Carolina Panthers 20, New York Giants 17
DAVE CANALES: What a win, what a great finish. It got really interesting there a couple times in some of the drives competent guys just wouldn't quit. We just wouldn't go away. The defense just continued to play, offensively just trying to find some wins right interest at the end.
But to see a ball punched out in overtime; sometimes it takes a little bit longer than regulation. But just I'm really proud of this group and the finish that we continue to play with and find a way to come away with these games at the end.
Q. What was the strategy defensively, their last drive in regulation, and how different was it?
DAVE CANALES: Really the strategy was just playing our coverage. We were counting on our rush. Our rush had a nice little boost of energy from D.J. Wonnum coming in there and really creating some pressure outside. A'Shawn Robinson from the interior showing some great rush as well.
So again, it was just about rally up and tackling in many of those situations and guys playing their leverage, which we missed a few early on but they corrected it and got back to playing the ball that we needed to.
I thought we were tough against the run game but they ended up putting a drive together at the end of the game where they were starting to find some of their cut-back runs and some lanes there. But we tightened it up.
And I just love striking the ball rebound the things we preach about, just attacking it the whole time and for it show up in overtime when we needed it was huge.
Q. You mentioned D.J. D.J. seemingly set the tone the first half, to come out in cold weather off the injury, having not played in almost a year, what does that say about him as a player and your performance?
DAVE CANALES: It's an amazing story of adversity for him to overcome some setbacks and find himself back on the field, and just the who process I have to give a lot of love to Andrew Althoff, to Kevin King, all the return-to-play guys that were working tirelessly to just get him back out to a point where he felt confident. And bringing him back into practice so we knew he could handle the amount of reps he was going to get in the game was great by the whole group.
Q. You've won as many games as you did last year when you weren't here in two weeks. How do you feel about the trajectory of the season?
DAVE CANALES: I just love that we are building off of weeks. That's been the goal. Can we improve from the week before. We saw great improvement in the run game again from both sides, which was huge.
We've got to clean up the penalties. That's something we'll attack and talk about with our guys because that really did give them some more opportunities but to me it's about that weekly improvement. It's about just setting our trajectory where we can have that mental discipline to come back every Monday, correct it, attack it on Wednesday and see the improvement and, that's what's happening for our group.
Q. You talk about building on these weeks. Looking at last week, getting guys like D.J. back out there, are you starting to see --
DAVE CANALES: Absolutely, and Jordan Fuller was a big part of that. I talked about D.J. Wonnum, but also Jordan getting himself back to a point where he can be back out there and see the communication and the things that were happening on the back half was great. To see the guys being all in the same page was really refreshing to see those guys work together.
Q. The play after --
DAVE CANALES: It was huge. And on that drive, offensively we've got to find a way to finish that game and Bryce had a beautiful throw on a third down to get us a new set of downs and we had two runs, didn't make a lot. But we took some time off the clock. We were hoping to put a little bit more pressure on them.
But I've got to take my hat off to the Giants and Brian Daboll and Daniel Jones just taking that ball on that last drive to send it into overtime.
Q. How pleased are you with the progress so far?
DAVE CANALES: Absolutely, the rookies have done a great job of just applying the principles and the fundamentals of what we are teaching them and talking about. I was really proud of Ja'Tavion getting the first touchdown of his career, really proud of those guys. Coker, our one rookies had a couple balls get away from him today. He'll make those plays. I've got a lot of trust in him but it was exciting to see the guys run around and play fast again.
Q. Talking about the defense, you talked the other day about seeing growth and the play style and defensive stops, how pleased are with you D.J. and Josey?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, absolutely. I think it's about the physical nature of what we're looking for and there were some big hits out there all the way through. It happens when everyone is playing defensive team football and you're in position. Those plays come to you, and you're able to just exemplify your toughness and the physicality of the sport when you're right in position to make those plays. So those guys did a great job of that.
Q. How do you think Chuba responded to the contract extension?
DAVE CANALES: Career high and went after it. But he was the same Chuba. I expected nothing less. It's the consistency of the guy. He showed up again and ran hard and ran the runs the way we wanted to versus the different looks and they made it challenging on us. But we found some wins in there, and we were able to finish issue the ball running it like we wanted to.
Q. Was there some anxiety on your part when he went down? Did you think he was going to miss time after that?
DAVE CANALES: I always feel for my guy. If I see one of our players on the ground, that always concerns me. But it was great to kind of see him do some checks and balances, get up on his feet, and that was great for us to finish.
Q. You needed a few days last week in deciding on the quarterback. Are you going to do that again?
DAVE CANALES: I'm so proud of Bryce. I'm so proud of taking the next step again. I thought he had a great day. I thought it could have would be a fantastic day. I thought a few balls got away from us a couple of times and that could have turned it into really an exceptional day.
But he handled rush well. He handled the different coverage looks and all that.
Again, we'll take all the information. We'll do all that. But Bryce is certainly making a statement to all of us. I just can't tell you how proud I am of just weekly progress, and that's the goal for all of us.
Q. Do you have an update on Miles?
DAVE CANALES: Miles had like an ankle foot deal right now.
Q. What do you think about the atmosphere in Munich?
DAVE CANALES: The environment, it was absolutely electric in the stadium. The stadium itself is beautiful. The energy from the crowd, it's just nonstop. Like a soccer match, the energy stays the whole time, and then there's the eastbound and flows as the big plays happen.
But just the whole situation, all of the lights, the different jerseys out there, and there was a good following of Panthers. You know, as things were working in our favor, I could hear it starting -- the noise starting to climb. I could hear when we were on defense, they were making noise for the other team.
It was great. It was a great experience overall. A beautiful city. A great opportunity for us to go overseas. But we told the guys we came here to win a football game and ultimately that's what we'll remember. So it was a special trip.
Q. Do you think about coming earlier, or was it always going to be Friday?
DAVE CANALES: We thought about it, and what we thought would have been the best for us was to have two solid practices at home, sleep in our beds, hydrate, take care of our bodies the way that we normally know how, and that way, shorten the amount of time.
I would have loved to be here for a week myself so I can see more of the city and take advantage of that you. But we thought it was the best thing for the whole group to show up on Friday, to be able to see the city on Friday a little bit.
Saturday afternoon, the guys had the opportunity to do that as well. But I thought our guys were fresh and I thought they played hard all the way through and it paid off for us.
Q. When do you think you will make the decision on quarterback?
DAVE CANALES: I can't tell you that right now. But you know, certainly, certainly Bryce made a great statement for himself today.
Q. You already mentioned your run game. What have you done in the last few weeks to get better and what's your plan for the next week?
DAVE CANALES: Yeah, it's a lot of the communication up front for the run game and making sure when we have our blocking combinations, that they are working together; they are working seamlessly that way, and the consistent piece has been Chuba. So he's continued to do a great job in there.
I think that Cade Mays, our center who has now played for a couple of games, Brady Christensen was our center, and he moved out to tackle and that group played so well. They pass protected great and ran the ball when we wanted to.
I'm really proud of this group coming together, facing some challenges with guys coming in and out of the lineup and really having a great day against a really good Giants defensive front.
Q. Do you take -- with Eddie --
DAVE CANALES: Absolutely not. I just let Eddie be Eddie. We went out there, he had his process and he went through it like any other kick. We always talk about the bigger the moment, the smaller the focus. Focus on your fundamentals and take your approach the same way you do every time, and he really got it done for us, so I'm really proud of Eddie.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports