Opening Remarks
Good morning. In the division with the Philadelphia Eagles. It's exciting, they are a very good football team and better than the first time we played them. I have to say since we have played them, they have played a bunch of good games in a row. Five of their six losses are seven points or less. What has happened with their team is that they have 21 giveaways, seven in the red zone. Their fourth quarter differential is 74 points to 27. When you add that all up and they are number one in rushing, they average 417 yards a game and they are second in the league in 20 yards or more plays. McCoy is having an outstanding year. I am not going to believe that Michael Vick won't play until I see him not jog out there. Defensively, they are 13th in the league. They are playing very physical and they look like a group from a few years ago. They have two sets of defensive lines and they attack. Their blitz packages have picked up and they are doing more out of the secondary in terms of blitzes. Their kicking game, the sixth-best kickoff team and the eighth-best punt coverage team in the league. They are fast and they take great pride in that. They have number 10 back there on punt returns and we know enough about that. Like I said, it's in the division and it's Sunday night. It is a big game and there are seven games left in our season. We have a seven-game season so we look forward to it.
Q: Do you have to prepare with two game plans on defense if Michael Vick doesn't play or because Vince Young is a similar quarterback, do you just need one game plan?
A: I think that is how we will play except for one is right and the other is left or left and right. The preparation will be similar.
Q: Given the kind of season McCoy is having, what effect will it have on your defense to not have Michael Boley?
A: We prefer to have Michael Boley in the game, for sure. He will be day-to-day and won't work today. McCoy is difficult to defend for anybody. If you look at what they did to Dallas with their run game and if you look at how their sprint draw has been effective here of late, he has made many, many big runs. Their screen game is outstanding to him, the tight ends, the wide receivers; they do a very good job of that.
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Q:What do you think about the talk that the Eagles have done too much damage early in their season to make the playoffs?
A: I don't believe that at all, I don't look at it that way. No matter when it is in the season, I am concerned about our team. We play them and they are very, very formidable. They have great pride and are playing to win just like everybody else. They are talented. They would like nothing more than to beat us and we would like nothing more than to beat them.
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Q: If Michael Boley is not in, who sets the defense in base?
A: We will accomplish that.
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Q: What was happening on Sunday, was it one of the two rookies?
A: It was one of the rookies, yes.
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Q: What about in Nickel?
A: We have a veteran.
Q: What do you see in the Eagles that makes you say they are better now compared to when you played them the first time?
A: I just think they are better. If you just look at last week's game, they had every opportunity and they were in position to win. I just think they are playing better. They have their issues with the turnovers. They have scored on defense two weeks in a row. They scored more than one touchdown, they scored a touchdown and a field goal off two interceptions. I just think they are improved since the first time we saw them.
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Q: How have Kiwi's coverage skills advanced since 2007?
A: He has advanced, yes.
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Q: How has he advanced?
A: In both recognition and knowing where he is and where to drop. What the coverage is and knowing where the help is. He has come a long way and would have come farther except for those games he missed a year ago.
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Q: Some of the players were at a nightclub…
A: The only one I heard about initially was Victor [Cruz]. Thank God he was safe. I would speak to him as a parent would speak to their son. I don't know what good happens at 2:30 or three in the morning, I've never been able to figure that one out. Beyond that is between he and I.
Q: No violation of team rules?
A: It was their night.
Q: Are you aware that there were other players there?
A: I [am]. I will talk to those guys, too.
Q: Did you have flashbacks?
A: No.
Q: What does Philadelphia's fourth-quarter differential say about them?
A: I don't know, but their second-quarter is huge in the other way. They have 93 points scored in the second quarter. Their distribution of points is such that you can focus very much on the fourth, but a lot of people are forgetting about what they're doing in the second quarter.
Q: Has Bradshaw made any improvements?
A: He's made a little bit, but he's not going to practice.
Q: San Francisco wasn't a division game…
A: It was a conference game. Any time you lose, I don't care who it is, what it is, whatever, you're down. But move on. Let's move on from that and that's what the tone was this morning. Have to be excited – Sunday night, in the division.
Q: How much did Jacquian Williams prove to you in the game at Philadelphia and how much better can he be? How well do you think Greg Jones will bounce back from the San Francisco game?
A: I think they both continue to develop and get better and I think you have trouble making any declarative statements about either one of them based on one game. A lot of it is new to them. We still have great faith in their improvement and we look forward to this week.
Q: Because you played the Eagles earlier this year, is the sting of last year's late-season game gone?
A: I doubt we'll talk about that. We may make reference to it or show a little tape from that. It's a new year, a new season and we've been down, visited there, again.
Q: Did the win in Philadelphia do a lot for what you have going on this season?
A: I think it did, yes.
Q: Why do you say that?
A: I think it just proved that, first of all, we can go on the road and win when nobody gave us a chance to win and it started the idea of us finishing and playing well in the fourth quarter.
Q: Do you still reinforce finishing every week?
A: No, no, no. We pound away at that every week.
Q: What kind of shape is Jimmy Kennedy in?
A: I don't know, we'll see. He's been in the weight room, but he hasn't been on the field.
Q: Does he fit in your plans this week?
A: We'll see. We're going to practice him. We really have a week to make a decision on this so we'll approach it that way.
Q: With Ross injured, the importance of Prince?
A: We'll get Ross back first, get Prince going, advance him further. All of those things are very important
Q: Does the team build confidence from winning games in the fourth quarter?
A: I think so. We all expected that things would turn out better [in San Francisco]. Again, that was last week.
Q: Will Aaron Ross get on the field today?
A: Yes.
Q: If coming back in the fourth quarter can build confidence, does it go the other way? What does not being able to finish games do to a team's head?
A: That was one ballgame and the ball should have been on the five yard-line.
Q: I'm talking about other teams.
A: You'd have to ask other teams.
Q: What makes McCoy so good?
A: He's about as elusive as they come. Lots of times [the defenders] are not all blocked. He makes things happen. He's very difficult to tackle. He's fast. He's very quick. He runs within their scheme extremely well. He can pick a spot on one side of the formation and end up on the other side, outside. He's a very, very skilled and dangerous running back.
Q: Has he changed their scheme with his play?
A: Well, they sure hand it to him. For them to be rushing at 171 [yards] a game, given the talent that they have and what they've done with the throwing game over the years, that's a great tribute to that guy and the coaching staff. They put it in his hand.
