HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023
(On the overall game): “Number one, the biggest stat that matters to me is the scoreboard, right? The
fact that we won the game. Now with that being said, I mentioned to the team that we had some guys
who were banged up going into this game. Each man had to step in that gap. Everybody had to lift each
other up. I credit our offensive line. Other than the scrambles where [QB Trevor Lawrence] got tackled, I
think he stayed pretty clean in the pocket for the whole day. His performance, gutting it out like he did,
[OL] Brandon Scherff gutting it out like he did, so many guys on a short week battling injury. To sacrifice
that for the football team says a lot about the character of these guys. I am so proud of them for doing
that. Trevor’s obviously one of those guys. Kind of everything else goes away – the fact that they gutted
it out and made the plays down the stretch that we needed to, bust a route in the end zone on fourth
down. [WR] Jamal [Agnew]’s punt return, did a great job of anticipating that. The fake punt. [WR]
Christian [Kirk] and his touchdown in the end. There were a lot of individual efforts that were good to
see. Just a lot of credit to those guys in the locker room.”
(On [CB] Montaric “Buster” Brown): “I thought he did some good things. He’s a young player, a second-
year player for us. We were missing [CB] Tyson Campbell, so it’s next man up, and Buster’s the next man.
He’s worked hard to put himself in this position. He works hard in practice. It’s not always going to be
perfect or pretty or all of that, but you know what? He made plays when he needed to, and that’s the
most important thing. Really proud of the way he played today.”
(On if he thought QB Trevor Lawrence would play today): “I wouldn’t say 100 percent. It’s not my
decision to make. It’s Trevor’s, how he feels. He was feeling good last night, and he was feeling good
today during his workout. I trust my players. I’m going to do what’s right, but at the same time, if a
player, in this case Trevor, feels like he can go, I’m going to trust that.”
(On QB Trevor Lawrence setting career-highs in rushing yards with a sprained knee): “It just again shows
the type of person he is and the unselfishness he has. I saw it last year when he got injured. He got
injured in the Detroit game, and he battled injury throughout the rest of the year and gutted that out.
This is different. This is a short week. On Monday, I would have told you he was not playing in this
football game, but that’s not who Trevor is. Again, I’m proud of his effort – the ability to escape the
pocket and run. Fortunately, they were straight-ahead runs. He didn’t have to cut too much. A lot of
gutsy performances out there, and his is probably the No. 1.”
(On the team’s resiliency): “Listen, this is a good football team that we played tonight. They’re a well-
coached, disciplined group. They’re aggressive on defense, and they’ve got every weapon on offense.
We talked about it this week. It’s a 60-minute football game, and that’s what you’ve got to do. Guys own
their jobs and do their role, and that’s all I ask them to do. They did that. Don’t do any more or any less. I
challenged them to be great. They don’t have to be perfect. Just be great. Have great passion, have great
energy. They did that tonight.”
(On having a long week to prepare for Pittsburgh): “We have to take advantage of the next three days.
Players have got to get healthy and live in the training room and all of that, but at the same time, I want
them to kind of take this mini-break, this mini-bye and coaches do the same thing, kind of get away,
clear their heads. We have one more road game coming up, and then give them even more of a break.
We just have to be smart with the next couple of days, anticipating getting some guys back next week
that have been missing. We’ll do the right thing and look forward to that.”
(On the offensive lull at the end of the game): “Good defense. We didn’t execute very well, but they
played better defense—stunting a little more up front, taking away some of the inside zones. They just
did a nice job on defense. We got to look at this film and make those adjustments, make those
corrections as we move forward.”
(On the offense opening the game and playing aggressively at the start): “I just think the guys are gelling
together. They’re coming together as an offense. You know, we were able to run the ball successfully in a
couple of those drives there. Trevor (Lawrence) was pretty accurate with his throws. Guys were making
plays on some third downs. It just comes down to execution, you know? The last couple of weeks we
were able to do that. Obviously, the end result was points.”
(On defensive play): “The defense has been playing outstanding all season long. They played great again
tonight. It’s rare you’re on the negative side of the turnover margin and still win the football game. To
hold them to field goals early, that was big. The guys came ready to play. [Defensive Coordinator] Mike
[Caldwell] had a great plan for them. They executed that plan pretty well. My hats off to the defense.”
(On the 4th-and-inches play): “We just got beat. We just got beat. Credit them.”
(On if there was a thought to challenge): “It was confirmed. It was confirmed upstairs. There was no
thought to challenge.”
