Written By Jon Beason
December 11, 2008
We control our own destiny and it feels great. There’s really no better feeling. It was a must-win situation against Tampa and to go out and get it done this late in the season is big. You want to have momentum going into the playoffs, you don’t want to go in not playing well or coming off a loss.
Now, if we win our last three games, we get the bye week and home-field advantage through the playoffs, and we’re unbeaten at home so far so that would be big.
We knew against the Bucs that we had to stop the run first, contain Garcia in the pocket and have good formation recognition. I knew that pre-snap stuff would be huge and it was. I’m a huge fan of studying tape, because a team has a philosophy that won’t change. They can change the personnel, change some things around but they can’t change their philosophy every week. That was the key to the game.
I made nine tackles, but of course the clip they showed on SportsCenter had Cadillac Williams going over the goal line as I tackled him. It was a Power O, which is a very common play at every level. The Mike linebacker, that’s me, has to fight through all kinds of traffic to get into the right hole and he got to the goal line before I could get all the way across. He got in on that one, but I think I got the best of him on a goal line play early, when it was mano y mano in the hole, so I felt good about my performance.
That’s what keeps me going, thinking that someday hopefully I’ll get to that level of respect where they’re talking about me the way they talk about Derrick Brooks, the way they talk about Ray Lewis.
Pep had another great game with a couple of sacks. He’s playing great, he’s been relentless, that’s one thing I appreciate and one thing I think all defensive players should have.
We’ve got Denver this week and they’re a dangerous team, 3-0 against our division. They’ve been hurt, some linebackers out, Champ Bailey was injured, every starting running back has been hurt. Something has to give but it hasn’t for them yet.
The offense starts with Cutler, he can make every pass and he’s not afraid to try to fit a pass into a tight spot. When he’s on, he’s dangerous.
It’s going to be a big game. Winning the game is important, but right now we’re just thinking about being consistent in all three phases and going out and dominating.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
July 9, 2009
Workouts are going great. I’m out there grinding twice a day, getting ready for training camp. It’s hot here in Fort Lauderdale, which is good because it simulates the weather in Spartanburg.
I feel like my old self again after the surgery. I feel motivated and hungry, like I’m about to enter the NFL again as a rookie. Here I am a veteran and I feel like I’m starting all over again with new coaches, new schemes and new terminology.
I’ve come to the realization that everybody likes to talk about what you did or how great you are, the season you had and the Pro Bowl, but to me the NFL is a “what have you done for me lately” league because none of that stuff matters if you don’t make the next play.
This year I want to have a short memory. Do what is expected of me and then move on to the next play. Try to make a great play, then move on to the next play.
If I do that, individually I’ll get what I want but also the team will respect it and respond. The guys can almost taste that and it becomes part of their makeup. If we can do that every play, we can win this whole thing.
Our tight end Dante Rosario is down here working out with me. After coming down here and training, I think you can expect big things from him this year. I hope we use him more on offense because I think he’s a special talent.
July is my time. I stay at a hotel, everything is right here for me, I don’t have a kitchen or anything. I wake up, work out, come back to the hotel, have my food prepared for me, lay down for a rest, come back and work out again in the afternoon. During my time I don’t want anybody to bother me, I want to feel tired and feel like I made a deposit today.
That’s my new thing. You have to make a deposit every day. You make deposits, watch your deposits grow and hopefully in February I can make one big withdrawal.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter as jonbeason.
If you’re in first place, you know you’re doing something right. We’re happy about it, but we’re not content at all because we still have the whole second half to play.
I’ve been looking back at the things we could have done differently in our two losses. The good thing is, it’s not so much what the other team did, but mistakes we made. And that is something we can control going forward.
I know there are some things I can do to make myself better, and I’m pretty sure everybody else feels the same way.
This is a team that can get to the Super Bowl. I know that. People haven’t talked much about us this season until we beat Arizona last week to go to 6-2, but I feel we’ve played with some of the best teams in the league already.
This team definitely has the chemistry, and that’s the most important thing. We have a genuine love for one another. We go out and play hard and believe we can beat anybody if we play as a team.
That’s the No. 1 thing.
A big part of our success has been the play of Steve Smith. He had his work cut out for him, winning back the trust and respect of the players, and we did a great job staying together as a team and staying the course. The guys did a great job of taking him back in, and that started with the way Ken Lucas took him back, like the true man that he is, and forgave him.
It’s the really tough times that define you as a team, as a family. That’s when you know what you’re made of, and if we can get through that, we can get through anything.
Steve is truly a special guy, and not just as a football player. He has so much confidence in everything he does. He truly believes that no one can stop him, and his confidence never sways. That’s what it’s all about.
As for me, I rate my performances by the mistakes I make but also by the number of tackles I get. I don’t like to think of myself as a freakish athlete, though some people do. I’m an effort guy, I go out there a give the maximum effort every time, scratching and clawing to get to the ballcarrier. That’s what it comes down to for linebackers.
