You could see Andy Reid was in a very good mood during his Monday News Conference. He singled out the great play of Brian Westbrook and explained why Jevon Kearse and Darren Howard are spending less and less time on the field.
Head Coach Andy Reid Press Conference
11/12/07
Injuries:
“[DT] Mike Patterson has a slight high ankle sprain. We’ll just see how he does here in the next couple of days. Really, for the most part, everybody else made it through healthy.”
Opening Remarks:
“I thought our defense did a nice job in the red zone, particularly in goal-line situations. [DE] Darren Howard had a couple huge plays down there in the goal-line situation. Overall defensively, I thought our linebackers and safeties played well. It was good to get [FS Brian] Dawk [Dawkins] back out there. You saw him jump out on special teams play. That sends a little message to everybody [on] how important it is to win football games at this time of the year. I thought offensively, our o-line did a nice job protecting [QB Donovan] Don [McNabb] and then also, blocking for [RB] Brian [Westbrook]. Then, both of those guys played well, both Donovan and Brian. I said it yesterday, and I believe this, I have a hard time believing anybody right now is doing it better than Brian is doing at his position. He does so many things well. Besides running the football he also catches the football well out of the backfield and also flexed out. I thought [WR] Reggie [Brown] had a beautiful catch for a touchdown on the out-and-up. He continues to improve each week. It wasn’t but a couple of weeks ago that we were being asked, ‘What happened to Reggie?’ and the last couple of weeks he’s come up big. Then, it was good to get [TE] L.J. [Smith] back in there working. I thought the effort of the team, even when things didn’t go real well, when we had the fumble towards the end of the game there, I didn’t feel like anybody hung their head. They had a good effort, a good defensive stand. They kicked the field goal and it gave us an opportunity to go down and then strike on the offensive side of the ball.”
On why the offense goes through streaks of being good one week and off another week:
“I think that’s probably evident of most teams. If you have to punt then you’re not very good.”
On why they scored four touchdowns in 16 minutes this game compared to six touchdowns in five-and-a-half games:
“Well, we better go back and look at those 16 minutes, and make sure we’re doing that more often. I can’t answer that. We’re actually getting better.”
On what made them capitalize on Washington’s mistakes yesterday:
“I’m not sure of the one thing, other than the leadership that we have out there. I noticed the coaches around there, they were all cheering the guys on. The guys were all cheering each other on. Not that I haven’t seen that before, it was just a little different dynamic for being in the position we were in. So, easily the fellows could have hung their head and gone in a different direction, but they didn’t do that.”
On how Howard is reacting to his role being reduced:
“We’re rotating both he and [DE] Jevon [Kearse] in certain situations. It’s two different situations. But, Darren’s done a nice job in the goal-line, in the nickel package of putting pressure on the quarterback. Those are the places that we’re using him. Jevon’s situation, we limited him back off. He’s coming off that major knee surgery. We’re getting a little bit later in the year and I thought maybe if we reduced his plays he’d have a little bit more production and be fresher. You saw that yesterday where he put the pressure on the quarterback. He had a couple great rushes against Washington there.”
On how hard it is for guys to take that reduced role:
“Well, both [Howard and Kearse] have done it very well. They know they are part of this team. I haven’t seen them hang their head at all. I haven’t seen any of that.”
On whether he is concerned with the secondary as a whole staying healthy:
“The primary concern is that they do stay healthy and that when they’re healthy they get a little bit better every week. You asked me about the offensive line last week, that group has to play together and they’ve got to be ticking the same way. I thought they did a better job with that this past week. And, [CB] Lito [Sheppard] to his defense, he’s got a bum leg and he’s working through that. He’s going out there every day at practice. He’ll do nothing but get better as we go here, likewise with Brian [Dawkins]. He’s working through.”
On whether Sheppard is a liability if he can’t run:
“I don’t think so. He’s running okay. It stiffens up on him every now and again, then it loosens back up and he’s able to go. I don’t see him as a liability out there.”
On how Dawkins got on kickoff coverage:
“Yeah, he wanted to get in there. It sets a little tempo for things when you have a veteran [in there].”
On whether he had reservations about putting Dawkins on special teams:
“No, he wanted to get in there and go, so I let him do it.”
On whether Dawkins had played on special teams before:
“No. He hadn’t.”
On whether he’s open to having other older players on special teams:
“A snap here or there for the real old guys, a snap here or there. I’m not big on the real old ones doing that.”
On what this says about Dawkins, playing on special teams:
“He made a little statement there. He’s one of the leaders of the football team and his desire to win games.”
On whether there was a change schematically or on execution due to the six touchdowns in the last ten red zone appearances:
“I think the offensive coaches, [offensive coordinator] Marty [Mornhinweg], [are] putting the players in better position along with the players executing better. I think it was a combination of things when we weren’t doing it. I think it’s a combination of things when things are going a little bit better. Everybody’s got to be getting on the same cylinder there.”
On whether this is the first time all year TE L.J. Smith has been truly healthy and how important is was to have him back there:
“It was good to get him back in there. He had a nice move on the one touchdown he had there. I know Donovan trusts him down in there and so on. So, it’s good to get him back in.”
On whether he is anxious to see this win carry over to next week:
“We’re in a position where you can’t overlook anybody or underlook anybody, however you want to call it. You’ve got to focus in every week and maximize it and try to back-to-back a game. That’ll be our goal this week. Without having to emphasize it too much, I just think that preparation, in this league you’ve got to focus in week in and week out, play in and play out, or you’re in trouble.”
On whether they feel better now this week than last week:
“I’m already into the Dolphins, so it’s hard to– we don’t enjoy these things. I guess on the train ride back it was better. But, other than that, we’re right into the Dolphins now. I’m kind of rehashing old news to you. You’re in that same grind mode that you were last week as I sat here, to answer your question.”
On how he gets the team to not look at Miami as a winless team:
“Obviously, by record we’re not good enough to look at anybody that way. So, we’ve got to make sure that we look at everybody, I don’t care what their record is. You’ve got to look at them. You better stinking prepare like you’ve never prepared. That’s the way we’re going to approach it.”
On whether he’s scared facing a winless team because they have nothing to lose:
“I guess we’re probably in that same boat. We haven’t done anything yet. We’ve got to take that same approach and that same mindset. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t.”
On what he was talking to McNabb about at the end of the game:
“(Jokingly) About you. I just thought he did a good job. I wanted to make sure he knew that right now. He had a tough week last week and he bounced back. He’s been doing this a lot of years, but it doesn’t hurt to be told that you did something good, and he did that.”
On why McNabb seems to play better when there is a controversy:
“(Jokingly) We’ll stir something up this week.”
On what qualities enable McNabb to play better when there is controversy off the field:
“I think he’s tough mentally. I think his teammates rally around him and they understand that’s a tough position to play in the National Football League. He’s a pretty special player.”
On whether he’s concerned that there is not much pressure from the front four:
“We need to do that. We need to be better there. You’re absolutely right on that observation. We can’t give quarterbacks that much time to stand back there and throw the football. At the same time [defensive coordinator] Jim [Johnson] can’t be blitzing every down, you don’t want to do that. The front four, they are good enough to where they can put the pressure on the quarterbacks when they need to. We’ve got to do a better job there.”
On how Westbrook steps up in important moments:
“You’re talking about one of the best players in his position in this league. He proves it over and over. He’s got a knack for making big plays at the end of the game. I don’t know why that is, other than he’s a good football player.”
On whether Westbrook’s talent is either something you have or you don’t have:
“Yeah. I mentioned yesterday that [G] Shawn Andrews and [T] Jon Runyan had two great blocks on his screen and both receivers, Reggie [Brown] and [WR Kevin] Curtis, downfield had two huge blocks. So, he was getting some help there. But, you get Brian in the open field I don’t know a lot of guys who can tackle him.”
On what the kick return situation is:
“We’ll see. I’ll visit [special teams coordinator] Rory [Segrest] on it. We’ll see how that goes.”
On whether he was happy with S J.R. Reed’s kick returns:
“Yeah, he did a couple good things. [There were] a couple times where we had a little bit shorter field where the offense would travel. He did okay.”
On whether Reed was also a part of the goal-line personnel:
“Yeah, he was in on that.”
On how long Reed has been there:
“He did a little bit this past week, he hadn’t been in much at all.”
