Comments from Carolina Panthers head coach John Fox following the team's practice.
On injuries: Did not participate: Jonathan Stewart - Achilles. Limited participation: James Anderson - concussion, Jon Beason - knee, Na'il Diggs - rib, Nick Hayden - toe and Captain Munnerlyn - shoulder.
On practicing in the rain and cold: It was good. I thought our players' focus was really good. We can get some rain in Tampa. I think it was a hard sell to convince them that it would be 45 (degrees). But it was good to work in the conditions as far as the ball handling and those types of things.
On how the forecast for rain could affect practice for the remainder of the week: We'll just take each day at a time. Today we were able to manage to get through it. Actually, we were able to go on the grass. We try to keep them off the field turf as much as possible, but if it gets real wet we might have to be out there on the artificial turf.
On if the team's mood was different after getting the first win: Yeah. This game takes confidence, and obviously winning breeds confidence. So we hadn't felt that feeling in a little bit - a little longer than we all expected - but it was good to get that one under our belt. Before you win two you've got to win one, and we've got a game division good against a rival down at their place.
On if the offensive line needs to work on anything specific to be more efficient: We've had the same guys in there. We just need to improve. We do that in practice and, hopefully, we continue to get better. I think we were a little bit more efficient in the run game. Some of the things statistically is what the opponent does. They (Redskins) were loading the box (and) doubling Steve (Smith). In those cases, sometimes, you have to take some shots, and we were able to get a couple of big pass plays because of it. Again, we'll keep continuing to try to get better both in the run blocking and in the pass protection.
On if it is surprising that the offensive line has struggled considering that the starters are the same as last year: I don't know that it's been an issue. When you're 1-3 or 0-3 a week ago, I think a lot of things have been issues. I don't know that singling out the offensive line - and we were able to run well enough to score 20 points - we've just got to continue to improve in all phases. When you throw a game in there like Philadelphia where you're down 31-10 and you get one dimensional, you're not going to look as good pass protecting, and that's true for any team.
On Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Johnson: I worked him out coming out (of college). He played at USD (University of San Diego), a smaller level (college), but he lit it up. He scored a lot of points, had a lot of yardage. He's very athletic. He'll definitely be the most athletic quarterback we've seen to date as far as his ability with his feet. He's a young guy that's learning, but he's a sharp guy and a good, young player.
