HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2023
(On expectation with how team handles home advantage) “First thing is the schedule gets a little more
normal for us compared to the last half of the season. We haven’t played our best football at home
which is crazy. Those two early games that we didn’t play very well, things we have to do better. We are
playing in front of our fans, we are at home, our stadium, and our locker room. We need to feed off the
energy, obviously off the crowd, and we need to play our best football. Especially in the second half of
the season. If you want that home field advantage or try to play for home field advantage, you have to
do it at home, that’s why they call it home field advantage. We just got to focus in on that and to
continue to improve and play our best ball down the stretch”.
(On bye week can the team carry momentum through it or is it a hard reset) “I think it’s a little of both
but, I think it’s a hard reset too. Not all the way back to square one but, the bye is good for getting guys
healthy, rest, cand clearing your mind. When you get back in it’s how do you maintain an edge or the
ability to play for four quarters. Those are all things that are real coming out of a break and that I will be
talking to the team about this week and the next couple of weeks. It all starts with the week of
preparation, in the practice, and then in the little things. For example, extra conditioning, weight room,
training room, and getting rest at night. All of those are big pieces to how you play coming out of the bye
and as we move down the year”.
(On even playing field with both teams having the week off) “In situations where I have been on that end
and sometimes the break comes at the right time. You can sort of reset just a little bit and in situations
and refocus and regroup. That is really what the bye is for is to go back and to look at the good and the
bad and to figure out why as you move forwards. Sometimes it tends to lean maybe towards the team
that hasn’t been playing well coming out of the break. Yet we are still riding that wave of emotion from
the last five games or so and we got to figure out on how to continue that”.
(On if this game is measurable, to see where the teams at) “I don’t think it’s a measuring stick, you’re
playing a great football team and we have played some really good football teams already. Our guys have
battled and hung in there and it’s just going to be another one of those tough, physical, and hard games.
It is one-of-17 games against a top NFC opponent and a playoff caliber team, a team that was in the
Super Bowl a couple of years ago. Is that a measuring stick, could be and we haven’t done anything yet
and we aren’t there yet. Our guys have to prepare that way and be ready for a 60-minute game”.
(On what he learned through the first eight weeks about the scheme of the team) “I think the big thing is
the way the defense has played, creating takeaways and short fields. Another possession for the offense,
the ability to stop or at least slow down some good running teams and those are all things some positive
takeaways. Obviously, both sides of the ball, we’ve got to get better on third down. I think offensively,
we’ve kept ourselves in too many third-and-eight plus, long-yardage situations. Just offense, the
turnovers. That’s something we have to eliminate, especially down the stretch. You want to get yourself
in a position to score, you’ve got to take care of the football. Being able to focus on a couple of those
areas, just looking at it. It’s not a whole schematic change. The plays work, we’re just failing to execute.
We have to just tighten up and hone in, not tighten up individually, but just tighten some things up as a
team to just concentrate a little bit harder on those situations.”
(On comfortability that the team needs more games to continue to improve) “Yeah, I think our team has
figured out that we’re always going to be in every game, get it to the fourth quarter as they say. I think
one of the things too that we’ve realized is that we’ve played with leads more this year. We’re not
coming back and fighting our way back into games. We’re playing with that lead and that’s always a
positive. Looking back, I think you can lean on some of those experiences from a year ago, but again,
different team, different season, different set of circumstances this year, we’re 6-2, not 3-7 at some of
these points last year. If you want to be a good football team and consistently a good football team,
you’ve got to maintain; you’ve got to sustain. You’ve got to overcome your own adversities and continue
to work every single day. It’s just like what everybody says, you want to go 1-0 this week. That’s
obviously the goal.”
(On game planning against 49ers DL Chase Young and 49ers DL Nick Bosa together) “Well, we have
experience and we have film on Chase in Washington. We coached against him and he’s an excellent
football player. Of course, with Bosa, we know the type of player he is and the respect that he gets and
deserves. It’s a challenge to have two edge rushers like this, but we’ve done this before. We had Bosa
[Chargers LB Joey Bosa] and Mack [Chargers LB Khalil Mack] with the Chargers. There’s enough film out
there, these are two great players and a lot of respect for both of them. Love watching them play and
how hard they play, our guys will be up for the challenge and it’ll be a great opportunity for them.”
(On threat of 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey) “You can put him anywhere in the formation, back field, split
out wide, motion him, jet sweep, you put him anywhere. He’s just that type of player, hand him the ball,
throw him the ball, screens, down the field, he’s just an overall solid player. You have to account for him.
It’s hard to get him on the ground, he can break tackles, he’s a strong physical back that does some really
good things.”
(On performance so far this season from WR Christian Kirk and TE Evan Engram) “I think you realize that
when the offense is clicking, it runs through both of those guys. Whether Calvin [WR Calvin Ridley] is
being taken away by double coverages and all that, Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] seems to find Evan and
Christian somewhere. It’s really no surprise, it’s just the way they work. It’s the way they go about their
day, the way they practice. The extra stuff they do, both guys. There’s a comfortable level with the
quarterback, Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] and just knowing where they’ll be, second year in the system,
all that kind of stuff. It’s a nice comfort to have.”
(On message to offense going up against a strong pass rushing team with 49ers LB Fred Warner) “Yeah,
another guy, there’s no shortage of talent on defense, that’s for sure. This guy is all over the field, he’s
smart, he gets the defense lined up. He can run sideline to sideline, he’s a good tackler in space, he can
carry a receiver deep down the middle. He’s just a solid football player. Again, he’s somebody that you
give a lot of respect to. You got to play 11-on-11, and it’s about our pieces against their pieces and how
best we can maneuver our guys and try to create some matchups somewhere. Yet, just know that these
guys are going to make plays. They’re going to make a tackle for loss or they’re going to get a sack or
they may break up a pass or something like that. It doesn’t keep you from continuing to try and execute
your game plan. Good players, give them their respect and you still got to play.”
(On the offense taking advantage of the defense forcing three-and-outs) “We need to. It’s tough when
your defense goes three-and-out and you go three-and-out. We’ve had some of that, that’s some of
those lulls we’ve had in games and those are things that looking back on the bye that you try to figure
out the ‘why.’ A lot of times, it’s just first and second down. It’s a negative run on first down or an
incomplete pass puts you at second-and-10’s, things like that. Those are hard to overcome. The defense
has done a nice job, we’ve talked about this, keeping us in football games whether that’s creating
takeaways or turnover on downs, three and outs, offense has to now go and answer and sustain and stay
on the field. It just comes down to execution and each man doing their job.”
(On impact of having OL Walker Little back in the starting lineup) “Well, Walker is a good player, bigger
body in there. We’ll see, there’s not a lot of film with him in there, so it’s just hard to say. Tyler [OL Tyler
Shatley] has done a nice job in there and now Walker gets his opportunity to go back in there and play.
Hopefully, it generates a little movement up front and that’s what you hope for. We’ll see, there’s just
not enough out there.”
(On problems of not converting in short yardage situations on third downs) “Guys are going to get beat
from time-to-time, it’s football. They’ve got great players, we’ve got great players. Guys get edged,
offensive linemen get edged; you get tackle for loss. Maybe the ball carrier doesn’t hit the exact hole
where we expect it to be or maybe it’s just a little off-tackle or inside the guard and we make that. An
incomplete pass or something of that nature, it’s just sometimes you get beat and those are critical
situations that we understand for us to stay on the field and not go three-and-out, we’ve got to be
better. We have to execute better, even on fourth down, we have to execute better. We got to call better
plays in those situations, that’s on coaches. Put our players in better situations. Everybody has a hand in
it and it’s definitely an area that we focus on.”
(On concern of rookies still having half of a season left after being used to college football schedules)
“We’ll address it, I’ll address it with them. We’ve played eight games and nine left, and they go, ‘Nine
left? That’s a college football season.’ We’ll keep them going, keep them focused, keep them energized
and it’s just part of being a rookie. Our vets do a good job of keeping those guys plugging along.”
(On if WR Zay Jones will be practicing this week) “He’ll be back out there, limited obviously, he’ll do
some individual stuff on the side. He’ll work a little bit this week, yes.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2023
(On being on the ManningCast on Monday night) “Yeah, it was good. We had a good time on there. It’s
hard to have a bad time with those two guys so that was pretty funny. I’m sure you guys saw all the
photoshopped pictures and all of that. It was a good time.”