QUARTERBACK TREVOR LAWRENCE
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023
(On what he saw on the game-winning touchdown play) “Yeah, I mean I’m sure you guys asked [WR]
Christian [Kirk] he kind of did all the work there. It’s a play that we run you know we like it out of (an)
empty (set) and it’s good matchup typically for us with Christian and just read it top down. I gave [TE]
Evan [Engram] a look, it was split safety and the safety attached Evan and then just had our one on one
and Christian ran a great route underneath and honestly just trying to at least get something going and
get a get a completion kind of how we played the whole game especially with not wanting to hold the
ball back there with my knee (injury) and not take any hits and all that stuff so just wanted to find a
completion and get us going and worst case like let’s get some points, let’s get a field goal. The game was
tight at that point. And then Christian ran through it. I thought it was going to be, maybe a ten-yard gain.
I knew he had 20 on the angle, but then he took off and took it to the house. So that was a great play by
him to finish it and see that opportunity and go get it.”
(On how his knee held up) “It’s good. I mean, golly, it is crazy how you have you have something like that
going on and you do not plan on moving a lot and you end up running the ball more than I usually do. So,
it’s just funny how that works. But, it felt pretty good. I was happy with it and (it) didn’t bother me too
much. Definitely did not set it back. So, I am really happy with that and that was the goal, to play, find a
way to win the game and not set it back and we have ten days now to recover and get ready for
Pittsburgh. So it went perfect, honestly.”
(On his knee injury in a short week) “On a short week it’s tough to decide on how much you test it and
push it because you only have some so much time you want to make it sore for the game. So that was
kind of what we were debating is you know, how hard do we push it? Tuesday, Wednesday, Monday I
wouldn’t do anything. It did not feel good at all on Monday. So really our medical team did an amazing
job of just kind of getting me to where I could play, and I felt much better than I thought I would on
Monday especially, so credit goes to them but yeah. Getting in and moving out there today obviously
had some discomfort. Of course, you’re going to but felt confident enough to go out there and play and
felt like I could, you know, somewhat be myself and go play and I was able to so I’m thankful for those
guys for taking care of me.”
(On when he found out he was named starter): “I don’t know. Like I said, that wasn’t the plan. It wasn’t
the plan, but you know, instincts kind of take over and I’m glad that it was able to hold up and I was able
to feel good enough to make those plays. I think those were needed at times. You have to give credit to
that Saints defense. They are a good defense. They gave us some tough looks. The guys up front did a
heck of a job blocking and giving me opportunities down the field. Then when I needed to scramble, I
had clean lanes. And you know, I don’t know if that was part of the Saints plan to bring those pressures
with me maybe not being able to be as mobile, but the lanes opened up and presented itself and I took
advantage.”
WIDE RECEIVER CHRISTIAN KIRK
POSTGAME MEDIA AVAILABILITY
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023
(On his recollection of the game-winning touchdown) “Yeah, it was actually a play that we had
ran in London but didn’t have the opportunity to hit. It’s a play that we know well and in
situations like that, it’s kind of good for us all but when I motioned over, they had [Saints S]
Tyrann Mathieu down low. I didn’t think he was going to match me, but you know, after he
popped out after the snap, I knew I was running my option route off of him so, it was just really
beating him and then [QB] Trevor [Lawrence] did a great job stepping up in the pocket and give
me an opportunity to catch a run.”
(On the offense second-half struggles) “Yeah, we got to be better in the second half, kind of
coming out and not going three-and-out. We hit that lull that we have been seeing the past
couple of weeks. So, I know this is going to be a point of emphasis for us to not find ourselves in
these situations. Especially when you had a lead like we did. When you get into a lull like that
you give good teams an opportunity to come back so, that stuff will get us beat ultimately. But
I’m just glad we were able to make a play when it mattered. But we definitely have some room
for improvement.”
SAINTS HEAD COACH DENNIS ALLEN
(Opening Statement) “Obviously disappointed with the loss. I do think there were some things I saw in
the game that were good to see. I thought our offense kind of responded there in the second half. I
think right now, our team is too inconsistent right now and that’s what’s causing us problems so we’ll
have to work to get that corrected. We got 10 days to get it done.”
