Q: Regarding your linebackers, what made Terez Hall the right choice for you in the game plan?
BB: Well, Terez has been working. Ja'Whaun [Bentley] wasn't able to play. Terez has worked some at that spot. I thought he stepped in and did a solid job for us. He's been with us for a year-and-a-half and has worked hard and made steady improvement.
Q: How did not having Ja'Whaun affect how you handled communication, especially who wore the green dot, and how did that go in the game?
BB: Yeah, it went fine. We practice multiple players doing the signal calling, so it's not – hopefully, we have a lot of people that can do it, depending on what defensive grouping we're in and so forth. We have some flexibility on that. We've had a number of different guys do it for them just to be comfortable with it. I think it was alright.
Q: Did Terez Hall fill that role over rookies Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings because he's been in the system for a full year, had a full training camp and has a good knowledge of the system?
BB: Well, Anfernee played in there some, too, and Josh had more of a third-down role in this game.
Q: At the midway point of your season, what do you like about your team and do you think they've established an identity yet?
BB: I think we just approach each week trying to prepare and game plan and compete to do the best we can that Sunday or Monday, whenever the game is. So, that's what we've tried to do all year. We'll just take it week by week going forward and try and do the best we can, get ready to go and play another good football team this week. So, this will be a big challenge for us, but we'll just take it one week at a time and day by day.
Q: Is there a quality that stands out about your team that you like at this point?
BB: Yeah, I mean, the team – look, we've had to make adjustments during the course of the season. I think they've handled those pretty well. It's a competitive team that has a good work ethic and competes every week. So, just trying to work to a higher standard of performance all the way across the board, and we'll continue to do that.
Q: What are your impressions of what you've seen so far out of Carl Davis?
BB: Well, as you said, it was a small window, but he did some positive things. We'll see how it goes going forward. He hasn't had a lot of time with us, but he has some experience, so we'll just, again, take it day by day and see how things work out going forward. I don't know what that will be.
Q: Is he the type of guy that you view as a nose tackle or could you see him playing a little bit of defensive end for you guys, too?
BB: Yeah, I mean, again, we haven't had him for very long. This week, we worked him primarily inside, but he's got good length and so that might be a possibility. It would depend on, at this point, just what our game plan is, what we're trying to get him ready to do. But, I'd say physically, he probably has enough skill to handle a number of different positions on the defensive line.
Q: Did you view Cam Newton's performance in the fourth quarter as a progression from what he has been doing in the last four games?
BB: I think Cam's made steady progress throughout the course of the season. I thought he did a good job last night, for the most part, of getting the ball out on time. The play I think you're referring to, he's got obviously size and strength in the pocket, he's a hard guy to tackle and he was able to elude the rush a couple times and there on that last drive, he was able to get the ball out for an incomplete pass and avoid a sack, which turned out to be valuable yards on the final kick. But, overall, the ball came out pretty quickly last night and the Jets were applying a lot of pressure. I thought he did a good job of identifying pre-snap where he wanted to go and got the ball to the right place.
Q: Was that as a result of simplifying the offense for him?
BB: I don't know. I mean, it's whatever the game plan is, but I mean, with a team like the Jets, you could run the same play 10 times in a row and probably get eight different defenses. So, it's a function of a number of things your opponents do. So, each time, it's a little bit different or they try to make it look the same and give you a different blitz or a little different combination of how they're playing the players or the stunts that go with it and so forth. It's really just a matter of reading our keys on each play, both at quarterback and the other positions, and following through our assignments. But, the Jets certainly gave us a lot of pressure and a lot of different ways of bringing the pressure, as expected. That's what Coach [Gregg] Williams does. Yeah, he gave us plenty of it last night, all the way up to the last play.
Q: Did anything stand out to you from Jakob Johnson and his performance, which included a high snap count?
BB: Right, well, we were in that personnel grouping quite a bit, as you mentioned. Yeah, Jak's a tough, downhill, point-of-attack type blocker, but he showed good toughness sticking it in there and blocking defensive linemen at times and primarily linebackers and was able to move the pile a little bit. But, he's a good, hard-nosed, tough fullback.
Q: Have you been able to get Isaiah Ford in the building yet to start to work with him?
BB: Yes, same thing with [Isaiah] Mack. Both those players are now, I would say, working into our system, yes.
Q: On the play just before the field goal at the end of the game, Jakobi Meyers found a pretty big gap in the defense. Was that by design or was that Jakobi reading the defense, finding a spot and Cam Newton knowing where he'd be?
BB: I think it was, first of all, a good play call by Josh [McDaniels], and I thought the play was pretty well executed. Cam did a nice job of looking off to the other side of the field and he drew a lot of coverage over there, so when Jakobi came inside on the in cut, there really wasn't any underneath coverage and it was a good, clean throw and Cam put it right on him. So, it was a well-executed play. I would say, if you watch the play, you'll see that Cam had a lot to do with creating that space in the defense by the way he moved the underneath coverage with his eyes before he came back to make that throw. It was nicely done by Cam.
