Doug Pederson

Q. Injury update on the main guys, the two receivers WR DeSean Jackson and WR Alshon Jeffery and then T Lane Johnson. Do you expect to have those guys tomorrow night? (Reuben Frank)

COACH PEDERSON: I think DeSean is closer, he had a really good week of practice. So, anticipate him, anticipate Lane as well. Both had a really good week. Alshon still with a short week, it’s just hard to get him the reps that he needs. So, leaning towards out with Alshon.

Q. When you see where you are in the division and that it’s right there for the taking, you got these NFC East games coming up, where is the heightened sense of urgency right now at this point in the season? (John Clark)

COACH PEDERSON: Every week is heightened. The sense of urgency each week to win a football game, right? We understand where we are, the sort of the hole we dug ourselves into and it’s all about just one-game-at-a-time mentality. You don’t want to look past the Giants. This is a good football team coming in here Thursday night and we have to be prepared. It’s a short week, we came off an emotional game this past Sunday with Baltimore and we got to turn around and play. So, the sense of urgency each week is always there and again it’s a one- game mentality, one opponent at a time.

Q. Who did you guys land on for right guard this week? Follow-up on Lane Johnson, is he healthy enough that you’re confident he can make it through the entire game? (Dave Zangaro)

COACH PEDERSON: As far as Lane goes, I do feel comfortable. Obviously with him missing last week and this being a short week getting him the rest, I do feel comfortable and confident. Obviously, anything is possible, so don’t quote me on that. As far as right guard, left guard, center and all that, I’m going to keep that close to the vest and reveal any information there.

Q. Doug you’re obviously in this division race but your record doesn’t suggest that you have played well the first five games. How will you balance playing for the division title vs development of the future, by getting some of these younger players to play over veterans that won’t factor into the team beyond this year? (Jeff McLane)

COACH PEDERSON: Obviously there was a lot in that question. First of all, I appreciate the confidence that you have in us. Secondly, we know our division is down and maybe it’s up for grabs. All I know is we’re going to focus on one week at a time and I think that’s all I can ask of our players. This is a short week. The New York Giants coming to town, it’s a good football team. I know their record doesn’t show it either, but these guys are good on defense, they’re good on offense and got really good special teams. So, we have to prepared to win this game come Thursday and play hard.

Q. If you’re going to factor in this week, will DeSean play ahead of WR Travis Fulgham? Fulgham is obviously a guy that’s produced here, in the past three games here, younger guy. Will someone like DeSean who is older, been hurt a lot, will he play as much or more than Fulgham? (Jeff McLane)

COACH PEDERSON: DeSean will have just as many plays if not — obviously with the game-plan, it’s a lot like the offensive line position, not necessarily going to reveal who’s playing and how much at this time.

Q. This is an attire question, you guys are wearing the black jersey, black pants combo, which you actually have had a lot of success with, do you think about that sort of thing? Does it even matter to you at all? (Pat Gallen)

COACH PEDERSON: We have a saying around here that everything matters. It goes from maybe the uniform choice color to how we practice, the meetings, everything. I think about a lot of things obviously and making sure that we’re prepared. But listen, it doesn’t matter the color jersey we’re in or what color jersey they’re in. We still have to lineup and play and play a good football team.

The other thing is we have got to eliminate some of the mistakes that we limited ourselves both offensively, defensively and some on special teams the first six games of the season. I think about that a lot but the players themselves, it’s about their preparation and hard work during the week.

Q. Can you update us on TE Dallas Goedert and WR Jalen Reagor? Is one ahead of the other there? Is the plan to keep them out after the bye week? Whatever you can tell us there. (Tim McManus)

COACH PEDERSON: I’m not going to put a timetable on either one of them, but I’ll tell you both of them are doing well and they’re on schedule.

Q. Do you think you will have CB Avonte Maddox this week and is there anyone else that we missed here that is going to return in your complicated injury situation? (Les Bowen)

COACH PEDERSON: Avonte is another one that missed a couple of games here and again short week, but he’s felt good. I anticipate him being available for this football game. [LB] Duke Riley was another one that missed this past week and anticipate his injury to be okay, to where he can play. So yeah, we’re getting a few guys back in the lineup this week that can help us. But again, a short week, it’s going to take everybody.

