HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023
(On injury reports of the team) “[WR] Calvin Ridley is fine, Zay [WR Zay Jones] is going to be down today
and we’ll monitor him day-to-day. Josh [OLB Josh Allen] is going to be fine, he’ll be out there a little bit
limited, but he’ll be out there today in practice.”
(On what was seen out of Houston Texans’ film) “I tell you, these guys fly around. They play with a lot of
speed, enthusiasm and aggression. It was just a tribute to what DeMeco [Texans Head Coach DeMeco
Ryans] is doing down there. He’s changing that culture and obviously they’re young on offense with the
quarterback and everything, but he’s a talented player. Dangerous out of the pocket, throws well on the
run. A good football team, a scheme that we’re familiar with defensively, but they’re playing extremely
well.”
(On how to avoid a sluggish offensive performance) “We can’t go backwards obviously, we got to focus
on us and have a forward mindset. We got to clean up some things, we know that, but we need to have a
good week of preparation and go play this weekend.”
(On the offensive line not spending a ton of time together prior to the season) “Yeah, I think it’s real.
They don’t get a ton of work during the preseason, it’s why I play the starters. I know it’s limited in
preseason but it’s why I do play the starters, so we try not to have too many setbacks as the season
begins. There is some continuity that has to be worked through with the offensive line, there’s
communication that has to be worked through. Ben [OL Ben Bartch] is working himself back in as a
starter again, missing a few games from last season. Walker [OL Walker Little] is playing tackle for the
first time, full-time over there right now. We got a young right tackle, so there are some pieces that still
need to work together, but they’re coached well, and they practice hard and we’ll work through those.”
(On if he thinks the offensive line is a work-in-progress) “I look back to that last season when I was there
in Philly, and we lost four of the five starters. It’s hard, in this league, defensive front-seven’s are too
good, too strong, too fast, things are moving quickly, and yes, it can affect you. But we continue to work
with these guys, we have good practices everyday and keep building and heading in the right direction.”
(On if continuity issues on the offensive line contribute to failed short-yardage situations) “It’s part of it,
but it’s not everything. I think you can maybe point a finger at different facets of it. It could be the tight
ends, the running back not hitting the hole, things of that nature. Offensive line is apart of that as well,
but it’s everybody. It takes 11, no matter what the situation is during the game and those are the things
that we got to focus on and fix.”
(On assessing offensive concerns on a week-to-week basis) “It’s Week 3. That’s how you assess it, week-
to-week. We have to improve, we have to look at it from a coaching standpoint. We got to look at the scheme, are we doing the right things? Is the defense giving us what we anticipated on tape? Are there
some changes there? Because sometimes that happens and then we have to adjust in-game sometimes. I know it’s early, but we’re running out of the early excuse a little bit. We need to get it addressed pretty
quick.”
(On how to adjust this week if WR Zay Jones can’t play) “That’s a big one, he’s a big part of what we’re
doing. [WR] Tim Jones has had some playing experience for us and can fill that role quite nicely. Zay is a
physical receiver who does some of the blocking for us as well, Tim has done that before and whatnot.
Tim will get some work if Zay can’t go.”
(On if talent has been seen from Texans QB C.J. Stroud in two games) “He does. He really does. Again,
keeping things relatively simple where he can just play fast and free and doesn’t have to think about a lot
of things. Using his skillset and getting him out of the pocket, he’s completing about 64% of his throws
right now which is pretty good for a young player. Two touchdowns, no interceptions. Those are all
things that will keep gaining experience for him as he plays each week.”
(On if everyone needs to know where Texans DE Will Anderson is lined up) “Yeah, he’s another one. They
drafted him for a reason, to come in and add some pass rush. With DeMeco’s [Texans Head Coach
DeMeco Ryans] experience with the San Francisco defense, then you got [Texans Defensive Coordinator]
Matt Burke who was with me in Philly and Jim Schwartz, kind of that wide-nine. There’s a similarity there
and that’s why they got a guy like Will. He can get him in a 9-technique, and he can rush. [Texans DE
Jonathan] Greenard is on the other side doing the same thing, these two guys can get after the passer.
You put the film on, and you can’t go to sleep on them. You got two veteran guys inside that can push
the pocket. This is a good group up front.”
(On consistent defensive ends being a challenge for OL Anton Harrison) “Yeah, it’s kind of interesting
because the two games Monday night are the four teams we’re going to end up playing this season, all
of them have edge rushers. Now, this is no different. You grow up fast as a young player in this league
and it’s unfortunate that there’s no time for really development and growth, you just got to go do it. It’s
our job to help him, and he’ll be a lot better this week and a lot more confident in his ability and it
should be a good matchup.”
(On if playing a rookie quarterback early in the season benefit the defense) “I don’t know, Week 1 was a
rookie quarterback and there’s going to be some growing pains with a young quarterback. I dealt with
that my first year in Philly with Carson [QB Carson Wentz]. The thing is, by the time we see them again in
the second week, they’re going to be so much better. It’ll be a different team. Again, you can’t just go
into a game saying, ‘Oh, he’s a rookie quarterback, he’s going to make mistakes.’ All of that, because no,
he’s got ten other guys. You look at the game last year, they ran the ball pretty effectively against us last
year. There’s other ways of protecting a young quarterback and helping him be successful early.”
(On how starting the running game early can be helpful for the rest of the offense) “It just helps
everyone. It settles the offensive line getting in that rhythm, they get in a good lather. Feeling themselves
come off the ball a little bit, it helps your quarterback. You have the sense and the feeling that you just
got the running game going. I think too, even when you struggle with it, you got to stick with it. I think
that was something we learned in the Indy game, we came back and we stuck with the run game as the
game progressed. Those are all things that really help your offense. Obviously, they’re great for your
quarterback to get him into a rhythm as well and he doesn’t feel like he’s constantly dropping back and
having to make a lot of throws that way.”
(On importance of the offensive line getting going early) “It does take time, that’s part of the equation.
One-, two-, three-yard runs eventually turn into six-, eight-, ten-yard runs as the game and the season
goes on. Sometimes it gets frustrating because you want it to get better, but it’s not and again, you have
to understand that you have to be patient with it and let that part unfold.”
(On the breakdown of QB Trevor Lawrence throwing high passes last game) “No, there’s no mechanical
issues, it could be pressure in the pocket. The tackles pushing the guards and centers into the lap of your
quarterback. It could be a late decision or a reset by the quarterback coming back to something that
tends to be a little bit high. Nothing mechanically like that that’s going on when throws are high. Just
continue to keep working with it.”
(On the reasoning why QB Trevor Lawrence bounces back after a bad performance) “Yes, he does. I think
he’s a type of guy that it bothers him when he or the team doesn’t play well. It bothers him and it
bothers a lot of guys. We didn’t practice very well last week, it starts there in practice and being efficient.
We’ve got to have good days coming up, but this team has been resilient that way and they seem to
respond to each other and the kinds of adversity that we bring on ourselves.”
(On if there’s thoughts of not playing well right now to have a better second half of the season) “No, no. I
can’t rely on that kind of thinking. It’s got to be a now mentality, obviously we got to continue to work to
improve. It’s a different season, different team, different set of circumstances. You just got to play it one
game at a time.”
(On how to teach a team championship-level habits at practice) “A lot of it is on the players. I can teach
them and instruct in the way things are set up, but it’s how the look-teams present the look, it’s how
offensively and defensively they attack the gameplan within the practice. Yeah, you want the mistakes to
be made during the week, so you can clean those up and minimize them during the game. It doesn’t take
away from us having energy and juice and enthusiasm at practice. Those are all things that we can
control. There’s going to be mistakes, but each person and each player has to have the motivation of,
‘Hey, I’ve got to get better today.’”
(On if it worries him after a bad week of practice against the defending Super Bowl champions) “No, it
doesn’t. By the end of the week, they were in a really good place mentally. We just failed to execute in
the game and that part is disappointing.”
(On if good execution has been seen in practices) “Yeah, I’ve seen it. It shows up, it just wasn’t enough. It
wasn’t consistent enough last week and again, those are things that there’s going to be mistakes made.
But we’ve got to get them fixed so the next day we take the practice field, we don’t make that same
mistake again. In that way, you get in the game and things become a little more slowed down and you’re
not thinking as much, you’re more reacting. I think this week, the guys came in today ready to go, they’re
excited to get back on the practice field.”
(On making adjustments in practice to improve on third-downs) “No, I’m not big on just changing to
change, quite frankly. We just got to get better with what we’re doing. It falls on the coaches
schematically, are we putting our players in those situations? Those are things that we have to address,
and we have to look at to make sure we have our best players on the field on offense and defense. You back to the game on Sunday, we had too many second-and-long, eight plusses. We had 13 or 14 second-
and-eight plusses. That tends to lead to third-and-long, that’s hard. It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. Those are all areas we need to address this week and get better on first downs so we stay out of those
second-and-longs.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023
(On the importance of having a bounce-back game this week) “Every week you want to play your best,
especially after the performance from our offense last Sunday. Definitely looking to play better than that.
I think the emphasis every week is to try to get better, but especially after a game like that, you definitely
want to get back on track and play well.”
(On struggles on third downs this season so far) “Just not executing. That’s a broad term, but I feel like
anything comes down to as far as critical situations. Whether it’s redzone or third down or anything, I
think it’s a lack of execution and different spots at different times. We all have to do better at executing
and being ready for any look that could show up. That’s on us of just communicating, when we’re on the
field, we all got to communicate better. We’re getting better, there’s things that we’ve improved on for
sure, but we got to be better on third downs and in the redzone.”
