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).”
on the game
“This game was a wake-up call for us. We knew we can’t just win games by just showing up. We knew we were going to have to come in and beat a good team. Record aside, the Saints are, and have, and will, play us great every single time we play them. It’s a division game, there’s a lot of pride on the line, and a team we know will give us their best game.”
on going through concussion protocol
“Well, I got hit. I deserved to get hit to be honest with you, looking back at it. I had to use the bathroom and I told the team doctors can we do the (concussion) protocol in the back? And when I came in and used the restroom, I think his name was Dr. Heck, came in and did the concussion protocol with our team doctor, and asked me numerous questions like the days of the week, and how many turnovers we had in the game – and I told him I was fine.”
on his health
“It’s a physical sport – I mean it’s not ballet. Football is a collision sport. But I’m fine, and I do not have a concussion. The referee did a tremendous job. Numerous times he kept asking me if I was all right. He kept looking at me in the eye to make sure I was focused. I’ve been keeping up with things in the NFL and guys having concussions – especially the situation that happened in St. Louis. But hear me when I say, I do not have a concussion.”
on taking an unnecessary hit
“When I pulled up, I saw him at the last minute, and I took a shot. There was probably a lot of people that wanted to see that happen. I’m going to talk to my father tonight, and he’s probably going to tell me what I already expect: I deserved it … Playing this game, you have to finish. That’s what Coach harps on each and every day, and I didn’t do that right there, and I deserved it.”
on bouncing back after dropped passes
“That’s the name of the game – to give your teammates a chance to keep making plays. Football is the ultimate team sport; especially offensive football. You’ve got to trust your guys. I mean Ted (Ginn Jr.), he’s not dropping the ball intentionally. I’ll tell you that. I mean you’ve got guys out there who are trying to make plays and compete, and when that happens, mistakes are going to happen. But yet, through it all, we had some good points in this game and we had some bad points in this game. We were just lucky to get out of here with a win today.”
on his up and down day
“I know I didn’t come down with a couple of catches today, but the ones I did catch were big and put points on the board. I am just glad Cam kept coming back to me.”
on dropped passes
“I’ve got no excuse. I just dropped them. Period. When that happens, you just have to come back and make a play. And like I said, Cam being the man he is, he came right back to me and let me make a play.”
on winning despite so many mistakes
“I think this game showed us we can win ugly, but you can’t win ugly for very long. This was probably the worst game we played although statistically we scored over 40 points and racked up a lot of yards. Those errors were not very typical of us – the three turnovers in the first half, the drops, lots of things.”
on 4th-and-5 catch on final drive
“I knew I caught it and to be honest with you I was kind of surprised they challenged it. On the field, live, I thought it never left my hands and I thought I caught it pretty clean because it never hit the ground. Yeah, I wasn’t really worried about that one.”
“When you go 12-0, that’s really special. And us winning the division today is the first step is something great we are trying to build … We know this one wasn’t pretty … A lot of the mistakes you saw were self-inflicted errors. But the great thing is that we won, even though we gave up 38 points.”
on the 12 men on the field issue and what the officials told him
“I’m not going to get into the officiating. I said walking into this door I was not going to get into it. And it happened twice, 12 (men) on the field, clearly, and they’re getting that right on Friday nights.”
on losing CB Delvin Breaux
“It hurt a lot. He pulled a hamstring. We are playing well and, obviously, we are already short one corner, but that’s how it is. (Brian) Dixon did a good job of coming in there. There’s a lot of matchup things going into the game you are planning on that change.”
On getting so close to victory against an undefeated team like the Panthers
“It tells you a lot about the parity in this league, and just how evenly matched everyone is, especially when you start talking about divisional opponents. The records do not matter; those are hard fought battles everywhere you play.”
On frustration from not being able to convert turnovers into points
“I can think of one instance where we got the turnover, and, unfortunately, I thought we had the right call and the right look against the right defense, and Thomas Davis, their linebacker, just made a great play on that screen look. If he doesn’t make that play, C.J. Spiller is scot-free up the middle. Then, you have a drive set up for a pretty short field goal, and in a game like this, you have to hit those.”
On if the game is discouraging
“Not at all. It’s discouraging for the fact that we were more physical than them in a lot of aspects. We feel like we were the better team. With that being said, we have to accept what we are now. That’s more of a fire to get that next one.”