Partial transcript from Monday night
(on what it’s like to play in Super Bowl 50) “Man, I’m blessed, super blessed to be here today. I’m excited. I’m grateful, I want to thank everybody who came down from Carolina. All my teammates, we’re all here. It’s not by chance. We put a lot of hard work in what we do, a lot of hard work. I think the hard work is starting to show for itself and starting to pay off big.”
(on not being used to something as big as the Super Bowl ) “No, but the guys back in Charlotte prepared us pretty well. We get a big crowd, it seems, every Sunday. This is pretty cool.”
(on what comes to mind when thinking about Broncos QB Peyton Manning) “I want to clear this up first and foremost, OK? I want to get this out of the way: I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff that’s been going on and saying that I would bow to Peyton if I had an interception. I think we took that a little bit out of character of what I meant. Let me clear that up real quick, fast and in a hurry for you guys: I mean if I were to be so fortunate enough and blessed to get an interception, I would do a Namaste bow. I would not do a whole like [bowing motion]. No, I would not do that. No. No ma’am, would not ever do that to him.”
(on his respect for Manning) “Ever since 1999, 2000, I’ve been a Colts fan. He was their quarterback. He was one of the main reasons I was a Colts fan. The guy was just unbelievable at what he did. He had the weapons, (former Colts WRs) Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Stokley, (former Colts TE) Dallas Clark. Every time I picked up the controller with friends, I ended up putting up 50 points. It was like ‘P freaking M,’ he was going ham. Every time we scored, I would let them know about it.”
(on if the Panthers brought the ‘Thieves Ave.’ sign to California) “Darn right, we brought it. It’s sitting right there up outside our lockers. We have a group on the side where it’s just our alley, our avenue. It’s not something I would say where ‘Thieves Aves’ sticks with us. No, ‘Thieves Aves’ doesn’t stick with us. We are thieves on Thieves Ave. We have a whole street with nothing but DBs (defensive backs) on it.”
(on growing up a Colts fan and playing against Manning in potentially his last game) “Oh man, it’s blessings upon blessings. I said that earlier. I couldn’t have asked for a better game. I couldn’t have asked for a better opponent. I couldn’t have asked for a better player in the biggest game of my life. Playing against a guy like that is – I’m speechless.”
(on if he were to get an interception in Sunday’s game) “Getting an interception? Man, that would be huge. That would be everything I’ve worked for. Just to get an interception off a guy like that who will go down as an all-time great is just unbelievable. I can’t even describe it. I’ll just do my best and try to contain myself and not get a personal foul because I’ll probably get so excited, I might do something stupid.”
(on if it affects the Panthers to come into the Super Bowl as favorites) “Not at all. It doesn’t bother us. For what? We’ve pretty much been doing what we’ve been doing since Day 1. People have their own opinions and their own perspectives about how we do things. We just keep it rolling, do what we do. It is what it is.”
(on the Panthers finally getting respect) “I don’t know, and I really don’t care to be honest with you. We’re like 17-1. If you don’t respect us by now, you never will. We got to this place and time right now where we are by hard work and dedication to the craft. Coming in so blue collar is how we play ball.”
(on the meaning behind wearing No. 24) “Well, 2-4 was nothing by choice that I wanted. It was given to me. The number was given to me. I didn’t call for it or nothing. It was given to me when I was in college. When I got to the NFL, I didn’t ask for a number, 2-4 was given to me then. It just stuck with me.”
(on which Broncos wide receiver is the best) “I really don’t know, man. They have a lot of receivers. They have Emmanuel Sanders, they got Demaryius Thomas and he’s a beast. They have a couple of guys. They have a couple of guys, Roberts, they let them get loose. But those guys are coming to my mind when I hear Broncos receivers.”
(on training camp fight between Cam Newton setting the tone for the season) “I don’t know. Both guys don’t want to lose. Both guys want to go out on top. Both guys are aggressive in their approach and they want to be great. And when you have that, those two guys go at each other like that, one throws a touchdown, the other one comes back and intercepts the ball, it’s hard at practice. They both have a super high level of competition to the point where they get a little heated. Sparks start to fly and once those sparks start to fly and release our greatness that came from and we got closer. I know I’m a lot closer to my quarterback then I ever was on this team. I think that was probably the case and I think it was bound to happen and it happened in such a great way.”
(on if he considers himself a trash talker) “No I don’t consider myself a trash talker. I consider myself a motivator.”
(on how trash talking opponents is motivation) “Because they can get it however they want it. Any kind of game they want, we can go there.”
(on if there’s anything over the line) “No, man. Everything is legal within the confines of the rules. I’m only there to try to construct it.”
(on if everything is in the rules when it comes to trash talk) “Absolutely. It’s a mental warfare out there, brother. We’re not out there picking daises. We’re out there giving it to them. However they want it, they can get it.”
(on who he thinks is the best trash talker) “I don’t know, man. There’s a lot of people out there who talk trash. I don’t know. I just kind of go about it and do my own thing. I don’t try to kill the white noise.”
(on who he is outside of football) “I’m just a cool, normal, chill, laid-back guy. Just cool, calm, collective. I can ride horses, man, believe it or not. I like outdoors type of things. Anything that’s a thrill. I’m like a need for speed, I’m an adrenaline junkie.”
(on how the Super Bowl has exceeded his expectations) “You know what, expectations of this game and the magnitude of it is just ridiculous. I’m going to set something straight with you real quick. We are playing a game, so we are inside of it looking out. You guys are outside looking in. So it’s a bit different from your perspective than it is from mine. For me, it’s just like another game. You guys our here are creating the fun of it.”
(on his confidence) “I saw it in myself and that’s the crazy party about it, I saw it in myself. God really had to show me ways. I had to open myself and humble myself to understand what I was going through because it was hard. It was really hard going through all the things I went through. But I had to preserver and push through all the doubters and nay-sayers and people to overcome what I look like now in my life. I just have fun with it because there’s nothing like being self-made. There’s nothing like self-made because then nobody can take nothing from you.”
(on if it’s harder for him to walk on at Coastal or fifth-round draft choice and sit out) “I think the second one, if I’m not mistaking, because I sat out for a whole two years. I don’t know, I just shut down. I had to find my way through all the mess that was out there and just try to build myself up, my self-confidence. Knowing who I am within myself and knowing I’m a big time play maker. I’m a big guy. I make big plays in bigtime situations. Understanding it’s not by chance that I’m here on the stage. It’s through God that allowed me to be who I am, and nobody else is going to take that away from me because of how hard I work and I put in myself into driving each and every day to be the best that I can be. When you see that, those things happen.”