HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2024
(On injury updates for RB Travis Etienne Jr. and OL Anton Harrison) “Travis had a hamstring
in the game. He’s going to be week-to-week. He tweaked it on a go ball early in the game.
Anton is just – he’s day-to-day. He’s going to be fine. He just got rolled up a couple of times
and just the pile and things of that nature during the game. But he should be fine. He’s more
day-to-day.”
(On his thoughts on the locker room sentiment and S Andre Cisco’s postgame comments)
“I haven’t seen the players today, being the schedule is a little bit different. They’re off
today. We’re going to work tomorrow – be like on Monday before we head into the week. I
would like just to get some clarification from his [Cisco’s] side. Obviously it’s his
observation, but I don’t think it was necessarily meant to harm anything or point a finger at
anybody or anything like that. I think sometimes when you get in a game like yesterday, that
sometimes is the feeling. We’ve been on the other side of that too, where we’ve had games
where we felt like we’ve had that type of success, and you feel that way with your opponent.
But again, I don’t think it was necessarily a finger-pointing.”
(On he’s satisfied with the production of the guys acquired in free agency last season)
“Yeah, obviously those are things that we have to take a look, I have to take a look at. We
have to look at those internally. I do believe that these guys are helping us. Listen, we all
need to do better. Again, I’m not here to point the finger at anybody but myself really, and
just make sure that we’re getting the most out of everyone. We’re putting the best 11 on the
field and we’ve got to look at that as a staff. I know Gabe’s [WR Gabe Davis] banged up a
little bit right now. Arik [DE Arik Armstead]’s been working through his offseason injury and
working himself back in, and obviously it’s unfortunate with Devin [WR Devin Duvernay]
right now. But it’s something that we’ve got to just continue to work, continue to just keep
showing everybody the good and the bad and make the necessary corrections.”
(On if there’s an explanation for the increase in hamstring injuries leaguewide) “I don’t. You
know, the offseason program, if you go back to the offseason program, it’s obviously – it’s
different. It’s unique. It’s something that we have focused on here, but I don’t know. It is a
phenomenon that we need to look at medically and do everything we can from a strength,
conditioning standpoint to treatment and rehab, to even the way we practice to the way the
offseason program is set up. But it’s definitely something that I know the league is looking
at it. They look at it every year, as do the clubs. I think just keep working with our guys and
making sure that they’re getting everything they need physically to stay healthy.”
(On the defensive struggles in the last four weeks and getting guys back from injury) “We’ve
got to make sure that, number one, as coaches, we prepare our players during the week.
We show them everything we can. What to anticipate on game day and making sure that
they’re prepared mentally, more so than physically. To the second part of your question, I
do believe that hopefully we get [CB] Tyson Campbell back. That would be a big boost
defensively there. I think it would help the whole defense. He’s one of the leaders on the
team and getting him back in there – it’s good to get him back in practice last week and get
him going, and then Foye [LB Foye Oluokun] is another one. Foye is an emotional leader, as
well as that inspirational guy and a good football player, and when you’re missing those two
starters like that, it does impact your defense. So, we’ve got to make sure, one, it starts with
the coaches, and then two, if the players just take the lead from there.”
(On potential personnel changes in the secondary including S Tashaun Gipson Sr.’s status)
“Yeah, in regards to Tashaun [S Tashaun Gipson Sr.], we still haven’t heard necessarily,
really, from the league yet. We have to wait for the league to clear him off of the
suspension. So that’s Tashaun’s case right now. So maybe that’ll happen this week or in the
near future. Obviously, Savage [S Darnell Savage] missed a couple of games in there. I think
too there are some young guys. There’s some young guys back there, but they’re playing
extremely hard. Again, we just got to make sure that even with the guys we do have coming
back, Tyson’s coming back. And we’re hopeful to get Dewey [S Andrew Wingard] back
maybe in a week or two. We’ll see where that is. These are leaders of your secondary. These
are veteran players who can bring that leadership back there in the secondary. I do think
Antonio [S Antonio Johnson] and Cisco [S Andre Cisco] played better yesterday, did some
good things. Cisco had a nice interception yesterday. We’re still learning, and again, it goes
back to just making sure, as coaches, we prepare these guys, put them in the right
situations, and then ultimately the communication on the field.”
