Q. I heard you on WIP this morning and I feel like fans were maybe a little bit relieved to hear some of that emotion come out of you?
COACH PEDERSON: I love it.
Q. After last night's game. Again, just where you're at right now after that loss to the Giants.
COACH PEDERSON: Yeah, listen, I'm disappointed. We're all disappointed. The guys in the locker room at the end of the game, they were frustrated. They were mad. You know, I look back, we've had 14 days since we played a game.
And of course we went into the intensive protocol last week and things were a little different for us, but it's still my responsibility to have the team ready to play and you know, we came up short and the guys are mad. They are disappointed because of that. We are all frustrated. We know we're so much better and we've just got to buckle in this week and everything is still right in front of us and we've got a great opportunity on Sunday.
Q. I wanted to ask you, obviously Alshon played yesterday and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside did not. Wondering what that says about how you feel about J.J. and what your reasoning was not having him in the lineup yesterday?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, listen, you know, we knew Alshon was coming back and listen, we have to make some tough decisions on who is up and who is down, and I think moving forward, we know that Alshon is healthy and he's going, and I know his play time will increase probably each week. You know, it's something that as we construct games, who is going to be in, who is going to be out.
They are tough decisions and you know, it could change this week again. We just have to make those decisions as we go each week, but there's nothing against J.J. We've still got a lot of confidence in him. Walkins has been down, guys like that, and the thing is, we've got to get more out of the guys that are playing, too, and that's something we've got to focus on this week.
Q. How would you assess your job as a play caller this year and do you feel like you have a good sense of what should work for this offense?
COACH PEDERSON: I feel good about the plays that have been called. I even looked at the game yesterday and felt I was in rhythm, and I've always looked at the game through the eyes of the quarterback and how he views it and how he sees it, and I think it's important that quarterback and play caller are on the same page that way and Carson and I had those conversations during the week and day before the game and go through a lot of different scenarios and we're prepared that way.
And look, not every game is going to be perfect. You know, there's going to be mistakes made and there's going to be things that we're going to have to overcome and that's part of our jobs, and that's, you know, nobody's perfect. By no means am I perfect and I'm going to make a decision error, I'm going to make a play calling error, but at the same time, hopefully I can do my job to put the offense in position to be successful.
Q. You said you're happy with your play calling from yesterday, but you had also said that you were mad at yourself. So what is it that you were mad at or frustrated about yourself? What could you have done better?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, I think back, I've got to look at not just the game but I have to look at the body of work from the bye week on, right. We've had a lot of time to really kind of sit back and reflect and focus and there's been a lot of questions asked, why was the team flat, why was there this, why was there that. So those are things I look at.
You know, there's things that go on that as a head coach, you have to deal with, and a lot of them could be practice-related or off-the-field issues and different things, and even in my own preparation, and I look back, I get frustrated when -- because I want every play to work, right. I want every drive to end in a kick, whether it be a field goal or an extra point.
And so, you know, when it doesn't happen, you know, obviously that's where I get a little frustrated and a little upset and what can I do better during the week. How can I coach a little bit better. How can I coach my coaches better. Those are all things that I look at and I can definitely do a better job there.
Q. With the Jalen Hurts plays, he's only thrown twice on 30-something plays there. Do you sense that defenses are obviously keying on the run there, and would it make sense to take Carson off the field like the Saints do with Drew Brees so that at least you have one more receiving option to give the defense something to think about?
COACH PEDERSON: Sure. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea.
Q. So why haven't you done that?
COACH PEDERSON: It's a great idea. Something we'll look into.
Q. There's a report on the NFL Network that Carson has had sloppy practice habits; that he's been allowed to perpetuate. A, is that accurate and B, how would you characterize the way Carson is playing in those times we don't see him?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, first of all, I did not see the report and secondly, you guys are only out there for a short period of time, so I don't know where the information is coming from. Practice is where we perfect our craft and we do the things with all of our players to detail their work and whether it be fundamentals in the individual periods, all the way through to even for me sometimes even stopping practice and repeating a play because we've made a mistake.
So I don't understand where that's coming from, and we're just going to continue to coach and make sure we hold everybody accountable.
Q. Just to follow up on that, though, what do you think of Carson's practice habits? Are they sloppy?
COACH PEDERSON: No.
