WR Jason Avant
On winning the Ed Block Courage Award: "First of all, I just thank Jesus Christ. I didn't do it to win an award or anything like that. I didn't say anything about my story to get glory. I thank my teammates because they voted for the award. I'm happy about it, just to let people know what God has done for me and just to let kids know that it's not about what you face, it's about what you overcome. I think that everyone in our society, everyone that is alive, can have one thing in common. You go through life and you're going to have ups and downs. How you finish is the key and continuing on that path to finish and be a productive citizen in our society. I'm just thankful."
On whether he thinks sharing his story will help at-risk youth: "Definitely. I think that the biggest thing is to let them know they have a way out through Jesus Christ and through hard work and dedication and through belief. I definitely know that me telling the story to kids who are coming from a neighborhood like I came from, wherever it is, we can all identify with hard times, no matter who you are. (I want to let people know) that you can overcome and I think kids can understand that."
On how good it feels to be voted by his teammates: "It's pretty good. Whenever you have a team voting for you, it's definitely special. I'm thankful that I am able to help in the locker room and also for my teammates to think enough of me to get an award like that. I'm very appreciative and I'm just grateful in a time like this."
On the leadership he is able to bring such a young team: "The thing about it is, whether it's a young or old football team, I think gratefulness is the biggest thing. Whenever you're grateful, whenever you're happy about just being at work in a hard time like this in an economic crisis that we're having in our country. To be at work and to be thankful, I think that goes a long way. With our team, that's my message to them, to be grateful. For me, Jesus Christ coming into the world to die for our sins, like Christmas season is about, I think that's the biggest thing for guys to be thankful about. We have that mindset, and I think that helps us with our camaraderie and helps us to be united. We have one thing in common, we realize we are not supposed to be here. We have had that mindset that going to work and playing games are easy to do, and we like being around each other because we are thankful."
DE Darryl Tapp
On whether there's been a lot of talk this week about what's at stake against the Vikings: "Honestly, we've just been focused on winning the game. We're putting good film together and trying to get this thing accomplished. All of that other stuff will take care of itself."
On the team being focused in practice this week after last week's epic comeback: "Yeah, that's how we've been all year. We're always focused on the next game; win, lose or draw. That's what we've been doing and we have to get ready for the next game."
On whether it has been more difficult to get focused this week than in previous weeks: "Not at all. Just like I said, every week is the same thing. Not get off kilter too much."
On what that says about this team: "We have a good group of guys, good chemistry. (General Manager Howie) Roseman and (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid put a great group of guys together and we know what the big goal is."
On whether he can talk about what can happen if they win on Sunday: "Nope. We're focused on the Vikings and that's it."
CB Dimitri Patterson
On whether possible playoff implications have been brought up over the past couple of days: "There hasn't been much conversation about that mainly because if we don't win, it won't happen. With that being said, we have to go out here and win and let everything just take care of itself. That's probably why we haven't really talked about it."
On looking forward to getting out on the field and bouncing back after the first half against the Giants: "I'm looking forward to it. As far as I'm concerned, that was two quarters, three plays, however you want to look at it. I finished that game, I came back in the second half and I will finish the rest of the season. It's one of those things where people want to make plays, I'm going to make plays, but my goal is to make more plays than they make. It just so happened they made more than I would have liked them to make. At the end of the day, I'm going to go out there aggressive for the rest of the season and into the postseason and continue to play like I've been playing up to this point."
On whether there's more workload now on the secondary due to S Nate Allen's season-ending injury: "I wouldn't say there's more workload because each individual in their own right has to take care of his own responsibility and is accountable for how you approach the games. (S) Kurt (Coleman) has shown he can do that. He started the Washington game and he was very productive in doing so. We believe in Kurt. He's shown that he can play at this level and be a solid contributor. We expect nothing less of him come Sunday and we're comfortable."
CB Gerard Lawson
On playing with the UFL's Hartford Colonials: "It was humbling and it was a good learning experience for me. I learned a lot from that league. It built my confidence a little higher and the guys there – it was good competition for us."
On how blessed he feels to get another shot in the NFL: "I feel tremendously blessed. For me to get picked up right before Christmas and just to be here is unexplainable. I'm just very blessed to be here and I take that for what it is."
On whether the team told him that he would be a kick returner: "Yeah, just return the kicks for now. Wherever else they want me, I'm going to do it. Whatever they say, I'm going to do it. I'm a team player. Wherever they want me, I'm going to try to fulfill what they need."
On how quickly he'll be able to fit into the scheme here: "Returning kicks is returning kicks, but you still have to know the scheme of your returns. I've been meeting with coach a lot since I've been here, since last night, today, and he's just trying to catch me up to speed on all that stuff."
On whether he was returning kicks in practice today: "Yeah, I was out there catching kicks in the wind."
On whether he has any sense if he'll be active on Sunday: "I don't know what's going to happen."
