Head coach Andy Reid addressed some of the issues that led to the Eagles 48-22 loss at the hands of the New Orleans Saints and updated the injury situation in his Monday morning press conference.
DeSean Jackson suffered a groin strain during the game, and will be evaluated as the week goes along. Brian Westbrook suffered a sprained ankle on the same ankle he had off-season surgery on and he will also be evaluated further this week. Dimitri Patterson broke his hand and will have surgery in the next couple days. He will be out for the next couple games, Reid said.
Asante Samuel suffered a stinger, but should be fine moving forward. Todd Herremans is making progress but will not be ready for the upcoming Chiefs game.
At quarterback, Donovan McNabb continues to make progress but Reid said he is not yet ready to take contact. He will continue to hope to start in week 3. If McNabb is unable to go, Kevin Kolb will be the team's starting quarterback, said Reid.
"I thought the effort was there," Reid said about the loss. "I think we can do a little better job communicating. Playing in some tighter situations in the secondary. Those are all things that we can correct. We'll learn from this game.
Reid was particularly disappointed in the penalties and four turnovers committed by the Eagles. The Saints scored 21 points off those turnovers.
Poor execution "falls completely on me," Reid said. "That's discipline, it's not the effort ... It's important that we go back and make sure that as coaches, that we're putting the player in the right position."
Reid said there were a few positives to take away from the game, namely the performance of Kolb in his first career start.
"I thought overall (Kolb) did a pretty good job after having an opportunity to evaluate it," Reid said.
Reid said that Westbrook will continue to fight through his injuries.
"I think (Westbrook) will work through these things," Reid said. "He hasn't played much in games. Everything's a little faster obviously in games ... I know he's working like crazy with our trainers and he gets frustrated because he wants to be out there every snap."
Reid also commented on the use of the wildcat package.
"It averaged 5.7 yards per carry and was very productive," he said. "I think we had five first downs with it.
"I just thought it was another wrinkle we could use. We've done a few gadget plays over the years and had some success with them. I thought this could help us both in the run game and the pass game."
The wildcat package become even more intriguing with the upcoming debut of Michael Vick.
"We haven't even started on the game plan yet," Reid said when asked how Vick will be used against the Chiefs. "We'll see how (Vick) does this week, see what he can handle."
Reid said he could not answer whether Vick would be Kolb's backup if McNabb was unable to play.
-- Posted by Bo Wulf, 12:28 p.m., September 21
