Excerpts from Monday's media availability with Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Mike Shula.

 

Q: How does Kelvin Benjamin go without a catch?

MS: "Yeah, we've got to find a way to get him the ball more, and that starts with me. But we've got to make sure we're doing it in a way that we're not just trying to force him the ball. Teams know he's out there, and they're going to try to take him away with two guys or roll coverage that way."

Q: How did he go the whole game without one?

MS: "It's probably a variety of things. We'll leave it at that."

Q: Did Cam Newton go through his reads a couple times there may have been an opportunity to get Kelvin the ball?

MS: "Yeah, there's times when you're trying to get him the ball and the read takes him the other way. You don't want him forcing it just because you want to get him the ball. When you answer a question like that, you're kind of saying, 'Well, if he's double covered, you can't get him the ball.' No, that's our job to continue to get our playmakers opportunities."

Q: Was he open a good amount of times?

MS: "We've just got to find a better way to get him the ball."

Q: Could he have done more to get open?

MS: "We all have to do a better job with what we're doing — across the board, starting with me."

Q: Do you worry about getting an unhappy camper on your hands?

MS: "I don't think so. Everybody's competitive; everybody wants to do their part in helping us succeed. It's totally understandable. If it were me, I'd probably be unhappy, too. But we've got great character on this team and guys that want to do whatever they can to win, and he's one of those guys."

Q: Isn't it strange that just two weeks ago we were asking you if you were throwing it to him too much?

MS: "That's kind of why I said what I said: Yes, we need to get him the ball, but the worst thing you can have your quarterback doing is — cause we've been through that, too. 'Is he trying to force him the ball?' and all of a sudden he's throwing into a bad look."

Q: How much were they shading Benjamin's side of the field?

MS: "I think there was a little bit of a mix. They rolled to him at times, and they were shaded to him at times, but they also had some 1-on-1s. But just because teams roll to a receiver, it doesn't mean you still can't get it to them, or if a safety's shading over there that way. Our guys are good at that; we just weren't good enough yesterday."

Q: Did it hit you at points during the game — like it hit us and fans — where's Kelvin today?

MS: "Yes, because we're always talking about getting it to our guys and we understand how important that is. We're going to call plays to try to get it to him, but we also feel like we've got other weapons out there, that if it's not a good look, the worst thing you want your quarterback doing is forcing the ball there."

Q: Was Cam looking downfield more instead of going to the underneath stuff that may have been there?

MS: "Maybe a couple times, but it's a hard position to play. You're trying to make plays, but the clock's going off so to speak as far as holding onto the ball too long or coming off the No. 2. And then other times where you come off the No. 2 too fast and then you're worried you shouldn't throw it down the field. And it's also sometimes calling the plays, trying to get greedy getting the ball down the field."

Q: Is what Denver and Minnesota showed as far as attack blitzing a formula to beat you guys?

MS: "Well, we've got to stay out of 3rd-and-long No. 1. We're not going to have a lot of success if we have a ton of 3rd-and-longs. Or if we're in a 2-minute drill down by two scores. We can do it, but it invites a lot of other defenses. We have answers for those; we just didn't quite get them executed."

Q: Why is the 3rd-and-long happening more this year?

MS: "We've had some penalties on early downs. That'd be one reason. Some of them are physical, and then some of them we can't have unforced errors where it doesn't have anything to do with the defense. And that's us as coaches, too, not just players. I'm not going to sit here and point anything on the players. I'm going to put it on myself."

Q: When a defense can pin its ears back, what can you do to counter that?

MS: "You have to mix quick passing with intermediate, with long and play-action and all that. The best way to do that is not be in 3rd-and-long, No. 1. And then, obviously you want to have as a quarterback you're going through your reads. But if you feel pressure you've got to know where your outlets are. Offensive line, you've got to get the quarterback a little more time. Receivers need to be where they need to be when they need to be there. So it's a combination of all of those."

Q: One of their guys said they knew they could get pressure on Cam on some of the slow-developing plays, do you feel like you had a healthy mix yesterday?

MS: "I did in the first quarter and a half. We had a good balance, but you need to continue that. The penalty factor hurt us. 1st-and-20s — those aren't very fun to call. 3rd-and-11-pluses aren't. But there were some downfield completions, too. We like to throw the ball down the field, but we also like quick game, and we also like misdirection, and we also like running the ball. It's just a balance of it all. And staying out of the long yardage situations."

Q: How much did not having Jonathan Stewart hurt your ability to stay in front of the chains?

MS: "He's a big-time player, and he can run hard, but I think (Cameron Artis-Payne) did a really good job running the football. He made some tough yards and yards after contact. Fozzy (Whittaker) did as well."

Q: Ron kept circling back today about how much the offense is affected when you're behind. How much of the playbook do you have to throw out when you're not in front?

MS: "I think any offense if you're falling behind against good defenses, it's going to be tough sledding. Saying that, we've got as good a group as I've ever been around for that type of situation. The biggest thing is you go out and you're up 10-0, everything's rolling, everything's going your way and then all of a sudden you're backed up. We get a run, we out there and we get called for holding. Now we're backed up even more. Then we get the safety. OK, let's rebound from that. You've got to fight through the highs and the lows, the good field position, the bad field position and find a way to get back to what you were doing so you don't put yourself in those positions at the end of the game."

Q: What were you most disappointed in, besides the loss?

MS: "Probably all the things we've discussed. Being up 10-0 and not having potentially more points. Probably one of the biggest drives that hurt us was getting the ball on the plus-42 and having nothing to show for it. Then they get great field position and we're backed up on the next drive. As bad as we feel, in wins and losses we really point those things out. Those little things all of a sudden effect another play that could effect field position that all of a sudden effects momentum. There were a few more plays that were the same thing — just a little bit off that if all of a sudden they happen, they can turn into big plays in a hurry."

Q: It's was tough to tell conclusively from our angle, but did Xavier Rhodes get a hand in on that 3rd-and-5 to Devin Funchess on that drive you were just talking about?

MS: "I haven't seen the TV copy, but we we're so close on that. All of a sudden you go from a 54-yard field goal. That could've potentially been 1st-and-10 on the 22. So just a little bit off right there. Those are the things that you've got to make sure you point out to our guys, and they see that, and they know all of us have to be a little bit better."