HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2023
(On injury updates across the team) “[OL] Anton [Harrison] got rolled up on, ankle. He’ll be fine, day-to-
day right now. X-rays were negative, so he should be good to go. The other one, probably a little bit more
significant, [LB] Devin Lloyd with his hand, I think it’s his right hand. He’s still undergoing further testing,
but we will have to see where his thumb is. He injured that during the game. As far as practice on
Wednesday, he will probably miss Wednesday. We will see later today where he’s at on that.”
(On if RB Travis Etienne Jr. was suffering from cramps again) “Yeah, he was cramps.”
(On injury update of WR Calvin Ridley) “He was fine, he just got hit right on the kneecap. It was just a
good, hard, low tackle. He got hit low, but he’s fine.”
(On injury update of WR Zay Jones) “Zay is still going to be day-to-day, if we had to practice today, he
would be out. We’ll see again on Wednesday where he is.”
(On if there was an explanation from Special Teams Coordinator Heath Farwell regarding the kick return
in yesterday’s game) “Yeah, there was a lot of poor tackling. It was a great kick, the ball was on the
ground, and we had a great opportunity to pin him deep right there, we just lost leverage. Guys see the
ball on the ground and just made a beeline for the ball. We had about four or five guys miss tackles,
that’s just unacceptable. That can’t happen when you have such a great kick.”
(On when the ‘it’s early’ excuse goes out the window in the season) “Yesterday. We’re too far down the
road, we’ve been together for going on two years now. We know each other, players-coaches, coaches-
players. I think there’s a sense that guys are just pressing a little too much trying to make plays and they
need to just let the game come to them. It’s put us in a bind, particularly on third downs.”
(On if the team has been over-confident in the ability to come back) “Obviously that’s a good thing,
knowing we’ve been in those situations before and we’ve pulled ourselves out. Yesterday was a little
different, however. I say different from the standpoint of sure, we got back 17-10, but then that kickoff
return hit us. That took the wind out of the sails. We still had chances and opportunities, but we gave up
those same opportunities on the other side of the ball. They scored, I think, on four out of the five
possessions they had counting that kickoff return in the second half. This was a game that it’s very rare
where all three phases really had a hand this loss yesterday.”
(On if he took over play calling in the second half) “That’s false. It’s false.”
(On if he was more involved in the play calling in the second half than normal) “I communicate with
Press [Offensive Coordinator Press Taylor] and the offensive staff no more or less than I usually do on
gameday.”
(On why it took awhile to get TE Evan Engram and WR Christian Kirk involved in the game) “Actually, the
plan quite honestly was to try and get them started early. Get Evan and Christian going and get our run
game established as you saw early in the football game. I thought that first drive, we executed the plan
perfectly. We had the missed touchdown catch there, Calvin [WR Calvin Ridley]. He’ll make that play nine
out of ten times. Then, we missed the field goal. So, it’s not necessarily what they did to us, it’s what we
did to ourselves. We, being the staff, need to make a conscious effort to make sure our best players are
touching the football, especially early in the football game.”
(On the breakdown of the blocked field goal) “Anton [OL Anton Harrison] got a little overextended, so
head down. What ended up happening was [OL] Walker Little being to his outside went to the outside
with the three rushers there that created a gap for 51, [Texans DE] Will Anderson, to break through and
block the kick.”
(On what went wrong on the Texans touchdown pass leaving a man open) “Miscommunication on the
backend. Man coverage, just miscommunication. That one and then the post in the first half with the
safeties where they scored their first touchdown drive, both of those were just miscommunication on
the secondary’s part. Just things that are unacceptable and can’t happen. Those guys have worked
together too long to make those mistakes.”
(On if CB Darious Williams was playing the wrong style of defense throughout plays) “Well, the first one
was the safeties, Cisco [S Andre Cisco] and Rayshawn [S Rayshawn Jenkins]. Both of them were down
and Rayshawn was shooting back late to the post. It was just a miscommunication of who was going
back. We were late getting back there.”
