On whether he thought he should have gotten the ball in the short yardage situations in the final drive: "I want the ball. You know I think when you go through the course of the game and you finally get into that rhythm and especially in the two minute. But that's the coach's decision and you know as a player and a guy who, you know, we got things going the way we wanted to, driving down to score and then putting ourselves in position from our defense getting the ball back for us, you want the ball in your hands win or lose. But our coaches felt like we could run the ball and pick up the two yards we needed and continue on with the drive and unfortunately it didn't happen that way."
On the slow starts the Eagles have had: "I guess it seemed that way but you know, I think in this game it's all about getting into a rhythm and unfortunately in the last three games it hasn't started in the beginning of the game. But as the game continued on we got into that rhythm. Definitely second quarter and then coming out at half time. It's important that we start fast but we finished strong and I guess today wasn't strong enough."
On not being able to come through in a high stakes game: "We have that mindset of a big game every week that we play. And we put ourselves in that position with that mindset of being 5 and 3 and then this would be a game which obviously would put us in a better position in the division, but we came out just firing all guns. Defensively, we did a great job to give us an opportunity to score points. They scored more. But when you play a game like this it comes down to eliminating turnovers and then obviously stopping them on third down and they did a great job of doing that against us. It reminds me sort of that Dallas game — pretty much same scenario of going back and forth and not being able to seal the deal."
* On not being able to win close games:*
"If I had the answer it wouldn't be happening. First of all, we gotta get ourselves out of that situation and it's all of us individually just doing our job and doing it correctly. That's the main thing of just being consistent in all phases. You can't give the ball away. It sets them up for some points and then when you score, you can't let them score. When you have an opportunity and good field position you have to score, that's just something and of course when you have a game like this it comes down to little things like that and unfortunately we didn't come out on top today.
On whether he thought the game came down to challenges: "Well you know, I'll never go against the ref's call. Obviously we wanted it to go our way. Where's the home field advantage? But I guess it didn't work out today.
On whether he can change the play in those short yardage plays and keep the ball: "Well in the formation, the grouping in which we were set, you know, we thought it was going to work but it didn't work."
* On the solution to get the running game going:*
"Open up holes and give [Brian] Westbrook the opportunity. Our offensive line has been doing a great job, but again it's just being able to run the ball consistently. I think that one thing people shy away from is the running game because we were able to pass the ball so well in the previous weeks where we really didn't have to run as much. And teams are going to put eight in the box to try to stop obviously Westbrook from running the ball and that's what forces us to throw the ball a little bit more. So when we do run the ball we need to run it more effectively and in the last couple weeks we haven't. I think the thing for us is to stay with our balanced offense and keep the defense on their heels so when they expect us to run we pass the ball and when they expect us to pass we run the ball."
* On whether he thinks Brian Westbrook is a little limited right now:*
"I don't think so. We gave him the ball twice to try and pick up the first down with third and fourth down. We use Brian a lot, in pass game and run game. But I mean you don't want to burn him out. [Correll] Buck[halter] did a great job of picking up yards for us. It'll be important that we use Buck as well, just as all the rest of our guys, use them in the rotation."
On how much responsibility he places on himself after a tough loss: "I put a lot of the problems that had happened in the game on my shoulders. And that's just how I am. We're very critical of our play and while I'm watching the film, you get mad at yourself for a throw here, a decision here, whatever it may be. But I think as a professional, that's the way you should approach each game – win or lose. You watch and you learn from your mistakes and be able to correct those. But this is a total team game. It's not just, 'I lost the game.' There are things that I could have done in this game, but all of us should be able to say that. And if we all do that and correct them we won't be in this position."
* On whether having OL Todd Heremans in for the first quarter hurt the Eagles' play:*
"I don't think so. I mean we try not to focus on that. Todd came in and we got things rolling again. Nick [Cole] does a great job whenever he's asked to go in and help. When he came in that first drive we were able to score. Second drive we just weren't able to get consistent plays in the passing game and that's obviously pressure on my shoulders of being able to complete the ball. And then when [Heremans] came in we really didn't lose a beat. So, you know, obviously we knew the situation going in and when his name got called to get back out there we were ready to roll."
