Q. Who is your right guard for Sunday, and how did you come to that position?
COACH PEDERSON: Yeah, we are still obviously planning on going forward with Nate Herbig, and he had a great week of practice. And this is two weeks back-to-back now that he's gotten the bulk of the work, so he'll go in as our starter at right guard.
Q. At the end of Wednesday's press conference, we didn't get a chance to follow up, but you were asked about Carson rolling out and you said the reason he didn't do more of it was because of the lack of success on first down. Is that the case and the obvious follow-up to that is can you roll him up on first down, too?
COACH PEDERSON: That is a great question. Yes.
Q. So what was the -- what happened on Sunday? Why didn't you guys do that?
COACH PEDERSON: We hit Dallas like fourth play of the game down to the five-yard line, and you know, play-action pass and we have a lot of -- I guess looking back on it, you could always second guess yourself, I guess. Something I've got to do a better job of, I guess, and be more conscious of it.
Q. Kind of a broad stroke question here but as you look at this Rams here, what are some of the biggest differences that you feel like you're approaching this game plan versus what you saw from them back in 2018?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, you know, I think back then, obviously having consistency with the coordinator on defense. This year being a different coordinator, different style, different structures is obviously a different, and there's not a lot of film. There's one game, right, with no preseason games. There's just one game that you go off of and so it makes it a little more difficult to know exactly sort of the unknown, right, the unscouted look, so to speak.
You know, personnel-wise, there's some different faces, obviously, on defense. Offensively, for the most part, the same group of guys there, and there are some -- there are some similarities but at the same time, you've got to take it for what it's worth. It's a new season, a new time and they have changed a little bit in their approach but they play fast, upbeat tempo offense that we have to be prepared for and obviously we've talked a lot about Aaron Donald and where he lines up. He's a game wrecker, tremendous football player and a lot of respect for him and we've just got to know where he's at with this new scheme they are playing.
Q. With Miles Sanders and Derek Barnett, do you expect a full load for them this week against the Rams? Will you ease them in? What's your outlook on that?
COACH PEDERSON: Yeah, I'm optimistic with both of those players. Obviously today is a big day for both of them, hopefully to get through a Friday practice and then again we'll see how they bounce back tomorrow and of course Sunday morning.
So I'm optimistic that both guys will be available for the game Sunday, yes.
Q. I have a question about the game day experience, really, two of them. Your record at home has been so good in your tenure; how much have the fans contributed to that, and what advantage do you lose by not having them? And secondly, I would imagine you probably look at the big board, the big JumboTron in the Linc for help with replays since you're on the sideline. Will that still happen on a game day, will that still happen when there's no fans in the stands to see replays?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, as you know, the fans don't dictate the outcome of replays. I know by their reaction, sometimes good or bad; it seems like they have the outcome already predicted.
But even in Washington, being able to see some of the replays on the board, it's still a little bit of a delay. We still have the coach's booth where we can study the actual replay from the cameras that are in-stadium. That process doesn't change for us. I will say that for us now being at home and coming home this week, having -- not having our fans there, it is an impact. It's an impact to our opponents. It's an impact from an emotional standpoint for our players.
We feed -- I've said this before, you kind of feed off of that energy that our crowd brings and walking into the link, right before kickoff and seeing the stadium full, is an emotion that's really hard to explain. It's definitely going to be missed on Sunday.
Q. J.J. played about 28 snaps the last game and didn't see a target. I understand you have a lot of mouths to feed but where do you see his role on offense moving forward? How involved will he be?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, he's always involved and he's going to continue to have targets each and every week. It was unfortunate the touchdown to Zach Ertz was actually targeted to J.J., and the defense defended it, so we had to go somewhere else with the football. That's just what happens in the course of a plays and we target certain guys, but if that guy is not available, we have to reload and go somewhere else with the football.
So he continues to be a part of the game plan. His role will increase I think each and every week and he's done an outstanding job for us. We've asked him to do some things even in the run game as far as a blocker and he's really taken on that role, and even on special teams, he's approached everything a lot differently this year, which is positive because, you know, he's prideful and he wants to play, and so we're doing everything we can to make sure he's on the field.
Q. Five years in, I know you don't like to put a timeline on injuries, but with the new IR rules, it seems there is more strategy involved this year in roster management. How is that affecting you in terms of the roster management and how important is it to know the difference, I guess, between day-to-day and an injury that lasts longer than three weeks?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, obviously if it's an injury -- any injury situation, I rely on our medical team, right, our doctors, our trainers, our strength and conditioning staff. That sort of kind of leads us into how long a player might miss, right. If it's only a three-week time, or if it could be longer, right; it could be the season; it could be six, eight weeks, whatever that is.
But yeah, you're absolutely right, with some of the new protocols and some of the new rules in place with roster construction each week, being able to protect four practice squad players, right, those guys, may or may not be active on game day. You have 16 available, but those four guys may come up or not. That's an added bonus I think for every team. The three-week IR is obviously a different change which helps, right. You can move some things around. It's a little different. I rely obviously on Howie and his understanding of those rules probably more so than myself. I'm focused more on the team and the football side.
