they didn’t know whether Cam would play, but he’s been around the league a long time so he’s been in every situation. He held the offense well, threw the ball well against us and we didn’t take the ball away. He did all the things that winning quarterbacks do on any given Sunday.”

RE: You guys have a good rookie receiver, and the Panthers do as well. What do you make of this rookie class at receiver and were you guys expecting it to be as good as it’s been?

“Before they end up coming on strong in the league like they’ve all done, we like the receiving class coming out. A lot of the guys. So it’s not total shock. Of course, I know a little bit more about Mike Evans, and we loved everything about him. We thought he caught the ball as well as any receivers coming out. Of course, he’s a big target, thought he would block, a lot of potential and I like him even more now that we’ve had a chance to work with him this year. He’s got a bright future ahead of him like, as you mentioned, quite a few of the receivers that have come into this league.”

RE: You were coach of a team that did not make the playoffs with a 10-6 record. What do you make of the NFC South this year and the fact that it’s going to be a team with an 8-8 record that will host a playoff game?

“Oh, I’m of course, not because I’m in the division, we didn’t make it to the playoffs that year because we weren’t the division champs, so that’s why you have divisions. We all agreed that this four-team division, the best team is going to the playoffs, so I don’t see what all the fuss is. The team that ends up representing our division in the playoffs will hold its own.”