EAGLES HEAD COACH DOUG PEDERSON

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 17, 2019

Q: Offensively, obviously after the long drive, I assume it didn't go as you projected. How did not having RB Jordan Howard and WR Alshon Jeffery affect you offensively? (John McMullen)

DP: It affects you in a few ways, but I thought that long drive to score was something positive. We had a nice little mix there of run and pass and stayed positive and ahead of the chains there on first and second down. Really after that point, I felt we found ourselves going backwards a little bit. And in games like this, too, the penalties, whether they are pre snap or during the play, the turnovers and then lack of production, overall, as an offense kept us stymied the rest of the game.

Q: What was the mood like in the locker room and what was your message to the team after the game? (Sal Paolantonio)

DP: The guys are disappointed. They are frustrated. They understand we are a better football team then what we played tonight. As coaches, we have to coach better. We understand that. We have to play better. We didn't make enough plays. I thought the defense really kept us in this football game for the most part. Then, offensively, we failed to execute. That's something that the guys really pride themselves on, we all do. Just not enough plays there.

Q: What was your assessment of QB Carson Wentz's performance, particularly on the drive where you got down there late in the game? (Jeff McLane)

DP: I thought overall, he really was into the game plan, into the game. Made some really good decisions. I think where it kind of was hard for the offense was really on first and second down.

The success we've had leading up to this game was we were positive on first and second down. We were in too many second and long and third and longs today, and that's hard. It's hard for your quarterback, and to put your quarterback in that position, because you know you're going to have to throw the ball and routes are a little bit deeper and things like that.

I thought overall, for the most part he played pretty well. Obviously, we will watch it tomorrow and make a better assessment of that.

Q: I know you were shorthanded on offense, but it seemed like a lot of times the offense was in the huddle, they were not coming to the line until there were ten seconds left on the play clock. There was no up-tempo. Why do you think that was? (Ed Kracz)

DP: I just have to get the play in sooner.

Q: Was that just confusion... (Ed Kracz)

DP: No, there was no confusion. I just have to get the play in sooner.

Q: We know T Lane Johnson left with a head injury. Do you any idea of the severity of it? (Jimmy Kempski)

DP: I'll find out tonight and then probably in the morning I will let you know.

Q: With Lane out, did that change anything you had to do particularly with your run game? (Jeff McLane)

DP: No, no. Didn't change anything.

Q: How did you think some of the younger receivers played? (Eliot Shorr-Parks)

DP: I'll evaluate the film tomorrow and let you know.

Q: Early in the fourth quarter you had a 4th and two at your own 39, did you consider going for it there, or was field position... (Zach Berman)

DP: Field position, yeah.

Q: How did you feel like the cornerbacks held up against a tough matchup with Patriots QB Tom Brady? (Zack Rosenblatt)

DP: I thought they played well. Just quick observation I thought they played well. Obviously, they're a good football team, good passing team, and they did make some plays, but overall, l I thought we held up well.

Q: How do you think WR Jordan Matthews handled a pretty big role for just getting back? (John McMullen)

DP: He did some good things. You would like to -- really, again, going back until I see the film tomorrow.

But he knew the offense, knew the game plan. I didn't shy away from anything play call-wise.

Q: Did they make any adjustments at the half in terms of their defense? (Jeff McLane)

DP: No.

Q: It was still the same? (Jeff McLane)

DP: Pretty much the same defense throughout the whole game, yeah. Yeah.

Q: You spoke about the third and longs. Did you run the ball as much as you planned to, or as much as you wanted to? (Zach Berman)

DP: You'd obviously like to maybe run it a few more times. Sometimes you get in a game like this and when it's -- again, you're either second and ten or second and 11, maybe second and 9. You're not staying ahead, you know what I mean?

That was kind of our struggle in the run game tonight, something we have to look at and fix before next week.

Q: The decision not to use RB Jay Ajayi, was it just too quick of a turnaround for him coming in Friday? (Ed Kracz)

DP: Yeah, yeah.

