Here’s what Panthers interim coach Perry Fewell had to say on a conference call with the Atlanta media Wednesday:
Credit: Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Credit: Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Q: How are you all trying to get prepared for the game after the coaching change on Tuesday?
A: "We had a very spirited practice today. I think that our guys were focused. We competed extremely smart and tried to teach and execute the plan that we have for Atlanta on Sunday. I felt very good about our prep today. I thought our guys were focused today despite of the circumstances."
Q: In the last meeting, you all had three red-zone trips that ended with turnovers. How important will it be to take care of the ball?
A: "As you well know, that's the key to winning football games. You have to protect the football as well as take it away from the opponent. Obviously, we are emphasizing that. The Falcons did a great job in that area the last time that we played. We have to definitely neutralize or win that situation."
Q: Where’s your run defense at after holding the Falcons to 54 yards on Nov. 17 and giving up 248 yards to the Redskins last week?
A: "Our objective is always to stop the run. Yes, we did have some issues last week. We tried to address those issues in practice today as well as in the individual (sessions) today. We'll continue to address those issues as the week goes on. We look forward to coming down and playing better run defense on Sunday."
Q: How can Christian McCaffrey, who gets decent stats against the Falcons, have more of an impact on the final score?
A: "Other members of our team have to score. Christian has a lot of productivity on our football team. He can't be a one-man team. We have to get contributions from other areas of our football team. Our tight ends, our wide receivers, our quarterback and our special teams. Our defense can score. We have to put points on the board against a good Falcons football team."
Q: How does the coach being fired impact the preparation for the game?
A: "We are a very professional staff. As the news trickled down to us, we were in the planning stages. We had been planning for a day and almost a day and a half. So, we continued to plan and prep our football team because we want to give our young men the opportunity to win a football game. As a professional staff, we continued to do the things we needed to do to play on Sunday."
Q: Will you get Will Grier ready to play at quarterback?
A: "He's always in the wings, but we are going with Kyle (Allen) as our quarterback. We think that Kyle gives us the best opportunity to win on Sunday."
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