QB Michael Vick
On whether it is important to start strong this year: "Absolutely. The last thing we want to do is start the way we did last year. We found ourselves in a hole and tried to dig ourselves out of it week in and week out. It obviously created more pressure to perform well and the mistakes that you make are hard to overcome when you create such a huge deficit. The thing is to start fast and that's what we preached last year and this year. We want to get out to a great start."
On what he has learned after having a full offseason within this offense: "Just learning to play quarterback within yourself. I could sit here and talk all day about the little nuances that I've learned but we've talked about that before. It's all about going out there and putting it all together on the football field. The most important thing is to take it one play at a time regardless of the situation and go out and play football."
On whether he thinks teams try to throw more exotic looks at him because he cannot handle the adjustments: "I don't know. I don't think teams play any differently because what they do is what they do. It's hard to change within a week. (Hard) to change your game plan and your system as far as what guys are accustomed to doing so it can be kind of tough. They might throw a wrinkle in here and there but it has no effect on what we do."
On the level of excitement for Sunday: "It's excitement right now. Ready to go out there and play the game we love to play. We practiced extremely hard this offseason, trained extremely hard, had great OTAs, a great training camp, a great preseason, and we are ready to go."
RB LeSean McCoy
On the absence of T Jason Peters to begin the season: "Any guy that is that talented, that fast, that athletic, and that big, you kind of get used to seeing him out in the open blocking for you. Sometimes when he plays I would already envision he would be out there blocking. These are the things you have to do. It's football. You just have to deal with it."
On whether it is important to get Vick into a rhythm early in the game: "I think so. I think we need to help him out a little more with protection issues and making plays. Small passes (and) maybe going for two yard passes, three yard passes, five yard passes (and) making it into 20 or 30 (yard gains). Using the playmaker abilities that we all have in this offense (to) make it easier on Mike. We don't need Mike to make a million plays by running or trying to make a play out of something and getting banged up. We don't need that because I feel like we have enough great players in this locker room, especially on the offense, to make plays. I think we are fast enough and talented enough."
LB DeMeco Ryans
On how feels now compared to being a rookie entering the first game of the season: "First game, you're always pumped up and excited for that first game. It's nothing different. Like you said, it's like being a rookie all over again. The initial excitement of getting out there, starting a new season, fired up and ready to start off on a great note. The excitement is definitely there."
On how he manages to not be too amped heading into the first game: "You're going to get a little overly excited because it's the first game. It happens. But I think after a quarter or so, guys kind of settle in, settle down and settle into it. Of course, that first one, that first quarter, everybody's going to be over-hyped and over-amped. Everybody's going to be all into it."
