Defensive Coordinator Leslie Frazier
Good morning. It’s good to be able to be back at home again and play back-to-back games at home. (I’m) looking forward to our crowd bringing some noise and (us) playing well. (I’m) looking forward to this football game.
Q: Is Carolina looking more like the Panthers teams that you are used to seeing with those two big backs coming at you?
A: Yeah, they do a great job of running the football. It’s exactly what you expect from a John Fox-coached team. They are going to pound the ball and now they have the addition of Steve Smith so it is going to be harder to just line up in eight, nine man fronts, which is what they have been getting in these first two games. You have to pay attention to Steve for sure, but those backs are both really good backs, both (DeAngelo) Williams and (Jonathan) Steward (are) outstanding running backs. Their offensive line is doing a great job and the quarterback really knows how to manage a game. Those fourth quarter heroics have been pretty impressive from him.
Q: Cedric Griffin was a little down on himself after the Indianapolis game. Have you had a chance to talk to him about what happened there?
A: There were some things fundamentally that he can work on, that he can improve on, and that’s what he is going to be doing throughout this week. But he did do a lot of good things throughout that game as well. It just seemed that he struggled a little bit, and part of it was that Antoine (Winfield) just did such a great job on Marvin Harrison throughout the day so they had to go somewhere else. So things he had mistakes on he can clean up and he will. He will.
Q: He is not going to lose his job over one bad game is he?
A: No. No.
Q: What challenges do you face now with Muhsin Muhammad and Steve Smith?
A: Both Muhammad and Smith are excellent receivers; Muhammad being the veteran guy that our guys know from his time in Chicago. Then Steve Smith has been such an explosive guy. They both present different types of challenges. We’ll have to be at the top of our game. You don’t want them to be a balanced team where they can both run the football as well as they have been running it, then have the addition of a good passing scheme that could create a lot of problems for our defense. So we really have to be on it on Sunday and play our best game of the season
Q: What can be done about the explosive plays that have hurt you? Are you still working on that?
A: No question. We are working on them. We didn’t want that long pass to happen the other day but you just have to keep working at it. Keep harping on the little things and get it corrected whatever it may be. Whether we are in three-deep coverage or two-deep coverage, whatever it is you keep practicing, you keep working at it and you try to eliminate that problem.
Q: Does that cause some frustration because it was an offseason focus and it is still creeping up?
A: It’s frustrating in the sense that the times that it has happened we have been in pretty good position, with the exception of maybe that (Anthony) Gonzales one. It happened once in the Green Bay game on a pass and once on a run and in both situations we were in position to maybe make a play and we didn’t make a play. So that’s the part that’s a little bit disappointing. So that’s the positive. The negative is that it happened twice in the first game of the season and it happened twice in the second game of the season.
Q: Do you expect a player coming back from suspension to have maybe a little bit more energy that usual?
A: You would expect (that). You are in your first licks. That’s the case with any of our guys when they miss some time. They come back, they haven’t gone through some of the bumps and bruises that the other guys have who are playing have. So you would expect him to be really fired up and looking forward to getting the ball in his hands. I would assume that offensively they are glad to have him back and they are going to try to get the ball in his hands. So yeah, you would expect that.
Q: How is their offense different without him?
A: Probably they just get more people involved in their offense. Their tight ends, their other receivers were more involved than they had been probably in the past. Their running game is better than it was a year ago. They had a good running game a year ago, but (Jonathan) Stewart has added another dimension to their run game. So it’s a little bit more balanced than it probably was before.
Q: What did you see from Tyrell Johnson in week two?
A: He is really making improvements, becoming more comfortable with what we are asking him to do. (He is) moving around a little more fluid than in the first game of the season. Hopefully the same thing will happen in the third game - he’ll be a little bit more fluid, he’ll be more involved and make a few more plays for us. But he is improving. Every chance he gets out there you can see that he is improving. (He is) still a rookie. There are still a few things that you have to live with but he is improving.
Q: How close is Madieu to getting back on the field and when does he really need to start practicing if you are going to get him back for that Tennessee game?
A: Our doctors and trainers are really more on top of that than I am. I have been told that maybe the fourth game of the season, way back in training camp, and I am still believing that that may be the case if he doesn’t have a setback. So I’ll wait on our trainers to give me a heads up on what needs to happen and whether or not he is on track and if we can look forward to having him back for that fourth game.
Q: Would you give thought to just matching Antoine Winfield up against Steve Smith for the whole game and then have Cedric Griffin take the other guy instead of just letting the chips fall where they may at that position?
A: Well that’s something to consider. He is an outstanding receiver. There are going to have to be some times where we have to pay attention to him. That is something that we’ll have to consider on defense.
Q: So that has been talked about?
A: We definitely have talked about it. I think most teams do. When you play Steve Smith you have to talk about him much like teams do when they get ready to play Adrian Peterson. Same way.
Q: Did you go back and watch film of Smith when he played the Vikings before you were here?
A: Yes and even (on) Smith in 2007 when Delhomme wasn’t playing. Just going back and trying to research as much as I could some of things he has been able to do with the absence of him during these first two regular season games and his limited play in the preseason. So I had to go back and find some footage that could help us.
Q: Have you looked at the way Fred Smoot played against Smith?
A: In 2006 he didn’t play in that game. So Fred didn’t actually get a chance to lineup against him. So it is a little bit different. This will be good exposure for our secondary just to line up against him, just get a chance to matchup with him.
Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell
We have another home game here. We’re happy to be playing this game in front of our home crowd and to be able to use that to our advantage. We’re playing a Carolina team that, obviously, is coming in here with a lot of confidence. They’re playing great on the defensive side of the ball. They fly around to the ball. They’re a very physical team. It’s going to be a big challenge for us this week.
Q: Does this quarterback change open up what you can do or does it limit what you can do because of Gus Frerotte’s lack of mobility?
A: Any time you make a change at a position, the fundamental of what we do on offense is not going to change. That’s going to be the same because we do what we do. Each player has different talents, different skill levels and they do different things. They have strengths and weaknesses, and obviously we’re going to try and play to the strengths that Gus has and use those to our advantage.
Q: How have you seen Gus adjust since he’s been here?
A: Gus is a pro. He’s been in this thing for a long time. To stay in it as long as he has, he knows how to approach the game. It’s been important to him to learn the offense as fast as he could, to get acclimated with the guys, to learn how receivers come in and out of cuts and do those types of things. Like I said, he’s a pro. He took it upon himself and he’s worked hard to get where he’s at now and I think he’s at a good spot.
Q: Where does he stand with the west-coast offense considering he has been out of it for a while?
A: I think the biggest thing any time you come into this system is the verbiage. He knows the plays, he knows reads and he knows where to go with the ball. But early in the week, any time you put in some newer information and newer plays it’s just being able to spit that play back out. For example, we put in a set of plays yesterday and today he’s good with them. The ones we put in this morning, for this walk-through we just had, you stammer around with some of the words then he’ll come back in tomorrow and he’ll have it down. It’s just being able to pick up the verbiage.
Q: Did Coach Childress ask you about changing quarterbacks or did he just flat out tell you there would be a change?
A: No, he spoke with the offensive staff. He just talked to us and asked if anybody had any feedback for him and then he was able to make that decision.
Q: Are you surprised by the change? Or was it something you had all been thinking about for a while?
A: I didn’t know which way it was going to go. We still have confidence in Tarvaris (Jackson). There are things that he’s done well. It’s just, as Coach (Childress) pointed out, his aggressiveness and some of the opportunities that he had. Those routine plays, he has to be able to make those. I guess that was one of the big reasons for that change.
Q: The game plan was to run the ball against Indianapolis. Does that have anything to do with a lack of confidence in Tarvaris?
A: No, not at all. That truly was the game plan. I said it when I came up here on Thursday that they had two flame-throwing defensive ends, and we wanted to make sure that we took care of them. We needed to do a great job because they were a little bit of a smaller front. We thought that we had the ability to run the football on them. They have a great offense on the other side and we wanted to make sure that we possessed the ball. One thing that we did is we did all of those things, with the exception of one play where we let (Dwight) Freeney get free on us and have the sack and fumble. I think we won the time of possession. We rushed the ball well. Any time you’re a team that runs the ball as well as we do, sometimes you can rely on that too much. We need to make sure that we improve that passing game. We’ve been saying that all along and we have to continue to bring that along.
Q: So you think it’s important to have a balanced offense?
A: Absolutely.
Q: Do you feel like the team is energized by the switch?
A: I don’t know if I want to paint it one way or the other. I know that guys have confidence in Tarvaris. I do know that a lot of the players took a look inward because I don’t think that anybody wants to throw it right on Tarvaris. There were a lot of guys that could have made plays for him, that could have helped Tarvaris. I know some guys feel that way, whether it’s a receiver making a catch or a lineman making a block, things like that. I know that guys feel like, “Hey, you don’t just want to lay it all on him.” At the same time, when a new guy does come in there everyone does rally around him. There is that effect going on right now also.
Q: How much of this falls on the receiving corps?
A: I really think that it falls on all of us. I don’t want to point out one position. The receivers are out there fighting and they know their jobs. They’re trying to do their jobs correctly. The offensive linemen took a look in and said, “Hey, I let him get hit on that play as he’s releasing that ball.” That happened. The running backs and the tight ends said, “I could have made that catch for him. I could have made that play.” It also falls on the coaches with trying to put the guys in the correct spots. I think we feel it collectively. We’re trying to help each other out to get this thing going where we want it to go.
Q: How much has Adrian Peterson improved as a pass receiver? Will his role increase in the pass game this season?
A: I think that he’s been a little bit more of a part of it. I don’t know where he is catch-wise. He has five? How many did he have last year? He’s on a good march there to at least surpass what he was doing last year. I know we’re trying to get him the ball, but Adrian Peterson is one man. We have to be able to help him out. Chester has to take part of the load, and the receivers and tight ends too. We can’t just rely on one guy.
Q: How big of a concern is his hamstring injury?
A: It’s not something that’s a worry right now. He’s going through practice. He’s out there and he knows how to prepare himself for the week. It’s always said that there are a lot of guys with bumps and bruises going on being able to prepare themselves so that they’re 100 percent on game day.
Q: Did he hurt it late in the game?
A: No, I think it was later.
Q: Bernard Berrian had no catches last week and only has three this season. Would you like to see him more involved in the offense?
A: Numbers like that speaks to the passing game. Do we want to get Bernard Berrian involved? Absolutely. We need to get Sidney (Rice), Bobby Wade, Aundrae (Allison) and Garrett Mills involved. There are a lot of guys we need to get involved. Again, none of that falls on one guy. The offensive line has to protect. To get the ball down the field you have to protect well. It’s been mentioned, the guys have to be able to shake open from whatever coverage they’re looking at. We have to put them in a position to be able to make those plays also.
Q: Considering Visanthe Shiancoe’s struggles this season, would you ever consider replacing him?
A: Right now it seems to me that he has troubles when he’s catching the ball and going to the ground, those kinds of catches; the bang-bang ones where he’s hitting the ground. He seems to catch the ones when he’s open in zones and running across. He seems to be catching those well. Are there plans to take him out? No, there are not. He does some important things for us. Sometimes they’re not always seen. He has done some good things for us.
Q: When you make a quarterback switch does it take time for him and the receivers to build chemistry?
A: I think it can. I think where we’re at right now it’s still early enough where Gus had been with a lot of those guys. We go down and we do a lot of other things in practice. We do routes on air. We do group install periods where it’s nothing but running routes. He’s been able to take part in those. I think the timing should be fine.
Q: Your wide receivers are banged up. Does that concern you?
A: I think everybody kind of goes through the same thing in football. It just is what it is. The receiving corps happens to be the one that’s getting hit with the injuries right now. Is it a concern? Yeah, it’s a concern. We’ll have to wait this whole week out to see how healthy those guys can get and where they’re going to be, if they’re 100 percent speed or 90 percent. We’ll go to battle with what we have. That will be what it is.
Q: Are there things you can’t do with Bernard Berrian because of the injury to his toe?
A: We don’t go in thinking that toe is hampering what he’s been doing. I know there are times when it stings him. He’s not going to be out there pain-free, so I know there are times that it does sting him. We just have to be conscious of that and help him minimize it.
Special Teams Coordinator Paul Ferraro
Q: Any dramatic announcements on special teams?
A: No, (we’ll) try to get better. We have had some opportunities the first two games. We just have to get better.
Q: Did you see improvement on the punt coverage?
A: I did, but we had that one coverage, I mean they had the penalty, but I didn’t like the way that happened. So we just need to get better.
Q: Do you feel like Maurice Hicks will give you guys a boost?
A: Sure. I mean we’ll see. Again, we are keeping all of the options open like we talk about each week. He is moving around a lot better than he was a week ago, so we’ll see what happens.
Q: How pleased were you with Chester Taylor returning kicks?
A: I like what Chester is doing, but I know what Maurice can do too. It gives us a one-two punch there like we have on offense with the running backs.
Q: Any special memories from your time in Carolina?
A: Well I had a great year there. I was there in 2005 (and we) went to the NFC Championship Game. John Fox gave me my first shot to be in the NFL. So I have a lot of great memories from Carolina; I do.
Q: Do you keep in touch with anyone from Carolina?
A: A little bit I do, sure. There are three or four coaches there that I keep in touch with, sure.
Q: On Ryan Longwell’s missed field goal was everything good as far as the snap and the hold?
A: Yeah. I mean what are you going to say? Ryan makes 9-of-10 of those in practice. He feels much worse than I do about it; that’s why I don’t worry about that. He has been very consistent for us and…he’ll make more of those than he’ll miss. I know that and he knows that and we just have to move on.
Q: In dome conditions what do you think his range is?
A: He made a 55-yarder in Chicago last year so inside, 55, 56, 57 (yards), but you are not going to make every one of those though. The fans get a little bit in-tune to what he has done and you get spoiled. You see him run out there and you just automatically think he is going to make it. Anything over 45 yards is tough though. I don’t care where you are.
Q: He seemed to have a lot more kickoffs go deep into the end zone?
A: (He was) much better, much better, and we showed that on our kickoff coverage.
Q: Was his hang-time better too?
A: Yeah, his hang-time was better. It was. The first one he yanked it a little bit, but after that it was much improved.
Q: How much of that is a direct result of not using him in the preseason?
A: I don’t know. I would like to think that had something to do with it. It did a year ago and I would like to think that the fact that we saved his leg (helped). It’s a lot more for a guy to kick those long kickoffs, especially at his age. So I would like to think that had a result on that but we will have to see.
Q: Do you think the fact that the field goal he missed was his sixth of the game?
A: I don’t think that had anything to do with it; I don’t. He is a strong guy. He is well-conditioned. Again you would have to ask him, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it.