Q: How much did the injuries affect how you went about game planning this week not knowing exactly about Alshon and Jordan? (Jeff McLane)

DP: We still game plan the same. We feel like with [TE] Zach [Ertz] and [TE] Dallas [Goedert], we can do some things there obviously with our runners, [RB] Miles [Sanders]. And again, listen, give them credit. They did a nice job on defense kind of taking those players away. We knew that coming into this game, and we just didn't make enough plays.

From a game plan standpoint, we went about it the same way, and then used different formations. Tried to move some guys around to try to free up some of the routes.

Q: How much do you feel like you missed Jordan and his inside running ability? (Jimmy Kempski)

DP: You always miss players, and he's one of them. Alshon is one. You would love to have [WR] DeSean [Jackson] out there and [RB Darren] Sproles and all those guys, too, but this is football. You have to coach up the guys you have.

Q: Did you get an explanation on the forced fumble by S Malcolm Jenkins when they told you you couldn't challenge? (Jeff McLane)

DP: Yeah, supposedly forward progress. The whistle was blown for forward progress, so can't challenge that.

Q: Did you get another look at it or did the guys up in the booth tell you whether they thought that was challengeable? (Jeff McLane)

DP: Yeah, it was obviously -- yeah, but it was a moot point at that time.

Q: The Patriots' first drive in the second half they come out and go no-huddle. Did that catch you off guard? (Reporter)

DP: It was something that you anticipate. They're a good no-huddle team. Just caught us in a situation where we were a little out of position on the double pass. It was just a well-executed play by them.

Q: Did you give any thought to going up-tempo offensively? (Ed Kracz)

DP: Yeah. But, again, you can go up-tempo all you want if you're moving the ball. I felt like in the second half we weren't doing that, so it was kind of hard to get any rhythm going.

Q: If you look at the offense big picture, what makes you think it's going to be better, there is going to be more firepower, as you go forward here? (Zach Berman)

DP: Well, we've proven that. We've proven that when we have everybody healthy – and when I say everybody, I know we haven't had DeSean the whole season, but when you have your guys out there with Alshon out there and Jordan out there, we've proven that. We have been able to execute.

Listen, this is a good football team. This is a good defense coming in here, a great third-down defense. What were we, three for 13 or something like that on third down? We knew that going into this football game.

Yeah, you would love to have all your guys, but this is the National Football League and the next man has to step up and make plays.

Again, tonight we just didn't do that.

Q: Carson was sacked a lot, particularly in the first half. Did you feel maybe he was holding the ball too long? (Jeff McLane)

DP: I think a couple times that might have been the case. But with so much man-to-man coverage and some of their cover two stuff, again, we have to do a better job on the perimeter and execute a little bit better and help him out.

QUARTERBACK CARSON WENTZ

Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, November 17, 2019

On whether he feels that the offense left a lot of plays out there today:

"For sure. We definitely did. The turnover I had, we can't be doing that. I have to be better than that. We left some plays out there, missed some throws, a couple penalties. That's football sometimes, but against a good team like that, we have to clean that up."

On what happened on the four plays during their late drive in the game:

"Just missed a couple. Just miscues. They made some plays, too. They made a couple plays and hats off to them. They had a really good gameplan, especially late there. But that's frustrating, especially the way we were able to move the ball to get down there and we kind of were just stagnant there at the end."

On what the Patriots' gameplan was on that last drive:

"They do a good job of keeping it simple, but what they do, and they do it really well, is mixing up the man coverage and how they play their leverages and techniques and what they do with the safeties and all of that, and then they throw in cover-2 in there as well and mix in some pressures. They do a really good job. They do a good job, but I thought we were ready for it, we were prepared, but we just didn't execute it well enough."

On how RT Lane Johnson's injury affected them tonight:

"I don't really know the status of Lane and what's going on. I'm going to be checking in on him and praying for him. Not to discredit Lane at all because, shoot, he's probably the best right tackle in football, but we feel we have really good depth at that position and with [G/T Halapoulivaati Vaitai] being able to step in, I have a ton of confidence in him, so I don't think that was the deal breaker by any means."

