Injuries: "(LB) Stewart Bradley had the elbow dislocation. It's at least going to be a couple weeks, here, and possibly more. But we won't do anything as far as injured reserve or that. He won't need surgery as it sits right now. (LB) Keenan Clayton has a hamstring strain. That's probably going to at least be a week and we'll see how he does after that and kind of take it day by day until then. And then (DE) Brandon Graham does have an ACL tear. So he will have surgery on that. That's all in the process right now, I have no information for you on when or who's doing the surgery. But he will need surgery to repair that. And then really everybody else is, you know they're okay. (T) Winston (Justice) and (CB) Asante (Samuel), Asante had a good thorough workout today and Winston likewise, so we'll just see how they do as we start their week here. But it looks like they should be back, ready to practice and go. (WR) DeSean (Jackson), he was fine. So everybody else really is okay."
Opening remarks: "Again, compliments to the Cowboys for all that they went through and have been going through. That was a heck of a football game. I'm sure from a spectator's standpoint it was a heck of a game. It was a good game to coach in, an exciting game to coach in. Plenty of things we did good (and) plenty of things we need to work on. I was proud of the guys for battling for all four quarters. We figured it would take that. The one game that they lost in the four prior to our game went to the fourth quarter and it was at the last drive, that type of thing, and that was against New Orleans, a good football team. So it was important that we went in with the mindset that we needed to battle for the four quarters. I thought the coordinators, coaches, assistant coaches did a nice job of putting the gameplans together offensively, defensively, special teams-wise, and then the players. It was a complete team effort between players and coaches. The players executed the gameplan. They executed their techniques and I thought did a nice job, again, for the most part. I thought the two standout groups were the offensive line and defensive line. I thought they had huge challenges; the defensive line against a team that has really been running the football well. And they were able to corral that, the running game, and I thought really did a nice job of slowing that down. And the offensive line I thought was challenged with one of the better defensive lines in the National Football League. And again, you have (T) King (Dunlap) in there who isn't the so called starter and so on, but he went in there and did a nice job. And (C) Mike (McGlynn), who this is his first go-around against who I think is probably the best noseguard, or at least one of the top noseguards in the National Football League. And I thought he did a nice job, did a very respectable job. And it all kind of came together in that four-minute where the offensive line, (RB) LeSean McCoy, the tight ends I thought all brought it together and did a very nice job in there of finishing the game up in the four-minute setting. LeSean had a nice game on a whole, but really magnified in that four-minute period. And then DeSean had, you know, the four catches for 210 yards. I mean, that's basically unheard of. But he made some nice plays. (QB) Michael (Vick) hit him on a couple deep ones, started each half, and then he had the long run, there, where he was able to shake (number) 21 (CB Mike Jenkins) loose and then make some people miss with speed and quickness. So he did a nice job there. (CB) Dimitri Patterson I thought had a big interception for us; they had an opportunity to start that drive and get it going, he stepped right in and had a nice pick. And then (DT) Mike Patterson. I mean, he didn't get mentioned much, but Mike, he's having a Pro Bowl-caliber year and you really see it these last four games. I mean, he's playing really good football. It was good to see (LB) Jamar Chaney come in. I mean, Jamar steps in for Bradley and Bradley's your leader on that defensive side of the football, and he steps in and he wasn't shy with his calls, he was accurate with them, and he played good, physical football. Again, his challenge will be now that he's on film people have the opportunity to study him. So he has to take it up another notch. And we haven't made any decisions on who the starter is there, but if he is that guy, then he'll have to take it up a notch from there. And then on special teams (S) Colt Anderson, you know what a find he was by (general manager) Howie (Roseman) in bringing him here. He's just done a great job of getting down on the coverage teams and really plays physical. (RB) Eldra Buckley, you know, he's another one, had a big play in the game. And then (K) David Akers, the kicks that he made, those were big kicks, not only the kickoffs, but the field goals. And then those kickoffs, when you're able to get that team having to drive an 80-yard field in order to score that's a good way to start a drive from a defensive standpoint."
On whether Graham will be placed on injured reserve:"Yeah, most likely Brandon will be."
On whether he plans to make a move to fill Graham's spot on the roster: "No. We haven't done anything there yet. Howie and I will get together after this."
On whether he has a plan to replace Bradley if he is out for the season:"Yeah, but I mentioned that we're not going to put him on IR. We haven't done anything there. So we probably won't do anything. We'll just get a good feel for how long this thing takes here."
On whether Chaney is the starter or whether there is an open competition for the middle linebacker position:"No. I just really haven't had a chance to talk to (defensive coordinator) Sean (McDermott) about it. So I don't want to tell you one way or another. But I will tell you he played pretty good, but I want to make sure I visit with Sean before I say anything."
