Eagles Quarterback Donovan McNabb

On what he thinks of Andy Reid’s beard:
“Well, you know, you have some guys that really look bad in beards, some guys that just look decent or comfortable. I would put him the first category – looks bad in beards. What you’re seeing is you’re seeing the team jelling together and the coach being involved in it as well of guys just letting their facial hair grow – guys with goatees letting their goatees grow. It is just something that we kind of bound together and just said, ‘hey, we’re going to do this thing and we’re going to get this thing done together. Let’s just grow our beards,’ and Andy and our owner (Jeffrey Lurie) is a part of it. We got coaches a part of it. It’s a special time right now.”

On what coming back to Arizona, his offseason home, is like for him and if it changes the mindset for him of going on the road:
“Well, you know what, every game that we had to play at this particular point was going to be on the road. And we treated the away games like we were at home. It’s no difference going out to Arizona, although that I live out there, we’re going to come in with the mindset like we’re playing at home. I have a lot of friends on that team. I have a lot of friends in the Arizona area, but I’m not going to make that become a distraction. I’m going to be focused on what I have to do, be prepared going in and get ready to have a great time playing this football game.”

On what he sees different in the Arizona defense from what he saw Thanksgiving night:
“They played hard against us Thanksgiving night. The scheme was somewhat similar. They are doing some different things as the weeks continued on, but I am seeing a team – their front four if really playing well and, not to take anything away from the Thanksgiving week when they played, but their front four has really been playing well when they really need it most and that’s now. They have been able to shut down gaps, which lets their linebackers now roam. They are stopping running backs, running backs that people thought would run all over them, stopping them from running and getting big yards. That’s something that I see on film right now.”

On how difficult his benching earlier this season will be to put aside in the future:
“I don’t know. Call me in about three, four, five years and then I’ll let you know then. At this particular point, everything is good and I am just enjoying playing football.”

On how important of a game the previous game against Arizona was for him in the season:
“I think it was an important game for all of us. I don’t think it was personally an important game for me because actually leading up to it, despite the Cincinnati game, the Baltimore game, the Giants game that we lost before the Cincinnati game, I wasn’t playing bad at all. I am not going to sit here and say I was the single reason why we were playing bad in those particular games. We all had to kind of challenge ourselves and question a lot of things that was going on and making sure we understood the mistakes we were making and we needed to correct those. When it actually happened, it wasn’t nothing different in my approach or preparation, it was just for me to come out and be able to lead this team to where we wanted to go and everyone else had this mindset.”

On if the Eagles are getting everything they need out of Brian Westbrook or if he is too banged up to be the real Brian Westbrook:
“Well I only know one Brian Westbrook. He is giving us what he’s got. Every opportunity he’s steps out on the field, you know he’s going to give you everything he’s got. You have to understand, in this league, you get nicked up, you get some bumps and bruises, you get injured. I mean, I would know that, but it’s funny, you know, when you get hurt sometimes people think you don’t have it anymore, you’re done. Then you come out and play well and people are all, ‘I knew he had it.’ We know Brian’s got that battery pack that he’s been charging up for the last couple days. It’ll be fully charged come Sunday. We know he’s going to get out there and he’s going to play well.”

On what he sees from Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie:
“I see a very good athlete. I see a guy with great feet. I see a guy with great instincts, who is going to be a very good corner in this league. I’ve played basketball with Cromartie and, as I’ve said, he’s an excellent athlete. I’ve seen his confidence continue to rise week in and week out and he’s really been playing at a high level right now. Same with Rod (Hood). They are playing with a lot of confidence in that secondary and guys feel like they can make big plays.”

On what he thinks of Kurt Warner and what he has been able to accomplish:
“I think Kurt has done a great job. Kurt, once given the opportunity, he’s definitely flourished in this area. It’s something he’s used to. He has some great receivers around him, he has one of the best running backs to ever play the game behind in Edgerrin James and an offensive line playing with confidence. When you have your offensive line playing well, that makes your job a lot easier being back there in the pocket to deliver to those guys.”

On Eagles passing game and how Jason Avant and DeSean Jackson have really stepped up over the course of the year:
“You try to give guys opportunities to make plays for you and that’s something I told myself early on in this offseason that I was going to do that and show that trust in all those guys. Those two particular guys have really been playing well for us. The same with L.J. Smith and Brent Celek and Kevin Curtis coming off of injury and we’ve been rotating guys. So guys have really stepped in, like Hank Baskett, Greg Lewis and Reggie Brown. They’ve made plays when given the opportunity and that’s all you can ask from guys on the outside. You know, secure the catch, pick up yards after the catch, block well downfield and be great teammates.”

On when playing in a conference championship game if he concentrates solely on that game or if he thinks bigger picture about having only so many cracks at a Super Bowl championship:
“You just focus on the game. Anytime that you begin to lose focus of what’s at hand, then you begin to second-guess things that you’re doing. You just have to go out there and play mistake-free football focusing on the present time. Anytime you go into, ‘well this could be it or I don’t know how much longer’ and all of that, then other things will get in the way on you. So, I have just tried to have a clear mind of just going out, having a great time and playing well.”

On Sports Illustrated being right that both the Eagles and Cardinals are dangerous to get here:
“How about that? They’re really smart over there, huh? That was a regional copy, how about that?”