Opening Remarks: "We have a great opportunity coming up against the Atlanta Falcons. It certainly will be a big challenge as well. This team has just some excellent pass rushers, and they have been for quite some time. As you know, (Falcons defensive coordinator) Mike Nolan came over from Miami and we played them last year - excellent scheme, well-disciplined, and the players just play with their natural instincts so they do take some calculated risks. Most of the time when they do it, it works just beautifully for them. Their linebackers are very fast. They have some excellent cover men, and most of their safeties are quite active as well. So, we've got a great opportunity and a great challenge as well."
On what some of the hallmarks are in a Mike Nolan coached defense: "I said this the last time we played them, that would've been the Miami game, (they have a) very, very good scheme. You can tell on film that they are coached very well and disciplined. He does give them some opportunities to go with their instincts as well. They do cause problems, and they're active. They're quite opportunistic as well. They have come up with some huge plays to turn games throughout the beginning of this year. Lastly, normally against this defense it's going to be hard and they make you work for everything against this style of defense. He's been in 4-3 and 3-4. They're typically a 4-3. However, you do see many of the things that he's done in the past."
On how much he has to worry about ball hawks like CB Asante Samuel: "Oh yeah, it's there. They've got several of them in their secondary that play similarly to Asante. Asante is brilliant at that. In fact, the last ballgame a week ago, he picked off a pick-six to just turn the game. I believe it was tied at the time, I believe 13-13 with very little time left. It was a pick six and it just turned the game around. Yes, many of their players in their secondary do play with a similar style."
On whether head coach Andy Reid's evaluation of every aspect of the team created extra stress for him during the bye week: "We evaluate everything on the bye week every year. We've been pretty good coming out of bye weeks as well. When you lose a couple of games like that, it's not good. Winning is good. We have to flip that turnover ratio, that's the big thing. Coming out of the bye week, and let me make myself very clear, we have to play better in many instances. However, we flip that turnover ratio and that takes care of an awful lot of things. That's the biggest key when you looked at everything with fine detail. When you make it simple - if we flip the turnover ratio, it will take care of an awful lot of things."
On whether focusing on turnovers too much can actually make the problem worse: "That's right. We want to play unafraid to make mistakes and that allows you to play fast. When you make a mistake and then find a solution and correct it, you have to admit it first. Correct it and move on fast - that's the way we want to play. However, the ball security is the biggest statistic that correlates with winning. Many of these stats that are thrown around mean very little in regards to winning and losing. Turnovers? Big. Very rarely, once or twice it does happen in a typical week in the NFL, a team may overcome a negative turnover ratio to win. We have done that several times.
"However, that is the one stat that directly correlates with winning. That's at every level, unless you're in college and high school and you're just way better than every team. On an occasion, you can overcome a negative turnover ratio and win the game. It's not going to happen consistently. We just simply have to flip it. You're right, the main point is that we have to play loose, aggressive, and confident, but we have to take care of the football."
On whether he wants to see QB Michael Vick run more if he needs to in order to make plays: "Yes, I want to see him moving and grooving when he's forced to. Some games, he'll be running more and moving and throwing than other games. It does depend on scheme just a little bit. Are they spying him or are they mush rushing him? Does he have lanes to move in? You'll see some games are different than other games there."
On what adjustments and changes the offense has made coming out of the bye week: "You make adjustments every week in this league. Every week. The bye week gives you some time to spend on some of the fine details. There was a host of fine details, virtually with every player and then as a unit and as an offense, to certainly try and help, most of which was focused on the turnover ratio. We want to try and help there just a little bit."
On why the run game struggled against the Lions despite what the defense was showing: "Every game is different. I will say that (they were) very conscious of our deep throws as well. We should have run the ball a little bit better in that last ballgame."
On why the offense has struggled in the first half: "Turnover ratio. It's that simple. If you go back through our games, we've been in some pretty good drives. The first ballgame, we fumbled and loss 25 yards. The second ballgame, we go way down there and have another turnover and so forth. We did look at that certainly very, very closely as a staff, in how we were different in first halves and in second halves."
On whether the extra assignments given to C Jason Kelce prior to the start of the season has been too difficult for C Dallas Reynolds: "Sure, we looked at all that. I will tell you that Dallas has done an outstanding job with those things. You knew I was - we talked about a little concern with the center-quarterback exchanges and so forth when he immediately went in. He was pretty clean, and then we had some problems last week. We have certainly tried to clean that up as well. As far as specifics, Dallas has done a very good job with the calls and all of the things he has to do at the line of scrimmage, with the exception of everything that happened last week. It cost us."
On whether Vick has enough time in the pocket to be effective: "There is certainly (time) on occasion. Certainly, we have to be more consistent that way and there is no question about it. Most parts of the last ballgame, Mike did almost a heroic job of getting the football out on many occasions. We certainly have to be more consistent there."
On whether defenses present them with totally different looks on a weekly basis now with Vick: "We have talked about that in years past. Any time we have just an excellent quarterback and you're motoring pretty well. We're motoring a little bit in terms of yards but it goes back to that turnover ratio. That's not the point here. Any time you have a heck of a quarterback or a (WR) DeSean Jackson or a (RB) LeSean McCoy. With these types of players, in many cases, you will see a specific game plan just for yourself. It's been that way my whole career. I've been very fortunate to coach some of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play. You go back and you're not going to see much of that. You're better off going back to the last couple of times you've played them to see what they did specifically to that offense or quarterback."
On why the offensive line seems to struggle early: "You're getting deep there. I expect our players to play well every snap. No, I understand your point, but we expect them to play well every snap."
On whether the preparation has changed because the offense does get much different defenses than the film suggests: "That is where experience comes in. Some players have had many years of experience but we've had mini-camps and training camps, and we've seen an awful lot of things - stunts, fronts, blitzes, coverages. Yes, even if we haven't practiced it because it's something new, at some point we have. I certainly expect to play well every snap."
On how much of a challenge it will be for Reynolds to do his pre-snap reads with Nolan's defense known for pre-snap movement: "They are active - linebackers, safeties. They may play single safety middle. They are very active and disguise an awful lot of things. It certainly will be important."
On whether he has a grasp of what Mike Nolan can do since Mornhinweg's offenses have played well against him: "He's a very good coach and mixes it up from game to game. You have seen what they have done this year. They are quite opportunistic and we talked about that. Those players on the defensive side in Atlanta have been playing with great confidence."
On whether Nolan is spending the week trying to figure out something different to have success against Mornhinweg: "It's a cyclic thing. I have had quite a little bit of experience. Our players and coaches have to be ready to come firing every day."
On whether he is still calling the plays after the bye week evaluation: "Yeah, I look at that every week. We look at everything we do every week and certainly during the bye. Even when we have a better record, we look at all of those things."
