Andy Reid also talked about the Brian Dawkins departure, the offensive line and Jim Johnson.
He expects offensive line to get on the same page quickly because all the players are veterans. Reid will be looking at Shawn as a tackle. He’s confident Stacy can play both tackle and guard. They're taking a look at Shawn to see if he can do both.
He’s keeping an eye on Jon Runyan’s recovery, but he believes it’s going to be a long process. Peters has a little edge to him like Runyan.
He jokingly told Cataldi that the Birds were going to run the ball every down. Let me tell you, the Eagles will still be a primarily passing team.
Then he talked about the team's struggles in red zone and their plans on improving that area of their game.
With regard to the Brian Dawkins departure – Reid says you have to make decisions that are best for the team and detach yourself from the players. Players grow older and you have to move on at some point.
Reid and the team were surprised that Denver guaranteed a 35-year old Dawkins $7 million dollars in the first year of his contract. As I saw it, Reid was playing the good soldier and keeping Joe Banner out of the conversation.
He talks about negotiating with Dawkins as if Banner has nothing to do with it. He made it sound like he was talking one-on-one with Dawk and Banner didn't have any decision-making ability. Of course when Banner talked about it, it sounded completely different.
He wouldn’t apologize for refusing to take questions about Dawkins when Stacy Andrews was introduced to the city.
Reid says he believes in focusing on winning games and not on all the side chatter.
As for the quarterback situation – Reid says Donovan was going to be the starter after the Baltimore game regardless. He stressed the fact that the poor play of the players around McNabb was the reason the team was struggling. It’s a team sport.
Reid emphasized the fact that you can’t lead the league in dropped passes and expect your quarterback to do the job by himself.
He talked about Jim Johnson being as tough as nails. Reid concluded that Johnson would be around as long as he’s here.
