On how the outcome of the Jets/Giants game can not affect the emotions of the team: "Well first off, I didn't know they were playing on Saturday, too. They're playing on Saturday, huh? I think the guys, they're just working hard. And I think this is more about when you work hard, you know we all believe good things happen. You know, sometimes there's obstacles, and God knows we've had some, but I think it's rewarded a little bit for all of the hard work. And the thing that's important is to just keep working hard, keep getting better. You know I think the guys…there's a couple things other than the playoffs, you know they want to be a top 10 defense, and those things. So they're working hard right now and just want to play well."
On his thoughts about the play of S Kurt Coleman: "I think sometimes what happens is - and Kurt mentioned this before – I think when something is taken away from you, you really come back and when you come back you know how awesome a thing it is to start in the NFL. I think all of us in here, you know, it's Christmas, one thing I would like to wish everybody in Philadelphia a merry Christmas - and all of those guys just keep working hard because you never know what can happen. Even though people tell you it can't and don't believe in you just keep working hard, man, and you never know. But the thing is that it's a privilege to be doing what we're doing and I think he found that out when he sat down, you know and he's really come back and he studies a lot. In fact, he leads a group that they watch tape together early in the mornings and he's the leader of it. And I think that's helped, and I think that's helped (S) Nate (Allen), too. I mean, that's something that's helped Nate and (LB) Casey (Matthews). And I think sometimes when things like that happen you're going to do one of two things: you're either going to get worse or you're going to get better. I don't think anybody…I think in life every day we either get better or we get worse."
On whether he senses more confidence among the players on defense: "There's more consistency and they're getting to know each other, they're getting to know what the other one does without having to look. I mean, Kurt made a comment that I happened to just read. He said he came up on that play and really tried to go for the kill shot because he knew Casey was right there and he felt comfortable that for whatever reason if he missed the tackle, because he was trying to cause a turnover, that Casey would be there to make it because he knows now that everybody's flying to the ball."
On whether he saw CB Nnamdi Asomugha's comments after the game: "Well you know, I think when you look at Nnamdi, whenever anybody comes here and you go into a whole different atmosphere. I think just the practice…initially he had to get used to the way we practiced and the way we do things here. I think there's a lot of things that he wasn't accustomed to doing coming from a different place; you know, things are going to be different just the whole atmosphere. You know, we're not where we want to be this year but I think when you go back and look at coach Reid's track record he was coming to a place where we're winners, we had been winning as of late. So I think the whole atmosphere, the whole deal was different for him initially the way we practiced."
On his thoughts about the challenge of facing the Cowboys: "You know what, talent-wise they're the most talented team that we've faced and they're playing well. (Cowboys QB) Tony Romo, just like I said he's a great quarterback. I think he's Hispanic, too. But he's a great quarterback and he's doing a great job leading the group. He's going to be a great challenge and I think a great challenge that our guys will like - I think Nnamdi likes it. So if they listen to me they get excited because this is awesome because they get to go down there and go against all of these stars, the Cowboys. So we get to see what we're made of and where we're at right now."
On how he has decided who does what best out of the young linebackers: "One of the things is we've talked about how young they are. All of those kids can play – they're not kids, they're young men. Sorry. But they can all play so the thing was is if we just cut a little bit for each one and we just focus on a certain package, then you know what they can play fast and it's all about playing fast. I think that's one of the things for Nnamdi, too, is when you get into a new system you can't play fast because you're trying to learn the system. So what I think it has done is it has allowed these guys just to focus on a certain part. And sure they need to know the rest of it, but they need to know that (LB) Jamar (Chaney) knows that he's going to be out there on base, Casey knows he's going to be in on Buffalo nickel, (LB) Brian Rolle knows that he has to know a little bit of Buffalo, a little bit of base, (LB) Akeem (Jordan) knows that he may be in nickel, he may be in dime. So all of a sudden when you're studying tape you're breaking it down into different categories so I think it enables them to play a little faster and it just helps their maturity."
On whether that comfortability has helped the defense in the red zone over the last couple of weeks: "You know, just the fundamentals, and again some of these coverages you say well they're some of the same things, but we have a bunch of different guys working together and matching the routes and things like that. I think the thing is that's history, we have to do that this week and even do better than that this week."
On whether the team's practices are different from Oakland's and whether that was part of the tough transition for Asomugha: "I think, I'm not sure, but what I hear from other people is we practice fast. You know, everybody…it's a fast deal and most of the corners play, we have a 10-play script and they go the 10 plays. And I'm not sure that everybody does things like that. So it was really just a general thing from what I have heard from people, might be wrong but that's what I had heard. So I think things were different, and I think for everybody. You know, everybody has their own little way just like you guys. Each one of you guys in here thinks you're better than the other one in the way you do things, right? I mean, if you didn't think that then you wouldn't be where you're at. But I'm saying we all have to be like that confidence-wise and we have to feel that what we do is the best and is better than everyone else. Or if not, we wouldn't be in this business or this profession. So when I say something like that, maybe I'm just saying it because I feel like what we do, what coach Reid does here is the best, the way we practice and the way we go about things, and we just feel that way."
On whether there was an adjustment then to carry that over to games: "Well you know what, adjustments to different coverages, you know different names; you say man is man, but if they call it 'Jane' and we call it 'John' it's still different. And then, all of a sudden, you know when three guys get together a guy has to go here, there, there, and then you have different ways to do that. Do you add the safety? You have all of those things and you have different names and they call them a certain way. You know, we say 'point combo', 'three-way', those are the names that we use, but they use different names. So all of those things, those are a lot of things when you're looking at putting things together. And really those guys missed the two-a-days, they came here when we were already practicing one-a-day."
On whether focusing more on the run on first downs has been a recent adjustment: "You know what, I think that even when I was on offense, you know that nine-technique when we played on offense coach Reid always talked about how that was a tough deal. He always said, 'Man Juan, that's tough.' And protection-wise me being over there was always tough to block the play passes on first down and second down. So really that's part of the thing why coach wanted to play the nine-technique was the problem it presented to us on offense, that's why we like that scheme. So no, we've been playing the nine. Sometimes we have to move them up and play the six and you know they've had sacks like that. And the d-line they play hard, man. I guess you could almost say they're almost 100 percent – I was saying (DE) Trent Cole and (DE Jason) Babin percent before and now I'm saying d-line percent – you know, that's different and we have to get everyone to play d-line percent now."
On his thoughts about DE Phillip Hunt: "Hunt, man he's an athlete and you know he's hungry, too, meaning that he wants to prove to everybody – sometimes when you're smaller people don't think that you can do the things that you can do. So he has a big heart just like the rest of them. Just like a lot of our guys, you know they have big hearts and play hard. And we're going to bring those hearts to Dallas Saturday night, you know."
