Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera
Opening statement
“It is a little disappointing, obviously. We did some really good things. We missed some opportunities. That’s why there is some disappointment. We did not take care of the football. We did not take care of our opportunities.”
on winning the game despite several mistakes
“It does talk a little bit about having that kind of ability, not being at your best, and still winning a football game. The thing that we’ve got to be smart about, too, again, is that we are going to come up against another team that it may not go that way (in the end). We’ve got to learn from this. We have to grow. We’ve got to understand that we have to take care of business.”
on winning three straight division titles
“I’m very fortunate. We’ve got a good group of young men in our locker room. We have a good group of coaches. (We have) great support from our football support staff and ownership. They’ve been very patient with us. I really do appreciate that. We still have a lot of work left to go. We have four more games in the regular season to play. Next week is a big one against Atlanta at home against one of our divisional rivals. This couldn’t have been set up any better than the way that they did it.”
on dropping two potential touchdowns
“We missed some today. We threw a couple long. We threw a couple over the top of heads. We did drop some. It is going to happen. The thing that you have to do is be able to come back and make plays. That is what happened. Teddy (Ginn) came back and made a big play for us that put us right back in the game. When we do those things, we’ve got to capitalize when we have a chance.”
on defensive miscues
“I am a little bit more disappointed by what happened on the defensive side. We gave up some balls over the top that we typically don’t. It was very uncharacteristic of us. I don’t want to say that we were lackadaisical. I kind of felt like we really weren’t focused in on what we needed to (do). Those are some things that we will look at.”
on Cam Newton’s fourth-quarter comeback
“That is one of the things that we get out of this that we will certainly build on, that he was able to win a shootout and take a drive in the fourth quarter to give us a chance to win. It goes back to his whole development as a quarterback in this league. I am really proud of what he did and the confidence in which he played with (today).”