(On importance of fans coming out for the upcoming home games) “It’s huge. Especially when we talk
about the position we’re in and then how much these games are going to mean, obviously no matter
where we’re at, these are going to mean a lot. Especially the last half of your season, they’re always
important. No matter if you have a winning record or not going into that stretch. Just to have that
homefield advantage and we’ve gone through a rough or tough stretch schedule wise of just playing on
the road, playing in London, Thursday night game on the road, all of those things. Now, we get kind of a
more friendly schedule as far as just being at home a couple of weeks in a row. A great team coming in
here, we get to play at home so not having to go to the west coast, things like that. It’s definitely good
for us. The fans are going to be huge and we’ve got a lot of momentum right now, they’re a huge part of
that. Just bringing that, we’ve been really successful on the road this year, we need to start winning at
home more. That’s a big part of with our fans as well. I know that’s what they’re looking forward to
seeing. We just need all that we can get, all the home field advantage.”
(On momentum being carried or reset through the bye week) “I think a little bit of both. We still feel that
momentum, that energy that we left with when we took the week off, but you got to find a way to get
that edge back. It is relaxing and getting your body back underneath you, you have to. It’s a long season,
we played eight tough games in a row and then now we’ve got a nice stretch. You’ve got to give your
body a chance to rest. Now, today in practice and it started on Monday when we had a lighter practice.
Just getting our legs back under us and getting that edge and practicing hard, that’s where it starts. You
can’t just walk out there Sunday and expect to play with that edge if you didn’t all week in practice. I
think that’s where it starts really today and as we practice every day of the week.”
(On why third downs have been a struggle this season) “Yeah, we’ve talked about it a few weeks and
that’s an emphasis for us that we’ve got to get better at. That’s where a lot of times, especially playing
good teams and you win games is being able to stay on the field on third down. Also, not being in as
many third downs. You don’t have to be first, second, third down every sequence. It’s nice to be able to
hit a first down on first down or on second down. I think those are all part of it, we’ve got to be better on
short yardage. That’s something we’ve been talking about and we’ve been emphasizing, then last week
or two weeks ago against Pittsburgh, I thought we were better on third down, I don’t know exactly what
the numbers were, maybe four-minute kind of threw it off at the end of the game. We were definitely
better and we’ve got to continue that. It can’t just be one week we’re 40-50 percent and the next week,
we’re 20. You’ve got to be more consistent and if you want to be one of the best teams at the end of the
year, you’ve got to convert on third downs to stay on the field.”
(On impact of having WR Zay Jones back in redzone situations) “It would help. He’s one of our better
players for sure and he’s a great player. He’s a really smart guy that’s obviously been in this system now
for going on two years. He’s a guy that I have a ton of chemistry with just getting reps together for two
seasons. He would help, but the reality of it is where we’re at and we’re letting Zay get healthy and take
his time. Whenever that is, whether it’s this week, next week, three weeks, that’s not for any of us to
decide. He’s got to get healthy and we’ve got his back in that. We’ve got to make the adjustments and fill
in that gap. Guys are doing a good job of that, but we’ve got to keep getting better every week and
getting guys involved and all those things. We’ve got to have options and I think those guys are getting
better and better every week that are having to step in, whether it’s Ag [WR Jamal Agnew] who’s had a
lot of experience in his career, especially here, for having to step in at different times when guys are hurt
or he just has to make a play. He’s got a lot of experience with that and we trust him. [WR] Elijah Cooks,
[WR] Tim Jones, a lot of guys could fill that void. We just got to keep getting better every week and
finding ways to win. We’ve got to be better on third down and redzone too, but we’re finding ways to
win so if we can just keep doing that while we get better, that’s obviously the goal.”
(On if he’s played against anyone with talent as good as 49ers LB Fred Warner) “No, not really. He’s
pretty unique. I think just the mixture of athleticism and physicality, he’s great versus the run, great
versus the pass, he can cover guys in man, he’s a great blitzer, he can really do it all. There’s not a part of
his game where you’re like, ‘Eh, he struggles with that.’ He can do it all, he’s a great player, sideline to
sideline, he can fly, just has great instincts. There’s a lot of good linebackers in this league but I’d say he’s
definitely one of the best, maybe the best. He can play, so he’s a great player and he’s a guy that you’ve
always got to know where he’s at. He leads things for them, he’s really smart. I think that’s something
you notice and even playing against a guy like Foye [LB Foye Oluokun] in practice and stuff, guys like that
are really smart and they see things, whether it’s a formation or a motion or a split, they see things
before they happen and those are guys that are really tough on defense because they just got a step on
you because they know where it’s going. He’s a great player and we’re going to have to have a plan for
him for sure.”
