HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “Matt Dickerson, as far as injuries go, has turf toe. Other than that, it’s the same guys, nothing new really to give you. Had a good practice today it was nice and cool today (laughter). We went in our indoor complex with no air conditioning – that has no air conditioning. It was good work to get – we didn’t have a ton of warm weather up in St. Joe (at training camp) so this gives us a chance this week to get a little bit of warmth in practice. Tomorrow we’ll go early in the morning and get our work done then. (Executive Vice President of Communications) Ted (Crews) will give you times as we go. Again from the game standpoint there were some good things, and at the same time plenty of things that we can work on. (I) wasn’t sure how the game would play itself out with getting the threes some work but we were able to get them in which is great for evaluation purposes but still give the ones and twos some good work there. Anyways, time’s yours.”
Q: Any chance Isiah Pacheco will play in the game this weekend against Cleveland?
REID: “There’s a chance yeah. There’s a chance, he’s just got to be cleared and all that.”
Q: Today was the first time we saw Isiah Pacheco not in the yellow no-contact jersey. Is that a positive step?
REID: “That’s a positive step.”
Q: Do you plan to keep Isiah Pacheco out of the yellow no-contact jersey?
REID: “Yeah as long as nothing happened today.”
Q: We haven’t seen Tershawn Wharton in practice for a few days. Did he have a setback with his knee injury?
REID: “(His) knew swole up a little bit but he’s feeling good now.”
Q: We saw Shane Buechele come in before Blaine Gabbert in the last preseason game. Any change there in the quarterback depth chart?
REID: “Those two are real close, they’re real close so they’re competing. We’ll just let it play out here (and) see how it goes but it’s good competition.”
Q: How do you prep for playing in the heat Saturday? Just by practicing in the heat today?
REID: “Yeah, these next couple of days I think are probably going to take care of that. I think it cools down just a little bit, I think you’re looking at 89 (degrees) or something like that. It’ll be warm, we’ll just keep our rotation going. We’re going to have that (heat) in Jacksonville and possibly our night game against the Lions, but Jacksonville is a noon game so we got to be ready for a hot one there too.”
Q: How do you feel about the back end of the wide receiver competition right now and who will make the roster?
REID: “Well I don’t know that yet they’re competing like crazy. You keep six or seven of those guys. That six and seven spot is going to be (a) pretty good battle. We’ll see how it all winds down there as we go but it’s wide open for those players.”
Q: In what ways have you seen Shane Buechele grow here since his first year?
REID: “Listen he’s familiar with the offense, he knows how we do things, he’s got a pretty good feel for the game just in general. You can see the improvement he’s made from last year with his accuracy, throws, choices on his throws, he’s had a chance to look at these coverages and blitzes that these coordinators throw at you so he’s got that part of it too.”
Q: Any chance Kadarius Toney comes back to practice soon?
REID: “We’ll see, probably not tomorrow.”
Player Quotes:
DE FELIX ANUDIKE-UZOMAH
Q: Was it a challenge to practice today with the heat?
ANUDIKE-UZOMAH: “It was pretty hot, but it’s good work. All work is good work, so I’m glad we took today and glad we improved today.”
Q: After playing in your first few games, what have you learned? Are there things you can take away from them?
ANUDIKE-UZOMAH: “Yeah. Obviously playing in my first game as a – in the four (man) front is different from K-State (Kansas State) where we were just in a three (man front). Also, just the pace of it is different, and there’s still a lot of improvement I need to do for me to be obviously a pretty good rusher. The last two games were definitely something I really needed.”
Q: Are there specific things you are working on?
ANUDIKE-UZOMAH: “Like I said, really just playing faster, knowing what I – footwork and everything like that. The basics things just to improve – just to stack on so I can be better.”
Q: What have the past two weeks looked like for you development-wise?
ANUDIKE-UZOMAH: “Development wise, I still have a ways to go. I got a little bit better. I got the hang of things, but obviously, it’s just preseason so – but it was good work just to have me go out there and play against real people, play against NFL people that are different than my teammates.”
WR RASHEE RICE
Q: We saw you help block an edge rusher in that last game, can you sort of take me through that and what you were thinking?
RICE: “In practice we (have been) working that a lot. I watched a couple clips of the tight ends doing it last year and my goal was to not let that big D-end you know, get to the quarterback and I accomplished my goal on that play (laughter). I was real confident on that one.”
Q: How did you stay focused after that first early drop last game?
RICE: “First off, I had the veterans make sure that I wasn’t getting down on myself. They kind of could see me – if I get on the sideline and I’ll just be staring straight and then they’ll be like ‘next play, you got a lot more game to play’. I got teammates on the team that are always telling me to ‘seize the moment’ and I
feel like I’m in a great position right now, so I just cleared to the next play and know I have a lot more game to play.”
Q: How familiar are you with the playbook, do you feel comfortable yet?
RICE: “Yeah, I feel really comfortable. You can never know the playbook too much with (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid. The more positions you know on the field, the more you’ll be on the field. I just feel like as much as I’m in the playbook when I’m here or when I’m at home it’s going to help me contribute to the offense.”
Q: What kind of things can you do to work on yards after the catch?
RICE: “You’d be surprised, every time somebody has the ball or doesn’t have the ball on the field, we are saying ‘finish’. If I got the ball, I’m making a move on the defender. Whether it looks like, he made the tackle or not I’m acting like he didn’t make the tackle, and I’m finishing down the field.”
NT DANNY SHELTON
Q: What did you do to help cut out some weight from last season to this one?
SHELTON: “This time last year I was probably like upper 50s (>350 lbs.), right now I’m about 12lbs under. I used to use intermittent fasting but then I got stuck, it wasn’t working anymore. I did carb cycling in March in OTA’s and it worked like magic for me. (My) energy has been great, feel great, joints feel great and everything.”
Q: There was a play against the Saints where you took off and jumped for a guy. Are you feeling some of the benefits form losing weight?
SHELTON: “Yeah, that was like the old Danny (laughter). Back in the day, I used to be flying everywhere. It just felt great being out there running with the guys. We have a great group of guys, young guys, everybody is competitive. I was telling (Defensive Line) Coach (Joe) Cullen that during training camp that I was impressed with how everybody came prepared during training camp and just up the competition level. Yeah, being out there, it was just fun to just compete with everybody.”
Q: Without Chris Jones here, you’re the veteran. Do you feel like people are looking at you for advice and being a leader?
SHELTON: “Not at all. I’m obviously more experienced than a lot of the guys, so I’m just sharing the knowledge that I got from older guys that I played with. I’m just keeping their heads in the game because it’s really tough, especially during this time when we get close to decision making and just trying to get everybody to be at ease and be able to play your game. That’s probably the fun part of being the older guy. You get to remind guys that it’s not always this tough (like) training camp mode. You just have to grind it out and make it through it and then it gets better.”
Q: What would it mean to you if you made the final roster this year?
SHELTON: “I mean, everything. I go in, my mindset is not to make this team but to be on the field. I want to win my third ring and in order to do that I need to be on the field, and I need to contribute. Not saying that being on practice squad last year, I didn’t contribute but that’s not the lifestyle I want to live. I came
in the league wanting to play the game that I love and being on the side last year kind of remotivated me. Even at the Super Bowl and everything, it remotivated me to get back into it, get back in shape and that was my goal coming into training camp. Be locked in and I’m ready to win my third ring, whether it’s here or wherever I go. Obviously, I love being here and it would mean the world to stay here and have the family come out.”