Latest / Press Pass / Press Pass | Doug Pederson: "Pleased With Where We Are Right Now."

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Press Pass | Doug Pederson: "Pleased With Where We Are Right Now." · Press Pass

0:00
Speaker 1: What you've been able to tell washington Ville. Why does
0:02
Speaker 1: it appear that Pittsburgh's having trouble running the ball, and
0:05
Speaker 1: is it kind of is it kind of startling to
0:07
Speaker 1: see if Pittsburgh Steelers team having that.
0:08
Speaker 2: Kind of troll.
0:10
Speaker 1: Well, it is, number one, it is. They usually pride
0:14
Speaker 1: themselves a lot on on running the football, and and
0:16
Speaker 1: that's kind of the the the basis you know for
0:20
Speaker 1: uh for what they try to do. I mean, it's
0:21
Speaker 1: I the running game is it's a little bit, a
0:25
Speaker 1: little bit of timing up front, missing some combination blocks.
0:29
Speaker 1: They've They've had different, you know, different guys in there
0:33
Speaker 1: from time to time. But I I, you know, I
0:36
Speaker 1: it's something that you you gotta continue to work. I mean,
0:42
Speaker 1: when it hits, it's it hits, and it hits, it
0:45
Speaker 1: hits big, you know, and and knows of the things
0:47
Speaker 1: that you have to really kind of guard yourself against
0:50
Speaker 1: defensively and and do a good job just you know,
0:54
Speaker 1: like our defense has done the last couple of weeks.
0:57
Speaker 3: Do you anticipate getting Jay Jones, uh Walker l maybe
1:00
Speaker 3: Devant Hamilton back this week?
1:02
Speaker 1: I anticipate them doing something today in practice and we'll go,
1:05
Speaker 1: we'll go with that, how are.
1:06
Speaker 3: They doing in terms of their rehab and all that
1:08
Speaker 3: kind of stuff? Great, awesome, But how how well do
1:13
Speaker 3: you know Mike Mike Tomlin and just what does he
1:15
Speaker 3: he's sort of done over the last fifteen years, I
1:18
Speaker 3: guess now for the Steelers, he hasn't had a losing season, I.
1:21
Speaker 1: Believe, Yeah, no, Yeah, And I know Mike pretty well,
1:25
Speaker 1: and I I've coached against him, you know, several times
1:28
Speaker 1: now and and a lot of respect for him and
1:30
Speaker 1: what he's done there. Gosh, as you mentioned, he's he's
1:34
Speaker 1: won a lot of football games, you know, double digit wins,
1:37
Speaker 1: you know, most of his career and and that that's
1:40
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. You know, obviously championships and things of that nature.
1:44
Speaker 1: And you know he does a great job of just
1:48
Speaker 1: of just getting getting his teams prepared. The way he
1:52
Speaker 1: messages his team, you know, uh, motivates his team. They
1:56
Speaker 1: play hard, they play physical, they're fast. It's a discip
2:00
Speaker 1: in group and they always have been. And you know
2:04
Speaker 1: it's just, uh, it's kind of the tradition of of
2:06
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers over time, you know, through history, and uh,
2:10
Speaker 1: he's he's definitely carried that carried that on in his
2:13
Speaker 1: career there as the head coach. The last few weeks
2:16
Speaker 1: of Tyson, Uh, he'll be he'll be in practice today
2:20
Speaker 1: and yeah, we'll we'll limit him, but we'll see where
2:23
Speaker 1: he's at as as the week goes.
2:25
Speaker 2: The last few weeks had kind of been rapid fire.
2:27
Speaker 3: Game game game, game game. You got got a little
2:29
Speaker 3: bit of an extra break there, Sorry.
2:33
Speaker 4: Yeah, a little bit, and we'll choked up with that
2:36
Speaker 4: little extra break.
2:37
Speaker 1: Do you worry about guys maybe taking their foot off
2:38
Speaker 1: the gas a little bit there and stayed focused. No,
2:42
Speaker 1: because that's my job to make sure that they don't.
2:45
Speaker 1: And that was the message this morning, you know, And
2:48
Speaker 1: and we got to get right back on it, you
2:50
Speaker 1: know today in practice and you know, just understanding the
2:53
Speaker 1: type of team we're playing this week. And you know,
2:58
Speaker 1: they they've beat some really good foot all teams this
3:01
Speaker 1: year already, and they play, they play hard, they play physical,
3:07
Speaker 1: and I tell you, if you're not if you're not
3:08
Speaker 1: ready for this one, you know, it's gonna be a
3:11
Speaker 1: long day, you know, up in Pittsburgh.
