Philadelphia Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid and QB Donovan McNabb Talk Browns

Eagles Head Coach Andy Reid press conference 12-11-08

(On the bond formed with Donovan McNabb over the last decade)- “Wow, that sounds like a long time, doesn’t it? He makes it very easy because he’s such a great person. We all know he’s a great player but he’s even a better person. He’s not real tough to work with, he can spoil you as a head coach or a position coach. He’s got great leadership ability so he’s kind of got it all.”

(On Hank Fraley)- “Hank was one of my favorite guys. Hank gives everything he has every play but that’s part of the National Football League. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Hank and he did a great job for us here. We were able to win a lot games with Hank Fraley at that center position, that’s a very important position.”

(On Brian Westbrook)- “He’s a valuable guy. You’ve got to manage all that, I think you see that around the league with people using more than one running back. We’ve been banged up there just a little there at that position so we rolled a bunch of different guys in there. When (Correll) Buck(halter) is healthy we normally get a pretty good rotation going in there.”

(On Shaun Rogers and the Browns defense)- “I’ll tell you what, I’ve got a lot of respect for their front seven and you named the guy in that defense that they’re playing with Romeo, that guy that nose guard position, it kind of all starts with him. That son of a gun is a heck of a football player. I had a chance to play against him a couple times when he was at Detroit and now we’re going to have another shot at playing against him. He’s a heck of a player and then you’ve got Corey (Williams) and Shaun (Smith) around him and those are two big men that can move. Willie (McGinest) I’ve played against a number of times and I’ve got the ultimate respect for Willie. Kamerion (Wimbley) is relatively new to this league but what a great teacher he has in Willie and he’s a good player. I had a chance to follow him, I really liked him coming out of Florida State, he just had a great year last year and he just plays so hard every snap and I’m proud of the way he does things. The two inside linebackers just fly around, D’Qwell Jackson just makes plays everywhere in the pass game and run game and Andra Davis will just knock you out if given the opportunity. He’s a tough kid. They added a couple guys at the cornerback position who I think are very aggressive and are very good football players. Eric Wright I think was a heck of a pickup. I actually had him up here before the draft and I visited with him and I was very impressed. He had some problems early in his college career and he did a great job of getting everything right in his life when he was at UNLV it looks like he’s really done a nice job as a player for Romeo. (Sean) Jones and (Brodney) Pool, again you have two very solid players that when you try to run the football they’re going to light you up and at the same time they’re pretty good in the pass game. It’s solid all the way around defensively.”

(On Ken Dorsey)- “We played against Ken I believe when he was with San Francisco and I believe he played pretty good against us. We know Ken Dorsey and it’s just a matter of him getting acclimated in there and he’s got good talent around him and he’s a talented kid obviously. We’ve got to be ready for him now that he’s had a chance to play.”

Eagles QB Donovan McNabb press conference 12-11-08

(On Hank Fraley)- “You see the entry of the quarterback position so to speak and guys that have had tenures together and Hank and I have worked for a period of time where the combination was there. We were thinking kind of the same, knowing where the blitz was going to be and making sure the other guys were communicating well on knowing what we need to do as far as protection is concerned. He’s a hard worker, a dedicated player and a good guy as well.”

(On Donte’ Stallworth)- “We had an opportunity to be with him for a year and I think when he came in we did a great job of just getting that chemistry down early. He had a lot of success with us and that was before the injuries and when he came back I was injured at the time. He played with Jeff (Garcia) and that combination just continued on. He’s a guy that loves to play football, when the ball is in his hands anything can happen and a guy that is just a true team player who just wants to win.”

(On Brian Westbrook)- “He’s very important. He plays such a major part in our run game, a major part in our blitz pickup and he does a great job for us in the passing game as well. When you have a guy like that who can do many things in an offense, it sets the tone for us to set up a lot of different things. Teams have to game plan for him and we do a great job of moving him around trying to create a mismatch and he’s able to exploit that. He’s a guy that any team would like to have but fortunately he’s here with us.”

(On the effect of Coach Reid benching him)- “Absolutely nothing, it just gave me the opportunity to rest for a half I guess. I was one of the well-rested guys to come back the next week for the Thanksgiving game. It happened, it’s over, and I’ve just moved on and continued to play.”

(On the Browns defensive line)- “Anytime you see big 92 in there it’s a challenge. Shaun (Rogers) is a guy that I trained with this offseason and he’s a hard worker. You would think a guy that size would just kind of be slow and doesn’t like to work everyday but he came to work everyday ready to go and continued to get better and better in the offseason. He’s probably the best nose guard in the AFC and possibly the game and he’s one of those guys that doesn’t get recognized because maybe the team is not up there with some of the top teams. As far at the individual is concerned, he’s one of the guys you have to game plan for to try to contain in the middle. He takes a lot of pressure off of the linebackers and he creates pressure for the quarterbacks and the running backs in the run game.”

(On the Browns secondary)- “I see a team that’s trying to create chemistry in the secondary. They’re young, they’re a team that’s constantly trying to put their guys in positions to be successful, playing a lot of zone and some man. Also, guys that have some interceptions, I believe (Brandon) McDonald has three and (Eric) Wright has been doing a great job for them and the safeties are very aggressive. It’s going to be a challenge for us in the passing game.”

(On what the Eagles need to do down the stretch)- “Win. That’s pretty much what it comes down to. It’s not trying to improve in one area or trying to do this, we need to win. It’s a must-win situation for us so everyone has to elevate their game to play at a high level so that we can come out here and be very competitive in these next three games and secure wins.”