(On Jacksonville’s last touchdown) “We ran a quarters coverage and the guy ran a good route on
Tyrann (Mathieu) and sometimes that can happen in that coverage, you kind of get drained on the
other side of the field. That’s what I saw. I didn’t see the finish and where everybody else was. I saw
the route. I was watching that because I kind of thought that might be something that they would do
and look, he (Christian Kirk) ran a great route and won.”
(On third downs) “I thought third down was a big down in the game. You’re not going to win a lot of
games if you’re not able to convert on third down. We were able to convert with fourth downs. But that
area has to be better. Obviously, we didn’t finish in the red zone as well as we would have but if
you’re 50% of the red zone, in the National Football League, you’re going to end up being one of the
better red zone teams. There was some improvement there. I still think there’s some things that we
can be better at. I think there were some opportunities there that we just missed on. I think we’re a lot
closer, but we’re still not there yet. And we’re going to keep grinding until we get there.”
(On the extra days off) “There’s a good little reset here. I told the team in there to get a little reset.
So, we’ll reset and evaluate a lot of different things over the next four or five days as we’re starting to
get into our next opponent. We’ll figure out how we play a little better and be more consistent. I think
that’s if I had one word to say in terms of where we’re at as a team is just, we’re a little inconsistent.
That’s the challenge. We have to become a more consistent football team.”
(On the offensive line) “I thought the offensive line overall held up pretty good. I thought for Andrus
Peat not to have played left tackle (in five years), I mean, I heard this morning it was 2018, so I
thought he thought he did a good job. I thought Cam Erving stepped in and did a nice job at right
tackle. Obviously Max Garcia playing left guard for us. I thought our offensive line, overall, I thought
they did a pretty good job.”
(On the pass play in the red zone) “I think there’s times where that can be a good play and we didn’t
execute it and certainly if we had we’d be feeling differently, but we didn’t get it done.”
(On kickstarting the offense with uptempo) “No, that was kind of the one thing that we kind of talked
about probably midway through the third quarter. We just said hey, look, let’s get into some uptempo
and see if we can kind of jumpstart this thing a little bit. We did and, and I thought our guys executed.
If that was probably the most positive I could take out of what we did offensively it was sitting down a
little something that. They can’t live in that all game every game. You have to be able to do some
other things, but it’s nice to know that if you’d have to get to that you can get to it.”
(On Lou Hedley’s lack of consistency) “I think he has got to be more consistent. I can say that about a
lot of our guys, that we have to be more consistent. I think there’s a lot of guys that need to be
consistent.”
(On Lou Hedley’s final punt of the game) “We need a better kick there.”
(On Derek Carr and receivers not seeing eye to eye on some plays) “I think that’s frustrating. That is
probably one of the things that I’m most frustrated about is just that part of that inconsistency. We
have got to…somehow, someway, we have to get those guys on the same page. There’s a lot that
goes into that.”
(On the offense’s inconsistency) “Well, I certainly think that we need to be better. And again, (I) think
the last couple of weeks, we’ve been able to do a lot of good things and yet there’s going to be a
handful of plays in the game that potentially could be the difference makers in the game. That’s where
we have to be better.
(On if they switched anything up on the defense) “Not a lot. There are a couple things we changed
up. I thought they did a good job early on with gadget plays and things of that nature that ended up
getting some yards. Overall, I thought we did a good job of stopping their run game. We have to do a
better job of not letting the quarterback scramble. We have to do a better job of that. That was
probably the thing defensively, that was the black eye on the whole thing. When you look at their
rushing yards and what they were able to do rushing, a majority of that was the quarterback running
the ball so that has to be better. I thought early on we didn’t quite…I don’t think we were as consistent
defensively; I don’t think we executed quite as good as we needed to. I think they beat us on a couple
of plays that I would have liked to have seen us do better. We probably got to maybe a little bit more
coverage as the game wore on. It kind of got into mode where they really trying to throw the ball it
seemed like a little bit.”
(On not capitalizing on the two Q1 turnovers) “Look, that’s frustrating. I mean, it’s frustrating that,
again, we get a situation where you miss another kick and that’s disappointing. That’s two plus 50s. I
think we got to look at that a little bit. I think that could be the case sometimes with a young kicker,
there’s gonna be a little bit of growing pains here. I would have liked to have seen us take advantage
of the two early takeaways.
(On Carr’s consistency):
I wouldn’t say, much like I’ve said about a lot of our guys on our team, I think there’s some things that
he did really well. I think there’s was a little bit of inconsistency. I think that overall is…that’s part of the
group. I think each and every one of us individually needs to be more consistent and I think if we’re
able to do that, then collectively as a group we’ll be more consistent.
