Eagles announced on Monday the signing of Zach Ertz t a five-year deal. Photo by Jesse Simmers / contrastphotography.com

Q. What has rookie T Halapoulivaati Vaitai shown you in practice throughout the season and in yesterday’s practice?


FRANK REICH: Big V [Vaitai] looks good. Big, strong guy; smart, athletic, natural pass setting ability. I’m excited for him to have his opportunity.



Q. Have you ever been in a situation before either as a coach or player, where you had to throw a rookie out there to start having never played in an NFL game?


FRANK REICH: Yes, absolutely. Probably a couple times. You know, you find out that guys tend to rise to the occasion. Number One, because of what they have within themselves, and Number Two, because of the confidence that they gain from playing with the players around them.

So Big V is stepping into an offensive line that’s a very good offensive line. He’s very well-coached. So I expect him to come in with a lot of confidence.



Q. What about the physical aspect of it? It has been a long time since training camp and all that. He hasn’t even been playing special teams or anything like that. Does that take a while to kind of get to the point where you want him physically?


FRANK REICH: You know, there’s probably a little bit of getting banged around some that takes a little bit of time, but you get some of that out of practice. He is doing all the scout team stuff. It’s not live, but it’s pretty physical up front. They do 1-on-1 pass sets all the time and that’s pretty close to live. So we’re getting about as close as we can and I think he’s been doing a good job with it.



Q. Doing this on the road, with the crowd and the noise, with him being out at tackle, obviously that’s not optimal. How much have you worked with him specifically on that this week?


FRANK REICH: Yeah, you know, we’re practicing with the noise all the time out here. Obviously, this weekend, it isn’t optimal. He’s going up against a pretty good pass-rusher who, when they are in nickel defense, will be on his side.

But honestly, when you’re a player, you kind of get excited about that: ‘Hey, if I’m going to go, I might as well go on the road and start off the right way.’ That’s what a warrior’s mindset is. Guys who play in this league, I think that’s how they think.



Q. How has he done with the transition from standing primarily in a two-point stance in college, to what he is doing now?


FRANK REICH: I think it’s been an adjustment. In college, when you watch his college tape, you could see very easily just how good of a pass blocker he is and how good his feet are in pass protection.

The system they ran there [Texas Christian University] was all two-point stance. So what takes time [here] is the run game with all those combination blocks. What Stout [Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland] will talk about is how to surface the blocks and how to work those combination blocks.

There’s just no substitute for reps and reps and reps. He’s had a good bit of work here now, but this opportunity is going to be good. I’m sure he’ll get better as the weeks go on.



Q. On the fade to WR Dorial Green-Beckham against the Lions, he had about 9 inches and 40 pounds on the defensive back. The cornerback was hanging onto his arm a little bit, but do you kind of expect the bigger receiver to make the play in that situation? Also, how did you feel about QB Carson Wentz’s ball placement on that throw?


FRANK REICH: I expect that when we have a 1-on-1 throw, we’re going to make that play a very high percentage of the time to a guy like DGB [Green-Beckham]. When you’re throwing to a big, strong guy like that, you’ve heard people say this before, but as a quarterback, you can’t cover him; he’s never covered. So it’s a question of putting the ball at the right spot and [the receiver] making a play.

The throw and DGB’s catching ability, create a bigger margin of error and create a bigger chance of something good happening there.

That was a play I would expect us to make on a very high percentage. 8-out-of-10 times, I would expect us to make that play.



Q. What led to the decision not to use RBs Kenjon Barner or Wendell Smallwood in the run game against Detroit?


FRANK REICH: Again, we’ve said before, kind of in the rotation — Coach [Eagles head coach Doug Pederson] has said and I’ve said that the rotation is Ryan [RB Ryan Mathews] and Sproles [RB Darren Sproles] are the main two guys and the other guys are going to roll through.

Sometimes it’s the flow of the game that happens in some games more than other games. You can’t always predict how it’s always going to happen. This game we got behind a little bit, not that that totally played into it, really. It usually works itself out.



Q. Mathews is at 3.2 yards per carry. At what point do you look at the production and say, ‘Maybe we need to try something different?’


FRANK REICH: There’s a lot of factors that go into it. He had nice 20-something-yard run that got called back. I don’t know what that would have [done to the average]; I didn’t do the math.

Ryan has shown some good things. He’s logged some miles in. I was with Ryan when he was in San Diego and he had 1,200 yards for us. I’ve had a lot of good experience [with him] and know what he can do. He certainly had a good year here last year and I still see a lot of positive things.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s going to continue to be a mix. Some games it will be more of the other guys than less, but Ryan and Sproles will continue to be [at the top of the rotation].  Any decision aside of that, obviously comes from up top.



Q. At wide receiver, do you think you’re getting enough out of guys like Green-Beckham, Nelson Agholor and Josh Huff?


FRANK REICH: Yeah, I do. I think with the receivers, you always want more. I mean, you always want more. But we’ve made some plays. Carson is completing a very high percentage of his passes. We’ve had a few drops, but so has every NFL team. It’s unacceptable and you can’t stand for it, but it happens. It happens.

You know, you need to make most of the plays that come your way.



Q. Carson has been really good against the blitz. He’s something like 30-for-36 passing. You don’t usually see that in a rookie. Why is he so good at that at such an early point in his career?


FRANK REICH: You know, I think his efficiency against the blitz, first and foremost, speaks to his ability. You know, you saw that in college. We could see that when talking to him, just from how easy he talked about protections and what he did in college. [We could see that from] how advanced he was in his thinking, not just what they did, but how he thought and how he processed things against the blitz.

Then he walks into a situation where he’s got a good offensive line. He’s got a center [Jason Kelce] who is as good as you can be communication-wise in helping him.

So from the players’ side, the players deserve a lot of credit. Carson deserves a lot of credit and the players around him deserve a lot of credit. From the coaching side, it starts from the top. Doug really puts a big emphasis on it. He sets up our practice structure and meeting structure. We work very hard as a staff, very, very hard. We log a lot of tape hours and a lot of preparation on that side of it. We try to give them all the tools that they need for that.

What’s fun about it, is that the blitz stuff is some of the most fun stuff we do as a staff and players together. We study apart from each other and then we have blitz meetings together and we work things out together. I think those meetings have been pretty dynamic.



Q. You guys are among the bottom teams in the NFL in terms of trying to throw deep. Is that a product of what you’re getting on the outside from receivers or is some of that on Carson? Or is that just the plays that you’re calling?


FRANK REICH: I think there are a lot of factors that go into how often you throw deep. You know, I know Coach [Pederson] has a very aggressive mindset as a play caller. There’s no question about that. I think we’ve seen that show itself in other ways, [such as] how he’ll go for it in a heartbeat on fourth down, so on and so forth.

But I’ve always likened it to a boxing match, in that you’re throwing jabs, you’re throwing combinations and you’re looking for the right opportunity to get the big left hook. If you just come out throwing big haymakers, usually what happens is you end up getting knocked out.

So as an offense and as a play caller, in game planning, [you look at] how much of that do you put in? How often do you throw the big left hook or the big right hook? It’s a feeling thing where you [may] plan going into a fight or into a game, ‘Hey, we want to throw the ball deep this many times or on these plays.’ But when you get in the course of the game, [the defense] may roll the coverage in a way that prohibits you from doing it. So I think over the course of the year, it plays itself out.



Q. In Vaitai’s case, what is going to be the biggest shock to his system on Sunday? What are the things he can’t prepare for during the week?


FRANK REICH: I don’t think he’s going to be that shocked. I just don’t think he’s going to be that shocked. I expect him to play well and I expect him after the game to say, ‘This was easier than I thought it was going to be.’ Not that it’s not going to be tough; it’s going to be a fight. But I think he’s going to say, ‘Yeah, I belong.’



Q. What stands out to you about Washington’s defense?


FRANK REICH: They’re very well-coached. Their defensive coordinator [Joe Barry] is a good friend of mine; I coached with him out in San Diego. Joe Barry is an excellent, excellent football coach. He’s a very smart guy; he has very good schemes. He can mix it up. They’ve got all kinds of stuff in their package. They can get very sophisticated in the blitz package when they want to, but they’re also very well-coached as far as being disciplined when they get in their zone stuff. So it’s a good defense. It will be a good challenge for us.



Q. How aware does Carson have to be of a guy like Redskins CB Josh Norman? He’s a guy that kind of baits quarterbacks into throwing his way.


FRANK REICH: Yeah, well, Norman is a great corner. He’s got great vision and great instincts. He’s got some length and good ball skills. Again, I think for Carson, [when facing] guys of that caliber, you look forward to going against the great ones. You really do.



Q. Going back to the wide receivers, do you see WR Bryce Treggs as a guy who can kind of take the top off the defense? If so, what is holding him back from being on the active roster?


FRANK REICH: Yeah, I mean, he’s got great speed. That has showed up out at practice when we’re throwing routes on air and even on the scout team and with some of the stuff where he’s mixing in with our first team on some reps. Sometimes that’s just a question of us continuing to gain confidence in him.

Right now we feel like we have a pretty good mix of where we’re at. We like the guys we’ve got right now, but we’re certainly glad he’s on our team and that he adds to our depth. We’ll see how things move forward.



Q. This is a big month schedule-wise. How important is it to get off to a good start? You’ve got a lot of division games and road games. Can you talk about that a little bit?


FRANK REICH: I mean, yeah, everyone knows the importance of the division games and this is the first one. You want to kind of set the tone and tempo for how you’re going to treat these games.

But at the end of the day, you still get back to one at a time. You can only play one per week. The best thing you can do is just focus on how we’re going to play the Washington Redskins and attack them and go from there.



Q. All coaches talk about putting their players in the best positions to be successful, but it’s obviously easier said than done. How do you think Doug Pederson has been able to do that and be a little bit more adaptable throughout the beginning of the season?


FRANK REICH: I think Doug has been excellent as far as calling the game and as far as game planning. I think, A, it’s just his football smarts; and B, it’s the fact that he played quarterback. I think he has a really good understanding of what these matchups look like. He has stood back there in the pocket and knows what it feels like and when a matchup feels good to him.

I think he has a good ear with the players in knowing their strengths and studying them, and knowing how to create those matchups.

It’s fun to sit in those meetings and to kind of work through it with the players that we have to try to create those things.



Q. On film, how is Joe Barry using Josh Norman? Is Norman mostly staying to the left side?


FRANK REICH: It’s been a little bit of everything. You know, he will play to one side some of the time, but sometimes he’ll move into the slot on man coverage. They’ll play corners-over-zone and corners-over-man. That’s a little different than some teams. Some teams will go corners-over and it will all be man coverage. This team will do both. He can show up in a few places.