**
Injury Report:** "(WR) Jason Avant has a hamstring strain. He'll struggle this week to make it to the game there. (WR) Jeremy Maclin has a low back strain from the hit where he got flipped over. He's pretty sore today but we'll see how he does throughout the week. (QB) Michael (Vick), I mentioned he had a pretty significant concussion. It looks like it happened on the last play (that he was in the game for). His recollection of it – he was a little foggy last night after the incident. Today, he's resting. Right now, this period is very important that he does rest. He and (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) have been in communication and will continue to do that until further testing takes place. (WR) Mardy Gilyard has a hamstring strain. He's making progress, but again, we probably won't see much of him this week. (RB) Chris Polk with a turf toe is very sore. (G) Danny Watkins is making progress with the ankle sprain. We'll just see how he does here the next couple of days. There's a chance we can get him out to practice starting this week. Again, we'll have to see. Lateral cutting is the issue there."
Opening Remarks: "Obviously a tough loss when you go late into the third quarter with a lead like we had and momentum. I thought we had established that throughout the third quarter with the 10 points and the initial two drives that we had. Then, really big plays and costly penalties took over from there. You can't have that take place in games, especially a close game, and come out on top. Again, we have to go back and do really what I know and understand makes you a better football team, and that is detail our work, practice hard, study, and make sure that we stay on top of that. I thought the effort was there. Again, I didn't think it was a matter of effort as much as it was the mistakes. You're down in the red zone and you have a hands to the face call. Instead of scoring seven points, you score three points. In a game like this against a tough NFC East rival, those points become very important, and again, the big plays."
On whether QB Michael Vick is still foggy this morning after suffering a concussion last night: "Well, he has a headache is what he's got. A pretty good one and he's tired. One of the things that is important is that he gets rest."
On whether he can rule Vick out for Sunday's game: "Not right now. We'll go through the protocol here. I'll just tell you, though, that it's a pretty good one. So, we'll go through the protocol."
On whether he still believes that he is capable of coaching this team back to its potential: "I do. I absolutely do and, like I said last night, you don't count anybody out in the National Football League. So, I'm surely not going to count this football team out. I feel good about this team as a group and we just need to tighten some things up and those things that I explained to you here, those are important that we get rid of those."
On whether there reaches a point where losing becomes acceptable to the players: "I haven't felt that about this team and I surely didn't feel that way yesterday. I mean, these guys, they were very upset after the game. They were upset when things weren't going right. I feel like they're all in."
On the challenges QB Nick Foles will face this week preparing for the Redskins: "Well, just what you said there. Preparation is very important. We're going up against a good football team, the Redskins. Again, another NFC East rival and a loud place. It's important that he has the silent count down and understands that, which he got to work on during the preseason. Then, that he has his fundamentals down and he knows the game plan."
On what stood out about Foles' performance after reviewing the tape: "Listen, I'll tell you he did a nice job of keeping his eyes down the field when he was under pressure. He had a couple of nice plays there. There were a couple of plays there that he'd like to have back, but I thought he did a pretty good job with that. I thought he got the ball out on time. He handled pressure well when it was in his face and he didn't move."
On why RB LeSean McCoy did not receive more carries in the game: "I know the stat when he has 20 carries. He was coming off of a week where he really didn't practice and wasn't feeling very good during the game. He was tired, so we tried to spot him. We gave the other kid (RB Bryce Brown) an opportunity to play."
On how late in the week he can go before deciding whether Vick will be able to play on Sunday: "I think we'll know here in the next couple of days. I think we'll have a pretty good idea. The thing I'm telling you now is I think it's a pretty significant concussion there."
On why the team does not appear to be responding to adversity like they have in previous years: "Every year is different and every group's different. We've got a lot of young kids playing and we've just got to keep teaching and they've got to keep progressing. We've got to do a better job as coaches; we've got to do a better job as players. That's what we're going to do."
On how important it is to get a long look at Foles: "Well, I'll tell you he's going to practice here Wednesday. I don't see Michael being back by Wednesday. So, it's important that he gets in there and if he ends up being the starter that he gets work."
On whether Foles will receive all of the first-team reps this week: "He'll get the first-team reps."
On when Vick will be tested again: "I've got to get with (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) on that. We're kind of going off of Mike's symptoms. We want him just to stay home right now and rest. When he feels a little bit better and can get where he needs to, then we'll go from there."
On whether there was a part of him that was anxious to see Foles in game action: "Listen, Michael's our quarterback so I don't want to slight that part. At the same time, I've got confidence that Nick will do a nice job if given that opportunity. Listen, I get excited for every game, but if the kid has an opportunity to start, I'm excited to see him play."
On whether the concussion is Vick's only injury: "He's got a concussion. All that stuff goes into all that."
On the play of the special teams units this season: "It's been up and down. I thought the thing we did, I thought there were phases that we did fairly well in as far as the blocking and sustaining the blocks, sustaining leverage. I think we can do a better job of hitting some things and being a little more consistent there. Obviously, the return is a pretty big negative. I mean, that's one of the things that added to the three scores. They had a score on offense with the big play and then they came back and hit the punt return right there and then came back and we had the interception. I thought that was a big part of the game, which wasn't a positive."
