Skip to main content
Philadelphia Eagles
Advertising

Philadelphia Eagles News

Game Vs. Packers: Head Coach Mike McCarthy

mccarthybetter.jpg

Opening statement:
"I'll just say that was an eclectic football game for us this evening. As you look at the performance of the first half, particularly the first quarter, it definitely didn't start the way you want to start a football game. Overall, the three phases didn't help one another at all. But from that point on, I thought the opportunities (were) created, particularly for a number of our younger players. They benefited from their opportunity tonight. I'm looking forward to the evaluation. This third preseason game and then the fourth preseason game is always a rough week for everybody. There are going to be young men that leave our team come Tuesday. Tonight was about trying to create as many opportunities as we possibly could for those guys. We're going to have a lot of very good information to evaluate tomorrow as a coaching staff. With that, I'll take your questions."

On Randall Cobb's injury:
"Randall Cobb has a shoulder (injury). Obviously he didn't return tonight."

On Micah Hyde's injury:
"Micah had a neck spasm."

On if he thinks Cobb's injury is as serious as Jordy Nelson's was last week:
"No, I don't think we're in that area at all. I saw Randall in the locker room. He was part of the team prayer."

On Bryan Bulaga's injury:
"He had an ankle sprain, or maybe more of a bruise."

On if it's getting harder to play veterans in the preseason:
"We all have to be practical about this. Number one, the health of your players is at the forefront of everything that you do in your program. Every decision is weighed with an amount of risk. The second and third preseason games there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Part of the plan is to be a little more aggressive in the first game with more reps so you don't feel the stress of it so much in the second and third games. These are tough contests each and every year because there are so many different variables and they are never exactly the same. Injuries, and why you play certain guys and you don't play other guys, a lot of it has to do with who they are playing with and what's around them, too, as far as not only the unit they are playing with, but also the competitions that are going on throughout your team. There's just a lot of moving parts. But you have to play. You have to play football. I think it's nonsense to think you can just go and not play your starters throughout preseason. It's not practical. We all signed up for four preseason football games. That's what it is."

On the defense's performance:
"Just to go back to my opening statement, I think we started poorly as a football team in the first quarter. We looked a little flat in our run defense. We had some communication errors in our coverage. We'll evaluate that, get all the corrections and calls and adjustments that were made throughout the game and plot the video. This is a tough run for us with a Sunday, Saturday, Thursday schedule. This is the first time we've gone that way, so we knew we were going to be stressed at the back end of this preseason schedule. We've got to make sure we make do the best we can and get as much work done here in the next couple days before we play the Saints."

On Brett Hundley:
"Number one, I just wanted to see him play quarterback. That's the only thing I really told him. Just trust your preparation, the process, everything you've gone through to get ready for this game. Get out there and play football just like you always have. I thought he had excellent command of the huddle and the line of scrimmage. He made some adjustments, trusted his feet, his timing playing in the pocket and out of the pocket, which is what you're looking for. Sometimes young guys take a bit longer to get that. He seemed pretty natural a number of times extending plays. Ball accuracy, decisions, there will be some he will learn from. I thought Brett did a lot of nice things. I thought Matt kept it going. I thought Matt Blanchard played very well. He made the one poor decision on the interception. I'm very proud of our young quarterbacks. They both showed they belonged tonight."

On Myles White and Jeff Janis:
"Myles, that's what you're looking for in Myles. You talk about a young man that has just busted his butt the whole time he's been here. It's really exciting to see him have success and he made a number of big plays. Jeff did some things in the passing game offensively."

On the special teams:
"Special teams was poor. I'm not going to sugarcoat that. We had bad field position time and time again. The holding in the return game, there was way too much of it. Each and every week you play with a different officiating crew, we're educated on it. Everybody has tendencies. This crew called it tight tonight. It was evident in the first quarter. We did not play with the discipline needed and the fundamentals. Special teams did not have a good evening at all."

On Rajion Neal:
"I think Rajion is another young guy. You talk about a young man that had an opportunity to be on our practice squad and he's getting more and more opportunities each and every week throughout this preseason. He's definitely made plays, particularly the last two weeks with those opportunities, both in the kickoff return and a big time play in the screen. He's doing a lot of good things. "

On if there are more injuries for his team this preseason than in year's past:
"The numbers are average or below average."

On if he believes TJ Lang will play in the Bears game:
"I would forecast that TJ would line up against the Bears."

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.

LATEST VIDEOS

Advertising