On being 4-0
“It’s nice to be in the situation we are in. We still think we have room to improve and be a better football team. There are some things we are going to look at in the bye week. At least the coaches are saying, 'Let’s get better in these areas, and improve this football team.' We have a long road ahead of us. We still have 12 games left to play, and it’s going to be a tough race all the way through.”
On if CB Josh Norman jumped the route on his interception
“I thought Josh made a good read. He played the defense accordingly. He had great vision on the play. I told you guys if he gets vision, he has a chance to make a play.”
On the role Norman has played in Carolina’s success
“I think he has been a tremendous part of it. Some cases, one of the factors. If you go back and look at the game we played last week and again the opportunity he had to get the interception today. I think Josh is doing a tremendous job.”
On DE Ryan Delaire
“He and Mario [Addison are the same type of player. So we are pretty excited about what he is and what he brought to the table today. I thought he had a solid football game, did some good things and helped out right away. I think we are going to get to know a little bit about who he is. He may not always have this kind of success but it would be great to have that.”
On the Panthers' evaluation process of Delaire
“Well I know coming out of the draft, he was someone that we liked. We had him as draft pick. At the end of the draft we tried to get him as a PFA, and he actually signed down here with Tampa Bay. Then when they released him, the Redskins snatched him up right away. But we always kept an eye on him. I think our scouting department did a real nice job keeping an eye on a young man that we felt strongly about. Of course Washington really liked him, and when we saw the opportunity, we made the move on it.”
On how big TE Ed Dickson’s touchdown was
“It was huge. Any time you get a play like that, whether it’s intentional or not. It really did swing a lot of momentum. I think at that point, they felt they had opportunities, and they were battling like they had opportunities and sometimes that takes the wind out of your sails.”
On if the Dickson play worked how he drew it up
“Absolutely, it’s going to be in the playbook from now on [laughter].”
On if the Panthers suffered any new injuries
“So far I think we are doing OK. I don’t know yet. We will have to take a look at guys and see. I think we came out of it pretty good.”
On the benefits of being 4-0
“The benefit is you have good momentum and you want to maintain that momentum. Get them excited about being in this situation. I think what it does for these guys, obviously knowing that we have won games, it’s been good, but we can be better. I think that will help us.”
On his fumble
“I don't want to say [Ryan] Kalil bingoed it, but you know right before the play he said, ‘Focus on ball security.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, never say that to me ever.’ But it came up and got the snap clean, and when I reached out to hand it off, Kalil’s hand had hit it when he was running.”
On Dickson’s touchdown
“My vantage point was pretty far, I just saw the ball pop up like a greased pig. Nobody really panicked, because Ed picked it up mid-stride. We’ve just got to work on him taking that car out of neutral when he’s running, but he scored, and touchdown for us.”
On being a more relevant team than in the past
“We view this season in increments of quarters, and every four games that's a quarter for us. So the first quarter we passed with flying colors, 4-0. We just got to get juiced up and ready for the next four, so to speak, but taking it one game at a time. We’re one of the few teams that have an early bye week. We have to make the most of this opportunity and get our guys ready to go, ready for the next opponent we have.”
On blocking during Dickson’s fumble recovery
“The play was going, I’m trying to stay on my man. My guy’s face really gave it away and I turned around and saw Ed with the ball in his hand. So you try and get back on your guy, but my had already guy beelined to Ed so I tried to get in his way the best way I know how and it came on a good crack back. Ed was able to spring and make a touchdown for us at a crucial time in a big-time situation for us.”
On not being just a deep threat and catching touchdowns off short intermediate routes
“A lot of people just see the speed. I’m an all-around receiver, and as long as I keep going out there and just putting that out there, I think our days coming up will be better.”
On thoughts on offense after 4 games
“We're playing good ball. It’s not pretty but we are getting wins. That’s all we can ask for. No game will be straight dominance. You’re going to have some ups and downs, you’re going to have some bumps in the road. When you get big turnovers like our D gave to us today, you got to capitalize on the points like we did today.”
On how the play developed on his touchdown run
“Obviously, it was a run play, a couple of us got great blocks and [Jonathan Stewart] had the ball high and tight. Knowing this team, they try to strip the ball from him and I was in the right spot and I just took it and kept running, I didn’t know if it was legal or not. I just took it to the end zone and if [the officials] were going to call it back, they were going to call it back, I was getting into the end zone. Teddy Ginn through a really good block on that, too.”
On how the play goes down in the stat book
“I heard it’s a run play, so it might be the only one. I might mess with it in the books and tell my kids a funny story. One [teammate] was saying tell [my kids] I caught a shovel [pass] and took it to the house. I’ll tell them the truth: right place, right time.”
