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What the Eagles Said After Ravens' Win

Left: Eagles QB Carson Wentz; Right: Eagles C Jason Kelce
Left: Eagles QB Carson Wentz; Right: Eagles C Jason Kelce

Head Coach Doug Pederson

(on the two-point conversion play-call and whether the play was late getting called)

"Again, great opportunity right there to score, tie the football game. I can do better as far as getting the play in and giving our guys a better opportunity play-call-wise in that situation. But credit them; made the stop and just a little bit short."

(on the job QB Carson Wentz did)

"Carson played a heck of a football game. He played tough. Played smart. Resilient guy, resilient group. Rallied his troops. Made some tough throws against a really, really good defense."

(on the decision to use QB Jalen Hurts more in the second quarter)

"He's part of the game plan every week. Just felt it was the right time to get him in the game. At the time we had been struggling a little bit offensively, especially running the football and gave us an opportunity to do that with him. It kind of calmed the defense down a little bit, too. There wasn't as much pressure when he was in the game at quarterback. Just had to find a spark and got him in the football game.

(on the Eagles making it close despite widespread injuries)

"Yeah, and I would even say that [Jason] Kelce and Carson were banged up, too. It was a physical football game against a really good opponent. My message to the football team is basically there's all the should of, would of, could of's out there, plays that we missed in the first half, turnovers, whatever it might be.

"But this group, every healthy body that we had played in this football game. I'm going to tell you, it's tough to win in the National Football League, okay. You guys know exactly where we're at health-wise and these guys battled their tails off today, and still had a chance to tie this football game, really had a chance to win this football game against a healthy, healthy football team. So as the head coach, I can stand here and I'm proud of those guys in the locker room."

(on the Eagles offense's struggles in the first half)

"We dropped a big third down, turnover. We dropped a touchdown. We missed a field goal. It's self-inflicted wounds. It's things I've been talking to our team all week about, right? And when you're playing good football teams, like the Ravens are, you can't make those mistakes. Can't do it and with the amount of injuries that we do have -- look, I'm going to stand here and tell that you we are not going to make excuses. The guys in the locker room are not going to make excuses. And so that's what happened."

QB Carson Wentz

(on the toughness of the team to rally)

"Really, last week, this week, obviously, the ending is not what we wanted. But to see the way guys have fought and being down in both games and rallied back, and the resiliency of this team is something that I don't think you can question. And the toughness of these guys and I mean, you got injuries all over the board and you got guys stepping up that maybe just got here this week or all over the board. And that's not an excuse, but there's a lot of good that we can learn from and the fight and the effort is something that I'm so proud of. These guys – to give us the chance to tie it up at the end of the game – obviously we came up short and we're frustrated with that, but I'm proud of these guys and we'll keep building with this. We have a quick week to turn it around and start going in the right direction."

(on Hurts getting the offense going)

"I think Jalen's a playmaker. You bring him in off the bench and defenses have to be ready for him. He's at where I'm at and all of the above and I think it puts a little stress and a little pressure on the defense. There are some exciting plays potentially there to be had. It's something that we're going to keep repping, keep working on and hopefully find ways to supplement our offense and find ways to get some big plays that way."

(on the final two-point conversion attempt)

"We probably did get a little later out of the huddle than we wanted. I think it's a 20-second play clock, seems like it goes pretty quick on a two-point play, and so we have to be more urgent to get up to line and get our calls and get our checks. We had a scouted look there that we felt confident in. They made a good play, made life tough on us. It's frustrating to come up short, but hats off to them."

(on how much pain he felt in the fourth quarter after taking so many hits)

"Pain and soreness, bumps and bruises – that's part of football. Every guy out there is feeling something along those lines within the games, you don't notice those things. Obviously, you wake up the next morning, you're going to be a little sore. That's part of football. That's part of life. I'll be fine."

C Jason Kelce

(on what the problem was with pass protection)

"I think there is probably a little bit of everything today. The Ravens do an incredible job of getting after you, especially on third down. When they know you are in a one-dimensional game and throwing, then they will blitz zero from anywhere on the field. They will give you all sorts of different looks that will make it difficult to really try and protect. I thought, honestly, we did a decent of job getting the calls in and everything. Obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement and we should have played better. Guys are out there fighting their [tails] off."

(on the matchup problems presented by Calais Campbell)

"He's a good player. Calais is a perennial Pro Bowler. He is a really great player. He is going up against a guy [Eagles G Jamon Brown] who has been here for a few weeks and trying to learn everything and we are trying to build that chemistry. I think that he did a good job of going in there and battling. Then, the other hard part about it is that they blitz so much. It is not like you are playing some weeks where you can apply help. When they are blitzing zero and sending guys all over the place, you really have to honor the numbers which lead to a lot of 1-on-1 matchups, which when you have a really good player, you try and not to leave him 1-on-1 as much as we had to with Calais."

DE Brandon Graham

(on another game without a defensive turnover)

"It just makes our fight a lot harder. We can't flip the field. Playing against a team like the Ravens, they're hot right now. They got a great quarterback, great team. We got to change momentum and turnovers definitely help that."

(on the most difficult part of defending QB Lamar Jackson)

"His speed. He's a great quarterback and we know that he's fast and you got to make sure that you stay in coverage with him. Let him go, let him run, [and] get those little yards. Just make sure that he doesn't get – because he's an accurate thrower on the run – make sure he doesn't get those open receivers based off of him just running to the sideline to create different things. I think that's the biggest thing, just trying to contain him."

S Rodney McLeod

(on if the challenge of defending Jackson was what the Eagles expected)

"I think for the most part we did a good job at containing him outside of the one run for a touchdown, and then obviously late in the game he escapes out. But a player like that, you have to expect he is going to make some plays. [Defensive Coordinator] Jim [Schwartz] expressed that to us early this week, not to get frustrated by it. He's going to make some plays with his legs, throws that he makes, side arms. But just keep battling, and I think that's what we displayed today, battled all the way through to the end and gave ourselves a chance to win."

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