Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason did a conference call with the New Orleans media on Wednesday, afternoon, discussing Sunday's matchup with the Saints. Below is a transcript:
Can you talk about the season that your team is having defensively, even though it isn't reflective in the record?
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"To me solid is a C. That's average. I think we're playing pretty well. There are things we can do to help our offense and team out in terms of getting some more turnovers and scoring. We don't even want to say that we're satisfied or content with how we're playing on our side. The only stat that counts at the end of the day is wins and losses."
Where did the Saints have success against you in the last meeting?
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"The biggest statistic was third down. Drew Brees is the best in the league at third down conversions. They were eight-of-14 if I'm not mistaken. Our goal is to hold them to 33 percent. They're able to sustain drives. We played them tough, but down the stretch they made some plays and got some field goals to help them get the win."
Do the multiple reports about John Fox's job security up there affect you guys?
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"Everyone has job security (issues) right now. We're facing a potential lockout. Nobody knows what's going to happen next year. I don't think it's something we're going to focus on or even think about as an organization."
Does it affect your play as a player knowing that your coach might be on the hot seat?
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"No, I think that's something that will be addressed in the future. Right now he's still giving 100 percent here every day, staying late, trying to help us come up with the right scheme to go ahead and get some wins. That's what everybody's trying to do right now."
How does a team respond to the uncertainty at quarterback?
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"I think early on there were a lot of different things going into the quarterback position as it wasn't playing up to par if you would say. At the end of the day, I think guys have rallied around them, whether it's Matt (Moore) or Jimmy (Clausen) in there and tried to do their job to help those guys be successful. Jimmy's a rookie, so he's going to have his lumps. Even though he's going into his fourth year in the NFL, Matt has only eight or nine starts under his belt. As a teammate you try to do more around them and try to help those young guys out."
Do you think the inexperience is more of a factor than the changes in the rotation?
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"I think it all has its hand in it. It's just tough. If you watch any defense, someone can make a mistake, someone else can make a great play and nobody knows that other guy made a mistake. Offensively if someone makes a mistake, or someone gets beat, someone gets off the ball, runs a bad route or there's a missed protection…So many different things can go wrong offensively that result in a negative play when maybe the other ten guys are doing their job. We go back and we evaluate the film and the story's been the same all year in terms of not what teams have been doing to us, but what we're not doing as the Carolina Panthers.
It's true you guys have been strong defensively, but against the run you guys haven't been nearly as strong as against the pass. Why do you think that's the case?
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"I think when it comes down to it, teams tend to throw less against us and run more. I don't know why that is, but at the end of the day it's two phases of the game. Usually you're going to be good at one and maybe not as good at the other. For the most part, it's just about keeping people out of the end zone and keeping points off the board. As a linebacker, I wish it was reversed, but it's not the case. What really counts is keeping points off the board."
You guys gave New Orleans a really hard time in October. Do you guys match up well with the Saints? You guys always seem to play these guys tough. Often you guys beat them.
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"Often, I think it just comes down to being familiar. I think the NFC South, especially now that Tampa's coming on, is definitely a division to be reckoned with. When it comes to playing the Saints, you have coach (John) Fox and coach (Sean) Payton are former coaches who coached together before and know each other well. So, it's a chess match. We're so familiar that we know what makes the Saints vulnerable and what makes them go. I think it just comes down to being familiar with them."
When you're going through a season where things don't go your way and playoff chances don't look great, does it get hard to come to work everyday?
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"Yes, it's definitely tough. When you lose, it seems like the sun doesn't come up. You feel the vibe the whole week throughout the facility. You just try to stay enthusiastic and remember that this league's based on what you're doing right now. Nobody cares if you scored 40 points last week and had an all pro performance. People want to see where you win now. That's the beauty of the game in that there's always next week. You always try to push through. It's definitely tough. Guys know we have the ability to play well when we want to. It's about being consistent."
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