Andy Reid was quizzed about Kevin Kolb, while Donovan McNabb was questioned about finishing strong, and Brian Westbrook answered inquiries about McNabb's full recovery from the knee injury.
Head Coach Andy Reid Press Conference
12-19-07
Injuries:
“Those players who will not practice today: [RG] Shawn Andrews, however he did the walkthrough, [WR] Reggie Brown has knee swelling, [FS] Brian Dawkins actually has the flu and is not in the building today, [TE] Matt Schobel—concussion, [TE] L.J. Smith with the sprained knee and [RB] Brian Westbrook with the knee swelling. We are in the process of putting [LB] Takeo Spikes on Injured Reserve. He will have surgery on his rotator cuff and we will proceed to bring [WR] Mike Gasperson up on the roster. Mike will play a dual role as a wide receiver/tight end. He will get some work at both of those spots.”
Opening remarks:
“We look forward to the opportunity of playing the Saints. They are a very good football team. They have a very strong and aggressive defense. Their offense is hot right now. In particular, the quarterback is playing extremely well. They have a very strong special teams unit. We know it’s loud and a great atmosphere to play in the dome there against a good football team.”
On whether the fact that the game has playoff implications for other teams affects the way he approaches the game:
“We’re going to do what we do with the guys that we have played with through the year. We’re looking, from the team standpoint, to finish strong. We don’t care what situation the other team is in, nor our team. I’d add that same thing to Takeo’s situation. I wanted to make it very clear that whether we were in the playoff hunt or not, that Takeo Spikes was going to have the surgery, as much as he was opposed to it. Both doctors were in agreement that he needed to have it immediately. That’s how we proceeded.”
On when the surgery is:
“I believe it is on Friday, unless there are some changes. Dr. Andrews will do that. Dr. Andrews has been his doctor since high school, so he knows Takeo very well.”
On who will fill in for Spikes at linebacker:
“We will work the two young guys in there [LBs Akeem Jordan and Stewart Bradley], Bradley a little bit at MIKE.”
On whether he is surprised that DE Trent Cole didn’t make the Pro Bowl team:
“When I come to you, I’m partial. I think Trent was very well deserving of making the Pro Bowl, absolutely. I think he’s had that caliber of a year; he’s a first alternate for the Pro Bowl and Dawk is a second alternate. I was hoping that he would be on the team.”
On whether Bradley or Jordan will get the start:
“We haven’t made up our mind on that yet. It might come down to something where Stewart plays in the nickel situations and Akeem plays in base situations. Again, we’re going to give them both opportunities to work in there. [LB] Omar Gaither is doing such a good job at MIKE linebacker right now that we want to make sure that we keep that continuity there.”
On where Bradley will play:
“He won’t play WILL. If he goes in, he’ll go in as a MIKE linebacker.”
On how he would sum up Spikes’ season:
“I think he had a pretty good year. As you saw him continue to get familiar with the defense, playing next to Omar, he was playing at a tremendous level here over the last half of the season.”
On WR Mike Gasperson:
“He’s deserving of it. He’s worked very hard and actually did a great job of being [Cowboys WR Terrell Owens] for us last week [on the scout team]. I told [CB] Lito [Sheppard] that for all the credit he got, Gasperson deserves half of it. He really did a fine job for us last week of giving us a great picture. Now, he has the opportunity to jump in and have a chance to play.”
On whether it is a stretch for Schobel to make it back by game time:
“Not necessarily.”
On whether the starters will be playing for the rest of the season:
“We’ve kind of mixed guys in there as we’ve gone here. It’s not like some of the young guys haven’t gotten an opportunity to play. That part won’t change. I’m not saying none of the young guys will play, but we want to go after these next two games to come out on top. We’re not going in to experiment, or that kind of thing. We’re going to play our best football.”
On whether QB Kevin Kolb will be the third quarterback:
“Kevin will be the third quarterback this week.”
On how much these last few games can change the way he views the season as a whole:
“I think you end on a positive. If you take care of business the next two weeks, you’re playing against two very good football teams who are playing good football at this time. It’s a great test for us and we put all of our energy into the New Orleans Saints. They’re playing extremely well right now and that’s who we’re playing this week.”
On how important it is to finish .500 to carry the momentum into next season:
“I don’t look at all that. I just look at playing well for the remainder of the season. Playing good, aggressive football. I haven’t thought much about the record or who we are keeping next year, all that stuff. I’ll wait until after the season to do all of that.”
On whether the strong finish to the 1999 season helped translate into success in 2000:
“It took you into the offseason with a positive. I’m not saying that couldn’t happen here. It took us into the offseason with something positive there to build on.”
On what the feeling is now that the team is no longer eligible for the playoffs:
“I think everybody would tell you that we should have won a couple of games earlier and then you don’t have to worry about anybody else. You take care of your own destiny. It didn’t happen that way; we had to rely on somebody else. There’s risk in that, something that you can’t control. The Bears weren’t able to pull it off [against the Vikings].”
On how important the last two games are for QB Donovan McNabb to finish strong:
“I’ve told you before, Donovan is a confident guy. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody. He’s done all that. He needs to go play, just like the rest of the guys need to go play and do their best.”
On whether he is anxious to see QB Kevin Kolb play:
“I’m done. I’ve already told you. Let’s move in a different direction here.”
On Saints QB Drew Brees:
“He’s playing as well as any quarterback right now in the league. He’s playing at a very, very high level.”
On whether it’s hard to avoid the ‘what if’ feeling after losing so many close games:
“I haven’t gone back there yet. I’m sure, after the season, you go back and you’re going to look at all that stuff. I can’t emphasize to you enough, right now, like any other week, I am so entrenched right now in the Saints that I don’t have time to think about all this other stuff. I’m getting ready to play against a good football team and I want to make sure that we play our best football.”
On whether it makes it easier for the players to focus for this game because the Saints knocked the Eagles out of the playoffs last year:
“They got after us. They got after us not only once, but twice. So, I think our team knows how good they are and how well they’re coached.”
On whether there is any satisfaction in knocking the Saints out of the playoffs:
“I don’t think ‘knocking them out’ is the word. I think playing well against them and you strive to win every game, so striving to win the game. Everybody gets caught up in knocking the other guy out of the playoffs rather than taking care of business and playing your best football, and thus winning the football game.”
On Saints RB Reggie Bush:
“He’s a great player and he’s getting better every week. I think this was a big growing year for him, with the opportunity to start as much as he did and replace [Saints RB] Deuce [McAllister], who is another great player. I think that will help Reggie next year. Whether he comes back [to play in this game] or not, I don’t know. If he does, we’ll be ready. If he doesn’t, [Saints RB] Aaron [Stecker] is playing very good football right now, so we have to make sure we study him also.”
On Spikes’ recovery time:
“No, I don’t have that for you. I can get that to you.”
On whether Akeem Jordan’s abilities on special teams will translate as a linebacker:
“With a couple of different positions that you look at, they seem to have a carryover. One of them is linebacker. Normally, if a guy is a good special teams player as a linebacker, it normally carries over to him being successful as a linebacker. Akeem is a smart guy. He’s got some great instincts as a linebacker. Those are the things that allowed him to make this football team. Now, he’s going to have an opportunity to show it in a game.”
QB Donovan McNabb Press Conference
12-19-07
On how this is the first time he will finish out a season healthy without going to the playoffs:
“It is disappointing and frustrating. It’s something that I can look back at, especially after the last two seasons of not being able to finish, and use it in the last two weeks and in the offseason. It’s something that I’m not used to, but I think our way of approaching it this time should be to make sure we’re doing what we need to do in order to propel ourselves going into the offseason. We’re trying to get two more wins under our belt and to go into the offseason with confidence, which will then lead to minicamps and training camp and starting the season next year with that confidence.”
