Doug Pederson on Eagles’ win over Giants: ‘Our veteran players really stepped up’
Here are some highlights from Eagles coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz's postgame press conferences.
The Eagles beat the Giants, 25-22, on Sunday.
Here are some highlights from Eagles coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Carson Wentz's postgame press conferences.
Doug Pederson
On his overall message to the team in the days before the game:
I basically just wanted them to understand that they've got to continue to trust the process, they've got to continue to believe. And quite frankly, you can't wait for something to happen and then believe it. You have to believe it first and then it happens. That was kind of the message last night.
I didn't talk about, you know, hey this is a must-win, this is the start of our playoffs. I didn't get into any of that kind of stuff. I just wanted to make sure that they understood that we just continue to trust the process, one play at a time, play together, great communication, we can get this thing flipped and they did that.
On the fourth-down pass to Nelson Agholor that helped set up what proved to be the game-winning field goal:
At that point, I was going to win the game. I had a lot of confidence in the play call, confidence in our guys. It was a man zone. They played zone on the play and Nellie popped right over the ball. So, it was well-executed by us, and I kept with the same call even through the timeout [right before that play].
[…]
It's something that's been in our offense since I've been here and guys know exactly what to do. It's well-executed and great job by Carson hanging in there in the pocket and delivering that ball.
On what the win does for the Eagles' confidence:
It boosts the confidence. Guys are excited. It's been a couple of weeks since we felt this type of emotion. It's a great win against, obviously, a hot, really good opponent that is real dangerous on offense. So for our defense to hang in there in the second half and do the things they did, get them off the field, and then offensively get ourselves in a position to win the game, it's just a great boost for the entire team.
On Malcolm Jenkins' big interception of Eli Manning at the end of the first half:
Malcolm is a great leader. … I've talked to our leaders on the football team and just challenged them: we've just got to find a way to make plays in big situations. I think you saw it from time to time today, and that was one of them. That really sparked, I think, the defense, going into the second half, and them obviously the offense. But he made that big play, Alshon [Jeffery] made a big play at the end of the game to extend a drive, and Josh Adams, even though he's a young player, he did some nice things.
Our veteran players really stepped up today. The d-line was able to put pressure on Eli [Manning], get some sacks there; our offensive line, a veteran group, really did a nice job. So, the playmakers did a nice job today.
On why he called so many running plays in the game:
I just think that sometimes you get into a game, the offensive line is really – they've played well, really the entire season. That's been one of the consistent bright spots on offense. I just knew going into this game that we were going to have to kind of control the ball a little bit.
I just wanted to help out some of those young guys on defense, quite frankly, and our guys really rose to the occasion. They wanted the ball in the second half. They were coming to me and [saying] keep running, you know, keep running, keep running. They wanted it on their backs. So they did a really nice job, and it helps your quarterback too, being able to throw the ball down the field when we could.
Carson Wentz
On how big the win was:
Yeah, this was a big game for us. Obviously in terms of the divisional standings, all that fun stuff, but really mentally. To show the resilience that we did, to get down early the way we did and then battle back, it just kind of builds a lot of confidence for all three phases of this game. To come from behind and get this game today, I think that will speak volumes about our confidence going forward.
On Josh Adams' performance:
Josh did a great job. He's done a great job in everything we've asked him to do this year. Today he got a little extra workload and he did a great job, took it and ran with it. At the same time, the O-line did a great job. We could lean on them and they made some nice holes, and Josh finished some runs really well, and we got it done.
On his teammates' mantra of keeping things simple this week:
Sometimes when you're in a slump, especially offensively, you want to try and scheme up things too much and try to be too perfect. And sometimes it gets guys to play slower and this and that. It thought we did a good job this week of trying to keep it simple and just letting us play ball and do things that we've done really all offseason. I thought that helped us a ton today.
On what the mood of the team was when the Giants led 19-3 in the first quarter:
I didn't see anyone pointing fingers or questioning or anything like that. I thought everyone just kind of believed. And the offense went right back out there and put a good drive together. I thought that was huge for us going into the second half, and guys just stayed together. That's the biggest thing. We always talk about family around here, and guys just hung together and believed in each other and got it done.
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