There’s been no greater rivalry in the NFL this year than Doug Pederson and press conferences.
When he’s not criticizing his own players or members of the media, Pederson is finding ways to dance around questions being asked. Like the latter of the example, in which he refused to explain a play to reporters, claiming “You guys wouldn’t figure it out.”
Well, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how Pederson feels about his current starting quarterback.
On Friday, he was asked what Mac Jones has to do better throwing the ball down the field — other than being accurate, of course.
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Pederson stuck his tongue out, smirked and searched the room for answers.
It took him more than 15 seconds to figure out a response.
“Umm,” Pederson said in between pauses as he shook his head. “You know, part of the offense, part of playing the position, we have the ability to shoot the ball down the field, obviously with [Brian Thomas Jr.] and some of the guys. I think — one, it’s a mindset, right? It’s a mindset that we’re going to stay aggressive, we’re going to be aggressive and we’re going to take our shots.
“And it’s got to be that touchdown to checkdown mentality, meaning if the shoot is there, take it. Obviously, yeah, accuracy and putting the ball where it needs to be, where you want to put the ball as a quarterback, that’s part of it, too. But I don’t ever want the quarterback to shy away or be hesitant when there’s opportunities to put the ball down the field — if that makes sense.
“Now, the accuracy part, yeah, we can control that, and we can help him with that, obviously, and we can work on that. And again, playing the position, you got to control; put the ball where you want the ball. And that’s something that we talk about with all our quarterbacks.”
Pederson’s answer was much more thoughtful than the 20-second clip suggests, but getting there was like pulling teeth or watching Mac Jones play quarterback.
You should allow those comments to tell more of the story than Pederson’s stumbling, but sometimes actions speak a lot louder than words.
Even then, it was a struggle for Pederson to find the words.
[Jacksonville Jaguars]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.