Opening remarks: "Last week, good restart for (QB) Donovan (McNabb). (WR) Jeremy (Maclin) played real well. The o-line played well. There are several things that we need to get better at, so that's what we are right in the middle of doing. We have a pretty good challenge here going out to the West coast in playing the Raiders defense. The Raiders defense, I will tell you, highly talented and all of them can run. They have been put in some bad field position situations, and so, the statistics don't look very good. They were very good on third down last week, so we have a pretty good challenge. They are highly skilled and they are very, very fast on defense. We have to counteract that just a little bit."
On how Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha affects their plans: "People haven't been throwing that way so the other cover guys get a little bit more action. The Giants surprised him one time last week, but other than that, the other teams have stayed away from it."
On what makes Asomugha stand out: "He's a heck of a cover man. He's big, fast, quick, mobile, agile. He's a fantastic player. (I) played against him in the Pro Bowl this past season, so (I) got to look at him there as well as on film of course, this year. He's really a fine, fine player. Like I said, he's big and then he has the skills and he's very, very good. He has a good feel of the game as well."
On whether Asomugha changes sides: "No. One side. Although they could do that at any point. They haven't done it this year. He's done it in his past."
On whether Asomugha is on the right side: "Defense's right side, our left side, yeah."
On the offensive depth the Eagles have this year: "We do have depth at many positions. Now, some are young and they've stepped up and played, really, at a high level for rookies and second year players or in their first starting action, they've done pretty well. We've had quite a lot of them. We are getting some guys back. We may end up getting one or two back again here at some point. They've done well and we didn't expect anything less. They've worked hard. They got their preparation done the right way, so now we have to keep that going with the young players as well as the veterans."
On what he had Maclin doing to make up for the time he missed early in the season: "You saw (wide receivers coach) David Culley, who is a terrific receiver coach, before and after virtually every practice there for a long, long spell, and so, all of that paid off just a little bit because you can't get those practices back that you missed. If you remember, he missed quite a bit at training camp. David did a heck of a job that way with him. Then, the player has to put the hard work and the film work and the study time in. You have to do it the right way, too. There is a certain way to do it. He did a heck of a job that way."
On how much he thinks it helps for Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy to have each other: "That's a good thing. You put LeSean in there and all of our young guys who are all in it together, they all are natural football players and that's really important and they are all pretty sharp, so that's important. You combine those two things and then they have a chance to help you early. Then, you put some competition in there like that; it's all good for our football team and for them as individuals."
On getting FB Leonard Weaver more involved last week: "It's been conscious ever since he got here. Then, some of the situations that I had planned for him didn't come up quite as much in the first game. Then, not playing with two backs quite as much had some of the times, that's a gameplan deal – every game is different. In the pass game he didn't have quite as many until last week, caught one for a touchdown. It was a good catch and run. It'll be different every game for him."
On whether he has ever advised a quarterback to not throw to a certain side of the field:"Not a certain side. Yeah, with Deion Sanders of course we're going to do a couple of things for him, absolutely."
On whether he has ever told McNabb not to throw near a certain player: "There are certain things we'll do against certain guys. We'll leave it at that."
On what TE Brent Celek needs to do to be considered among the top tight ends in the NFC: "I think he already is. I'm a little biased but I think that I'm realistic in saying I think he's one of the very best in what he does there. Then, playing at that high level that he has been for quite some time, and you knew that early last year, really, that he was going to be a fine, fine player. Now he has to do that on a consistent basis. Sometimes those individual awards and individual accolades, that comes sometimes a little later. You have to do it for some quite some time in many cases, in most cases."
On whether Celek's blocking is at a high level: "Yeah, he's doing a good job there, a real good job. He's an excellent all-around tight end. He's equally as good in the run as he is in the pass. (He) helps us in many different ways. He's done fine and now he has to keep that thing going. His challenge is to play every week at that high level. Some games it's going to be different for him. Some games he's going to catch a bunch, then other games you won't notice him quite as much but he's helping us in the trenches just a little bit more that game than he did in previous games."
On whether he doesn't want Celek to jump over defensive backs:"If he can jump over them, I'm all for it, yeah. I've never seen anyone get hurt jumping over I don't think. I have to go back in my memory, I don't think so. If he can jump over him, jump over him. I'd like to see him keep going though, instead of falling down."
On whether he thinks the run game will be there when it's needed: "Not real settled with our run game because we've had two ball games and very few plays. I believe we had 20 plays in the whole first half last week. Get some full games in there and get a little bit better evaluation. There are some certain segments of the running game that have been good and then there are certain segments that we need to get better at. Like I said, we're right in the middle of working on some of those things and getting better every day at those things."
On how G/T Stacy Andrews is coming along, and how he will fit into the offense:"We'll see as he keeps coming. Then, big (G) Max (Jean-Gilles), he's a heck of a player as well. So both of those guys are like starting players. We discussed this a week or two or three ago, you have one man here with Stacy coming off a major knee injury from last year and he's trying to get better every day within our offense, but also physically. We'll see how that works. We have a left guard (in Todd Herremans) maybe coming back in next few weeks or two. We'll see how that goes."
On whether he often thinks that if he had a certain quarterback from another team for two years, that he could help that player: "It crosses your mind sometimes because there is a lot of talent in the league, so when you watch opponents it crosses your mind every now and then. I've been lucky, so I don't go there very often."
On what goes into his success with quarterbacks: "First of all, the young man has to have a certain amount of talent. That's first. Then, there are a lot of things that go into great quarterback play, there is a lot. That player is important in hard work, preparation and training, all those things are important and you have to do that in a certain way, I believe. On top of that, the defense and the special teams and the offensive line, those things have to be in place. They have to play at a certain level for the quarterback's ability to show off. You'll see really good quarterbacks – all of a sudden they are on their back and just are not the same, so we have to understand that. We're fortunate here that, for the most part, our whole football team has played at a pretty high level. Everyone else has to step up and play. There's more to it than that, but that's in general."
On what they do to get a quarterback to a certain level:"We just coach hard. The expectations have to be at a certain level for every position and certainly the quarterback. The quarterback is an important player. The position is an important position, so the expectations are very high, and not just for the game but very high with everything we do with the quarterback standpoint, on the field, off the field, in meetings, the preparation. I always go back to the hard work and preparation, you take those two things and mix them with good enough talent and you have an opportunity to be pretty good."
On whether having different offensive weapons creates pressure for McNabb in distributing the ball: "No. Donovan will do what he thinks best on that next particular play and that's it. That's the way you play quarterback. You don't even think about all those other things."
On getting WR Kevin Curtis involved once he comes back: "Yeah. We'll come to that when it gets here; however, I hope that Kevin can get back real quick, possibly this week because he is an excellent football player. You've seen that in the past. He's just really working hard to get that knee close to 100 (percent) and I think it's getting closer and closer. We'll see what happens with Kevin. Then, absolutely, he's such a fine football player; we'll find some places for him."
On whether they work to create an environment where a backup quarterback can come into the offense seamlessly: "That's a pretty good mentality to have, yeah. We have that certain mentality that the next man steps up and plays and plays at a high level. We expect a lot of that player and we expect a lot out of the players around him as well. That's what you have to have. You have to move on and when the player comes back from injuries, like Kevin, we would expect him to play at a high level immediately. That's how we do it."