3:15
Speaker 3: For a buster to have a game like that. You know,
3:17
Speaker 3: at the start of the season, Utoga is that those
3:20
Speaker 3: young guys on the roster are only going to get
3:22
Speaker 3: better by being out there.
3:24
Speaker 1: So well, I think it just adds to his confidence,
3:27
Speaker 1: you know, and in the level that he has and
3:29
Speaker 1: and you know, just just to play a full you know,
3:35
Speaker 1: to play a full game. And and if he you know,
3:38
Speaker 1: if he gets that opportunity again this week, we'll see.
3:41
Speaker 1: But I just think from from a confidence standpoint, you know,
3:44
Speaker 1: it just just adds to to his ability and and
3:48
Speaker 1: you know, but but again going back and just you
3:51
Speaker 1: got to evaluate. You gotta be critical of your own
3:53
Speaker 1: performance sometimes, right, you got to make the necessary corrections
3:56
Speaker 1: to be able to move on. That's what that's what
3:58
Speaker 1: good players do and and that's what he'll do this
4:00
Speaker 1: week in practice. But just overall, it was it was solid,
4:06
Speaker 1: and you know, it's something that again, the confidence is
4:10
Speaker 1: just where it's at with him. When you can on your.
4:13
Speaker 2: Message to the team every week or off season or whatever,
4:16
Speaker 2: how important is to you that you know, sometimes it's light,
4:19
Speaker 2: you know, and funny as opposed to always just kind
4:22
Speaker 2: of you know, facts and hair and them like that.
4:25
Speaker 1: You know, there's a balance with that, There's there's a
4:28
Speaker 1: time and a place for for certain things and messaging,
4:30
Speaker 1: and you know, days like Wednesdays, which is the kind
4:34
Speaker 1: of the first week of the or the first day
4:36
Speaker 1: of the week. You know, you try to set the
4:38
Speaker 1: tone right for the As the head coach, you try
4:40
Speaker 1: to set the tone for the week and kind of
4:42
Speaker 1: your expectations and things of that nature. But look, I
4:45
Speaker 1: enjoy keeping it as light as I can to, you know,
4:47
Speaker 1: with the players, and you know, again it's a long season,
4:51
Speaker 1: and and we got to have fun and enjoy you know,
4:54
Speaker 1: what we do. And but at the same time, I
4:57
Speaker 1: think I think it's important that you do, you know,
4:59
Speaker 1: set up, you know, set kind of a precedent for
5:03
Speaker 1: the week.
5:03
Speaker 2: What was that something from that you've played for a
5:07
Speaker 2: coach that was never like that? Or is that just
5:08
Speaker 2: kind of your personality anyway.
5:10
Speaker 1: Or I think it's a little of my personality. But
5:12
Speaker 1: the head coaches I've played for have kind of been
5:14
Speaker 1: the same way. You know, Wednesday's always been sort of
5:16
Speaker 1: set the tone for the week. But I've also seen
5:19
Speaker 1: those guys, those coaches that now they once you set
5:22
Speaker 1: that tone, it's it's on the players. You know, it's
5:25
Speaker 1: on their plate, right, so now you just kind of
5:27
Speaker 1: keep feeding them bits of information and things throughout the
5:30
Speaker 1: course of the week. But at the same time, you know,
5:32
Speaker 1: you've got to enjoy the journey and enjoy the process.
5:35
Speaker 1: You know, as you go to.
5:36
Speaker 3: Agree, you say, takeaways have had a kind of impact
5:41
Speaker 3: they've had so.