(On what Carr could do to improve consistency):
We’re not gonna to try to point fingers at anybody. We all got to be better. I think that’s something that
we’re gonna continue to work on.
(On if there were sideline communication issues):
No.
(On why Carr went down):
He got hit in an area.
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023 ● CAESARS SUPERDOME
SAINTS QB DEREK CARR
(On the frustrating slow start) “The slow start. I have been showing my emotions a little too much on
my sleeve. I have got to kind of chill out and that’s me holding myself accountable because that’s not
going to help anything. Just trying to be a calming influence in those moments especially during
moments of heightened frustration- I can be that presence to calm everybody down.”
(On his exchange with Chris Olave) “I wasn’t talking to Chris, like the past two weeks I was just
talking in general. There were some things that happened today that led to some pretty big negative
plays that should never happened and I think that’s where my frustration came from”
(On how to correct the unacceptable plays) “I’m going to do everything in my power to fix it, and I
know our guys will do everything in that power. It’s not malicious or coming from a bad place. It sucks
right now. We are finding everything that sucks right now. We are going to point it out and call it out
and work on that to get better as leaders-that’s our job whether it’s really good or really bad. I tell
guys all the time we’re not playing the scoreboard we’re playing against our standard. We have to
make sure not only throughout the week we have to meet that standard, but on gameday we have to
meet that standard. I’m okay if a guy gets beat or if they make a play, they’re going to make plays, but
there are some things in football that are completely controllable that I think we can do better”
(On if there were adjustments outside of just the hurry up that helped the offense get going that you
can use moving forward) “I hope so, in that moment with the score what it was we had to play like
that. I have always been most comfortable playing that way. When those situations happen, I felt fully
confident in the plays that Pete (Carmichael), RC (Ronald Curry), Taysom (Hill), Jameis (Winston)
and I talked about in the room. When we talk about this is what I’m going to, this is where we get to,
this is our plan this week, it was good for us-especially the last quarter and a half, I thought we had
life and we were putting pressure (on Jaguars defense). We were the aggressor in that moment.”
(On what concepts they can take going forward from the hurry up offense success) “That will be
something the coaches look at for sure. There’s a lot of moving parts, what are we putting on
everybody’s plate and what decisions to we make as a whole team not just for us (offense).”
(On teammates picking up Foster Moreau after the game) “It doesn’t come down to one play. And our
job as brothers, family, teammates is to go rally around him. I’ve been in that moment where I miss a
throw or throw a bad pick (interception), and you feel like everyone hates you. But our job as
teammates no matter the situation-good or bad-put our arm around him and keep him pushing.
Seeing our teammates react that way (picking him up) shows me that have a good group because
I’ve seen moments like that where everybody just starts pointing fingers at that one play, or if a kicker
misses one at the end everyone points at them. There’s 160 other plays that could’ve been changed
throughout the game. I have never been a believer that you point a finger just because it happens in
that moment. There’s so many things we could’ve done to not even be in that situation.
(On running fade routes in critical moments late in games) “They got us a good touchdown to Mike
(Thomas) and then obviously they had a backup in against one of our best players. Looking at things,
is there something else we can do there? Different position/route in that moment? We had hit one
before so I felt confident in it again going back to it, but it didn’t work”
(On if his emotions affected his performance) “No. When I wear my emotions on my sleeve I snap the
ball and it’s clear. That part is just more as a leader and letting guys see my demeanor. Kind of “hey
guys we’re good. We’ll be there at the end” kind of thing.
(On his performance tonight and so far this season) “We have got to be better. I have got to be better,
coaches, everyone. I thought as a team we did a great job fighting back in the second half, but we will
all look at the tape and say we can play better. Anyone can stop the tape on a bad performance or
good performance and say, “he should’ve done this or he should’ve done that”. There has been
games where I’ve thrown for 400 yards and really didn’t play good and there’s been times where I
throw for 180 and thought I played really good. There’s so many things that go into it besides showing
up on a Monday, stopping the clicker and saying it was this guy or that guy”
(On the offensive line performance despite the shuffling) “Very proud of them. That’s a really good
front (Jaguars), a lot of moving parts with new guys playing new spots. With everything some guys
are dealing with, it’s a big ask to have new guys come in and handle those blitzes and that scheme.
I’m sure there’s a few plays they may want back, but really proud of them.”