Q. Following up from Monday’s press conference. What have you learned about TE Zach Ertz, RB Miles Sanders and DT Malik Jackson as far as are they multiple-week injuries, day-to-day injuries?(Zach Berman)

COACH PEDERSON: I’m not going to get into a lengthy discussion here. All three of those guys will definitely miss this week. We’ll see where they’re at. We got some time now before we play our next opponent. We get time to kind of rest and heal some of these guys. We’ll evaluate that again next Wednesday, when we get back on the practice field.

Q. So are they IR candidates or are they guys you’ll keep on the roster for now? (Zach Berman)

COACH PEDERSON: Not at this time. [Executive Vice President/General Manager] Howie [Roseman] and I will make that determination as we go. We’ve got some time. We have the options available to us. It’s something we will take a look at.

Q. The Giants defense, how similar is it to the Miami Dolphins defense you faced last year with the same coordinator? What are their strengths, what do they do well? (Bo Wulf)

COACH PEDERSON: Yea, it’s similar to what Miami has done. It’s similar to how New England has played in the past against us. You see a little bit of what [Lions Head Coach] Matt Patricia has brought to Detroit. It’s all kind of out of that same family of defensives there. This defensive line is a challenge for our offensive line, they’re big and physical inside. They can put pressure on a quarterback and they can shut the run game down. It’s probably a little more zone coverage in the back end than man coverage, but it’s a lot of disguises back there with their linebackers and safeties. It’s got its own set of complexities within this defense, especially on a short week. But having some familiarity with them and Coach Graham [Giants Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator Patrick Graham] last year in Miami does help, to be able to take a look at some of that. Really good defense that we’re going against this week.

Q. Not sure we followed up with you after Sunday’s game about the experience of having the fans back in the stands for you guys. I’m curious to have that support, also the accountability with some of the boo’s as well but what you think that atmosphere will be like on Thursday? (Kristen Rodgers)

COACH PEDERSON: I’ll tell you it was great to see the fans in the stands, supporting the guys, supporting the team. Felt right at home with some of the boos. We need to play better obviously. We’re in uncertain times. We’re in this pandemic environment right now and slowly but surely, we’re getting people back in the bleachers. It’s great to see them at Lincoln Financial [Field] and to be able to come out and hear – instead of hearing simulated crowd noise, we’re actually hearing crowd noise for the first time. That was exciting last Sunday to have our fans in the Linc.

Q. Early in the week we mentioned your success on Thursday nights. Have you learned anything from this process now that you’re in your fifth season? What have you learned about these short weeks and what has helped you going through it? (John McMullen)

COACH PEDERSON: I think I’m constantly learning each week. It’s really about the players, their health and their recovery from a physical game on Sunday and you’re turning around and playing here on a Thursday. Just how you talk to the team from a recovery stand point and put more of the onus kind of on them to make sure that they take care of their bodies because the practices are not physical type practices and it’s all mental. So, prepare the coaches. Obviously, you go into games like this, and you scale back a little bit in your game planning. You go back to some of the more training camp, early in the season plays that we’ve done. We still have young guys playing, so we can’t get to complex or too carried away with formations or plays. I think you just focus on that and you just focus within and just get your guys as prepared as possible. The bottom line is really how healthy, number one, your team is, but how they recover from a short week.

Q. You mention this Giants special teams earlier and Giants Head Coach Joe Judge comes from a special teams background, but there are not a lot of coaches that are really able to make that jump to head coach. Do you think that stigma kind of exists with special teams’ coordinators and if so, why? (Nick Fierro)

COACH PEDERSON: It’s hard to answer the why to that but you look around the league and there are some really good special teams’ coordinators that I think could make good head coaches. Obviously, Joe Judge is one of them. We saw [Ravens Head Coach John] Harbaugh in Baltimore last week. I think of [Chiefs Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator] Dave Toub, who I’ve worked with in Kansas City, his name has been mentioned around the league as far as a head coaching candidate. I just believe that the organization that’s going to be hiring the next head coach, they look at everything. They look at all the coaches. Even think of [Chiefs Head Coach Andy] Reid who really had never been a coordinator, right? He was more of a position coach and became a head coach. So, they’re going to obviously pick the best candidate for their team. I do know this, special teams’ coaches are probably in front of the entire team as must as I am because they’re dealing with all the players with special teams meeting. They have a way about them and it probably gives them a little bit of comfort I guess when talking to the team.