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.
October 23, 2009
Here’s how you find out that you are being fined by the league: The first practice after a game, you find a Fed Ex in your locker. You always expect one when there’s a questionable play, and I think all personal fouls are automatic fines now.
We played Dallas on a Monday night and we were off Tuesday, so on Wednesday I found the envelope in my locker. It says something like, “Under the Cause Act, you are being fined for …” and then whatever you did, and on what date. It’s real formal.
I was fined $5,000 because they said I hit Felix Jones out of bounds.
You can appeal, but the funny thing is the people who fined you are also the same people in charge of your appeal. The rate of retraction of a fine on appeal, well, it almost never happens. I’ve never heard of the league canceling a fine, but they will lower it once in a while.
The head office called my agent Drew Rosenhaus on the date of my scheduled hearing and they put me on the phone with some guy. I told the guy on the phone what happened, and that by no means did I intend to hit Felix Jones out of bounds, I told him it was not malicious and that I just couldn’t stop my momentum.
He said thank you and hung up the phone. There wasn’t much interaction.
It was a third and short and it was a toss play, just me and Felix running for the first down marker. He ran right over it, and as he did I made contact with him. So I’m at full speed, he’s at full speed, I met him at the midpoint right at the marker, we made contact and ended up 5-6 yards out of bounds. There was a flag on the play.
The game was three weeks ago and I just had my appeal, so I don’t know when or how I’ll find out the result. But $2,500 would be better than $5,000.
We’ve got Buffalo on Sunday. They’ve played some good teams and they’ve played them very well. They have a high-powered offense, a capable quarterback in Trent Edwards and a fast, experienced receiving corps, plus an athletic tight end and a great 1-2 punch coming out of the backfield. They’re going to run the ball, they know you know they’re going to run the ball, and they try to do it anyway. That’s bold in this league.
They’re going to run the ball right at us and we know it. If we can’t stop it, maybe we need new guys.
Every facet of our team, in terms of offense, defense and special teams, running, throwing, catching, blocking, tackling, forcing fumbles, making the right reads, in every facet we need to put in a little more emphasis and make sure we are doing it right on every play. Even though we won our last two games there’s still room to improve.
We just acquired Tank Tyler in a trade with the Chiefs for draft picks. He’s a very athletic player, a very tough player, so I’m interested to see how he’s going to help us. I think he and Hollis are going to make our D-line more athletic and give it more depth.
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.
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.
if all the panthers know is that jake is not down yet he will have a week off from a game will look like a new person wait and see i think after the bye week our record will be 10-6 or maybe 11-5 wait and see
September 10, 2009
My knee feels great. I’m going to have to wear a brace but I took every rep in practice today.
I am absolutely, definitely playing on Sunday against the Eagles.
I knew I would be a fast healer. I think a lot has to do with your mindset and what you do when you leave the trainer’s room. Some guys would go home and do nothing, but there are a lot of things you can do at home to help you get over an injury faster. I used an Accelerated Recovery Performance Trainer, or an ARP trainer. It activates your muscle and stimulates it, makes sure the weakened muscle is firing. It also brings blood flow to the area and speeds up the recovery process.
I’m excited. It’s the start of a new season, which is always big, and we have high expectations with a lot of guys back. We were obviously disappointed with how our season ended last year and we definitely want to step up and make it right. I think we were good enough to win it all last year, we just have to focus a little more, put in a little more effort, get a little more preparation, that can make a difference.
The Eagles don’t do much on offense but what they do, they do it well. Donovan McNabb is a veteran, he can get it done with his legs or his arm. When he looks to pass he makes a lot of quick gains, then takes a shot. The guy he likes to go to is Brian Westbrook, he’s a running back but was second on that team in receptions, so you have to know where he is at all times. The second-year receiver DeSean Jackson has really come on as a deep threat, he has great speed. Those three guys make that offense work.
We have to do our best to eliminate those three guys, and we have to keep pressure on McNabb while making sure he doesn’t run on us too much. It’s hard to stop good players, but swarming to the ball and gang tackling are always the best antidote to a good offense.
I have extra motivation for this game because I missed one. I don’t like to miss any, I don’t care if it’s preseason or whatever. It was tough to sit out. But now I’m back and the games really count. I’ll be wearing a knee brace and going up against a good back in Westbrook, so I’m excited about the challenge.
We’re playing at home against a good team. We’re going to turn it loose. This is the start of a new beginning.
Also, I will be starting up my radio show again tomorrow, same as last year, on Thursdays starting around 4 or 4:30 p.m. on 610 AM. I’m usually on-air for an hour or hour and a half.
Carolina Panthers All-Pro middle linebacker Jon Beason writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter @jonbeason.
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.
May 12, 2009
There’s more down time before training camp starts so I thought I would give you my top 5 places to hang out in Carolina.
1) Bank of America Stadium. It really is my home away from home.
2) The house that I just bought. I gave up city life.
3) Suite at EpiCenter. It’s a nightclub/dance club with all the bells and whistles.
4) Del Frisco’s. I’m a big surf & turf guy and this is my favorite place to eat on the town.
5) Villla Francesca. An Italian restaurant uptown at North Caldwell and 7th street.
It’s been 13 weeks since my shoulder surgery and I’m coming back fast. I feel good right now, I’m just starting to do a lot of the strength stuff and the shoulder feels great. It won’t be 100 percent for a while but the fact that I can lift now and start getting my strength back is a key. Until now all I could do was legs and abs, but now I can start to get aggressive in the weight room.
Our new defensive coordinator is Ron Meeks. I really like his system, its a fast aggressive system. He wants guys who will chase the football and that’s my style, so we’re on the same page. We had an immediate connection.
We also brought in some help from the draft, guys who will hit, extremely athletic and fast guys.
So I feel good about what I’ve seen so far.
Everybody is still asking about JP, and at this point I’m pretty sure he’ll be a Carolina Panther this year. I don’t know more than anybody else does but free agency has pretty much run its course this season.
He said if he’s back he’ll be ready to go and that’s definitely good news for us and from a fan standpoint. Some fans have been rough on him but hopefully he can just push through it and stay focused.
Its tough for fans to understand the business part of football and how things work. You have to play long enough to earn the luxury of free agency and he should have the opportunity to move on if he wants to. He’s a hometown guy who went to North Carolina and was drafted by the Panthers and he’s had a good run here.
I think with 99.5% of the players it would be about money, but JP is a special guy, very genuine, and I truly believe that for him its not about the money.
I look forward to having him back. We were right there last year close to the Super Bowl, and there’s no reason we shouldn’t be right there this season too.
Check back for some workout videos that I’m going to post here soon.
All-Pro linebacker Jon Beason of the Carolina Panthers writes a blog for www.playerpress.com at www.jonbeason.com. Follow him on Twitter as jonbeason.
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.
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
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.
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.