Opening Remarks: "On the injuries here, (DE) Victor Abiamiri is making progress, but did not practice today. (WR) DeSean Jackson had his wisdom teeth out, a little swollen and sore today, he did not practice. His back is feeling better, though. (CB) Dimitri Patterson with the groin didn't practice, and then (DE) Ricky Sapp with a knee. He had an MRI and they're evaluating right now whether he needs surgery or not here. We signed (CB) Jorrick Calvin with a trade from Arizona, so he will be added into our secondary group and he'll get some play on Thursday."
On what is wrong with Sapp's knee: "It's been bothering him. He tweaked it the other day. He stepped into a hole and twisted it."
On whether it has been bothering him through the preseason: "Yeah, it has been a little bit. I don't want to say anything until the doctors finalize what they've got going, but it has been bothering him a little bit."
On whether there are particular positions that roster spots need to be decided at: "Yeah, there are. There's a couple of different spots. I'm not going to get into those. I think it's important that all the guys that have an opportunity to play, play like they have an opportunity to make this football team. In essence, they do. They're all going to have an opportunity to play on special teams. I am, and (GM) Howie (Roseman) will, pick a couple of guys that will help us on special teams, and be one of their primary jobs. And that happens, obviously, every year, but when we go through that final evaluation, that weighs heavy on those last couple of roster spots."
On what his plan for quarterbacks is for Thursday night's game: "Right now, I've got (QB) Michael (Vick) down for a half, the first half. And then the other (QB) Michael (Kafka) down for the second half."
On how important this game is for Vick to show the progress he has made: "He did well last week, which I figured he would. He'll get in and work with the second group this week. I have a pretty good idea of what he can do, and where he's at, but this will be good to get him in and continue working his rhythm and balance and all of those things in the regular offense."
On how C Jamaal Jackson responded after working hard in yesterday's practice: "I had the chance to talk to him. Yesterday, (his knee) felt good. Today's an important day. It didn't swell. It's not sore, so he's feeling pretty good. He's sore, from his body from being hit so much yesterday, but the actual knee is well, and he feels strong so it's a positive thing."
On whether the starting offensive line will get more reps than an ordinary fourth preseason game: "No, the starters won't play in this game. No."
On whether that includes the team's two starting rookies, DE Brandon Graham and S Nate Allen: "Yes."
On whether C Mike McGlynn will play against the Jets: "Probably not."
On whether C Nick Cole will play against the Jets: "Nick's not going to play."
On what the starting offensive line will be on Thursday night: "I'm not sure, I don't have it right in front of me here."
On whether TE Cornelius Ingram getting reps as the second tight end at today's practice indicate any change on the depth chart: "No. The second tight end, third tight end and fourth tight end will play in this game, so they didn't have to take the whole practice worth of reps. We just rotated the two and three in that tiger spot, the second tight end spot with the first group."
On whether Calvin will play against the Jets: "Yes. "
On whether Calvin will get a chance to return kicks: "Yeah, he'll play. He'll have a chance to possibly return. I've got to talk to (special teams coordinator) Bobby (April) and (K) David (Akers) and see how he did on the returns today."
On how tough it is to narrow down what players may make the team: "You've got to make sure, at least, you want to make sure that you're right. So you are going to exhaust that and try to give these guys as many reps as you can. Are you a 100-percent right with players leaving here and going and being successful with other teams? No, but we're going to try to exhaust ourselves and to make sure we make that right decision. And this game is great for that. It gives you an opportunity for some of these guys that are right on the edge to show you what they have, without starters or with extensive playing time."
On whether this game will be one of the more important final preseason games in a while for the Eagles because the team has so much youth: "Well there are spots. I'm telling you there are spots, so it becomes very important for these players. I mentioned that to the ones that were working as a scout team throughout the week, that make sure you give these guys an opportunity, and give them a good look so they can go out and excel. On the other hand, I think you're given an opportunity whether you make it here or whether you make it somewhere else to have valuable film collection that somebody can look at and evaluate you as a football player, not including (Roseman) and myself, but maybe if you have a chance with another team."
On whether G Stacy Andrews is committed to the guard position, since he mentioned that he was more comfortable playing tackle: "It looks like he has been. He hasn't said that to me. I think that's a positive for us if he can do both, that's absolutely great. So we've told him that in an emergency situation we need you in a tackle position to be ready. We felt very comfortable. He played a lot of guard for Cincinnati."
On the prospect of an 18-game season: "I would love to go back when the league changed from 14 to 16. I'm sure the comments are probably the same comments that you're hearing today. I think the league, they think through these things and they exhaust themselves going through all of the different scenarios. I think from our standpoint as coaches, how things will be handled in the preseason, we don't know that. And for training camp, and then the offseason numbers of OTAs that you have, and so on. Until you get all of that, I can't really answer you. I think the 18-game schedule is obviously workable, and I think the league's done a lot of homework on that, but I don't know exactly how we're going to do it with the other things. I've got to see that first."
