On the onside kick attempt before the second half: "We deploy a formation before we shift into our normal deal, and if they don't react or deploy themselves to defend it, we always have that as a possibility. We kind of muffed it up, but it worked out pretty good. The ball has to be put in play by the official on a stopped clock, and that's certainly a stopped clock, and the official actually is down at the other end and not close to the ball like he normally is. He puts it ready for play, and we didn't miss but he hit it too hard. We really were kind of fortunate because it was kind of a delay of game, and we were fortunate on that. We didn't get the ball but we didn't get a penalty either."
On whether the onside kick was pre-planned: "No, we just saw the way they lined up."
On how important it was for kicker Alex Henery to have a good game this past week: "Well, it's one he should make. It was important because, like all field goals, it was important for a lot of reasons. We were able to get the three points, and they're important for field position. For him, having missed the last two, they were critical and were at a critical time. It was big. They are all big, but that was big for a lot of reasons psychologically, sure."
On his concern level with the return game not being able to breakout a long run yet this year: "Well everything concerns me. You walk the plank every week not knowing what's going to happen. Anything can happen in a game, like an open door in the submarine, you know one thing goes wrong and it's all wrong. One tie breaks down, and you can have a catastrophe. Everything concerns me. With the returns, a lot of times on the punt, the punter controls what's happening because he gives a hang time that allows them to get there or puts it to a spot that you can't quite get to. He controls a lot of that. On the kickoff return, obviously the new rule affects a lot of it, but we just haven't done a good job of getting in position to block it.
"Ultimately, I'm responsible for getting those guys into position and having the right guys to be in position. Sometimes, it's purely a matter of matching up with the other guy. If you put a guy out there who is in there in the eighth grade, and you have him block somebody who is in the 11th grade, he usually gets beat. You should know that, but sometimes you make misjudgments on the matchup. Sometimes maybe we didn't practice it properly, or I wasn't specific enough. I don't think it's the running of (kick returner) Dion (Lewis) as much as it's the getting of guys in the right places and having them execute the block properly."
On Redskins punter Sav Rocca's performance this year: "He's a great punter. He had good years here. Every year, he gets better and better. So he's a good punter, and once you get around midfield, he may be the best. He may be the best now and may be the best ever there because that was his forte. He could nail them inside the 20. Now, even his field punts have improved over last year. Sav's having a great year, and we'd like to take that away from them this week. He's definitely having a heck of a year."
On the Redskins already having two of their field goals blocked this season: "There have been two reasons why they were blocked. On the one, he just mishit the ball. He could've hit it no more than five or six feet. On the coaching film, it's hard to see exactly the trajectory of the kick. It's no more than five or six feet by the time it goes into the line. On the second kick that was blocked, the holder bobbled the ball and the kicker delayed and it was such a late get-off time that the guy came off the corner and got off the corner. In both instances, it wasn't the kickers fault. It was the operation, not the protection. That's them not getting it done. The other team took advantage of it, and was prepared for it when they made a mistake. When they actually made mistakes, they had those blocked."
On the Eagles ability to block field goal attempts in both the preseason and regular season: "I think we have been close, and I think King (Dunlap) has been close. He's a big, imposing guy to put in there. He's really been into it, and that's a big part of how successful he can be. I think he has a chance every week to get one. I think every week, you give him a little something and try to take advantage of what they're doing or where their weaknesses are. You put King in there, and that's a big man. He's got reach and he's athletic, too. I mean I don't think he's ready to play corner or anything, but I think as an offensive lineman, he's a pretty athletic guy. He can twist and turn and be there at the right time. He's got a chance for a few more."
On whether Jason Avant's play against San Francisco was a legal play: "What Jason did was very close to being illegal because you can go over anybody. You can be back 20 yards and get a running start, and if you can clear everybody, that's fine. Unless you're within a yard of the ball, you can't make any contact. It goes even further because if you're within a yard of the ball and you make contact with somebody and use that as an impetus to elevate yourself, to push off of him, that's a penalty. That's leverage, and that's illegal. So when he jumped over there and his feet caught the back end of the snapper, it kind of looked like he pushed off, and maybe he did.
"The referee didn't see it that way because that would've been a tough penalty. We are not advising him to be that close. We wanted him to clear the guy. We thought he could, and he can at other times, it just happens that on that one he didn't bound properly or the guy got up a little more than he thought or he was a little taller than I thought. He's a pretty big guy."