I’m hoping to get to the Pro Bowl this year. That would be a true measure of consistency. Last year I wasn’t even an alternate, and I admit I was disappointed. How many times in your career are you going to make 106 solo tackles? The Pro Bowl is an annual event, it shouldn’t reward what you did three years ago. I looked at the linebackers who went and I couldn’t believe that Patrick Willis was just an alternate. He led the league in tackles!
Though making the Pro Bowl would mean a lot to my career, when you win games, that’s the greatest reward, especially if you can win a Super Bowl. That’s truly my focus; when you win, all that other stuff comes along with it.
Still, it’s something on my mind. Make a lot of tackles, get to the Pro Bowl. That’s a goal and a dream.
Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
For me personally, right now is when the season is truly beginning.
The Titans are 9-0, the Giants are 8-1, we’re 7-2 and no one has even clinched a playoff spot yet. This is when the championship contenders step up. This is what everybody’s fighting for, to take it to the next level. I’m doing more now, studying film more, running more, lifting more to ensure that this team can move on and go deep into the playoffs.
This is the time of year when a team finds out a lot about itself. You’ve been working it all summer long, through OTAs, training camp and the early part of the season. At this point, the body is starting to leave the mind. And if you’re telling yourself you’re tired, hurt and beat up, that’s how you’re going to play.
The guys playing well right now are the guys who really want it, who are mentally strong.
The margin between being a good player and being a great player is very small. It comes down to the little things, like watching more film. A lot of the guys in this league are more talented than me, but they might not put in all the time I do.
That little extra does it for you and you always have that in your back pocket when you walk out on the field. You know you did the work, so you expect to go out and play well instead of hoping to go out and play well.
We play Detroit at home on Sunday. Even though the Lions haven’t won a game, there’s danger in this game, probably more so than against Oakland last week. From a personnel standpoint they have Calvin Johnson, quietly one of the best receivers in the league. I played against him in college and he almost beat us by himself. He’s a tremendous talent. Daunte Culpepper can throw it and run it. They’ve been in every game, every time they’ve lost it’s come down to two or three plays that determined the outcome.
I can’t speak for their defense, but they’re a very dangerous team from an offensive standpoint. They’re more than capable of getting the job done.
You learn a lot as a rookie, and last year I learned that when you look at the schedule, you can’t just say, we’re going to win this game, this game and this game, but these other ones will be tough. It’s a cliché, but on any given Sunday, any team can win and you find out that’s true. It’s not like in college when your team wins 7-8-9 games in a row. In this league, everyone has a franchise player, every team has first-round draft picks. Everybody has the ability, and it usually comes down to role players.
We won, what, seven games last year? And now we’re 7-2. To me that just means we’re promised at least a 7-9 record, that’s it. It’s unlikely we’ll go 7-9, but if you don’t take it one game at a time, you will stumble and it will cost you.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Looking back at last season, we went through, what, four quarterbacks in five games or something like that? I don’t care if you’re the Patriots, Colts or whoever, if you have injuries, you’re not going to win. We know that, and our coaches did a great job in the draft and bringing in new players.
Barring something catastrophic, we’ll be better than 7-9 this year. As a second-year guy I’ve never been in the playoffs, so I want to make a playoff run. And once you get in the playoffs, anything can happen, the Giants showed that last season.
This team definitely has the makeup to get into the playoffs and make things happen. We like being the hunters, not the hunted, so we can sneak up on teams. By the time they wake up, we’re already beating them.
For me, I just want to make sure I’m working harder than the next guy. Coming out of college as an undersized linebacker you have to be like that. I use my speed and athleticism and play with passion and intensity, that’s what I pride myself on. When the game film comes on, I want everyone to say that no one plays as hard as Beason. That’s been a staple throughout my football career, that’s the way I was taught to play. Once you have a little success doing it that way, those things become a habit.
I’ll be the guy wearing the headset in his helmet on defense this season. Now it’s like second nature, I take pride in it and enjoy it. People know it all starts with me and ends with me in terms of making the calls and checks and I enjoy that responsibility. Having the headset makes it a lot easier, you don’t have to look to the sidelines and it gives you time to digest the call, talk it over with one of the linebackers or safeties. It can help us, particularly in two-minute situations.
But there’s a flaw. After 15 seconds, the headset cuts off. The offense gets 35 seconds to call a play, so after the headset cuts off they still have 20 seconds to run anybody out onto the field or change their play. If they do that, the defense just has to react as quickly as possible.
A lot of people ask how long I want to play, and I tell them 10 years. Not that I want to put a cap on my career at 10 years, but if a linebacker plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played, your body can’t take it much more than that. Ray Lewis trained his body so he could do it over a long period of time. Coming out of Miami, I always wanted to be like Ray Lewis but cover like Derrick Brooks. Being compared to a definite Hall of Famer like Lewis is a good starting block for me, it gives me something to strive for.
Jon Beason is the starting middle linebacker for the Carolina Panthers. His blog for playerpress.com runs regularly at www.beason52.com.
