Yeah it’s early but…

You all know how we Philly get down here. 4 of us write from in or in close proximity to the COBL, so what else would it be? At least one of us will be covering Eagles home games so we’ll have quotes from whoever chooses to speak.

Philly ran up, around and through a crazy over matched Rams defense. When Leonard Little went out, St. Louis could not apply any professional pressure and Donovan picked them apart. He had 293 yards in the first half–a caveat the networks failed to report. I know I know, the story was Tom Brady and to a lesser extent Vince Young, but when the hell is Donovan going to get the historical respect he deserved. Besides Brady he is the most accomplished playoff QB (overall, not rings…get it right) in the entire league. Something has to be said for that. He also became the NFL quarterback of record with the lowest interception ratio ever.

What!

Let’s be peace on DeSean Jackson. Yeah he blew up the world Sunday, but it’s one game. The lights will shine bright on the young fella, so he betta fight outta sight if he wants to show and prove his Black Mustard mettle. We ain’t had his type of swagger since way before Sleepy Brown was crying for Tito to get him some tissues.

My boys are already blowing my phone up with Dallas this and Dallas that. When Donovan is healthy, the Cowboys have nothing for the Eagles. Guess what? He’s healthy

I’m calling it now. Eagles 35, Dallas 30.

If this goes down? The Lig is gonna say Oh Oh, because with the injury to Brady, the L is up for grabs.

Triple 5 Soul kicks off the press conference quotes…

On getting going early and starting off well on the first few drives:

“Well, I think it was important for us to start that way. You know, coming off of a good preseason, and obviously a great training camp, to start out early was very important to be able to set the tone early and in previous years we weren’t able to do that. We had big plays and the drive and also being able to run the ball and pick up some yards to capitalize on the touchdown obviously does well for the confidence factor. But we were able to bounce back again on the second drive and pretty much do the same thing and do it consistently throughout the whole game.”

On tempering the expectations of WR DeSean Jackson after his solid performance this game:

“Same thing, he’s still a rookie. And I think, like I’ve always said, just be patient. We haven’t hit the bump in the road yet and we’re gonna do that and I just try to prepare him for that and you know through my duration of being here, I’ve seen it happen. And you know, you just don’t want him to hang his head when it does happen. You want him to continue to stay strong and be confident with it. But that goes for all of us. You know, we all have to continue to battle.  You know, watch the mistakes we made this game and be able to bounce back against the Dallas team that’s pretty experienced.  It’s not going to be pretty much as easy as it was today.”

On not being sacked this game and being healthy going into the season:

“Well it’s always big when you don’t get touched too much.  But I think a lot if it is getting the ball out and letting the guys outside work. They did a great job creating a little bit of separation where I could just put the ball out and let them compete. The offensive line did a wonderful job today. You know, I reward them and commend them but we gotta come back out there and keep doing the same thing.”

On Jackson’s first game and if he’s ever seen a rookie have a game as good as that:

“It’s just one game. I mean he played well, he played well. Don’t discredit that. But I’ve seen a lot of rookies play well throughout the season in one game. He’s a guy that’s willing to work and willing to get better and that’s an important factor that you have to have playing this game. Have a short term memory, put that behind you know matter how well you played or how bad you played. Move on to the next week and hopefully have a great game.”

On whether he remembers the last time he had a game where he was barely touched:

“You know what, I don’t know. I was hit a lot last year. But you know I don’t think so.”

On whether he thought the Eagles were trying to trick the Rams on the drive with two straight handoffs backed up deep and then the play action pass to Hank Baskett:

“Not necessarily. They brought the pressure, which [RB Brian] Westbrook had to come inside and block and I kept my eyes downfield and on the coverage and the pre-snap reads that I had. And once they blitzed I was able to get my eyes back out. Jason did a good job of grabbing the safety which led to Hank being wide open down the side line, and I took the air out of the ball and tried to put it in a position where he could catch it and protect himself in case the safety fell off on him. He ran through the tackle and picked up big yards for us.”

