On whether DT Trevor Laws is a player that may be better the more he is on the field during a game:"I think that's true with most players. You get them in and you let them roll in there as much as you can, and they get into the flow of the game. At any position that's true, and that's no different with Trevor. But at the same time we've got to make sure, especially inside, there's a lot of wear and tear inside at the tackle position, that we keep guys fresh."
On what the problems with the defense are when a team goes into the no-huddle offense: "Well, I know we stopped them. We won the game against Detroit, and then we also won the game last week. So, I think that's the bottom line, number one. Number two is, we need to make sure we stay aggressive and aware of the situation. Aggressive number one, attacking the offense - number two, aware of the situation, and number three, playing with proper technique."
On what CB Trevard Lindley showed for him to be confident enough to have the rookie on the field at the end of the game: "Well, he's worked hard. He's a young player with some ability, and we wanted to play dime as much as we could in the game to match up on the tight end. And that meant that Trevard was out there and obviously made a big play with our fifth turnover of the game to seal the win."
On whether he tells his team anything about killer instinct and finishing teams off or whether that's something they have to learn: "It is important that we stay on the throttle, and stay aggressive as I mentioned earlier to Jeff. But within that, you've got to execute and then you've got to play smart football, and know the situation you're in knowing that they're in a one-dimensional phase at the point in the game, pretty much being pass only. So, we need to do a better job in those areas."
On whether he likes to soften coverage in those situations or play his defense normally: "It goes into the situation overall here. Depending on what the score is and the down and distance is how you execute in terms of the coverage. So you want to make the offense work for everything and keeping things in front of you is A-number one, but staying aggressive at the same time. Field position comes into play, as well."
On whether coverage breakdowns late in games are a result of communication issues: "Communication is big. We just need to make sure that everybody's getting the call. When an offense presents a no-huddle offense to the defense, there is a communication aspect that is involved there. We need to make sure that we're practicing that and we execute along the same lines."
On how much more dangerous the Falcons are when WR Michael Jenkins is on the field: "We faced him last year and he is certainly a talented receiver. They've got a ton of weapons on offense with the obvious ones being (WR) Roddy White and (TE Tony) Gonzalez, and then you add (WR Harry) Douglas into the mix and (TE Justin) Peelle and now Jenkins. And that's not to slight what (WR) Brian Finneran does in his role in the offense. So it just adds another weapon to their overall skill set there."
On how far Falcons QB Matt Ryan has progressed since the Eagles last played him: "We last saw him in '08. I believe it was the early part of '08 there. I think he's a good quarterback. Very smart, manages the game well for them. They are running no-huddle. He puts a coach on the field for them under center, and seems to orchestrate the offense."
On whether there is one guy that the Falcons offense goes through: "Well, you've got to stop the run. You have to commit to stopping the run, because if they get those two running backs going, that opens up their passing game, and that's hard to stop. You look at the games where team's have held them in check for three quarters or so, and that's been San Francisco and a little bit of the Saints game. Eventually, their run got on track and they would pop a big run and then things would open up. The two running backs they have with (Michael) Turner and (Jason) Snelling are a legitimate force that we have to deal with."
On whether they are exploring the idea of using LB Akeem Jordan in nickel situations: "We always look at the different options personnel-wise, going into a game and our matchups. So we'll continue to do that this week. This week's not unlike any other week."
On whether Jordan will be seen practicing with the 1st team nickel defense today: "You could."
On what made their run defense effective against the 49ers compared to the game against the Redskins: "Well, I thought we played better up front. I thought our tackles gave us a point up front, played square in the hole. When you do that, you have a chance to be a good run defense. But when there's push up inside, like there had been in some previous games, it's tough because everything falls back at that point. But last week, I thought out tackles really stepped it up and played well."
On what has to be done to stop both the run and pass attacks: "Well, keep working your tail off. Keep working your butt off to move our defense to our goal. And that's being good in both phases, the run and the pass. In this league, it's tough to dominate a team in both phases throughout four quarters of a game, and that's the NFL and professional sports, I think, overall. A team's going to get on a run here and there. That said, we need to make sure we continue to work hard to accomplish our goal, and that's to make sure that we are good in both the run and the pass game each week."
On how much the team zone blitzes as compared to four or five years ago: "Equal."
On whether it is tougher for new players to learn zone blitzing schemes: "Having new guys is a challenge every year. This year, we've got probably a few more than most years. So that takes time for guys to catch on to the overall system. Not only zone blitzes in this case with your question, but also the overall scheme."
On whether LB Stewart Bradley is all the way back from his injury from last season: "I think he's working himself back. I don't think Stewart's unlike any other player that's gone through a major injury. He's a little over a year removed from the injury and he's taken basically a year away from the game, so Stewart's going to be fine. He's going to continue to work hard and he's the leader of the defense."
On whether he sees players not playing as aggressively when the Eagles are leading by a few scores: "I think a little bit of it is human nature. You go out there and human nature gets involved, unfortunately, and you have to push yourself beyond your limits and push yourself beyond what the scoreboard is reading at the time. And then aggressive, from a physical standpoint, but also aggressive from a play calling standpoint."
On how LB Moise Fokou played last game: "I thought he came out and fulfilled his role. He had the big forced fumble there, which was important for us, and was physical. He needs to continue to understand his role each and every week and that role's not going to change."
On his evaluation of DT Brodrick Bunkley before his injury: "I think he was showing signs of developing the way we want him to develop. And the work isn't done yet with Bunk, and he knows it. We're just going to see if and when we get him back, and if we do, we're going to continue to work with him."
On how much more difficult it gets as the game goes to stop Turner:"Well, they wear you down inside. They've got an offensive line that's played together for a while. Good players are hard to contain for four quarters, so we need to stay after him. And if we're fortunate to stop the run early or stop the run late, we need to make sure we stay on him for four quarters. You take your eyes off of a player like that, and they end up hurting you, which was the case with San Francisco and the Saints."
On how much the return of CB Asante Samuel will help the secondary: "Well, he's a talented player and the continuity certainly helps. The continuity that he's developed with (S Quintin Mikell), (CB) Ellis (Hobbs), and (S) Nate (Allen). Any time you have a player that's come in, it affects the continuity of the overall defense. So, from that standpoint it will certainly help us. Look, we had five turnovers, and Asante is a playmaking corner, so that should help us."
On whether there is a tradeoff with going for turnovers where the other team may be able to capitalize and get big gains: "It's a slippery slope, yeah. You want to be aggressive so that you're forcing turnovers and putting pressure on the offense. With that said, you don't want to give up big plays, and we need to make sure we're keeping things in front of us and playing smart at the same time."
On how much Bunkley contributed to the nasty attitude that he wants the defense to take on: "Yeah, that nasty attitude starts up front, and Bunk is a big part of it. We'll miss him for as long as he's gone here, but at the same time we have confidence in (Laws) and (DT Antonio) Dixon and (DT) Jeff Owens."
On Dixon's development: "He's done a good job. You have to understand where he came from. And (defensive line) coach (Rory) Segrest continues to work with him and he continues to work hard before practice. You guys probably see him out there after practice. He's just a young, young player that continues to improve each and every week. We just need to continue to work with him in building the habits and the techniques that will make him successful."
