HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2022
(On if getting the ball to TE Evan Engram so much was part of the game plan) “No. Again, it just kind of
happens. Great performance by him, obviously, to do the things that he did. Played tough, played
physical, as I mentioned after the game. Again, it’s the guy who gets the hot hand, and you continue to
find ways to get him the ball.”
(On how the team seems to change, not week to week, but moment to moment) “I think it’s just where
we are, to stay in the present, understanding that there’s going to be ebb and flow of a game. You never
want to get too high or too low. Kind of stay right in the middle and make the adjustments as games go.
Yes, we do say it’s a week to week league, and each game plan is a bit different, but sometimes, too, you
get in the flow of the game, and you kind of stick with what works. If it doesn’t work, you need to
change in a hurry and do something else and go in a different direction. That’s happened to us this year
with the quarters [of the game]. I made an emphasis last week, we need to start games better. We need
to start games faster. It kind of somewhat backfired for us, because they went down and scored. That’s
not the right start that I wanted, but we were able to capitalize on a turnover after that and sort of get
the momentum.”
(On if he had a bad feeling when the first quarter ended and RB Derrick Henry had 96 rushing yards)
“We talked last week, too, he’s a tremendous back, and he’s going to get a ton of yards. No, you don’t
want to look up at the end of the first quarter and have that many yards, but the defense really did a
great job, as we talked about at the end of the game. It took all 11 guys to really buy into that and
committing to stopping the run.”
(On if he ever thought he could be playing in such a meaningful game to possibly get a playoff spot this
late in the season) “That’s why you get into this business, is to win games, but when you look at the big
picture of things, I didn’t know necessarily if we were going to be in this position or not. Obviously, it
could be better, as we know. We are where we are because of our own doing, but it’s one of the things I
keep challenging our football team with is you want to be playing meaningful games in December and
January. The last two for us have been meaningful, obviously, with Baltimore, Detroit. I should say the
least three. Baltimore, Detroit, then Tennessee, and now moving forward, we have the Cowboys this
week. They are 10-3 and they are one of the top teams in the NFC. They’re playing really well and
coming off of a good win for them this weekend. It’s a great opportunity for our team. I want our guys to
experience these moments. We hope one day that if things go well, that we are playing hopefully in the
postseason and all that, but these are moments that you want to be in and see where your team
actually is against really good opponents.”
(On if he was happy with how the run game went Sunday) “You’d like to see a little more. It’s still, each
week it’s still a little bit of a work in progress. You try to do some things. You have enough in your
arsenal in the run game to make changes. If you want to attack the perimeter and that doesn’t work,
then you work inside and you do things that way. You’d love to see a little more production there and
get more out of it, but again, you look at the game yesterday, and it just happened that throwing the
ball was just as good than running it.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence’s rushing touchdown on the goal line) “It wasn’t a read. It wasn’t a QB pull, it
was a handoff. That’s why I said ‘Ask him.’ Maybe he would give you a straight answer. He’s a sharp guy,
and the linebacker, 53, came off the edge, and he saw him kind of flash and kind of bend off the corner,
and he instinctively pulled the football, stiff-armed him, and dove into the end zone. Sort of a
bewildered look on the sideline from me and everybody else, like ‘What is he doing?’ He knew what he
was doing. It was just a good play.”
(On if he doesn’t say anything about plays like that when they work) “My philosophy is, you always
coach off a touchdown and good plays, that’s the best time to coach guys. We don’t want to make a
habit of it, and he knows that, but at the same time, if it works, and it’s a successful play, whether it’s a
score for a touchdown or picking up a key first down in the game, I’m not going to fault him for it
because it’s something he saw.”
(On how the team fed off of LB Shaq Quarterman’s big hit on the sideline) “I even go back to earlier,
Travon (OLB Travon Walker), that sack fumble that gave us the ball, we went in and scored and tied the
game at seven, then we come right back, they go down and score, Shaq made just a great hit. Derrick
(RB Derrick Henry) kind of cut back inside, and Shaq was right there, made a great hit. I’m standing right
there, and the ball just kind of pops up into Josh Allen’s (OLB) hands. Those are things we need. Teams
need those. We talk about creating turnovers, and we did that. We created takeaways. The defense was
able to get the ball four times, and obviously the offense was able to protect it, and those are obviously
recipes for success if you can continue to do that.”
(On how to recreate the intensity to prepare from last week now coming off a win) “You’ve just got to
continue that. This is a short-term memory business. It’s the 24-hour rule after a game. You’re on to the
next. You try to remember what you did last week and build on it and do a little bit more this week, then
you do more next week, whatever it is. We also talked about that loss, how that loss affects everybody.