On his initial reaction to that play call and whether he was surprised they weren’t running down the clock:

“Well, you gotta be aggressive and we’ve been doing it all through the whole game and there’s no reason to stop now. I thought it was a great job on [Eagles Offensive coordinator] Marty [Mornhinweg] and [Eagles Head coach] Andy’s [Reid] part of just taking a shot and it paid off. But we’re gonna have to do that this year. You know, we’re gonna have to keep defenses on their heels wondering what we’re gonna do because we just can’t keep running, running, running the ball and not giving the guys on the outside the opportunity to make plays for us and they did that throughout the whole course of the day and good things happened for us today.”

On what it says about the receivers, since there were three players with at least 100 yards today:

“Well they work hard. Like I said in the offseason, like I said in interviews that I’ve had, in order for the guys to be successful and guys to make plays for you, you have to call plays for them. We called plays for each and every one of those guys and they made plays for us and throughout the whole game we were able to spread the ball around and get everybody involved. [TE] L.J. [Smith] had a good day today. Westbrook had a good day, [WR] Jason Avant played well, [WR] Hank Baskett, you know, DeSean Jackson. When things are rolling like that, when you spread the ball around and getting everybody involved, it does wonders for your offense.”

On what he expects about the atmosphere on Monday night in Dallas:

“Well, I’ve been watching Hard Knock life. Who hasn’t been? It’s been on. They’re a confident bunch. They’re an experienced bunch. There’s a reason why they won 13 games or whatever last year. So we know that it’s going to be a battle. Every time we play in goes to the wire somehow. So we have to prepare ourselves to go out and give up a good fight. We know what their defense kind of entails with [LB] DeMarcus Ware and [LB] Bradie James and know you’re talking about adding Pacman [Adam Jones] involved in the secondary. You know, it’s going to be a challenge for us. The same goes for the offensive side, there’s a reason [QB Tony] Romo had a great year last year.”

On winning in Dallas last year:

“I mean, we could say that, but it didn’t nothing for us, so it doesn’t matter what it did for them. It didn’t do anything for us and we didn’t continue on. They made it to the playoffs. It’s a new season, we’re looking forward to playing those guys and we just have to have a great week of practice.”

On the red zone being an issue last year and how L.J. Smith’s is making his presence felt this year:

“I said that. I said that last year. Good ends do a lot more. Teams have to focus in on the tight end position and when you have a guy like L.J. where you can do different things with him, spread him out, run him from the down position, put him in motion to try and create a mismatch. Now they have to focus in not just on Westbrook and just playing a base coverage, but there are other guys that have to get involved. But again it’s just one game. We gotta continue to focus in on our red zone, you know, play and do that and be consistent on the field.”

On whether he thinks next week will be a challenge against Dallas in prime time:

“We’re looking forward to it. We’re gonna look at it as a test to see where we’re at because no one knows how they played against Cleveland. So I mean, in this particular time of the season it’s important that we try to master the fundamentals, make sure the chemistry is where it needs to be and the timing and the run game and the pass game and the same on defense. And just being able to execute if there’s opportunities there and take full advantage of it. And you know in this game I thought we did that and we need to do that next week and the same the following week so it’s a growing process for all of us.”

On having success on opening weekend:

“You know, for an opener or whenever, it’s hard to get wins in this game. People can look at other teams records and say, well, they weren’t that good last year but things could be different this year. So you have to take full advantage of the wins that you do have and be able to feed off of that. I thought we did that later in the year last year. So to start out the season the way we did this year, it’s important that we feed off of that and continue to push yourself, to challenge yourself in practice to do better. No matter how good you played or if you played bad.  You have to do better and get better each week.”

On the receivers’ play:

“I think they played great. I think they played great and we’re going to continue to work together.”

Andy Reid was next…

On injuries sustained during the game:

“[FS Brian] Dawkins had a little dehydration and went in [the locker room] for a second. He was okay. The rest of the guys are fine. There were a couple of nicks and bruises, but nothing to really report.”

On the victory:

“It was a good way to start the season. There were some good things. I’m sure when we look at the film it’s never as good as you think, and never as bad as you think. There are going to be a lot of things that we can work on for next week. For today, there were some good things there.”

