You've been waiting for this day forever. Um, he I know, for twelve months, right, Um, No, he has been cleared. He has been cleared, and and so we're we're all excited about that. What were the you know, what were some of the final steps that he had to clear to be to be well. I mean to listen, I'm
not going to get into the whole reports. This is lengthy, but but I mean just just medically, you know, where from from the date of surgery to where he has it today, through his you know, all his rehab through eleven on eleven through you know, everything he did in the wait room, everything, everything about it was was a big part of uh, you know, um getting getting to
this point. On your part of it. You know, you start him Sunday, regardless of you did you think about, you know, giving him a week to be cleared for contact overs just a he's cleared, he starts. I mean, he's cleared, he goes. Um. I've said all along that you know, he's our guy, we draft him to be our guy, and uh, you know, you you're it's it's
kind of like week one. I mean a lot of your starters, you know, um, guys like Jason Peters sproles haven't been used to a lot of contact whatever, you know, a little bit in camp. But um, yeah, we're we're we're cleared to go and we'll go. Indeed, on Carson, can you kind of tell where he is compared to last year or the areas where you still expect him to kind of gradually ramp up or what are those
kind of numbers tell you about where he is physically? Well, you know, last year I thought he took a really big step forward in the situational aspect of the games, you know, the knowing the down and distance, knowing um, where he is on the field, things that he took
a big big step forward last year. Obviously, you know with every year we can continue to get better in those in those situations from from a quarterback standpoint, but you know, I think, uh, just watching him, you know, move around physically and some of the things he's done, I mean just um, you know, he's ready and he's ready to ready to take the reins again and move forward. What's realistic for him his first game? He hasn't played football in a long time. What do you mean what's realistic?
Is he going to be the same player we saw last season right away? Or is that gonna take me? I think there's gonna be I think there's gonna be, Um, maybe an issue or two, you know. I mean, it's gonna take some time to get back into the rhythm and the flow of the game. The speed of the game is different than the speed of practice, you know, And so we do everything we can to try to simulate that during the week and try to prepare him that way. And listen, he he's a guy that that
will be totally prepared. He comes in early studies the tape, as do all the quarterbacks, stays uh, you know, obviously late in the day, asked a lot of questions, has a lot of ideas. Um, you know. So he's he's gonna be He's gonna be prepared mentally. Now it's just a matter of the physical part taken over. Will there be any restrictions and I will you we need to temper his aggressiveness, no, I mean, you know, um, you know in my mind, you know, and we all felt
the same way that that he's cleared. He's cleared and there's no need to hold back now and we're still going to have conversations no different when he was healthy. We're still gonna have conversations about protecting yourself as we do with all the quarterbacks, and you know, making sure we do the right things there. But um, there's there's no limitations. Your play calling goes Doug as you're easy them in making sure that he's not getting exposed a
whole lot early on. Well, I mean, think about the game yesterday. How many times the nig get hit, you know, and and it's it's part of the game, you know. I mean, you can't. The thing is, I'm not going to coach. I'm not going to coach scared. I'm not going to coach paranoid. I'm not gonna go in thinking oh no, we can't do this, we can't do that. Um, you know, we just have to continue to go play. And I got to coach that way and and uh, that's where the confidence with the team comes, you know,
by doing that. But now, if there's if there's opportunities to you know, max the protection and and do some things there, we'll do that by game plans, by design. But but I don't think that things are going to change too much. What's the conversation like with Nick who wins the Super Bowl MVP and and now goes to the bench. You know, the the greatest thing for me is that room has no egos and Nick all along
has understood, UM, that this is Carson's football team. You know, we drafted Carson to be the guy, and and uh, you know, we owe a lot of gratitude to Nick Foles for what he's done, what he has done obviously, what he's done this season, and and how he's led this football team. And he's a pros pro, so no egos. They check him at the door, and and he'll be very supportive, has been very supportive and and uh, you
know we'll be that way from from here on. The word that that Carson was cleared, was he in the room with you or Carson? Yeah? So did you then get to be the one to break the news to him? Um? Yeah, no, you know, actually our medical team UM was able to meet with him and and talk with him and all that, and U you know, we'll have more conversation today and these next couple of days, you know, going over the game plan and getting ready for Indianapolis. But but uh,
he was not in the room. I mean, he's excited, he's ready. I mean he was probably in his mind, he was probably ready a month ago, you know, but um our plan was in place, he understood it, and uh he embraced that and now he's ready. Well, you know, anytime you get one of your when your starters back, it's great, you know, and you know, I'm excited to to get him back out there. But you know, at the same time, it's it's not about one guy. And
and we can't lose sight of that. You know, we got other issues, you know, offensively, defensing, special teams that we need to coach up and and uh, as as exciting it is to have him back, you're starting quarterback, we still have some other areas to fix. On the radio this morning, you said that you know, um, you know, a team makes a miracle. And when you when you look at the healthy options you have an offense right now, do you think you have enough healthy playmakers around Carson
right now? I think we're constantly looking at adding depth and talent at any position, in every position, you know, and obviously that's probably the focal point right now. Um, So we're constantly you know, Howie and his team and Joe Douglass are constantly looking to help you know better our roster and then so we're in that process right now. How yeah, he you know again, he's a week to week guy. Um, I'm not going to put a timetable
on him. It's very similar to to Carson Wentz and when when he's clear, I'll let you know on him. Carson probably that he was ready about a month ago. And you allude to this before you know what kind of process? How difficult was I guess too kind of massages feelings in terms of his competitiveness about wanting to play and you guys obviously listening to the doctors. Yeah, it's a little bit of a fine line. But um,
you know there's uh. I guess the thing too is is just having conversation and being being open with him, being honest with him, and saying that you know, and just reiterating this is our plan for you, the health of you and he and I having conversations and and saying listen, I want you to be you know, regardless off Doug Peterson is here or not. I want your
career to extend for many, many years. I don't want to I don't want to rush anything, you know, any decision like this, so um he was very uh obviously, very appreciative of that. And and the fact that we were having conversations you know, um, just about weekly. You know that this is this is for his benefit, not for anybody else's. You were reluctant to talk about the plan so to speak, during the past month or two. Now that it's over. Was this the plan all along
to have him back four week three? Was this a target that well? No, um, it was basically it was it was strictly a medical decision, you know, and and uh, um we we put it in we you know, I say, we the organization and really put it on our medical team and and said, hey, physically, when is he going to be ready? And whenever that date was, you know, we were going to be ready to go. So it just so happens it's this week. But it was never really the idea or the intent that we got to say, hey, boom,
let's focus on week three. Could have been week four or five. So who knows, I do not, but yeah, Mike wa Yeah, So Mike suffered a fibulous fracture um in the game, and we'll miss the next few weeks. Obviously, Jason Peters, he Um, let's see, he had a quad in the game. Happened about the third, third, or fourth play in the game. Um, tweaked it just a little bit, and so uh just couldn't put the pressure on it that he that he felt he needed to in the game.