Guys have a lot of pride, and they don’t want to be remembered that way, so they really took it to heart,
had a great week of preparation, and it paid off. They went out, and they played well. It wasn’t perfect,
but they played well and got the win, so this week, you almost have to forget that, almost like you would
the film. You just put it in the trash can and light it on fire and forget it and move on to this week.”
(On if he is planning to limit QB Trevor Lawrence in practice this week with his toe injury) “We’ll see how
he is on Wednesday. Obviously, he’s going to be sore. If he can go, I’d rather him go than not, but very
capable obviously, the way C.J. (QB C.J. Beathard) practiced last week and took all the reps and Trevor
did a nice job of getting the mental reps during the week, but if Trevor can practice some, I definitely
want to get him out there.”
(On OLB Travon Walker’s ankle) “I’m still waiting on an MRI report to come back, so hopefully I’ll have
more information this afternoon.”
(On if he likes that the team has been able to respond and get three wins coming from behind) “I like the
way this team hangs together. There’s not a lot of panic or finger pointing on the sidelines. Guys just
tighten up and understand their roles and their jobs and make the necessary adjustments on the
sideline or at halftime, and again, there’s no panic and no quit. Stick to the game plan, trust it. We’ve
been able to string some wins together because of that, so that’s really good to see from a young team.”
(On a video he showed the team Saturday night at the hotel) “That’s obviously between me and the
team, so I’m not going to get into a ton of that.”
(On if the video was for motivation) “I’ve shown a lot of videos to the team over the season. It just
wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.”
(On if he was okay with QB Trevor Lawrence going after a Titans defensive lineman after he shoved
Jaguars OL Luke Fortner) “They protect him, he protects them. I’m okay with it. I’m fine with it. I think it
shows a lot of grit and determination. It shows that he cares in situations like that. We do coach that
situation, too. You’ve got to protect yourself. I’ve been on both sides of that where you’re behind, and
kind of the heat of the moment and things happen, but it’s still one play in a football game that you’ve
got to protect yourself and be prepared for it.”
(On how LB Devin Lloyd played coming back to the starting lineup) “I thought he did a good job, much
better. Still some things to learn and correct, but I thought he really settled down and the game didn’t
seem too big. Made some plays and some tackles. It’ll be good for him to see this tape and sort of
catapult him moving forward, but I thought he did some good things.”
(On if he liked the way they moved around CB Tre Herndon and CB Darious Williams) “I did. I like the
way that did work out. Darious is really good on the outside. That’s kind of his spot, I would say. Going
back to our team, when we had Shaq Griffin (CB) out there, Darious was a natural fit inside, but I think
now, having him outside, he can see things, use his athleticism and speed out there, and Tre is
comfortable inside. He is the type of guy that may be a touch bigger, doesn’t mind the physicality and
type of play that a nickel DB has to have, and I thought that combination worked well between those
two.”
(On if it just takes time to figure out where guys play best) “It does. Kind of getting the flow of the team
and how things are shaping out. It’s good to, again, you don’t want to experiment in the regular season,
but at the same time kind of understanding and going back and even just watching them where they
came from, like Darious (CB Darious Williams) with the Rams and stuff like that and kind of see the
history and where they’re most comfortable playing and trying to keep them in those spots.”
(On S Andrew Wingard’s shoulder) “He’s going to be okay. He’s going to be fine. He’ll be a little sore this
week, but he’ll be fine.”
(On if there was any question in his mind if S Andrew Wingard would return to the game after coming
out for injury) “No, not at all. Tough kid, obviously. That was a good shot he took over there, a good
tackle on the sideline. Just out for a couple plays and came back in, so that shows his toughness. He’s
good to go.”
(On the two kicks that went out of bounds) “Those two, they understand, can’t happen. You can’t do
that, can’t put the ball on the 40 yard line for your opponent. I think the first one, Riley (K Riley
Patterson) just tried to over kick it and just pulled it. The second one, we were actually in a hard squib
right before the half there. They had kind of pinched the middle with their return team, so it turns into
sort of a sky kick, and Logan (Cooke) just put it too far to the right, and it went out of bounds. Both guys
are capable of making those kicks. No concern, obviously, moving forward, but you can’t have two that
could be costly mistakes if there was more time, let’s say, on the clock for the opponent.”
(On if he mentions the playoffs to the team) “No, I really don’t, but I do want to show the team kind of
where we are and what’s in front of us and what’s kind of at stake. I think it’s my job to kind of keep
those goals in front of us, but I want us to focus on this week. I want us to get better this week. This is a
a good football team, again, a well-coached football team that’s playing really well in that division and
obviously playing well in the NFC, so our work will be cut out for us in practice this week. I don’t want to
move too far forward.”
(On injury status of S Andre Cisco) “He’s doing good. I think he’s going to be day to day again this week.
Shoulder is getting better, chest is getting better. I’m optimistic. He’ll have another full week of practice
again, then we’ll see where he is at the end of the week.”