It’s our week off, and I just landed in Miami. Tomorrow I’ll stop by my alma mater, the University of Miami, to watch practice. If they were playing at home I’d go to the game, but they’re at Virginia so I’ll just stop by.
I’ll probably go to a high school game Friday night, give the team a pep talk. Just make the rounds, see my family, friends, the people that are important to me. Hopefully it won’t go by too fast.
When I go to the games down here I usually watch from the sidelines. I just sit and enjoy. That is how I relax. Football as a profession is tedious, the schedule is tedious, this way I can step back from football in terms of preparation, watching film and practicing. It’s very enjoyable for me to watch the game at the high school level. These kids are playing because they love the game. I remember that so well, being a part of it, competing for a state championship. There’s nothing like it.
This week will be a good time to rest. On the Monday after a game my body feels like a train wreck. And if it doesn’t, I feel like I haven’t done enough. Look, I want to play this game as long as I can, but I’m not one of those guys who says I’m going to play forever. I don’t think I’ll play that long because if you play the game the way it’s supposed to be played, as a linebacker, you just can’t play that long. It’s just a matter of time.
So as bad as I feel on the day after a game, I like it. Because that lets me know that I’ve put in a good day of work.
I feel I’m a very emotional player because I just love the game. I love the camaraderie, and that’s the No. 1 thing. You get tired out there, but you know you’re playing for the man next to you, and he’s playing for you. You’re in it together, in the same fire. That’s the game.
If you’re not emotional about it, I feel like, why play? And I think my teammates see that in me. I want them to say, I want to go to war with that guy.
The great ones love the game.
When you’re the guy wearing the headset, you do feel special to a certain extent. You’re the captain out there, everybody is coming to you to get the play. It gives me the opportunity to get everyone’s attention and give them a quick message while they’re looking to me to get the call.
It’s been fun, and it’s a lot less stressful than trying to get the call from the sidelines and worrying about hand signals after all the Spygate allegations.
Let’s say the other team is in their two-minute offense. You make a tackle and go out of bounds, then realize you have to get up and run all the way across the field to be able to see the sidelines to get the hand signals from the defensive coordinator. And you’ve got players walking in your way, the coordinator is wearing the same color as everybody else.
The headset makes it a lot more simple, especially after being a rookie last year made it even tougher. Now I’ve got the call right in my helmet.
Mike Trgovac is our defensive coordinator. Sometimes he’ll say something before giving me the play, like, tell someone to watch for a draw or a screen, watch the hard count. I told him to be careful, because my LB coach at Miami used to say you could get “paralysis by analysis,” meaning too much information could make you think too much instead of just going out there and playing.
In our win against the Raiders our offense struggled, but that didn’t mean we felt any added pressure on defense. We expect to be dominant, and put in that situation we know we can play well and not make any mistakes and we’ll be fine.
Pep had a tremendous game, he was flying around, giving a great effort, making huge plays, sacks, turnovers, a monster game and was rewarded by being named Defensive Player of the Week.
A lot of people said JP had a down year last year. It’s weird, but when you’re really good and people recognize that, they double team you and try not to let you beat them. That becomes frustrating for a player like Julius. But he wants to be that marquee player and I know what he’s capable of. This year, he’s got guys around him who are making more plays, other guys stepping up so offenses can’t key on Pep. I know from a physical standpoint, last year vs. this year, he’s a monster.
He really put in the work in the off-season and came back jacked up, which is working out really well for us right now.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Truth is, I didn’t know much about it at all until some people told me I was the second player in Panthers history to get it. It’s only awarded four times a season, so I started to think maybe it was a pretty big deal.
But I’ve never really been big on the individual stuff. It feels good, it’s something to strive for, but I want to be a champion—not the Defensive Player of the Month.
If you win an award, that’s like a bonus, but winning a Super Bowl dominates my thoughts and dreams and just about everything I do.
Every day I picture myself in a game, making a play to win it. I do that all the time, and it’s the same thing, every game.
Every night football crosses my mind at some point. They say your dreams are your unconscious desires.
When I set a goal I stay focused on it, I constantly think about it. It’s easy to forget when you get tired, tired of practice, tired of meetings. Every day you have to go out there and say, what can I do today to make myself a little better? To help the team win? When you stay focused all the time, it’s easier to maintain a high level of intensity.
Not everyone can stay that focused; anybody can do it for a day. Being consistent is hard. Most guys in this league are just as good or better than me, but they can’t stay as consistent as me, as focused and intense. Those days when you’re tired, when you push through it and something good comes out of it, that makes you feel like it was all worth it.
We play at Oakland on Sunday. Amazingly, we didn’t have a good practice on Wednesday. You would assume after a bye week you would come back mentally fresh, but it just wasn’t a good day for us. Guys were making a lot of small mistakes on stuff that we’ve repped a million times since training camp.
Today, we had a great practice, the intensity was there and guys hardly made any mistakes. Jake was on fire, putting the ball wherever he wanted.
