Press Pass: Doug Pederson

then everybody else will uh will practice today. When you ever hear the first time as a coach, BREDA. Graham was kind of still trying to find his way. What did he always have that in him? Or did he just have to what do you have to do to get to this left? I think he just had to extremely uh just had to work, you know, had to put in the time. You know, he was obviously a top draft picked by the Eagles and and you know sort of struggled, you know, to play and see the field.

He was sort of you know, uh, delegated more towards special teams. You know, he's a special teams contributor and then the thing is he just started making plays on special teams, and then it carried over to his confidence, his ability to to to make plays on defense. And and um, he's definitely a pro's pro. And he's worked at his he's worked at his craft and and uh, you know, UH, love where he's at as a player, love him as a person, and and he's he's playing

at a at a high level today. I'm sorry with Nolan and the uh as he moved forward in the concussion we have for you know what, I I can't comment out he I just got he's in the he's in the protocol. We'll find out and I'll find out when he when he comes out. Yeah, obviously a really tough place to play. Um, with the amount of false starts and delays of games you guys have had, how important will that aspect of the game being on something? It's critical going into this uh into this stadium. You

know this twelfth Man. Um, It's it's real. And um, you know the last time that I was up there was h with the with the Eagles a few years back. And and um it's a loud place and uh, you know those things are the things that that that keep your offense, uh from executing and staying on the field. And uh, this team definitely feeds off of that and and tries to get you in those second, long, third,

and long situations. And you know, the point of emphasis this week obviously is to to be able to handle that and and minimize minimize those those penalties with getting those first team reps. Shouldn't you know, will not be able to go? Is it? Who's kind of a head there? And from the corner position, it'd be more CJ. You know, he's had a little more time there. Um, and uh, he'd be the one that would get little little more,

a little more attention there. Does he give you than the know experience and we've played there so well obviously special teams as we know, but uh, you know he he you know, played uh played well in preseason. Um, he's a speed guy. He's a guy that plays extremely smart. There's not many throws that get over the top of him.

You know, he knows how to play and use his technique and um, those are the things that we've seen in practice, even when he's on the service team, those are the things that have shown up and and uh give him an edge you know if he has an opportunity to play all of our home you played very very well at home, especially defense and getting started fast. On the road, Steve had some slow starts and then chasing the games those situations. What have you seen at

the beginning of games of what's happened? And how do you improve on that when you go out to Seattle. I think, I think when you're on the road, you try, you try to press just a little bit. You try to you try to get that quick early lead, try to take the crowd out of the game. You know, you maybe do some things a little that are uncharacteristic of what you do at home, and and you know, we just we just can't do that. We gotta stick

to the game plan. We gotta we gotta approach it much like a home game and trust, you know, trust the players, trust the trust the plan. You know, let the game sort of come to us a little bit as opposed to trying to make something happen, even though we talk about that all the time. You know, we got to make plays on that. That's that goes without saying. But you can't force them, you know, you just gotta let those types of things happen. I think you know

that go back to that Giants game. I think I think early on we we uh, you know, I had some quick pressure obviously the two turnovers in that game, you know, um and got us down early. You know, in in fourteen, nothing but Washington. You go back to Washington and just to kind of a slow start. You know,

we got to handle the crowd noise better. There's there's quite a few factors that that uh, that that that we've got to We've got to address and clean up going into these road games, practicing to the bubble and all these two days to yeah, we'll go in, Um, we'll go in this week. I'm thinking maybe tomorrow and Friday for the next two days possibly go in and just just get used to that noise a little bit. Is it just a noise factor there were I mean because a lot of stadium are loud, and it was

loud in Seattle when they were in the dome too. Obviously. Do you have any particular insight on like why that atmosphere there is so different. I mean, you you grew up in the area, or people just treat the games different here. I just think that you know, the one that's a championship caliber football team, and so people are gonna support and rally and you know it's, um, it's a great fan base up there, you know, and they as a kid growing up, I was a part of it.

