Opening Remarks:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Well there is not much to say but I will keep it very brief. We are a team that was ready to play this game and we played a terrible football game for lack of a better word. I'm not going to use any word other than that. We were terrible in all three phases. We didn't play well in any phase of football. We were three and out to start. We had a short punt that they turned into a touchdown drive. We fumbled a kickoff and they turned it into another touchdown drive and the game got away from us. We lost the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football. We didn't run the ball well, we couldn't even get a run started tonight when we started the game, and we certainly couldn't stop the run. As I told our guys, we played a team today that got 48 scored on them last week and we see the team that was able to show up last week. We have to give the Eagles a lot of credit for the way they played tonight. We didn't play well as I said. I will leave it open to questions. Right now, as I told the guys, I want them to go home and appreciate Christmas and spend some time with their families and get themselves ready to go. We will throw this tape in the trashcan. Coaches will evaluate it and make sure that we clean up the things that we can clean up for next week. I know the guys will come in excited and ready to play Green Bay on Sunday. All we can do at this point is put this one behind us, answer the questions that have to be answered as honestly as we can and that is that. We played poorly in all three phases, I'll say it again. And I'll leave it open for questions."
On how LB Lance Briggs looked to him:
COACH TRESTMAN: "I thought he did well. He came out a couple times and got some wind, went back out. I thought he played hard. I could answer that question better obviously in a couple days after looking at the tape and next time we get together, but I thought he came through well and he looked well after the game."
On his thoughts on what were the biggest breakdowns on defense:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Well I think that it is a continuity football game. It's hard to talk about one side and not talk the other. If you talk defense it was our inability to stop the run. We couldn't stop the run, we couldn't slow them down tonight. And they continued to find ways to slow us down offensively. Again we couldn't get a run started. We didn't do as good a job as obviously we've done protecting [QB] Jay [Cutler]. He got hit probably more in this game than he's been hit at any time during the season, that wasn't good. We couldn't get any big plays going for ourselves on either side. There were no difference-making plays. Nothing really happened on our side of it. You have to give Philadelphia credit; they played a heck of a game."
On how disappointing it was to not be able to wrap this up:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Yeah the season is full of disappointments, that is part of the adversity of the season. We are not happy about it, we are extremely disappointed. But then that has to go away and we have to re-energize ourselves. We have a very important game on Sunday. Once we let this thing go in the next 24 hours our guys have done a good job, we've had a couple of these during the season. The last one was really in Detroit where we got behind by a big number, three or four scores. And we fought our way back, it didn't happen tonight. But it's disappointing we couldn't get it done but if we said in April that we would have an opportunity to go to the playoffs and do that by winning the last game we would be in. And that's where we are; we are in on it on Sunday. We have to be at our best and we are going to play a very good football team."
On falling behind 21-0 and what that did to his play-calling:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Well it was tough, there is no doubt about it, because the game was moving fast on their side of the ball. And so we were a little more aggressive, I think you could see that. We took some shots, we didn't get a PI [pass interference] tonight, we didn't get a big catch down the field. We had some shots early and really when we were down 21-0 we just couldn't get it done. As I said we took some shots, we really got out of the rhythm of running the football and mixing the run and giving [RB] Matt [Forte] a chance. It didn't start out very well because we were taking hits and he was sliding off some hits and he had some second effort to push his way into some positive yards. But it wasn't clean the way it has been in the weeks past."
On the fact that the Lions and Packers lost and that there really wasn't a whole lot for the Eagles in this game, and emotionally did he think that was going to help them:
COACH TRESTMAN: "I didn't think about any of that. Our guys have gone out every week and played to win. There was no doubt in our minds that we prepared to do that, practiced to do that, but at the end of the day we didn't get it done tonight. I don't think about all those other things. These guys are professional football players, they are focused on playing and winning, and expecting to win. We didn't get it done tonight."
On how aware his players were that the Lions and Packers lost tonight, and whether he addressed it:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Well, they were aware. We didn't address it as a team but our players knew it. And we knew what was at stake tonight and the opportunity that we had and we didn't get it done."
On if he thought it would give them an extra feeling of momentum going into kickoff:
COACH TRESTMAN: "I think that those kind of motivational things, whatever it is, usually last about two minutes and then guys get settled into playing the game and being at their best. So all that stuff is perceptively something that may give a team an emotional lift, but at the end of the day once that game gets started they are not in a position to be worrying about that or thinking about that as much as they are to be at their best at every play. And we certainly weren't that today and certainly that starts with me. The team wasn't at its best today so I accept accountability for that as well."
On the fact that he has been consistent with QB Jay Cutler, and if there is a decision on if he will start Sunday against Green Bay:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Nothing there. There are a lot of different reasons we didn't get this done today. We are all at fault and again it starts with me. Nobody played well enough to win tonight certainly in all three phases."
On what he sensed allowed the Eagles to create the pressure that they were able to create tonight:
COACH TRESTMAN: "That is a tough question. I would like to be more specific with you. They were hitting us with different fronts and a lot of backers in gaps, things like that. Again I could be more specific when I look at the tape."
On his defense taking some small steps forward recently but then obviously a step back tonight, and how he will address that going into this week:
COACH TRESTMAN: "Well we have to address it factually. We can't deny the fact that we didn't stop the run tonight. And we have to make sure they know why and we have to do what we can to get back to where we were previously in the last couple weeks when we really did feel that we were ascending, we were getting better. Not where we ever want to be but certainly at place where we can be in a competitive environment and make the stops necessary to get the ball back to the offense and do those kinds of things. But there is no one side of the ball that lost this one, all you do is watch the game and it was clear and it is in most cases, you win as a team and you lose as a team. We've said that all year and we certainly did tonight."
On what makes RB LeSean McCoy, within this offensive system, as dangerous as he is:
COACH TRESTMAN: "I don't think it would matter what offensive system he plays in. [Eagles Coach] Chip [Kelly] has done a tremendous job putting his offense in, no doubt about it, but he is just a great back. He is a back who can play in anybody's offense and be great. He is great in space, his second effort is as good as anybody in the league. He has great hands and you saw it tonight, he made people miss in space all over the place tonight. He is a very dynamic, elite player in our league no doubt about it."
