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Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton post-game quotes

Re: Turning the ball over on downs in the red zone
It was a misunderstanding. One of the receivers didn’t run the right route, but it is still my job to fix it. You know, I’m not here to point the finger, or I’m not here to bash myself, but that is just unacceptable. It shouldn’t have even been fourth down. I think I could have scored on a lot of them. It was an excellent play call by coach on the naked, and I just have to make that throw. It’s professional football, and you have to hit open targets, wide-open targets when you the opportunity presents itself.

Re: If anything surprised him about the NFL in his first two weeks
No, it’s nothing that surprised me. It’s going in each and every week knowing the game plan and knowing what coach wants to do on each and every play and going out there and executing. It’s not that they have a magical defense or they have this and that… don’t get me wrong, they have some good players on each and every defense, but I think our coaches do an excellent job of getting us in the best place possible. It’s my job, personally, as a quarterback to make everything right, whether it is throwing the ball deep, to throw it to the man, or just to check the ball down. You can’t be greedy in this league. It will come back and bite you every single time.

Re: If the Panthers need to establish the run better
That’s not my job. I don’t think we need to do anything. I think we need to execute better, and I think me personally, I need to step up my play.

Re: Having trouble scoring in the red zone
I don’t know. Really I don’t know. It hurts leaving the field with three points. I think it is self-inflicted. Whether it is a penalty, whether it is a bad decision, you just have to get it right, and we are going to get it right. I’m not the person to sit up here and say “well, we have next time.” I want to get it right, and I’m going to get it right right now.

Re: His post-game conversation with Aaron Rodgers
I would have talked to him as just a fan… any elite quarterback in this league. Aaron Rodgers is one of those guys, poised in the pocket with how he controls the game and whatever he does. You see in this game a prime example of when you have a team down, you have to keep them down. You can’t just keep them in the game. When you have opportunities to score, you have to put seven points on the board. Because it is only a matter of time until any good team is going to react.

Re: Positives from today and from competing with the Super Bowl champions
There were a lot of positives, but it’s not competing. I don’t like that word. We don’t go into each game to compete. We go into each game to win. That’s the mentality that the coaches put on us, and we have to play like that. We don’t go into each game thinking, “Oh man, look who we are playing.” Don’t get me wrong, the Green Bay Packers are a good team, but we can’t go in there saying we want to compete. We have to go in there saying we want to win, and that’s what we are going to do… offensively, defensively, special teams, that’s what we have to do.

Re: Still seeking the first regular-season win
It is mind-boggling. But there are still a lot of positives that we can go into the next week and get some momentum. It’s just the small things that make us different than the Green Bay Packers. When those guys know what they have to do, they do it. You don’t see a lot of penalties. You don’t see a lot of interceptions. You don’t see a lot of mistakes. And that is what we have to learn as a team, starting with myself.

Re: Charles Woodson’s performance
I had the opportunity to talk to Charles. I saw him early before the season started, and I told him he was too hard on me. “Man, you are too hard on me… you got to drop one of those. Golly. Give me a break.” But it just goes to show you in this League, you will pay when you make a mistake. That’s simple and plain. Charles Woodson has been dominating this game at the cornerback position for a long time, and I have so much respect for him and a lot of players on that defense. Those guys are sound in what they do. They are coachable, and they know what they have to do. They understand the game. They understand the down and distance. It is hard to beat that when you make a mistake because you know they are going to capitalize on it.

Re: If Green Bay made second-half adjustments that affected him
No, it wasn’t that. It was just decision making. That’s it. That’s simple and plain. You can say what it is. You can say they did this and that. You can say whatever you want, but it’s just decision making. We have to get that right. Well, I have to get that right.

Re: How he was feeling after the game
Still going. You ain’t going to leave this game as if somebody’s been tickling you. You know what you signed up for. I know everybody knows. It comes with the territory. But it’s nothing serious.

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Courtesy of the Carolina Panthers

STATEMENT FROM GREEN BAY PACKERS REGARDING S NICK COLLINS

“Nick Collins has normal feeling and complete movement in his extremities. As is standard protocol, he will be kept in the hospital overnight for observation. When he returns to Green Bay, he will undergo further testing and evaluation.”

Packers-Panthers scratches

Inactive for the Packers today: RB Alex Green, CB Davon House, CB Tramon Williams, LB Frank Zombo, T Derek Sherrod, DE Mike Neal, LB Vic So’oto

Jarius Wynn will start in place of Mike Neal at DE. Sam Shields will start in place of Tramon Williams at CB.

Inactive for the Panthers today: QB Jimmy Clausen, CB Josh Thomas, LB Jason Williams, G Reggie Wells, T Jeff Otah, WR Kealoha Pilares, DT Ronald Fields.

Packers to wear green jerseys vs. Panthers

The Packers will wear their green jerseys today. The Carolina Panthers have elected to wear white, which they often do early in the season to force opponents to wear dark ones. The forecast for kickoff is 68 degrees and partly cloudy.