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Rhule: We're certainly not where we want to be, but we knew that this was something that was going to have to be done right
Carolina Panthers' head coach Matt Rhule met with the media Monday to talk about his job security and how the team can stop its five-game skid.
so so that everybody knows we've had a few uh positive tests this morning for Covid. So uh to spur or to stop a spread of uh you know an outbreak obviously with, you know, Zillah Street yesterday and saturday and then a couple today we sent everybody home so we'll conduct some virtual meetings um and then hopefully be able to get back in the building on Wednesday. But I just want to make sure I allowed you guys to know that information alright with that. We can go into questions and if anyone like to start us off the floors up matt, how many positive tests are we talking about? And are they centered in any particular position group? Um I'm not yet sure the total number. We have some guys that are rerunning. So um, it would say it's somewhat significant enough that we have that we're going to stem the tide and um yeah, there are some, there are some positional where areas, I'll probably keep that um off the record until you know they've confirmed everything. But yeah, we are sending everyone home once again guys, if you would use the raise hand icon and if you have a question, go ahead, go ahead chris hey, I just want to ask you in the game yesterday, your use of timeouts, particularly the one in the first quarter after sam that connected deep and then cam came in. You guys called the time out. What was the reason for that one early on? There was some confusion uh in reading the wristband. Um So you know, obviously I didn't have the right play um where exactly that confusion lined with the number being sent in or the number being read. I I can't answer that. I don't know, but you can look to the sideline, needed a time out. Um Obviously down there in scoring range, always protect the points. You know, we always save our timeouts in the second half for the end of the game when we can. Um but uh they didn't want to take a five yard penalty there. And then just and having reviewed the film, what do you feel like what's the biggest challenge in getting the bucks off the field yesterday for you guys, Antonio brown um You know, he he was a significant difference maker in the game. Um You know, obviously they had the one, you know, they had the two explosive plays in the first half chris uh you know the long run um that you know what was the first touchdown Really? You know the game was 136 with a minute 41 left and they had the ball in minus territory. So you know, it's a back and forth game at the time. Um and they hit the deep ball double move into two man. That's usually that's usually you know, it's man underneath with a safety over the top um you know, just uh just poor execution on our part, good execution on their part and that kind of flipped the game. But you know, we uh we were much better defensively in the second half on third down. Um, they're an excellent offense. Um, we weren't as, you know, we weren't, weren't able to get any sacks or turnovers. I think those are key things you have to have against them um, to get them off the field. Let's go to joe person, but I will be watching, mhm Hey matt, do you know who's gonna be your starter quarterback this week? You know, I'll probably address that on Wednesday, joe just because I haven't had a chance to talk to anybody. I hope you guys can understand that. You know, I haven't had a chance to visit with anybody. I usually like to even like review the film with the guys, you know, because sometimes I might think, hey, you know, this guy, why, why they do this? And then they, you know, we have these conversations when I say we the coaches, so the coaches haven't met with the players yet. So in light of kind of our unique circumstances right now. I'll address that very definitively though on Wednesday. And then real quick, are your coaches in the building today? Our coaches are in the building right now. I'll wait to hear from Eddie and those guys, everyone, everyone is in the building right now. We were just walking down here just made the decision to get the players out. Um, you know, the coaches, um, the coaches will probably just each go to their own offices um um and not, and not be, you know, together, some of some of the issues we had last week were with coaches as well, and then finally, um oh, so did you have some positives with coaches last week? So some of the young quality control guys weren't in the building last week, And finally, is Gilmore done these last two games? You know, I don't know, I talked to Stefan last night, it didn't seem as serious, he said, he said it didn't seem as serious that being said, you know, they were gonna run them through some tests today, so I'll wait to see um where he's at uh medically, um but uh, you know, Stephens a true professional, so when he says, it's not as bad as, you know, the first thought, I don't know what that means, you know, obviously he's a guy that wants to play um so, uh I'll have to wait and see, you know, kind of what the doctors say today matt, you spent a lot of time yesterday talking about your process and and everything coming towards this build were there times this season where it felt like the process was going quicker and just from your perspective, are you where you guys want to be in this stage of where you are building towards this, you know, I talked a lot about all that yesterday, you know, I tried to, you know, I tried to be respectful of, you know, the questions and you know, you guys have always been great, I think, I think, you know, kind of today, I'm kind of looking forward moving forward. I think the biggest thing will for us is is to play these last two games the right way. Um like I said, I saw some areas, you know, we had a lot of young guys out there, you know, but I saw guys like Shaq Thompson running sideline to sideline, I saw guys like Dequan jones giving tremendous effort inside some of our defensive lineman played their best games, you know, watching Derek Brown who's you know, uh you know, taking some real steps right now, you see it or gross models really coming on. So um we know we have a lot, a lot of work to do. I think the best thing that we can do right now is focus on, you know, where we're at, you know, we don't really talk about with the team, certainly we don't talk about, hey, this is what we're trying to do long term and that, I mean these guys want to win, we want to win, we have a chance to go out and play in New Orleans um who plays tonight, I'll be quite honest with you guys, I don't know who will be available for us, you know, uh every day has been a different different things, so it's an opportunity for a lot of young guys guys on the practice squad to prepare. Um, but I think the biggest thing that I want to see these last two weeks is for us to continue to play with great effort. They've played with great effort. Um, and just just better execution than up front on the offensive line that we're gonna have to protect the quarterbacks at, at a much higher level. Um, for us to have a chance to win. So we're very forward facing right now excited about this week. Um, we have a lot, a lot of challenges with the Covid and, and some of the injuries to see who's available. Um, but that's, that's, that's where our attention is. Let's go to David Newton followed by Sheena quick. Hey man, I got a few. Are you looking at signing any players right now? They're just friends, you know, to have his insurance with the Covid situation here. Yeah. You know, dan, I met earlier upstairs with scott and dan and Pat, you know, they were getting lists together and, you know, having strategies, you know, we, we, we, we, we brought guys in last week and when they got here, they had, they had Covid, they tested negative at their previous spot had Covid when they got here. So it's kind of a unique puzzle. Um, but yes, we're certainly exploring any and all options to make sure that we have a full team come sunday that can go play as, as, as, uh, you know, go play this game as well as we possibly can. And you, you mentioned yesterday being from philadelphia, you the booze, you're kind of used to that kind of thing. But have you ever had that happen to you personally? Uh, yeah, I got that when I was in the head coach, Temple, I got booed. Yeah, I'm just curious what that was like for you then. And now, is it, is it getting any easier or you just kind of immune to it? Almost, uh, at the end of the day, my job is to just keep helping the players improve, keep helping the organization move to the ultimate goal of winning a super bowl when giving the fans what they deserve and so they deserve a team that, that, you know, wins games and wins at home. And so, um, we have not gotten that done yet. I certainly understand, I certainly understand all of those things. And so I, um, I want nothing more than what they want. And that is, that is for us to, to bring, uh, you know, uh, champion here to Carolina. So, um, when it's not happening, you know, I just, I just focus on what's next. I mean, I focus on what can I do today. And to me, it's all these little micro decisions. It's, it's, you know, hey, doing the best thing we can with the roster this week, trying to go play our best game against new Orleans this week, the same thing in the following week, you know, um that that to me is the only way that you can accomplish something great and and one more thing, a lot of time this time of year when teams are struggling, you hear the coach getting you a vote of confidence from the ownership about being back next year if you've had anything like that happen. I mean, I talked to Dave today, he's been unbelievably supportive. Um you know, all of our conversations this morning, we're about, you know, the best thing is to do moving forward. Um so he's been tremendously supportive and and showing me a ton of confidence in terms of what we're doing. You know, we're certainly not where we want to be, um but we knew, you know, we knew that this was something that was going to have to be done right. And so um, Dave's been, Dave's been nothing but great to me and I appreciate his confidence. He, he assured, you know, change is that you'll be back next year then or I, I don't ask those direct questions and I certainly would never speak to his words. I hope you understand that, that just he's shown me nothing but confidence about me in the future and moving forward, but I would, I would never speak for him that, you know, I would feel like they'd be out of line. Thanks a lot. Okay, good afternoon coach. Um I know that you said throughout the season that is a focus of you guys to get the run game established, but outside of the six quarterback runs, there were only nine rushing attempts yesterday. Can you talk about that? How that fit into the game plan? Is was that a response to what the Bucks were showing on defense? Yeah, I mean, the Bucks overloaded the blocks and brought pressure as they do versus everyone. Um We would have liked to have run it more I think. Um I think, uh, you know, getting, getting down, it kind of turned into a drop back game, obviously late in the third quarter, into the fourth quarter. Um and when we did run it, we didn't have a tremendous amount of success. Um, So it was, it was one of those games where we just, I tried to adapt to the way the game was being played. I think coach pulls their defensive coordinator, uh did a great job of, of, of overloading the box and daring us to throw it. Um, We tried to take some shots down the field, we weren't able to connect on all of them and a couple of times we had pressure and quarterback had to scramble. Um, but yeah, you know, obviously we'd like to run the football. Um we wanted to run the football and just just yesterday was the day that we did not run the football well enough, let's go to Jonathan alexander with the next question. Having said that you've got your meeting with David, Did you walk away feeling confident that you will return next year? I think I answered that, you know, I'm not I don't think about anything other than doing my job, you know, um I hope I hope when you think think back about all the things I've said, I've been pretty consistent. You know, my job is to do the best I can each and every day to give players a chance to win. I talked to Mr Tepper several times a week, we talked after every game, we're always talking about the future and what's what's there in terms of votes of confidence, my job, all those different things that that those things are all out of my hands. Um I'm gonna go back to my office and try to put together the best plan for our guys for this week and I hope that our players hope that our players respect that and appreciate that none of this has ever about me. It's always about the team, it's panthers are players and I'm gonna keep pushing forward. Um Also where do you stand on um teams potentially having their games postponed. Um I don't know, I don't have much of a feel about it. I know, you know, those things usually aren't decided by me, so I'll show up to play the game and whenever they tell us to play it, um, I'll play it. Obviously this is a serious issue. It's kind of, you know, running, you know, rampant, obviously through society and through the league. So, um, you know, for us, we'll control what we can control, and that's making sure we've had the best, uh, roster possible.