Not not not yet. Not at this point. We're still going to evaluate. He's got a few more tests here in the next couple of days. But UM, we know exactly it's a it's a fracture, and and uh you know that's gonna be a couple of weeks. Well can you talk about the whole I mean, obviously now you have two wide receivers on the fifty three who aren't going to play. Um mac is out. Um, you have a lot of inexperienced guys around Nelson. Uh what what
are your thoughts on that whole position right now? And uh, you know, going up against the Colts with this group, Well that's why it goes back to, you know, to us always and constantly looking you know, outside to help bring in some guys. You know, it takes a while to get a guy. Can you bring in a guy who can help you? You know, I think I think a veteran player, you know. I mean, if you just ask me, a veteran player would be a lot easier to work with and than a young rookie player, you know,
to get them caught up. Plus a guy that's had game experience, you know, um, definitely gonna have to you know, rely on the tight ends more, gonna have to rely on the running game a little bit more. Um and and you know, uh kind of kind of lean that direction, you know, until we can until we can figure this out.
Does that mean when you see rely on the run game and tight ends, do after these two games kind of go back to the drawing board a little bit with usually like three wide receiver sets and you haven't used Goddard or two wide receiver sets as much as three. Are you going to reevaluate that and look forward or yeah, we'll evaluate that this week, um, as we do every week.
But again, you know, when we put game plans together, you know, we try to use lives, you know, our Zebra eleven personnel, twelve personnel with the two tights and all that kind of stuff. I think I think we're we've had in the past, We've had some advantages there, you know from a personnel standpoint, but Um, you know, we're dealing we're dealing with it right now. We're we're working through it, and you know, we'll we'll see where
we're out on Wednesday, we'll go to practice. Did you say you have out of out of your eleven personnel? Was it more the what kind of defense? Usually? Response to that that you like to do things? A lot of times a team comes in with a third corner typically or moves a corner into nickel and it's you know, it's it's a it's a difficult situation. Plus we can we can get a little more speed sometimes on the field, and um, you know, those are all things we'll have
to evaluate in the next couple of days. Has Braxton Miller been here long enough to make an impression on you that well, he had, I mean he's made he's made some you know, an impression. But you know he's another one that, uh, you know, we got to continue to coach up and see where he's at, you know, because he hasn't had any really exposure to our offense yet. He's almost that the exact orate said. The expectation can't be Carson comes in and a superman and fixes everything
from your perspective, how much can improve by having Carson? Well, I mean I think he's He's accurate, you know in that statement. You know, Carson's not Superman. Obviously, it's going to take all ten other guys around him, you know, to get it done. Um Listen, you know, as far as as far as the execution, I mean, you know, he's going to see the same things that was seeing, you know, from from defensive structure, the blitzes, protection, the
whole thing. So you know, we just got to make sure that that we have those guys coached out, you know, and that he's he's going with the right you know, going to the right places with the football and making the right decisions in the run game. Um. But I don't think it's a um AN attack one way or the other on the on the quarterback position formulations to Carson. How much changed? What changed in two weeks? And how important was the nine months? I mean, that's that's that's important.
I mean that and I'm not a doctor, but but I'm assuming that's. Ah, that was a big factor in in the uh, in the decision. You know, it was just the extra time to heal and and to to get stronger you know with with the uh, with the injury, when the organization is looking for help on the outside and there's there's players that have, um, you know a
little bit of a past. What are the things that that you're looking for, the questions that you want to get answered before you feel comfortable kind of signing off point like that. Well, there's a lot of things, um, And I think I think the biggest thing just you know, uh, not only can they play football? You know, obviously that's a that's an important part of it, because we were always looking for guys they can they can they can help us in any position and and can they play ball?
But you know you also want to you know, particularly look at guys that can they how well do they
how well will the current team embrace players? Um? You know we've seen it over the over the course of the last couple of seasons, you know, when we bring a guy like Jay and you know, and how the team embraces him and surrounds him or Legarrett Blunt and these guys turn out to be you know, awesome individuals and great teammates and great players and and so you know, you leaned a lot on the character and the the
the culture of the football team. You know a lot and uh um, but you know, can the guys, can the guys that you want to bring to your team, can they help you win? Can they help you win football games? But again, it's not at an all cost decision that that that you make make moves like that so much so much of Carson's game last year was using his legs to not just scramble, but to buy time. Um, is he gonna be able to do that right away?
Does he have the mobility right now? I will see in hindsight just toys games