On how he prepares non-starters for the opportunity to play if a starter goes down:"Well, listen, it starts with your personnel department and bringing in good football players. So now the coaches develop a trust - good football players that have an aptitude to pick up the offense and the defense and special teams. So if, and when, your starter gets hurt you have confidence that that next guy can step in and be able to handle it. And then, from a coaching standpoint you work with him, and then we expect the players to, in return, work and keep their work level up. And that's the way we approach it from day one – at training camp we expect everybody in there to be a contributor in some way. And so you see guys that get into these packages, and really there are very few guys with the exception other than quarterbacks that don't, when you suit up, that you don't play. And I think that helps. Now they have a chance to kind of grow in the offense and defense, and then when given the opportunity to be a starter, if and when they're given that opportunity, then they can step in and go."
On whether he recognized the depth he had on the team during training camp: "Well, we did. Now we felt some (players) would take a little bit longer. We tried to push them along, and then in certain cases we backed up a little bit, and then pushed them along again. So you know, they're all individuals, so you handle them all differently."
On whether Samuel's injury is more severe than he originally anticipated: "I don't think so. We went back in and MRI'd it last week just to make sure that we weren't missing something there. And you know with an offensive lineman, somebody who's not running and having to cut like he cuts, you know possibly they could have played. But you're dealing with a guy that has to cover these receivers and be able to plant and cut and do those things, and it takes time. Again, all the guys are different, but this one here takes time. There's nobody that wants to play more than Asante. I mean he wants to be out there. This guy doesn't miss games, that's not his deal. So he wants to be out there and he tested it and it didn't work. Now he had a good workout today, so we'll see, we'll see how it goes."
On whether Samuel's injury is an MCL sprain: "Yeah, let me give it to you exactly what it is here. It's a knee sprain. But yeah, it's (his) medial collateral ligament."
On whether Vick's thumb was x-rayed after the game and whether it was still bothering him today: "Yeah, he seems to be fine."
On CBs Joselio Hanson and Dimitri Patterson's evolution this season as two undrafted players: "Yeah, well, we resigned Joselio feeling that he could be a starter if we needed him to be a starter and I mean, that's how much confidence we had in him, even though he's our nickelcorner, or nickelback. And then with Dimitri, we knew that Dimitri had the height, weight, speed, ability, it's just a matter of him having an opportunity in there to go. He had quite a little bit of playing time in San Diego last year, but had a couple games actually, last year. So we knew he had that ability, it was just a matter of putting it together consistently and on his performance and knowing everything and being able to, if there's any hesitation at that position it gets exposed a little bit, so you get familiar with the scheme and the things we're asking them to do and then they can play at full speed and ability. That's where we felt he was at, so we gave him a chance and he made plays."
On McCoy's improvement from his rookie season to his second year:"I think you're probably right on with both of them there. I think that, again, him being more familiar with the offense, particularly the pickups and the routes, and then really detailing the blocking schemes. He spends time with (offensive line coach) Juan (Castillo) to make sure he knows exactly how we're blocking things and detailing that, which it was a little bit of a muff last year with him, I mean there was just too much information to digest at one time. Although he did fine, he did a good job, but he was able to detail it even more, and then the fact that he knew he had to get stronger. There was just no ways around that. He had to be in better shape and be stronger if he was going to be the primary back, and so he had a real good offseason in that way and increased his strength and really lived with (head strength and conditioning coach) Barry (Rubin) there. He got himself stronger."
On whether he anticipated this type of production from McCoy: "Listen, we knew he could catch the football and we knew he could run the football. And (former Eagles running back) Brian Westbrook was a big part of this of kind of telling him the little ins and outs of it. And then (running backs coach) Ted (Williams) is a veteran coach for that position, so that's helped. And then having (former Eagles running back) Duce (Staley) here, you know, Brian left, Duce comes back and he gets another little side of it from a player's perspective. But we thought he could, again, we thought he needed to get stronger, which he did, so we felt like if he did that he'd be okay."
On whether there are similarities between Westbrook and McCoy: "Well, listen, Brian spoiled us a little bit because we could move him all over the place. And Brian was one of the more intelligent players that I ever coached. So that kind of sets the bar a little higher for that next back coming in. But you have to be able to catch, you have to be able to block, and you have to be able to run the football and Brian can do all of those and do them very well. So when you go out, you can't help but look – you don't want your offense to go down a notch. You want to be able to keep having that thing grow so you go out and you say, 'This guy right here, he looks like he could really be a nice fit in our offense. We can do a lot of things with him, we can move him around.'"
On whether he saw a little bit of Westbrook in McCoy when they drafted him:"Well, we did. You obviously see the elusiveness and you see the ability to catch the football. He wasn't a very good blocker at the college level and I'm not sure Brian was a very good blocker at the college level. Neither one of them was really asked to do that, but they both learned. I mentioned this one when LeSean came here that his biggest challenge was going to be pass blocking. You knew he could catch the ball. You knew he could run it. You knew he had a brain in his head that he could pick things up. It was a matter of, can he get this pass blocking thing under control? And then all the reads that are involved in it and he was able to do it."
On whether he needs to draw a line on Jackson's celebration antics:"Well, I'm going to sit him down for the rest of the year (jokingly). Listen, I love his enthusiasm. I've told you this from the get go, he loves to play the game. There aren't a lot of guys out there that love to play the game more than what he loves to play the game. Do I like those things? No. I don't like them. Do I express that to him? Yes. I do. And I'll leave it at that."
