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QB Foles & Selected Locker Room

QB Nick Foles

On RB Bryce Brown's performance on Monday night: "I thought Bryce played a heck of a game. I thought he was running really hard. I thought the line did a great job up front of opening him up holes. I know he learned a lot from the game. I thought he played outstanding and really ran with a lot of heart. He was fighting for extra yardage and I couldn't have been more proud of him."

On whether he was surprised that the team released DE Jason Babin: "The one thing that I've learned about football is that it is a business. I love every teammate here, but it's a business and you just have to go with it. There's been guys that have been released before and we just have to come together. I talked to Babin earlier and I wished him the best of luck. That's just part of it and that's what I'm learning."

On his reaction to Babin's release: "Like I said, it's a business and you can't really think too much about it. He's in my prayers and I wish the best for him, but you've got to trust what the team's doing, what the people up above are doing. They're making the decisions and I trust them. All I can worry about is the guys in here and just getting better, so I'm just focused at practice and in the film room (on) just getting better."

On how big of a loss WR DeSean Jackson is: "Losing DeSean's a big loss. He's a heck of a player. He's such a threat out there, but we'll have guys step up. It's football and I know we'll have guys step into that position and do a great job."

On what he likes and what still bothers him about his play thus far: "I think just improvement. The big thing is you just look at games and I feel like we've run the offense well and we've just got to eliminate mistakes. The big thing was turnovers and I was just making proper decisions to read the coverage out right, getting us in the right plays if I have to. I was just progressing every day. Getting better every day on the practice field, working as hard as I can in the film room and everything and that's all I can do; just work better every day to improve."

On whether it helps in preparation having seen the Cowboys in Week 10: "Yeah. We were able to watch the game; see how they played us and certain things. But at the same time, they can watch the film too. They have the same film. So, be ready for anything. A lot of film work, a lot of preparation and, when the game comes, just read out what they're doing and make the best decisions."

On how big of a transition it will be should G Evan Mathis take snaps at center in place of C Dallas Reynolds: "Evan's been doing a great job all year. I know he'd step in and do a great job. Dallas is a tremendous center and he's done an amazing job. But I know if Evan stepped in, he'd do a great job as well and he'd be ready to go. He's been out there fighting every day. He'll step up."

On whether there will be issues with the line calling out blocking protections with a new center: "Evan's an extremely smart guy; very talented."

TE Brent Celek

On how he is feeling today gearing up for his first practice of the week: "Like I said on Monday night, Wednesday is the time to move on. It's all about Dallas. We obviously haven't been playing great the past few weeks but it's time to start doing it."

On what he saw from RB Bryce Brown in his NFL start: "He's a talented kid. He's going to be a great running back in this league for a long time. We were talking about it today that it was his first start since high school. That's pretty impressive. He knows he has to hold onto the ball, and he'll fix that. He's a young kid, and he's wanting to help this team and do a lot out there. He'll get better, and he knows that and we all know that. We have faith in him."

DT Fletcher Cox

On whether he still expects to play Sunday with a back injury: "Yes, I still expect to play Sunday. It's day to day. There is not a lot that I can do in the training room other than they treat it a little bit and that'll make it feel better."

On whether he took anything away from the team releasing DE Jason Babin: "I've learned, as a rookie, that this is a business and things happen like that."

On whether he feels that the team will lean more on the younger players on the defensive line now: "You look at it, and we have a lot of rookies on the team and a lot of young guys. We have a few older guys who have been teaching the young guys all season. You look at a guy like (DE) Vinny (Curry) and Babin has been showing Vinny a lot of stuff, even though Vinny wasn't playing, and Vinny was taking that in. Vinny got a chance to play on Monday night and he made some plays."

On whether there will be more sets with five defensive linemen on the field: "Just different personnel. We bring in different people for different personnel. If we continue to use it, we'll be good. We'll continue to play four down linemen."

On Curry seeing his first game action: "It was great. Vinny rides to the game with me for every home game. He was jacked. He was ready. He was excited. I was excited for him. I think one time he got too excited in the locker room. I told him to just calm down, his chance was coming. Like I said, I think Vinny did a great job with it being his first game since college."

