Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson

Transcription

1 Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson Q. On the offensive side, what is holding you guys back right now? (Zach Berman) COACH PEDERSON: Well, penalties and turnovers, unwanted turnovers. And a lot of those are happening in the red zone and they are self-inflicted and those are things that we have to correct in a big-time hurry. Q. Last year when you ran quarterback sneaks with QB Carson Wentz, you had it with almost perfect success I think and we haven't really seen it this year. Is there apprehension with his recovery and is there maybe a reason with C Jason Kelce? (Jimmy Kempski) COACH PEDERSON: No, no apprehension. Obviously, this is a new season and it was a full one [yard], I usually go for it in that situation if it's under one and it wasn't. Q. Fourth and 20 in the fourth quarter, why did you elect to punt there? (Zach Berman) COACH PEDERSON: Right decision to punt the football with time left and it was a situation that we've talked about in practice, try to get them to unique formation. Try to get them to jump, take a shot, or get the five yards and now we're in a field-goal-range situation. It wasn't a desperation kick at the time. And guys did the right thing, we ended up punting. Q. What was K Jake Elliott s range going into the game? (Zach Berman) COACH PEDERSON: 35 [yard line]. Q. 35-yard line? (Zach Berman) COACH PEDERSON: Correct. I think we were at the 40 [yard line]. Q. Doug, you don t look too happy. What did you say to the team after the game? (Sal Paolantonio) COACH PEDERSON: I just told them that basically, I was going to walk in this room and I was going to take it for the team because the way we've been playing and performing, it starts with me. And I want to make sure that the guys understand that we can't do these things. We can't self-inflict and expect to win. Championship teams just don't do that. We're doing that right now, so I have to self-examine myself first. Starts with me, and those guys are busting their tail. So we're going to get it fixed. It starts with me. Q. This week you talked about having a sense of urgency early, but you wanted to see it, thought you saw it in practice, but wanted to see it in the game. First quarter was not good offensively. Did you think about tempo in this game because it seems like Wentz gets into (John McMullen) COACH PEDERSON: We just didn't have enough touches in the first quarter. I think we had six, seven, eight, something like that in the first quarter. Just didn't have enough time. Just didn't have the ball. And we talked about it on the sideline, getting into a rhythm but you go back out there and then boom, you get a spark, you get a big pass, big play, and a couple times we're on the ball and next thing you know we're in the red zone. Then we got into our red zone offense. We were able to do it at times, but

2 the play either before that sprung and we got good yardage on it, or it was a situation where it was a penalty and it backed us out on first down. Q. You burned a couple timeouts, one on the challenge and one on the fourth and one where the clock was running down, they turned out to be huge late in the game. What happened on those two things? (Bob Brookover) COACH PEDERSON: The challenge I thought I saw where I was at, that obviously the second foot was down and the third step was out of bounds on the white stripe. So what I had seen, wasn't sure quite at the time [if he had possession on the first step] and looking at -- getting the replay, his second step was in, third step [was close], so wanted to challenge that, big play of the game. Could have been a big momentum swing there at that time, so wanted to get that challenge in there. And then the second one, you asked me about the fourth and one? Q. Yeah, you guys went on to score but had to use a time out, fourth and one. Play clock was running. (Bob Brookover) COACH PEDERSON: We were on offense. Yeah, the play clock was running down, about to hit zero, so just use the time out right there to make sure we had the right call on. Q. What did you see with the DE Michael Bennett roughing the passer penalty and what if anything were you given by way of explanation? (Reporter) COACH PEDERSON: Those are hard situations. I'm going to look at the TV copy and I'll look at obviously the coach's tape briefly and see. But it's tough. Unfortunate. The rule's the rule and we've got to abide by it. Q. Are you concerned by the inconsistency of the offense, even the games you've won, the offense seemed to move in fits and starts? Are you concerned about that? (Chris Murray) COACH PEDERSON: Well, yeah, that's kind of what I've been saying. We're self-inflicted. We're shooting ourselves with penalties and turnovers that are hurting our offense. We seem to move the ball fine out in the field, but then [when we get into the] red zone and third down, [those] are areas that a heightened awareness when we get in the red zone, ball security; all those things we talk about from day one OTAs we're not doing, so we've got to get back to that. Q. What's the calculation in your mind when you're going for the two-point conversion there, if you could share that with us? (Jack McCaffrey) COACH PEDERSON: The calculation? The calculation was to go for two. If I make it, a touchdown wins the game. Or if I don't, I know what I need to do. I've got to go touchdown, two points to tie, or to win and then to tie at the end. I think that's right, right? That's a pretty simple calculation right there. Q. You made the move at left guard. Why did you do it? Why did you feel the need to do it and do you think it worked out to your satisfaction? (John McMullen) COACH PEDERSON: Obviously in fairness of both [OL] Isaac [Seumalo] and [G/C] Stefen [Wisniewski], I

3 want to make sure that we evaluate the film on this, and it's going to be hard, though, because it's a short week, short turnaround and we're on to the Giants. I thought initially, he played well. Isaac played well. We'll evaluate it again and make the decision moving forward. Q. You talk about penalties, after the fumble, I believe, illegal formation there, procedure penalty, and then a grounding, three straight plays there. Why are those penalties happening to such a veteran team? (Zach Berman) COACH PEDERSON: Well, the illegal formation one is just -- there's really no excuse for that. I mean, that's just a mental error offensively and we can't do that. The intentional grounding, I understand, I mean, Carson was trying to break out of the pile and I think [WR] Nelson [Agholor] was in front of him. And I'm not sure if the ball quite made it to the line of scrimmage at the time. And so obviously by rule, it could be an intentional grounding. And those are just wounds that we can't continue to make. And we'll learn. We'll learn. Guys will learn. Guys are sick to their stomach and they hate this feeling. We've got to get it fixed pretty quick. Q. Who was the illegal formation on? COACH PEDERSON: I'm not going to get into that, but we've just got to make sure we coach it better. Q. The mental errors seem to be the glaring thing compared with last year, compared with most teams that are really good. To what do you attribute that? (Marcus Hayes) COACH PEDERSON: Well, it starts with me. I've got to do a better job of installing the plays. I've got to make sure the guys are ready to play during practice and it starts with me. I'm going to make sure that they are ready to go this week. Q. Is this week a tough week to do that? (Marcus Hayes) COACH PEDERSON: It's hard. I mean, it's hard. You're on a short week and you have a quick turnaround and we're back in the building tomorrow and we're working and getting ready for Thursday night. But one thing that I've learned through my experience in the NFL is getting back on the field right away is kind of a good remedy for the team, for the coaches and then that's our focus starting tomorrow. Q. Three sacks and eight hits. Is Wentz getting hit too much? (Zach Berman) COACH PEDERSON: Obviously, you want to eliminate as many as you can, reduce the number of hits. Active quarterback, you know he's going to move and made some great plays tonight with his legs and found some holes to run and to throw out of. But we just continue to talk to him and make sure that he is protecting his body. He did a nice job of getting down a couple of times, too. He's aggressive, and that's what I love about him, he's aggressive, he can spin out, he's strong and he does some great things back there in the pocket. And then he can do

4 some great things extending plays. There's a fine line, obviously, but want to make sure that we're right up against that line. Eagles QB Carson Wentz On whether he could pinpoint what led to the Eagles slow start offensively: I can t, unfortunately. We talk every week about how we want to start fast. [I give] credit to the Vikings for coming out and making some stops. Just a slow start. On whether he could sense the pressure coming on the second-quarter strip sack: It s just a happening. My eyes are [looking] the other way. If I was looking to the other side of the field I probably would have avoided [Vikings DE Stephen Weatherly] and been just fine, but that s football. On the penalties late in the game to set the offense back: It s unfortunate. Those are things where we have to take a real hard look in the mirror. Little mistakes like that kind of the same thing that I really echoed last week after the game these little mistakes that can sometimes get overlooked are just killing us. We re playing like we re a young rookie team and we re not. So we have to really be hard on ourselves and learn from these mistakes and turn it around fast. On not coming away with any points after taking over at the Vikings 30 yard line with 10:03 left in the fourth quarter: [It was] very frustrating. We went down and scored, had momentum, got the ball back in great [field] position, and then go backwards, backwards, backwards. It s extremely frustrating. On whether he feels there has been more pressure in the pocket this season: I don t think so. It s just been the nature of the game and unfortunate sacks and little things here and there. Again, we have to keep cleaning it up. The same thing goes for the last couple of weeks. It s not one guy s fault it s not just the [offensive] line, the [running] backs, [or] me it s everything. We have to clean it up, though. On Eagles S Malcolm Jenkins postgame message to the team: The beautiful thing for us right now is that it s a fast turnaround. We get to get the bad taste in our mouths out fast and go on the road to New York. Thursday night will be here before we know it. So it s really [about] coming in here tomorrow ready to work and get ready for New York. Like I said, [we have to] just put this one behind us [and] learn from it. We don t have to dwell on it too long. On the new rules implemented by the NFL to protect quarterbacks and his thoughts on the roughing the passer penalty called on Eagles DE Michael Bennett: Honestly, I didn t see that one. I know the [referees] are in a tough spot with some of the new rules and it s unfortunate when it happens against you. I didn t actually see the play so I can t really comment on it.

