Injury Report: "Most likely these guys are out for this game: [DE] Victor Abiamiri, [WR] Kevin Curtis, and [LB] Omar [Gaither]. Kevin did have the knee surgery. It went well. He's going to stay out there. They're going to observe him for a little bit to see if anything further needs to be done or if it worked out for him. [DE] Darren Howard will not practice today, he has an ankle strain. [WR] DeSean Jackson, with a foot strain, will not practice today. [CB] Dimitri Patterson, quad strain, will not practice. And then [RB] Brian Westbrook, with a concussion, will not practice. Other than that, everybody will give it a shot. [S Macho] Harris will be another one; we just have to see how he does here in a couple hours with his ankle strain."
Opening Remarks:"I look forward to the challenge of playing the New York Giants. We completely understand how good of a football team they are. We also understand that we have to focus in and get better at what we're doing and that's what we'll do this week. All phases of their game are strong and we have a lot of respect for them. It should be a heck of an atmosphere at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday."
On Westbrook's progress in the last 48 hours: "I mentioned after the game I thought his eyes were clear and he didn't have that hazy look like you might see sometimes. He is making progress. It's a matter of time. We'll just see how he does this week. I know there were things written, I understand that. I'd never go to an orthopedist to have my brain checked.
"On the other side of that, [head trainer] Rick [Burkholder] is on the committee that deals with this in the National Football League. He's very in tune with the best doctors in the country that deal with this. He goes through all of the procedures to make sure that players are cleared properly to play. That's how we base it. I know Brian is going to want to play, but unless Brian's tests come back to where they're in a position where he can play then we won't do that."
On whether it was a grade three concussion: "I'm not sure about the grade of it. Rick would have all that information."
On whether the test results have come back from Pittsburgh: "You do a series of them. He'll continue to do tests throughout the week. I can get you that information from Rick."
On whether he has ever had a player knocked out: "Yeah I think we have actually."
On whether loss of consciousness dictates the severity of the concussion: "Without getting into all of that, I'm not the doctor or trainer in all of this. I can have Rick talk to you. He's more specialized in that area."
On whether the decision regarding whether Westbrook plays will be made around game time: "Yes it will. It will continue on what the tests show here."
On the offense making a lot of big plays but not a lot of in between plays:"I think it's okay to have that, especially against a good defense. You guys would probably know the stats better than I, but there haven't been a lot of teams probably in the last 28 games or so that have scored 27 points on that team that we just played. I know one of them was from a defensive standpoint, I understand that. We take [the points] as team. I know the other teams that played against them also played defense. Certain games, certain things happen. Certain parts of the season, certain things happen. We'll just see how it goes as it goes down the stretch."
On differences in the Giants' defense since former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo left: "The Giants are similar to what they were doing when Spagnuolo was there. They have a couple of changes. They have a very good defensive coordinator so he has some of his own things that he's incorporating so there is some change there. I think they are playing very aggressive football. It doesn't look like they've slowed down the blitz package. They're still bringing it. We have to make sure we are at the top of our game for them."
On whether he thinks QB Donovan McNabb seems uncomfortable in the pocket: "He looks set when there isn't pressure. When there is pressure he's using his legs well to move around and make plays like we saw him do on Monday night."
On whether the team gets more pumped up for certain opponents compared to others:"I think they get pumped up. I always think that [against the] NFC East they get pumped up a little bit more. I talk about the rivalry. Just by proximity, they know these guys personally and we know the coaches and so on."
On G/T Todd Herremans' first game back last week: "I thought he did a pretty good job. I thought he got a little tired towards the end, I think he'd be the first to tell you that, but I thought he battled all the way through it. What a test to come back on after all that time off. [Redskins DT Albert] Haynesworth is a pretty good player so I just thought he did a nice job there. But I will say that he was tired by the time he got to the end of the game."
On why Gaither has stayed on the 53-man roster: "We're keeping our eyes open. The chances of Omar coming back are slim this year. We just have to work out what we do with the roster as we go here. We'd love to have him back, but I don't see that happening."
On the importance of beating the Giants to make a charge in the division: "You attempt to every week. It seems like every game is the most important game, so that's how we approach it. This one this week is the most important one going. I'm not big on the charges. I'm just big on taking care of business today and this week and if you can handle that mentally good things will happen when you get to the end of it."