Q. Okay. You had a chance to look at the 0-for-9 third downs, I assume. What did you see there? What's not happening?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, the first third and one, I took a shot. I was taking a shot down the field based on film study and we were up around midfield and it was a great opportunity right there to capitalize and then we just missed the throw to Dallas on that one.
Later on, then we made the fourth down, obviously we converted the fourth down and we kept the drive alive. The next one was like a third and three. We failed -- we failed to execute the play. It's a simple little pick route that we work in practice. It's something that we've got to continue to drill it. Was between Travis and Jalen and we just failed to execute right there and James Bradberry, number 24, made a heck of a play on that play.
And then the other ones, we kind of caught ourselves in some more third-and-long situations. You know, whether it be by penalty or lack of execution on first and second down, failed to execute in protection, whatever it might be, kept us from executing those plays, and of course at the end of the game, when we were having to throw the ball more, definitely longer yardage situations that we didn't overcome.
Q. What is your overall assessment of Jalen Hurts and what he's given you? Seems to me ball security issue, is that a concern with you and how do you see his role evolving here?
COACH PEDERSON: Ball security what do you mean?
Q. There's been a couple fumbles.
COACH PEDERSON: Were they his fumbles or were they low snaps? What are they? Are they him dropping the ball or is it the center quarterback exchange? You say he fumbles the ball, I want to know specifically from your perspective what it is.
Q. I'm not watching the film. I'm not calling the plays?
COACH PEDERSON: You're watching the game.
Q. You tell me --
COACH PEDERSON: So obviously you're not watching the game.
Q. There's been three balls on the ground that he's had in his hand, so I mean, if there's not an issue there, you know, tell me that.
COACH PEDERSON: The issue, the issue is we have to do better with the center snap, right. The ones you're -- I think the ones that you're alluding to, and I've talked to Kelce about this before, and he's had a little history and he knows it, and listen, he's a pro and he's going to get it fixed, but we have to get that center quarterback exchange dialed in and a couple of those were low and those are hard to handle.
So I wouldn't put them all on Jalen, no.
Q. What's your overall assessment of what he's given you?
COACH PEDERSON: I think early on, we've been very explosive with him. Gosh, we were close to 11 or 12 yards per attempt when he was in the game, something like that. I would say here recently, you know, defenses are playing him a little bit differently. They have had chances to scout him. You know, I think it goes back to Jeff's question where, sure, we could probably do a little bit more with him.
Q. There was such an emphasis on Carson and protecting the ball and yesterday he came out, protected the ball, didn't really take any big-time risks, and he managed the game very well. Do you think that could possibly take away, though, from his ability to create plays, his focus on wanting to protect the ball, maybe affecting his ability to create plays, extending plays, taking shots, or was that part of maybe the defense yesterday and what the defense was giving him?
COACH PEDERSON: Yeah, obviously there's a lot packed into that question. You know, obviously the way the Giants, their structure of defense is they are going to try to keep everything in front of them. They don't allow quite honestly down the field flows or the receivers to get past the safeties, past the corners. They really do a great job of keeping everything in front. On top of that, if that's the case, we know the short to intermediate throw is going to be where you're going to have to live for four quarters, and I thought Carson did a nice job there.
We even left plays on the field. Look, it goes back to some of the protection issues I've mentioned. It goes back to some of our lack of execution with some of the guys in those third-down situations where we could have stayed on the field and made some of those plays.
But I thought for the most part, you know, there were a couple throws that were high early in the game from him, but as the game wore on, he settled in and he stood in there and made a couple nice throws to Rich-Rod. Just thinking of some things offhand, but yeah, I just think it's a little combination of both, and each week, it becomes a little bit different. And then some of it falls on me, too, as a play caller, right, to be able to call some of the -- like for instance, the first third and one, I called a shot play to take advantage of Hightower's speed down the field, defense gave us a little different presentation. We had to go somewhere else with the ball and we just missed.
So those are all things that are fixable and correctible, and we get another opportunity this week.
Q. Now that you've seen the film, the fourth and ten play, which is going to be difficult to cover in any circumstance. You mentioned Bradberry before, what type of player he is, what kind of year he has, do you sort of try to focus on where 24 is or is that too much of a bang-bang thing in that type of situation?
COACH PEDERSON: No, no. We knew where he was at and we knew kind of going in what his plan would be. He typically matches the top receiver with any opponent. We thought going in that he might go with Travis a little bit and he was there, but we moved Travis around enough to kind of keep him, I guess, guessing a little bit and on that particular play, you know, they played a two-deep man coverage. Carson saw the one-on-one outside.