5 On how he feels physically after his third game back from injury: Personally, I feel fine. Obviously, we kind of have some ebbs and flows as an offense. [We got off to a] slow start, then it seemed like we got some momentum and then hurt ourselves again. I kind of feel like that s where we were two years ago we were that young team making these mistakes and kind of having those ebbs and flows. Last year you didn t see a lot of that. [With] the veteran team we have, I m confident we re going to fix it and turn it around, but it s frustrating right now. On what needs to be done to minimize the mistakes on offense: It s frustrating. If we don t get that fixed, we re going to lose a lot of games. But at the end of the day, I know the guys in that locker room I know guys are going to play with a sense of urgency. They re going to come in tomorrow ready to work and that s something that I ve never really feared my rookie year when we were technically out of the playoffs. There s no quit in these guys. We re not just going to lay down at 2-3. We re not just going to stop. We re going to get it fixed and we re going to be alright. On the Eagles offensive struggles: We hurt ourselves, had some self-inflicted wounds. But at the same time, hats off to them. They have good players over there. It seems like we both know each other pretty well at this point having played the last couple years. Hats off to them for making plays and we just have to clean it up. On if the offense is doing enough to be a contender: I think we re going to be. I m not hanging my head and dwelling on it. We know what we are capable of. We know we have the potential. We know we have the right guys. One thing we seem to always do [Eagles Head] Coach [Doug Pederson] does a great job of putting guys in the right spots it s really the same thing, we just have to stop killing ourselves. I know we ll get this thing right back on track. On if the offense misses the input of former Eagles Offensive Coordinator/Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Frank Reich and former Eagles Quarterbacks Coach/Minnesota Vikings Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo: Obviously we miss those guys. They were great. [Eagles Offensive Coordinator Mike] Coach Groh, [Eagles quarterbacks coach] Press Taylor, I think we talked about it a little bit this week in a press conference, but it s been an extremely smooth process with those guys. Love working with those guys every day. I don t think that s any issue in our slow start here On why there was not a quarterback sneak on the third-and-one play in the first half: We saw that play on film [and] thought it would be a good one, thought we could not just get a couple feet, but thought we could get a big play out of it. Their defensive end made a great play. On what WR Shelton Gibson adds to the offense: He s got the ability to take the top off the defense. We see him in practice every week just getting better and keep building his confidence. We put him in there in position to make plays and do what he s good at. He made a great play tonight. On if the offense has missed the deep-ball dimension this season:

6 Obviously we haven t hit many deep balls and everything. Its hard to say. Obviously, we d love to get those and we had a handful of those last year. At the same time, a lot of it is what the defense is doing to us. There s not a ton of opportunities. A lot of teams are playing soft-zone against us, making us earn it. So we just have to pick and choose wisely. It was good to see Shelton make that one tonight and hopefully there will be more of that in the future. On his level of concern: Frustrated, yes. Concerned, no. We have veteran guys on this team that have been through it all and know how to win. I think we are going to get this thing going the right way. Eagles RB Wendell Smallwood On how frustrating the self-inflicted mistakes were today: We re just tired of hearing it every game. We have to stop doing it to ourselves, myself included. We re just putting ourselves in bad situations and having to fight harder than we need to. If we take advantage of what teams are giving us and evening the playing field, we re more so moving the playing field towards them when we re getting false starts and dropping catches, and just doing a lot of things that we don t normally do that you don t see out of a championship team. On whether cleaning the mistakes up is something that is being emphasized: Yeah, Coach [Pederson] emphasizes every day at practice and if we do it in practice, we are going to do it in the game. It s just how it goes sometimes. He doesn t ever back off of us because coaches know what transpires into the game. They stay on us and we re just tired of hearing it. We have to change it. We re just tired of beating ourselves and losing to teams that we should beat, but we re beating ourselves. I know this week is going to be huge for us on Let s shut all that out, let s play our game and play how we play. That s what we have to do if we don t want to hear it anymore. If we keep doing it, we re going to keep hearing it. Eagles T Lane Johnson On why he thinks the offense is starting slow: I wish I had an answer. As far as offensive line, and me personally, I have to pick my game up. I ll bite the bullet on this one. I know I m capable of being a great player and as bad as it is, we got a big one against the Giants. As early as it is, we must win against the Giants coming up. Disappointing is what tonight is but we still got a long way to go. On whether he thinks the offense is more mental or physical at this point: More mental. It s really just beating ourselves. We go back and go watch the tape that s really just what it is. At the same time though, we have to be accountable. It starts with me and goes right down the line.

7 On whether he has an explanation as to why his game has not been up to his standards: Over-kicking I think. I thought the blitz was coming off the edge, I over-kicked it, the defensive end came under me and that s what happened. It s all angles, it s all fine lines. I ll take the blame for my play and I ll pick it up. On the first two series of the game: I don t know. We always preach start fast. I think if you look at all of the success we had last year, we were starting games fast. This year has been the total opposite. As bad as we want to correct that, that is what we have to do. Start seeing a late surge in the second half when it s too late. It puts our team in a bad predicament. On the overall issues of situational third-downs and red zones: We got to pick up pressure better. We are letting guys loose, [Eagles QB] Carson s [Wentz] running all over the field. It all starts with the offense playing good, we are going to win games. When we re not, you re going to see results like tonight. It all starts with me. There are no excuses. Eagles C Jason Kelce On why the offense looked out of sync early in the game: That s a great question. I don t have a concrete answer for you. We definitely start to get into a better rhythm and groove as the game goes on. I don t really have an answer as to why the start of the game isn t there. I don t think it s an intensity thing. I think everybody goes out there ready to compete and everything like that. It s just not in sync. And really, that s what s killing us offensively. We don t have a glaring weakness. I firmly believe that. I think it s one guy here, one guy there and it s culminating into four or five plays that are costing us games. If you look back to two years ago when we had a 7-9 season, we made mistakes at the end of games that end up costing us wins. Last year we played smart football, we played as a unit, we were in sync and we won football games. I really do think it s as simple as that as a correction. So I think everybody has to take a long look in the mirror, find out how they can do a better job, where their mistakes are, how they can eliminate those mistakes, how you can eliminate penalties. Because if we do that, that s really what s stopping us. You re going to have some missed blocks here or there, but the offensive line definitely got better there. We would like to have a better showing in the first half especially, but its these little things here or there, the wrong set line, all of a sudden exposes you to a potential of a game hitting home. Obviously the fumble hurt us in the red zone, but I m not going to ever get after [RB] Jay Ajayi. That dude runs harder than anybody I ve ever played with almost. I love that guy. We have to get better, that s the bottom line. We have to eliminate mistakes. As long as we eliminate mistakes, as long as we play as a unit, we will win games. On the offense s drive after LB Nigel Bradham recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter: We had a crucial penalty that called back a run that was a first down. I think it was like a 14 or 15-yard run so then it puts us in a situation that s hard to... Little things like that end up stalling out drives, end up killing drives and that s hard to overcome. Now we have overcome stuff before like that. We still have to finish out the drive and try to make something happen. But I think the red zone, really turnovers

8 and penalties have been the thing that have killed us all season long. And its leaving points off the board. You know, the fumble in the red zone is a shift of 10 points there. You are looking at least three if you get stalled out and kick a field goal. All of a sudden they re getting seven. These little mistakes end up becoming huge mistakes. In the NFL, the league is too close, the games are too close, the talent is too close. You need to play smart, you need to do your job. On how you go about correcting it if it s not just one thing you can fix: You try and find out what are the things. So right now on the offensive line there hasn t been too many times where a guy just got flat out beat on his own. You see a lot of games happening. So we have to get back on the practice field and work on games. We have to work on passing things off, taking the correct set line so that you are in the position to work with your person next to you. Those are the things that make a huge difference. It s stuff like that. Obviously the penalties you just try to coach guys better, hands inside. Hey if you re going to get a holding call, let go. Tackling the ball carrier is a better situation than a 10-yard penalty. If you re a receiver and you are not involved in the play at all, make sure you line up correctly. Its stuff like that. And those are the things that culminate into bad offenses and bad teams in the NFL. The bottom line is we have the talent to do it, we have the coaches. We need to go out there, execute and stop making these mistakes. Eagles LT Jason Peters On whether the team has lost its confidence: No, you can see we fought back. We just have to stay focused. We turned the ball over a couple of times, we didn t get any takeaways, and we lost by a couple of points. If we score in the red zone or score off of the turnover, it would have been with our defense and the crowd into it. It would have been a different ballgame. On whether opposing defenses are doing a better job of scheming the Eagles offense this year: I can t say that. We had mental errors. We killed ourselves a couple of times in the red zone. We got pushed back, we didn t get points at times, and sometimes we got three points instead of seven. Right now we re just killing ourselves. On whether the team needs to do some soul-searching: We definitely have to soul-search. We ve got to dig down and we re going to see what we re made of. We can lay down and tuck our tails or we can man up and become champions. On how tough it will be to bounce back on a short week: It s going to be tough. We just have to recover. It s going to be more mental this week. It s going to be a light practice week, but we have to lock in and get ready for Thursday night. On what his message has been to RT Lane Johnson during Johnson s recent struggles: Just stay locked in and stay positive. The fans, they want more out of the offensive line. The media and the critics are going to be on him. I just told him to stay off Twitter and off the internet, stay locked in

