Opening Remarks: "The Cincinnati Bengals, their defense is quite a little bit better than their numbers. They have been on the field an awful lot. They have played very well in specific games, especially early in the ball game. They are coming off of a nice win against a real good, tough, physical Jacksonville team. They played excellent defense in that game, and then they've got the bye, so they should be fresh. We have to get our preparation done and work hard this week, and we'll see what happens Sunday."
On whether he has any concern about the rushing game right now:"We're accustomed to running the ball well, especially situational. We are accustomed to having a pretty good yards-per-carry. We're not doing that right now. If there was one reason, those are easy to correct, and I'm not going to go into detail on everything. However, there are several things that we need to get better at there to have a good running game, and that's one of the few things that we are missing just a little bit to get us from being a pretty good offense to a great one, and we all want to be a great offense. We have to run the football, and we have to be able to do that, at least situational."
On whether he feels that they have the personnel in place to be a great offense: "Oh sure. Look, we make up all kinds of reasons and those types of things. We expect the players that are in there to perform well, and they have for the most part. We are doing a lot of things on offense that championship-type offenses do, we are doing a lot of those things. There are a couple of situations that we are not performing very well, and we are going to work hard. We are going to prepare, and we are going to get better in those situations."
On whether it is frustrating for him to still be coming up short even though he feels like he has the personnel in place: "You can't get frustrated. You have to learn from it, get better, move on fast, get the corrections done, and so on. In fact, I think our guys are taking this thing head on right here, and that's what you have to do to get better at that specific situation, and I think our guys are anticipating getting better there."
On what he can do to help QB Donovan McNabb find his rhythm earlier in the game:"We've played to his strengths just a little bit better. That's my responsibility there and sometimes is a little bit cyclic. He's performed at a really high level throughout most of the games. We always want to start fast. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't. That's part of the game, and you'll go through some flows during the game. It's just the last couple that we started slow as an offense. Now, everyone else has to help the quarterback, and so we'll try to get better at that as well."
On what he is referring to when he talks about starting fast: "Consistency is what I'm talking about there. A little bit more consistent early in the game and then we'll be fine."
On whether the most difficult part of indoctrinating a player into an offense is being able to read different defenses: "Well, sure. Any play you have your assignment, so you have to know exactly what you are doing with all the different fronts, coverages, blitzes, movement, those types of things. It starts there. The second is the execution part both as an individual and as a unit, and then there is an offense and that comes into technique and all those things. Then finally, it's bringing a little latitude with it and then making the play. So, you have that with every play, and we've been executing most of our plays very well. We haven't in some cases and some of those cases have been critical situations, and so we have to get better there."
On whether WR Reggie Brown is 100 percent:"Reggie is pretty good right now."
On whether he thinks they are committed to the run game:"We're always committed to the run. Now, there are some situations where people are doing everything that they can to take the run away and we'll do other things. There are situations where we are going to throw the ball first."
On what makes him think that the problems they have been having can be corrected:"Really that's a good question, and it's been my experience that when you continue to correct, learn, move on, correct, learn, move on, at some point it comes together, and we'd like it to come together real quick."
On whether he feels the problems can be corrected: "Oh sure. There is no question about that."
On why they haven't been able to correct the short-yardage problems yet:"Like I said, if it's one problem, those are easy to correct. Then you get into another situation with a different type of problem and another situation with a different type of problem, and look, I have to do a better job. It all comes back to my responsibility to put them in a little bit better of a position and to have success as well."
On why he thinks that other teams use their tight ends differently than the Eagles use their tight ends: "I think that's a little deep. We could talk for hours about that. Every system is different. Every defense you face is a little bit different. Everybody's personnel is a little bit different, so we could go on for hours about that."
On Brown's involvement in games: "I'd like to get him on the field a little bit more. He's gotten better in the past the couple weeks and I think he's real close to being there."
On whether Brown is strictly a Z receiver when he's on the field: "Yeah. He's a flanker. However, he has played X and we have some specific plays there. And as you know, we move the flanker inside to the slot, outside weak-side, strong-side outside, strong-side inside; we put the flanker all over the place."
On what it is about WR Jason Avant that makes him an ideal slot player:"Great feel. Very quick. Excellent hands. Yeah, he's done a nice job in there."
On whether it is difficult to get all six wide receivers playing time in the course of a game: "Yeah. The game before, where we didn't have very many plays at all, or that was three games ago, and then this one we didn't have very many plays as well, so yeah. Now, if you have a game where you have 75 plays, it's a little bit easier."
On whether a physical or attitude problem in the short-yardage situation is something that can be easily fixed: "Yeah, I don't think it's the physical and the attitude. Like I said, it's my responsibility. I have to put them in good position first. Second, we have to execute with a little bit of attitude and attitude has not been the problem. We're going to work hard and we are going to prepare to get better in that situation."
On whether at the beginning of training camp he ever thought that RB Lorenzo Booker could be a healthy scratch at week nine:"There's always that possibility. Lorenzo is getting better and better and better within the system. We've got a couple of guys that are pretty good in front of him, and some of those decisions come down to other players health as well as special teams so that happens occasionally. I am very happy with Lorenzo. He's going to continue to get better, and I would expect him to help this team in the future."
On whether improved field position has helped the offense score more points: "Yeah. That's certainly one of the keys, absolutely."
On whether he thinks RB Correll Buckhalter should be used more: "He should play more. There is no question about that. We should. That's first. Second, when we have (RB) Brian (Westbrook) available and he's not fatigued, that's a hard thing to substitute for Brian. We do it situationally, we do, do that. But he should play more, and we are going to try and do that."
On what kinds of challenges the Bengals cornerbacks present: "They are very fast. Both of them are very, very fast. Both of them are fairly young, I believe a second-year player and a third-year player. They are excellent athletes. Both of them have a high amount of pass breakups. They are very, very good that way."
On whether the Bengals play zone or man coverages:"They mix it. In fact, they do a pretty good job of mixing coverages. That's one thing and that's helped them. They'll mix all their single-safety middle type coverages with man and zone, and they'll get two-high safeties with several different coverages. They'll full-blitz you and sometimes that's what's bumping a run, and so they have confidence in those two corners. Both of them are excellent. Each of them has different strengths. Both of them are very, very fast."