(On if he notices practices last week weren’t as good as expected) “I think that’s been addressed, we’ve
talked about it. We even talked about it last week and tried to finish the week strong. I agree, I don’t
think we were flying around quite as good as we were in the week before. That’s the adjustment, when
you get in the season, and you play these long, physical games. Even take the Colts game for the first
game, that was a long and physical, tough four-quarter game and you just got to get used to bouncing
back and being ready to go on Wednesday and Thursday for practice. You got to get the game plan in,
you got to get those reps to feel good about it. I don’t think we did a great job last week of doing that
especially on Wednesday. That’s the emphasis this week, the guys are ready to go, we’re really locked in.
We got to bring some energy and get back on track.”
(On if losses from last season resonate with players the following year) “I think you can use it a little bit
for sure. I don’t think we played our best either game against these guys [Houston Texans] offensively
anyways, our defense played great both weeks last year against them. I know offensively we didn’t, and
just going back, I think me and Josh [OLB Josh Allen] were talking about earlier in the week how, he’s
only and myself too but he’s been here longer than me, he’s only beat them once in his career. We know
that too and this team has been a team we haven’t had much success with. Of course, it’s a new season
and it’s a new year. The teams look different, all that, but you can use some of that as motivation and we
should come out and be ready to play.”
(On what’s been seen out of Texans defense on tape, specifically Texans DE Will Anderson) “He’s a great
player. You look at San Francisco and where Coach Ryans [Texans Head Coach DeMeco Ryans] came
from, that’s what he’s trying to do in Houston and that scheme is carrying over, it all starts with the guys
up front. They got a good group up front that really make it go. The linebackers fly around, we’ve played
Denzel [Texans LB Denzel Perryman] last year when he was with Vegas and now he’s with the Texans.
They’ve got some young guys in there that are playing good, and the backend they’ve had some injuries
early on, but they’ve been flying around playing great. I know Pitre [Texans S Jalen Pitre] is a guy that
stuck out to us a lot last year when we played against him. We’ll see if he’s healthy to go this week but guys are flying around, they’re well-coached, I feel like they’re still getting their system going and get
guys are all in the right spots, but they’re playing really hard. The group up front gets after the
quarterback, they’re really explosive. Those two edge guys are really good players. Just like any week,
there’s great players all over the field but you can see what they’re trying to do there and they’re doing a
good job in the first two weeks. Their defense is playing pretty well and flying around.”
(On if he feels a responsibility to communicate with younger quarterbacks in the league) “Not
necessarily, of course, if you have something to say, you’d love to help in anyway you can. I think there’s
a neutral respect between quarterbacks when you’re playing. That’s something I noticed pretty early on
as a rookie, you always see the other guy after the game and shake their hand, win or lose. It’s the same
way with other guys on the team too, but especially the quarterback. You just show your respect and it’s
something you always do, so if you ever have anything to say, guys did that to me when I was a rookie
and even last year some. Now, just doing the same thing if there is something I feel like maybe need to
share or whatever it is. I think it’s just the mutual respect for one another.”
(On if something has stuck that a quarterback has told him in the past) “I’m trying to think back on it
now. Nothing in particular, we had a lot of rough games my rookie year. I think guys just talking to me
after every game, like Matt Stafford said, ‘Hey, just hang in there. It’s going to be alright, it’s going to get
better.’ [Bengals QB] Joe Burrow said the same thing to me because he had a rougher rookie year, he got
hurt and bounced back and ended up having a great second year. I think that was the fourth game of the
year, so we didn’t know that was going to happen yet. He said the same thing to me after the game. It’s
just encouraging whatever it is, to try to help those guys.”
(On how long the frustration resonates after hard losses) “I think it sticks with you all the way until today.
Today you got to turn the page and move on and of course, preparation wise, I’ve already done that.
Monday after we watched the tape, you move onto your preparation for the next opponent. It still
bothers you and you want to bounce back, you want to have a great day at practice today. You want to
get that feeling out of your system when you don’t execute, and you don’t play well. It’s just about
channeling that in the right direction to putting together a great plan and preparing for this game
because that game is over, you can’t go back and change it. We’re 1-1, that’s where we’re at, and we got
to be able to move on and figure out how we can get better. I know we got the guys to do it and we’re
going to. That’s the one thing about this game, it’s different than basketball and baseball when you play
maybe a few times in a week. We’ve got to wait another week to go get that feeling out of your system.
We’re putting all of our efforts and focus into Houston, but definitely we’re thinking about how we felt in
that locker room and how we didn’t perform like we know we can.”
(On confidence level of the offensive line bouncing back) “I know those guys are going to. We had some
great meetings this morning like we always do on Wednesdays over some of our protection stuff. Those
guys are going to be just fine. I’m not worried about it, it’s all of us. It’s all of us playing together and
communicating. I don’t think any player on offense played anywhere close to their best game on Sunday.
It’s not just those guys. We all got to be better, and we will be, I think we have the group that recognizes
that. There’s nobody that thinks that played great on Sunday and think they’re above anybody else. We
understand where we’re at and I got a lot of confidence in those guys. We’ll put together a great plan
and be prepared, it starts today. They’re going to fly around, and we’ll have a great practice.”