DE Vinny Curry

On how excited he was for his first opportunity to play last week: "I was definitely excited. It's something that, you know, you've been playing football all of your life to get to this point."

On whether it was hard for him to keep his emotions in check: "Not at all. When you let that get the best of you, you try to do too much. Trying to do too much will lead (to) you going back to the bench."

On what it means to now know that he is in line for increased playing time: "It means a lot. It gives you that urge to go even harder in practice."

On whether he has to change his preparation at all now that he is going to play every week: "No, not at all. I practice hard every week so that when I get to the games, I am mentally prepared and physically prepared. That kind of preparation can prepare you for the game."

On whether there is any extra juice because they face the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football: "Definitely. It's a rivalry game. I can tell you one thing – as a team, we're definitely going to be ready."

WR Jason Avant

On what he saw from the Cowboys the last time the two teams played: "Their philosophy has changed with some things that they do against us. They're keeping the ball in front, so you have to move the ball down the field slow and methodically. You have to convert third-downs, and third-and-short. When they come out of that, they've gotten hurt, so we're just going to try and execute our game plan."

On how big of a loss is having WR DeSean Jackson go down with an injury: "It's huge. So many other guys get open because of him. You have to find a different way to manufacture big plays. (The) attention that he gets on the football field is definitely going to (be) missed."

S Kurt Coleman

On whether the secondary has to do more to ensure that there are no more breakdowns: "As a player, we have to continue to stay on the same page whether it's stay out there and work on things. There is only so much that a coach can do, and we have to put it on ourselves to really be on the same page as a player, unit, and a whole defense. This is not the ideal situation that we want to be in, but it's about getting better every day."

On the mood in the locker room right now: "We're staying positive right now. We're not worried about the outsiders. We need to continue to get better every day. We need to keep picking each other up and continue to just push each other because right now it's tough. This isn't an ideal situation that we want to be in, but what we can do is control what we do today. Then tomorrow, it will take care of itself."

G Evan Mathis

On whether he was surprised about the release of DE Jason Babin: "It's an interesting situation. As players we have to trust any kind of situation like that when they're made by our coaches and management."

On whether he thinks the front office is trying to send a message to the players: "I don't know if it was a message. (Head coach) Andy (Reid) said it was to get the young guys in the rotation so we'll go with that."

On what the players are focusing on with only five games remaining on the schedule: "You still focus on the little things. You've got to correct all of your mistakes. When we looked at the film from the Carolina game there were a lot of things done well but then there were some undisciplined things we did too. If we didn't turn the ball over as much as we did, we'd have a much better chance of winning that game."

On how much an extended losing streak drains the players physically and emotionally: "You can't focus on the fact that you're losing. You have to focus on the game. One game at a time. Focus on the little things. Look yourself in the mirror (and) scrutinize every single thing you do as a player and work to correct everything."

On whether he has seen improvement from the young players on the offensive line: "They've made a lot of improvements over the course of the year. Experience goes a long way on the offensive line and these guys have steadily improved over the course of the year."

On what he took away from the team's first meeting with the Cowboys this season: "(We've) got to finish. We made some mistakes (and) turned the ball over. (We've) just got to play sound football in all three phases of the game."

On whether he has thought about what the team will look like next year: "I haven't looked in the future. I'm still focused on one game at a time."

DT Mike Patterson

On whether he is worried about his job security after Reid stated that he wants to see more young players on the field: "I'm still in my twenties. I'm not old (joking). The only thing I can say is just help the young guys out. If they see me as a vet and an older guy (then) I can just pitch in by giving them some coaching points and stuff like that. But I don't see it as something I need to worry about. Hopefully they don't come tell me (I've been released), but I'm not worried about it. If it comes, it comes. It's part of the game."

On whether he thinks other players should be worried after the roster move yesterday: "I have no idea. We're not going to be concerned about it as players. Only thing we worry about is we have Dallas this week. That's the only thing we're worried about right now."

On whether there was a message sent by the front office by releasing Babin: "I guess in a way you kind of expect something to happen. You could look at it that way if you want to but you just feel like the team is trying to make the best choice for us to win games. That's the only thing as a player (that) you look at it."