5:41
Speaker 1: Far up on your season. I think if you just
5:45
Speaker 1: look at the numbers, it it it tells the tale,
5:48
Speaker 1: you know. I mean it's significant that, you know, when
5:53
Speaker 1: the numbers favor us, you know, chances are like if
5:58
Speaker 1: you go back to the well was the the Colts game,
6:02
Speaker 1: I think you know, at seventeen points that come off
6:05
Speaker 1: of off of takeaways, and though that's huge, you know,
6:09
Speaker 1: that's three possessions and and you know it's big for
6:14
Speaker 1: our team, you know, and it's it's it's opportunistic, and uh,
6:18
Speaker 1: the team we're playing this Sunday is the same way, right,
6:21
Speaker 1: they're when they have two or more takeaways, you know,
6:24
Speaker 1: in the last we go back to twenty two. I mean,
6:26
Speaker 1: they're they're winning, they're winning football games. When they have
6:29
Speaker 1: three or more sacks, they're they're winning more of these games,
6:32
Speaker 1: you know, And so it's in the numbers, and and
6:35
Speaker 1: so for us to we've got to continue that, you know,
6:40
Speaker 1: we do make a a a point of emphasis during
6:42
Speaker 1: during the week, you know, to do that. And at
6:44
Speaker 1: the same time, offensively, we've got to take care of
6:47
Speaker 1: the football, and and we haven't done such a great
6:51
Speaker 1: job of that, you know in the first you know,
6:53
Speaker 1: first seven games. Either to sustain what you guys are
6:57
Speaker 1: doing right now in the takeaway department, I mean, well,
7:01
Speaker 1: you know easily Ranch. Yeah, you hope you can. I mean,
7:06
Speaker 1: you know, takeaways kind of come in bunches and waves,
7:09
Speaker 1: and it's you kind of it's you ride the wave
7:12
Speaker 1: a little bit and and and you just you just
7:14
Speaker 1: continue to uh emphasize it, you know, and guys are
7:19
Speaker 1: doing a great job of either tackling the football or
7:22
Speaker 1: you know, at least attacking the football. And the point
7:24
Speaker 1: you see it week in and week out, and again
7:26
Speaker 1: I'll just emphasize, you know, Pittsburgh and what they do.
7:29
Speaker 1: They do the same thing, you know, they emphasize that,
7:31
Speaker 1: and they're they're being you know, the same tip passes
7:35
Speaker 1: turn into interceptions and things of that nature. So you know,
7:40
Speaker 1: you hope it's sustainable and you think you can do that,
7:43
Speaker 1: you know, for the for the course of the season.
7:44
Speaker 1: But again, you know, you got to make a point
7:48
Speaker 1: to do it. He wants to have T. J. Watt
7:51
Speaker 1: singled up and and it it.
7:53
Speaker 2: I mean, it doesn't appear he gets many one or
7:55
Speaker 2: one opportunities.
7:56
Speaker 1: How much can you afford to leave him by himself?
8:00
Speaker 1: Never it's a great player, I mean just a great
8:04
Speaker 1: player over the course of his career. He's got eight
8:06
Speaker 1: sacks already this season. And and you know, you have
8:12
Speaker 1: to understand that this is a this is a good player,
8:14
Speaker 1: and he's say, a great player, and you give him,
8:17
Speaker 1: give him the respect that he is due. He's earned that,
8:21
Speaker 1: and you know you have to you have to, you know,
8:25
Speaker 1: sort of spend some resources, you know, in that direction.
8:30
Speaker 1: But they also have another one on the other side
8:33
Speaker 1: that that that can get after you as well. And
8:36
Speaker 1: you know high Smith is another one that can that
8:38
Speaker 1: can rush the pass or two sacks is of his own.
8:41
Speaker 1: So it's kind of a two headed monster, you know,
8:44
Speaker 1: with these guys. So it's it's it's very as an offense,
8:51
Speaker 1: you've got to be very aware of the of the down,
8:54
Speaker 1: the distance, the situation of the game obviously run past.
8:57
Speaker 1: All those different things factor into you know, how you're
9:00
Speaker 1: going to handle you know, this front through.
9:03
Speaker 4: Almost outraging this season.
9:05
Speaker 2: Is this where you expecting your team to be and
9:07
Speaker 2: how you expected.
9:08
Speaker 1: Them to play? Yeah? Yeah, quite honestly, you expect to
9:13
Speaker 1: be in this situation. You know, we can still play better.
9:18
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot left out on the field
9:20
Speaker 1: each weekend that we can we can learn from and improve,
9:24
Speaker 1: especially the back half of the season. And you know,
9:29
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a credit to the players though, you know,
9:32
Speaker 1: and we've had our share of injury and guys have
9:35
Speaker 1: stepped up and have played well in in backup situations.
9:39
Speaker 1: And you know, we're just anticipating some of our guys,
9:42
Speaker 1: whether it's this week or after the bye, getting healthy
9:45
Speaker 1: and and and getting getting back on the field. But
9:50
Speaker 1: you know, your expect your expectation is to win every
9:53
Speaker 1: game obviously, and we haven't. But pleased with where we
9:58
Speaker 1: are right now.
10:00
Speaker 4: How much did you guys look at George Pickens during
10:03
Speaker 4: the draft process and how much the threat does he.
