**On Carolina's defense:
**"It's a good defense. When you look at the defense, they've got some good guys up front. DE Charles Johnson is obviously a really good player and the secondary and those guys, we've gone against for a number of years now. (Carolina CB Chris) Gamble is a talented guy. So it's a good defense; certainly one that we know well and they know us well so it'll be a fun matchup."
**On how to build off of the first two offensive series in the Green Bay game:
**"I think when you look at what we did this past weekend, there's obviously some good and there's some not so good. You've got to draw from those positives, look at the execution that we had on the first two drives and try to channel that throughout 60 minutes. There's going to be ups and downs throughout games, no question, but just to remain positive and execute the way we know we can."
**On if the team expected that he would be second in the league in pass attempts through five games:
**"No. We'd like to be a balanced team. We've put ourselves in tough positions to be able to remain balanced. I think if we can execute better, more consistently for four quarters, it'll be more along the lines of where we'd like to be."
**On how the locker room is staying positive despite a 2-3 record:
**"I think the biggest thing is to remain in the present. That's something that (Falcons head coach Mike Smith) Smitty talks about all the time. It's important what we do day-to-day. You can't look too far down the road. It's a League where it's difficult week in and week out. There's going to be ups and downs throughout a season. There's going to be those lulls and those highs and regardless of whether it's going good or bad, you need to remain in the present. I think guys have done a great job of that. Monday, Tuesday, even in here today, guys have been focused in on what we need to accomplish that day and I think we need to keep that mindset all week."
**On calling more screen plays during the Green Bay game:
**"Week-to-week, you change and evolve. We've done some things well; we've done some things not so well. I think we just need to continue to find that right mix and play a little bit more consistent."
**On how he feels physically:
**"I feel good. My body feels good. Our guys are playing hard up front and we just need to do a better job collectively as a whole against some of the different schemes that we're seeing. It comes down to what we do during the week, how we prepare, how we meet, how we work it out on the practice field so we can be a little bit better when games roll around."
**On the uncharacteristic penalties and mistakes against Green Bay:
**"I don't want to take credit away from what Green Bay does. They're a good football team and they pounce on opportunities and that's what good football teams do. But when we look back at it, we made a lot of mistakes and that's what we need to clean up and that starts with me. I made plenty mistakes out there of not putting ourselves in good situations out there to be successful and that's something that we need to clean up and that we're going to try to clean up this week."
**On how he judges his play this season:
**"It's not something that you get too hung up on. When you evaluate play, you evaluate wins and losses as a quarterback. It certainly hasn't been good enough up to this point. So it's something that I think I need to play better; I think all of our guys need to play better. That's what we're trying to do."
**On how they can balance the offense:
**"We'd like to be a little better balanced, but like I've said before, we put ourselves in tough positions and we haven't been able to remain balanced because we've made mistakes that have backed us up into a corner. I think it comes down, point blank, to that we need to play more consistent. If we do that both in the run game and the pass game, I think that will kind of add to a little bit of balance."
**On whether he is surprised with the lull in offensive productivity with the offseason addition of Julio Jones:
**"I think, certainly, you have expectations to go out and play well. We haven't done that. It's a long year and we're at that point where we've done some things well and we have done some things poorly and we've got to feed off of those positive things, those things we have done well and try to extend those our through 60 minutes. That's really where my mindset is right now."
**On the team's resiliency last year after their opponent made a play and whether that is absent this year:
**"I think it is fair. There's going to be ups and downs regardless of whether you're 5-0 or 0-5. There's going to be ups and downs in things that you do well and things that you don't do well. It's how you respond to those things. We haven't done a great job of responding to the mistakes that we've made and we've kind of compounded our mistakes. In this League, you can't afford to do that. You're playing against good football teams week in and week out so that's certainly something that we need to address."
**On whether the NFC South is the hardest division in the NFL:
**"I don't know whether it's the hardest or not, but it's a good division. It really is. We've got a lot of talent, top to bottom, and a lot of good football teams both offensively and defensively. Carolina is a good football team. They've been in tight games and the difference between wins and losses is very small. It comes down to a handful of plays. So it's a good football team that we're going against this week and we've got to prepare really well and I think we've all gotten off to a good start."
**On the differences in Carolina since the last time the two teams met:
**"Defensively, they look similar. Defensively, I thought they played well last year too so they've got some similar guys. Obviously, their scheme is a little bit different with their new coordinator. Their effort is really good. Their effort on the defensive side of the ball is really good and that's something that we need to match. Our effort needs to be good and it will. Our guys play hard."
**On whether he is surprised by the immediate success of QB Cam Newton:
**"I think he's gotten off to a great start. I think everybody is certainly surprised any time a rookie comes in and performs the way he has. But he's a talented guy. He's a good guy. I've met him once. He seems like a really good guy, down to earth and humble and hungry. He's playing really well."
**On how difficult it is to do what Newton is doing with the condensed offseason:
**"That leads to some of the surprise. I thought he was talented in college. We obviously watch him play and he made some incredible plays at Auburn but to have the shortened preparation time kind of adds to that difficulty. So a credit to him; he's done a tremendous job since he's come in."
**On his helmet communicator going out and how you respond to that happening:
**"We prepare for it. The first time that it happens is always difficult because it goes out, you can't really tell it goes out because you're just waiting for it to come in and then you realize you're getting low on the play clock. So we have certain things in place and we went to what we do. Then we go to a wristband. We have that and we prepare for that week in and week out."
**On CB Chris Gamble and the Carolina defense:
**"Gamble has been playing a little bit. We obviously know, when he's healthy, he's a good player. What you see from him is a great effort. Their two defense ends are playing at a high level. Both of them are playing at a high level. Their effort, it's there every week. They're playing with great effort. So this is a talented defense. Obviously, I think they believe in their scheme. They've got a new defensive coordinator and do some different things. They're doing a really good job."
**On the no-huddle offense:
**"One of the things is our familiarity with it. We've been in this system for a couple of years now and guys are comfortable in that situation. We've just executed well in that and we need to execute more consistently throughout the game."
**On what would prevent them from going to the no-huddle exclusively:
**"There's things that we do positive out of both and it's one of the reasons we've been successful the last couple of years is because we can keep people off balance. I think one of the most positive things is the ability to do both."