You know. I was a part of the kingdom and parents took me to the Seahawk games and growing up doing that. So you know, I've experienced it firsthand from a fan's perspective, you know, as as a kid in

high school. But um, you know, I can also kind of recall our days in Kansas City when we were having success at home and you know, going for the the loudest crowd in the NFL or the world record and all that kind of and the and these fans they're passionate about it and they love it and they take pride in it and they you know when when they when we talk about it, they they come out

and droves again. You know. So it's a great place. Um, tough place to play obviously, the way that stadium is designed to build that little cover right there, everything's kind of right on top of you and then it's just a it's a great atmosphere. Alan switching give problem. He's

the starter going board. Yeah, yeah, yeah, set All. I mean obviously they've been knowing for they're for a number of years and stuff, but like, are you finding that they're you know, giving Russell Wilson like, you know, a lot more to do this year, especially with Marshawn Yeah, and you know he's to that point of his career where they can they can begin to do that. You know, he's a veteran player, He's obviously won a bunch of games.

He utilizes his personnel. Well, um, you know, he was injured earlier in this season, so he may not be running around and using his legs as much, which he still has the ability to extend plays obviously we saw it in the New England game. Um. But and he's a smart kid. I mean, he is extremely smart. He's gonna know the game plan that they have prepared. He's

gonna know our defense. Uh, you know, it just comes down to execution on our side to effectively, um, you know, attack and try to disrupt any timing that he might have. If you don't seen the number of good tight ends, where does Jimmy Graham ranking what sort of challenges he and working at the bo Jackson Brian Bosworth game chas I was not at that game. Actually we were on a rotating basis in our family and I've actually missed that game. Um, but Jimmy Graham is obviously he's big,

he's physical. Um, he's probably more of a receiving receiver type tight end than anything else. He just he's such a a lot like Gronk in a sense. I mean, he's very he's very powerful, basketball player, can jump, he elevates extremely well. He's a he's a target in the red zone end and he's and he can run. I mean that you know from a tight ends when you look at tight ends, those are the type of that's the mold you want. You know when you look at these tight ends and um, he does now standing job.

He's a he's more of a mismatch even on safeties, even some linebackers. He's he's definitely a matchup nightmare there. And you know it takes uh, it's you, it's your quarterbacks best friends sometimes, you know, having tight ends like that that can get open and you can just kind of throw it in a general area and he can

he can go get it. Lots of tight ends when when you it seems like when Artz is involved like he was the last couple of weeks sword of the the Cleveland game, it seems like everything runs smoother, The whole offense has more rhythms. He sensed that, And how important is it to you to kind of keep him as involved as he has been the last couple weeks. Yeah,

I think it's important that Zach stays involved. And I got to keep him involved with the play calling, and obviously the between that and the running game last week was what it was critical, you know, And there's there's space again. Like I was was mentioning with Jimmy Graham, I mean, our tight ends have the ability. A lot of the middle of the field area is tight end area, and we have a couple of guys and Zach being one of them that know how to get open in

that area. Carson has has done in these last couple of weeks done a really good job of trying to find those guys and and understanding scheme and um, Zach's done a good job of again finding those zones and then and then getting open in that area. And what's the process like of sitting down and trying to construct a game plan for against the defense, Like Seattle. What's that first meeting, like, what's the well, you know, I

sit down. First thing I do is I, um, I want to see and kind of go through you know, we do a three game breakdown, and and then not only go through the breakdown, but the rest of the

games for the season. I start with coverage and just want to want to see what types of coverages they're playing, you know, one high too high, and then within that is at man's own and then just kind of get get an idea and a feel for you know, percentages that way, and then then knowing that taking our who we consider playmakers on offense and going okay, how can we get this guy in this position that position and then kind of come up with a with a game

plan that way, see what carries over from the plan from Atlanta that we didn't use in in that game. UM. I think that's important to have carry over that you're not reinventing the wheel every day. And then you know, every offense or defensive coach is going to have a wrinkle or two in their game plan that to try to keep them off balance. But you know, and then and then you look at their you look at their blitz package. Third downs become critical later in the week,