On whether he thought the last pass he threw was a touchdown:

"The Hail Mary? Did it even get there? I don't even think it got to the goal line, so no I didn't."

[Clarifying the question above] On whether he thought the pass to WR Nelson Agholor was a touchdown:

"To Agholor? I didn't get to really see it. They brought cover-zero. I tried to give him a chance and we just missed it."

On why the offense couldn't get anything started today:

"It's hard to say right now. We'll go back and watch the tape as we always say. They had a really good plan. They always do. That's a really good defense, so hats off to them. They did a great job taking away some things we wanted to do. It's frustrating because we came out pretty hot. We didn't convert the first drive, but got three points and then went down and scored, and that was it. That was it for our offense. Hats off to them, they played a great defensive game, but we have to be better."

On whether there was a common theme with the misses he had on the last drive:

"I'm trying to remember. There are two definitely to [TE Zach] Ertz that I think we both want to have back. We just weren't on the same page a little bit. And one I definitely missed. I have to be better in those situations. I have to be better and give them a chance. They made a couple of good plays on the other ones. Like I said, it's frustrating to be right there and fail to execute four straight times."

On whether the injured offensive players affected the offense:

"Those guys are great players and they mean a lot to this offense. But kind of the same thing I said in regards to Lane Johnson with Big V stepping in. We have a lot of confidence in [WR Jordan Matthews] being back here and stepping in and [WR] J.J. [Arcega-Whiteside] getting more reps, and [RB] Miles [Sanders] and [RB] Boston [Scott] stepping up. I have a lot of confidence in those guys. I thought they did well today. Again, I'll have to see the tape, but I don't think that was the difference maker either."

On whether the offense didn't go up-tempo more often due to the younger players that were in the lineup:

"I think that was part of it, but part of it was what the Patriots do and how they play defensively. We thought we could scheme it better getting in the huddle. That just wasn't a huge part of our game plan today."

On why he believes the young offensive skill position players will develop and make plays throughout the remainder of the season:  

"For me, I get to see all of these guys in practice. Everyone in here [the media] and the public doesn't get to see that, so I have a lot of confidence in the guys that when their number is called, they're going to make plays. Obviously we haven't necessarily put it on the film or put it on the field. I definitely want a couple of plays back today, but like I said, I get to see these guys in practice and I get to work with them, and I have a ton of confidence that it will be there and we'll get it going."

On being sacked five times in the game:

"I have to get rid of the ball. They had some good coverages and stuff, but I have to get rid of the ball and be better with that."

On why it seemed the offense was taking longer than usual to break the huddle:

"We'd all say that we'd love to get out of the huddle with 20 seconds left [on the play clock]. That always would be ideal, but that's just not the way the game goes sometimes. There are always a lot of things, a lot of moving pieces, personnel, getting lined up, all of that stuff. Without a doubt it's something that we want to be better at, but with the ebbs and flows of the game, that tends to happen sometimes."

On the offense having to face difficult starting field position throughout the game:

"It's always tough to go 90 plus yards. We were able to do it on the second drive, and that was really big for us. It gave us some confidence there, but we just stalled out too many times. The Patriots did a great job defensively and special teams-wise, and we just didn't get it done today."

On adjustments that the Patriots defense made at halftime:

"I don't think they did anything kind of crazy. We just didn't make our plays. It starts with me, and I have to be better. I have to distribute the ball better and get rid of it. We have to be able to stay ahead of the chains and all of those things. It starts with me, and we'll get it fixed."

On the play of the Eagles defense:

"The defense played great. Hats off to our defense for playing the way they did today. We didn't make it easy on them offensively a handful of times, but they played great. That makes it that much more frustrating for us as an offense to know that our defense played the way that it did, and we didn't help them out or get it done."