(On if CB Jarrian Jones and S Darnell Savage cleared the concussion protocol)
“Yeah, they were checked during the game, and they both returned. So yes.”
(On his evaluation of CB Ronald Darby in the beginning of the season and in the last few
weeks) “Well, you know, Darbs is another one. That’s a veteran player. A guy that we
brought in here to give us some time, some valuable time there at corner. He’s still doing
some good things. I think that he’s been in a good position. He had opportunities, it just
necessarily hasn’t translated yet onto the field a couple of plays. But he’s doing fine. Like
where he’s at. Would we love to give him a play here, a series of rest here or there to prolong
that? I mean, I think it’s part of the plan. I think we could do that. And now, again, with
Tyson coming back and how Buster [CB Montaric Brown] has been playing and potentially
Jarrian playing the corner in the nickel spot, I think there’s some rotational things now that
we can do. We’re starting to get more bodies back, and that’s a positive to the entire
defense.”
(On clarifying his comments about “changing the culture” of the team) “Yeah, I mean,
obviously, we’ve lost some games here, right? So, we want to change that culture to a
winning culture. That’s why we coach and that’s why we play. I think to that statement that I
made, I mean, these guys – listen, they bust their tail. I’ve said this, and you’ve seen how
we’ve practiced. I mean, these guys bust their tails during the week, and I don’t want them
to feel – even though we haven’t won yet, I don’t want them to feel sort of mentally
defeated, if that makes sense because that’s where the slippery slope comes in, right? If
you feel like you’re going into a game where you don’t have a chance, then you’re not going
to have a chance. You’re not going to give yourself an opportunity to win that game. So
that’s what I mean by that culture there. We just got to make sure these guys stay mentally
– stay positive with each other, stay positive during the week. Bottom line is just go out and
have fun and play. It’s a great game to coach and a great game to play. But winning
obviously helps that.”
(On what is not translating from practice onto the field during games) “I wish I had a crystal
ball to answer that question. Look, you see it in practice. Even when there’s a mistake
made, we go back and correct that mistake, right? It’s that positive reinforcement. Then
sometimes, too, in a game – I don’t know – I mean, listen, I’m not going to sit here and make
excuses. That’s the wrong thing to do, but that’s something we’ve got to figure out. We’ve
got to figure that out together, honestly. Why that doesn’t always translate – it’s not all the
time, but it is some of the time. And right now, the times that it doesn’t, the opponent has
an explosive play, run or pass, and those are the moments that we’ve got to eliminate.”
(On if drops occur in practice or are isolated to game days) “Well, obviously, that’s
something that we’re aware of as a staff and constantly talk to our team about, one, about
catches, about ball security, all those things. I think when it comes to catching the football,
I think it’s just the focus and concentration. It’s just looking the ball into the tuck and
making sure that you clasp the football on contact and things of that nature. But you get the
occasional drop in practice, but again, that’s where the reinforcement comes in. The guys
want to get back and get that rep over again, make that catch or Trevor [QB Trevor
Lawrence] will take those guys to another field and work on those throws. That’s really what
you’ve got to do, and you slowly kind of, week-by-week, kind of work yourself out of that
hole.”
(On the defense’s struggles with quarterback scrambles) “Yeah, that’s something that going
into the yesterday’s game, we knew Caleb [Bears QB Caleb Williams] is a very slippery
quarterback. He’s an athletic guy, and we had to stay disciplined in our rush lanes. And
look, we had opportunities to get him on the ground, and we didn’t yesterday. That’s the
part we’ve got to look at, and obviously, fix and correct. But look, those guys are good
athletes, too, speaking from experience. So, you’re not always going to get them, but when
you have an opportunity, you’ve got to make the play. But then you’ve got to know, too,
how’s that quarterback going to escape? Is he going to spin out in back door you? Is he
going to front door you? Is he going to go up through the pocket, up and out? That’s all just
studying the quarterback, studying the opponent. But definitely got to improve there and
make sure that we do our part. And then, two, when the quarterback does scramble,
making sure you have the plaster technique, right? The plaster on the receivers and making
sure that you’d rather him run than explosive pass. But obviously, yesterday, two of them –
one was an explosive run and the other was an explosive pass, which is the double
whammy. So, something we got to improve in.”