On whether he has been helping the younger players all season anyway: "Most definitely. (DE Vinny Curry) has come along really well. I'm happy for him to go out there and play the way he did. We didn't doubt him or anything so I think he just came out and showed everybody he's able to play."

LB DeMeco Ryans

On what the players can take from the first game against the Cowboys to apply to this week: "We've seen some things that they've done against us in the first game as far as the runs and how they try to attack us with the runs. And then also the pass game we see some similar things they're still doing. We have to make sure we'll correct them this game."

On his reaction to Babin's release: "It happens. Nothing really surprises me in the league anymore."

On whether the move sends a message that no player is safe: "No, it doesn't send that message. It's just his case. Unfortunate for him (but we) wish him the best. Wherever he lands he'll do well. That's just his situation."

On whether he was surprised how quickly the Cowboys game got out of hand for the team: "It was a game where they drove it down on us the first drive. Once we got settled in I felt like we did some good things. It still wasn't good enough."

On whether the Babin release affects the mood in the locker room: "No, it doesn't affect us."

On whether he is worried about his job security after Reid stated that he wants to see more young players on the field: "I think it's good to see the younger guys, see what they can do. Of course these guys have shown some type of promise. That's why they're here. It's good for those guys. I'm happy for them that they actually get an opportunity to show to the world what they can do in the league."

On whether there have been any changes in the starting lineup on the defensive side of the ball: "Not that I know of."

On what the mood is in the locker room: "The mood is we're trying to win. We're trying to beat the Cowboys. That's the mood. The situation that happened with Babin, it happened. We move on from it. We can't do anything about it. As players we don't make those decisions. It's not going to make us (get) down or morale is down. That doesn't affect us that way. Our focus, our attention is going to beating the Cowboys."

On whether there is building frustration due to the long losing streak: "We want to win. That's it. That's the only thing that's driving the attitude (and) the morale. That's the only thing. We need a win."

On whether he expected the team to make a move: "No, it's not that (I expected it since I'm not surprised about it). It's me being around the league and seeing crazy things happen. You expect anything so nothing you throw at me is surprising to myself."

On whether going back and playing a game in Texas means anything special to him: "Nothing special about it. Just going back there just to get the win. That would be more special to me than anything else. No deal about going back to Texas or anything."

On whether he was offended by the comments from Brian Dawkins and Troy Vincent that the current Eagles team lacks leadership and accountability: "I don't. That's those guys' opinions. They've done it. Those are two good players. They've done it before. They've been in the locker room before but I don't take offense to that at all. That's their opinion."

RB Bryce Brown

On how excited he is to get back out on the field: "I'm excited. Ready to get back out there. Anxious. Really desperate for a win. That's what I really, really want to get."

On where the team goes from here after losing seven straight games: "I think you just keep playing. Like I said before, I think we're a tight group. I think it's important for us to keep fighting for one another and keep playing. That's the mindset we have to have."

On whether the pressure to win has put added pressure on the team's leaders: "For me, I can't say that it has for me. We have good leaders here. I look up to them. They've got a good mindset. They're not giving up. They're fighting strong."

On whether this week is different for him following a big game on Monday: "No, everything's the same for me. My approach to the game is the same: work hard this week, do the things you're supposed to do, get in my playbook, learn as much as I can about Dallas and get ready to go."

On how his first NFL start may have calmed his nerves: "It gave me confidence, so I think that's going to help. I know that I can play, I know that I can contribute. Coach is going to rely on me and (RB) Dion (Lewis) to kind of take the pressure off of (QB) Nick (Foles) a little bit. So we've got to prepare and (be) ready for it."

On his take on his performance after watching the film: "I have not seen it yet because it's kind of a quick week. We're really focused on Dallas right now, so I haven't really got a chance to look at the film of that game."

On whether there is anything he can do to improve his ball security: "No, fumbling isn't a habit that I have. That's not something that I normally do. I've just got to be cautious and be more careful. It's football; things are going to happen. Just go in this week and know that guys are going to be after the ball this game."

