CORNERBACK TYSON CAMPBELL
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2024
(On when he knew WR Brian Thomas Jr. was going to be a great receiver) “I think I knew
pretty early, just during OTAs. Just seeing his top-end speed and being able to make the
deep ball catch and making explosive plays across the field, so I think I knew pretty early.”
(On what makes Thomas Jr. difficult to defend) “I think his ability to win on the 50-50 balls,
his quickness and just his ability to finish plays. Those three are the main keys.”
(On what he’s trying to get out of the remainder of the season) “Just finish strong. We’ve got
three games left. Making sure we take it one game at a time and just try to go 3-0 but go 1-0
each week. So just finish strong, finish on a positive note. Just play for my brothers. This is a
blessing, and I just want to steward the best way I can. I’m not taking anything for granted,
so that’s pretty much it.”
(On if there’s talk among the team about Head Coach Doug Pederson’s status) “Not really.
Stuff like that is out of our control. We can just control what we can control, and that’s
focusing on these last three games of the season. But as far as that, pretty much not much
locker room talk about that.”
(On if the team operates assuming the status quo) “Yes.”
(On if he believes that momentum from the end of a season can carry over to the next
season) “I think it does. What is it, ‘Your reputation is the last game you play?’ So, if we
finish strong, that will be the last taste in our mouth, of victory. It’s something you look
forward to bringing into the next season. That’s part of the reason we want to finish strong,
just bringing that positive energy going into the next season.”
(On what’s allowed CB Jarrian Jones to excel in recent weeks) “I would say his IQ and just
him being a fast learner. Whether it be learning the scheme or learning from any mistakes
that he makes, just learning and improving each week. I feel like that’s definitely a skill of
somebody, just being able to prove week-in and week-out, just making you a better player
as the season goes. You could just tell he’s getting a wonderful feel for the game as the
season progressed, and he’s becoming a heck of a player in this league. He isn’t becoming,
he will be.”
(On how the team mitigates feelings of frustration when they aren’t winning) “You just try to
fuel it into positive energy and to your preparation for the next week. In this league, it’s any
given Sunday. You can only control what you can control. You just stand strong in your faith
and be where your feet are, and just lean on your teammates, lean on your team and realize
you’ll get out of the storm eventually. That is the mindset I try to instill in the guys right now.
Definitely feel like it’s going to get greater later, but we’ve just got to continue to stay
resilient.”
(On what it says about the team that they’ve stayed close together throughout the season)
“It just shows how close we are. We’ve been going at it since late July. We’re a tight-knit
group. We want to finish what we started. We just have a passion to play for the guy next to
us and that fuels us going in week-in and week-out.”
RUNNING BACK TRAVIS ETIENNE JR.
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2024
(On what he’s trying to get out of these last three games) “I feel like, for me, just to continue
to play the game the right way. I feel like, just go out there and try to be my best self every
week, week-in for my team. Just go out there and put great things on tape and just try to be
the best running back I can be for the team.”
(On if there’s talk among the team about Head Coach Doug Pederson’s status as head
coach) “No, that’s not anything we worry about because it’s out of our control anyway.
Honestly, we just kind of focus on being 1-0 each and every week. It’s kind of redundant,
but I feel like we just try to be the best we can be each and every Sunday to put great things
on film, to put great things on tape and try to win games, but it hasn’t been working out that
way.”
(On the offense gaining comfort with QB Mac Jones being at the helm) “Yeah, in a sense,
but I feel like everybody just being on the same page within the game. We just all want to
come out there with a win and put good things on tape. I feel like we just kind of finally was
clicking, had a lot of maydays, kind of like we were up on the ball fast. I feel like it took a lot
of thinking out of it and we were just out there playing football.”
(On WR Brian Thomas Jr.’s skillset as a runner and if that could translate well to running
back) “Yeah, B.T.’s one of those guys where could’ve been whatever he wanted to be. He’s a
playmaker. He’s from Louisiana, so I feel like B.T. could’ve done whatever he wanted to do.
He chose to be a receiver and you’re seeing another great receiver from LSU [Louisiana
State University].”
(On how difficult it is maintain the intensity of the week knowing that there is no playoff
incentive) “It’s very challenging, but at the end of the day, we all know honestly that this
season’s not the way we wanted it to go, but we still don’t lose those dreams of being a
Super Bowl team. We know in order to get there, we have to win games like this in the
future. So, I feel like the best experience is teacher, and we keep getting enough of these
we’re going to flip that switch and we’ll figure it out, then we’ll be the team winning a bunch
of one-score games. We just keep learning lessons this year, but I feel like we’re going to
figure it out. This learning experience is going to help us in that area.”
HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2024
(On CB Ronald Darby not playing vs. New York Jets) “I just think Buster’s [CB Montaric
Brown] been playing well, and really just giving him an opportunity right now.”
(On if CB Montaric Brown will be starting moving forward) “Yeah, moving forward with the
last three games, I think you’ll see Buster and hopefully get a chance to see Tre [CB
De’Antre Prince] and just kind of see where he’s at as well. But yeah, Buster’s been playing
really well.”
(On if the reason for not playing Darby was disciplinary) “No. Not at all.”
(On if he’ll be playing younger guys more in the last three games) “Yeah, if you get an
opportunity. You’re still trying to go out to compete and win the game, but if you get the
chance to play one of your young players, and it’s a good time to do it, then we’ll do it.”
(On how he balances getting younger guys playing time but still wanting to win) “Yeah, you
think about Tre Prince, right? He’s been active a lot this year, but just hasn’t seen the field
as much. I think that’s a great example of a guy and a young player who dresses, and really,
I want to see defensively and also on special teams, what he can do. This will be a good
time to get that done.”
(On what kind of growth he’s seen from TE Brenton Strange over the last two years)
“Brenton’s been a bright spot for us. Somebody who we’ve always, as a staff, really have
had a lot of confidence in. I think too for Brenton, it’s just a matter of getting that
opportunity, and now he has it, obviously, under unfortunate circumstances. But he really
has just been a bright spot. He’s done everything we’ve asked. He does a great job in the
run game, he’s physical. Then, you’re seeing what he can do in the pass game. Great hands,
ability to separate and get open, and then break tackles. That’s what you want from your
tight end.”
(On if calling plays with an unbalanced line for short yardage situations) “Some of it, and
then some of it was just to take advantage of the way the defense shifts themselves over. It
creates sometimes an extra gap. Executed it well. Honestly, we’ve carried it for the last
several weeks, we just haven’t shown it until yesterday. But guys executed well and it was
good to see more third-and-ones, twos, threes, a little more manageable third-downs a
little bit yesterday than some of the longer ones.”
(On if it’s hard to keep the team focused at the end of the season) “It becomes a challenge.
But I’ll tell you, I haven’t seen it yet, any sort of disconnect. Obviously, that falls on my
shoulders to make sure that doesn’t happen and just continue to lean on the guys, the
leadership guys. We’ve got three games. We’ve got three games left. You want to be able to
go out and play well and win these three games and give yourself a chance each Sunday.
But I haven’t seen that yet and that’s positive for the guys in the locker room.”
(On if he agrees with CB Tyson Campbell saying “playing for the guy next to you” is as good
as any reason to keep going this season) “Yeah. That’s a great answer. We spend so much
time together, coaches and players, that obviously players play for certain reasons, but I
think the biggest one is to play for the guy next to them. You want to do right and do your job
so that he can do his job, and all 11 can do theirs. That’s what they do. They battle and fight
for one another, and that’s encouraging.”
(On how the team has stayed together through all the adversity this season) “They do. It’s a
great locker room in that way. Even just, you take it one step further from the locker room to
the game, to the sideline, to the week of practice and preparation, they continue to lift each
other up, encourage one another, coach each other on the field, which is good to see. It just
shows you, you have a strong, united locker room that are going to battle for each other.”
(On what happened on the play that left Jets WR Davante Adams open on the sideline)
“Unfortunately, that was a missed assignment. Mesh concept underneath, and we just
passed it off. We passed the one side and we carried the other side, so just a missed
assignment.”
(On if missing assignments should still be happening at this point in the season) “That’s the
challenge as coaches right now, we’ve got to find ways to make sure the information is
passed along properly, and that’s up to the player to digest and ask questions on certain
things. Sometimes in the heat of the moment, in the heat of the battle, you get kind of
locked in on the man over you a little bit and you—I don’t want to say you lock up or freeze
up because you don’t do that, but you just sort of lose track of what you need to be doing.
