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Head Coach Andy Reid

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Opening Remarks: "(DT) Fletcher Cox has a tailbone contusion. Most likely will not practice tomorrow. (T) King Dunlap has a MCL strain and will not practice tomorrow. (FB) Stanley Havili has an ankle sprain. We'll just see how he does here. (WR) DeSean Jackson actually fractured a couple ribs up high in his chest. We'll put him on IR today. (C) Dallas Reynolds has an ankle sprain that won't allow him to practice tomorrow. (RB) LeSean McCoy is still in phase one with the concussion. (RB) Chris Polk has the big toe sprain. (QB) Michael Vick still hasn't passed the ImPACT test as of yesterday and he'll have another test tomorrow. And then (T) Jason Peters (we) will not activate today. He will go back on IR there."Big plays, turnovers and then the late penalties culminated in our inability to win that football game. Those are my responsibilities. My responsibility is to get this team to play better and we have not done that here to this point. We're going to continue to work to get better. That's the only thing you can do at this point. When you lose, you work to get yourself into a position where you can win football games. The big plays were obviously coverage problems. Those were the first two touchdowns that they scored. (We are) making it way too easy on opponents to do that. We've done that over the past few weeks and we've got to get that answered and then the turnovers. (RB) Bryce (Brown) had two fumbles. The one positive out of that (was) I thought he played a heck of a game. You just see where the turnovers can get you. Then (CB Brandon) Boykin had one on the return. Again, that was his best return (of the season). It ended up with two young guys, smart guys, and hard workers that will keep getting better. It doesn't help you with the results here today. Then the late penalties were concentration on the football. They happened up front and you can't do that when you get an opportunity to get off the field and put yourself back in those scoring positions." On what is going on with the secondary that has experienced players at all positions: "As coaches we've got to work on putting them in a better position and then when they're put in that position (they've) got to make plays. The players have told you they have to do a better job, the coaches have told you, and the end result is you've got to do a better job and make sure you end these things."On whether a defender was supposed to blitz when the defense gave up its second long touchdown to the Panthers: "Yeah, that's what happened. From the slot we've got people coming off both edges and it was only supposed to be off one edge. That allowed the guy to be free."On whether the defensive issues are due to the scheme or execution by the personnel: "I think it's a combination. As coaches you take full responsibility of getting your players to play and not have mental mistakes. To put them in a position to be successful you go back and you analyze and you look at that. And then you make sure you (put) players in the right position to do those things and using the right techniques and so on. That's kind of the process that you go through."On why he has not been able to get through to this team about eliminating all of the problems occurring this season: "Listen, if I had that answer for you it would have already been done. Keep trying different ways and making sure your communication is right, your teaching process is right, and presentation is right and that you're repping it in practice, and that you've narrowed down for the players the things they need work on and you give it to them again in a situation in practice that they can transfer that into the game."On whether the players are smart enough to understand zone coverages: "I don't believe that (they are not smart enough). I'm going to take full responsibility for it. There's a way to get through and I'm not getting that done right now."On what is keeping him from naming QB Nick Foles the starter for the remainder of the season: "First of all, I want Mike to get healthy. That's what I want him to do. I want to make sure he goes through that. I haven't gotten beyond that thinking right there. Just make sure he's alright (and) Nick continues, if he's in there, to play well. If I had to tell you today, you're probably going to see Nick again here. He's got to concentrate on getting himself better and ready to go until (Vick is healthy). We'll cross all that other stuff as it goes. I want Michael to get healthy."On whether it is unusual for a player to be placed on IR for fractured ribs: "No, he's got multiple fractures up high in here. As (general manager) Howie (Roseman) and I get together we can build in options for down the road if we want to tag him to where he can come back. We haven't discussed that yet."On whether the injuries sustained on offense is a legitimate excuse to save his job at the end of the season: "That's not where we're at. The next guy comes in, the next guy plays. Minus one we went into that game with those same players and we had the opportunity to win that football game. There are no excuses with that."On how he determines when to play young players more often compared to veterans he has seen already: "I mentioned this last night (but) everybody is playing. I go through the roster to (deactivate) players for the game, well there are just not a lot of healthy ones that you're putting on the (inactive list). The young guys are all having an opportunity to play and I'm not sitting up here telling you that I'm having a bunch of guys coming back. I'm not doing that today. So those guys are to have a chance to continue to play and continue to get better and that's how you approach it. We've got good young players here and we'll give them an opportunity."On whether S David Sims, CB Curtis Marsh, or CB Brandon Hughes will get a start this season: "We've evaluated that. We've looked at that. We think that right now, and I'm saying this right now, we're still early off in this game. But that's not where we're going."On whether he protects his players