Opening statement:"Good seeing you guys. I appreciate you being here. [We had a] good practice, a good week away. I thought the guys, obviously, conducted themselves very well – you do always appreciate that – and then came back with great enthusiasm today. They were excited to be back together, had a really good practice, good meetings, and now we're off preparing for Carolina and our next game."
You guys have been very successful coming off the Bye Week. Do you do anything different in practice coming off a Bye than any other week, where you're trying maybe knock off the rust or anything else? _(Jamison Hensley) _"We have the extra practice, so like today, we had a practice. We wouldn't normally have that practice; Wednesday would be our first practice. So, that's really what we do."
We know TE Mark Andrews has been dealing with a lot the last few weeks going into the Bye Week. How helpful have the last couple of weeks been for him, and how's he doing at this point? _(Luke Jones) _"I think, good. [When] you talk to Mark [Andrews], he sounds very positive, obviously, about it, and the trainers, as well. We'll see how it progresses throughout the rest of the week. It'll be the same answer for Gus [Edwards]. 'JPP' [Jason Pierre-Paul] was out there today. And [with] DeSean [Jackson], all those guys, we'll just see how they look on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. They all have a real good chance."
It looks like QB Baker Mayfield – a familiar face – is going to be starting for the Panthers. Does it help that you've had some history with him going into a matchup like this? _(Jamison Hensley) _"Sure, [and] I'm sure it helps him [Baker Mayfield]. He's had history with us, as well. So, [I have] a lot of respect for Baker Mayfield. We've had some incredible battles with him when he was with the Browns – some great games. We know what he's capable of doing, we understand his strengths as a quarterback, and we're going to have to do everything we can do to stop those things."
You've won three in a row now. Are you OK with the Bye Week, as far as keeping momentum going in the second half of the season? _(Todd Karpovich) _"Yes, yes, that's not going to be a problem. And the season, it starts right back up again. It's not like we've been gone for a month. We get a little bit of rest, and we get right back at it. We just have to go play our best game on Sunday, and that's what we're going to try to do."
How valuable is the self-scouting process that you go through during the Bye Week? There's the physical piece, but also that component, as well. _(Garrett Downing) _"It is valuable. You get a couple extra days to just kind of look at yourself and see where you think you're strong, where you're weak, see if you have any tendencies that you weren't aware of – we try to keep track of that even in-season – and then just try to make a few decisions in terms of direction. Personnel-wise, who do we have? What are we doing well? What can we get better at? Where do we need to focus our time at practice? Whatever we're going to need to do to win in the next few weeks. So, we tried to do that, and we'll see how it looks."
OLB Tyus Bowser got his first game back under his belt. I'm sure you've seen the film. How do you think he did? _(Cliff Brown) _"He played well. Tyus [Bowser] played very well. He was active, fast, versatile like we know. He did a lot of different things well. I thought he played excellent – like he hadn't even missed any time at all, really – so that's a good sign."
With OLB David Ojabo, did you always know that it was going to be after the Bye Week that would be the more likely debut date? And do you have a sense of when he might be ramping up to be able to play? _(Jonas Shaffer) _"We realize there's going to be a ramping up, as you put it, for sure. He [David Ojabo] hasn't played. He wasn't in training camp at all; you look at Charlie [Kolar] the same way. Those guys haven't had any practice at all. So, now they have; they've got a week or two. We'll put them out there when we think they're ready and when they're needed – of course they're needed at any time – when we feel they're ready to be successful, and that could be soon. They're available, so we'll see."