you'll spend some time with the red zone. But um, you know this this group is fast. Obviously they feed off of their their crowd at home. They want you in third downs, they want you in third and longs, and that's where they get They get most of their hits on the quarterback in those situations. So game planning, we got to be, uh, we gotta be a little more specific in those areas and how we're gonna attack and how we're gonna you know, handle that type of

rush your running game. How is this defense different to run against? In Atlanta's defense? This this group, this group stunts and games and and they're fast flow. Their linebackers are downhill. Um, safeties are involved still an eight man box. You know you're gonna see uh, you know, thirty one down round a box a lot and and and he's he's an extremely big, physical player. And then that's what they do. And then they they try to take that

run game away from you. And that's that's and they've they've been successful doing that and and then that's why they get you into those longer yard situations where you you you might have to throw the ball and then they get that pass rush after you. So it's a it's a it's a it's a fast group, but aggressive group. UM. A little more man coverage too than than what we saw this past week. Back the way the way you

did against a very good football team. What kind of impact do you think they'll have on a young quarterback and this offense that had been struggling when you go to Seattle, Well, it gives us, gives you, It gives the guys confidence knowing they that you know, they were able to go finish the football game. And and I guess a good football team, um number one. And and just it just shows a little sign of the maturity

of some of our younger players in those situations. You know, giving the ball to Wendell and he stays in bounds in a four minute situation, and if we're going to throw the ball, you know we're completing it. And and um, you know, guys are we're not We're not turning the ball over in situations And guys are guys are learning from from all the mistakes we made earlier in the season.

They're they're learning from that. And and it just gives you, gives you a little more confidence gives you a little more um, I think stability, knowing when you get in those situations, you've learned how to handle it, um even from my standpoint, you know, managing the game that way, calling it went, you, lizing timeouts and making sure we're doing things from a management standpoint, from my standpoint right in those situations, he said, do you feel like your

defense deserves to be mentioned in that same breathless Seattle and the top defense is in the league? I think so if you look at the numbers, you know, defensively it's one of the top defenses in the National Football League and not giving up many points, and uh, you know it's yeah, it should we should be we should be mentioned. You know. Sometimes it's you get overshadowed a lot by how your offense is performing. But but that is by no means overshadowed anything that our defense is done.

In the first nine weeks, Parson has just six rushing first downs. Doug even on the thirteen yard run the other day, he clearly was wanted to prefer to keep looking down field. Is there a fine line with a guy with his mobility, as far as you know, keeping his eyes down field rather than taking those yards when they're open like that. There is um I always mentioned. I always talk to him about, you know, be a thrower first, but don't throw first, and use your eyes

in those situations. And and you can scramble and still keep your eyes down field. And if somebody pops um like Darren did against the Steelers, that type of thing, Um, you know you want to be able to make those plays as well. But you know he understands too that and we understand that. Hey listen, anytime a team gives you some man coverage or avoid zones, uh, and you got the ability to scramble and even if it's not for a first down, but it's picking up five to

six seven yards and protect yourself. Those are things that uh, UM defenses get get a little frustrated at when your quarterback is mobile that way, don't He's got mob the quarterbacks. He's Wilson guy. You spent time and what was your I did? I went to I went to Wisconsin, worked him out and spent a day up there with him and came away just uh saying, you know what, this guy's this guy's a special kid. You know, he's he's

got it you know, he's he's a pro's pro. He knows how to work, he knows how to practice, he knows how to lead. The things that you see on the field are also the things he does off the field. And uh um, you know he's a man of his word and integrity and all that kind of stuff. So yeah, when I I came away feeling like, you know, if if we didn't have an opportunity to take him, you know, somebody was going to have a special special player. No good.

He's getting better, you know, he's getting better. He hasn't been in there a ton on on passed protection. But at the same time, he uh, he understands our protection schemes. We ask a lot of our backs. They visually have to scan a lot from side to side, and um, you know you're going to have the occasional you know, mishap and all that, But for the most party, he understands the protection. He knows he's in the right right,

right spot. You know, it's a lot of it comes down to just technique and being physical with either linebacker, safety, and sometimes even a defensive lineman. Okay,