THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach.
Q. Can you update us on Zach Ertz, his availability for Monday, how he has been this week.
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, it's been good to have Zach out on the practice field. However, we're still a little cautious with him. We'll get through today, but I don't think he'll be able to make this game. I'm hoping that next week he'll be available.
Q. Can you confirm the report that Jason Peters is moving to right guard and Jordan Mailata will be your left tackle.
DOUG PEDERSON: Yes.
Q. What changed since you told us on monday that Peters...
DOUG PEDERSON: Lane Johnson. Obviously with the news with Lane Johnson, some of the conversations that obviously you guys don't have privy information to, maybe you do, I don't know, but earlier in the week these conversations led us to make these decisions.
I'm excited for J.P. He's excited. A great opportunity for him. Listen, he's obviously a tremendous player, tremendous Eagle. He is moving back to right guard.
Mailata, he's played well. He's been consistent. Played good the other day. So he gets another opportunity. Really not an opportunity, but a start at left tackle. Isaac, Kelce and of course Matt Pryor, they're in Lane's spot.
Q. On Zach Ertz, it seemed like you were hopeful earlier in the week that he would be able to play. Any kind of setback or is it just taking longer?
DOUG PEDERSON: No setback. I was optimistic. You just get through a week of practice, really feeling Zach out, too, a little bit. There's no setback. There's no nothing. Just the fact that he probably won't be ready.
Q. What have you seen from Carson Wentz in practice this week? Is there anything particular that has stood out?
DOUG PEDERSON: I've seen great leadership, great poise. Obviously he works extremely hard, working with the young guys after practice, things that he's done all season.
He knows, just like I know, that things aren't going the way we had hoped for. He and I are in this together. We're going to get this thing turned around and fixed. Got a lot of confidence in him that he'll get it done. Got confidence in myself that I can get it done.
He's had a really good week of practice.
Q. On Lane Johnson, did you think you'd get to this situation with him? Do you think things could have been done better early in the season, maybe held him out longer? What do you make of where you are right now with him?
DOUG PEDERSON: Gosh, I don't think we would have done anything differently with Lane Johnson, quite honestly. This guy, he's battled through a lot of different things this season. He's a tough kid. This is just a situation that sort of the wear and tear on his body, honestly, that has led us to this point.
We'll get him fixed and get him ready for the off-season.
Q. Do you think he'll be the same player again next season?
DOUG PEDERSON: I'm hopeful. Gosh, I mean, I'm hoping Brandon Brooks is the same person, too, when he comes back.
Yeah, I'm optimistic. These guys work hard. Our training staff does a great job, our medical team, doctors, strength and conditioning staff, to get these guys back healthy. Lane will be one of those guys.
Q. Did (indiscernible) get more reps with the first time offense this week? Are you more open to the possibility of giving him a series or two on offense?
DOUG PEDERSON: As far as the plays and the snaps, I mean, he hasn't gotten any more than he would get throughout the course of week normally since we've been playing him. I'm not going to reveal any game plan plans with him at this time.
Q. Now that this is going to be the 10th different iteration of this offensive line in 11 weeks, it feels like at this point, how do you try to find the consistency despite all of the moving pieces?
DOUG PEDERSON: I mean, it's a challenge. I'll say this, that the guys that are playing now are guys that have played all season, right? They've gotten a lot of reps. Other than Isaac, who is working himself back in. He's a veteran player. All these guys have played each week.
It is a challenge to get that continuity and that consistency. But having played together gives them confidence to play as a unit and go play. Quite frankly, we can't worry about that. I mean, obviously Seattle and our opponents the rest of the year aren't going to worry about that. We still have to go play and execute.
Q. Do you believe that the absence of Zach Ertz and Alshon Jeffery have contributed to Carson's struggles this year. I think before Zach went down, there was one game where he played without either of them, one of them had been in every game he played. How much has that contributed to his struggles?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, it could possibly contribute to that because those are guys that he played with since he's been here. DeSean Jackson, even though he's new, hasn't been out there that much, these are guys that have been around Carson, kind of know Carson. Now we're playing with a new group of guys.
Again, gosh, we missed an off-season, we missed training camp to really hone in some of the timing, decision making.
Look, I'm not going to sit here and make excuses. It's possible. It's possible. He's worked with these guys, like I said, for five years. But now I'm excited about the guys that are out there. We are seeing improvement each week from these young players. They're playing fast. They're getting better with the information, game plans each week.
It's still a work in progress, but I like where we're headed.
Q. As far as Jordan Howard goes, how has he looked this week? I know Boston Scott has the abdomen that has limited him this week. Could you see a role for Howard on Monday night?
DOUG PEDERSON: Jordan has looked good. Picked up, very familiar with the terminology, with what we're doing, getting him comfortable again with the offense. We'll see where Boston is. Boston had a good week of practice, he feels good. Hasn't really had any issues or setbacks.
Jordan, as we go each week, could potentially have a role moving forward. But like where Boston is this week.
Q. Is Matt Pryor playing right tackle? If so, he's obviously moved around all over the offensive line, how has that affected him?
DOUG PEDERSON: He is playing right tackle. Again, I think guys like him, guys like Mailata, I think of Nate Herbig, I think of the guys we've had to move in and out of different positions, they've handled it well.
One thing, it's hard to take a guy that's playing, say, guard all week, then on Friday, Saturday or even game day you got to go, You got to play tackle. He did it in the game last week, he went from guard to tackle. Now he's gotten all the tackle reps this week. He's settled in. He's comfortable there.
I don't foresee any real issues mentally really or physically from him. He's had a good week.
Q. For Jalen Hurts, at this point in the year how happy are you how he's learned and practiced, progressed? Does being on the field for some of the offense help his learning curve a little bit?
DOUG PEDERSON: I like where he's at. I think for a young rookie quarterback he's right where he needs to be. He keeps improving each week with the terminology, the mental side of learning the game, right?
What was the second part of your question?
Q. How much is actually getting into the offense helping that learning curve?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, no, playing obviously helps it. That's one of the things as we went along this year, having the two quarterbacks on the field, it really has helped some of our production offensively, yards per carry, whatever it might be.
But, yeah, it's definitely given him some game experience. It's only been like a play here, a play there. Just being out there can only help him moving forward.
Q. You are 11-2 over the last three years in must-win games, got to have it or your season is over kind of games. You're still not there yet because technically win or lose Monday, you're in a race in this division. Do you think the success you've had over the last three years can carry over to this group? What do you see out of these guys that leads you to believe that you can do that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, let me just start by saying you never want to be in this situation where you're always backs against the wall, you're having to kind of fight for a post-season spot or division championship or whatever.
But having gone through it I think, and having gone through the amount of -- obviously the amount of injuries we've had this season, it's sort of mind-boggling compared to last year and the year before.
But it's something about this time of year when you start seeing sort of that light at the end of the tunnel. You have an opportunity to win your division, maybe potentially do that, obviously have a post-season game. That all kind of motivates teams this time of the year.
We talk about putting ourselves in the position in the month of December, right, kind of that fourth quarter of the season to hopefully play for a playoff game, be in the post-season. Guys see that. I think it's always been the next-man-up mentality here. We're going to do it again. As far as the next man up, they got to step in and play and perform.
We got some great challenging opponents coming up, none greater than Seattle. A good football team coming in here Monday night. We've struggled against them here recently, most recent the playoff game. We are reminded of that obviously. Guys seem to buckle down and tighten things up, go play, play a little more loose probably, a little more carefree spirited, see what happens.
Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports