Steelers, 38 - Eagles, 29
Q. Doug, can you take us through the decision to go for the 57-yard field goal? What were you going back and forth on the sidelines there? What led to that decision?
DOUG PEDERSON: Just an opportunity. I mean, felt comfortable where we were on the field obviously. It was a tough situation to be in that fourth and long situation there, and well within Jake's range to kick the field goal.
Yeah, that was it.
Q. What happened on the third down when Chase Claypool was being covered by Nate Gerry? Was that a blown call? What happened?
DOUG PEDERSON: No, it was just a great route, double move with a receiver obviously on a linebacker. They caught us I think in a two deep look at that point, and just a double move on Nate.
It was tough call there. Well executed by them for the score.
Q. So you're saying that a linebacker should be covering a wide receiver in that situation, a guy who has been catching passes all over the field?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, until I look at the tape it's hard to really comment again. I can give you a better update tomorrow.
Q. How much did you guys rely on Travis Fulgham and how you played overall?
DOUG PEDERSON: Listen we rely on all our guys, not just one. You win as a team and you lose as a team. I thought he played well, played tough.
Made some great catches, big third downs for us. It was really good to see from him. But, again, he's one guy that can really help our offense, and he had a good game today.
We didn't do enough to win.
Q. One catch for Zach Ertz today; just five for 15 yards.
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I don't know. Obviously we know defenses know exactly where he is going to be, and they'll usually put a corner or safety, sometimes double him. They give him a lot of respect.
It's something that, too, I think he's got to look at himself as we all do, and we just got to keep working and fighting, and we got to as coaches find ways to get him uncovered so we can use him a little bit more.
We know Carson feels comfortable with him. Just got to keep working.
Q. Do you think that Travis Fulgham could be this type of receiver going forward, and what does it do for a quarterback to have a go-to receiver?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, I mean, I do think that he has the skill and ability. It was great to see again today. You know, just something that we've got to sustain each week.
He had the big catch out in San Francisco and then big catches today. Just something we got to continue to build on and get all our skill guys in that position.
So I know our quarterback feels comfortable with him and they work extremely hard during the week. It showed with them today.
Q. What did you think of the job the offensive line, and not just the offensive line, but the team did in protecting Carson Wentz today, the scheme and the pressure he was under?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, we knew going in this is a pressure team. They got five guys that really can put pressure. I really thought overall the guys played well.
Lane Johnson before he got knocked out with the injury and Driscoll came in, I thought they did -- really right up until the end there where I think where Bud Dupree came around the left side and got the sack.
I thought they held up well. It's a great -- it's good run defense, so obviously to run the ball is tough. We had the nice draw for the touchdown, which was good.
I thought overall they played well. We'll evaluate it here in the next couple days. But, yeah, held up nice.
Q. There were still five sacks given up. Were they more on the edge of the receivers had trouble getting open on the offensive line when it came to that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, you know, until I can really evaluate -- you're asking questions that sometimes you don't know until you really go back and study the tape and watch the tape.
There were some times -- I'm sure there were times when you can get the ball out of your hand, times when guys were covered up. I think some pressure sacks. So it's a little bit of everything. Until I can evaluate the film it's hard to answer the question.
Q. Miles Sanders had a great run for a touchdown. Outside of that, he had ten carries for six yards. Why do you think the he was struggling to get the running game going? Is that a reflection of how great Pittsburgh defense is against the run, or something you guys weren't able to do?
DOUG PEDERSON: It's a great reflection on how good the Pittsburgh defense is against the run.
Q. End of the first half, John Hightower catches a pass I think for nine yards. Had the opportunity to go out of bounds and save you a timeout. Is that a teaching moment for a rookie in that instance? How do you view that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yes, a teaching moment.
Q. Third down killed you on defense. I think they converted ten of 14 third downs; Ben did not have an incompletion on third down. I know until you see the tape you really can't make any specific evaluations, but what are your initial reactions to that?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, the one thing that I would say is we can't make mistakes like jumping offsides.
I mean, that I think helped them stay on the field a couple times on third downs. When we had some third and longs, gave them third and shorts, third and mediums, those types of things really hurt you when we do that, ans those are mental mistakes we got to clean up. That starts in practice each week focusing on that.
But they're really good at rub routes, pick routes, and they got us today on a couple of those and stayed on the field. You know, it's a little bit of both. We gave them some opportunities by the penalties, and then of course their execution on offense.
Q. Following up on Jeff's question, I know you haven't seen the film, but trying to get a sense of what the plan was on the play. If you're playing two deep, does that mean the safety is supposed to be Nate's help, or do you want Nate one-on-one stopping Chase there?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, until I see the tape, I'll let you know tomorrow.
Q. Two key possessions in the game, the one at the end of the first half and the one right after Cre'Von recovered the fumble. Didn't get points in either one. Is there a common thread there in those possessions? Obviously in a game where the other team scores 38 points you really got to capitalize on everything like that, right?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Q. What happened there? Why couldn't you get points in either situation?
DOUG PEDERSON: Until I look at the tape, we probably failed to execute maybe. Got to do better.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports