On whether he is optimistic about his ankle injury: "I'm optimistic about getting out there and being able to play. I've been rehabbing pretty hard, pretty aggressively. I'm doing basically everything I can to be able to get out there on the field on Sunday night."
On why he is so optimistic: "I've gotten better. I have definitely gotten better since Sunday, so I have that hope that I can get out there and play."
On how he is able to keep a game-like mentality without practicing: "I know the system pretty well, and I study in the classroom as well as at home. I talk to the coaches and go over the different schemes that they have, the different ideas that they have seen from the defenses and just go out there and play ball."
On how his ankle has progressed from Sunday to now: "Obviously, Sunday I wasn't able to walk on it or put too much pressure on it. Now, I'm able to walk on it and put pressure on it, and (I've) been able to do some different things, so now, like I said, I feel like I've gotten better."
On whether he's surprised at how quickly the injury has come along since Sunday: "I'm not surprised. I knew it would come along. Hopefully it's good enough to play on, on Sunday."
On how he balances the decision of coming back to play on Sunday without coming back too early: "For the most part, I'm doing everything I can to get out there on Sunday, and then, when the time comes for me and coach and the trainers to make the decision of whether to play or not, then you can kind of do the balancing act then. But now, my main focus is to go there and rehab every day and try and get back."
On whether he has tried to jog yet: "I haven't really tried to jog yet, no."
On what he would say to the people who think it's in his best interest to take a week off: "I don't say anything to them. I'm going to do what I think is best for me and this team, and right now, what is best for me and this team is to try and rehab as hard as I can and get back on Sunday."
On how he compared his current ankle injury to an ankle injury that FS Brian Dawkins had in the preseason: "I think early in the season, and I was really just comparing the symptoms that he said he had with the pain and things like that, early in the season I think he had a little ankle injury and he was able to come back pretty quickly from that and recover. But for me, I said the same thing on my radio show, every injury is different, every player is different, so it's important for me to rehab as much as I can and try and make the game on Sunday."
On RB Correll Buckhalter's ability to make a leaping jump into the end zone considering the injuries that he has had in the past: "I've seen Correll do some amazing things, and he's come a long way with his injuries. He's come a long way since his rookie year and the second year where he had the ACL (injury). I wasn't surprised. It was definitely good to see him being able to do that. Correll, he's a fighter, and he's been fighting since his second year in the league."
On the challenge the Eagles will face Sunday with so many injured players: "Even with everybody being healthy, we knew that the Bears, they do have a very good defense. They've done a great job these last three games of being very competitive. I think their record is a little deceiving just based on them having the lead in the fourth quarter in the last two games and not being able to pull it out. We have to be prepared. We have a huge challenge against us this week, and we have to do everything we can to try and get a win."
On how much an injury like this might weigh on his mind the first time back on the field: "Not so much. I think as far as me being injured, I just try and go out there and try to play. No matter what it is, I try to go out there and prepare myself throughout the week mentally to go out there and play and play with my mind free of any injury."
On how tough it is to maintain team cohesiveness with so many starters being injured: "It's not hard. We've played together before. I think it might be, if any at all, a little different in maybe the first quarter and things like that, but once we've all gotten out there and had enough plays under our belts, I think we'll be fine."
On whether he will try jogging this week: "It just really depends on what (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) has in store for me. I know he wants me to continue to rehab and continue to work on it. It'll continue to get stronger, and hopefully I'll get healthy enough to play on Sunday."
On what his rehab involves: "A lot of, they have a unit called a micro current, stretching it, just a whole lot of different things. (I'm) in the training room two, three hours a day per session. (I'm) just trying to get it better. That's the number one thing for me, is trying to get it healthy enough to make it to the gate on Sunday."
