Opening remarks: "Last week, (TE) Brent Celek played really well. He's become one of the better tight ends in this league, I think. (QB) Kevin Kolb – three plays, three mistakes, otherwise he played pretty well. You can see in a game like that, especially, you just can't have – you might get away with one, you can't get away with three of them. I'm not talking about the two interceptions; there was another play as well. We could have given him a little bit more help on a couple of those throwaways where he needed to throw the ball away. However, he did show his maturity on throwing the football away a couple of times. We need to play at a little bit higher level in all aspects.
"Then, this game coming up, it's really a good challenge. This football team has played two teams, and realistically, quite possibly could have won both of those games. The Baltimore game was 24-24 with about four minutes left, if I remember correctly. Of course, the Raiders game, they were ahead inside the two minutes. We have quite a challenge here. This coordinator (defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast) has gone to the 3-4 from a 4-3, so we're seeing a 3-4 team this week. They do quite a bit from that 3-4. Everything that you could possibly do, they have been doing, and they showed it in the preseason or these two ball games in the regular season."
On whether using the Wildcat can take a quarterback out of rhythm:"Look, the rhythm thing, that's a real thing, there's no question about that. However, I suppose it depends on how you approach it with your mentality. Many times during a game, a quarterback hands the football off, so sometimes we have them out wide and these types of things. I think it really depends upon how you approach it mentally. There are really two ways: taking plays away or it's like a handoff. So, I don't think it took Kevin out of any rhythm at all. I think that was a good thing. I don't think that ever happened. I really do. I think it's how you approach it mentally."
On how ready QB Michael Vick is physically, and what the plan is with how they will use him:"He'll play. How much? We'll see as the week goes on. I think he's in top physical condition. We'll see how he handles the few things that we have in for him."
On whether he's saying that Vick's physical condition won't limit the number of snaps he'll get during the game: "I would question him handling, let's say, a whole ball game. Although, I do think he's in top physical condition, but he hasn't played in a long period of time. We'll see how he handles it this week."
On what Celek is doing from a physical and mental standpoint right now: "(I've) always felt and always thought very highly of Brent Celek since the day he came here. There's that trust factor there. He normally does the right thing. Smart players rarely make the dumb mistake, and he's a smart player, so he rarely makes a mistake. He normally catches the football well. He normally is gaining yards after the catch. He normally is a force on the line blocking as a tight end. Now, he's become very, very consistent at all those strengths that I just mentioned, and he's playing at a high level. Now his challenge is every game playing at a high level."
On what specific challenges a 3-4 presents for them: "As you know, we've talked about this before, personally, I like coaching against a 3-4 for several different reasons, one of which is that this offense was designed against a 3-4 way back many, many years ago. Typically, the problems that a 3-4 can give is they can fire-zone blitz in many different ways. They can rush five and play three deep, or man. They can rush three, and it looks like they can rush five, and drop eight. They can fire zone with really any one of five or six different people, safeties, corners and then all four (line)backers. We have to be sharp. We have to be sharp with how we're protecting in the pass game and how we're blocking in the run game, assignment-wise."
On whether he views facing a 3-4 as a new challenge for Kolb: "Yeah, absolutely."
On what kinds of challenges the 3-4 presents for Wildcat formations:"Instead of ends, you have (line)backers on the outside, so it is a little bit different look. It's like that in your normal running game as well."
On whether he expects RB Brian Westbrook to practice this afternoon: "Apparently he's getting better, so we'll see. That's about all I know right now."
On whether he expects WR Kevin Curtis to practice this afternoon: "Yeah, he was at the walkthrough today. Apparently he's getting better, so we'll see as the week goes on with both of those men."
On whether Curtis' knee injury is starting to concern him: "He's been battling pretty good. He's a tough guy."
On how much he thinks Curtis' injury is impacting his play: "I don't think there is any question that it's impacting him now. However, you can still play at a high level when you're banged up a little bit, and that's what he's trying to do. He's a tough guy. (He) doesn't say much about it."
On the injuries suffered already this season: "(We've) been there before. Our players who have been in the past (are) excellent at playing with players that either don't play or haven't practiced all week. We expect the preparation to be sky high. If a player doesn't play, the next man (needs to) step up and play as good or even better. That's real, it does happen. That's what we expect. That's what our players expect. Our preparation has to be the key thing."
On people saying that the reason the Eagles are using the Wildcat is because they can't run the ball given the personnel right now: "I'm not real happy with our running out of certain (formations) – I shouldn't say – there are just a couple. I went back and evaluated that and I think we'll be better there running the ball out of normal formations. We certainly ran the ball well out of Wildcat. However, you do bring up a good point with the running out of the unusual formations, there's that line – we do a lot of things like that, special plays, but there's a line that if you cross it then it starts to pull from the stuff that you're really good at. I've been trying to pay special attention to that, make sure it doesn't pull from the things we kind of base our foundation on."
On whether he thinks it was important to see the mechanics of using nontraditional formations before putting Vick in that situation: "It's a plus. We've practiced it so we had an idea for what it would look like in games and practices. Yeah, I suppose that was a plus."
On how he plans to offset losing the element surprise by bringing Vick into the game:"You can do that a couple of different ways, but I'm not going to get into that right now. You can offset it. It's like when you're audibling, you can dummy audible. There are several things you can do to sort of offset that."
On whether one way to offset is to throw Vick into a standard drop back: "That's one of the few ways, yeah."
On what WR Reggie Brown needs to do to get on the field: "He's doing everything he can. He really is playing at a high level. There are several things that happened last year, the most important one was the injuries throughout the year. He's on his way back, he's working hard. He's doing everything possible. We're going to need Reggie Brown at some point. He'll be ready, and he'll play at a high level. I was just talking about that the other day. There will be a game where he goes in and plays great and helps us win the game. Whether that be now or down the line, his preparation and his work ethic is important right now."
On whether he means Brown is playing at a high level in practice: "Yeah, that's right, and he's healthy. He's catching the ball well, and he's running his routes well."
On whom he would say the major component of the Wildcat package is, him or head coach Andy Reid: "We're all for anything that helps our football team and our players are as well. Whatever can help our football team win the next game, all of our offensive players are for that."
On how people really consider Miami to be the team that started the Wildcat, and whether he sees the Eagles being able to put their own wrinkle on it: "That would be a positive. However, I will tell you, I saw some film – I was fortunate one time, I was very young, probably in my early 20s – I saw some film, Missouri vs. Oklahoma in 1942. Shotgun, no backs, motion, the Wildcat stuff, so this isn't anything new. Michael Vick has done a bunch of it in his past just in their normal flow of the offense out there in Atlanta. My point is that this has been going on for many, many, many years. The problem with doing it in the NFL was that the quarterback does get hit quite a little bit more, or the man that's taking the snap."
On whether he feels like a revolutionary in regards to the Wildcat: "No, not in this game. I'll tell you, we go day by day, game by game, in whatever it takes to win that next game, we really focus in on. That mentality has worked, it has worked for many years for me and our offense here and that's the way we go about it."
On whether he worries about the quarterback taking more hits if he lines them up outside: "They have to use a little bit of athletic ability out there."
On whether they are fair game to hit: "Yeah, you can hit them within five yards."
