Opening Remarks: "We have a good challenge, the Atlanta Falcons. They're playing very well as a team. They do the important things well, and they've played real well at critical points in the game. They have a heck of a pass rusher (DE John Abraham), a heck of a linebacker (LB Keith Brooking), they've got a pretty good mix on defense of some veterans, and then some very young guys that are playing lights out, so we've got a good challenge coming up."
On how he's gone about scheming this week in order to get everybody involved: "That's part of the gameplan, who you may have available. And we're not there yet, but we may have some of those players available, and that's a good thing."
On whether WR Reggie Brown is ready to play: "We'll see. He's day to day right now, so we'll see."
On whether it is a challenge to keep everybody happy with everyone healthy again: "The fellows in our offensive room, we don't care who gets the credit or how we win. Whatever it takes to win the next game, and I think our guys are pretty good at that."
On the recent inconsistencies in the offense and what they can do to change it: "We have been a little bit inconsistent at times. The hard work and preparation kicks in there, and we just keep working and keep preparing and get better every day, and normally, you get better at those things."
On whether WR Kevin Curtis and what he brings to the offense: "Kevin is a heck of a player, and he'll help us in many ways. If he's ready to play, it'll be good to have him back."
On whether the lack of production at the tight end position frustrates him: "Nothing frustrates us because if we have a situation where we aren't doing very well, we try to identify it, correct it and move on fast, and we will continue to do that. I have to do a better job there in getting the tight ends a little more involved."
On whether certain things change in gameplanning with Andrews out indefinitely: "Sure. That's a specific case, but really, with any position when you may or may not have a player, you try and play to the player's strength that is going to be on the field."
On what G Max Jean-Gilles' strengths are: "I've said this before, I think we'll win a lot of games with Max. He's very aggressive. He's a big, strong guy. (He) plays with passion, finishes very well. He's getting better every day both run and pass. He already is a good, solid football player and I would expect him to get better every day and may turn out to be really a good player for us."
On what problems Falcons DT Grady Jackson presents for the offense: "He's unique. There are only a handful of guys like him. He's very difficult to move and he does a nice job that way, and he plays to his strengths that way, and he's very smart as well. Now, he is in and out of the game throughout the game, so you double him and he doesn't move, so that's one of his many strengths."
On the "Wildcat" formation: "It's all cyclical, that wildcat formation. We put (RB) Brian (Westbrook) in it a couple of years back. It has a lot of positives, it really does. Basically you get an extra guy, and the defense, they have to play one of a few things, so I know it's worked for some teams and there are some advantages of doing that certainly. Then, you also make the defense adjust to it."
On whether opposing teams are still respecting QB Donovan McNabb's ability to run: "I do think off of film, they still respect his moving ability and his running ability. There is no question about that. There are a couple of things there; Donovan's playing the quarterback position really at a high level, and he has been for quite some time. He's getting to three, four and five in the passing game and his progression rather than taking off and running like he did several years ago, so that's one thing as well. Sometimes there are opportunities there. Sometimes they're not. It's really game-to-game and play-to-play, so there haven't been very many opportunities to for him to get out and go as well, so all those things combined, his rushing, he hasn't ran the ball quite as many times as he has in the past. There will be a game, I would think, somewhere here, where he gets out and runs just a little bit."
On whether McNabb not having to run as much changes what the opposing team's defense does against them: "Just a touch, but they're still very aware of Donovan's moving ability and that helps us."
On whether Brown will play Sunday: "Reggie is trying to get back on the field, and he is doing everything that he can in the training room and rehab, and we'll see if he's available and then we'll go from there."
On FB Kyle Eckel and how he can impact the offense: "We'll see. He has to learn first, and then, when he's ready to go, he certainly could help us in a couple of different ways. He's a physical guy. He's pretty quick, pretty fast. (He) looks like he has good hands off of the film that I saw, and I only saw a few clips of him catching the football. (He's) pretty athletic, and so, I think he has a real good opportunity here. Now, (FB) Dan Klecko did a fine job last week, so I would think Dan is going to turn into an important part of our offense."
On what Klecko is doing now that he wasn't doing in June when they first tried him at fullback: "It had nothing to do with that. It had more to do with he's an excellent defensive lineman and he quite possibly could, at that time, help our team a little bit more there than at the fullback spot at that time. With a week preparation, he did an outstanding job, so he'll get better every week as well."
On Falcons DE John Abraham and his ability to rotate from LDE to RDE and whether is it difficult to scheme for a player that can do that: "Yes. You do see some do it that way, and some of it is scheme within their defensive structure and some of it is trying to get matchups. There are a handful of guys that do that, and then, there is another handful of guys that do it just specifically for matchups, it's not really in their defensive scheme. Yeah, certainly it does. Anytime you move a guy from side to side, or outside to inside, or from down to the linebacker type role of a guy, it certainly does influence your preparation."
On whether you have to be careful that you aren't mixing and matching too many wide receivers with the quarterback: "That's correct, yes. There's a fine line there."
On how important the bye week is for the coaches: "It's important. We got really a good self-scout on ourselves, and then we got a head start on our opponent. Now, it's kind of unusual where our opponent had the bye week the same week, so we were both probably doing some similar things. Then, we got a few hours off, clear your mind just a little bit so that was a good thing."
On what they can do to get the run game going again: "There were some specific things that we can get better at, correct it, and then let's move on, so I think we've done that. We did a pretty good job in San Francisco, I thought, so that may be the start of it. Hopefully we'll be a little bit more consistent there."
On whether RB Correll Buckhalter will still be involved once Westbrook returns to the field: "Yeah, I would hope so, and I would hope it would come to that. There was one game; I think we got 47 plays one game, so it was a little harder to do. Each game could happen differently, but yeah, I hope that I would be able to do a little bit better in that."
On Westbrook's 3.5 yards-per-carry average and why he thinks it is lower than other years: "He hasn't played quite that much yet so he really hasn't got off and running, and so, we hope to be able to do that. Then, we've got to do a little better job in the run game in all aspects. Again, there are a couple of things that we can get better at. I thought we got off to a good start there in that last ball game that way."
On whether the "Wildcat" formation is still in the Eagles playbook and whether he would he consider using it: "There is always that possibility. Normally, for us to do it, it would have to be a certain reason to do that, but we've done it in the past. It really is effective. In fact, the one time that we did it the opponent called a timeout so it was good. We forced them to use a timeout. Then, they got their adjustment done. You have to basically play an eight-man front because basically you get an extra guy, you don't have a guy handing the ball off because he's your runner. Getting an extra guy in the box, so the defense has to get an extra guy in the box. Then, you do some things to create some one-on-one's in the pass game if that can guy throw it or get it to a guy that can throw it within that scheme. You can do some things that that scheme has in other ways as well with your normal quarterback."
On why RB Lorenzo Booker hasn't been used a lot: "We normally have some specific things ready for him for a game, and in some games he may see a few more plays than others, but we always have him in mind. Then, we'll keep him coming. I would expect him to be a pretty good football player for us. He's still coming with some of the things we do."
On whether Booker has been slow to pick up the offense: "No, he's a very smart guy. Some of it's a little bit of detail and some of it is some matchup things. There have been several games where we thought, I don't want to get too technical, put him in with somebody else and then they are just going to go nickel, so those types of things. It has to be the right thing. He's had some playing time."
