Andy Reid had a somewhat tension-filled news conference today at the Nova Care Complex. He refused to answer any question pertaining to his son Britt's run in with the police on Thursday afternoon at the Plymouth Meeting Mall.
Head Coach Andy Reid Press Conference
8-24-07
Injuries/Opening Remarks:
“These people will not play in the game here: [G] Chris White, [G] Shawn Andrews, obviously [LB Craig] Kobel, [DE Jerome] McDougle, and [RB Ryan] Moats. Then, [DT] LaJuan [Ramsey] with a high ankle sprain will not play, but he is getting better. [G] Stefan Rodgers will not play; [WR] Bill Sampy will not play, and then [DT] Ian Scott is a gameday decision as we go here.
I was happy with the week’s practice. I thought the players came out. It’s been a long week, however the last three days here have been season-specific as far as today was a true Friday, yesterday a true Thursday, and so on, in preparation for a Sunday game. So, it gave us a nice dress rehearsal for the season.
The playing order will go, the one’s will play at least a half and into that third quarter, possibly. I’ll just see how things are going as we get into the game. Then, the two’s will work it from there. [QB] Donovan [McNabb] will go the first half; then I’ll see about the rest of the quarterbacks after that in how I rotate them. That will be the basic grouping. [WR Jason] Avant will be that third receiver to start with, and so on.
Again, like I mentioned before, if you can stay away from the questions on my family, I’d appreciate it. This is about football and our football team. If we decide to go that direction, then I’m going to go that direction [pointing to the door]. So, I would appreciate it. Thank you.”
On whether he has a quarterback rotation plan in place for Sunday’s game:
“Donovan will take the first half.”
On whether QB A.J. Feeley will be the next quarterback to play in the game:
“I haven’t decided that yet. I’m just going to wait and see how things go.”
On whether he plans on alternating players from the second and third team in with the first team:
“Well, if you’re looking at wide receiver, that will happen. And, in the secondary that will happen. The other positions it probably won’t happen.”
On who will start at right guard:
“I’m going to go…I’m not going to tell you. [Nick] Cole’s going to go.”
On how much playing time TE L.J. Smith and FS Brian Dawkins will see:
“L.J., I mentioned. He probably won’t get much here. He’s not going to play. Dawkins is going to get possibly a half, and we’ll see from there.”
On whether RB Brian Westbrook will play as long as the rest of the first team:
“No, not necessarily. You’ll see some of [RB Correll Buckhalter] Buck in there. Buck is one of the guys we rotate in, anyways.”
On whether the team was able to practice on the running game more this week:
“This allowed us- last game we had a chance to practice one day, which was one day more than we did the first game [against Baltimore]- so this gave us an opportunity to practice against this team for three days. So, we’ll see how it goes.”
On whether QB Kevin Kolb will play at all with the first team:
“We’ll see how the game goes once we get in there. I haven’t decided on the last three quarterbacks and how I’ll work them.”
On whether he is still confident RG Shawn Andrews will be ready for the regular season opener:
“Yeah, I think he will be. Shawn Andrews, yeah, I think he will be. He’s making progress. He’s out of the boot now, and is making progress.”
On whether P Sav Rocca has done a better job than he expected:
“He’s handled it well. There’s a great competition going there. The whole camp we’ve talked about a punting competition; that’s a first since I’ve been here. He’s done a nice job, and he probably is ahead of where I thought he’d be.”
On whether the punter job is Rocca’s job to lose:
“I wouldn’t say that; I wouldn’t say that at all. They’re so close right now, it’s crazy.”
On who will handle the holding duties this game:
“We’ll do it just like we did last week. Rocca will start the first half, and he’ll hold the first half.”
On how well DT Montae Reagor has held up during the week:
“He’s done well. He’s made it through all of the practices, and he’s done fine. He will play in the game, yes.”
On whether the first roster cutdown date being a week later this year than in years past is better for younger players:
“I think it’s big. I think that’s a great move that the league made there for a lot of reasons. I think for the sake of the kids, it’s great.”
On whether S Quintin Mikell is pushing SS Sean Considine for the starting strong safety job:
“There’s competition all the way along there. Until this week, he’s been playing on the opposite side of him. There’s competition. He’s done a nice job on the opposite side, and we’ll see how he does this week with the chance to play the other side.”