On the completeness of the team’s performance:

“It looked like all three phases were doing okay. I would have liked to have seen [the Rams] not score a field goal at the end, but we were able to get everybody in the game and allow some of the young guys to play. That was one of the positives you take [from the game]. We could have done a little bit better job in some of the run game phases on the offensive side. On special teams, we have to keep working on getting a body on a body. We’ll continue to do that, but there were a lot of good things that went with it.”

On the return of a healthy L.J. Smith:

“These games are important for L.J. just to get back in the swing. He had a couple of drops, and that won’t happen as he goes on. I know he had some nice grabs in there too. He had a couple of drops there that won’t happen as he continues to play. As fast as the preseason is compared to practice, [the regular season] is [in relation] to the preseason games. So it is increased speed compared to the preseason games. He will get right back into the swing in a game or two.”

On the confidence of Donovan McNabb in rookie wide receiver DeSean Jackson:

“He does have some confidence in him. However, DeSean got that [confidence] from Donovan obviously by making plays in practice. It’s a compliment to DeSean.”

On whether DeSean Jackson exhibited any rookie tendencies in this first regular season game:

“There were a couple. I don’t want to take anything away from the kid. He did a nice job today. He had over 100 yards in receptions and he had a nice return. He did a nice job, whether he was a rookie or not. He did a nice job.”

On the play of the Eagle wide receivers despite missing starters Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown:

“The offensive line did a nice job (joking). I thought all the way around, the receivers played well. They were aggressive. This was a big challenge for them, because [the Rams] like to bang you around. They came out playing a lot of man coverage against us, and when they weren’t in man coverage, they played zone. They tried banging us around, and we were able to get some decent releases on them. I just thought all the way around, with the adjustments the receivers made, they did a nice job there too.”

On the play of the offensive and defensive lines:

“They played well. It all starts with the offensive and defensive lines. Those guys don’t get quite enough credit - either side. It does start there.”

On whether he was expecting more of a challenge from the Rams:

“They’re healthy and they’re fast. It can go two ways here. They’re going to sit there and say, ‘We played the worst game that we ever played’. But once they look at it and get on with next week, things snowball in this league. We can’t get too high, and they can’t get too low over this game. They have talent there and they have good coaches. [Jim] Haslett brings the house, he stays very aggressive, and he’s really a good defensive coordinator. It’s a matter of them just getting [running back Steven] Jackson back into it and getting things working for them.”

On whether he is concerned with the increased expectations placed on DeSean Jackson:

“I’m not worried about it. In high school, he came in and he had success early and was a great player. He goes to Cal, and the same thing happens. The first punt return, he takes it the distance. He’s always had these things happen to him, so he knows how to handle it. I give both those young guys [Jackson and Quintin Demps] a bad time because they bring a great confidence and cockiness to the locker room, and I like that. They’ll keep it in perspective.”

 

On whether the play of DeSean Jackson makes the game more fun for his teammates:

“Everybody enjoys watching him do his thing. This is the first game of a long season, and he’s going to have another big challenge this next week on Monday night. He has to prepare himself for that. When you do good, it sets a little challenge out there for the other team. You did good this week; you have to do better next week.”

On the play of middle linebacker Stewart Bradley:

“He did a nice job. The helmet speaker went out during the game for a few plays. He didn’t panic, and we were able to get the signals in and still function properly. I thought all the way around without watching the film, it looked like he showed up and did a good job.”

On the 90-yard touchdown pass to Hank Baskett at the end of the first half:

“We were backed up, so we were trying to run some of the time down. We didn’t want to give them the football back in good field position from where we would have had to punt. On third down, we took a shot with a double move play, and it worked out for us.”

On whether the Eagle wide receivers take comments from the media and the public regarding the team needing to acquire a number one receiver to heart:

“Human nature would tell you they would. I haven’t gotten into it with them. I don’t really care, and I’m not sure that they necessarily care. They know that they’re alright. We just go about doing our business and try to function at a high level.”

On whether he likes the fact that the team will go from this game to a Monday night game against Dallas:

“The Dallas game is the Dallas game. From being here as long as I have, you can go into [the game] not being very good and it would still be a great game. It’s always a rivalry, and it’s always a very competitive game. It really doesn’t matter what happened in this game once we get to that one. Neither does it matter what their deal is today [against Cleveland]. It’s going to be a good game no matter what.”

On the play of the special teams:

“I thought the special teams played very well. I thought the coverage units did a great job. [Dante] Hall is a pretty good returner. He’s got great quickness and speed. I thought we did a good solid job. You need to do that. If you’re going to be a good football team, your special teams have to function at a decent rate.”

On the mindset of the team following a convincing victory:

“You enjoy every one. You enjoy every one that you can get in this league, and then you get it out of your mind in the next day and get yourself right for Dallas. For today, you enjoy it. We have a meeting tomorrow, so you have to get yourself right.”

On the play of the defense:

“We have to play good defense. If you’re going to be a good football team, you have to be solid upfront, solid in the secondary, and you have to be able to defend both the run and the pass. There are too many good combination teams - this team being one of them once Steven [Jackson] gets back into the swing of things. [Jackson] just signed that contract, so he’s just getting back into the swing. When you face these teams that have good quarterbacks and good running backs, you better be able to function on the defensive side.”

On whether the offensive game plan was change to account for the fact that starting wide receivers Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown were not active:

“We kept everything the same.”

On the play of Donovan McNabb both in the preseason and today:

“He’s worked so hard to get himself back to this point. For once, he didn’t have to rehab during the offseason. He showed this the last three games of last season and he just kind of picked up where he left off.”

On the importance of starting the season with a victory:

“This is the first game, and there is a lot of emphasis placed on this first game. It is the most overrated game that there is in the league. We understand completely that all of these questions that [the media] is asking me today about the good [today], we have to maintain it throughout the rest of the season. We’re very happy to have this one, we’re going to enjoy it, but it’s one of 16 games. We’ve got to keep focused on that.”

St. Louis Rams quotes:

DE Leonard Little

On the game:

“It was hard for us today. We’ve been preparing for this game for a really long time, and for us to lose in this fashion its real disappointing but I think we have a team that will fight back and I think we’ll be alright, but it’s real disappointing to lose the first game of the season. The things we will take out of this is the mistakes we made and the plays we made on offense. Other than that we have to look at the film tomorrow, put it behind us and get ready for New York next week.”

On his right hamstring injury:

“I think I tweaked my hamstring. I might have pulled it…I’m going to see how it feels tomorrow. I’m going to get some treatment and hopefully it will be okay.”

CB Oshiomogho Atogwe

On the Philadelphia Eagles offense:

“They executed their plays very well and they beat us. There weren’t any breakdowns. They played very well on offense, I take my hat off to them, they found us in a weak spot and made a play. It’s just one game, seasons have started out a lot worse than this in the past, so I mean, like coach said we have to put this one behind us, we have another 15 more to go.”

On the Philadelphia Eagles balanced attack:

“They did an excellent job of spreading the ball around. [QB] Donovan McNabb controlled the offense very well, they got the ball in the hands of the playmakers and they played well.”

On the Philadelphia Eagles receiving corps:

“We prepared to play against the entire Eagles, and we knew they had injuries coming into the game so we prepared to play the receivers who would be in the game, and I feel that they did a good job of utilizing each and everyone’s ability and they made plays today. They made more plays than us and that’s why we’re on the losing end.”

CB Tye Hill

On today’s game:

“I think Philly just made plays. That’s pretty much what they did. That’s what happened, I’m glad this happened in the first game of the season, now we can come back, look at the film, see what we need to address and then we go to week 2. It’s on me, for what I did, you can’t let receivers get 100 yards, especially 3 different ones, but we are going to go back to the drawing board and see what they did.”

On QB Donovan McNabb:

“We knew that we were playing against a good QB and we know what he presents to us as a threat and that’s all you can do to prepare for a guy like that. He’s going to make the right plays and he’s going to give the receivers a chance to make plays, and that’s what he did today.”

Sheldon Brown giving Stephen Jackson that cold rock stuff…

Reggie Bush knows all about it…

 

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