I do know that Carson would probably want to have that throw back a little bit. Probably make a little different throw in that situation. We had some opportunities on that particular play to go other places, and you know, I think that's a play we would all want back.
Q. I think there's a sort of fascination with Jordan Mailata from the fan base and did you consider playing him at left tackle and Peters at guard?
COACH PEDERSON: No.
Q. Why not?
COACH PEDERSON: Because we really felt like that Jason Peters is settled in over there at left tackle. He's done a nice job for us. He actually played really well yesterday. Was a lot more explosive coming off the ball, even in previous weeks. And you know, I kind of addressed this I think either last week or whenever it was with Mailata, but we just felt this was the best five going into this game.
Q. You talked about the team's frustration and your own frustration. How do you make sure that that gets channelled into a positive instead of something that becomes a negative? What do you do as a coach with your players in that situation?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, the No. 1 thing is when we get together, I address it again with the team, right, and I bring it to the forefront. I kind of, I guess as I lead the team -- I want to make sure that they understand where I come from as the head coach.
I've also got to make sure that we understand how we prepare during the week and how we practice during the week, and I want the leadership of the team to understand that and really embrace and rally around each other. Quite honestly, what I've been I guess pleased about with the guys is in situations like this, they have always rallied.
You know, as I alluded to earlier in this press conference, the guys are mad. The guys are upset, and they can really channel that into a positive, right. They can feed on that and sort of use that as momentum going into the next ballgame or at least these next seven games that we have remaining. And there's still -- there's a lot of pride, listen, a lot of pride in that locker room, coaches and players, and we'll get it fixed. It's definitely been a work-in-progress. We are slowly getting some guys back healthy which has been an issue for us the first half of the season and I think that's a positive, too, that we can lean on.
Q. Seemed like you made a concerted effort to stick with the run longer than you typically would when you were trailing --
COACH PEDERSON: What? What? Oh, the run, oh, you said the run. Wow.
Q. So you stuck with the run more than you typically would, at least this season --
COACH PEDERSON: I'm honored. I'm touched.
Q. So during the bye week, what did you learn about from self-scouting with the run game and how it could be maybe effective if you stuck with it moving forward?
COACH PEDERSON: You mow, I think one of the things we learned that we were a lot -- have been a lot more effective in our 11 personnel grouping, our 12 personnel. 12 has kind of been a mixed bag for us. We are either going to get base defense or we are going to get some nickel defense and it's been a little bit of a mix. The Giants gave us a little bit more of a base defense as the game wore on but we are a little bit better in our 11 personnel on offense where we can kind of spread guys out and that, too, becomes important, because you know, we can take advantage of the zone read a little bit better in those situations, which have been, you know, hopeful for us, some of the advantage throws you're seeing Carson make on the perimeter to Greg Ward or the guys. Those are all things that we study during the bye, and you know, then each week, we try to put our best set of plays in the run game together to attack the front that we're going to see.
Appreciate the compliment, though.
Q. You talked a lot since last night about anger and how angry you are and how angry the players are. At what point does anger turn into action? At what point do you need to feel -- or mixing things up, or mixing things up on the sideline or in the coach's office? At what point does anger turn into action?
COACH PEDERSON: Well, listen, I get what you're saying, and as soon as I get off of this call, I go into action and I go into action towards the Browns and we start putting a game plan together for the Browns.
You know, I don't want to get in a situation where it becomes a knee-jerk reaction for me or for the team. I have to sit back and I do have to evaluate everything. Listen, we're still sitting here in a really good place in the NFC East. I know it doesn't look pretty. We understand that. But there's still a lot of ball ahead of us and there's still I think a great opportunity for this football team moving forward and that's the motivation and that's the -- I think that's the drive that each one of us have. I know that's the drive that I have moving forward, and as I said earlier, that's where the channelled aggression is going to go. It's going to go into the team and into this week and obviously the next several games.
I just don't want to -- I'll take a look at things and if there's a chance to make a personnel change or you know, whatever it might be, I'll take a look at that, but I just don't want to make a change to change, right. There's got to be a reason for the change. I just know that definitely starts with me and my messaging with the team, with the coaches, and getting everybody on board on the same page. Nobody's pointing fingers. We are all pulling the rope in the same direction, and that's what we're going to do.
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