Yeah, it definitely is week-to-week that way in roster construction.
Q. How has Carson responded this week and second part of that question is, how much do you think about that balance between aggressiveness and recklessness from a play caller perspective to help him in that respect?
COACH PEDERSON: Carson is doing great, and I think about it on a daily basis.
Q. What kind of things can you do or what is that thought process like?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, obviously each week is different and each opponent is different. Analytics, statistics, things of that nature with the opponents you play, it shifts. It's not the same every week. Your level of aggressiveness one week could be different the next. It's just the way this game goes.
The bottom line is, I have to trust our players, right. I have to trust myself from an instinct standpoint that the decisions I make realtime, right, realtime, are the best for the football team.
Obviously as we know, we can criticize those after the game is over and I can go back and look at those and say yes or no one way or the other; was the decision to make a choice or a decision to go for it in a certain situation; was it the right thing to do at the time, I've got to answer those questions moving forward. Those are all things we take a look at.
Q. You brought up protecting four players on the practice squad and I've noticed back-to-back weeks you protected T.Y. McGill and Trevor Williams, guys you typically wouldn't be able to put on the practice squad because they are veterans. How much has that benefitted the team, getting extra looks at those guys who came in late to camp?
COACH PEDERSON: There's beneficial, but there's also rules with who you can protect and how many times you can protect a player, right. I think it's four times you can protect a player the whole season and then after that, anybody can sort of poach them off of your practice roster. We've got to be smart with it. It does allow us to maybe see a player for that week. It can help on special teams obviously if you need a spot there. But you have to be careful because you can only do it for about, you know, 25 percent of your season.
Q. You mentioned Nate Herbig will be starting at right guard this coming Sunday. When it comes to a guy like Matt Pryor, what sort of things does he have to do in order to become a starting guard in this league?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, Matt's done a great job. It's not that he isn't. I just think it's Nate's opportunity to roll round, and one of the things that Matt's also doing is he's helping us at a couple of the tackle spots, too, with Jordan Mailata, and obviously Jack Driscoll being in there, as well. He's learning multiple roles and he's done a good job. I just think that at this particular time and where we are, Nate has earned the spot.
So he just has to continue to work each and every day to get himself better and then put himself in a position to eventually be a starter.
Q. Washington had a lot of success blitzing against you guys last week and there's an obvious leave that that was connected to having an inexperienced offensive line. Is that what you expect from the Rams this week? How is their defense different?
COACH PEDERSON: Can I ask you a question?
Q. You want me to give away the game plan again?
COACH PEDERSON: No. How do you -- how do you -- and this is probably -- I'm getting probably off the subject, but when you see teams that blitz and you always imply that it's an offensive line issue, where does that come from?
Q. Well, I'm not saying that is the case but I'm saying that's --
COACH PEDERSON: That was the question. That was the question you asked. You specifically pinned it on the offensive line. That's all I'm asking.
Q. I'm saying that I think the leap from people is because you have an inexperienced offensive line that defenses blitzed. You can tell me that's not the case. Maybe it was on the running back. Maybe it was on the quarterback.
COACH PEDERSON: I will tell you that. Some of it is on the quarterback. Some of it is on the running backs. Tight ends are in protection. You know, so it's hard to honestly answer the question and because teams -- for instance, Jim Schwartz, right. Take Jim Schwartz, not a big blitz guy, right. You guys obviously criticize him openly about not blitzing enough. Well you've got to be careful because if you are going up against a team that's say a Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and you want to start blitzing him, you have to be able to hold up on the back end, otherwise you're going to get gashed. That's part of this process, too.
I would say that in-game, yeah, if a team is struggling to pick up protections and pick up blitzes, I would expect for that offense to see more in-game pressures, right. That just makes sense with what we do.
But each week as coaches game planned, D-Coordinators are different. Some blitz. Some don't. And you know, but we still have to be prepared for anything and everything, and prepare our players that way.
So you know, the mistakes we made in the protection last week were a little bit of everybody. It was the backs, the receivers, the tight ends and the quarterback. Everybody had a hand in not only sacks, but the protection, as well.
Q. So do you expect the Rams to test you because of that last week?
COACH PEDERSON: I think they are going to stick to their game plan. I think they trust their players and I think he's -- I think Coach Staley is going to trust his guys and continue to do what he's done, what he did last week and probably where he's been in his career.
Sos you know, I just think he's going to trust his scheme.
THE MODERATOR: We have time for one more now after that exchange.
COACH PEDERSON: That's why I love it. I can keep going.
Q. What's been your message to the team this week? A lot of pride at stake when a team gives up a 17-point lead, so what have you been telling them?
COACH PEDERSON: No. 1, kind of what I told them after the game. I sort of reiterated that earlier in the week. It's just one game. Obviously we're disappointed that we gave up the lead, we lost the game and all of that, and then it's more about what we do moving forward and that's been my message to the guys this week, talking about resiliency a little bit and how we come back after a setback.
We had a minor setback Sunday and now how do we respond. You know, that's the question that every man in here and in this building has to answer, right. I've got to answer that question for myself and then obviously for the team and each player has to do the same. So that's been my message this week to the guys.
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