(on if the kid in him is outweighing the man in him this week)

“I don’t know. Half of me tries to be as professional as possible, but the human in me just wants to take it all in, you know what I’m saying? So it’s hard for me to give you like a direct answer without bringing both sides out. Of course the professional side, you still have to go through meetings, try to come up with any type of edge, because you’re still preparing for a team, but all the festivities, the media, everything leading up into it, all you see is Panthers-Broncos conversations on TV, it’s hard not to just take it all in. I mean it’s hard. Like I keep saying, it’s a dream come true and hopefully we are prepared come Sunday.”

(on his plan to navigate the long day and activity of the Super Bowl)

“I think we just got the plan today as far as it’s going to be 15 and 30 minutes, in that span, of extra long, longer periods of time on the field pregame. You have to stay in the locker room longer, because of the halftime festivities. I was teasing (Panthers Head) Coach (Ron Rivera), ‘You need to let us out early so we can go see Beyoncé,’ you know what I’m saying? Nope. Just trying to find anyway to stay on rhythm as possible, I think that’s going to be key. Like I said, a lot of people that’s here on the Panthers’ side are the minority that has never been here, and also the majority of us, it’s just all new. Of course you’ve got Michael Oher, we’ve got Ed Dickson, Ted Ginn, guys like that, but yet they’re taking it all in as well.”

(on teams not putting athletic quarterbacks at risk of injury due to the investment in them)

“You’re more susceptible to injuries inside the pocket. You can’t protect yourself. So that’s a side of a belief. At the end of the day, we’re football players. We need to be treated as such. If a person can play football, pick him not just because he can run the ball or throw, this, that and the third. For us, making plays, you can’t coach that, so if you’ve got a guy that’s used to having that label of being a playmaker, it’s easy for that person to thrive in moments and I don’t think that gets mentioned enough. Oftentimes you look for a prototypical guy, 6-5, 6-6, 6-4 or whatever. Look at a guy like Russell Wilson. He’s defied all odds as far as the tangibles that you’ve got going for yourself. I think that’s something that’s been so much of fluff as anything as far as trying to pick a perfect NFL prospect from defensive end. When I look at Von Miller, he’s not necessarily the prototypical D-end. He rushes the passer like a D-end, he’s labeled as a linebacker, but yet he is as good as anybody that’s ever done it. That’s just one of many reasons of why a playmaker should stand alone outside of the prototypical tangibles for a player.”

(on what his relationship with TE Greg Olsen means to him)

“It means a lot.”

(on his receiving group matching up against the Broncos’ defense)

“We know what we have to do to get prepared for this game. Offensively, we know what they’re doing pretty much. They have long, rangy guys that are capable of creating turnovers by either stripping the ball or intercepting it. For us, we just have to be on our Ps and Qs and run precise and throw precisely in their secondary to be effective.”

(on his sleep patterns during the week and leading up to the game)

“I think being on the West Coast kind of makes my sleep easier, rather than being on the East Coast. I always get condemned and try to get coached up on better sleeping habits, but being on the West Coast and going to sleep at 12 or 1 o’clock is kind of the norm, when regular people are supposed to go to sleep. I don’t think anything has changed. We’ve bumped up meetings earlier just to kind of stay on the same rhythm or the same schedule from the East Coast.”

(on wearing the hospital bracelet from his car accident)

“I’m sorry if I’m bland, but, man, I’ve been asked that question thousands of times. To be respectful, it means a lot. Obviously, it’s a life-changing moment in my life.”

(on how special it is to be playing in his first Super Bowl)

“It means the world for us, and when I say us, I’m speaking on everybody that’s tagged along with this organization for so many years. We’ve been in this moment before, but as an organization, we have yet to win the Super Bowl. If we won it, it would mean a lot to so many people.”

(on why he is wearing socks with sandals)

“Why are you wearing jeans with shoes? It’s just comfort. I mean, we’re still at our team hotel, so it just gives you guys something else to talk about, you know? Especially, I told you, nothing has changed since 24 hours (ago), so if I see an article talking about my sandals and socks, that would be new.”

(on the Panthers’ offensive line)

“(Guard) Trai Turner, Pro Bowl selection. (Tackle) Mike Remmers, he’s been the person that his actions have been speaking louder. (Guard) Andrew Norwell has kind of been the tempo-setter for us. Those guys are led by (center) Ryan (Kalil) and (tackle) Michael Oher, so you’ve got great leadership like that, guys that have been in this league for a long time and have been thriving at their position for so long, those guys have an unbelievable blueprint to follow.”

(on if it is best to have one loss out of the way before the Super Bowl)

“I don’t think you ever think about things like that when the season happens. I don’t think nobody is saying, ‘Oh, it was OK to lose that one.’ Of course every single game is being prepared to win. I said it once and I’ll say it again, if you go into any game or if you go into a season thinking that you can’t win them all, shame on you. That’s a loser’s approach. We didn’t have a game that we said, ‘OK, we can lose one,’ because that would have been a pessimistic attitude towards everything. For us, we’re going into each and every game, this game is nothing different – we have to win, because it’s the next game.”

(on if there was a moment he and TE Greg Olsen knew they had a perfect rapport)

“I don’t think Greg gets a lot of credit for his football awareness. He’s extremely good at that. A lot of times on the field, he does a great job with just finding ways to get open. Of course the route concepts go however they’re made, but I scramble and I step up and when he sensed that I have trouble, he finds a way to get open. I think that’s a credit to him having the lineage of football expertise in his past being coached by his father. His father is still being influential in his life. He tells us stories about his kids and how tough his father is with his kids and all. It just goes to show you football has been in him for a long time. It shows each and every time we go out there.”

(on what the ideal weather conditions would be for him and the Panthers)

“Whatever weather comes, that’s whatever weather we have to play in. We’ve been playing in tsunamis. We practice in snow. We’ve been prepped for so many different weather acclimations all year, so nothing will surprise us. We just better be ready to play.”