Injury Report:"[G] Max [Jean-Gilles] does have a broken ankle. He will have surgery early this next week here, Monday or Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes. They describe it as similar to what [G] Shawn Andrews had his rookie year, and we'll just see once the doctors get in there, what they think. Shawn Andrews has returned to Philadelphia. [Head athletic trainer] Rick [Burkholder] and I will meet with him today and see exactly where he is at. I know that the flight was a bit painful for him coming back, that's a long flight from there and he did feel a little bit of that. I'm not sure exactly how far or how close he is to being in football shape, so we'll talk to him, communicate with him, and just see how he's doing and then continue to rehab him there."
Opening Remarks:"All in all, a good football game. I thought we played well probably for the first time this year with all three phases contributing at a high level, and I was proud of the guys for that. They willed themselves to that point. It was a short week and they just brought a lot of energy. I thought our fans were unbelievable. They, believe it or not, when you're sore going into a game, they can take a little of that soreness away when they crank that up and that adds another notch of adrenaline to your game. It was a great atmosphere for a football game. I think the Cardinals are a good football team. They had a tough chore having played the Giants there and then having to travel in a short period of time to the east coast. I think that [Cardinals head coach] Ken [Whisenhunt] has done a nice job with that football team, and I think that they have a lot of wins ahead of them. As far as our team goes, defensively, again I think Arizona has one of the best offenses in the National Football League, in particular the passing game. I thought our guys came out very determined to stop that passing game. It all starts up front and the pressure that you can put on the quarterback. We learned yesterday that it's not all about sacks but just having somebody around him or in his face makes any quarterback in this league a different thrower and a little bit less accurate, and you're talking about one of the most accurate quarterbacks that's ever played the game. I thought that our defensive line stepped up. I thought our secondary challenged those receivers and we know how good those receivers are. They really have three just outstanding receivers. It was good to see that when you take [CB] Asante Samuel out of the mix, that the guys still play at a high level. [CB] Jose[lio Hanson] stepped up and did a nice job. He had an interception, I think his first interception, and got his hand on balls, and I thought that he played big. [S] Quintin Demps had a nice role in there. We singled him up on [Cardinals WR Anquan] Boldin a lot of the times and there's nothing like starting out with one of the best in the business. So, that was his first major action there and he challenged him all night and I thought he did a nice job. [FS] Brian Dawkins had an interception that tied him for the record for this organization, and I know that he'll break that here in the next few games. Offensively, again, it starts with the offensive line and then obviously it goes to the quarterback, and I just thought [QB] Donovan [McNabb] played an outstanding game. With the things that he went through this past week and in the Ravens game and even in the Cincinnati game, he just showed again what makes him such a great quarterback. Under the toughest conditions he always seems to step up and he did that in a big way. [RB] Brian Westbrook, he hasn't played all week, practiced all week, really hasn't felt very good for the last six weeks or so. I don't know if it was mind over matter but he said he felt better yesterday than he had, he said this before the game, that he felt better than he had in the last however many weeks and it looked that way. He ran very hard, kept his eyes up for extra yardage, kept the feet moving and played good football. And obviously, he catches the ball very well, too, and that creates tremendous matchup problems there. Then, [FB] Kyle Eckel. Eckel had a chance to jump in there as did [RB Lorenzo] Book[er]. Both those two, I think, got some valuable playing experience. It was nice to convert a third-and-short. They've been hard to get and Eckel was able to get in there and crank it out a couple of times. And then special teams, I feel like every time we touch the football on a punt or a kickoff with those two young kids, they have a chance to take it the whole distance and that's exciting. It's a great challenge for their blockers every week to make their block, to make that block that allows them to break one for a touchdown. Then, the coaches, I thought the coaches had a great plan. [Offensive coordinator] Marty [Mornhinweg] called a phenomenal game, [defensive coordinator] Jim [Johnson] called a phenomenal game, and [special teams coordinator] Rory [Segrest] did a great job with the special teams."
On how he plans to handle the situation at guard: "Max will go on IR. This is a pretty serious injury that Max has. He will go on IR. [G Mike] McGlynn has been consistently improving. The thing that he does is he gives you a guy who can play all three positions. He was a tackle in college and he has been a guard here and he has learned to play the center position. We feel very comfortable with him at any of those spots. He will work in and he'll get an opportunity to work in that mix and be active. [General manager] Tom [Heckert] and I looked at some players who are on the street and we will continue to do that today. We have some guys on practice squad who we also like. We have a chance to possibly move one of them up."
On who they would consider moving up from the practice squad: "[T Chris] Patrick would be, possibly."
On whether he wonders where the performances like last night were all season: "I don't go there. This is such a business of now. I don't reflect on that. I don't think that helps us with our next game, so I don't worry about all that stuff. I think it's a challenge. You're dealing with a lot of different people and we're all trying to pull it together and work through what was a little tough stretch there and get it right. I'm proud of the guys for doing that. We get done with the next couple of days here, we are lucky enough where we have a couple days. The players can enjoy it and then we're right on to the Giants. The coaches will get out of here early, but they'll be back in here early tomorrow and start hitting the Giants. It's short lived. I'm not worried about the past; I'm focusing in on the future here, and in particular this next game."
