Doug Pederson: “Not everybody” played hard in loss to Bengals

Doug Pederson met with the media this afternoon and faced a lot of questions about the direction of the team. He continued to express his belief in his team to the media while admitting that things could be better.

As always, he started with the injuries. Dorial-Green Beckham has an oblique contusion and should be good to go for Sunday’s game against the Redskins. Ryan Mathews and Jordan Matthews will return to practice but Halapoulivaati Vaitai will not, though his rehab is coming along as planned.

On the Zach Ertz non-block

Pederson said he hadn’t yet talked to Ertz about his total lack of effort on blocking a Carson Wentz run, then theorized why Ertz gave up on the play before stating that he would be speaking to Ertz about it and emphasize that players need to find a block if they can in that situation.

On Carson Wentz’s mechanical issues

"Looking at the film... there are times where there is pressure in his face. There are times where he was on his back foot. Off the backfoot shoulders are going to be high and throws are going to tend to be high."

Pederson said that Wentz can avoid some of those by better play in the pocket through “subtle movements”, from hitching forward or side stepping when the situation calls for it.

Handling distractions by Wentz

"I see him handling it well. These are discussions that myself, [offensive coordinator] Frank [Reich] will have with Carson. We've played at this level.” Pederson also spoke about how his familiarity with playing in Philadelphia can help Wentz.

"I think you learn how to handle the positive and the negative and the way you do it is you maintain an even keel, you never get too high, you never get too low. It's never as bad as you think, it's never as good as you think. I think we can take a lot of positive."

On pass rush struggles

"The reason I brought Jim Schwartz here is he has the ability to put pressure with four. That's been our philosophy. If you start, and I don't want to say it's a panic move, if you start to scheme things out of the norm... you're going to give up something to get something. If you bring 5 or 6 guys then you're asking your other guys to do more."

Did you get the kind of reaction you were looking for being down 29-0?

"Everyone was doing everything we could to get ourselves back in the game. I didn't see any quit in this team." Said the locker room was strong after the game.

How do you avoid a slide that snowballs?

"You avoid it by trying to win a football game. We all sit here and say I wish things were different, but we continue to work."

Pederson reiterated that he thinks his team is not as bad as it seems.

"Everything about this team right now is still right there for the taking. I don't see any quit in them."

But then he was asked “Can you say that every one of your players played hard?”

“Not everybody. That’s the accountability I talk about. It starts with me.”