It’s a dangerous game against the Raiders. When you play a game that you’re supposed to win, some guys go in extremely confident and think they can win just by showing up. It’s a cliché, but it’s true … any given Sunday in the NFL, any team can win.
My approach is, the Raiders are a very talented team with a lot of big-play capability. They can just put it together, go out there and have fun, rally behind all the critics saying they don’t have it.
We’re halfway through, when the true season starts. At 6-2 we’ve set ourselves up to be in a good position, but so have a lot of other teams. Every game is huge right now, and teams can still turn it around. It comes down to winning one game every week, so the next game is always huge.
We’ve been real good at home, so getting home-field advantage for the playoffs is really important to me right now. We’re unbeaten at home, so it doesn’t matter who we’re playing or what predicament we put ourselves in, we know we can come back from it.
That’s a good thing to see and be a part of.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason, the NFC Defensive Player of the Month for October, writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
October 8, 2009
Coming off a bye week at this point gives us an opportunity to start from scratch. It’s a new beginning for us, we’re starting again with Week 1 at home against the Redskins on Sunday.
All three of our losses mattered, but now there’s nothing we can do about them except move on. We know we made a lot of mistakes. Having a week off gave us a chance to realize we have problems and decide how we’re going to fix the problems. Now when we’re out on the field we can make sure the problems are fixed so they won’t happen again.
As for my knee, it feels great, it really does. I can honestly say I have no issues with it whatsoever. I felt strong, loose and fast our last game, I’m starting to become my old self.
I think this season I’m receiving a lot more attention from the offense on the field. But that’s supposed to happen. Steve Smith knows he’s going to face double teams because he’s Steve Smith. Being considered one of the better players makes your job harder. But if I’m not making plays I expect other guys to. As long as we’re successful it’s not a problem for me.
Even though we have three losses I’m really proud of how our young guys have responded despite being undersized and inexperienced. Nick Hayden is one of them who really stands out, he’s a motor guy who gives a good effort and makes plays. Moving forward I hope they stay the course and continue to try to get better. You can’t get complacent in this league just because you’re getting playing time.
We also signed Hollis Thomas, a D-lineman. I like him a lot. He’s not a big stats guy, but he’s a veteran guy who has some juice. He could have a huge effect on me because teams will have to pay him respect and that will take some of the attention away from me.
The Redskins are a good team, they’re like us in that they’ve shown glimpses of how good they can be. They have very talented players on offense and defense and they should be real fired up because we got after them pretty good in the preseason.
Clinton Portis is a tough runner, he’s not an easy tackle. He plays bigger than he is and has deceptive speed as well. So if he’s feeling good, he’s definitely a threat. Mike Sellers is definitely becoming a good fullback in this league, they have a talented receiving corps, an athletic tight end and an athletic quarterback who can make all the throws. All the talent is there, for the Redskins it’s just a matter of when they’re going to put it all together.
One of the things I like about this league is that if you’re not playing well you’re always on the hot seat. Teams constantly strive to get better, to find that perfect equation for what’s going to work and how you’re going to win games. That’s where we are right now.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jonbeason.
Written By Jon Beason
December 4, 2008
We had a tough couple of weeks and I just can’t put my finger on why. I wish I could just say it was one guy or one bad call, but we tried different things, changed our schemes, made them more complex, then not as complex.
Still, for some reason teams had some success against us.
When we pulled out that win against Green Bay it was more like a “Thank God” feeling than an “Oh My Goodness.” We dominated in the first half, just like we expected to, then in the second half they started to move the ball and had some big plays and we started to second guess ourselves. Then we won and it was like, “Wow, the offense bailed us out again.”
Hopefully this weekend it will be the defense’s turn. We’ve got a big game against Tampa Bay at home on Monday Night Football and I think it’s just a matter of getting back to basics, having fun and believing in our schemes, just letting it all hang out.
We also have to come out faster than we did against Atlanta, we were down 17-0 early and it’s hard to crawl out of that hole.
Monday night, there won’t be a question that we’re going to come out faster. There’s no way you can go out there and not start fast in a game like this, the magnitude, the stage, what’s at stake. Everybody’s going to be watching.
There’s so much at stake for us and for Tampa, it’s time to show the whole country that we’re Super Bowl contenders, that the road to the NFC title is going to start down here in the NFC South.
I’ve been watching more tape than ever and I just want to be perfect, though I know I can’t. But 2 or 3 plays each game can make the difference, and when you’re really studying and know what to look for, you can have an impact on those plays instead of just reacting to them. And that can make the difference in the game.
I have three interceptions this season but don’t have a sack in my career. Back when I played on offense I had great hands, it was natural to catch the football. Then you become a linebacker and catch a ball or two a day, you don’t really work on your ball skills and you lose that touch. I’ve taken it upon myself to get on the Juggs and catch 40-50 balls a day.
As far as getting to the quarterback, I do blitz, but me being the Mike backer I have the option to read out, so I don’t bury myself in a gap when the play is going somewhere else. Say I’m blitzing into a gap, but I read the play and see that it’s going to be a run. I can pull out of the blitz and go where I know the play’s going to be run.
Anyway, we have a really good group of coaches and players, and when you have that kind of group God is in your favor.
I’ve got a lot of respect for Jon Gruden, to me he’s an offensive guru or genius. It’s going to be a fight against Tampa, and could come down to a battle of wills and preparation. That’s where we want to be—where preparation meets will.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Written By Jon Beason
December 18, 2008
I was recently selected to the Pro Bowl and it’s a great honor, especially because the fans vote, your peers vote and your coaches vote, so it means a lot.
I was emotional because last year I kind of expected to make it but I felt like I got shafted. This year I knew I had the same stats as last year so I didn’t want to get my hopes up. When I found out I made it, I realized how much it meant to me that I didn’t make it the year before.
My next goal? Well, all that individual stuff is great. I think about that stuff, and part of making it to the Pro Bowl is being a great player for your team, being consistent and helping the team win games. For me, the main goal has always been to win a championship. That’s what we call the Real Bowl, the Super Bowl. Guys were congratulating me on making the Pro Bowl, but we reminded each other to keep focused on the Real Bowl.
Beating the Giants on Sunday night would be a good step in that direction.
We definitely believe we can beat the Giants and the Giants know it’s possible. Now it’s just a question of whether we will be able to make it happen and if the Giants will let it happen. Hey, we haven’t even clinched a spot in the playoffs yet. If we win we’ll be the No. 1 seed, but if lose we might not even be in the playoffs. So to be associated with a game of this magnitude is a great feeling.
Yes, all three of our losses this season were on the road and we’ll be playing in New Jersey. I think it really comes down to starting fast, realizing where we’re at. Having home field is great, but personally I like to play on the road because I like coming out of the tunnel and having everybody boo. That gets me fired up, I like it.
And if it snows, let it snow. I’m pretty sure it will snow, there’s a big storm headed that way. Everyone’s been asking me about the weather, but having gone up to Green Bay and played well and got the win, I don’t think the weather will have any impact. It’s such a big game, no one is focused on that.
The Giants have a big back in Brandon Jacobs. You have to respect him at 6-4, 265, he’s a man among boys. The way to stop him is to hit him before he gets started, or just swarm him. If everybody gets to the ball it will be tough for him to run. It’s a great opportunity to make a name off someone who is a monster in the backfield.
I think the Giants are a complete football team, but what makes them special in my eyes is the defense. They especially have good players all across their front four, but their offense hasn’t given them anything lately. I think they gave up 14 sacks in their last two games, eight against Dallas and six against Philly. You can’t win like that.
What’s scary is you know they’re the Super Bowl champions and they’ll be there fighting until the end, so on defense we can’t give up anything.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
November 11, 2009
DeAngelo broke one for a touchdown, our defense sent them three and out. We punted, then I recovered a fumble and we scored, 14-0 with 10 minutes left in the first quarter. Our defense was great through the first half, but we blew a coverage late and that gave them a field goal and momentum coming into the half.
We were doing what we wanted to do on defense.
But in the second half they hit for a long touchdown pass and it was just unfortunate. We had the opportunity to make some plays, I had the opportunity to make some plays, we just didn’t do it. It’s all about finishing, attention to detail when the game is on the line.
I refuse to use injuries as an excuse, because the fact is that the 53 guys we have on this team have been good enough and have played well enough the majority of the season to win all of our losses. For whatever reason, that’s not happening. We’re coming up just short.
I don’t have any of the answers right now. I guess we just have to emphasize finishing. We have to do something different, because what we’ve been doing just isn’t working.
Losing Thomas Davis was a big blow. There isn’t a linebacker in the NFL who was playing better than Thomas Davis. He’s a guy we were pushing for the Pro Bowl, he’s that good. Here’s a guy that’s a great person, a guy I look at like a brother, he put in the work and it’s supposed to pay off. I believe everything happens for a reason, but when something like that happens sometimes I just don’t know.
His injury is an example of what we’ve been going through all year. Someone has always been able to step in and pick up the slack. When Charles Godfrey got hurt in the secondary, Sherrod Martin stepped in and played great for us against Arizona. That was truly unexpected because we brought him in as a corner, we didn’t know he was such a good safety. Obviously we’ve had an injury situation at defensive tackle, we addressed that with Hollis Thomas.
Offensively we had our two top fullbacks go down and we started a rookie running back at the position. Other guys have stepped up, and that’s the beauty of this season. We’re still in these games, even if we’re not playing with our quote-unquote “best 53.”
The main thing I want to say is that the season is not lost yet. We’ve got five of our next 8 games at home. Hopefully we can get something going.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jonbeason.
Written By Jon Beason
January 10, 2009
Everybody’s hyping up the playoffs, but for me the key is not to get caught up in everything that’s going on and what’s at stake. If you’re distracted you can’t play focused, you can’t play fast and be yourself.
I’m just thinking about playing ball, practicing hard every day and winning another game.
After the last two games, I kind of feel like our defensive tackles, Maake Kemoeatu and Damione Lewis, were a little underappreciated. I didn’t know how bad it could get without those two starters in there. The good part is we got some young guys some playing experience in big games up front, and they did a pretty decent job, but it was a big difference not having those guys up front.
That goes back to the Giants game when they were able to run against us after halftime. I’ll tell you this, it’s about 50-50 who I would want to play if we beat Arizona. We want another shot at the Giants to prove we can beat them. But it would be great to play the NFC Championship Game at home. It’s the biggest game you can have at your place because the Super Bowl is at a neutral site, and we’re playing really well at home this season.
With Kemo and Damione back against Arizona it’s going to be like old times. The Cards are going to try to run the ball but we know they really want to throw it. They ran early against Atlanta but then for two quarters did nothing but throw.
Larry Fitzgerald is great in space, when the ball is in the air no one goes harder or is more consistent. But I think the most dangerous guy is Anquan Boldin because he can make people miss and turn short throws into touchdowns. If he doesn’t play, that’s a huge factor in their big play ability.
The Cardinals have been doing a lot of talking in the media. They don’t have much respect for us and it’s obvious that they don’t fear us at all. All I have to say is that words never hurt anybody. What you say means nothing, it’s all about action.
The Cards should expect to see a lot of action on Sunday.
All-Pro linebacker Jon Beason of the Carolina Panthers writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
November 6, 2009
After all we’ve been through, starting out 0-3, then winning 3 of 4, the crazy thing is the season is still young. If we beat New Orleans we’re 2-1 in the division and they’re 2-1 in the division. That’s what it all boils down to.
The difference for the Saints is that they’re running the ball, too. Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell, who we all know from Denver, can run it and they have a quarterback in Drew Brees who has been pinpoint accurate. They’ve also gotten faster at the wide receiver position over the last couple years. But the difference between the team that had the quarterback passing on every down and going for Dan Marino’s record last year and this team, which is 7-0, is the running game.
Also look at Brees’ passer rating on third down. It’s insane. Games are won and lost on third down and in the red zone and no one does it better there than Drew Brees.
The first thing we have to do is stop the run, make them one-dimensional. When they run the ball, it opens up the passing game because you have to respect the run and put an extra body in the box.
Once you stop the run you have to get pressure on Brees. All the teams that have had any success at all against the Saints this year have done that.
Really, this is a game of want to. You gotta line up and beat their guys, 1 on 1. I think that’s the beauty of this game. It’s an important game, a division game, and the fact that they’re undefeated is the cherry on top.
We can go from everyone saying the Panthers are out of it, they’re not going to win anything, to being the most talked about 4-4 team in the NFL. I like the sound of that.
This is an opportunity for us. They can hype it all they want, what it comes down to is that playing a meaningful game in November instead of December, that’s just great. We’re excited and ready to go.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jonbeason.
Written By Jon Beason
November 20, 2008
Matt Ryan has established himself as a polished quarterback, a guy with a lot of heart, a lot of guts, and you can see he has all the intangibles. I’m fairly impressed with how far he’s come along since college.
In college, I was not a fan.
When I was at Miami and he was at BC, we rattled him that day, our front four put on the pressure and it really got to him. I got a sack on him and we beat them, though we didn’t kill them. I think it was 17-14.
We know going into the game their offense is based on how well they run the ball with Michael Turner. If they can run it, it opens up the field for Ryan and Roddy White to throw the ball downfield. We have to do all we can to make their offense one-dimensional.
Statistically, we do better against the big-name backs. It’s been the rookies and guys who don’t have that mystique that have done well against us. With a big back like Turner, I find the best way to stop pressure is to meet it with equal or more pressure. You’ve got to hit a big back hard, and know that the calvary’s on the way. We have to gang-tackle and swarm.
At 8-2, I can start to admit that we have a pretty good shot at getting to the playoffs at this point. Ten is still the magic number, though. You can’t sit back and hope and wait until you get into the playoffs, you have to take care of your own business and make sure you get in the playoffs.
We didn’t play too great on defense against Detroit. Everybody’s getting on our offense, but anytime you put up 31 points and have a positive takeaway percentile, I’m fine with that. On defense I thought we played down to what we thought would be the level of competition, and to our surprise they’re a talented group. They kept coming after us.
It’s important that we keep winning, because home-field advantage would be huge for us. We’re 6-0 at home, 8-0 including the preseason, and we feel confident that if a team comes into the Panthers Den, our 12th man will really help us out.
Carolina Panthers starting middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Written By Jon Beason
February 2, 2009
I just got in last night after a 10-1/2 hour flight and didn’t see a single play of the Super Bowl.
I had to be here by 7 tonight or I would miss the first meeting for the NFC Pro Bowl team, so I found out I had to fly during the Super Bowl. But I had dinner with my friend Lawrence Timmons of the Steelers last Friday and wished him luck. I’m glad everything worked out for him.
