MIKE TOMLIN: I'm really excited to get the victory. It's never easy in the NFL on Sunday ball. Got to give Philadelphia a lot of credit, man, they tested us. Their ability to convert third downs offensively, I thought was a significant component of the game. Some of it was self inflicted by us in penalties and missed tackles and so forth. You've got to give their guys credit. They had a good plan, good execution of the plan, and that allowed them to maintain possession of the ball and keep us at bay and stay in it.
But I like our guys. Collectively, they fought well together. They complemented one another in all three phases of the game. It wasn't a perfect performance by any stretch, but we're not looking for perfect. We're looking to be good enough to win. Had a lot of good contributions from a lot of people. Young guys getting an opportunity to contribute. Claypool, obviously, was a guy that had a big game.
But more subtle contributions like Kevin Dotson being called up to step up for David DeCastro. We appreciate the development of those guys. We've got to continue to grow and develop as a team, not only in terms of skills relative to our positions, but our division of labor, our understanding of situational ball. All the while, we've got to do enough to win in the process, and thankful we've been able to do that.
From an injury standpoint, Diontae Johnson took a direct blow to the back. I think he may be available next week. DeCastro had an abdominal injury that's being evaluated. His availability is in question, but I'll have more information for you guys on Tuesday. The rest is kind of bumps and bruises associated with play.
I know Pouncey wasn't able to continue. He's being evaluated right now. Don't have a lot of information on his foot. Questions?
Q. Mike, speaking of third downs, you guys were able to convert a lot as well. What is it about Claypool that he's been able to get involved so quickly? I mean, how much of it is talent, and how much of it is just his ability to pick things up?
MIKE TOMLIN: Let's be honest, a lot of it might not even have to do with him and his skill set, man. We've just got a well balanced attack. We've got guys that people have to account for, guys like JuJu, guys like Diontae and Ebron. I just think that he's probably a good matchup for whoever people have assigned to him from a man-to-man standpoint.
That's the strength of having a deep group of guys that are capable of making plays. Week in and week out, there are going to be different guys that step up just based on the matchups presented. He had a good matchup this week.
Q. Mike, you mentioned the third down conversions that Philadelphia had. To what can you attribute that? Obviously, you haven't had a chance to look at film or anything, but what did you see going wrong on your end?
MIKE TOMLIN: It was a hodge-podge of things. Like I said first, I want to compliment them. They had a good plan, a good execution of plans. They had guys like 13 stepping up and making combat catches. We had guys in position. They made some plays. They made some plays on the football. Carson made some throws. He stood in there in the face of adversity and made some throws. I don't want to discredit them entirely.
Could we be better? Certainly. We had a roughing the passer. We gave up the ball down the middle on a long yardage situation. We had things we need to focus on and do better, but I'd be remiss if I didn't compliment them for their plan and also execution of the plan in some of the areas that I mentioned.
Q. How have you seen Ben's rapport with Chase develop, especially over the last two weeks? It seems like he was really looking for him in some of those third down situations and trusted him to make a tough catch.
MIKE TOMLIN: Like I mentioned before, the strength of our pack is the pack, and to have quality depth in guys that are capable of making plays, he was just going to be the guy today. He had a good matchup, and he made some plays, and they found that rhythm. I don't want to make it out to be something more than it is. It was his turn today based on a lot of things, and he was able to deliver.
Q. Mike, you mentioned 13. How familiar were you with Fulgham coming into today? He hasn't had much history in the league.
MIKE TOMLIN: I'm familiar with him because he's an Old Dominion guy, and I'm a Virginia boy, but I don't know that we are globally familiar with him. I don't know that he has enough of a resume for us to be overly concerned about, but, boy, he made some plays today, and I've just got a lot of respect for what he was able to do, and I thought it was worthy of mentioning.
Q. You guys had a lot of jet sweeps and reverse type plays. Was that something that you thought you could exploit with the Eagles? And McCloud had a big run there too for you?
MIKE TOMLIN: We're just trying to move the ball around and make everybody defend the entire field, both vertically and horizontally. That's just a component of our attack. We brought it to the stage today. That's why we thrive to be diverse, to keep people off balance, to be able to go to personalities and utilize those personalities in an effort to win football games.
Q. Just along those lines of Joe's question, how critical was the tight end blocking north to south, especially Vance McDonald on these jet sweeps and reverses today?
MIKE TOMLIN: I saw several instances where I had direct eyes on Vance, in particular, and he did an awesome job, but an evaluation of tight end blocking is something that's probably better done after watching the film from a minutia standpoint.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports