Opening Comments: "Fellas have done a heck of a job in camp so far, and the young guys are in the middle of a learning curve, so it's been quite a challenge for them. It's been quite a challenge for the staff."
On how difficult it is to find the right starting mix along the offensive line: "It's all about opportunities and everybody will get some opportunities. Some will get more than others. We're mixing and matching just a little bit to give everybody an opportunity to show what they have and then there'll come a time when the unit working as a group will become important. The same five guys working together at some point."
On G Danny Watkins' progress: "Outstanding, outstanding. Like I said, he's right in the middle of a learning curve. He has a lot of work ahead of him to be able to go out into a game and function at a high level. But for the first couple of days he's been outstanding."
On how much of Watkins' learning curve is mental and how much is technical: "Well it's all-encompassing. It's both of those things, plus more. It's quite a challenge for a young man this year, with these circumstances. Quite a challenge. Our young men, our young players are taking that challenge seriously. It's all football, 24/7 right now."
On whether the absence of WR Jeremy Maclin and WR DeSean Jackson is helping the young receivers get more reps: "That's a good thing. Some of those young receivers are getting quite an opportunity here. The key is they make good on it. That's a great thing."
On whether any of the young receivers have stood out: "All of them are doing a heck of a job and it's a little early yet to start picking out because we're not counting numbers. We're trying to get better every day as an individual which will help them, and the team in the long run. We're trying to get better every day as individuals, and as a group, and as an offense."
On how good it was to have an animated practice: "Well right about now the fellas are fatigued just a little bit and the tempers flare. It does jack it up just a little bit. The level of participation goes sky high. Both sides, I thought, sort of took it as a challenge there."
On whether he has a time frame for finding the starting offensive line: "Nope, no time frame. It's just at some point it's critical that that line work as a unit for rep after rep after rep. What the key is, is evaluating and getting the five best guys on the field, and then repping the top eight and nine guys. Very important."
On G/C Jason Kelce's mental performance: "Kelce is outstanding mentally for a young man. We talked briefly before, it's quite a challenge for first year rookies with the situation with this year and they're taking it very seriously. It's all about business. Football 24/7."
On whether he is throwing the entire playbook at Kelce at once: "Yep, didn't hold back any, at all, with the installation in training camp. We thought about it. Thought this was the best way to go with the whole, part, whole. We will go back and detail it up, but he is learning on the run like all of the first year players."
On the WR situation for the first preseason game relating to Maclin and Jackson: "Well (WR Jason) Avant can play outside as well so there will be a rotation, and we're not quite there yet on exactly how we're going to do that for the Baltimore game. Certainly some thoughts and then we'll solidify that a little later in the week."
On the receivers recent struggles getting their timing right with QB Michael Vick: "More than that though, more than that. It's timing, like you said. It's reps. It's certain routes, knowing exactly when the ball is going to be there and going up to get it. The receivers were excellent today. That's the type of play we have to have. Previous to that, we were really up and down as far as the timing, going to get the ball, being at the right spot at the right time in zone, these types of things. We were just up and down, almost maddening. Now the fellas are getting just a little bit more comfortable with how we operate."
On how long could Jackson and Maclin be out for them not to be able to start: "I'm not going to get into it, and you know I typically do not talk about players that aren't in camp. In general, a player, a veteran player, there comes a time, and it's different for every player, there comes a time that he needs the work for the good of the team, the timing part, and for the good of himself. There will come a time where it will become important, and it's different for every player."
On how Vick has improved so far: "He's got the mentality right now where he doesn't care how we get it done. Run, pass, who scores, who gets credit. He's only concerned about winning the next ballgame and what it takes to win the next ballgame. That's his mentality right now."
On Vick's improvement recognizing the blitz: "Michael made a huge jump last year, and I'm referring to playing the quarterback position. He's always been one of the great dynamic players in the game, but he made a big jump last year. There's one more step he needs to take, one more step, and that part that you mentioned with the blitz recognition is part of that step, so he's right on schedule. Many of these things were planned for the offseason and he's getting them early in training camp here. That's just the way we're going about our business this year. We've got much work left to do, but he's right on schedule there for that last step coming out of last year that I thought that he needed to make."