too much in the media and whether they need to earn his protection: "Well I deal with them man-to-man and coaches and players. I stand before you. I am the head football coach of this team. It's my responsibility to make sure that these guys do their job. Bottom line. Then it's my responsibility to deal with those players and coaches face-to-face and man-to-man. I'm not going to change that during this time. That's not how I operate."On whether he feels the players are accountable for their actions: "I do."On why it seems like the defense has gotten a lot worse since defensive coordinator Todd Bowles took over the defense: "Listen, the numbers speak for themselves. I can't stand here and debate that. They are what they are, as far as the numbers go. I said this before, I think Juan Castillo is a heck of a football coach. And I think Todd is a good coach. We've just got to make sure we're getting our point across and we do a better job. Right now it's not good enough. Right now I can't stand here before you and tell you it's good enough."On whether he needs to convince the players that there is something left to play for this year: "Hopefully, you have the character on the team to where guys – you saw it last night – to where guys enjoy playing the game and they play to win the game and so on. I think I have that type of locker room. It wasn't an effort thing; it hasn't been an effort thing. It's the big plays, the turnovers, those have been the issues, but it wasn't because they weren't trying hard or going full speed and doing that or practicing hard. They've done that. They've shown up for meetings. They don't come late. They do all the right things. We're just not getting it done right now. There's a fine line between winning and losing in the National Football League and I know the only way that you're going to get better is (if) you keep working hard and keep pushing forward and you get a couple breaks here and there and games can turn right around. Anybody can win any Sunday."On whether there was a consideration for a quarterback sneak on the fourth-and-one run by RB Bryce Brown in the fourth quarter: "We didn't get the thing. I thought that was the right thing to do. We didn't quite get the blocking the way I wanted it, but I believed that was the right thing to do."On why the team chose to go for two following their first touchdown: "We put together a chart, a two-point chart, and that situation, where we were at, with the score the way it was, it takes in a bunch of considerations. We rely on the chart and the chart said to go for two. Now, we've done our homework to put the chart together so, when you're in a little cooler situation than the heat of the game, then you can bank on that."On whether he would have gone for two in that situation regardless of the team's record: "Yeah, I was. Listen, I've got 51 percent on the flexibility there to do what I want to do with it. I put together the chart. I chose to do it there. People argue that you save it for the fourth quarter; I've been around a little bit. I kind of know how it works. That's what I chose to do there."On whether he has considered handling the defensive play calling: "I try to stay on top of all that and make sure that I've got a good grasp of what's going on there."On whether there will be any changes in the defensive play calling moving forward: "Not today."On who he considers the leaders in the locker room: "I've been asked that so many times, it's redundant here. But (LB) DeMeco Ryans obviously is, on the defensive side, is a good leader. (TE) Brent Celek on the offensive side. I can keep going. I mean, there are names. A lot of the defensive linemen. (S) Kurt Coleman."On whether he is coaching as if he has a chance to return as head coach next season: "I'm coaching to get ready to get after the Cowboys. That's what I'm coaching to do and I don't go beyond that. That's simple or whatever the term is that works with that, that's how I go and I'm not going to let anything distract that other than getting this football team ready to play them."On whether he met with Chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie this morning: "I did not meet with Jeffrey this morning."On why there have been few personnel moves on the defensive side of the ball when players are struggling with fundamentals: "Well, it's been a bit universal in the tackling category. I can't tell you that most positions haven't had too many, in my eyes, missed tackles, and we've used everybody. We've got to get better in that area so we'll try to go back and work the fundamentals again and again and again. So we'll continue to do that until we get better."On whether the perceived lack of leadership in the locker room can be fixed with more vocal leaders or effective leaders: "I think we've got good leaders. We've got enough good leaders. We've got to get a win in the category and then you get things rolling there. The variety of things that go into that, the things that I mentioned here, I don't think those are because of leadership. We've got to take care of that."On his assessment of QB Nick Foles in his second start: "I thought he did some good things. On that first drive, there were a couple of forces in there that he had. He was trying to make a play, make things happen. But he came right back. I thought he made some nice decisions. He was decisive. He handled the offense well, the whole process in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage."On whether all of WR DeSean Jackson's injury occurred on the end around in the first quarter: "It did."On how long Jackson's recovery will be: "It depends. It looks like six weeks, possibly, when you're talking about broken bones. I don't think (it will take several months). He's had all the scans and everything and I think we have a pretty good grasp on it. But, again, you never know."On the status of WR Jason Avant: "Avant has a chance to practice tomorrow."On whether RB LeSean McCoy is a long shot to play on Sunday: "Yeah, probably a long shot. As we're sitting here today, I don't know if it's a long shot, but he's not ready today."**

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