9 because you re a great player. Just come to work every day and just fix it. Right now we re struggling on the offensive line because we have to block longer. We have a quarterback that s coming off of an injury and he wants to make a play. We just have to block longer in order for him to make a play. We just have to be better in pass protection. On how long it will take to build cohesion with LG Isaac Seumalo: It s going to take a couple of weeks. Isaac [Seumalo] is going to be just fine. That s the first time I played with him since the Kansas City game last season. We didn t do badly for the first time around. He s going to be just fine. On whether the team has lost the urgency that it played with last year: No, this is a different team. Last year was last year. We lost guys in free agency and we have a quarterback coming off of an injury, I m coming off an injury, and [RB Darren] Sproles is coming off of an injury. It s a different team and we re just shooting ourselves in the foot right now. On whether the offense is building towards something now due to the fact that several players missed time in the preseason: [QB] Carson [Wentz] didn t get a full training camp and I didn t get a full training camp. Right now we just have to block better for Carson because he s going through his reads and we just have to hold them off longer for him to make a play. The guy is going to make a play if we keep them off of him. Eagles TE Zach Ertz On why he thinks the offense got off to a slow start today: Not making plays, not executing. The players, were just not executing, and that s the bottom line. We re getting to the red zone, messed up consistently in the first half, then our backs are against the walls, then we start rolling. We just have to find a way to start fast. We preach it and we emphasize it during the week. It s talked about, but we have to go out there when the game is on the line and the bullets are flying, start the game, we have to go. Our team isn t made to no team in the league first of all is made to play from a deficit of Our team, in particular, is definitely not. We want to give our defense the lead, so those guys can take off with the four guys and dominate like they always do. We just have to play better. It starts with me, I have to play better, we just have to execute. On his level of concern right now after losing back-to-back games: It is not where we thought we would be. The only good part about playing on a short week is that if you lose previously, you re not dwelling on it for too long. You just have to put the pads on in four days and go to work. The whole division is in front of us. That s kind of I m not going to say the silver lining because I m not happy with where we re at but the whole division is in front of us. The best way to the playoffs is to win your division. On the problems with the play in the fourth quarter when the offense got the ball back being down six, then having a 4 th & 20 on Minnesota s 40 yard line:

10 What started it, we had a positive play on fourth down, not lined up correctly, first-and-15. I don t remember exactly the next two plays, next three plays, but like you said, we had a chance as an offense to pretty much put us in a position to win the game. We don t do that we go backwards. That s just kind of where we re at right now. I m not panicking, we just have to play better. The sense of urgency we keep saying it but we got to pick it up. I m not upset, I m not worried by how we re going to respond, because I know the guys in the locker room that we have and how we re going to respond, but we re not where we want to be right now. On how frustrating it is not capitalizing off of a turnover: It s frustrating every time you don t put points on the board. When you pretty much start in field goal position, it s even more frustrating. We have to be better. It starts with me. I m looking in the mirror first and foremost; I m not going out there, pointing any fingers. I think we have to play better as a whole unit. We have to play better, have to start faster. Just making plays in the red zone and third down is where I ve said all along that I have to make plays for this team. I just have to play better. On making sense of the difference between the first five games this year compared to last year: I think the level of execution last year was just higher than it is right now. That s the thing too, we can t keep saying that we re going to turn on the switch like last year. It s a different team, a different locker room, different players. You can t just rinse and repeat in the NFL from one year to the next. Like [Eagles S] Malcom Jenkins said at the beginning of the year, it s not like boxing where you re the defending champs, everyone starts 0-0 at the beginning of the year. We just have to play better, that s the bottom line. On whether there is the same urgency in the first half as the second half with regards to the slow starts: It s tough to say right now without watching the film, but I think we have one touchdown in the first quarter through five games and that s just unacceptable. We pride ourselves on being a dominant offense and a dominant offense is not waiting until you feel good in the third quarter and you know how the defense is going to react. You put your foot on the gas in the beginning of the game, and we have to play better, and that s the bottom line as an offense. The defense is made to play with a lead, and we have to get it for them. Eagles DE Brandon Graham On losing consecutive games for the first time since the 2016 season: We just have to make sure that we correct our mistakes. Like [Eagles S] Malcolm [Jenkins] said today, We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and we have to fix it ourselves. Self-inflicted wounds just can t fly you don t win games like that. I know penalties killed us, we made some mistakes on both sides of the ball [and] in all three phases. We just have to stop putting ourselves in that position where we have to come from behind. We have to have a complete game and we know that. On the roughing the passer penalty called on Eagles DE Michael Bennett:

11 It s tough. I see Mike trying to get out of the way of hitting him low. I guess he was grabbing at his legs and the way he went back, you know, [the referees] are going to call that. We already talked about that as a group and they called a penalty that was right. On how pass rushers have to attack the quarterback differently with new rules in place: You just have to make sure that you don t put your weight on [the quarterback]. You have to adjust because at the end of the day, we have to get it done. We have to figure out a way to get the quarterback down without having self-inflicted wounds. We know how [the referees] are calling it. It s tough when you re coming a hundred miles per hour, but you have to train yourself. It s hard I can t even really give you a straight answer for it. You just have to keep being you and make sure that you don t put your weight on the quarterback and try your best to get him down. On whether there were any conversations with the officials for an explanation: No, I really didn t because at the time we were just trying to get off the field and make a play because it is what it is at that point. I m just trying to flush that play and move on to the next so I didn t get a chance to talk to [the referees]. On how the Vikings offensive line limited the Eagles pass rush: [Vikings QB Kirk Cousins] was getting the ball out and blocking them up. We just didn t make enough plays to win the game today, but I love the fight in us. We don t need to keep fighting from behind, we need to start fast early. In the second half everything kind of settled down and that s when we were fighting. We just need to have a complete game. We need to check ourselves myself included and figure out what I can do to help this team. Eagles DE Chris Long On his thoughts on the roughing the passer call on DE Michael Bennett: It s a lot like in the Atlanta game; I got called for something similar. I think he hit him right at the waist and then slid down. But what is he supposed to do, let him go? It wasn t like he was putting him in danger. A call can change a game. On if he heard an explanation for the penalty call: Probably along the same lines that even if you hit him at the waist, if you slide down, they re going to call it. But that doesn t mean it s a good rule or should have been called. We re probably off the field or even out of field goal range if that doesn t get called. So, that s tough. On how hard it is for a defensive end to avoid roughing the passer calls: It s hard. Because if you hit a quarterback in the waist and slide down, which can happen if you re off balance because pass rushing is hard, you re going to slide down. It s on the quarterback then to protect himself and get down in my opinion. If you have someone on your ankles, you should just get down. On if Bennett showed any frustration after the play:

12 We re frustrated because he had a good rush and made a good play. Again, that can affect the outcome of the game. But there is a lot that we could have done as a team that the refs had nothing to do with. On how he thought the pass rush was today: I thought when the game was in sync, especially in the first half, we we re tattooing them a little bit. We we re getting there quick. So, we ve got to look back at it. Once the game was in the second half, they were just trying to run the ball and control the clock and it was harder to get back to them. Again, I don t have any doubts about our ability to rush the passer on this team. On the the play where Vikings QB Kirk Cousins scrambled for a first down: I was just trying to make a play on the ball. It looked like he was going to loft it it looked like a screen to me. So, it looked like he was going to eat it and try to get up. But I forced him back inside and he ducked under and back inside and I think he picked up like two yards for the first down. So, I can t jump, but that s easier said than done. It happens a lot. Eagles LB Nigel Bradham On the missed opportunities this season to win games: We have to take advantage of opportunities. We have been in situations that we have to take advantage of. Obviously that s what we normally do. That s what we expect to do. Whatever we ve got to do, we have to get back to the drawing board and get it corrected. Obviously we didn t do that today, so we have to get it fixed. On what s missing from the attitude of the defense getting off the field during third down and getting more pressure on the quarterback: Honestly I thought we have been doing all of that. I think we ve been doing most of that already. It s just the fact that in certain situations like today we had penalties that hurt us. There were a couple of situations where they did convert on third down, which happens, but we still managed to get off the field at some points. We just have to keep it going. We have to grind harder and limit the points. On being surprised by the team s 2-3 record: Obviously it is not where we want to be. This is definitely not where we want to be. We can t lose any more games, so we have to get on the road right here. On whether he was trying to scoop and score during his fumble recovery in the fourth quarter: I tried to scoop and score but [Minnesota RB Roc Thomas] kind of caught my leg and hit the ball a little bit as I was trying to pick it up. I was definitely trying to score. He was trying to get that thing from up under me but he obviously knew I wasn t letting that happen. Eagles S Malcolm Jenkins

13 On if he agrees with the term self-inflicted when describing today s loss: It s kind of been the thing where [we re] giving up plays when we know we shouldn t, penalties, takeaways, turnovers, and then the lack of takeaways; most things we feel like we are doing to ourselves. We haven t played a game yet where we felt like the team just flat out beat us. That s the most frustrating part, but it s up to us to correct those. Obviously with a short week it s something that we are going to have to trust each individual to look at themselves critically, really, without practice and try to be a more disciplined team this week. On if it s more frustrating to lose the game due to self-inflicted plays/penalties rather than getting outplayed: I think so. If it were an issue of talent we can live with that. But when you re losing games because you re committing penalties, or you re missing assignments, or you re throwing the ball away, [or] not taking the ball away, that s frustrating to each of us. We ll continue to trust in the process. If anything, we ll dive harder into the smaller details [and] put pressure on everybody to individually just get a little bit better and continue to compete. On if he has an opinion on DE Michael Bennett s roughing the passer penalty: Yeah, I don t know what he s supposed to do. If the quarterback has the ball, I know they don t want low hits on the quarterback, but if you re falling down, I guess you re supposed to just let the quarterback go. The explanation from the official was [that] he has to avoid that hit which means that he can t do his job; you can t tackle the quarterback while the quarterback has the ball. Obviously that was a big play. I don t know what to tell Mike to do on that play. On having a long conversation with the official after that play and what his argument was: It was, What do you want me to tell him? What do I tell my teammate to do in that situation where he s already falling onto the ground, the quarterback has the ball in his hands and he has to avoid the play, which literally means he has to fall and allow the quarterback to continue the down which is the antithesis of his job. It was a tough call, but we have to find a way to overcome it. On if new rules are becoming too slanted against the defense: I think sometimes they just lack common sense. I get it, we want to protect quarterbacks, but it s really hard to do your job when it s having an effect on some games. We had plenty of other opportunities to win the game. That was just one play that was a little frustrating. On how he addresses the team after Head Coach Doug Pederson spoke: We have a short week. At the end of the day, if we want to get better, there s no magic play or drink we can make to be a better team. Every individual just has to find out what they need to get better at, and do it in a hurry, because at the end of the day, I think we can all look at a play or two here or there [or] a mistake or two here or there. If you take those away, then there s really not much else we can do. It s just self-inflicted wounds. Each individual has got to find a way to get just a little bit better, and we have to trust the guy next to us, to the left and to the right, that they are doing that. We ll continue to compete and let the cards fall where they may.

14 On if having a short week until they play the Giants Thursday helps with having a short memory on today s loss: It depends on the individual. If you want to let it carry over, it will. If you attack the tape, take care of your body, get some rest, and move on, and deliberately correct the mistakes that you made, then it ll make you better. So we ll see how we handle it. On limiting explosive plays last year and what he sees through the first five games: Most of those plays, if you look at it, were close to the quarterback. If we can get one more step in our rush, hit our angles just a little bit better, I think we [can] get the quarterback down or get him to hold it. We made some adjustments later in the game. We have to do a better job at that, making sure that we keep the ball in front of us. I think that s a collective effort that s the rush, that s the blitzers, that s the guys on the back end. But we re an aggressive defense. Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer Opening remarks: I thought it was a good, hard fought game today. I m proud of my team the way they came back and fought. There were a lot of big plays in the ball game. I thought offensively we moved the ball well. I thought [Vikings QB Kirk] Cousins played outstanding. Obviously, the two receivers played very, very well. For the most part, I thought we protected pretty well today. Defensively, that first half looked a lot more like what I m used to seeing. I thought our guys really responded to the things we were trying to get done this week, the turnover that [Vikings NT Linval] Joseph got was obviously huge, and then being able to stop them there after the fumble and making them punt was a big part of the ball game as well. Good win. Everything tastes a little bit better right now. We re good to get back with it. On the importance of this win for them as a team to come into Philadelphia, play well, and get the win: It s big. We didn t lose up in Green Bay, but the pressure keeps building because we know what kind of team that we possibly can have if we can overcome some of the things that we re doing and there was a lot of pressure on us to come in here and get a win. I thought our guys studied hard this week, I thought they prepared well, and they went out and fought their rear ends off. On how the defense is making up for the injuries of several players: I thought that [Vikings CB] Mike Hughes played well today. He was able to practice all week in one position I thought that was big. [Vikings DE Stephen] Weatherly did some nice things I think he was the one that caused that one fumble. The defense is a very prideful group. I think after the performance last week they wanted to get back to doing things. I went into the defensive meeting the other day and said, Here s what happening; this is what have to fix to get going. These guys really took to heart about the things that we had to try to accomplish to get better at what we re trying to do. On taking pride in how the defense put points on the board and how NT Linval Joseph did that today:

15 He s a heck of an athlete. I don t know what it was 60 yards or whatever. He s a great kid. We have a lot of them on this football team and I think the heart showed. Typically when you score on defense, your odds of winning go way up. On K Dan Bailey s performance tonight with two misses followed by a field goal late in the fourth quarter: It s funny because I think I ve seen him miss one kick in practice, and he missed those two early, but there was none bigger than [the field goal in the fourth quarter] because it put us up two scores. For him to make that kick is really why we brought him here. On the controversial low hit penalty on QB Kirk Cousins that turned out to be a crucial play in the game: I saw the replay and I saw him go at the quarterback low. I don t know. It s hard to tell roughing the passers [penalties] anymore. I m not saying it was a bad call. I m saying that s what it looked like to me, but I couldn t tell. On the low hit penalty on QB Kirk Cousins being a big turning point in the game: Yeah. So many things happened that it s hard for me to remember everything. On QB Kirk Cousins ability to make plays under pressure being one of the most impressive parts of his game today: I thought he made some unbelievable throws and he threw some guys open because there were about three or four times where he had to throw it early and then [Vikings WR Stefon] Diggs and [Vikings WR Adam] Thielen went and got the football. There was one play we ran on boot and two guys were going at him they didn t suck on the run fake at all and he s bailing and he throws it out there and the guy is not anywhere close to out of his cut yet. He made some big, big plays today. On the impressive hit QB Kirk Cousins took on his 68-yard pass to WR Adam Thielen: They blitzed on that play. He s a great deep ball thrower and that showed. He s done that throughout the course of the year so far. This kid s tough. He s physical. He studies like crazy and he wants to be really good and I m glad we have him. On whether RB Dalvin Cook came close to playing tonight: I don t know. I m not going to discuss it. On what RB Roc Thomas showed in practice to get in early in the game and then what happened on the fumble: It was a backward pass and he dropped the ball. He s been doing good. On how he feels WR Adam Thielen has developed: I think his deal is all heart. Number one, he s got the biggest heart there is. Number two, he s always talking about how he can get better. He comes up to me during the week and says, I m doing this and I just need to run, or I need to do this, and I said, I ll remind you, and even the long one he caught he