(On if this loss can provide the same spark as the loss to the Lions last season) “I think so, I hope so. I
know that this is not who we are as a team, a lot of pride in the locker room and the coaching staff. We
understand that this is what’s on tape, this is what we’re putting out there. Atlanta and Buffalo and all of
our opponents the rest of the season, this is what they’re seeing. We feel and know that we’re a better
team, like I said, I think guys are just trying to make plays instead of just allowing the play to organically
happen. When you do that, the ball is going to come out, fumble, you’re going to throw a pick, you’re
going to drop a touchdown, you’re going to trip the running back on third-and-two. You’re just doing
things out of the norm, out of characteristic. We just have to get back to being us.”
(On why this team needs a wake-up call to improve) “It needs to happen. There’s a lot of pride in that
room, when you talk to the players after the game and hear what they’re saying and the comments
they’re saying, they’re still focused. We believe in them; they believe in us. It’s going to be a conscious
effort. We just got to stay in the moment. It’s a week-to-week business.”
(On if there’s enough time to fix errors in all three phases within a week) “You focus on the highlights,
but you definitely coach it all. That’s why days like today are so important with the guys in the building to
be able to show the mistakes and make the corrections today before we hit the practice field again on
Wednesday. You have to show the good, the bad and the ugly to the players. My job is to paint the
picture. This is where we are, this is not who we want to be, and this is where we’re going. All that stuff
is still right in front of us.”
(On how he feels the offensive line performed) “I thought they played okay, not great. Okay. Ton [OL
Anton Harrison] is still learning, just getting a feel and a sense of playing at this level and all the different
rushes that he’s seeing. Ben [OL Ben Bartch] is still working through getting back into playing and he got
beat a few times. I think Luke [OL Luke Fortner] and Brandon [OL Brandon Scherff] and Walker [OL
Walker Little] are the three consistent guys right now. We continue to work. Ton [Anton] is going to be a
really good player for us. The more reps and the more game action he gets, the same with Ben. We’re
heading in the right direction, but we just got to clean a few things up there.”
(On improvements seen by OL Anton Harrison) “Well, this is not against [Texans DE] Will Anderson, I
think Will is going be a great player. But he’s not [Chiefs DT] Chris Jones either. Anton did have a much
better game, but again, there are things that he can clean up. He got beat inside a couple of times on
some games. Just recognition, it all comes from playing and he doesn’t see a ton of that or didn’t see a
ton of that at the collegiate level. Everything is new for him, but he’s improving, and we have a lot of
confidence in him that he’ll get it done.”
(On if he worries the team has expectations to easily pick up where they left off) “I think there’s some of
that, I think too, human nature. You read into a lot of the hype preseason a little bit. Right now, we’re not
living up to that expectation. Yeah, you want to pick up where you left off, but you know it’s a new
season and you still got to go put in the hard work and preparation and work in practice and all that.
That’s the one thing that I really appreciate about those guys, is that they’re disappointed just like I am,
but they continue to work and show the confidence they need to get it fixed.”
(On if there’s a way to jumpstart the pass rush) “I just think it comes down to each man just having a
want to, a will to. As a staff, you can create it with games and different things, stunts and stuff. But I’ll say
it’s hard when the ball is out of the quarterback’s hand, fast, so you’re on your second step or your third
step making a move, then the ball is gone. It does effect that a little bit, but we can be better, just
understanding the pass rush and the game plan that week and use that to our advantage when you can.”
(On how to approach getting WR Calvin Ridley’s performance back on track) “No, I grabbed him coming
off the field and I reiterated to him to take a deep breath. Stay locked in, stay engaged. I told him he was
a big part of our system and the offense and he’s going to have a lot of success. I just wanted to reiterate
that confidence in him and Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] does a great job of that too, of getting with
those guys. Calvin wants to do so well, so good, so much. He wants to prove, but he doesn’t have to. He’s
a good player and he doesn’t have to do all that. Just be Calvin. Those are the things that we’re just
trying to get him to do, just relax, focus on his job and the plays that have his number attached to them.”
(On what he wants to see from his team this week) “No, but with this hole we’ve put ourselves in, I just
want to see how these guys respond. I want to see the energy on Wednesday, I want to see the attention
to detail and how they attack the walkthrough and the meetings, the practice that day. How do they
respond? They’re frustrated today, they’re disappointed today because they know. I painted a pretty
vibrant picture for them this morning and we all know where we are. But we all know where we can go
and what we can become as a football team. They get excited for that part of it. It’s always going to be
about us, focusing on our jobs and what we need to do. Those are the things that I want to see. Guys
don’t have to go chasing things, just make the plays that come their way.”
(On if the season so far has changed his perspective of where the team can go) “No, no. It really hasn’t. I
got a lot of confidence in this team and how we can respond and bounce back. There are 14 games left
and we got a big one this week. We’ve got to continue to right the ship and fix the things that we need
to fix, coach better, play better, but do it collectively. We can’t point fingers, this is not about offense
versus defense versus special teams, whatever. This is everybody together, collectively. Coaches in there
with the players and that’s the only way to get it done.”
SAFETY ANDRE CISCO
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2023
(On how to get back on track after the last two weeks) “I think just stay true to the vision, understand
that the vision is going to take care of all the work when you understand where you’re going. You know
what road is going to take you there, so I think for us, it’s about just keeping the vision in mind so not
letting a loss here or a loss there take you completely off track. Stay disciplined. It’s a simple game when
you do things right, you overcomplicate things when you put yourself position in things you don’t
practice and things we don’t coach and don’t communicate. It makes things like yesterday happen.”
(On if yesterday’s game was tough to rewatch) “Yeah, it was tough to turn it on. I think watching it wasn’t
as bad as I expected, just because on the field it seems like the worst thing in the world. People always
say it’s never as good as you think or as bad as you think, so you watch it, and you see that we really beat
ourselves genuinely. I know for me; I had some technique errors that’s just uncharacteristic and I think a
lot of guys could say the same thing about themselves.”
(On how to get out of the feeling of guys that are pressing to make plays) “Yeah, it’s a game where you
want to be the guy every week you go out there. You’re expecting, ‘I’m going to make this play for my
team.’ I think we always pray before the games, and one thing we brought up during that was talking
about how sometimes when your counterpart or peer makes a play, that’s you making a play as well. Me
being in my right gap, me covering my assignment to the best of my ability, opens up the way for
somebody else to make a play. I think just letting it be a team sport, you can’t make every play on the
field. You got an assignment and you got to do it by yourself, you can’t cover for other guys and that’s
the best way to approach that.”
(On if being pressed to make plays can snowball if it isn’t stopped) “I think it’s a possibility, but with the
right conversations and the things that have gone on, I think we’re already moving in the right direction.
It’s all about the vision and keeping that in mind.”
(On if yesterday’s loss felt anything like the Lions loss last season) “I think tough losses do have a way of
reminding you of a certain game. I wouldn’t say the Lions one, for me I didn’t play in that game, one. But
two, as well as just for the team overall, I think each one is just so different because of the situation at
hand. I think right now we know that it doesn’t take us out of anything, but we do have to change our
mindset slightly and just understand that every Sunday is a different challenge and it starts on Monday.
On Monday, you got to come in with a mindset of that it doesn’t matter who we’re stepping across from,
you just got to do your job and execute our plan. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”
(On if the outside noise started leaking into team expectations) “I personally think that’s something that
happens naturally, ESPN is on all day, 24/7. You see yourself on TV at random moments. For myself, I
don’t think it affects me too much. Everybody handles it differently and I can’t say I’ve been walking
around the locker room and have seen a guy get bigheaded over it or anything like that, because it’s part
of the game. If you’ve made it to the NFL, you’ve had a ton of spotlight already. Being able to handle
those expectations, it is a little bit different being in the NFL, but we have a lot of guys that have had a
ton of success in the league.”
