Q. Doug, could you just start about your evaluation of Trevor and why you think he had trouble getting going today?
DOUG PEDERSON: I mean, I think that we as a staff have to figure out a way to kind of get him settled into the game, number one. Then, obviously, Trevor has to, obviously, make sure that he is in a good spot.
The thing is he sees everything. He sees the field well. We just have to continue to keep throwing and keep putting him in situations like that. He is going to get better. He will get better. I'm not worried about that at all.
We have a lot of faith and trust in him, and he can definitely do the job. We've seen it this season. We just have to keep working on him.
Q. What was your perspective on Trevor's interception in the end zone?
DOUG PEDERSON: I think he would tell you and I'm going to tell you, you just can't do that that deep in the Red Zone like that. That was just unfortunate. Turnover right there, just can't do it when you are about to score.
Q. Where does Travon Walker's rag doll throw down there rank in terms of in even all the bonehead mistakes you've seen guys do?
DOUG PEDERSON: Again, those are unacceptable plays that come up. I keep telling the guys that a game usually comes down to three to five plays. You just never know which ones are going to be those plays.
Trevor's interception late, that penalty late in the game like that, I mean, those are hard to overcome. Again, they're all valuable lessons for us as a staff to teach and correct.
A lot like the week before, Tyson running into the kicker in Philly. Those are all moments where we can't take things upon ourselves. We just have to go do our jobs.
Q. Did Travon apologize in the locker room after that?
DOUG PEDERSON: I don't know.
Q. Doug, do you have a good sense when you walk out there on game day after the last week what you are going to get out of Trevor?
DOUG PEDERSON: I do. I do. I really do. I feel comfortable and confident. He always has a good week of preparation. He is always in a good spot. I do feel good when we go out there and the way we start the game and the openers.
Again, it's just how we start. And that's part of the quarterback too, getting him comfortable and settled down into the game to where he can get himself into a rhythm.
Q. Is he being too aggressive at times and not taking some of those shorter throws and check-downs?
DOUG PEDERSON: Well, if you are looking at the game, it was a cover-two game today by Houston. They played extremely well. That's a staple of Lovie Smith. Their defense played it extremely well.
There are some opportunities as check-downs, but at the same time, honestly, until I go back and watch this game, it's hard to say. A couple of times we did try to check it down. We dropped them too. There's some plays being left out on the field.
Q. We know what type of defensive mind Lovie Smith has been in this league for a very long time. What did he present specifically to you guys today that made it so difficult and especially in terms of converting on third down in the Red Zone?
DOUG PEDERSON: He comes from the traditional four-three style of defense, play that cover-two, the old Tampa Bay scheme back if the day. He has his guys flying around.
That's what I saw on tape all week. This is a team that plays extremely hard. A lot like our guys, they play extremely hard.
A style of defense where those guys, they're executing it well. You have to look at their five games now -- or four games leading up to this. They were pretty much in every football game with chances to win.
This is a good football team that came in here. I still believe we're a good football team. It just comes down to execution and just understanding where you need to be on any given play.
Q. How do you help a young quarterback develop consistency? We've seen the highs for two weeks in a row, and now you've seen kind of lows for back-to-back weeks. How do you help Trevor?
DOUG PEDERSON: You keep working. You don't pull back, and you don't add on. You just keep working every single day. That's the only way you get through it.
We've got a lot of confidence in him and trust in him. He is our guy, and we're going to keep working through it. We're going to work through it together. He'll be better down the road for it.
Q. It seemed like Travis was having a pretty good first half. I think around 60 yards. What happened in the second half? Why wasn't he able to get the ball in his hands a little bit more? Would you have liked to see the run more aggressively rather than passing?
DOUG PEDERSON: Yeah, that's on me. Play caller. Got to call more plays to him. We'll figure that out.
Q. How much can that take off the pressure in terms of Lawrence, you know, when he is having that kind of day? How much can having that run game take the pressure off him?
DOUG PEDERSON: Sure. You run the ball, it can take the pressure off your whole team. Yep.
Q. Also, in reference to the running game, again, you had some good success with that in the first half. Especially in that second quarter. What made you kind of go away from that in the second half, or was it something that they adjusted to at halftime?
DOUG PEDERSON: That's on me. Got to call more runs.
Q. In terms of other than Travon Walker's penalty, what did you see out of your defense? It seemed like a pretty strong effort from that group.
DOUG PEDERSON: I thought they played well. Gosh, that long drive they had, there were some missed tackle on that one, but I thought overall it obviously kept us in the football game and did some nice things.
There's still some things we have to clean up. These guys battle. They play hard. They're physical. It's a physical group. They cleaned up some of the mistakes from a week ago, but we still have some work to do. We have to get some stuff corrected.
Q. Did they do a really good job defensively to take away Christian Kirk, or do you have a reason as to why Christian --
DOUG PEDERSON: Really not until I look at the tape to see. Other than that, it's hard to tell until we get back to looking at it.
Q. The interception right there at the start of the third quarter, how much does that take out of just the momentum, the intensity or whatever? How much does that take out of a team when you feel like you're down there about ready to take the lead, and it just doesn't happen?
DOUG PEDERSON: Still there's a lot of football game left, and so it's unfortunate. We know we can't do that, but there was no waiver. Our guys were confident. They felt good even going back out on the field.
Defense was, obviously, putting it kind of back on them to get a stop, but it could take a little bit out, but for the most part, our guys did a nice job of staying in there and staying together and sort of rebounding after that.
Q. You mentioned some drops earlier. I think there were five last week too maybe. Is that playing on maybe Trevor's mind at this point? No, you don't think so?
DOUG PEDERSON: I don't think so, no.
Q. We talked a lot about the confidence in this group early in the season. How do you keep the confidence on this team high now that they have back-to-back losses?
DOUG PEDERSON: You just go back to work. You entrust these guys with a lot. We ask a lot of them.
You just keep working. You keep putting them in these situations, and they're going to learn. We're all going to learn together, and we'll be stronger and better for it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports