Comments from Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox following the team's practice.
On injuries: Did not participate - Jeff Otah (knee), Jordan Senn (ankle) and Tyrell Sutton - shoulder. Full participation - Tyler Brayton (ankle).
On the Panthers receivers other than Steve Smith only having 34 career catches among them: We evaluate them, look at their talent level, look at how they execute their assignments. As I remind guys, there are guys in this league that weren't household names prior to last year; they were young players. Whether they are running backs or wide outs, why not us? They've got the talent level to do it. Now it's just a matter of going out and earning a rep in this league, and you do that by performing on Sundays.
On if he is worried about being too young at wide receiver: I worry about a lot of things; that's some of it. But at the end of the day, I've had rookies play with us that have had Pro Bowl seasons. The proof is in the pudding so to speak.
On what defensive tackles Derek Landri and Andre Neblett did to catch his eye and earn roster spots: They played good. They played consistently over the evaluation period, did the right thing, made plays and were productive. At the end of the day they played well.
On how comfortable he is with Garry Williams and Tim Duckworth being the reserve offensive linemen against the Giants: Either way, most people are only going to be able to suit up seven or eight of them, so I feel comfortable with that.
On if it is unfair that quarterback Matt Moore has been overlooked by the national media: I'd be disappointed in Matt if he paid much attention to what the outside says. I know kind of what he thinks and I know what I think and what his teammates think and what the rest of the coaching staff thinks. Like the receiver question, at the end of the day you're judged on how you perform, and I feel very confident that he'll be just fine.
On New York Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, who is from Gastonia, N.C.: I think he is a good, young, energetic coach that had good success in Buffalo. That's a good reason why the Giants hired him when they made a change, and I think he is doing an excellent job there in New York.
On how he would describe Fewell as a defensive coordinator and what he expects from the Giants' defense: They are very fundamentally sound. They are not going to take huge risks. They are going to be good, sound packages as well as fundamentally sound with good technique.
On if he has watched a lot of tape of the Buffalo Bills 2009 defense in preparation for this game: On that side of the ball, yes.
