Quotes for Further Consideration

Generally speaking, you're not going to learn very much from post-game press conferences, particularly from a team like the Eagles, where forthrightness isn't exactly encouraged. 

A big win like yesterday's can open the floodgates a bit, though.  Here are a few quotes from the locker room that provide some interesting food for thought:

Trent Cole
"We just changed the game plan and came out here wanting to send a message," Cole said. "That is what we wanted to do and I think we got our message across. We turned this program around and put the two losses behind us. And we keep going."

How exactly did the game plan change?  The two biggest factors in yesterday's sack attack would seem to be facing an offense that 1) likes to get the ball downfield and 2) doesn't have a great offensive line.  I'm very curious as to what else the Eagles did differently on defense.  Maybe the video rewind will help answer that question.

Quintin Mikell
Describing his sack: "It just opened up beautifully," Mikell said. "He looked over his shoulder, but I said, 'Uh-uh, you're not getting away.'''

I loved the flying, Dawkins-esque leap he made on that play.  Great job for Q filling in yesterday, but here's a question.  If everyone agrees he played a pretty good game, then whose fault was it on all those big run-after-catch passing plays that went through the middle of the field?

Brian Westbrook (I)
Almost all of Westbrook's successful runs went to the left side, where the pair continually exposed the Lions' defensive line.  "We tried to run to the right side, but we didn't have as much success as we wanted to," Westbrook said. "As an offensive group, we have to go with what's working. Running to the left, we were having a lot of success, so we kept going."

Did the Lions game plan to try to take away the Andrews/Runyan side of the running game?  Or did it have more to do with Andrews' injury situation and the play of fill-in Max Jean-Gilles?

Brian Westbrook (II)
"Coming into this game, Donovan knew his deficiencies in the last couple weeks and the rest of us were not getting it done," Westbrook said. "All of us pointed at ourselves. We didn't go around saying that the offensive line wasn't doing their job and Donovan did the same thing. He worked his butt off in practice, and we didn't even have too many incomplete passes. Donovan was putting the ball in the right spot for the receiver all week, and that just rolled over into the game."

"That was one of those things that we are going to rally behind. Donovan took some shots this week, and we rallied behind him. We told him that we had his back, and any shots that he was taking we are going to take together as a team. Donovan has been the lightning rod basically his whole career. When he goes out and has success like he did today, all that stuff is going to disappear. The things that we were able to do today, that's the Donovan that we know, that's the Donovan that we want to see every week."

More and more, it's apparent that Westbrook is running co-equal these days with McNabb and Dawkins as a leader in the locker room.  This isn't just fluff, either. "[T]hat's the Donovan that we want to see every week."  I like it.

Sheldon Brown
"I practice against him all the time," Eagles cornerback Sheldon Brown said. "People ask me, 'How good is Kevin Curtis?' and I say, 'He's good. Don't look at me like I'm crazy. The man can play.' "

So are these like NFL people or like guy in front of you at the Wawa people?

Igglesblog's brother
"Bunkley isn't as big as I thought he was."

It really is amazing how much weight he lost over the summer.  The fact that he still can't be moved at this size is really a great sign for the guy's long-term prospects.