On LB Brian Rolle's first start: "The same things that we've seen throughout the year. He's an explosive guy, athletic, and he's young. When you're young, you're going to have some growing pains in certain looks that you haven't seen or certain things that people do. He has the ability, and he's going to be a good football player."
On how DE Darryl Tapp has looked at practice: "He looked good. I looked over there and I didn't know who that was rushing. I said, 'Woah' because he finished off pretty good before he got hurt. He looks good."
On whether Tapp will start if he's ready to play: "Yes, if he's ready to go, he will."
On what to expect out of DT Derek Landri: "Derek has a big heart. Everyone on the staff loved Derek, and it was a hard thing when they had to make a decision. He's smart and he understands our scheme. He's ready to go."
On whether DT Cullen Jenkins might play some snaps at defensive end: "He has played some. Cullen has moved around. Sometimes on third-down, you see him moving around. He's been outside lined up over the tackle at times. He has moved around."
On whether the defensive unit can get better after enduring the past few weeks: "We'll get better and that's my responsibility. We're going through some things, and some of the things I'm taking care of in practice and some other things I have to take care of. Together, as a defensive group, we're going to take care of things and we've been working on them. We know what to do, and we'll get better."
On whether he feels he has the players to be able to turn things around: "Yes sir. Look, we had a little session this morning where we were working on third-down and I showed a couple of clips of the guys making plays. We were just talking about what we have and what we're going to do. So yes, we have the players."
On why the defensive line wears down toward the end of the game: "I think what it is that when you go out, and you guys are at practice, and you see those guys are in a rotation. You're in a rotation, but when you're in there for those three or four plays, you're going all out. It's 110 percent, and that's probably no different than having the camps and stuff. We're getting ourselves into shape and every week we're getting better and better. That's what we've talked about, and every week gets better and better as we go through it."
On what the defense can do to limit becoming fatigued: "The thing is to get off the field. So we have less plays. That's what we need to do."
On whether the record setting weeks offensively in the NFL mean that offenses are ahead of defenses because of the lockout: "I've heard that, but I'm worried about the Philadelphia Eagles and I'm taking care of our defense. I'm trying to see what we can do to get better and win games in fourth quarter."
On whether his defense has noticed that: "The hard thing is that there are some things schematically that you haven't been able to work on. That probably takes a little longer than the offensive side of the ball. It probably takes a little longer than everybody else, but there are no excuses."
On why CB Nnamdi Asomugha hasn't been playing strictly man coverage: "Really when he first came here, I thought, 'Here's a guy who I can use like Charles Woodson. Here's somebody who can line up anywhere.' That's what we've been doing. You saw him last week on (TE) Vernon (Davis) and he did a good job. I probably could've put him on (TE) Tony (Gonzalez) with different situations, and those are some of the things that I want to be able to do with him. Bring him off the edge and do a lot of things with him. He's a special guy, but again, you talk about things that hurt. Those are packages that would have got a lot of reps in the offseason. I have to be careful with that because Nnamdi is human. He's a great person, but he's human. I have to do a better job handling him. I think what happens, too, with me is that I have to remember he's human."
On whether Asomugha would have to be put in a zone to do those different things: "Not all the time. Last week, he was in there in man and sometimes there's zone concepts that are really man concepts. Once a guy comes into your zone, you end up buying him. When you look at the Raiders, the Raiders do that, too. They do the same thing but it looks like you're up there pressing, but really you're playing zone. So he's done some of those things. When he does move inside, there is a tendency to play a little bit more zone inside than you would outside."
On whether Asomugha's reaction to things in zone makes him think that he's human: "No, no. What I'm talking about is that last week I had him in regular and in the nickel package playing against two tight ends and two wide receivers. I had him in a dime package. What I'm saying is that I gave him too much without having camp. Those are all packages that we would have worked on in camp. I wanted to shut down different guys and different personnel. I have to understand that we didn't have the camps and that he's human."
On whether he expects the fans will accept no mini-camps or OTAs as an answer: "Here's what I know about the city of Philadelphia, the fans, our owner: we're going to win, and we're going to turn this around. We have the answers, and then when we win, I know they'll understand."
On what makes him so confident: "Because I've been through this before. It's not the first time, and I've had success. It doesn't matter if there is problems because our job is to solve the problems. We've started off like this before, and we believe in our plan and we believe in fundamentals. We believe in the way we work, we understand that, and we know that every week we get better, and better, and better. That's the way it's happened here before, and we've been here 12 years. Our record speaks for us, but now we all want to win the Super Bowl. We believe in what we're doing, so what we do is we keep working harder and we correct some of our problems. Last week, I had Nnamdi in too many different packages, and that's my fault, my responsibility, and I shouldn't have done that to him."
On whether he thinks interceptions will come with all the sacks: "You know what happens sometimes, too, is that if you understand sacks, to get a sack most of the time you have to have good coverage. What does a quarterback have to do? When you go across the league, and we're playing one this week, where the quarterback goes five plant or five hitch and not get sacked, a guy can whiff and just miss the guy completely in the B or C gap, and the ball is gone in five plant. In five hitch, the quarterback can get hit and the ball's gone. We've seen those QBs, and we've seen Peyton (Manning) and (Ryan) Fitzpatrick, the QB from Buffalo. Chan Gailey has done a great job with him and they've only had like three or four sacks. When you look at Fitzpatrick, that's what he does.
"You talk about sacks, the reason that the quarterback has to hold it is that there is coverage. He doesn't want to throw it because what can happen is an interception. Which would you rather take as an offense? We want interceptions but as an offensive guy, would you rather take a sack or have an interception? You can go through all the sacks and you have to understand about the timing with a quarterback as he throws it. When you're watching the TV, watch the quarterback. One, two, three, four, five, plant, throw. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady. One, two, three, four, five, hitch, throw. Now, problems happen where it's one, two, three, four, five, hitch, hitch, sack. We watched that today where things happen for the defense because it's the team.
"I showed it from the sideline because the coverage made the quarterback hold it for two hitches. What do you think happened? Sack. That's what we talk about. The defensive line does a great job, and the secondary should get the defensive line two hitches. D-line, if the quarterback hits us twice, he's down. We have a plan, and we understand what the plan is. It's in place, and we're getting better. We'll solve the problems, and we'll win games."
On whether he foresaw the problems this team has had stopping the run: "The thing about the alignment is that you have to get in your gap and play gap responsibility. Part of that is when you're young, you need to know the formations and all these things. With a little wider alignment like that, you can't be wrong. You need get in your gap and you need to be able to stop the run. We've gotten into different stages and different games where we've been able to stop the run.
"All of the sudden, we've been in certain situations – we had a man blitz the other night and we had a late read, and bam, he busts out for a few yards. To be able to say that someone is just getting their butts kicked is not right, but that's part of the coaching part and part of the correctable things that we feel good about. That's what will get corrected. So when the guys get more experience, they'll understand where they fit in different formations."
On whether prior experience plays a big part in that process: "Remember, we are in week four. The team that wins the Super Bowl is the hottest come December and January. Remember that when I say that."
