Doug Pederson talks Eagles’ wide receiver production

Doug Pederson spoke to reporters Monday morning following the Eagles’ win over the Falcons. Here’s what he talked about:

Injury updates

All updates per Pederson:

• Terrence Brooks (hamstring) still nursing the injury. “We’ll see where he’s at later in the week.”
• Nolan Carroll is “in the concussion protocol”
• Allen Barbre “will practice this week”
• Brent Celek “will be okay”
• Kamu Grugier-Hill “will be out there”
• Jason Kelce has a quad contusion, but “will be able to practice”
• Bennie Logan’s a bit sore, but “he’ll be fine”
• Leodis McKelvin “got through it fine”
• Destiny Vaeao has a left calf contusion, “he’ll be okay to practice”

On Stefen Wisniewski’s play in Allen Barbre’s place

DP: It’s great to have a guy like Wiz, veteran experience prior to joining our football team, and it’s great to have that kind of backup guard/center combination out of him. He’s played well, he’s been a solid addition in there, real consistent. A little limited as an athlete, but makes up for it with his brain and being in the right positions.

On very little production from outside receivers

DP: Yesterday, it was just, gosh, the running game was so big that we didn’t have to throw the ball as much as we’ve done in the past. I’ve said all along that if we can keep Carson to those 25 attempts, 30 attempts, it’s a good day usually. The design of some of the matchups we had with Sproles against some of their linebackers, Ertz over the ball, some opportunities versus man coverage and over the middle, just design things we had during game plan that weren’t necessarily reflections of Nelson or those guys, but more the design and the contour of the play, and who was the primary on that play.

Q: Can you win consistently with one wide receiver making an impact?

DP: I think if -- and it’s a tough question, because there’s one football and like five skill guys, you know? It’s something, too, that maybe by the design of the play, it’s not necessarily designed for Nelson on this play, or DGB on this play. We do have plays intended for those guys. But this offense, keep in mind this is a progression offense. If one’s not there, two should be there, three should be there, so that’s how we teach the system and how we teach our quarterbacks, and a lot of it’s by progression based on what we see. So the ball -- and again, yesterday, just by the nature of their defense, it gave us Sproles, gave us Ertz, gave us Jordan on those specific plays, and we were able to make those plays. It kind of steps back to the run game a bit, alleviating the pressure on your receivers.

Q: You had about 70 offensive snaps. Would you want to eventually get it to one of them?

DP: When you rush the ball for 200-some yards, it’s hard. What are you going to do? You’re going to give something to take something. I just felt yesterday our run game, the way Ryan was attacking the defense and the way our offensive line got after them a bit, I felt that was the way to go yesterday, and didn’t have to dial up many throws if we didn’t need them.

On the defense playing well

DP: I think Schwartz is the same way, I don’t put a lot of emphasis on points, yards, this and that. If we go out and execute the game plan, do our jobs, which we’ve said all along, those kinds of things take care of themselves. Yes, we knew Atlanta, we knew the explosiveness they had offense, we knew Pittsburgh ... it’s just a matter of our guys embracing the game plan for the week. It was great to get Bennie back yesterday; I think that was a key part of our rush yesterday. And not having to blitz as much. Any time you can rush four and not blitz, and still put that kind of pressure on the quarterback, that’s a great day. It takes away all the other stats if you can just do that.

On the Jordan Matthews hit

Q: Have you talked to the NFL about the Jordan hit yet?

DP: Not yet.

Q: What’d you see?

DP: We talk about player safety, and player safety being of the No. 1 importance, and... I’m not going to get into a bunch of it here, but defenseless receiver, trying to make a play, all that stuff. And it happens so fast. These guys, the officials are working extremely hard every week. They pride themselves in doing the right thing, and they don’t want to be the reason for wins and losses. The best games are when you don’t even know they’re there. Give them credit. It happens extremely fast sometimes. We could say the thing, maybe, about defensive holding. The umpires now on the defensive side of the ball, so there’s things there. By no means does that... you can’t let it affect us. I probably need to be a little cooler in those situations. But you’re also looking out and protecting your player, too.