Opening Comments: "Alright, as far as the injuries go, (RB) LeSean McCoy has a stomach flu, and so we sent him home. He won't practice today. (TE Brent) Celek has a hip contusion, so he went through the walkthrough and we'll just see what he can do this afternoon. (LB) Akeem Jordan hasn't passed the concussion test, but is doing very well, feels good, and so on. Everybody else will practice and be out there today. Look forward to the challenge of playing the Chicago Bears. They're playing good football, and they're a good football team, very well coached. (Bears Head Coach) Lovie (Smith) does a great job with that crew. We've had an opportunity to play them quite a few times, so they know us, we know them, and it should lead for an exciting, good football game."
On whether there is any concern that McCoy's illness will last longer than today: "I don't think so."
On how he would explain QB Michael Vick's throwing accuracy improvements: "Well listen, young quarterbacks, they'll improve. I saw that when I was in Green Bay, you know, when Brett first came up, he continued to improve as the years went on. Donovan continued to improve. Michael's a little different situation. He switched systems, and teams, and then he had a couple year hiatus in there. I think when you look at Michael, you look at his frame of mind now as when he was younger. I think he had good coaching then, I think he relied probably a little more on his athletic ability.
"This isn't anything that he hasn't told you before, but probably relied on his athletic ability, his work ethic wasn't quite the same as it is now. When he came out of being incarcerated, he came out and he had certain things he wanted to work on, felt like he needed to work on to make his game better from where it was before, and he attacked those things. Aggressively attacked them. My hat's off to him and the attitude that he had in his approach, and then (Offensive Coordinator) Marty (Mornhinweg), and James Urban, and now (Quarterbacks Coach) Doug Pederson have done a nice job coaching him. His attitude has been phenomenal."
On whether Vick has made steps toward getting better against the blitz and taking fewer hits: "Well, really he's done pretty well against the blitz since we started this thing. I've told you before, you're not going to hit every one against the blitz, that's not how it works, no quarterback does that. But he's made big strides in that area. That's an area that he wanted to get better at. Coming out of last season, that's a natural step with the offense. He learned the offense, got a good grasp of it, executed it well last year, and then this year he took it up, and is still working on that. It's a continuous thing, so he's still working on even getting better every day in all phases."
On whether he feels that he's been better at getting the ball out these last two games: "I don't know about that. I thought coming into training camp, I thought he was getting the ball out quick. I thought he did that throughout when he had opportunities. That's kind of where I'm at."
On whether he is any closer to making a decision on DE Brandon Graham: "We'll just see how he does this week. We'll see how he does today, without the pads on, so that we'll get an opportunity to see how he feels."
On whether a decision has to be made by Sunday: "Sunday at 4:00 I believe it is."
On whether he feels like he knows the Bears as if they're in the division because of how many times they have played the last few years: "Listen, that's what I was saying at the beginning here, that I think they know us and we know them, and every time we play each other each of us adds a new little wrinkle. I'm sure they feel the same way. They have a pretty good grasp on what we do, and likewise with us."
On where he feels the team is on run defense: "Well, we're getting better as we go. (Cowboys RB DeMarco) Murray had probably five runs there, pretty good runs, and then we were able to hold him down a little bit there. (Bears RB Matt) Forte is having a phenomenal of a year, that's a heck of a football player, man, I'll tell you. He did it in college; I remember watching him at Tulane. He did a great job there. He's a heck of a player."
On LB Casey Matthews: "He's done a good job. We moved him all around, and I think he's taken a step up. He still does some of our goal line and short-yardage stuff."
On TE Brent Celek being a part of the passing game: "He's a valuable player for us in all phases. That's a little bit how plans in this offense go. He'll get a few catches, have a big game, get a few catches. It's a point I know for Michael to know he's there and as good of a route runner as he is, I think that's important."
On whether Chicago QB Jay Cutler is playing better lately: "Yeah, they mix it up. Jay is a tough nut now, and he can throw off of a very different platform than you can imagine with arm angle, body angle. He can do it with accuracy. He's a good athlete, and he can also run very well. He's hurt us with that in the past, so we have to make sure we keep him in that pocket the best that we possibly can. I think his offensive line is getting better as the weeks go on. I know they have taken some heat, but they've done a pretty good job."
On whether the Bears will play Vick the same way they did last year: "They mix it, and they have four or five different things that they do very well. It all starts up front, I know you've heard their players say that. It starts up front with them, and they get off the ball, they're explosive, their linebackers are very disciplined. Brian (Urlacher) kind of leads that. (Lance) Briggs is right there. They've played together a long time, and they're very good. With their secondary, they have made some moves at the safety position and they're just well built. I know everyone says that they just play cover two, but that's not true and that's not what they've done with us in the past. They've mixed it up and they do a great job with that."
On the Bears stunts up front: "They do. Both run and pass."
On who gets the most reps at practice with McCoy out: "Actually it's 50-50."
On the strides that LB Jamar Chaney has made over the past few weeks: "They're getting better, they're getting nice. I say this about the safeties, too. They're young guys who are getting better every week and they have a big test this week and they're preparing for that. They were in on the days off to look at tape. They're all getting a little bit better, and it's important that they continue to do that. They have so much room to improve, and there are a lot of things we can work on."
On how much Vick's audibles give the Eagles an advantage against the blitz: "He's done a good job with it. That helps, and I don't want to take anything away from what he's done. Every team's different and every look is different, so you just have to stay on top of that. So far he's done a nice job with it and it definitely helps us as a football team. That's great."
On whether he expects the Bears to physically come after Vick: "Rod Marinelli is their defensive coordinator and he makes sure they all hustle to the ball. Whether it's in the quarterback's hands or not, they're flying around. Our team knows that, and our offense is aware of that."
On whether RB Dion Lewis is fine: "Yeah, he is. That's what we'll do is split it up 50-50. Yes, he's fine and his wrist is good."
On how far WR DeSean Jackson has come playing against deep safeties in the past year: "You've seen him make some tough catches in traffic the past few weeks, and that's a tribute to him making the adjustment that needs to be made when they're playing that deep. He had a couple nice catches when we went against them last year, so we know that teams work on that and that you take your game to another level. He's added another dimension to it, and he's done that."
On how his team will approach WR Devin Hester: "He's the best ever in a couple different categories, so you respect him and you're very aware that he's there. Whatever you have to do to work with that, that's what you do. I can't sit here and tell you exactly what we're going to do, but we know that he's out there. We always know #23 and where he is at in the return game."
On whether McCoy's stomach flu was related to a concert: "No, I'm absolutely sure (it wasn't). He had a little bit of it before the concert."
