HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2024
(On QB Trevor Lawrence being placed on injured reserve) “Obviously, a couple of things: his
health is probably the most important. The reason for IR is not the injury from Sunday
[concussion]. It’s not that. It’s more the shoulder. Listen, where we are in our season, the
chance for him to get healthy right now as he looks into the offseason and next season as
well, getting healthy. Obviously, the injury on Sunday doesn’t help, right? But it’s just, I
think, the right decision right now to go ahead and just shut him down and let him get fully
healed. Clear the protocol first, obviously, and then tackle the other injury later on. That’s
our main focus right now is to make sure he’s 100 percent and getting healthy and getting
himself ready for the offseason.”
(On if his shoulder injury got worse during the game vs. Houston) “I think more just playing
through it. It didn’t get any worse. He didn’t take any shots or hits on it. So, it’s just a matter
of it was going to probably eventually come to that surgery, but now with everything and
where our season is, too, it’s never a good time, but if there is a time this would be it.”
(On if the surgery has been scheduled yet) “Not that I know of. To be upfront, he has to clear
the protocol first before. You can’t, obviously, do surgery with a guy in concussion protocol.
So, we’re going to make sure that’s cleared first before anything is scheduled.”
(On if Lawrence is progressing through the protocol) “He is. He’s doing just what you would
think in the protocol. He’s moving right along.”
(On how he would characterize this season) “Obviously, disappointing. It’s not what I
expected, it’s not what the players expected, the team. A lot of high expectations obviously
coming out of preseason, where we were as a team. It’s not where we wanted to be. Not
saying we were going to—you’d love to be the number-one team in the AFC right now, but
who knows? You could’ve been. You could’ve been in the top seven. You could’ve been in
the top 10, top three, whatever. But it’s just disappointing for me personally, for the team, I
know the players feel the same way. We’ve just got to take it all in stride and finish this
season strong.”
(On how Lawrence specifically would characterize the season) “I would say probably the
same. I think it’s the same as where I am as a coach, where the team is right now. I think he
would feel the same way. I don’t want to speak for Trevor, but just disappointing and just
something we’ve got to learn from moving forward.”
(On if he was satisfied with the way Lawrence mitigated committing turnovers) “Yeah, it
was better. The turnovers are going to happen, especially at the quarterback position, but
he was doing some good things. He was really protecting the ball. I thought as the season
progressed, he was continuing to get better because there were a lot, going back to the
beginning of the season, of expectations obviously with the new contract and all that kind
of stuff, working through that and dealing with that. Then, putting that behind him and
focusing on ball. He’s such a competitor and that’s why I love being around him and
coaching him because you kept seeing it each week, the improvement with him,
improvement with the team, and just continuing to kind of grow as an offense. It just wasn’t
all coming together. When I say offense, defense, special teams, it wasn’t all playing that
complementary piece of football that you need to win games.”
(On being in so many one-possession games) “It doesn’t make me feel any better. It’s
something that you try to—you coach your coaches, you coach your players that these
games come down to a couple plays a game, and somehow we’ve got to figure out how to
get those plays to go in our direction and overcome that. As we look back, I mean, we’ve got
five games left. We want to finish strong, obviously. But we get an opportunity to look back
on it, I think that’s what’s going to be sort of glaring at us, are just those plays whether it’s
offense, defense, special teams. Those are the things that we have to overcome as a
football team in order to have consistency in winning.”
(On if P Logan Cooke and LS Ross Matiscik are expected to be out vs. Tennessee) “Not yet.
Both of those guys will practice today. We’ll see where they’re at.”
(On if CB Tyson Campbell and WR Parker Washington will practice today) “Both will
practice today and should be OK. We’ll see where Tyson is today. He’s kind of been limited
all week, but expect him to practice and we’ll see after practice today.”
(On what WR Josh Reynolds brings to the table) “Josh is a veteran guy. You put on the tape,
he’s obviously been in a couple of spots and he’s been a guy that’s a bigger, taller, athletic
receiver. Again, gives us depth where we’re obviously missing Christian [WR Christian Kirk]
and Gabe [WR Gabe Davis]. Definitely gives us something that we can continue to develop
that room, I think. It helps us in the way that we’re trying to win these games. We’re trying to
go out and play well, and he gives us an opportunity to do that. So, we’re excited to get him
going a little bit and see how he can help.”
(On what challenges Titans WR Calvin Ridley presents) “I just think, obviously his speed
and athleticism, right? He’s such an excitable, energetic guy and that’s what he brings to
them offensively. A guy that you have to—with the speed that he has, it’s real, and you’ve
got to be prepared for that and be in the right position. He can beat you over the top, he can
beat you across the field and he’s tough. He brings some swagger and some energy. So,
those are things we’re going to have to match.”
(On if playing the Titans this week brings extra energy to the team) “Yeah. Any time you play
an AFC South opponent, especially Tennessee, it’s always been close football games.
They’re physical games. A couple of years ago, it came down to the last regular season
game, and last year the same thing. So, we know what these games are going to be. It’s one
of those games where I think you just throw the records out and you go play. I think the
team, too, that makes the least amount of mistakes in games like this gives yourself a
chance to win it in the fourth quarter. Always going to be tough, going to be physical. Guys
are ready to go.”