10:06
Speaker 1: Goes now on the other side, Yeah, we took we
10:08
Speaker 1: took a hard look, you know, at him and really
10:10
Speaker 1: all the guys obviously in the draft. But he is, uh,
10:16
Speaker 1: he's a good player, He's a dominant player, He's He's
10:20
Speaker 1: big and athletic. He runs well, he catches the ball,
10:23
Speaker 1: he can high point. I mean I think he's about
10:25
Speaker 1: eighteen and a half yards per attempt. I mean he's
10:29
Speaker 1: you know, three one hundred yard games this year already.
10:33
Speaker 1: They do a great job of throwing the back shoulder fade.
10:37
Speaker 1: He can he can run past you. He does a
10:40
Speaker 1: great job running slants. I mean, it is not a
10:43
Speaker 1: lot that he really can't do. And and he blocks well,
10:47
Speaker 1: you know, so he's playing. He's playing at a high level,
10:51
Speaker 1: you know, for them, and the quarterback is very comfortable
10:53
Speaker 1: with him.
10:54
Speaker 4: Mark Done, do you know when to coming out? Calvin
11:01
Speaker 4: Ridley's two big games this season?
11:03
Speaker 1: I'm right here.
11:04
Speaker 4: Then with Dave Jones on the field and healthy, is
11:08
Speaker 4: that coincidental or is there something maybe.
11:10
Speaker 1: There to to say that.
11:12
Speaker 4: Can really has two significant performances and you know the
11:16
Speaker 4: rest of them pretty mediocre. Those two have come with
11:18
Speaker 4: Zay healthy and on the field. Coincidental or you think
11:23
Speaker 4: there's something there that maybe Zay.
11:26
Speaker 1: I wouldn't use the word mediocre because defenses no, Calvin Ridley,
11:31
Speaker 1: and just go back to this last game when when
11:35
Speaker 1: they they inverted a lot of coverage to them. So
11:37
Speaker 1: there's a guy underneath, there's a guy at the top.
11:39
Speaker 1: There's not a lot of places to throw the football. So,
11:42
Speaker 1: you know, defenses understand what Calvin can do. And having
11:48
Speaker 1: Jay on the field definitely opens up more things, you know, offensively,
11:56
Speaker 1: and we're anticipating Zay you know, any day, potentially this
12:01
Speaker 1: week or or you know, in the near future. But
12:06
Speaker 1: you know, again, Calvin, Calvin's been a big play. He's
12:12
Speaker 1: gonna continue to be a big part of the offense,
12:14
Speaker 1: right and and the success that we have is gonna
12:16
Speaker 1: be because of you know, Calvin's success on the field.
12:19
Speaker 1: And we just have to understand that defenses are gonna
12:23
Speaker 1: be aware of where he is and and they're gonna
12:25
Speaker 1: defend him much like t J. Watt. I mean, you know,
12:28
Speaker 1: we got to know where he's at, you know, so
12:31
Speaker 1: to try to to try to eliminate some of that.
12:33
Speaker 1: So kind of a give and take there, Trim.
12:37
Speaker 3: We're in the nee Birds.
12:39
Speaker 1: I don't know, might be a question you ask him.
12:43
Speaker 2: The offense is the senate.
12:48
Speaker 1: I'm not wearing this.
12:51
Speaker 2: H with all the offense of the second half quite
12:54
Speaker 2: a few right now, just against the Saints.
12:57
Speaker 4: So second half against the Poles.
12:59
Speaker 2: How much did you do you contribute that to just
13:01
Speaker 2: a matter of you're not getting.
13:02
Speaker 1: The possessions defenses on the field for a long time
13:05
Speaker 1: and maybe you can't get laddered up on offense or
13:07
Speaker 1: are their actual tangible things you're seeing. Yeah, I mean
13:10
Speaker 1: there's there's some tangible things with execution. Much like the
13:13
Speaker 1: beginning of the game. We've kind of corrected some of
13:16
Speaker 1: that at the beginning. It's now it's the second half, right,
13:18
Speaker 1: and some of that's execution. Some of that is how
13:21
Speaker 1: our opponent comes out and they have a little more
13:24
Speaker 1: sense of urgency and how they're gonna play us in
13:26
Speaker 1: the second half. And but yeah, it's uh things that
13:30
Speaker 1: we can that we can address the team with. See
13:32
Speaker 1: the things that we can show the team, you know,
13:37
Speaker 1: Uh so all fixable, all correctable obviously, and and you know,
13:43
Speaker 1: we definitely have to play better in those moments. We
13:46
Speaker 1: have to sort of maximize you know or m minimize
13:49
Speaker 1: the lolls I guess, and maximize the opportunities you know,
13:53
Speaker 1: throughout the entire football game.
13:54
Speaker 2: Duh, No, this is a.
13:55
Speaker 1: Little off topic.
