Putting pressure on Panthers' rookie quarterback Bryce Young, this team did exactly that. Four sacks. You also had him running for his life at times. Why was the pass rush so effective today?
We kept it simple, like I told you all earlier in the week. Defensively, we keep it simple. You see what we did today. Coverage was good today. Coverage was great today. And we've got pressure on the quarterback. So, like you see today, as long as the defense is staying on the same page, then you'll see the complementary. We get coverage, you get the quarterback hit. Rush him and you get deflections.
Coach (Mike) Vrabel talks about complementary football all the time, when you guys are hungry and getting those turnovers and those big plays on defense. How much does that turn around, and also help the offense?
Oh, it definitely does. When you cause turnovers on defense, you give your offense another opportunity to put the ball in the paint.
The fourth straight win at home. What is it about playing in front of this crowd, that gets this team so fired up?
Oh, I mean, at home, you can't lose at home. I mean, that's something we speak highly around here. You can't lose at home. We were on a three-straight, road losing streak, and we needed this win.
When you guys are making plays like that and really outlasting the Panthers, back-and- forth in the second half, what's the mindset?
Just keeping it simple. I'm saying it all the time. Just keeping it simple. If we cover, we're going to hit the quarterback. We rush the quarterback, he's going to throw it faster than what he wants. We're going to catch picks and get the ball. Any of those type things. We don't need to be too much on defense, to keep it simple. When you're on your best, you see what we did today.
And what do those plays do for the defense's confidence as a whole?
It rises our confidence, and then it just rises the entire team's confidence. We played a lot of complementary football today, and next week we got the Colts. We owe them. We owe them, yeah.
