Comments from Carolina Panthers Head Coach Ron Rivera.
On injuries: Jordan (Gross) practiced today, took some good reps, so I'm pretty encouraged. He's questionable. Captain (Munnerlyn) went out there, tested it (ankle) and did really well. So we had some of his gear brought out, and he actually took some reps. He looks pretty good unless he has a setback. Charles Godfrey (shoulder) took some reps, looked pretty good. Bryant Browning did something to his wrist during practice, so we're a little concerned. He's going to get an X-ray, and we'll see how that comes out. Chris Gamble practiced today. Yesterday, we gave him a day off to rest his legs. Everybody else was status quo. Darius Butler is out. He did the (concussion) protocol and struggled a little bit with the test.
On if rookie cornerback Brandon Hogan will play for the first time this season with cornerback Darius Butler out: Brandon will be up, obviously, with Darius being down. He'll get an opportunity to play some special teams. Who knows, maybe he'll get some base reps or nickel reps (on defense). I'm pretty excited about seeing the young man, and we'll see how everything else unfolds with the rest of the squad.
On if he has decided if Olindo Mare or Adi Kunalic will be the kicker against the Houston Texans: That will be determined tomorrow. Olindo has kicked the ball well (since) bringing Adi in. He's (Adi) kicked it pretty good, too, but I am a little concerned about him being a little bit sore. He hasn't kicked as much as he has, and now he's having to kick a lot more. So we'll see how he is as well tomorrow morning.
On the week of practice: It was a good week, so I'm pretty happy about that. It's easy - these guys could shut down, but they haven't and we won't let them. We'll ask them to keep coming to work and keep practicing hard. As I've said before, we are most certainly playing for four Sundays - the next three and then the first one in September.