On Stewart’s comments after the play
“Stewart said it’s that Oregon connection or something like that. It’s nothing – me and Stew go way back. And I know Stew, if he [could] get that [ball] back, he would have held on to it and everything like that. But with wet conditions and everything like that, we trust him with the ball and I was just in the right spot at the right time.”
On when the Panthers put that play in the playbook
"I think it was in from day one [laughs]."
On if he could have imagined having two sacks in his first NFL game
"To be honest, one of my relatives said try to go out there and give me two [sacks] and I was like I'm gonna give my best effort. I don't know what's gonna happen.
On who that relative was
"It was an older cousin named Andre. He called me two days ago and said, 'Give me at least two [sacks].' I said, 'I'll just do my best.'"
On having a strong game against the Bucs, who released him last month
"It felt great doing it against them."
On why the Bucs released him
"They felt that I could be a player that needed to develop more on the practice squad and then eventually my agent felt like it'd be better to go to Washington."
On Delaire's debut
"That is the coolest thing ever. What an awesome debut. I love to see young guys have success. You could see it ear to ear. Unfortunately, about 15 years ago, he would have had three but they changed the intentional grounding rule."
On not knowing Delaire before he joined the team this week
"No, the only way I heard about him was that I have an old coach in Washington and he texted me when he came here and said he was a good kid and to take care of him. That's the only time I heard about him."
On Allen's debut back in 2004
"It was absolutely miserable. It wasn't that, let's put it that way. I was starting kickoff in Denver for Sunday night football, I ran down, took out the wedge, somebody was offsides so we had to do it again. I had never been so exhausted in my life, then I got cut out of my gap and gave up like a 68-yard touchdown so my debut was nothing like his."
On being 4-0 going into the bye week
“It feels real good to be 4-0, it’s something I haven’t been in my whole career, so it’s definitely exciting. We can’t just be happy with that, we have to understand that we have a tough opponent coming up in two weeks in Settle and we have to be ready for that game.”
On Carolina's "easy" early-season schedule
"This is the NFL, there's no such thing as an easy schedule. Any team is capable of beating you on any day so you have to go out and play the game. That's what we've been able to do for four-straight weeks. After the bye week, we have to continue to do that."
On his pick-6
“It was a little different, same side of the field, not the same coverage though, the side of the field. We just saw that ball and were in position where we could play a little bit off so we were able to read it with our eyes. Coach gave us the weapons and coach tells us each day, “eyes read hips and hands,” and in each and every single play that is going to affect us no matter what. I was able to get my eyes in the right spot and hands to catch it and feet to run into the end zone and got on Delta again.”
On people saying they haven’t beaten anyone yet
“We’re 4-0. How many other teams are 4-0? So we are going to continue to keep pounding regardless of what they say because at the end of the day they aren’t where we’re at. We are going to continue to do this and if we haven’t played anybody, we’ll see the next teams we play.”
On QB Jameis Winston
“I think he’s making some rookie mistakes. We would like for him to be a vet. We’ve seen signs that he can be a great player, but with that though we are not there yet. There will be growing pains. He’s a rookie that just played his fourth NFL game. That’s a part of it. When things like that happen others, of us, need to be able to help him out a lot more.”
On if he saw mistakes in practice from Winston that he knew would happen in the game
“No, how can you in practice? You have to get to the game. Guys just keep in mind, with Jameis, he’s a young quarterback. This happens with young quarterbacks. They don’t play the way you want them to, the way they should, the way they are capable of playing, but in time he will. We have to work through this.”
On how challenging it is for him to not be used to losing
“It’s not a time to fall; it’s a time to get better, a time to rise.”
On if this is the most difficult test of his confidence
“No, I will never lose it. Confidence will never be an issue. I’ve just got to work harder. That was a wake-up call to my work ethic. I have to work harder.”
On Norman’s two interceptions
“When you throw it straight to him, no matter how good they [are], they are going to catch it. So it’s not like I got baited or something, I just threw it straight to him. Bad decision.”
On how hard it is to get out of a hole and have to come from behind
“We didn’t start as fast as we wanted, but in the NFL momentum can shift in one play, and we got back on track. But I really think that the freak play [Dickson’s fumble recovery for a touchdown] just – he didn’t have to break stride. The thing is really like a momentum shift right there.”
On Dickson’s fumble recovery for a touchdown
“We all ran to the ball, but it bounced like, literally forward and he [Dickson] just caught it in stride. It was just weird but, I mean, it is what it is. We could have done a lot more, but, I mean, we come out second half, take the ball away immediately and then, the very next play we’re on defense, another fumble but then that happens. It’s just like, ‘Ah.’ So stuff like this just didn’t go our way.”