On the offense's struggles to convert third downs:

"Something that we definitely pride ourselves on is third downs, and we didn't do it well today, plain and simple. They outplayed us on that down. I got fooled a couple of times and I have to be better. Like I said it starts with me. That's something that we have to take a hard look at and get it fixed."

On the difference in the performance of the offense following the first two drives which resulted in points:

"I wish I knew the answer to that. On the first drive we had the big penalty, and on the second drive we were just able to mix it up really well with the run game, the screens, and just converting on third downs. It seemed after that we kind of just didn't execute to the level that we expect to and that we need to against a good team like that."

On the difficulty of sustaining long offensive drives without chunk yardage plays:

"It's tough, especially against a good defense. We have to keep being creative and find ways to do that. But at the same time, it seems that our recipe is to grind it out, ball control, run, throw, move the pocket, and those sorts of things. When you make a couple of mistakes like the fumble I had and those types of things, it makes it tough for us."

Players in the locker room

RB Miles Sanders

On whether he noticed anything from the Patriots defense to take him out of the passing game:

"I believe I noticed that every time I would go out, they started putting safeties on me instead. Even when I would go on swing routes or flats, the end tried to get a piece of me and with the back over top. They tried to make it real difficult for me."

On why he touched the ball a lot in the first half but not the second half:

"Whatever the play call is, I'm going to go out there and do my job. Whatever is called I'm going to go out there and do my job as everyone else would, too."

On his perspective on the offense and how they weren't able to move the ball down the field after their touchdown drive:

"Things just had to get back to being focused, you know? I think that's what happened. We lost our focus and made it difficult for ourselves. I think we were shooting ourselves in the foot. I don't think they were necessarily beating us, but we were definitely beating ourselves."

On what his mindset was after a 10-0 lead to start the game:

"After those first two drives I felt really good about the game, but like I said, you have to give credit to the Patriots defense. They did a good job of limiting us."

G Brandon Brooks

On the game plan after T Lane Johnson left the game:

"We really didn't change the gameplan. We tried to keep doing the things that were working. You just don't replace a [T] Lane Johnson, a guy of that caliber. V [T/G Halapoulivaati Vaitai] came in, battled and did a hell of a job, but you just don't replace a Lane Johnson.

On if weather conditions played a factor in the pass game:

"Honestly, I didn't even really think there were [poor] conditions out there. It was cold but that's football."

On the offensive execution:

"We definitely struggled and honestly, that loss is on us as an offense. We didn't execute and we didn't go out there and do anything we were supposed to do. We started off fast and hot, but we have to be consistent and we have to sustain it. Obviously, they are one of the best, if not, the best, at making second half adjustments. Nonetheless, we have to come out [in the second half], be efficient and execute."

TE Zach Ertz

On the offensive struggles tonight:

"I think we kind of beat ourselves at times. Obviously we had penalties and it was probably one of our worst third-down performances of the season. We just weren't efficient on third-down against a really good third-down defense. We came into the game with a lot of confidence on our third-down performance and we just didn't execute, and we had penalties. They are a good defense. It's tough to go 90 yards at times against them. We did it once, but we just couldn't do it again."

On whether the Patriots took something away after the Eagles went up 10-0:

"I don't think they took anything away specifically. The run game probably wasn't as effective from then on out. Obviously, we had a 16-play drive, scored a touchdown on a throw to [TE] Dallas [Goedert], but from then on, it was kind of rough sledding. They are the number one defense in the league for a reason. They are extremely well coached, and they don't beat themselves, but overall we just have to play better."

On the defense, losing T Lane Johnson and his own performance:

"If our defense keeps playing like that, we'll be good. If they play like that, we will be alright. We had a chance, that's the bottom line. We were in the red zone at the end of the game, 17-10, and just didn't get it done. Obviously, losing [T] Lane [Johnson] probably was a factor; we were up 10-0 when he went out and he's the best right tackle in the league and arguably the best tackle in the league, period. You can never blame it on injuries though. We have a lot of trust in all the guys on the team. I put a lot on myself and I have to play better at the end of the game."

DT Fletcher Cox

On the loss today coming off the bye week:

"It's part of the [game]. You have to take the wins with the losses and the losses with the wins. It was a tough loss for us today, as a team, but it was against a really good football team. I think the main thing for us is go in, correct the mistakes, and get ready because we have another good football team coming in town next week that we have to get ready for."

On the defense's performance:

"I think as a defense everybody is playing together and everybody is doing their job. In this game right here, a couple penalties probably hurt us early in the game, but everybody just stuck together and kept fighting until the end."

On the pressure the defense put on Patriots QB Tom Brady:

"I mean I think that's any quarterback. You start getting after them early and any quarterback is going to feel the pressure. The biggest thing for us, I think we did a good job at getting him off of his spot, making him run around and throw the football. I think we did a good job at that."

On the preparation and focus coming off the bye week:

"I think [Eagles head] coach Doug [Pederson] did a really good job preparing us and all of the leaders made sure everybody was ready to go. We got to practice on Wednesday, knowing that the bye [week] was just last week, but let's not have another bye. I feel like we had a really good week of practice. With that being said, at the end of the day, no matter how good of a practice we had all week, we didn't get the job done and we didn't come out with the win."

CB Jalen Mills

On what the defensive gameplan was going into this game:

"We played a whole bunch of things. With a guy like [Patriots QB] Tom Brady you can't just line up in one thing. They're going to pick you apart. The gameplan was good. We did a good job as far as showing different looks."

On the trick play that Patriots WR Julian Edelman threw for a touchdown:

"It was a trick play. That's what happens. You can always say that one guy should do this, one guy should do that. It was just a good play and they did that at the right time."

On what it says about the Eagles defense that it took a Patriots trick play to score a touchdown:

"Yeah I mean, you can't really say anything about it. At the end of the day we knew going into this game that they had a dominating defense and we feel that we have one too, but we have to create a turnover in a game like this. We have to give the offense an extra opportunity to go down and score. We pride ourselves on that. We pride ourselves on making turnovers in big games."

On whether the defense can take away the fact that they put the Eagles offense in a good position to win the game:

"At the end of the day it's a loss. I'm saying we came in second. I'm a sore loser. I hate losing and so do the guys on this team. We can't pride ourselves on anything. We came up short and we have to come in on Tuesday, watch the film, and make the corrections. Next week we have a good opponent. We see Seattle coming in and they have a really good quarterback and a really good offense."

S Rodney McLeod

On the Eagles' last offensive possession:

"They put themselves in a good position to throw a Hail Mary and try to make a good grab, but they [Patriots] made a good play and unfortunately we didn't get the win tonight."

On the defense tonight:

"I think our defense is heading in the right direction. We are playing like ourselves. We need to create more turnovers to help the offense, get the ball back to them in better field position, but outside of that we are playing confident. [We are] looking forward to next week versus Seattle. It's going to be another tough opponent. They are playing well, and we have to get a win."

S Malcolm Jenkins

On whether the defense played well enough to win the game:

"We didn't play well enough to win this game. I thought we played well and definitely battled, but there were some drives that we needed to win the game and we didn't make the plays. We had a solid game, but just didn't make enough plays."

On whether the defense was frustrated:

"It's not frustrating. It's a game. We knew it was going to be a defensive battle coming into it. You can't get frustrated in those situations. Our defense was playing just as well as theirs. We just have to stay patient and look for plays we can take advantage of."

On the Patriots' trick play in the third quarter:

"They came out in the second half with a lot of tempo. Guys were hustling to the ball thinking it was a screen, but it was a double pass. It was a good play by them."

On the defense holding three straight opponents under 21 points:

"We're just doing a good job of matching up and we're playing a lot more man-to-man. Getting guys back in the secondary healthy is definitely helping. Our defensive line is doing a great job against the run, making teams one-dimensional."