(On struggles of game planning against 49ers DL Chase Young and 49ers LB Nick Bosa) “Yeah, I think the
difficult part of it is that they’re both just great players. That’s what makes it hard. Of course, there’s
going to be things that you might have to adjust to in the game, you’re kind of guessing on where they’re
going to play, what they’re going to do, which side they’re going to play on. You don’t really know that
stuff, but that’s something you adjust early. I think from a planning perspective, you kind of go into it,
we’ve played some good edge guys this year, Pittsburgh being an example of that. We’re used to having
plans for that but now it’s a new guy with Nick and obviously Nick is a great player and Chase is too. At
the end of the day, you’ve got to win your matchups, you got to be able to block and we’ve got to help
our tackles. We’ve got to get the ball out, we’ve got to run the ball great, all those things. That’s what
helps, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to go block them and when it’s two ends, you kind of know
what they’re going to do. They’ve got to pick a side and they’re going to rush. They’re going to play with
instincts and those guys are good players. I would say not having the tape maybe isn’t as big of a deal
when it’s an edge guy, but we’ve got to make some adjustments I’m sure as the game goes on.”
(On avoiding the pass rush speeding up and playing too fast) “I think you’ve got to feel the game out.
You’ve got to pick and choose the plays where you feel like you might need to hold it more, you’ve got to
be great at taking what the defense gives you, it’s a mixture. We’ve played fortunately and unfortunately,
in this league, these guys are pretty unique, but you’re going to play really good edge guys almost every
week. Like I said, two weeks ago in Pittsburgh, those two guys are really good. Going back, there’s other
guys that we’ve played and moving forward there’s going to be guys next week too. You’re used to
having a plan, you’re used to, for myself speaking, being back in there and having a plan of what I want
to do and how I want to start the game, how I want to settle in. We come up with a good plan, me and
Press [Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor] and Doug [Head Coach Doug Pederson] just together of what
we want to do. We’ll have a plan and I think you want to be smart, you want to get the game going,
there are some times you got to be able to have explosives too. You can’t just throw everything
underneath and you can’t just run the ball every play. You got to try to take some shots and take
advantage of some stuff in the backend. You’ve got to have it all, you can’t just pick one thing. Teams are
too good in this league to just be one dimensional. We’ll have a good plan for them.”
(On if the team is on the verge of having a big offensive breakout to score more) “I hope so. Every week
you kind of hope it’s that week. We’ve been a lot more consistent on just moving the ball, not stalling
out as much. But then, you see two weeks ago, we have the dumb turnovers that kept Pittsburgh in the
game and gave them a shot and didn’t let us really takeoff and blow the game open. It’s something like
that every week that we have to fix, you’re hoping every week is that week and we’re emphasizing it. We
got a lot of emphasis on the details of just not having turnovers, being better on third down and all those
things play together and have a clean game. That’s the idea, having a game where you can come out of it
not many turnovers at all, being great on third downs, scoring in the redzone, it would be nice to put all
of those together this week against a good team like this. This is the week to do it, you got to play well
against great teams.”
(On talent and improvement of CB Darious Williams) “There’s a lot of things. He’s a really hard worker,
just the way he takes care of his business I think is impressive. He’s always been that way but he’s just
really smart, going against him in practice and in training camp, even one-on-ones and stuff when we’re
just repping against our guys. He’s just really smart, he knows splits, he knows concepts, and I think
that’s why he can play so fast. There’s plays where we might have a double move on and for some
reason, he’s 12 yards off and I don’t know what he saw, but he just has really good feel, good instincts,
and he’s really good at keeping everything in front of him. His ball skills are really good and he plays a lot
bigger than he is honestly. He’s physical, does a great job of tackling too. He can do a lot for us and I
think you’re seeing the mental side which is what makes him so good. It makes him hard to go against
because he’s not just a guy that you’re going to get gimmies on. He’s not going to let you over the top,
he’s not going to bite on a double move, things like that and he’s really smart.”
(On CB Darious Williams recover ability throughout games) “I think it just goes back to great instincts and
a lot of that is natural ability. I think he knows where his issues are. If he maybe takes a chance right
when he sees that ball, maybe he took a chance. I don’t even know the play you’re necessarily talking
about but I remember him tipping it, I don’t know what he did. If he took the underneath route, he
understands if he holds onto it and tries to throw it over top, there’s an issue. He knows to get back and I
think all of that kind of plays together and I’m sure he would give you a better answer than me but I just
think his instincts are great.”
