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Q: When you hear a guy like Charles Woodson say, "We suck." How do you react to that?**
Carr:"I understand what he's saying, obviously. We didn't play at the level to which we want to play at and that we can play at. I probably wouldn't word it that way, but he's allowed to say things like that because he's going to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He can say whatever he wants, in my opinion. We do need to get better, obviously. There's a lot of things we need to do better and I'm with him. We needed to play better in that game and we can play better. We hurt ourselves. That' when it hurts, when you do things – I can only speak for the offense – when we do things where we're moving the ball and then we hurt ourselves, that hurts because we see the offense working, we see it moving down the field and then bam, something happens. That's where it's hard, but that's why you practice. That's why we continue to work even when it's hard. Even when times are hard, you just keep your head down and you work. That's what we're going to do."
Q: After watching the film, do you see any progression in your game from Week 1 to Week 2?
Carr:"Yeah, I got better, obviously. I still did things wrong, obviously. That's going to – I don't want it to happen, but it has happened. But we're getting better and that's not me saying that, that's just going off what the coaches tell me, because me saying it would mean nothing. They just tell me, 'Hey, good job. Obviously, we need to fix A, B and C, but you're doing these things right. Just keep working.' And it's things that we can correct. It's not things where I'm just doing something and they have no clue what is going on. It's things that just by coaching, 'Hey, you need to do this better and this is how you do it better.' And they've given me ways to do those things better. If they want to speak on those things, they can, but it's not like something where, 'Derek's helpless' – one of those things. That's the good part, but now we need to turn whatever it is into wins. I don't care how we do it, we just got to win."
Q: There is pressure on a rookie quarterback anyway, but when there is speculation on coaches' job security, does that add to the pressure or do you filter that out?
Carr:"I don't pay attention to any of those things. I dealt with those kind of things being said in my sophomore year in college and I'll tell you what, our team just showed up to work and we kept working, because we're a family and that's all we did. I don't get into those things. I don't even talk about them even to my family. If it even tries to come up, people want to ask questions, I don't even talk about it, because my sole focus is taking what Coach Allen says, applying it to what I need to do, and then spreading it out and leading the offense. So as long as that's going on, whatever the head man says, that's what I go by."
Q: How fast do you think Vincent Brown can be integrated into the flow of the offense?
Carr:"He seems like a really smart guy. Personality-wise, he's a great dude. I love the guy. He's a good dude, but I guess that doesn't count for too much if we're talking football. But he's a good dude, a good dude to have in our locker room, for sure. He has great experience. He's obviously played. Now getting him ready, I don't know how he learns. I don't know how fast he learns. I don't know what the best way he learns is. I don't know yet. We're throwing a lot at him. Our goal is obviously they signed him, so we want to get him going. But how fast, I honestly wish I could tell you. I don't know. Hopefully soon. That's the plan, but again, it's one of those things that as fast as he can do it, I'm sure that he'll want to be ready to go."
Q: If there a different feel in the locker room, like your backs are against the wall?
Carr:"I got to be honest, one thing I love to see today is dudes came out to practice energized. The guys came out ready to get better. Mistakes are going to happen always, but it's the way you deal with them, myself included. I've found when I make a mistake and I'm down about it, I tend to not play as well. But when you make a mistake and you bounce back and you go the next play, you tend to play better. So mistakes are going to happen, but what I loved about practice today was guys were flying around, guys were racing out to just get out to be on the field when it was their turn to be up. That's all it is, is competition, is competing against each other, having fun. But one thing that I love to see and that I've heard so much this week is, 'Do it for the man next to you.' Don't do it selfishly, because we won't win any games doing it selfishly. One thing this team isn't doing is that. So they're doing a great job – we're doing a great job – of working our tails off because we care about the man next to us. To me, in my opinion, I saw that happening today and when that is happening, no matter the circumstance, whether you're 2-0 or 0-2, then you're going to do good things. Because I've seen – I've been on a team when we're whatever-and-0 and we took it a different way and we ended up losing, whereas the other way around, we can turn it around because we kept fighting for each other. And that's what I saw today."
Q: Has there been more energy than last week?
Carr:"It's hard for me to remember off of last week, but I just noticed it today. Going off last week, I can't remember as well, but just seeing it today, it was something I noticed."
Q: Where is that energy coming from? The coaches? The veterans?
Carr:"I think everything comes from the top down. Coach Allen was energized today. Everyone was energized today and that's how it has to be, because we're in this thing together. Those guys in that locker room, the coaches, we're doing this thing together trying to get whatever we need to do to get fixed. So it doesn't really start and end in one place, but it's always top-down."
Q: When you say, "Do it for the guy next to you." Is that something Coach Allen specifically said?
Carr:"No. It's not just one thing, but it's just something that as an observation that I noticed is everyone's doing it unselfishly. We're all going to work, working our tail off, fixing what we need to fix so we can win, not just so, 'I need to fix these things so I can do better.' It's so I can do better but the main goal is so that we can win."
Q: Although you are preparing for the Patriots' defense, is playing against Tom Brady one of the moments you can check off your list in your career?
Carr:"Oh man, maybe when I look back on it, but right now I'm all focused on winning, honestly. It's cool, obviously. I think playing against him is going to be a great opportunity, but I don't have to play safety or try and cover anybody and that's a good thing for us. I don't know if that'd be good. I'll leave that to Charles and Tyvon. But it'll be really cool, but at the same time, my focus has been strictly the defense."
Q: How are you preparing for Bill Belichick's defense?
