Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Doug Pederson: "The confidence they have within the scheme on both sides of the ball."

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Press Pass | Doug Pederson: "The confidence they have within the scheme on both sides of the ball." · Press Pass

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Look, first of all, I can't say enough about Riley
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and what he did for us last year. And obviously
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: he is a huge kick in the Charger game at
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the end of the year to to get us into
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the Divisional round, and obviously wish him, wish him the best.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: And you guys know how how Trent and I feel,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: you know, anytime you can add a player, you know,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: like like Brandon who's got the you know, going into
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: his tenth year with the experience that he has, and
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: an opportunity also to you know, to to get something
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: for Riley too. It's not like it was just a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: total wash out there, but to be able to you know,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you know, get a you know, a pick for for
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Riley and and actually keep him in the NFL and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: keep him kicking, you know, back in Detroit where where
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: he came from and started. So you know, it's just
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to to help us get better, you know,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: as a football team, and we're always gonna.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Look to do that.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: And and just just unfortunate that when you're at ninety guys,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you know, you have to make these type of type
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: of decisions to move on. How does it change from
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a coaching stamp or has it changed.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: How do you come is the kicker to make fifty
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: five costs or at least to.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Attend that well.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: And that's I mean, that's something we got to see
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: with with Brandon now obviously you know, with his pedigree
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and again his experience, but you know.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I think I think that's too yet to be seen.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: You know, there is a comfort level obviously as a
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: as a decision maker to put a kicker out there.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: You know, I mean you look at you know, some
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of the top kickers around the league and you you know,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: you cross the fifty to forty five forty I mean,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: you're you're in the field goal range. So you know,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: obviously we're gonna we're gonna, you know, take a look
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: at that this spring and training camp and see how
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: that plays out.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: How much as a.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: New parachetable kickoffs change strategy ideas from a play calling perspective,
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: you know, kickoffs amateur?
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  Speaker 2: No way.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the next man up after me is probably can't
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: answer that. But actually, Heath and I've had had conversations
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: on I don't think it's gonna change a ton.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I believe it could be a possibility.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: If it's a you know, maybe a bad weather game,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: you know, the winds blowing, rainy, snowy, you know, uh,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter and maybe uh you know, you take you
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: take an opportunity to take the ball to twenty five
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: as opposed to trying to run. There's there's some there
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: are some strategy things. I don't know if it's going
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to change a whole lot. You know, teams that have
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: dynamic returners, like like we do. You know, that's something
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: that Heath and I as a game plan goes each week.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: You know, we have to decide do we want to
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: let Agnew run him out like he did towards the
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: end of the season last year and try to get
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: out I think our kickoff return average was just north
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: of the twenty five yard line a little bit anyway
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: last year.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: So if you can do that with a.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Dynamic guy, I don't think it'll change too much around
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the league other than maybe some some weather or some
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: some you know, strategic situations that could pop up. Did
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: you do it later in the season because of attrition
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: and injuries across the board? I mean you'd have to
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: take a look at that you're talking about from our opponent.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that and sometimes too.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, he's a dynamic guy and you
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: see the explosive, explosive miss you know with Jamal and.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: It's it's like your quarterback.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: You don't want to take the ball out of his
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: hands if you don't have to, and and he can
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: you know, he can hit a big return for you
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: if he gets you up to the forty or midfield.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's huge, especially in a in a
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: clutch situation at the end of the game.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: In the.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Quarterback out of head coach that was in the NFL quarterback.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I think any quarterback.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Who who was who was coached by a former player,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: you know, who played the position, I think can help.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I think there's some.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Some things that you can you can help especially in
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you know, in this case a young quarterback. You know,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you know, we did it obviously with Carson in in
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: you know, early on with Frank and myself both have
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: played the position at this level, and then obviously now
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: with Trevor here and you know and some of the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: some of the other guys. You know, you look at
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Frank and Carolina now with his opportunity again with the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: young quarterback. So having played it, yeah, I can it
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  Speaker 1: can help, but you know you still have to go
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: practice a coach and you know, show show them just
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  Speaker 1: how to how to play the position.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: No, I listen.
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  Speaker 1: I think I think all quarterback coaches, whether you played
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: or not, or are really good in this league. They've
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time studying the position and and
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: you know are going to have are going to have
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: that young young player ready to go.
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Last week, the practice that we were able to view
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: on Monday, and Calvin came out for a couple of
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: the positional team drills.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Is that just a matter of if you guys are
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: trying to acclimate him to the system or a little
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: bit that.
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  Speaker 2: And just just want to be careful with him.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: You know, he is coming off uh you know, he
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: hasn't played, you know in a while, plus the injury.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: You know, so we're just trying to be careful with him.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: He's done an outstanding job for us. You know, we
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: just want to make sure that he's He's the type
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: of guy that you have to kind of pump the
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: brakes with. He wants to go so much and so
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: fast and so hard out there practice that we just
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: kind of have to pump the brakes and just tell him, hey, now,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: now's not the time, you know, but he's doing he's
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: doing a great jobs picking up the offense. Well, you
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: know the times that he's working with Trevor, you know,
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: they're they're on the same page, they're connecting, and those
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: are good things to see right now, you know, in
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: the off season related No, no, just more more or less,
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: more or less just being cautious with him and and really, uh,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you know, just making sure that he's you know, again
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: he hasn't played a ton of football and just want
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: to make sure that he's you know, ready to go
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: for camp. For camp. Yeah, yeah, certainly once the guy's
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: come back for camp. Now, we have some exceptions to that,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: not not necessarily Calvin, but we do have some exceptions
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: to that rule. But yes, wheels are off, dynamic playing
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: out between Calvin Christian just that whole receiver room.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: You know, you're you're adding somebody who kind of thinks
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: of himself as a number one receiver, right and I'm
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: just worring to you for.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: What you've seen so far. How you think that's gonna play? Yeah?
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I think I think, you know, obviously that's something that
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: that press and myself and the offensive staff as we
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: as we get closer to games, you know, how we
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: how we plan to attack defenses, whether we're using you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: two tight ends or three receivers or four receivers or whatever.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: It just gives you a little more flexibility. I think
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: having having really three guys like we do, dynamics of
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: three guys, you know, And and it's hard to take
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: a guy like Calvin or Christian or Zay, you know,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: even Jamal off the field, you know, but at times
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: you're gonna have to do that to create matchups, you know,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to create situations that could be advantageous for you know,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: uh an offense and for us and so you know,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: those are all things that uh, you know, we'll consider
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: as we as we get of games.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: At the end of the year.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: And even now, no no no sign of where were you.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: With Traves and his ability to pass protection at the
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: end of the season and.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Now were you okay with it or something? Yeah?
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I think I think, you know, and he he did
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a nice job throughout the course of the year.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: He got better as as a season, progressed last year.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: And it's something that running backs just you know, they
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: come again. Here's another young player who missed, missed his
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: rookie year duty injury. So he's coming back and he's
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: learning learning a new system, not only learning to run
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the football, but also now past protecting. And you know,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: he did a great job as a tough kid, did
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: a great job as a season progressed.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: It's something that we constantly are are learning even now.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: You know, we keep teaching and and with some of
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the some of the drill work and some of the
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: practices that we're doing, even though we're not going live
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: or against the defense, we're still putting our guys in
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: those those situations, blitz pick up situations where just mentally
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: they understand their assignments. And the more we can rehearse
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: that with all of our running backs and Travis in particular,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the better they get.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: What have you thought about Jordan Smith.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: He's a guy who got hurt during these like a
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: year ago, so you haven't got to see him a total
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: of more importance this year.
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Got to get it back into.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this is this is this is critical for him,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: you know, and it's good to see him on the field.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Number one, he worked extremely hard.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: He was in the building all last fall, you know,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and and was was uh attentive and in all the
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: meetings and and while he was doing his rehab. So
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: you know, it's good to see him out there. He's
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: he's done a nice job. He's just continuing to learn
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: and understanding the defense. And and you know, at some point,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I think with the medical staff, the brace will come
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: off at some point, you know, where he'll it'll free
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: him up a little bit to do do more things.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: And and but but right now we're just again just
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: you know, this is the time of year. We just
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: want to be cautious and make sure that he's one
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: hundred percent coming into camp.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Christian had a big year last year for you, but
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: he's still just twenty six going into the second year
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: here with the team with you, Christians, anything that he's
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: elevated his game, and you know as you watch, yeah,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: I just think that all of our second year players
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: with us, just the confidence they have within within the
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: scheme on both sides of the ball and even on
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: special teams.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: You just see that confidence in all these guys and
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: their leadership ability taking the young guys and coaching the
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: young guys on the side. That's what I see, you
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: know out there, Christian is one of those guys. He's
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: a pros pro you know.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: Embraced Calvin too, from the standpoint of just welcoming him
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to the team and then you know, obviously helping him
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: with the offense as well. So you know, he's a
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: guy we lean on, just a just a great leader, uh,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: in the locker room, in that room, you know, obviously
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: on the offensive side of the ball. But he's done
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: a he's done a really good job that that regard.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Rookie stood out so far as they've now been acclimated
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: with the veterans, and maybe you were wow, like that
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: was in seamless transition.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: It's hard to point at one.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you look at you know, you've focus
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: on Anton, right he's your first pick in the top
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: top guys. He's done a nice job of working in there,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: and of course he's working next to a pretty good
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: right guard, you know, in Brandon. And I like too,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: I like I like where Brenton is, you know, I
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: like where Tank is at right now. Obviously I like
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: our draft class, you know, the way they've worked, the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: way they've studied, the way they've handled the classroom, you know.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: To the field.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I mean We're putting a lot on these guys right now.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: That's what we want to see as a staff from
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: their mental standpoint. But even the defensive backs, I mean,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: these guys are you know, Antonio Johnson and Christian braswell
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: Eric Halla. I mean the guys that are here, you know,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: are are are learning, and they're doing well. And they're
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: also contributors on special teams, which is you know, another
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: reason why they're here as well, because they had good
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: college careers there so been excited about the group.
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: We just got to keep them, you know, on the
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: comet's for Anton. Just to have a guy like Brandon
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: next to one huge, I mean, it's huge, it's critical,
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: you know.
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: Uh, it's there's a lot of communication that goes on
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: up front, as you know, and and Brandon really kind
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: of can help calm him down just a little bit
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and and kind of point him in the right direction.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: But Anton's a smart guy.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: He's really you know, I listened to Coach Rauscher in
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: his meetings and he'll call on Anton. He's got the answers,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: he spits it out, you know, and now it's just
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: a matter of just just speeding it up on the field,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: right it's the NFL and things happen a little bit faster.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: So he's done a nice job.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Brandon's done a nice job working next to him, and
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: that'll be a really good combination to you know, continue
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: to work, thank you,