On the carry over of finishing a season strong:
“It does carry over. Going back to my rookie year when we were losing games by three, four [points] in the same way, and then going into the end of the year, we got on a winning streak and ended up beating the [St. Louis] Rams in the Super Bowl year for them. It really helped us out in so many ways, especially the younger guys that we had who were being asked to move into the starting role the next year. We had guys knowing what it took and how it felt to win those particular games on the team we had.”
On the importance of having two healthy, well-played games to finish the season:
“I think it will be very important, especially going into the offseason. I will treat it as probably one of the biggest offseasons for me. Obviously, I did finish out the season and the last two years just really didn’t go as well as I wanted them to. Being able to start fresh, start all over again, and then come back with a whole new attitude knowing that I am healthy, those are the type of things that we can do.”
On the biggest reason the Eagles have struggled this year:
“Mistakes. Mistakes. That’s pretty much what it comes down to, just mistakes at the wrong time.”
On what he tells the younger players on the team to help with next season:
“First of all, we’ll finish the season at 8-8 and go into the offseason knowing what type of team we’ll have. Playing against a team like the Dallas Cowboys and being able to go to their house and win, hopefully we’ll be able to say the same things about these next two opponents. I think for all of us, throughout the offseason workouts, being able to work with the receivers, running backs and tight ends, knowing what we can do. I think that will provide confidence for [offensive coordinator] Marty [Mornhinweg], going into the year of knowing what type of offense he will want to run next year. It’s the same for the defensive side, younger guys stepping into key roles. [DT Brodrick] Bunkley is having a great season, and [DT] Mike Patterson is playing well. [LB] Omar Gaither, [S] Quintin Mikell, those guys will have another year under their belts with experience and then go into the next year with a lot more confidence.”
On Dallas Cowboys SS Roy Williams’ suspension and how dangerous the horse-collar tackle is:
“It is dangerous. I’ve seen it first-hand happen to [former Eagles’ WR Terrell Owens] T.O.. I remember when it happened. I actually thought it was worse than what it was, than a broken ankle. It’s a play where you’re kind of defenseless. You think you’ve passed a guy and then all of the sudden he yanks you back, your feet are under you, you get bent back in an awkward position and anything could break. In that situation, you just watch the film and I’m truly blessed that he didn’t grab my ankle. With him pulling me back and grabbing my ankle, I don’t know what could have happened. I was able to get my legs from underneath me and was able to put myself in a position where I could fall safely. It’s a dangerous play and they put the rules in for him, which would make it worse for him. I think the league did an excellent job. I think he understood what happened and he’ll move on with it.”
On whether Williams said anything to him afterwards:
“After the game he apologized and just told me that he wasn’t trying to hurt me in any way. I know Roy. Roy wouldn’t try to hurt anybody. [He was] just trying to make a tackle. He’s one of the best safeties in the game, but, pretty much, that’s what he’s known for: the cowboy tackle, or whatever they call it. He’s an aggressive safety.”
On whether this front office needs to give him more offensive weapons:
“That’s something that they would have to answer. I think that, for this team, we could use a lot of big-play types of guys—on both sides of the ball and special teams, as well. But that’s not my decision to make. I’m not in the war room. I’m not sitting up there in my office making decisions with those guys. They’ll do whatever’s needed for us to take another step further.”
On trying to get back to the team growth exhibited in his early years with the Eagles:
“I think that the difference is that was my rookie year and now it’s my ninth year. We asked a lot of our young guys to start in that season, and then midseason we probably had about four or five rookies that were playing key roles. We’ll probably have about that same [dynamic] this year. There were a lot of veterans on that team just like there are a lot at key positions on this team. For right now, I think the mindset is very similar to what it was then. Guys understood that we weren’t making the playoffs, but we need to play well in these next couple of games. It’s sort of a pride issue as well. You have to step out onto that field with some pride and make the plays that need to be made to win the game.”
On whether there will be any satisfaction if they knock New Orleans out of the playoffs:
“There’s no revenge, or anything like that, in our minds. But, we definitely want to go back there and secure this win, knowing what happened last year.”