On after how many losses he will feel obligated to play Foles: "Listen, I don't look at that. I take a little more optimistic approach to that. If Nick ends up playing, then he's the quarterback and he goes in and he plays and he wins football games."
On whether he has given more thought to giving WR DeSean Jackson more reps at punt returner: "Not necessarily. We've got trust in the other kid. We really didn't have a lot of return opportunities there yesterday."
On why he still has faith in special teams coordinator Bobby April: "I think Bobby's a good football coach. We've got to do a better job; he's got to do a better job, the players have to do a better job and then we'll bust some of these and get some big plays."
On why tackling has been an issue as of late: "This game, it was sporadic. It was up and down on the tackling. There were some plays where I thought we really made some nice tackles and there were some plays, a couple of key plays, that we didn't make tackles; whether it was having an opportunity to sack (Dallas QB) Tony (Romo) or the play down in the red zone where we missed a number of tackles to allow them to score with the swing pass. We've just got to keep working the fundamentals on that, is what we have to do. We've continued to do it through the season. We've got to keep doing it and maintain our leverage and wrap up."
On why the tackling has been an issue this late in the season: "Listen, that's the question. We've got to get better there."
On whether the defense still participates in the tackling circuit that Juan Castillo discussed: "I think you saw that last week. The guys who were out at practice, they saw that. In the beginning of practice we did the same circuit that we have done."
On whether there are too many one-on-one tackling situations and not enough gang tackles: "Well, you've got to rally to the football. There are going to be times during the game when you're in the open field and you've got to make a tackle. Then it becomes important that you're working the right leverage, the right angle to make that tackle, and then that you're wrapping up. One of the things that you're seeing (is that) we're not doing a good job of wrapping up (and) using our arms. Bringing our arms with the body and the feet and running through tackles. We've got to do a better job there."
On whether tackling is being compromised because players are trying too hard to make big plays: "I think they'd tell you they just have to continue to work their technique, work through the tackle. I don't think they're trying to be the hero making the tackle. I don't see that. I think it's just executing the fundamentals."
On whether Foles can win the starting job even after Vick is healthy if he performs well: "Listen, these are all projections. I'm just telling you Michael is hurting right now, Nick is going to step in and be the quarterback until that point comes, and we'll take it all from there."
On whether the situation is the same as when QB Kevin Kolb sustained a concussion and lost his job because of the performance of Vick in relief: "Listen, I can't project the future. I'm just telling you what I'm telling you. Mike is the quarterback, Nick comes in and he is a relief pitcher and does his thing."
On whether the decision on who will start at quarterback is strictly about which player gives the team the best chance to win: "I would tell you that about any position, yes."
On how it is possible to have forced so few turnovers on defense this late in the season: "Well we're not making them. I don't know other than (that) what to tell you."
On how surprising it is to have so few turnovers with the talent on defense: "I come in and I expect the guys to make those plays. If they're put in a position to make the play, make the play. I also expect the coaches to put the guys in the position where it gives them the best chance to make the play."
On whether there are so few turnovers because the players are not making plays or the coaching staff is not putting the players in the right position to force turnovers: "Well I think it's a combination of both. I can't sit here and tell you that if somebody has the ball in their hands that they drop it, they're not in the right position. But at the same time you're always striving as a coach to make sure that you put your guys in even a better position. And that's an important thing to do."
On whether there will be changes on the offensive line this week: "I haven't gotten that far yet."
On whether this team has enough guys who have experienced success with him to help relay his message to the others on the team: "You come back and say we have some new faces here. But I think they feel that way and that they're preaching that. When you have changeover in your staff then they haven't been through a lot of those experiences, but again they've had experiences in other places."
On T/G Dennis Kelly would move to tackle in place of T King Dunlap if G Danny Watkins is healthy this week: "Danny Watkins I've got to just see. I'll see all that (but) that would be the one that we'd have to see."
On whether the adversity this season can be instructive and help the team get better: "Listen, you're sitting where you are so it has to be. That's the way that you learn from your mistakes and you move forward, you take it play by play, day by day, game by game. That's the approach you do. But that's how you'd have to look at it, as being constructive."
On whether he still has the same passion as a head coach that he did in the early parts of his tenure with the Eagles: "Yeah, I do. I love what I do."
On what happened with Dunlap when he was on the bench instead of being lined up for a field goal: "I think he'll tell you he was wrong. He let his emotions from the penalty carry over and wasn't paying attention. That was a mistake on his part."
On how close T Jason Peters is to returning to practice: "He will not practice this week. We're just taking it week by week here. He won't be out at practice this week."
On whether he would move Kelly to tackle as punishment for Dunlap's errors in Sunday's game: "I haven't even gotten that far. I'll make all that up here in the next little bit."
On whether he feels he needs to punish Dunlap in some way for his errors in Sunday's game: "Well listen, King's never been a problem that way. He's one of our smarter guys actually on the offensive line. But you can't let your emotions get the best of you. That happens during the game and you can't let that happen. King and I talked."
On what attributes of Foles appealed to him when he was drafted: "He's smart and he's got an active arm, and he's got good size, he was productive at the college level, and I thought he had good leadership ability. Brought energy to his team."