On whether the short week led to a simpler gameplan: "The thing you get there is more repeat plays from the week before that you didn't run. They were [playing] similar fronts and coverages and that type of thing, so you could spot in some extra plays. I wouldn't say it was a simpler gameplan. With whatever plays we didn't run last week, we were fortunate enough because of the style that we could run them this week."
* On throwing more high-percentage passes early in the game:*
"They had been a cover three team, primarily. Single safety middle, and brought one of the two safeties up into the box. Either [S Antrel] Rolle or [S Adrian] Wilson, who are both very good. Wilson is probably, if not the best in the league right now, one of the best. With that, they decided they were going to change against us and play a soft cover two, cover four, and kind of blend that in there. That's the way they started the game for the first couple of series. With that, what that does is it limits your down-the-field throws and makes you concentrate more on catching the football and running with it in a little shorter of a passing game. Then, running the football. Those were the two things we did and that's why you saw what you saw. Then they changed. They kind of went back as the game went on. By that time, we had a pretty decent lead."
* On the success of the running game and whether he wants to achieve that balance going forward:*
"I would say this: I like efficient balance. I'm not going to sit there and bang my head against the wall by running the football every snap if I'm not gaining a yard. At the same time, if we're not throwing the ball well or we're not getting the protection we need and we are running the football okay, then we'll run the football more. That's what's so great about this offense. When one thing isn't working, you go to the other. You just have to make sure one thing is working."
On what efficient balance is:"I tried to explain that. Efficient balance is: say you are running the football and for the first eight carries you average 1.2 yards and you're throwing the football and averaging 10 yards per throw. To me, you're probably going to throw the football a couple more times than you're going to run the football. Efficient balance would be to get it up around four yards—three and a half to four yards per carry—then let's have a good completion percentage and let's go to work."
* On whether he gives up on the running game faster when it's not working than he gives up on the pass:*
"You're probably right. I don't know how to answer that. You're probably right. (Jokingly) You're probably going to throw a stat out of your little book at me and I'm going to just agree with you and move on."
* On the crowd's ovation for the 3rd-and-1 conversion in the first quarter:*
"I wasn't sure it wasn't for [FB Kyle] Eckel and not for the third-and-one. He bought about half the stadium for his family. I presumed it was because it was third-and-one and we actually made one. I was cheering with them."
On who told McNabb that he was coming out of the game in the fourth quarter:"[Quarterbacks coach] Pat [Shurmur] told him."
On what it means for Dawkins, McNabb and Westbrook to have big games: "They never hung their head, during the week or during the last two weeks. All of them just picked it up. You have to throw all of the guys that have been around here, all of the linemen don't say much and don't get quite as much publicity, but the [Tackles] Tras [Thomas] and [Jon] Runyans, nobody hung their head, nobody gave up, and that's why I'm so proud of them; that's the reason. They were told that they weren't fighters and that they quit and all these things and they didn't listen to that. They just went about their business and came out and played with a lot of energy."
* On whether he anticipates having Asante Samuel and Correll Buckhalter back for the next game at New York:*
"I think so. I think we will. Buck might be a little bit more of a stretch than Asante, but I think there's a chance we have both of them."
On what C/G Nick Cole brings to the team: "Nick's a very good athlete. You see him on the kickoff return team and he works in the wedge there. Nick is a good athlete. He's very, very strong and big; it's just, he's short. That's okay. I don't really care about that, I just care that he can move the pile and that he's sharp. Every time he gets in there, he functions very well for us."
On WR Reggie Brown not getting very many reps vs. Arizona:"To be very honest with you, I know that people say that we don't have very many good receivers and I think a little bit differently than that. I think we have a lot of good receivers. The problem is that we had to back off of some guys so that we could get our timing back in the pass game. This is a timing passing game, precision pass game. We were rotating so many guys in there that it didn't give the quarterback and the wide receivers an opportunity to get on the same page and get enough reps in practice. As good a player as Reggie is, we cut back his reps a little bit. That doesn't mean that he can't play or won't be a factor in these games, but just so we could tighten things up a little bit in the pass game. I thought things were getting a little too diluted there."
On how important the win was for the coaching staff: "I thought it was important that everybody pulled together, players and coaches. We all have our job to do and we all needed to do it better. For the coaches, that's just what it is. It's taking complex situations and trying to simplify them for the players. They're the ones that have to go out there and function. It's putting the players in the right position and right coverage and right front. I thought the coaches did a nice job with that. I thought that was big and I thought the players, on a short week, really trusted the gameplan. Not that they haven't before, but I thought they really trusted the gameplan, and liked it and seemed to execute it well on the practice days that we had; just a couple. I thought the players executed very well."
On how far CB Joselio Hanson has come since he joined the Eagles: "He is a good player. At San Francisco, where he had most of his snaps, we thought he was a good football player there. He was kind of an unsung guy, just went about doing his job. He doesn't say much. He's a real quiet kid, but he's tough, he's quick, and he's very detailed at what he does. He's not the biggest guy in the world, but he plays that way. He plays big and he plays tough."
