The Panthers are ‘a tough-a**’ team. Best things players, coaches said about the win
After two straight wins following an 0-2 start, who does Carolina Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater think his team is?
Well, Bridgewater told a national television audience on FOX exactly what he thought after Saturday’s 31-21 win over Arizona at home.
“Excuse my language,” Bridgewater said during the Fox postgame show, “but the Carolina Panthers, they’re a tough-ass football team. That’s who we are. We grind every day, man. No one feels sorry for us. We don’t feel sorry for ourselves. We just have that what’s next mentality. If something goes bad, what’s next? It’s good to see guys when you watch the flow of the game and things happens and guys are on the sidelines asking each other, ‘What’s next?’ It’s a team that fights together and we’ll continue to get stronger and stronger as a family.”
Bridgewater completed 26-of-37 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He also had an 18-yard scramble for a score as Carolina (2-2) won for the second straight week.
“We really locked in,” Bridgewater said, “and we didn’t feel too good about last week’s performance. We came away with the win, but we didn’t execute well in all areas and we didn’t win all situations. So we knew that coming into this game, the emphasis was finishing drives, scoring touchdowns and not settling for field goals.”
What Panthers coach Matt Rhule said ...
Rhule was pleased with his team’s performance and made specific mention of receiver Curtis Samuel, who caught three passes for 51 yards and ran the ball twice.
“Offensively, I thought out offensive line was fantastic,” Rhule said. “Kept Teddy clean and found a way to run the football. But really the player for me on offense was Curtis Samuel — huge, huge, huge drive extending plays that we really needed.”
▪ Rhule also mentioned having fans in the stands for the first time this season.
“It was really fun to be out there with fans,” Rhule said. “I will tell you that. That was a lot different and a lot more fun. I want to thank the fans, because you could definitely hear them. We look forward to the day when everyone’s back but it was fun to have those people out there today.”
The Panthers were allowed to have up to 5,240 fans in the stadium Sunday, which would be the 7% capacity limit that North Carolina allows for venues that seat more than 10,000. The team announced that 5,120 showed up.
Fans could order concessions online, hand sanitizer was readily available and the team used “coronavirus-killing” robots.
“You could hear them, and you could feel the energy,” Rhule said. “To me there were 5,000 loud and strong. I thought it was reallly great. Someday when there’s 10,000 or 15 or eventually 50 or 60 or whatever we hold, I think it’ll be even greater. But they were into it and they gave us energy.”
What Panthers receiver Robby Anderson said ...
Anderson caught eight passes for 99 yards. After the game, he talked about why the Panthers were able to go 7-for-11 on third down against a Cardinals team that was leading the league on third down defense.
“I think our (offensive) line,” Anderson said. “Pretty much that’s it. Teddy was able to sit back, be comfortable and they did a great job.”
What Panthers lineman Matt Paradis said ...
Paradis, playing for his fifth different head coach in his seventh season, helped the Panthers rush for 169 yards Sunday, even though star Christian McCaffrey is out with an ankle injury.
“Losing Christian is a big blow,” Paradis said. “Everyone knows and can see the talent. As a team, we can’t wait for him to get back, but when a guy gets hurt someone’s got to step up. We’ve got to step up as a whole unit. That’s something that everyone takes seriously and we can’t wait to get him back.”
Told that Bridgewater’s 18-yard scramble for a score was his first touchdown run since his knee surgery, Paradis said: “I think it was unexpected but it was awesome. He put on some good moves out there. He has such a good balance of keeping us focused in but seeing the big picture of offense and playing football and having fun. I think he’s a great leader and he’s a lot of fun to play with.”
What Panthers linebacker Brian Burns said ...
Burns was part of a Panthers defense that limited Cardinals QB Kyler Murray to 133 yards passing.
“We put emphasis on it in the week, keeping eyes on him because we know he can make plays with his feet,” Burns said. “That was the game plan coming in, to contain him. He had a nice run but he didn’t have a lot of them, so we kind of did our job. We didn’t want him to get out and make a lot of plays with his feet.”
As for the Cardinals ...
The Cardinals, who came into the game favored to win, were disappointed in their second straight loss.
“We started off a little sluggish,” Murray said. “We just couldn’t really catch up. It was off from the jump.”
Murray threw for 133 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 78 yards.
After watching his team allow 30 first downs and be out-gained 444-262, Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury added: “It wasn’t good. “We didn’t play well, we didn’t coach well. We didn’t match their intensity from the start. … It was a bad performance.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 7:21 PM.