Ben McAdoo Gives Thoughts on Arizona's Defense, Spreading Targets, Laviska + More

Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo previews this week's game versus Arizona.

Baker Mayfield trusting the o-line 

"It's just reps, right? Every week is a little bit of a different week in this league so you get different looks, different defenses that give us different challenges. We're going to have another challenge this week. Coach [Vance] Joseph does a good job. He likes to pressure the quarterback and mixes up his looks, so we're going to have to be on top of it."

Laviska Shenault's debut

"It was encouraging. Laviska went out and made a couple of plays for us. The touchdown is obviously going to get a lot of attention, but that third down conversion, he had a lot of help from his friends, but that third down conversion towards the end of the game changed the game for us. We were backed up a little bit and had long yardage to go. We just want to keep oiling him up. He's going to keep progressing, keep learning the offense. Had a chance to not only go out and play but get his hands on the football and that will serve us well."

Plan if Christian McCaffrey can't play

"Obviously, Christian is a special player. He's one of the best players in the league. Whether we have him or whether we don't, obviously that's up to the medical team and coach. But we'll be ready for him if we do have him and we'll be ready if we don't."

Thoughts on Dan Orlovsky saying the offense is tipping its hand

"Coach [Rhule] addressed that. I'm not really going to get too much into it. I do know this, if you're terrified of critics trying new things probably isn't the right thing for you and I'm not really worried about that. As we get going here, we'll be well protected."

Baker's footwork and ball placement

You give yourself the best chance to be consistent if your footwork is consistent and your eyes and your feet are tied together. Some guys it may matter more than others and that's just something we're working through and we just keep hammering away at it. He does a lot of great things at practice and the more you practice that way, the more it will carry over to the game."

Getting guys open

"The first thing I always do is I'm always critical of myself and look in the mirror. We've got good players out there on the perimeter so we've got to help those guys out. That's something that we're looking at for sure."

Arizona's defense

"They try to get after you. They're not going to sit back and wait. They'll try to dictate to you how they want the game to go. A bunch of physical players that can run. They punch the ball out, so we've got to do a great job of protecting the football this week. That's the primary focus for us."

DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson getting few targets

"They just need to keep working hard. I need to do a better job of getting the ball to them. We need to find more completions.

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