On getting TE Brent Celek re-acclimated to the passing game: "Again, we're not concerned about numbers. We don't care who gets the eight, ten catches, or who gets the one or two. We don't care. We don't care if we're running the ball or passing. When you get a group of guys with that mentality, then the cap's off. You have no cap, you have no limit of how good you can get, and it's a little bit cyclical. I would like to get the ball to him just a little bit more, in general, because he's an outstanding player and you know how we like to operate here. We like to get the ball to all eligible receivers and runners. We try to keep defenses off balance in many different ways and we get it into some of the big time playmakers hands just a little bit more. Sometimes its cyclical for some of the guys, as far as they may get eight one game and they may get one the next game.
On T Ryan Harris and the importance of getting the RT position solidified: "He's been impressive, it's just been a couple of days here, but I will tell you he's an impressive young man. You can tell that he has experience and that he's played at a high level before. He's quick, he's athletic, and he's strong. He's also very smart and it appears like he's a natural football player, so he came in and picked it up very quickly. Much quicker than I expected, much quicker than normal, I suppose. He's been impressive so far, and again, we're trying to find who the best guys are, at the right spots, on the offensive line because we have multiple players who can play several different spots. So that will be important as we go ahead."
On whether it will take some time to trust QB Vince Young as the number two quarterback because of how long QB Mike Kafka has been in the offense: "Well that's a good question. I also like (QB) Jerrod (Johnson). He's a good quarterback out of (Texas) A&M. Jeez his junior year now he racked it up, then he got hurt if you remember. So he's on the come as well, he's doing a very good job. Now Mike Kafka is just terrific mentally, fundamentals, he typically is doing the right thing. Now he needs experience and to play the game, and play it naturally. Vince is in a whole different category. Vince just recently got on the field; he's in the middle of a learning curve. You saw yesterday we started with the center quarterback exchange and the cadence. It's day one for him with about ten days compressed into that one day. Really I was talking about the other day was day one. He's getting about two weeks worth of material here in the first few days. He's right in the middle of a learning curve. Impressive quarterback, good, impressive quarterback, a very high level of talent. He's got some specific goals that he wants to accomplish here, and then we've got some specific goals for him. You combine those two and then good things could happen for him, I think."
On where else Vick needs to improve outside of blitz recognition in order to take the next step: "I will tell you, last year I was concerned when he first started playing of course, with that, and he did a beautiful job for most of the year. Then we got had just a couple of times there. That's when we refocused. He was good with that, so I want to make sure I'm clear on that. Then becoming an expert at it is part of that next step. There's several other things, I'm not going to get into too many details, that were involved with taking that last step to become, possibly, one of the great, great quarterbacks in the game."
On whether he expects anything from QB Vince Young: "Sure, you learn, and every quarterback's different and every quarterback has different strengths, and so I'm right in the middle of learning that as well. However, impressive young man and impressive skill set, a very high level of skill. Very impressive. It looks like he's a very accurate passer, real accurate passer. And then, he and Doug Pederson and myself have identified just a couple of things a day, one to two things a day that he's going to work at and get better at and that's normally the best way. We identify one or two things a day to get better at and then we have a plan for him, a certain plan much like we did with Michael, much like we did with Mike Kafka and all of the quarterbacks that come in, a certain plan and a developmental plan for him within our offensive structure. So that will be important as well. And he has to put an unusual amount of hard work and time into this thing to make this thing work for him and work for our football team."
On his impressions of the rookie running backs: "Well, all of them have been pretty good. It looks like we have some physical-type runners there, and again many of them are young with the exception of (RB) Ronnie (Brown). And Ronnie's sort of in the middle of a learning curve too. So they're in the middle of this thing. They are learning on the run. That running back spot, as you know we ask an awful lot in how we operate. We ask them to run like one of the best runners in the league, we also ask them to pass protect and we also ask them to run routes and adjust to coverages just like a receiver would. And then the run blocking becomes important when we ask them to do that. So we ask an awful lot of them and I would expect a big jump from the young running backs from now until game time, and then certainly a big jump is between that first preseason game and the second preseason game for them."
On how McCoy and Brown complement each other: "Yeah, still learning about Ronnie. I know all about him, I've made films. This man is a talented athlete; versatile, he can do a lot of things and he's a heckuva runner. So I do think that they will complement each other and just how we go about that is going to be key depending on learning about Ronnie and all of his strengths because as you know we play to players' strengths. And so, we're learning about him as we speak. I think I know, but then I have to see certain things on film."
On whether he thinks he'll be able to move Brown around in different formations because of his versatility: "Yes, and as you know LeSean is versatile big-time, especially in the passing game. So it will be a good thing in the long run for us with those two backs."