Carr:"He's very successful at what he's done. He's a great coach. I've heard nothing but great things. Coach [Pat] Hill, who is my first college coach, they are best friends. They know each other and Coach Hill taught us things that Coach Belichick does and vice versa kind of thing. I kind of know his style. I kind of know how he is. Just being around Coach Hill, I know that they're going to be ready. I know that they're going to be sound. I know that they're going to be very disciplined and that has shown because they've won however many Super Bowls. Again, he's a great coach, so it'll be good."
Q: Does your film study include what Belichick has shown other rookie quarterbacks in the past?
Carr:"I watch everything. Someone brought something up today from a game that didn't even happen, I was like, 'Yeah, I remember, I saw that,' because whether it's a rookie quarterback or not, I feel like they're going to do what they're best at and they're going to try and attack where our weaknesses are. So that's how I just kind of think. So whether it's a rookie-quarterback game or not, I've tried to watch them all."
Q: Is there anything that you're doing outside of what Coach Allen is telling you to do as far as taking initiative in working with teammates?
Carr:"Yes. To answer your question, yes. I'm not going outside of what Coach Allen wants. I don't want to get it said in the wrong way. Whatever he wants us to do, that's what I'm doing. But to go out of my way if we messed up on a play, to go out of my way and say, 'Hey, I saw this and this. Can we try this?' to the other players, absolutely. Today at practice, it happened probably after every play. It was like, 'Hey, what'd you see there? I saw this. OK, let's try and do this.'"
Q: So you opened the lines of communication more?
Carr:"Communication is key, again, from top down. Everyone has to be on the same page and that's one thing out at practice today, that's what we did. We communicated and it was a good thing, because we got better today."
Q: Opposing coaches almost invariably talk about Marcel Reece as a guy that can be difficult to match up with, but you haven't been able to get him the ball much through two games. How can you get him more involved?
Carr:"Obviously, he's a Pro Bowl player. Obviously, you want the ball in his hands. Ways to get him the ball and schematically and all those things, I'll let the coaches talk about that kind of stuff. To me, I'm just going through my reads. Whatever the defense is showing, I'm going to do to the best of my ability to get the ball where it's supposed to go. Now, placing people in certain positions, obviously, that's not something I can answer. Obviously, he's definitely a player you want the ball in his hands, because he's a good player."
Q: With all the decorated veterans that have been brought in, what are you able to pick up from those guys as a rookie facing adversity?
Carr:"Oh my goodness, so much, because you just watch them work. They don't really have to say much. You just kind of watch them and you can tell that they're a champion. You can tell that they've won for a reason. All I have to go off of is what I did in college and what I was around. I just saw effort all the time. Whether we were 11-0 thinking we were going to a BCS game and then lost a rival game, the next day we come out to practice, I watched everyone on that team come out and play with the most effort I've ever seen, because we had the next game to win. That's one thing that you see today is, like you're saying, adversity. We're sitting here 0-2. That's the truth. Now when we come to work, is it going to be, 'Yeah, we're 0-2, maybe we'll turn it around,"? No, these guys are working to turn it around. If you just stand back and watch them, you can see it. Whether it's just a little detail here or a little detail there, just sitting back and watching those guys, you're like, 'I can tell that that guy has' – maybe he doesn't have a Super Bowl ring, maybe he does, but I can tell he's a winner and he's a champion, maybe, if he doesn't have a ring either. You just watch them work, especially in times like this. This is the hardest time to work. It's the hardest time to do it."
Q: When a team is losing, a level of disgust can set it like they don't want to be associated with that. Have you sensed that?
Carr:"No. Honestly – and I haven't been there, obviously, it's my second game, so I don't know what it looks like in the past or anything like that – but when we came off the practice field, I went in that locker room and guys are excited. The best thing about it is guys are talking about plays at practice, about what we need to do here, what we need to do there. When that stuff is going on, those are good things. It's not when guys come in the locker room and it's silent in there, people grab their phones and don't talk to each other. That's when you have to worry. But if you walked in there right now, walked in there right there – as soon as I walked in, guys are still talking about, 'Hey, what'd you see here?', 'Hey, I couldn't believe he played me like this coverage', or 'this alignment'. That's when things are starting to go right. Now we have to produce them into wins. That's the key thing, but when that stuff is going on, those are good things."
Q: Have any veterans stood up and spoken to the team?
Carr:"There's been a couple of guys that have spoken and it's really not just veterans. Woodley said something after the game. Myself, I said something after the game. Charles [Woodson], Tarell [Brown], [Justin] Tuck, Antonio [Smith] – I mean, I can go on. There have been guys that have said things and it's not just talking heads. They have a real thing to say and guys are listening. It's not just going, 'OK, that's enough,' and out the other ear. Guys have really listened, so it's been good. And it's not just the old guys, like I said, which is great, which means we're a team. It's not just, 'We're going to say this. Don't' worry about that.' It's a whole team thing that we're trying to get right."
Q: What have you said?
Carr:"Without saying everything, obviously, because some of those things just stay in the locker room, but I just wanted to be an encouragement that as long as we continue to work unselfishly, for each other – and again, I'm trying to summarize it – as long as we continue to work unselfishly, for each other, we're going to start going down the right path. You can watch me work. You can put it on my shoulders, because whatever anyone says, whatever anyone wants to put on my shoulders, it doesn't matter. I can handle it. I've been through too much in my life to where I can handle it. Now let's just go work together and fix this thing. Just for a lack of time's sake, that was about what it was."