You’re focused on that one guy, and then sometimes just being able to take a deep breath
and, I think, see the big picture can help.”
(On OL Walker Little’s health status) “He just rolled his ankle, should be fine.”
(On if anyone else on the team came out of the game with any other injuries) “Pretty healthy
yesterday. Just normal nicks from the game, but yeah, came out pretty good.”
(On how much WR Brian Thomas Jr. has grown this season) “I think Brian’s grown a lot. I can
remember back, right after the draft, you get him in here and start working with him and just
watching that development, that growth to where he is today as a receiver, and one of the
top young receivers in this league. Obviously, a big part of our offense and just a bright spot.
It’s been encouraging to see his growth and what he’s capable of doing. Going back and
watching him on film coming out of LSU to today, some of the same things, some of the
explosiveness. We continue each week to load his plate up and give him more
opportunities and really expand his route tree just a little bit more. Has been good, and he
embraces it well.”
(On if he would be able to handle the load earlier in the season) “I think he could have. I
really do. I think earlier in the season when we had everybody, we were just finding ways to
get him the ball at that point, just plugging him in with Christian [WR Chirstian Kirk] and
Evan [TE Evan Engram] and Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] and everybody. But now, these last
couple of weeks, it’s kind of been his show. He’s really done a nice job, and as the season’s
progressed each week, we’ve given him more. Again, it’s been a big bright spot for us on
offense.”
(On how frustrating it is that losses come down to one or two plays) “That’s the tough part
sometimes of what we do as coaches, myself, to try to sometimes figure out the ‘why’s?’
Players ask us ‘why’ all the time on certain things, and for me it’s to find out the ‘why’s.’ Why
are we still making some of the same mistakes? It’s got to work two ways, right? The
coaches have to obviously explain the information and teach the information in a way that
the player can understand and then the player has to digest it and ask questions back.
That’s what I’ve encouraged the players to do more of. If you don’t know something, just
ask. That’s why we go out and practice. Questions come up all the time and make sure you
get the answers that you need going into the game, so you can just play free. Your mind’s
free and you’re just seeing things. You’re reacting to what you see. Look, mistakes are going
to happen. They’re going to happen, but we’ve got to do our part too to minimize and really
try to eliminate some of the mistakes we’re making.”
(On what steps QB Mac Jones has to take to mitigate committing turnovers) “The first one,
yesterday, I think both of them he’d like to have back, quite frankly. I think location of the
ball, where he threw them, was not where he wanted them to be. Sometimes in situations,
just understand the situation that you’re in. End of the game is different than a third-down
in the middle of the game. Sometimes just take what the defense gives you, and these are
things that he can continue to improve, and we can show him as coaches, and just put the
ball in play. If we end up punting, we punt and it’s not a big deal, it’s not the end of the day.
Those are things he can do, take another step, but he played well yesterday. He played well.
He played tough, some good scrambles in there, played physical, got a little chippy in there
which is good to see. But I think those two throws he’d definitely want back.”
(On Jones’ out-of-bounds sack) “Yeah, we’ve got to dive into the weeds in that one a little
bit more. Really, because of where it was on the field, it was not a play that was going to
hurt you as much because then you still had a third-down play. Ended up kicking a field
goal there, got three points. Sometimes, don’t get caught up in the emotion of the game
sometimes and possibly throw it away or whatever, find a guy. It didn’t hurt us in that
situation which was OK. The other one earlier on, where there was a penalty in the end
zone when he took the long sack on that one. Obviously, saw the flag thrown there, so that
one was nullified, but just the awareness of the situation.”
(On if Jones has embraced this opportunity to start) “Yeah, he really has. I think he’s taking
each game in stride, and he knows his situation, from a career standpoint too, not only
helping us win right now, but I think he’s obviously auditioning for maybe a potential spot
down the road for maybe another team, something like that. He knows, he continues to
improve, he continues to get better, and it’s good. It’s good to see him do that. The fact that
we were able to put up some points yesterday and play as he did is a step in the right
direction.”
(On if he held his breath when DT Jeremiah Ledbetter did a backflip) “Yeah, somebody said
he did. I didn’t see it.”
(On if he knew if Ledbetter could do a flip) “I did not know. Did not know. I know some of the
guys can, but I didn’t think he could. Pretty talented.”