I was trying to pack, but the truth is nobody tells you anything. I had to talk to some of the guys who had been to the Pro Bowl before, just to find out what to bring.
The way it works, you have practice in the morning, and you’re pretty much free the rest of the day. I have a community service event that I’m required to do, but I don’t know what it is yet. Pretty much everything is at our leisure. We won’t have our first meeting until tonight so I don’t have a lot of details.
Right now, I’m looking out my balcony window and it’s beautiful. We’re really secluded out here at the Marriot, about 45 minutes from everything. You have to drive to downtown Honolulu for all the fun stuff, the clubs, shopping, whatever you want to do.
I’m here with my girlfriend and my family gets in on Wednesday. My mom, grandparents, brother and cousin are coming. I’m also having my financial advisor come out, too.
Steve Smith came in on Saturday, I just talked to him like 10 minutes ago. I’m going to get with some of the guys who have been here before, that will make it a cool experience.
Now, we’re getting ready to eat, then we’ll go to a spa, check out downtown, do a little shopping. Buy some Hawaiian stuff, have a mai tai or something.
When I think about the Panthers, I realize how much is going to change next season. We lost almost all of our defensive coaches to other teams. Change is 50-50, it could be a great thing or a horrible thing. I’ll miss all of our coaches, I was very close with some of them and had a very good relationships with our defensive staff, but I’m looking forward to next season. I would have been fine playing with those guys for the next 10 years, but I consider myself a very coachable guy.
Any question marks we have will be about losing Julius Peppers. I feel he is irreplaceable, but maybe we can get a couple guys to fill in and spell each other at that position and play at a high level.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Written By Jon Beason
January 20, 2009
If I had to pick one word to describe my second season in the NFL, it would be “enlightening.”
We were able to accomplish so much as a team, but it all comes down to how you finish. I think this experience will be great for me. I know that I can play, make Pro Bowls and All-Pro, and it’s enlightening to know that I can do that this early in my career.
That’s half the battle, and now I know what it takes.
I guess it was just not our day against Arizona. We just weren’t good enough to win that day and the Cardinals, well, I guess it was just their day.
I recorded the game and watched the “championship chase” later, when they showed the Cardinals’ sideline conversations during our game, when it was over. It burned me up pretty bad, but you want to have that experience because you want to know what it feels like to lose in the playoffs, so you know that you don’t ever want to have that feeling again.
I was shocked at how well the Cardinals played on defense against us and how well they’ve played since. Where was that D all year?
You can’t win when you have six turnovers from the quarterback position, but you also can’t win when you give up 150-something yards and six catches to one receiver in the first half. Everybody had a hand in it, including myself. It’s something you can’t do in the playoffs, where there’s a new level of focus, desire. It’s the time to elevate your game and we didn’t do that.
I stayed in Carolina for a while, just doing nothing, hanging out, relaxing. Getting the body feeling better. I wasn’t ready to face everyone at home, talking about the Arizona game. I wanted to let it die down for a while, wait until everyone started talking about the Super Bowl. I actually just got home to Miami last night.
I worked out today, I have to make some appearances, then go on to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. I want to represent my team, my organization, my family and myself well. It’s my first time out there, so I want to make sure I show my peers that I belong. It’s important to me that the other players watch me and say, oh, that’s what everyone was talking about. As far as the game goes, though, I honestly don’t know what to expect at all.
Our big issue for the off-season is whether J.P. will be moving on to another team. There is no replacing Julius Peppers, they just don’t make ’em like that. He always drew the attention of the offense so they would leave me alone back there. If he goes, he’ll always be remembered as Julius Peppers, “The Freak.” But I’m happy for him if he decides to leave, if that’s what he thinks is best for him. It’s hard to go out and play and give it your all if you don’t want to be where you are. That’s why contracts only go so long, players should have a right to be free agents and choose where they want to play.
I think Julius loves it here, but maybe for him it’s just time to move on.
My Super Bowl prediction: Who would have thought the Cards would be in the Super Bowl for the first time in their history? The Panthers have only been around 14 or 15 years and we’ve been to one. I think the Pittsburgh defense is good enough to slow down that offense, and I think the Steelers offense is good enough to score on the Arizona defense. I give Pittsburgh the edge in all three phases, including special teams.
Steelers 27, Cardinals 17.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Written By Jon Beason
February 26, 2009
I tore the labrum in my shoulder the first time we played Arizona, I think it was in October.
I put my arm down to push myself up and it kind of collapsed. I popped it back into place and got back in the huddle. I think we were winning, 24-23, and two plays later I made an interception that led to a field goal and we won the game.
It’s funny how certain players can play through pain and some can’t. I have values for the parts of my body. In terms of my wings—shoulder, elbows, hands—it’s not negotiable. Unless it’s sticking through the skin or bleeding bad, I’m staying in the game.
It was eight or nine weeks into the season, I was thinking about the playoffs, going to the Super Bowl, making the Pro Bowl. There was no way I was going to come out of the game ever.