OFFENSIVE LINEMAN LUKE FORTNER
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2023
(On what the message Head Coach Doug Pederson gave this morning following yesterday’s loss) “Not a
very good one. He came in and he was honest, he told us that we’re not where we want to be, we have a
long way to go, and collectively, we’re going to have to work every single day and every single week to
get to that point.”
(On difficulty of rewatching yesterday’s game) “It was hard, it was really hard. You saw a lot of great,
individual efforts. You had a lot of guys playing really good football. But, when it mattered, we couldn’t
come together and finish it. That’s what it’s about, it’s not about one guy playing great on certain plays
or another guy playing great on certain plays, it’s about all of us coming together in critical situations and
finishing the game.”
(On if the kickoff return took momentum out of the team) “Yeah, I think it took too much. I think it’s just
like in the first half when we missed a kick, and we can’t let that dictate the game. We have chances and
we miss them, and we let that dictate the rest of the game of, ‘Oh no, things aren’t going our way.’ That’s
adversity, that’s football. Bad plays happen, bad things happen. Yesterday I felt like we didn’t come
together when those things happened, and we lost our momentum. It needs to change; it needs to be
different.”
(On how to get the offense onto the right track) “I think you come back and reevaluate the process and
look at the details of little things we’ve been doing. Like I said, we had great plays here and there, but in
critical situations we struggled. Whether it’s made more of a focus on that or more of a focus on the
little details. That’s something we’ve got to look at and evaluate this week, and for the weeks continuing
on.”
(On frustration of first and second downs going differently than third downs this season) “Yeah, it’s
absolutely frustrating. It’s something we continue to look at and work on. It’s great knowing it’s there,
you can see flashes of how explosive and the potential of this offense. You see it there; it just didn’t work
out yesterday.”
(On growth of OL Anton Harrison from Week 2 to Week 3) “The ability to bounce back from a week like
last week is crucial. He came out there ready to play, pumped up. He’s vocal and talking to everybody
and encouraging everybody else. It’s incredible from a rookie.”
(On if it takes a few weeks for the offensive line to settle in sometimes) “Yeah, I think always. I think the
whole offense in general. There are things that happen in games that as hard as you try and simulate in
practice, there’s just things that happen. Anything can happen on a football play and things tend to go
wrong when you least want them to. I think as things get worked out, I think you saw the same thing last
year, we will continue to get better.”
(On if he sees players wanting to make plays instead of letting plays come to them) “I believe so. I think a
big part of our problem is that we’re in our own way. I think we all know and believe that we can be a
really great offense, and I think we are trying so hard to put that into action and make that come true
that if we would just go out and play how we know we can play, we’d be better off.”
(On importance of not overthinking things) “Absolutely. I think last year when no one expected us to
have a good offense, we’d come out, we play relaxed, ‘Hey we’re going to go make plays’, just when they
come to us, we’re not going to go looking for extra plays and we’re not going to go make plays happen.
Then, they happened. Now, we’re saying, ‘We got to be a good offense, we got to go be a good offense.’
We’re all just pushing and pushing and pushing to make all these plays. We have the players in place that
it will come to us, and it will happen, we just have to let it.”
(On if Head Coach Doug Pederson seemed more agitated after yesterday’s loss than others) “I think
anytime you drop two in a row, it’s definitely as a head coach, you have to be looking at every little detail
and trying to find out what the issue is. I can’t recall last year, whether it was after two in a row, but one
of them in a row, the big messaging point after losing one is that you can’t let it turn into two. And we let
it turn into two. I think that was what really upset him yesterday is that we had these opportunities to
bounce back and respond and we didn’t.”
(On if any of the outside noise has crept into the locker room) “Well if they were, I hope they are not
anymore because clearly, we got a lot of work to do. I think anytime you play in this league, you hear
things, people talk about how great you’re going to be and XYZ. That’s what we talked about pressing is
people seeing that and think, ‘I have to go make it happen.’ When in reality, people are talking about it
because you’re a great player and because we have all the skill and talent. It’ll just happen.”
