Reuben Frank came out with some quotes from Andy Reid about the "toughness" of this Eagles team:
“I like the grit of this football team,” he said Monday in an uncharacteristically descriptive assessment of his team. “I like the toughness of this football team. I like the makeup of this football team.”
“I saw it the end of last year and I’ve seen it through training camp and now I’ve seen it the first five games here,” he said. “You can go into hostile territory and know that they’re all in and they’re not flinching an inch and they’re not backing down from anybody and they’re going in to win the game and that’s their mentality. That’s a good feeling for the head coach. That’s a very good feeling.”
“They were right there 100 percent the whole game, and that’ll take you a long way in this league. You’ve got to start with that. You’ve got to have that.”
"Grit" doesn't seem to have much to do with the change in the Eagles this year. Were the teams over the last few years lacking a hardened desire to win? I doubt it. What's really changed is the defense. This is the first year since 2008 that Reid can count on staying in close games. They may not always be able to pull it out in the end (see last Sunday), but this year's Eagles defense has mitigated offensive mistakes and given Michael Vick second and third and fourth chances to go win the game. That's tremendous.