HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2024
(On injury updates) “Evan [TE Evan Engram], obviously, prior to pregame warm-ups, he’s
out there running around and getting himself loose for the game, and obviously felt
something in his hamstring. So, it was significant enough to keep him out and hold him out
of the football game yesterday. We’ll see where he is this week. Optimistic, but we’ve just
got to see. Hamstrings can be funny. So, it’s kind of a week-to-week deal right now with
him. All the other guys, Tank [RB Tank Bigsby], actually, he got hit on his shoulder on the
kickoff return. Had a little bit of a shoulder injury there, took him in, did some X-rays on him.
Everything was good, got him back, kind of loosened up and was sort of available in the
second half of the football game yesterday. Gabe [WR Gabe Davis] just landed on his
shoulder on the sideline there late in the game. He’s fine. Anton [OL Anton Harrison] is fine.
Cisco [S Andre Cisco] is okay. He’s fine.”
(On what he can do to jumpstart the offense) “Yeah, that’s something we’ve got to look at
these next couple of days. I think it starts in practice. I think we can do some things
differently in practice and how we attack that each period in practice, that’s one. Obviously,
the game plan is the game plan. You can simplify as much as you want, but it doesn’t
change the fact that you’ve got to start fast, right? I mean, that just goes without saying.
There just has to be an awareness. Just a sense of urgency by everybody, the entire football
team really, when we head into these games. But I think we can maybe mix some things up
and just a little more attention to detail and practice as we go each week.”
(On if he’s surprised by WR Christian Kirk’s level of participation in the offense) “Well, as
you know, the ball goes where it goes. There were opportunities, but the ball was going
somewhere else in the progression. So, we’re going to continue to find ways to get Christian
the football and he’ll be a big part of the offense.”
(On the decision to have DT Maason Smith inactive and what needs to happen for him for
that to change that moving forward) “You’ve got 53 players each week and I get a chance to
select the 48. Obviously, I visit with the defensive staff and it kind of goes too off of the prior
week. So, it’s not necessarily what Maason did. I think guys like Big O [DT Esezi Otomewo]
and Jeremiah [DT Jeremiah Ledbetter] also had good weeks of preparation and practice. It’s
just an opportunity for Maason to learn and put himself in a position this week to try to be
elevated. So, it was nothing that he didn’t do. I just think it was a fact that Jeremiah and Big
O had opportunities to be up this week.”
(On how much he believes the team’s chemistry will serve them well as they face adversity
throughout the season) “I think it’s everything. The fact that they are—listen, we’ve had
many guys in here today already and they’ve come up and talked to the coaches and
wanted to sit down and go through the tape. They’re on board. I mean, they understand. I
mean, they understand they have to play better. We have to coach better. It’s a group effort.
It’s no particular one person or one position group or one side of the ball. I think there are
obviously enough mistakes to fix enough things we can get better at. But the fact that the
players are united and locked in and focused that way is a good sign.”
(On the performance of the secondary vs. Cleveland) “I’ll tell you the secondary has been
really a bright spot. I mean, I know we had some mishaps Week 1 in Miami, and things of
that nature. But I thought Buster [CB Montaric Brown] played an excellent football game
yesterday. You saw [CB] De’Antre Prince come in and make a play on [Browns WR] Amari
Cooper, I mean, their best receiver. They continue to gain confidence the more they’re out
there. We still have some communication things we’ve got to clean up, and some leverage
things. But that’s been a bright spot for us.”
(On if he thinks communication is the biggest thing currently missing from the offense) “I
do. It’s one aspect. I mean, listen, there’s a lot of things that have to go on and there’s a lot
of talking that goes on for each individual play. We missed some things in the run game. We
missed some things in protection. But all things are very fixable and correctable. But yes,
that is definitely something we’ve got to correct.”
(On why he has confidence in the offensive line) “Well, I think that’s the number one thing. I
think the confidence is still there. That’s the thing. I think the communication is probably
the biggest issue. Some of the hits yesterday was the fact that whether it was Trevor [QB
Trevor Lawrence] or Mitch [OL Mitch Morse], I mean, these are things we’ve got to fix,
making protection calls and letting guys free. Then the one on the safety is just a matter of
just execution down there. It wasn’t necessarily a communication issue. Then just having a
sense of awareness. Because if we pick up that defensive tackle right there, there’s a big
play to [WR] Brian Thomas [Jr.]. So those are all things that we’ve got to fix. Even in the run
game, this is probably going to be the fastest, sort of downhill linebacker group we may see
all season, and these guys really attack the line of scrimmage. There were some good
things, some good positive things, some good, nice runs that were in there. Then there were
some ones that we failed to execute on. So, confidence is still high and it’s going to remain
high. We’ll just continue to gel these five guys together.”
(On his reaction to Lawrence’s outspokenness about the team’s performance after the
game) “That’s what you want from your leader. I don’t want anybody to sugarcoat anything. I
think stuff that gets swept under the rug is what kind of gets you beat. We’ve got to keep
everything in the forefront. We’ve got to keep it in the front of our minds, and listen, he’s the
franchise, right? He’s the starting quarterback and he’s the one back there with the football
making the decision. So, I appreciate the fact that he’s taking that role and that lead. It may
not be in his nature to do it, but you know what: he’s got to do it. I’m excited for that and I
think the players will respond. I mean, they’re going to support him 100 times over. I think
it’s a two-way street, I think it’s the players will hold him accountable too, and I think it’s a
two-way street. So, I can appreciate that from him.”
(On if Lawrence has been more deliberate with his words in conversations with the team)
“Yeah, I think that’s part of the maturity growing up in this league. Listen, he’s a competitor
and he wants to win, and we all want to win. Sometimes you have to be assertive in your
leadership and it’s good to see.”
(On if he’s experienced a skid like this and how he keeps his confidence) “Well, I hadn’t
thought about it until you said it, so. You know what? I don’t let it affect me. I just know it’s a
business that is one week—it’s a week-to-week business, and we’ve talked about this a lot.
The thing for me too is yes, we’ve got to correct the negatives and the things that are going
wrong, but I’ve also got to look at the positive in what’s being put out there. I think it’s a
different ballgame in Miami, as you guys know, if we don’t fumble on the two-yard line. I
think this week, if we get a chance to score and not kick that field goal there, we take the
lead and potentially win yesterday’s game despite the mistakes. It’s a little bit of a fine line;
I understand that. But we are where we are right now, as you mentioned, 1-7, and it’s
something that we’ve just got to focus on Buffalo this week.”
(On TE Brenton Strange’s performance) “I thought he played really good. Played tough,
played physical, made some great catches. Somebody that we knew he had it in him.
We’ve seen it in practice and it was good for him to show up yesterday with Evan’s
absence.”
(On if a primetime game can provide a spark for players) “Oh, they definitely get up for
Monday night. You’re primetime, you’re the only game on around the league and
everybody’s watching. So, it’s a great opportunity for us to go on the road, play a good Bills
football team obviously, and they’ve had some rest now with their Thursday night game
with Miami. Yeah, it’s definitely a great opportunity for our guys to kind of get fired up and
look forward to playing.”
(On if it’s frustrating that the team seems to play their best football when their backs are
against the wall) “Definitely. You definitely want them to start the game faster, start the
second half faster and not wait two and a half quarters to kind of get fired up. Again, that’s
something we’ve got to focus on and talk about it, and really talk about it internally and see
what we can do to sort of jumpstart and spark the team.”
(On the impact of losing Engram and if that changed the play calling) “Obviously, when you
lose a player like Evan, it can definitely take a little wind out of your sails, just a little bit.
He’s a leader, he’s obviously a starter, he’s a captain. It’s a big loss. We could have lost him
in pregame, we could have lost him the first play of the game, and you’ve got to continue to
play. We can’t let things like that affect us. We definitely hate it and don’t like it for Evan,
obviously, and now we’ve got to see moving forward where he’s at. It’s always been a next-
man-up mentality, and that’s something we continue to preach and we’re going to continue
to keep that rolling. If we bring somebody up, Josiah [TE Josiah Deguara] or Shawn [TE
Shawn Bowman] off the practice squad this week, if that’s the case, then we’ve got to get
them ready to go. It’ll always be the next man up, but as far as the game yesterday, I don’t
think it necessarily affected us as much. Maybe a little more big nickel or three safety type
that the Browns could have presented with Evan on the field with two tight ends. Other than
that, it didn’t really affect us too much.”
(On his takeaways from the team’s red zone struggles) “Yeah, that was frustrating. We
came out, ran the ball, I think we had a two-yard loss right there. Then we line up in empty,
and we had an opportunity to I think score even on the empty play, and we didn’t. We didn’t
capitalize there. Then ultimately, the third-down play, they, the Browns, covered us up
pretty good so we settled for the three. The other one, you look at that one, and we had the
illegal shift, can’t happen. We’ve got to make sure everybody’s set on the touchdown there.
Even then, we had a chance I think prior to that—no, I think after that had a chance to run
the ball in, got us down to the—maybe it was the play before, I can’t remember now, but got
down to the two-yard line. The opportunities are there. We’re just making a few mistakes
and as we know in this league, you’ve got to score touchdowns, especially when you get
inside the 10.”