DE Trent Cole

On his first reaction to the news that DE Jason Babin had been released: "I was surprised and, like you said, it's the NFL. I've been in the league for eight years now and seen people come and go and it's just business. There's nothing you can really say. That's between him and the franchise and that's it. We're going to miss him. He was part of our d-line; we were tight. We're a close-knit group. He's a great player. He's a very aggressive player you want to have on your team. He's going to find another home."

On what Babin said to him when they talked yesterday: "We never talked about that. We never talked about any of that. We just talked about the next step and the next place where he's going to go. We never talked about what happened or anything or what were the calls or questions. The best thing to do in this situation, (knowing) it's a business, is to look ahead."

On whether he believes Babin's release was meant to send a message: "I can't answer that question. That's a question I can't answer because it's not my area."

On whether he feels his job is on the line: "I'm just going to keep (coming here) every day. I'm just going to keep doing my job and (keep) working at it. If my day comes, my day comes. I've had the realization my day is going to come near and this is what it is. Me, personally, I had that realization that I'm just going to play until I can't play anymore."

On whether the move to release Babin affected him personally: "It's sad to see him go, but like I said, we know what kind of business we're in. There's a process to things, there's a way to do things. We're in the game of football. We're in this game of professional football and it's just the way it goes."

WR Jeremy Maclin

On whether it was a shock to see a veteran released in the middle of the season: "As of right now, the position that we're in, I don't think anything is a shock. I think we're kind of expecting the unexpected. Like I said, that's what they felt like was best for the team, so that's what they felt like they needed to do."

On whether the emphasis to play the young guys more means more snaps for QB Nick Foles and RB Bryce Brown: "Depending on the status of everyone else, I'm pretty sure those guys will get opportunities if nobody else can go. I think they've gotten better each and every week. I think Bryce had a good game, despite the two turnovers. Obviously, you want to change those, but as far as him running the ball and running hard and hitting the holes and stuff like that, I felt like he did a good job of doing that."

On what the injury to WR DeSean Jackson means to the offense: "We've just got to pick it up. Somebody said we're (up) to eight starters out on offense right now; something like that. Obviously, that's not what you draw up at the beginning of the season. But this is the National Football League and when that happens, other guys have to elevate their game."

On how the absence of Jackson will affect the coverage he receives: "We're going to run the same offense. As far as what teams are going to throw at us, I guess we'll see. But nothing's going to change on our end."

On his reaction to the news of Jackson's injury: "It's been one of those types of years. Not being able to get a win, guys going down with injuries. Everything that can go wrong feels like it has gone wrong. The only way to flip that switch is to get a win and hopefully we can do it this Sunday night."

On the first game against Dallas this season: "We were kind of moving the ball. It was a close game there and then that punt return just kind of broke it open and kind of shifted the momentum their way. We've just got to be efficient in every aspect of the game, in all three phases. We want to go out there and get the 'W'."

DE Brandon Graham

On their last game against Dallas in Week 10: "The first time around, we played good on defense. I feel like if we just stick together in all cylinders, we should be good, especially on defense and special teams. We can't let big plays hurt us. Last game, big plays hurt us and that's how we lost the game. But I feel like everybody's wanting this win this week because it's the Cowboys. We're going to go out there and just work today."

On starting games during his rookie season: "Yeah, and then I got hurt; sprained my ankle in the Redskins game (in 2010). That's when everything started going downhill."

On how anxious he is for the opportunity to start: "I'm excited. I can't wait to go out there and make plays. That's all I'm here for is to make plays and to go out there and do what I do. That's what I'm going to do."

On whether his status with the team will be based on numbers and production from this point forward: "Yup, numbers and production. I can't just get to the quarterback; I've got to get him. I've got to play good on the run and that's what I'm working on all this week. I'm about to do extra sprints to make sure I'm conditioned right (and) get myself together so I'll be ready for Dallas."

On the team continuing to fight down the stretch: "Everybody right now is fighting with pride. It's all about pride right now and how we're going to finish these last five games. I know I've got pride and I know my teammates do so we're going to go out there, going to give it our all and whatever happens, happens."

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