On whether the offense is one-dimensional:
“You can say that coming from the outside because [RB] Brian [Westbrook] has put up so many yards from scrimmage. But, you can’t forget about the fact that we will have a second receiver to go over 1,000 yards in my career here [in WR Kevin Curtis]. To say that we’re one-dimensional is tough to say because we have a receiver who will receive 1,000 yards, and a guy who just came over here, who’s not even been here a full year. We’ve gotten ourselves situated. We’ve rotated guys in at tight end and rotated different receivers. There are a lot of good things that we’ve done this year that can help us out going into next year.”
On Fox Sports sideline reporter Pam Oliver’s follow-up comments supporting her report during the Dallas game:
“I addressed the situation afterwards. Would you expect her not to defend herself? That would be the right thing for her to do. For me, when I addressed it, it’s over. In my mind it’s a dead issue. I’m just focusing on the Saints right now. There’s no more to go into.”
On whether Oliver lied on the air:
“She told you that she paraphrased and that that’s what she took from what I said. That wasn’t a direct quote from me. I told you guys that I didn’t say that. I did go to Syracuse University and I definitely know when somebody makes a statement, and that’s what you say, is their statement. I look into being an analyst or maybe in the media some day too, so I definitely know that point of it.”
On whether he thought it was an off-the-record conversation with Oliver:
“Well something you have to understand is that when you’re asking a question to somebody, then you ask the question. But, if you’re just having a conversation with somebody then that’s not something that you go and report that ‘Donovan told me this.’ Again, that situation is over, we’re moving on to the Saints and trying to help ourselves to win the game and have a good Christmas.”
On whether Oliver said that it was off the record at any point:
“Me and you are just chewing the fat out here and we’re just talking, but that issue is over. I don’t even talk about it anymore and it’s time to move on.”
On what was said in the conversation:
“That’s not anything to go into. We pretty much talked about what’s going on, (jokingly) how I’m feeling, the weather, what we’re eating and some good restaurants out in Dallas.”
On getting back to 100%:
“I am, but it’s still a grind. It’s a situation that I’m not used to being in. Some days you feel great and some days you pretty much just feel average. I try to come in every morning early and stay late to try to take care of the body and do the right things. I’m excited about the progression of it, of me being able to get back to form and do the things that I was able to do before I got hurt.”
On why he feels so strongly about coming back to the team next year despite saying that he’s not getting a fair shake:
“When did I say that? Every time I’ve been asked that question I’ve said I’ll be back. I look forward to being back, maybe for eight more years. That’s always been my answer all season. Nothing has changed from that. [Team president] Joe [Banner] said that I’ll be here. I’ve always said that I look forward to being back and, just like these two games that I’m approaching, I look forward to playing well and winning games going into the offseason to start the season off next year like we know we can.”
On getting enjoyment out of playing the spoiler:
“We definitely can. We look forward to definitely doing some of that. Since Minnesota did it to us, we look forward to doing it to somebody else.”
RB Brian Westbrook Press Conference
12/19/07
On whether this team needs more weapons:
“I think we need to definitely perform better. We haven’t performed up to our capability often enough this year. I have confidence and faith in the guys that we have here. We have to be more consistent in doing the things, the proper things.”
On what their motivation is for going into these next two weeks:
“For us, we want to spoil somebody else’s season. We’ve had our season not go the way we want it to, so we definitely want to spoil someone else’s season. But more importantly than that, we want to get on a roll so we can prepare ourselves and try to get on roll for next year, next season.”
On whether it is tough to look back on the times that they played the Saints last year:
“Those are games that we had opportunities to win, so it’s disappointing that we didn’t win those games. But, the games are in the past so we moved on from them. We learned the things we needed to learn from them and we moved on.”
On whether there is value in finishing strong:
“There is definitely value. You see teams like Green Bay who had a great season that finished very strong last year and they added some pieces, but they finished very strong last season and carried it on to this year. They’re having a great season.”
On whether finishing strong has to do with confidence:
“I don’t think any team wants go into the offseason losing the last two games and looking back at the season saying, ‘We definitely didn’t accomplish what we wanted to,’ and we lost the last two games of the season. I think it’s definitely a confidence thing for us to win these last two games and have something positive to look forward to next year.”
On whether these last two games will affect how head coach Andy Reid tweaks the team next year:
“I don’t know. I don’t know what coach Reid or the front office are going to do next year. I have no idea.”
On whether the personnel on this team is good because they are ranked so high on offense and yards:
“I think it really speaks a lot about the guys that we have here, that we are doing some things right and we are getting some things done. It’s just that we haven’t done enough. I think that if we had moved the ball in the red zone like we did move the ball up and down the field most of the season then we would have won some of those games and those stats would be even more telling. But, the numbers are kind of deceiving a little bit because a lot of times we moved the ball up and down the field and we didn’t score in the red zone.”
On why they had a difficult time scoring in the red zone:
“I don’t know. We’ve got to figure out a way to get the ball in the endzone. I don’t know whether we need to run more, or we need to throw the ball more. I’m not sure what the answer is.”
On how important it is to not let the Saints beat them so the Saints do not become a problem team:
“I don’t know. I don’t know if it will be a Saints-problem. I just know that we had opportunities last year to win both games and we didn’t take advantage of them. I don’t look at it in a way that it would be a Saints-problem, though.”
On how similar the Saints are defensively this year compared to last year:
“I think their front seven is almost identical to what they had last year. I know [Saints CB Mike] McKenzie’s back, they’ve got a new cornerback, I think from Indianapolis. But, they’re very similar to what they did last year in play, as well as players. So, we’re probably looking forward to seeing a lot of similar things that we saw last year during the game.”
On what type of attention he has received from kneeling at the 1-yard line on the final drive of last week’s game:
“It can go one of two ways, some people are saying it was very unselfish, then you have the fantasy people saying that you’re dumb. ‘You shouldn’t have done that. I should’ve traded you before the game.’ They say a lot of different things.”
On what he tells the fantasy football players:
“I’m sorry. Next time I’ll score for you.”
On whether any of the fantasy players were his teammates:
“No, none of my teammates. Some of my close friends were trying to trade me after the game, it was disappointing.”
On how much it helps the offense for QB Donovan McNabb to be moving better:
“Donovan, he proved this game that he can move a lot better than he was able to move in the beginning of the season in the pocket. He got a lot of rushing yards in the pass game as well. So, him having that mobility and being able to elude the rush, it’s big for us. I think his confidence in his leg has come back a little bit as well. So, that helps the team tremendously that the defense is going to have to account for him having the ability to run the ball now.”
On whether the last two games are important for McNabb’s confidence:
“They’re very important for him, like I said, and for everybody else as well. He’s trying to get the swagger back, he’s trying to get his confidence back in his leg and his body. Like we’ve said from the beginning, it’s going to take almost a year for him to get almost totally back to where he’s comfortable playing with his knee. Now, it’s past a year you can really tell the difference between where he started at the beginning of the year to where he’s at now.”
On whether he ever thought he would hold the all-time Eagles record for receptions in a season:
“Not really. As a running back you always think about rushing yards and carries and things like that. So, you don’t really think as much about receptions. But, in this offense we throw the ball so much, you have to get involved with the catching-the-ball-out-of-the-backfield aspect of it, not that I’m getting close to it yet.”
On whether he remembers a time when there hasn’t been questions surrounding McNabb:
“If I think back, I do remember a time when Donovan had just been Donovan the player, NFL commercials all over the place, and things like that. That led up to a Super Bowl appearance. I think unfortunately, after the Super Bowl, just different things came out about him getting sick, or whatever, and I think a lot of people began to lose faith in him then. But, I do know that his teammates continued to have faith in him throughout that time up until the current time. A lot of the doubts that have been brought up about him and bad comments that are from outside sources, where as his teammates have continued to support him and know what he can still do as a player. As his teammate that’s all you can do, is continue to support him and be confident that he can be the best player that he can be.”