(On Khalen Saunders at fullback) “If he ever stuck to that, he’d be a really good fullback. We’ve seen
his high school highlights-he’s pretty impressive”
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS VS. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2023 ● CAESARS SUPERDOME
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS PLAYERS
S TYRANN MATHIEU
(On Coming back but falling short) “Obviously, it’s frustrating when you have a slow start to the game.
I felt like going to the fourth quarter we were getting some momentum. We just have to find a way to
close out the game. We have to finish stronger. There were a lot of opportunities that we left out
there. Hats off to those guys for starting fast.”
(On settling down after the fast start by Jacksonville) “I think we were just playing our style of
defense. We studied those guys as best as we could on the short week. They threw the house at us.
They had a couple of screens and a couple of reverses early on. They got 17 points out of it. We felt
like we weathered that storm. I think once we settled down we were able to play our style of defense.”
(On the Christian Kirk touchdown) “It was a really great play call by those guys. They drained our
front side defenders and by the time he caught it, he was full speed ahead. We have got to try to find
a way to make a tackle. We missed two or three tackles. If we get him on the ground and hold them
to a field goal, then maybe our offense can go down there and punch it in.”
(On if he felt Trevor Lawrence would be this mobile with the injury) “Anytime a player has an injury
and shows up to the game, then we assume that player’s 100 percent. He’s an athletic player. He can
extend plays and move the pocket. That’s a big part of his game.”
(On the importance of the next ten days) “Hopefully, we can reset and refocus. We need to look in the
mirror. Each one of us individually can be better. We’ll have the weekend off to spend time with the
family. We need to come back to work with the intent to win. That’s really the only thing that matters
in this league.”
RB ALVIN KAMARA
(On the offensive line) “The line was fine. I didn’t have a problem with the line. We get paid a lot of
money to have the next man up mentality. It is what it is. You have to go.”
(On going uptempo) “Any week when you go up tempo it catches the defense off guard. They don’t
have a second to breathe. They can’t really do to much defensively. You are moving fast. You just
have to get lined up and play. I think that’s an advantage to the offense. We like getting into that two-
minute or uptempo kind of offense. We have a lot of advantages. I think we left some opportunities
out there though. I think there are some matchups that we still have to take advantage of. We have to
play matchup ball. It is tough because sometimes I think we are not playing matchup ball. We are just
playing.”
(On offering words of encouragement to Foster Moreau) “Foster is a pro. Obviously, I did. There are
going to be more plays. There are going to be bigger plays out there. I told him that he is blessed for
what he has been through. That is nothing. I’m not worried about Foster not making that play. I don’t
think we should have been in that position right there saying man he should have caught it. Of course
he should have caught it. He knows he should have caught it. Anybody in that position should have
caught it. We are pros. If there is anyone out there who is uplifting their teammates and doing
everything that they can to try to get a win, then it’s him. I’m not worried about that. It is what it is. We
are on to the next. It’s a loss. It is what it is. We are on to the next.”
(On teammates taking accountability) “We’ve been playing this game for a long time. Me, I’m not a ra
ra guy. I don’t do a lot of talking. If you don’t go, then there is nothing that I can say. I can’t transfer
my energy to you. All I can do is to go out there and say what I need to say. I pick my spots wisely
because when I say something I want it to mean something. I don’t want to be the guy saying let’s go,
let’s go, let’s go. It falls on deaf ears sometimes. What do you do. You have to find a way every day.
My message today is that I feel better than ever. We lost, but I’m blessed to be able to play this
game. I’m blessed to be healthy. I have a family. I have a daughter. I’m blessed. Obviously, you want
to win. I’m blessed that my teammates were protected today. Nobody got seriously hurt. We just have
to find a way to win. There is so much more to this game.”
TE FOSTER MOREAU
(On your teammates having your back) “It’s tough in front of every man, woman and child that I’ve
ever known. It’s a dark place to be. It’s the National Football League. It doesn’t come down to one
play, but it comes down to one play. Our team fought hard. It’s unacceptable.”
(On the difficulty of the play at the end of the game): “They pay us to do a job. It’s routine. It was the
right throw. It was the right read. I ran a little short on the route. I thought something different. That’s a
lack of focus. That’s a lack of concentration. It’s unacceptable.”
(On how close they are to breaking through): “I’ll keep it short. I don’t know if anyone within 200 miles
of this place wants to hear my voice right now. These guys are fighters. They are resilient. This is the
right team. We need to take on opportunities. That’s what it is.”