13:56
Speaker 3: But Bob Sudden, I know you've known him for a while,
14:00
Speaker 3: what what does he really bring, you know, as a
14:02
Speaker 3: coach and especially.
14:03
Speaker 1: You know to the defense and there I guess you
14:06
Speaker 1: could say, yeah, you know, Bob's been a decordinator. He
14:09
Speaker 1: and I were together in Kansas City and when he
14:12
Speaker 1: was a decordinator there, and just a wealth and knowledge
14:15
Speaker 1: of the league. And you know, one of the things
14:17
Speaker 1: that he does obviously, you know, uh, assisting Mike and
14:22
Speaker 1: just helping Mike and as a young coordinator, you know,
14:25
Speaker 1: and and putting plans together. And you know, probably the
14:28
Speaker 1: biggest thing that he does is he he does a
14:31
Speaker 1: lot too with the with the takeaways and and priding
14:34
Speaker 1: our defense on on that messaging, you know, and and
14:37
Speaker 1: how he addresses the team there and and he does
14:40
Speaker 1: a lot of studies that way. He does a little
14:42
Speaker 1: side projects, uh, for the for the defense. He'll do
14:45
Speaker 1: things for myself. And just a valuable resource, you know
14:49
Speaker 1: in that position, you know, and and doesn't have to
14:52
Speaker 1: coach a position necessarily kind of sees everything big picture
14:56
Speaker 1: and uh, really is another another voice for Mike and
14:59
Speaker 1: the guys on defense. As a player, when you have
15:01
Speaker 1: somebody like that, it's kind of like a wealth of knowledge.
15:03
Speaker 1: Just how valuable is that just have his a presence
15:06
Speaker 1: as a player. I think it's it means a lot,
15:09
Speaker 1: you know, because he's seen a lot of football, and
15:12
Speaker 1: he studied a lot of football, so he's probably got
15:14
Speaker 1: a lot of answers, you know for a player who
15:17
Speaker 1: who's asking questions, who you know obviously get the question
15:22
Speaker 1: from or the answer from your position coach. But he's
15:24
Speaker 1: another resource for you, you know, and it's just it's
15:28
Speaker 1: just valuable to have guys like that that have had
15:30
Speaker 1: that kind of experience, Like.
15:32
Speaker 3: Some of the game plan on Sunday was to kind
15:34
Speaker 3: of protect Trevor's knee a little bit, get the fall
15:35
Speaker 3: out of out of his hands fast. Any worries about
15:38
Speaker 3: that enjoyment this next week or is it just back
15:40
Speaker 3: the normal.
15:41
Speaker 1: I mean, we're gonna obviously be aware of that every week,
15:45
Speaker 1: you know. But you know, now that you know Trevor
15:48
Speaker 1: has the knee, obviously it's something that you just don't
15:51
Speaker 1: want too many hits on the lower body and things
15:53
Speaker 1: of that nature. But as we've had time here these
15:57
Speaker 1: last couple of days, you know, Trevor's getting more healthy
16:00
Speaker 1: every single day and he feels feels good, and you know,
16:04
Speaker 1: it doesn't change necessarily. I I credit to the offensive line,
16:07
Speaker 1: who was probably their best best game past pass blocking,
16:12
Speaker 1: you know, against the Saints you know, last Thursday, and
16:16
Speaker 1: just keeping Trevor upright in the pocket, and then Trevor
16:18
Speaker 1: doing a nice job too of when he could move,
16:20
Speaker 1: he moved and you know, picked up some valuable yards
16:23
Speaker 1: there and and also got the ball out of his hand.
16:25
Speaker 1: So I just got to continue that sort of you know, mentality,
16:30
Speaker 1: not only with Trevor but with the offensive line.
16:32
Speaker 2: To last question, is Mika's bits Patrick the type of
16:35
Speaker 2: player you have to know where.
16:37
Speaker 3: He's at at all times.
16:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, he he he's a really good blitzer,
16:43
Speaker 1: good tackler. You know, he's he's a he's a leader
16:46
Speaker 1: on defense obviously, and they move him around a pretty
16:50
Speaker 1: good bit, you know back there. Uh So, yeah, having
16:53
Speaker 1: an eye on him and understanding where he's at, you know,
16:57
Speaker 1: is critical, you know, and understanding whether he's gonna pressure
17:01
Speaker 1: or not, things of that nature. But uh, he does
17:05
Speaker 1: a he does a nice job, you know, for them.
17:07
Speaker 1: He's a very comfortable obviously on defense. And again another
17:11
Speaker 1: another one of their leaders over there. Mm hmm.