16 said, Man, I m faster than that. I should have scored on that. That s the kind of guy he is. The onside kick went to him and I told him to catch it the first time next time. He s a great competitor. On whether he was worried about the workload the DEs would have to put in: We just go out and play. Obviously we try to get some guys in there. Sometimes guys have to suck it up. That s part of NFL football. Guys get hurt and you suck it up and you go play. Do your best. [Vikings LE Danielle] Hunter and [Vikings DE Stephen] Weatherly, they re good young guys that have to suck it up. [Vikings CB] Mike Hughes was catching punts and all kinds of stuff. Sometimes you just have to suck it up. On how impressive the defense was in stopping the Eagles after Roc Thomas fumble: That was big. We actually made them punt on that one too. That was big. A big momentum changer in the ball game. The first half I thought we played outstanding. The second half I thought we played well too. We didn t score a couple times in the red zone, but overall as a team I thought we played well today. On coming out strong the way they did after not playing well here the past two times, including the NFC Championship Game last year: We re week to week. Last year, two years ago, I don t care. On what he thought about T Brian O Neill s protection tonight: I watched him a little bit. I didn t watch him too much. The times I saw him he did well. Again, you guys probably see things a lot better than I do. I m on the sideline and I m trying to look at all these different things and formations and defenses and play calls and all kinds of stuff. You and Pro Football Focus will be better than me, at this point anyway. Vikings QB Kirk Cousins On having the same success with the Vikings as he did with the Redskins against the Eagles and coming into an important road game: It is great to win on the road in the NFL. It is always a satisfying feeling because you know how hard it is and how challenging it is to come into an environment like this against a really good football team. It took all of the guys that stepped out there today. We got a lot of contributions. I was proud of the offensive line to allow one sack with as many attempts as we had, and the pass rush that they have to go on the road with [Vikings LT] Riley Reiff having to go out and moving [Vikings RT] Rashod [Hill] over to left tackle, [Vikings RT] Brian [O Neill] our rookie, stepping in at right tackle. I was very impressed by them to only give up one sack and the game that they played. On having big plays on offense and defense: Yeah, I think we found a way. It wasn t perfect. I was pleased with the fact that we kept trying to answer. Credit to Coach Flip [Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo] being aggressive as a play-caller making sure he gave us opportunities to answer. Then players had to go make plays. Our defense

17 stepped up. It was very important after that fumble that the Eagles got in plus territory that our defense stood up and didn t give up any points. It ended up being a major turning point in the game for us. On his relationship with WR Adam Thielen: I just go where my reads take me. It comes back again to Coach Flip [Offensive Coordinator John DeFilippo] being aggressive and giving us opportunities. He called a double move the very first play of the drive backed up. That is an aggressive play-caller. You trust the receiver to win and trust the team to execute the play and then Adam [Thielen] flips the field for us and puts us down in the strike zone. As long as Coach Flip keeps giving us opportunities and the coverage dictates that I go to Adam, he is going to get the football. I think our offense is at its best when [WR Stefon Diggs] and [WR Adam Thielen] are catching the ball and being able to make explosive plays for us. On learning how competitive Thielen is: He is a really nice guy. He really fits the whole Minnesota nice vibe. He is a great spokesperson for this state and yet he is a competitor. He loves to compete. He didn t want to take a day off in OTAs or in training camp. When he isn t involved in the offense for any amount of time, he gets frustrated because he wants to help the team. As a competitor, he wants to contribute. I am learning more and more about my teammates every week, but you certainly saw that in him from practice since day one. On the performance of the running game without RB Dalvin Cook: I think it was the number one run defense in the league and so we knew it wasn t going to be easy to just come in here and run the football. In some cases you have to be smart and not play into their hand by running the ball. I do think when we picked our spots, we were pretty efficient and had the runs when we needed them. It was a balance of [RB] Roc [Thomas] and [RB] Latavius [Murray]. Running the football in this league is tough. Nobody is gashing people. On the roughing penalty by Eagles DE Michael Bennett changing the game and giving momentum to the Vikings: Yeah it helped. We got a touchdown but we always talk about two-minute at the end of the half and the importance of going down and getting points and making sure we burn enough clock so they are not getting the ball back with an opportunity to get points. From a situational standpoint, that was really great execution and we were pleased with the way we ended the half. Would have loved to have a little more offensive explosiveness in the second half but we had plays there and just didn t finish them. On the roughing the passer penalty and whether he thinks he should have given himself up when he is grabbed by the ankles to protect himself: No, just play the game. Just looking for the open guy and he hit me. I am going through my reads. You certainly watch some good quarterbacks who protect themselves and protect the football and make sure they are not exposing themselves. I ll do that from time to time as well. The key thing is just keeping two hands on the ball and trying to make sure you don t make a bad situation worse. On what he told the team before the game: