Panthers 15, Texans 13
Q. How did the showdown go?
BRYCE YOUNG: The showdown? Oh, I mean, it was -- we're two teams. CS is my dog, my brother. Have a ton of respect for him. It's not a one-on-one game out there. I'm super, super happy for this team, to be a part of this team. Super proud to be a part of this team.
You know, really resilient win, and, again, it took all 11, and both sides of the ball, all three phases. It took everyone. I'm just grateful to be a part of this team.
Q. How would you describe your reaction to this? Is this relief? Excitement?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, I mean, you know, it's definitely an exciting feeling. As we know, wins aren't easy to come by in this league. It's great to get on the board, get one in. Right now obviously we're fresh. Everyone is enjoying it. We're super happy about it. It's a lot of excitement.
But at the same time, right now is the time for us to enjoy it and have fun, but tomorrow we come back and watch the film. There is a lot of stuff we still can get better at, improve at. We don't want to be the team with -- that got a win on week eight. We have to keep building off this. That's a long journey and a long road, and that's going to come with the work that comes throughout the week.
We continue to build off that. Right now a lot of excitement, but we're going to have to turn the page, and just like any other week, make sure we keep getting better.
Q. The two plays in the final drive, the scramble or it looked like thought about throwing the flag and then the fourth and two.
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, you know, it was -- obviously we scrambled and trying to make a play, get positive yards and get down. You know, it is what it is. You're in the moment. You got to get up and react. Play the next play. Everyone is trying to compete.
You get it from both sides, and then, you know, it is what it is. You got to play the next play. Obviously have-to-have-it situation, fourth down and Adam won. It was a man look, one-on-one, and Adam did a great jab creating separation and making a tough catch. Ended up being a lot of people there.
Tough contested catch with the game on the line. Not surprising at all for Adam. So those are just -- that one is a got-to-have-it moment, and I'm super proud of us as a team to step up in that moment.
Q. What was the emotion going into that final drive knowing that this is your chance to lead a game-winning drive?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, obviously we talk about it. Really it's just excitement for that opportunity. You love opportunity like that. You go in, you have a chance to end the game on your terms and try to go out and take the game. Down one, what else would you hope for? That's why we play the game. And that was all of our response, all of our attitude. Being able to see the opportunity and really embrace it and make sure we're listening to coaches, trusting our training, but embrace the opportunity.
Again, I'm super proud of this team for stepping up. Super grateful to be playing with the guys I'm playing with.
Q. A lot of people were there on that fourth down play. Looked like Miles was open, too. Were you surprised to see him?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, you know, again, at that point, you know, it's just -- we executed. That's all that matters. Again, it's not always going to be perfect, pretty, but I think that speaks to the O game. Offensively there is stuff that -- throws I want back and stuff I can continue to improve on, and we have that mentality as a unit and team.
Defense played amazing. That's a really good offense. They been doing a lot of really good things and making a lot of explosive plays, and for them to keep up in the game like they did, credit goes them. Great playing on defense.
And then for us, again, execution is what matters. There is stuff for us to clean up, get better at, but when it mattered we got it done. I'm super proud of that.
Q. Do you feel like the pressure is now off, you got this one?
BRYCE YOUNG: You know, really I think for us, of course we have a standard for ourselves, and, again, we still -- we're still chasing that. Again, doesn't come with one win. We have to keep building off this.
But throughout this, you know, the thing was we didn't -- there wasn't any pressure that wasn't external. There wasn't any pressure that we didn't have already. I don't think we had pressure, just urgency as a group. We had urgency, and that came from this building. It wasn't from outside stuff, wasn't from anyone else; it came from the building.
We just had urgency to make sure we were improving. That doesn't do go away. We have to keep getting better urgently. It's a great win, but there is a lot of stuff for us to clean up as a team.
So, again, it's one win and it's awesome. We're going to enjoy today, but we got to turn the page and we have to keep that same urgency.
Q. Coach said you got the game ball. How did that feel?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, it's amazing. Again, just being able to be in front of the team, you know, just being in this locker room, that environment after a win, you know, it's something you can't replicate.
So it's huge honor to receive that from Coach and my teammates. I'm just super grateful to be a part of the team.
Q. What were the emotions on the sideline with Eddy going through all those penalties and like what was going through your mind?
BRYCE YOUNG: Not too many emotions. That's Eddy P. I knew he was going to hit the kick. Again, how we finished that game, especially at the end, the credit goes to the O-line. We had a drive of first and ten. They had all their timeouts right at the two-minute warning.
We ran the ball three straight times kind of everyone in the stadium knows we are running the ball, and that's tough in the NFL, to get ten yards off that.
That's hard. That's our O-line, receivers, tight ends doing everything. Us all playing a part in the run game.
It was really big. That was really big. After we did that we were able to get that first down and be able to set it up for Eddy. At that point, I was just happy to do my part.
Q. Now that you've seen the process result in a win, does this put you guys in that mindset where you feel like you know how to feels, you'll be able to shift into a new gear?
BRYCE YOUNG: Yeah, we want to build off this, but, again, this is one where it's great. We're going to enjoy it. It's great in the locker room. But obviously this is (indiscernible) Super Bowl. We have to make sure we're good enough. There is a sense of -- I think us feeling that and get ting that feeling, you know, we don't want it to go away. We want to keep repeating it. We have something we can chase that we felt.
At the same time, this doesn't entitle us to anything next week or beyond. We have to continue to keep growing and have the same urgency, if not more, to keep pushing and being better. Again, I think it's great to have a taste and be able to feel it. Doesn't entitle us to anything. We have to earn it.
Q. Regarding play calling.)
BRYCE YOUNG: TB? Again, for that being his first game calling plays, great play calling. Put us in great positions. We had had some stuff, some circumstances early, two backed up drives. As a play caller, especially first time, those are not easy to be thrust in that position.
You know, he did a great job putting us in to positions, executing, being able to adapt on the fly when frustrating things -- getting unscouted looks, different looks, thing like that. You definitely would not think that was his first time calling plays.
Throughout that, super even keel, calm. You know, he's himself and cares a lot and is always fired, but he was able to -- he did a great job just being that leader for us.
Again, calling stuff yeah, dialing it up and being able to adapt and be consistent, it was great for me for sure.
Q. What was the best part about today?
BRYCE YOUNG: Winning. I don't really have an explanation after that one. That's all I got.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
BRYCE YOUNG: You know, I think it's -- you know, it's a lot of different dynamics. You know, you're going against different guys, a lot of veterans, a lot of guys that played a lot of football. Really it's just, again, the consistency of good players from both ends, and then different locker room dynamics, you know, throughout your life.
Maybe four years is the biggest age difference. Everyone is obviously -- you have people in different parts of their life, different walks of life, but with that, one, I'm super grateful to be a part of this team. For us to be able to come together and play this game, it brings us all together and pushes us to be the best.
There are obviously a lot of new things and different things, but still have the same goal.
Q. Bryce, you've played for an SEC championship, a lot big games in your life. From the perspective, just what one win really, really meant, even though from the outside it's only the one win?
BRYCE YOUNG: It felt like one win. Again, it's great. You know, obviously we didn't have the start we wanted. But, again, we also understand this is one win, and, again, week eight, one win. It's great. We're going to enjoy it. But it felt like that. We have stuff to clean up and build on, so we all know that and understand it. It's great. Again, these don't come easy.
Really good team, so we definitely respect that. But we celebrated it. It's good, and then we're going to get ready to turn the page tomorrow.
Fastscripts by ASAP Sports...
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports