**
Q: How are you feeling?**
Carr:"Good. Feeling a lot better than I did a couple of games ago, that's for sure. Definitely feeling better."
Q: You've been out there Monday and today. Did that answer any questions that you might have had if you were going to be able to go or not?
Carr:"It's going to take a lot for me not to be out there. To answer your question, in my head, I was going to play no matter how it felt when I woke up, somehow I am going to get ready to play in the game."
Q: With the brace on your legs?
Carr:"No, I'm not going to wear a brace."
Q: No brace on the ankle or the knee?
Carr:"No, I'm going to tape it just how I normally do. I'm just going to be exactly who I am, just go out there and play."
Q: Tony Sparano has said he's told you that they don't have time for you to be a rookie right now and that your team needs you to step up and be a leader. How do you think you've handled that responsibility?
Carr:"It's just something where at first it was a sensitive situation that I was stepping into. Now, we're kind of past that. Now, it is my team. It's what he said, those are his words 'it is your team.' We are past all that kind of stuff. For me, it's great because now I can just be myself like I have been, but now I don't have to hold back, I guess. You don't want to step on anybody's toes. You want to be a great teammate. All of those things, but now it's kind of like here are the keys, now take it and let's go. There's no real easing into it anymore. We've already done that for the first four games. Now it's, you're our guy, let's role. Lead them and let's go do this thing. That's kind of what that was."
Q: It does have to be difficult that after four weeks you getting a coaching change. That has to be a test of anyone's leadership. Was that a difficult thing to navigate?
Carr:"Any time you go through change, you can handle it one of two ways. You can let it defeat you or you can embrace it. Like we've said, we've already talked about Coach [Dennis] Allen and now we're moving on. We've embraced Coach Sparano. We're excited. You walk out to practice and the team was excited and flying around. We played with great energy. There were still mistakes, as always with every practice around the nation. But, the energy and the effort was there. Now we're just embracing this challenge. We're excited to do it."
Q: From a distance, you see an 0-4 team with a rookie quarterback and that's the worst scenario, some people think for a rookie quarterback. The protection has been pretty good. Do you feel good about your progress?
Carr:"We just get graded on wins, so not too good obviously. Me personally, it's never been about that. As long as I'm getting better, I'll let the coaches talk about those things. For me, as long as we win games, then I'll say I'm doing good. But, until then, I haven't done a good enough job."
Q: You're going to be self-critical about your reads, but what do you see in the things you're doing better now?
Carr:"You're exactly right with that. I'm not very good about talking about myself. I definitely feel better. Things, the reads, are getting better. We're going in the right direction. Now I just have to keep doing that."
Q: How about your left tackle, Donald Penn? Talk about his influence as a player and on the offensive line.
Carr:"Really, all of them, I love them to death. They've done a great job. I know my wife loves them. *(laughing) *They've done a great job of protecting me. They've taken it on their shoulders. They want to protect me. That's one of the things that it comes down to too. They have to like the guy they are protecting or else there are things they might not want to do. Maybe I have to bring them some more brownies and stuff so we can continue it. It's been going good. They've been great in helping me progress from when I went in the first time screaming out the plays in the preseason to teaching me, 'Hey, you can calm down a little bit. You don't have to yell them at us.' They've done a great job in helping me progress as a rookie. Like you guys have said, they've done a great job in protection, and I definitely appreciate that."
Q: Sort of the sore thumb stat that you see is the 5.5 yards per attempt. What do you see in terms of that area and improving that specific area?
Carr: "Whatever we do, I am just going through my reads and making sure I throw it to our team to the best of my ability. That's what I am trying to do. Again, when Coach Sparano wants to talk about yards after catch, all those things, I'll let him talk about those things. My job is to do my very best at what I see out on the field and throw it to the right guy. Anything else having to do with that, that's for him."
Q: What are your impressions of Kenbrell Thompkins?
Carr: "He is really good, obviously. I think for us, he is going to be really good. He is very fluid, very athletic. He has a little something to him, which I always like. The first time he saw me, he wanted to sit down and he wanted me to go over signals, routes, he wanted me to do all of these things. Instead of just showing up and saying, 'Hey, nice to meet you. OK, I'm going to go now.' It wasn't like that. He wants to learn, and he wants to be out there. He probably is still out there catching balls off the JUGS. It means something to him, to be good at this game and you can already tell."
Q: What are your impressions of the Chargers secondary on film?
Carr: "Very talented. I can say that every week. It's the NFL. Everyone is talented. Very good, very athletic. Obviously, they have a whole bunch of All-Pro guys. We have our hands full, just like any other week. But just like any other week, I am going to do my best to go through my reads and wherever it takes it, that's where we go with it. We have to know in our offensive huddle that we have to win."