On how McNabb has gotten back on track when he has thrown erratically in the past: "Like every great quarterback, Donovan keeps firing. You see jump shooters in basketball do the same thing and quarterbacks do the same thing. He's always been great with that and I'm not even answering your question that I don't feel like he's in a slump. If you don't complete a ball, come back and fire away again. He's always had short memory with any balls that aren't completed."
On whether having the World Series occurring at the same time is distracting for the team: "I know our players are close with the Phillies' players. I know they have a good relationship with them and I know our guys are pulling for them. Likewise, I'm pulling for [Phillies manager] Charlie [Manuel]. They've done a heck of a job so we take it as a positive. I don't care if there is a lot written about them or a lot written about us, we don't get into all of that. We're pulling for them and hope they have a great series and win the thing."
On whether Curtis may need more surgery: "They're evaluating him just to see how he's feeling after this one. We'll just see what happens there."
On whether he thinks Curtis will be back: "Yeah, right now I feel that way."
On T Winston Justice's progress: "I think he's made progress throughout training camp and minicamps and he came in with the right mindset there. And then he's made progress throughout this season, so I think he's confident and playing good football. He and our offensive line will have a good challenge. That's one of the best defensive lines in the National Football League and [the Eagles offensive line is] coming off a game where they played a good defensive line so they have some tests here and I know they'll continue to work very hard at it.
"Winston has done a nice job of progressing all the way through and I think we're all comfortable with him as the right tackle. It's important that he just maintains his work ethic and continues to get himself ready for the game, and goes through the process the same way here."
On whether he thinks Justice wants redemption for the last game he started against the Giants:"I'm sure somewhere down there being as competitive as he is he wants to do well here. I don't know if redemption the word but I know he wants to do well. It's a big test for all of those guys so I think they all want to step their game up."
On how he thought LB Will Witherspoon played in his first game outside of the big plays he made: "I thought he did a good job. Are there things he can do better? Yeah there are things he can do better just being more familiar with the defense as we go on here. I thought his gap response, his drops, his alignments were good. There are things for all of us to work on, but I thought he did a decent job there."
On playing LB Jeremiah Trotter more:"We're using him where we want to use him. We made a little package for him and [defensive coordinator] Sean [McDermott] does a good job of getting him in there in certain situations and that's what we do. We use him in there. He hadn't played football in a long time so he's kind of getting back into the swing of things."
On QB Michael Vick's contribution to the team: "He's done everything that he's been asked to do plus a little. He's been a real pleasure to have here and works very hard."
On whether Giants DE Justin Tuck lines up in different spots in their defense and what problems he poses: "Yes they are moving him around. He's quick, relentless. He's a big guy that maintains a low center of gravity. He's able to get things done without standing up and presents big targets to your linemen. And then he has the speed on top of that."
On what he thinks of Giants QB Eli Manning's play this season: "Every year I think Eli gets better and better. He's obviously in complete control of the offense. He spreads the ball around. He has some young receivers; he's spreading them around to the young guys. Everybody is making plays for him so I think he's done a nice job there."
On whether DeSean Jackson had work on his injury: "No he didn't. I mentioned after the game that he probably would miss today."
On whether Jackson's injury is to his foot or ankle:"It's a more of a foot. [Joking] It's connected to the ankle though."
On whether there is more he is looking to learn about this team and what those things are: "I'm not a good philosopher. I just want to get ready for the Giants. I'll let you know that in February when we reconvene in February there. It's Giants week. That's where all the energy is. Let's go."
On whether he thinks DE Trent Cole is showing more talent this year: "It's hard to get Trent out of the game. You look at the first play and the last play and you can't tell the difference. I hate pumping [former Eagles DE] Hugh [Douglas] up because he's a media guy now, but he has that same motor that Hugh had where it's just first and the last play they are relentless."
On whether that quality is just innate in certain players: "It's a combination of stamina, love for the game, he's always in great shape, and he loves to play."
On RB LeSean McCoy developing as a blocker: "He's getting better. He was better this week than he was the week before, but there was one play that he could have done better on this past week. As long as he's making improvements, I can handle that."