The rest of the season I rehabbed it and treated it. It popped back out a couple more times, and I was basically playing with no strength. When I tackled someone it was almost like throwing a pillow at them. I had no grip in that arm, no way to stop someone. I played like that the rest of the season, just fighting to get the job done. It took away my range of motion. But I know my teammates would do the same for me.
And I wasn’t going to sit home through my first Pro Bowl, so I had the surgery done on February 12. It’s in a sling 4-6 weeks and I have to rehab it close to four months. After that I’ll be able to lift anything I want. I just got the stitches out yesterday, so I just started moving it again.
I absolutely will be ready for training camp and I’ll be at full strength for our first exhibition game. I really think I can be ready for OTAs at the end of May, but I don’t know how much they’ll let me play against guys who are trying to make the team.
I have to make sure there are no setbacks. We have new defensive coaches, new schemes. It will be a process learning that stuff and getting acclimated to new terminology.
I just want to let Panthers fans know that there’s no quit in us. Continue to believe in this team, in our coaches. We’re going to keep going at it and we’re never going to stop.
There’s a breakthrough coming real soon.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
Written By Jon Beason
February 25, 2009
Peyton Manning and his wife are kind of like Mr. and Mrs. Pro Bowl, they’ve been out there so many times. I got to Hawaii early and bumped into Peyton, we just shook hands and I told him I’m a big fan.
It was weird just standing around chatting with Peyton. He invited me to have a drink and a little sunset watching from the suite he had in the hotel. He’s a real class act. He had a football in his hands and told me he can’t go too long without throwing a ball. That showed me the level of commitment these guys have to the game. It truly dominates their life and their thoughts.
It was a great feeling to be able to bring my loved ones to a place like Hawaii. That’s a place a lot of people say they want to go at least once during their lifetime, so to be able to do that was great.
It was a vacation the entire trip, practice included, and the whole setup was first class. I think everyone who has achieved that level of excellence wants to showcase that in the game, though. You don’t want to be that one guy being used out there on the field.
But there was a high level of sportsmanship during the game and everyone was out there cracking jokes. Nobody was trying to do anybody any harm, like you would during the regular season.
You make friends with everyone out there. I hung with Lance Briggs, we talked about working out together. Everyone has that level of respect for each other. I was shocked to find out that these guys actually knew who I was. It was kind of breathtaking. All so new to me.
I can meet athletes, supermodels or actresses and not be starstruck. But shaking hands with the guys you’ve looked up to for so long, to be around the elite, is breathtaking. I was a little in awe because I think being there showed that I’ve made it. You know, as a person who plays the game, you don’t have any idea how the other players see you.
It was great being there with my teammates, Julius, Jordan and Steve Smith. When they called on Steve he made plays, and he could have done that all day. He wants the ball every play, that’s what makes him Steve Smith.
I also hung with Patrick Willis, DeMarcus Ware and Julian Peterson. It was exciting for me to meet Peterson, I was in high school when he came into the league. I was the one giving him the call during the game. DeMarcus is a nice guy all the way around. To me, it’s amazing how being a good person can correlate with being a good player. I think if you do good things for people, good things happen to you. DeMarcus is a good-hearted person.
Lance Briggs is hilarious. He has great hands and makes plays from sideline to sideline. It’s tough to shine when you play next to a guy like Urlacher. Lance is another guy I’ve watched and admired.
Me and Patrick both wore No. 52 and we had a good thing rotating in every three plays. We were making jokes, going on the field at the same time, just out there having a good time.
Everyone out there had something to admire, some reason why they’re great. Seeing that definitely gives me motivation to get back here next year because if I’m playing that well, I know it will give the Panthers a better shot at getting to the Super Bowl.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com.
August 26, 2009
I got my MRI results the other day and the doctors said it was an MCL sprain, no surgery required. Now I just have to deal with this and keep moving forward.
I’m going to attack it like I attack everything else in my life.
All my life I’ve healed fast and I don’t see why this time should be any different. I expect a speedy recovery. I think it starts in your mind; if you believe it in your mind, your body will follow. I think the guys who feel sorry for themselves take longer to come back from injury than the guys who are willing to do what it takes, listen to the medical staff and attack the rehab.
I hate being injured just because at the end of the day I think being a good player means being durable. There have been a lot of potentially great athletes who can’t stay healthy, and if you can’t stay healthy no one cares how good you are. It kind of sucks when freak things happen but injuries are a part of the game if you play long enough.
Basically, it was one of those freak things, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I got leg whipped and hit right on the outside of the knee. I knew exactly what it was, I realized it was an MCL because I hurt it in college. I played the rest of that series, maybe four plays, then came to the sideline and told them that I was pretty sure I had injured my knee.
I’m feeling a lot better by the day, I’m encouraged by how I feel right now. For me it’s all about getting back on the field. The crazy part is, even though Week 1 isn’t the Super Bowl, or the playoffs, of a game for the division title, I want to play, and I’d be willing to suck it up.
But this is a long season, and I have to make sure I’m healthy for the long haul.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonbeason.