Highlights

HERM EDWARDS: “Pat Surtain practiced today.”

Q: Fully?

EDWARDS: “Yeah.”

Q: If Surtain is healthy is it still his job?

EDWARDS: “We haven’t even thought about that yet. All three (corners) will play, but I don’t think Pat can play a whole game ‘cause he’s missed so much time. It’s not fair to him to try to play a whole game.”

Q: It’s not a case that you’re happy Pat’s back and you don’t have to play the rookie starter?

EDWARDS: “They’re doing okay. Two rookie corners as starters. They’re doing alright. They’re going to make some mistakes. They’ve got a long season to go but the longer they go out there the more confidence they gain. That’s good for us.”

Q: Has Brandon Carr played better than you thought he would: a 5th round pick, rookie, who has made some pretty big plays on Sunday?

EDWARDS: “I think he can play better, to be quite honest. He’s got a lot of talent but he doesn’t have experience and the only you get it is to play. He’s playing a tough spot because when you make a mistake everybody knows it. It shows up and it can show up on the scoreboard if it’s the wrong mistake.

“Generally, you have to be tough-minded guy. That’s what we liked about him when we interviewed him: he was a tough-minded guy, that it wouldn’t be too big for him if he had to play. That’s the conversation I had with the kid. I said, ‘look, don’t come here just to make the team. If you come here you’ve got to be ready to play. That’s what we expect out of you.’ He took it for what is was.”

Q: Can you talk about how tough the transition is for a guy coming out of a Division II school?

EDWARDS: “Grand Valley (Michigan). It’s a great tribute to the university. It is one that is kind of unique, but for him he’s a little bit different. He was a guy who wasn’t really big in high school and that’s why he ended up going there. If he was the same size that he is right now he would probably have gone to Michigan or Michigan State. We were fortunate to find him. He’s transitioned fine. He’s opened up. He was very quiet and his personality didn’t come out early. He doesn’t say a whole lot.”

Q: When you’re evaluating talent do you look at guys in a smaller division of the NCAA and say there’s probably a reason they’re there or do you just judge talent?

EDWARDS: “The first thing you do is judge talent and then you try to compare his talent to the people he plays against. For me, it’s real simple: if he plays a level that’s not Division I, let’s say, you look at the talent he plays against. The first thing you say is: does he dominate the talent. Is he a dominant player in that division? In my opinion he was.

“He had skills: he’s got the measurables, he was a dominant player at his level and he’s a mentally tough guy. To me, those are the three things you have to have if you’re going to play that position.”

Q: But doesn’t it make it more difficult to evaluate a guy at that level because of the people he is competing against?

EDWARDS: “That’s why you have to look at the tape and his movement skills. You have to understand his measurables. Then it is, can he transfer that to the next level of competition. He was able to do that.”

Q: It would be true then, that you having played the position it might be a little bit easier for you to evaluate that player?

EDWARDS: “It helps. I’m not going to say it doesn’t. You can watch it on tape but I look at it a little bit different than other people look at it. Then for me, it’s the conversation. You get on the blackboard with him, then the questions, and then it’s the conversation after you get off the blackboard where you get a feel for the guy. You ask certain things and you anticipate certain answers. For me, it’s always been that way for me when it came to drafting corners or defensive backs. There are certain things you expect them to say. There are a lot of things you ask that others may not ask.”

Q: What made you so sure about the guy? What did he say that won you over?

EDWARDS: “I’m not going to mention that. I’d be giving it away. I look at it a little bit different. No different than with Dale Carter. Dale Carter was a great talent but he didn’t play corner in college. But we made him a corner and there was no doubt he was going to be. You look for certain traits, certain things you talk to them about. I’m not going to divulge that.”

Q: How disappointing was it you weren’t able to get more out of BJ Sams and what he was earlier in his career?

EDWARDS: “He was coming off a pretty tough injury. We’ve got a kid who we think can do a good job (Savage). It’s tough to carry a return guy because it takes up a spot. It’s hard to do that anymore. For us, we feel that Savage can do a pretty good job. Is he a great punt returner right now? No. He’s not. But he’s pretty good and we know he can run kickoffs back.

“That’s kind of where this team is right now. It’s giving young guys an opportunity. He’s done a pretty good job. Now, he’s going to go back and catch punts. I’ll cross my fingers every once in a while. But that’s part of it too.”

Q: How are you going to split those kickoff returns?

EDWARDS: “We don’t want a lot of them, if there are we want them to kick field goals. Kind of like last week. Just have a feel for it, back and forth. Charles will take some, and he’ll take some. Just depends.”

Q: What do you like about your new receiver? (Mark Bradley)

EDWARDS: “Very athletic, explosive. This guy can run. Now, he’s had a couple of surgeries. I remember watching him at Oklahoma. Just got into one of those situations where he got hurt and really never got back into it - kind of got lost in the shuffle in Chicago. That happens sometimes.

“If you talk to him he probably was a little immature when he came in the league and expected things too fast. I think he’s more mature now. I think sometimes that happens to a lot of guys. I’ve said that to guys we’ve let go: sometimes they can’t handle it and sometimes it takes a guy getting cut to realize that he’ll handle it different next time. Lot of times that happens when they go somewhere else and make the team.”

Q: Do you remember him in New York when he came out?

EDWARDS: “Oh yeah, we liked him. We had good grades on him. He was explosive. Played a little bit of DB (defensive back) too, I think.”

Q: Can you talk about Brodie Croyle’s progress?

EDWARDS: “He’s coming along good. He’s throwing the ball good. Next week we’ll get a bye and that’s another week and then he should be ready to roll.”

Q: Yesterday you talked about Damon and if he played well and you won would this be Brodie’s job when he comes back?

EDWARDS: “Like I said, we’ll talk about it after the bye week.”

Q: You’re not committing to Brodie?

EDWARDS: “I don’t have to commit to anybody right now. Damon Huard is the quarterback. That’s who’s playing this week. We’ll talk about that when Brodie comes back. I don’t need to talk about that right now. Damon Huard is the starting quarterback right now.”

Q: But with the youth movement you’d think you would say Brodie is the starting quarterback if 100% healthy.

EDWARDS: “All that takes care of itself. Right now we’ve got to try and beat Carolina on the road.”

Q: Are you pleased for Derrick Johnson getting the AFC defensive player of the week award?

EDWARDS: “Yes, very; he took the weight off his shoulders, too, because I know a lot of people expect a lot out of him, he expects a lot out of himself. For him to get voted the AFC Defensive Player of the Week along with the team with (Brandon) Carr that helps us and his confidence.”

Q: Suddenly the light goes on for players in their third year. Is that the case with Derrick?

EDWARDS: “You’ve got to understand Derrick, too. He’s been in the league four years and has had three coaches and two systems. That’s hard.”

Q: Does the transition from strong side backer to weak side backer help him at all?

EDWARDS: “They flop, so they’re married. You have to play both. I think him not trying to be perfect this game helped him. I think it helped a lot of these young guys. They want to please the coach; they want to do everything right. You can become robotic. You try to figure it all out and if you do then it’s too late - the play just past you by.

“This week, as a team, for the most part we played with emotion and said if you make a mistake just keep running fast, something good is going to happen. We didn’t play a perfect game by any stretch of imagination on either side of the ball. But I thought our energy and emotion carried us. That’s what we harped about all week. That was my message. Just go play hard.”

Q: How do you improve your pass defense and your rush defense?

EDWARDS: “For the pass defense, two things: not allow big plays in the passing game and don’t let the quarterback get comfortable in the pocket where he can sit back and throw. We haven’t sacked the quarterback a lot.

“The rush defense is gaps. More than that, it’s big plays. We didn’t allow many big plays. Now, they got some yards which is fine. We went into the game knowing that. What we did do is we took the ball away – I think we’re leading the league in fumbles caused – and we played good in the Red Zone. If you can take the ball away four times, give the offense a short field, and make them kick field goals and keep the score down you’ve got a chance to win.”

Q: How badly does this offense need a second receiver to step up, for versatility’s sake?

EDWARDS: “I don’t know about that. We just need some explosive plays in the passing game. That’s what moves the ball. We need some chunks. That’s what Carolina does. They throw the ball and make some big plays down the field. We’ve got to catch it when we do it. We’ve got to take the pressure off the offense so you’re not always methodical. You’re not going to have five or six 10-play drives. You’ve got to have some chunks.”

Q: Presuming if the ball is going to be thrown it’s going to be thrown to Gonzalez and Bowe…

EDWARDS: “People are going to roll that way. They’re going to leave the other guy man-for-man and that guy has to be big and we’ve got to throw him the ball too and he’s got to catch it. It takes the stress off everybody else.

“We like Franklin, Darling’s made a play. Franklin hasn’t played much but we like him and Webb. It’s hard if you don’t get plays and if you go three-and-out that doesn’t help you - a lot of games that’s happened. This week was different but it was different because we were able to run the ball and we wanted to take time off the clock. It was a different game plan.”

Q: What do you mean Derrick Thomas wasn’t trying to be perfect?

EDWARDS: “Just trying to read everything exactly right, footwork. You still have to read your keys but he’s athletic enough to where if he just sees the ball he can make a lot of plays. He’s started to see the ball better. Technique will come.”

PANTHERS CONFERENCE CALL
Updates on Kansas City
It¹s been interesting with all these young guys. It¹s been a lot of fun, it really has. It¹s been a lot of work. I think our coaches have done a great of job making these guys understand how they have to play every week in pro football compared to college football. I think there¹s a learning curve, there¹s also an experience curve. The only way that they are going to get experience is to play. I think that every time they play a game, they learn more about themselves as a player and more of what it takes to win a game in the National Football League. I think we¹re improving. It¹s kind of like peaks and valleys. You do a couple of things real good, and then you shake your head and go ³why did you do that?² And that¹s sort of how it¹s been for us the last four games.

On evolution of Larry Johnson
Well, all good running backs want the ball more. But we got into some games in the second half where we were down by a deficit where we had to throw the football. Against the Raiders, we really had to throw the football a lot.

Against Atlanta, in the second half we got our running game going and we really started to run the ball well. This game was a game where we were able to score and so we could continue to run the football. The defense did a good job. I think our offensive line did a good job, really finishing blocks. We had a new offense all of a sudden. We had a new coordinator, new players. So that¹s basically all coming together. Basically there are only two starters, one starter on the offensive line that started his position and that¹s Brian Waters, who I think is having a good year. But other than that, there are a bunch of new guys and that¹s a work in progress.

On Larry Johnson¹s happiness
Yeah, a win and when you run like he did, that should make you happy.

On Panthers holding great running backs under 100 yards They do a great job, they¹ve got a good front and the linebackers do a good job. The strong safety that comes down in the box does a good job tackling.

They bring pressure. They play on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
They create negative yards, and when you create negative yards on defense, especially on first down, it¹s very difficult to continue to run the ball and then all of a sudden you get into that passing mode. That helps when you can create negative yards on defense when people try to run the ball because then you have to throw a little bit more than you like.

On Carolina¹s defensive performance
e last year versus this year It all starts, in my opinion, with your front. I think they have a good front, a strong front, they¹re athletic. The linebackers play well. They rally to the ball. They don¹t give up a lot of big plays, which is how you want to play defense. I think also that their kicking game helps them too.

It seems to me that you are always playing on a long field against them.
They¹ve got great field position and when they pin you back you¹ve got to punt and all of a sudden their offense has great field position. So they¹re playing the field goal position very well and that helps them also.

On if Carolina is a running team or a passing team They run the ball to pass. They do a great job with their play-action fake.
They can get in the spread formation and throw the ball. They¹ve got some gifted receivers, they can catch it and are very explosive players. They have a veteran quarterback who knows how to read coverage well, a very tough guy. They run the ball and Jake throws the passes. But sometimes that gets diluted if you¹re behind. But they¹ve been in those four games most of the time. Against San Diego they had to come back. Sometimes when you¹re in the two minute, depending on what the score is, you¹re going to throw a little bit more, so that kind of dilutes it. But they are a balanced team in my opinion. They run it real well and they can make explosive plays in the passing game.

On Carolina stacking up amongst the NFC
They are a good team, they are solid. They don¹t give up a lot of points.
When you can hold the points down, you are always going to be in a football game. They can run the ball, so if they get a lead, they can control the clock. If you can run the ball and you don¹t give up a lot of points, games are always going to be tight, but I think they¹re planned that way when you look at them. Except for the one game, for the most part, they¹ve been ahead by two, been tied twice, and been ahead by five at half. That¹s how they try to play, going into the third quarter, playing these one-score games. They are very confident in playing in that environment and they seem to make the plays when they have to win games.

On kind of player John Fox was when playing with Edwards He was a good player. He was tough. You knew he was going to be a coach. You knew that. He always knew what was going on with the linebackers and the front. He¹s a tough guy. He broke that facemask a bunch tackling guys. He was a tough football player, it was fun playing with him. We¹ve been friends for a long time.

On whether ³knowing he was going to be a coach² as opposed to knowing he was going to be a player No, he was a good player. But he had to be in the right circumstances to play pro football. I think John knew where he was and what he was going to do. He went in that direction and turned out to be a head football coach.

On John Fox¹s 40 time
He¹s probably about a 4.7 guy. He ran okay. He was a little bit slimmer then than he is right now. He¹s a fullback right now. I¹m going to get on him about that too.

On Muhsin Muhammad
He¹s unbelievable. I¹ve always respected him as a tough, physical guy. And he looks a lot quicker to me. Before he didn¹t look as quick. I¹m not saying that as a bad thing, but he¹s a big guy, can catch the ball. He¹s a great representative of this league too, as a player. He touches a lot of player¹s lives and makes a difference in a lot of these guy¹s lives. And that goes unbeknownst, I think. He¹s one of those guys that¹s a pro¹s pro. He started out there and ended up leaving and came back and that¹s good for him and I think it¹s good for their football team. He¹s added a different dimension to them.

On how he¹s touched other pro¹s lives
He¹s always having conversations with young guys. We brought a guy in here, Bradley, that played in Chicago and he was involved in and played with him up there. We just signed him this week. He called on that kid¹s behalf to say what kind of kid he was. That says something about a pro football player. To take time to call a team where a guy is gonna go and have a tryout. His message was important because he knows the kid, and he spoke highly of him. When you get a veteran like him to do something like that, I think that¹s special.

Who he called
He called Ray, our personnel guy. And Ray gave me the message and that was as good as anything when he put his stamp on the kid.

On how much Muhsin influenced him
Some. We did our work too. But I think that anytime you get a guy that¹s played with him, and I respect him. I always have. He¹s that kind of guy.
And that¹s what you like about him.

On how often other players do that
There are a few. More than people anticipate. Especially when they have a relationship with the head coach of that team, or someone that works in the department of scouting or something. That¹s a good thing.

On Brian Johnston and what he has brought Well obviously a lot of energy. He is a guy that was out of San Diego and ended up at Gardner-Webb. He is learning but he¹s playing. He is on the roster, he¹s playing. He has played in some games already, he¹s getting better ever week. He is one of the 14 or 15 that we dress every week that plays a lot for us.

On what Brian Johnston needs to get better at I just think learning the game. I think experience of how the game is played, the speed of the game and mentally just doing the little things. I think that¹s what makes a pro football player, doing the little things well.
He¹s learned, I give the kid credit. He comes in here and he¹s in the rotation.

On Jon Beason
I think all of the linebackers are very very talented. They run to the ball and are good tacklers in space. He shows up a lot; there is no doubt about it, he shows up a lot. He is clearly the mike linebacker, the guy who calls the signals, gets people lined up, is the quarterback of the defense. Yeah, he is a good player, very athletic, very active.