On whether Jackson will keep doing the antics: "I don't know. I'm hoping not. But that's alright."
On whether it is especially tough for Graham to have a serious knee injury as a rookie: "Well, it's tough; it's a tough thing. It's not an easy thing to do. Now, he has a positive outlook on it and he just wants to get done what needs to get done and then get the rehab going and get back. So the ACL, especially the first one, they're tough, it's a tough rehab. You don't quite know what to expect and you have to put a lot of trust in the trainer and in the doctor because they're bending that knee in positions that it doesn't want to be bent in, and that doesn't feel real good. But listen, he's a tough kid, he'll work through it and he'll be back. He's upbeat at this point."
On his thoughts about DE Darryl Tapp: "He's actually done very well. We've had him inside and outside. Yesterday he had some big snaps for us. So he's playing at a high level. (DT Brodrick Bunkley) is back, so we have (Bunkley) in there too. And I really think the last two weeks (Bunkley) has played very well and it looks like he's back physically where he was and has flexibility in that elbow, and so on. And then (DE Daniel Te'o-Nesheim) had some valuable snaps when (DE Juqua Parker) was down. We had him activated and not that he played a lot, but he had some valuable snaps in there."
On whether he is concerned about the repeated hard hits Vick is taking:"Well, listen, I've said that before, he plays a physical game. I mean that's what he plays, and that's a tough position. You're going to get hit and if you run it you're going to get hit some more. But he's a tough nut."
On whether teams have an obvious objective to knock Vick out of the game: "I'm not sure what their objective is, but they've got a couple hits on him."
On whether his view on running the ball has changed and whether there is a reason why he likes to run the ball more in the second half: "Listen, I think early, if you look at the different teams we've had I think you've seen that. You kind of work with the personnel that you have and that's what you go with. And so, I think we have a lot of flexibility with this group that we have in both the run and the pass game and we have some physical guys up front. LeSean is doing well and Harrison's a good back too. Harrison would be starting for a lot of teams, obviously. So he's a good football player."
On whether the current offensive line is a better run blocking unit than offensive lines in the past: "I think they're pretty good. They do that well. I think that's one of their strengths. I'm not going to compare them to the other years. But I would tell you I think that's one of their strengths."
On whether the Giants game being switched to Monday night affects the Giants preparation for the game against the Eagles: "Yeah, listen, we're going to get the Giants best shot. We know that. Whether they're playing Monday night, Sunday, I don't think it matters. They're a pretty strong group mentally, I think. They have their game tonight, and I'm sure they'll handle it just like a Monday night game, and then get back into the swing of things as if it were, you know, a regular Monday night game and short week and be ready to go. I don't think it will have much of an effect on them."
On whether there is a reason why the offense has been so good on opening drives this season: "I'll tell you what, you come back to the players are executing, (offensive coordinator) Marty's (Mornhinweg) put together some great first 15 (plays). He's done a great job feeling that he knows what that team is doing and putting those guys in a great position to make plays. And guys are making plays. The first play yesterday, that throw to DeSean, that was a beautiful thing there. Between Michael and DeSean they made that happen and if you really look close at it you see (TE Brent) Celek's right there a couple steps behind DeSean, but he's right there. So he had either guy, and (WR) Jeremy (Maclin) did a heck of a job clearing everybody out. Everybody kind of gravitated towards him. But Marty's been putting us in great position all the way through the game. He's letting these guys utilize their talents and show off a little bit. So it's a tribute to him."
On his thoughts about the development of Chaney: "Yeah, well Jamar, we brought him up here before the draft and we liked him as a player at the college level. But we brought him up – we ask the middle linebacker, he has a lot of responsibility, so he has to know quite a little bit and make a lot of adjustments in a very short period of time when the offense comes to the line of scrimmage whatever formation they're in. So they have to be able to think fast and they have to be able to think accurately. We felt that he had that ability. Sean felt very good about him. And then, it was a matter of, like I was saying about LeSean and blocking, Jamar's strength wasn't using his hands. He did everything with speed, quickness, and making guys miss, and that was their defense. In the National Football League you have to be able to use your hands and get on and off these blocks quickly with big men attacking you and he developed that. He started right in the mini-camp (and) every day he worked hands, hands, hands and he did it all through training camp until it became more natural to him. And then you were able to see that last night as he worked, he was getting guys on and off (blocks). You saw it on special teams when he was working on special teams getting guys off of his body to free himself up to make plays."
On whether bad penalties are a product of youth and whether he is concerned that the bad penalties could come back to haunt the team in future games: "Well, it will bite you if it continues. That's the point. So whether it's youth or whatever it is, you have to grow up fast. If it's youth, we have to mature fast there. They're always going to get the second guy that punches and you're always going to get caught. So you know that from Pop Warner football on up, and then DeSean's deal, he knows that that wasn't the right thing to do, now. So we'll just keep pounding it in there."
