If nothing else, Trent Edwards has made the decision facing head coach Andy Reid and general manager Howie Roseman over the next 24 hours extremely difficult. After another impressive performance by Edwards during the Eagles' 28-10 victory over the New York Jets (closing out the team's first undefeated preseason since 1995), Reid is charged with choosing between Edwards and Mike Kafka, who has been sidelined with a fractured left hand, for the roster spot earmarked for the team's third quarterback.
"Well listen, I want it to be hard, that's what I want it to be," Reid said following the game. "I thought he played well. I thought he did a nice job. We'll go back and look at it tomorrow and see what we think.
"The nice thing is all four of them can play. They can play in this league and they're good football players. We'll sit down and hash it out. Tough decision, but that's good. That's what we want. ... I'm happy for Trent. If he's here or somewhere else, I'm happy for Trent."
Reid, meanwhile, confirmed that Foles is the backup quarterback at the moment.
"I think he's performed well enough where he can be a (number) two for us," said Reid. "I'll go back and look at the quarter that he had today. It looks like he's very comfortable in there. It looks like he trusts his protection and he makes the throws he needs to make. I think he's performed worthy of that. I'll evaluate the other two as we go and we'll just see what it comes out to number
Reid was also asked about the comment made earlier in the day by Eagles chairman/CEO Jeffrey Lurie which indicated that Reid might not be retained as head coach if the team finished 8-8 for the second consecutive season.
"We surely wouldn't be satisfied with 8-," said Reid. "We're striving for better than that so I think that's the important thing. I'm not sitting here telling you that's where I want to be or where this football team wants to be. So we're striving for that. I'm not worried about all that. I understand the business. I completely understand. I have a great relationship with Jeffrey, so we go play. That stuff, I don't worry about all that stuff. I worry about each game."
On the field, there was only one injury suffered during the game to report for Reid, and it was a somewhat familiar one as safety Oshiomogho Atogwe departed with a hamstring strain. Atogwe missed each of the last two preseason games because of a hamstring injury as well, which Reid conceded makes the team's evaluation of the veteran difficult.
"It does make it a little tougher," said Reid. "That does make it a little tougher, but we'll sit down and talk about it.
"You saw him a lot with the Rams. He probably didn't have quite as much with the Redskins ... We'll just go back and see where we're at. I'll talk with (head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder) and the (doctors) and Howie and I'll get together and evaluate the thing."
On the flip side, Reid was impressed with the play of second-year safety Jaiquawn Jarrett on Thursday night, as the former Temple Owl continued his bounce-back from a rough first preseason game.
"I thought he did a nice job actually. He showed up tonight. Big hitter," said Reid, adding that Jarrett also made a nice block on special teams. "His play on defense, I thought he did a nice job. Looked like he played aggressive football. I'll go back and look at the assignment stuff on tape, but he's one of the guys who looked like he showed up a little bit."
Meanwhile, the punting and holding duties were performed exclusively by Chas Henry Thursday night following reports that the team had released Henry's veteran competition Mat McBriar. Henry punted four times for a 33.0-yard average, but landed three of the four punts within the opponent's 20-yard-line. Reid explained that dynamic.
"We haven't made any final move there although we gave Chas an opportunity to do all the kicking and all the holding today, just to see how much he's progressed with Mat around," said Reid. "We have not cut Mat yet and we did not cut him prior to the game, so we wanted to give Chas an opportunity to see what he could do, see what he's learned over these last little bit here and then go back and make a clear evaluation."
As tomorrow's 9 PM deadline for roster cuts looms, Reid is off to perform one of the most difficult tasks of his job. As the Eagles prepare to whittle the roster down from 75 players to 53, the head coach added that sometimes you have to look beyond offense and defense.
"I tell the team every year that there are going to be a few guys on this team that make it because of special teams," said Reid. "We evaluate that just as hard as we evaluate offense and defense. We'll just see how that works out."
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