Ron Rivera Talked Quotations

When we came into this draft, we talked about the needs that we had on the defensive side. We've improved our speed, we've improved our tenacity and we've improved with some of the depth we're going to have.

One of the things we talked about was not giving the guy (Smith) a chance to make big plays, and he did that. You see why he's a Pro Bowler, an All-Pro.

I talked with coach (Smith) on a number of occasions. I think the neat thing about it is he does have a lot of insight into the place.

As we said all the way through training camp: We felt we were a good team. We felt we were on the rise. ... We talked about where we felt we could be as a defense ? being in the top 10, being in the top five, being No. 1, finishing No. 1. The ultimate prize has always been the playoffs and getting to the Super Bowl.

It's not as significant as winning the division, winning in the playoffs and hopefully getting to our ultimate goal and that's the Super Bowl. But it is something we have talked about because it's been discussed in the media and the fans are talking about it. It would be neat. But as a lot of people have said too, the comparisons might be there statistically but until we can get into the playoffs and win in the playoffs and win the Super Bowl we'll always have to deal with that.