Doug Pederson says the Eagles won’t be making any coaching changes this week

Eagles’ head coach Doug Pederson spoke to the media again on Monday following their (still, incredibly stupid) loss to the Dolphins in Week 13.

Pederson said that he wouldn’t be making any coaching changes this week, but that there is still time to figure out any kind of personnel moves, either with the roster or starting lineup — but as of Noon on Monday he doesn’t anticipate making any changes. He also said that he doesn’t think they need to send any kind of message or shake things up.

Here’s what else the head coach had to say:

On the loss to Miami

The first question Pederson faced was about the comments he made earlier on Monday morning on 94WIP about how the Dolphins seemed to just want the win more.

“I don’t want to be misunderstood when I make that statement. What I mean by ‘they want it more’, there were certain plays in that game where obviously, they made the play and we didn’t. So, in that case, yeah, they wanted that play a little bit more than we did.

As a whole, as a game, the effort, the energy level, all that was there in the game. Playing tough, guys played hurt in the game and went back in the game. So, it’s none of that.

It’s the fact that there were plays to be made in that game — we didn’t make them. They wanted that aspect of the game just a touch more. They made those plays, and ultimately came out on top.”

Pederson was later asked about the culpability of the offense in Sunday’s loss. He admitted that they had missed opportunities, including the dropped pass in the red zone, and false start penalty — things that set them back offensively and prevented them from keeping the lead. Then, they got behind by two touchdowns, and it was just poor execution in critical moments.

On play-calling against the Dolphins

Pederson said on Sunday that he didn’t regret not calling a timeout ahead of the field goal trick play. He explained that there probably wasn’t a down side to calling a timeout, but that just because you might negate one trick play, they may have another they’ll call instead. The head coach noted that they were lined up right for the play, but they happened to come off the guy who caught the touchdown.

On the (untimely) penalties

“It’s unfortunate that they do happen. It came in bunches yesterday. I think 10 penalties there, 4 of which gave them first downs to stay on the field, from their offense or situation. I look at the other side, we had some critical penalties on offense, in critical moments. I think we had a holding call early in the game, we had a false start on a 4th and 2 we had to settle for a field goal.

There was enough in this game — and then you go back a week and we had 2 penalties. So, my question is why? Some of it comes down to lack of focus, or just understanding the situation sometimes. All things we try not to use as excuses because we have to eliminate that and get better, and learn from them, and move on.

On the state of the team

Pederson said that this situation the team is in will be a great opportunity for the leaders on the team. He said that it starts with him and challenging the leaders to embrace this time and challenge the guys in the locker room to step up with a month of football left.

He said the messaging moving forward is that they control their own destiny, and there’s a lot of football left to play. The head coach noted that the leaders of the team will need to embrace that, and he feels really good about it.

Pederson admitted that this has been the approach leading up to this point, but right now, that’s the message.

Later, the head coach was asked about the team’s reaction to the loss compared to the screaming match in the Cowboys’ locker room after their loss this week. Pederson admitted that there can be many different types of reactions that can be productive, including yelling, but he’s confident in the team’s leadership and how they’re handling things.

“This team needs to continue to work every single day, and come to work with the right frame of mind — check egos at the door, let’s come to work, let’s get ready for the New York Giants, and got another great opportunity this week.

And, that’s the only thing I know to do, is to continue to push, put one foot in front of another, be hard on our players, demand more from our players, things of that nature. Things we’ve done all season long. Players got to hold players accountable — all of that stuff we talk about, and get ready for this game.”