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Samuel 'Limited' Again; DJax, Andy Talk

Update: Asante Samuel was again a "limited" practice participant in the Eagles' final substantive workout before Thursay night's meeting with the Houston Texans.

Afterward, Samuel was noncommital about whether he will be able to play.

"Getting better," he said. "Working hard to get better. Working every day to get better."

Samuel seemed to be walking normally, which of course is not much like playing cornerback against Andre Johnson.

"I don't know that," defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said, when asked if he expects to have Samuel against the Texans. "He was out there a little bit today. We'll see; it's a day-to-day thing, and he's working hard at it, I know that."

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Earlier: Andy Reid tried to defuse any controversy about the potential frustration of wide receiver DeSean Jackson when he met with reporters today, by lauding Jackson's desire.

After that, Jackson finally spoke with reporters, for the first time since Sunday's 31-26 loss at Chicago.

"I''m here to play football, and win football games," said Jackson, who declined to discuss the situation in the locker room after the game, in which he reportedly was upbraided by the coach for his demeanor. "People can say what they want," he said. "I can care less about that.If it doesn't have to do with winning football games, I could care less about it."

Jackson indicated all is well between him and Reid and him and his teammates. He declined to answer a question about whether the Eagles need to get him the ball.

'There's nothing to clear, no air or nothing," he said.

"I love that he loves the ball. That's what I love," Reid said, emphatically. "Man, he wants it and he wants it now and he wants it in crunch time. There are a lot of guys that would climb under this table in crunch time. He wants the ball. I like that, it's a beautiful thing. I'll take care of everything else, man, I love that part."

Reid said the lack of catches by Jackson against Chicago was a reflection of how good is and how quickly he has established his reputation. Reid again called Jackson "one of the elite wide receivers" in the NFL.

"People know how good he is," Reid said. "This is no secret. He's a good football player. Teams, obviously, calculate for that and scheme for that and with that, I thought [QB] Michael [Vick] did a good job of, if he's doubled, then either going to LeSean or to Celek or back out to Jeremy; it's one of those deals. Some games there are going to be more catches."

"The beautiful thing is that we have a team of other players that can catch the football and do things with the football. So that's okay to focus on one guy. But these other guys are also making tremendous plays. So somewhere though teams figure that out and then it opens back up and good things happen."

Reid said each receiver has a grouping of plays designed for them.

"We try to get the ball to all the players," Reid said.

Asked about Jackson potentially shying away from contact, Reid said, "He's 169 pounds. There might not be a 165 pound male in this room. It's one of those deals, everybody is 20 pounds or greater than he is. There is a time when he has to be smart."

In other matters:

On Asante Samuel's status: "He felt pretty good. He came in and got treatment this morning. He went through the walkthrough. He did feel better than he did yesterday."

On the quick turnaround: "Bodies are sore for both teams. No different for them than it is for us. On the other side of that, you have to do mind over matter and get yourself in the right frame of mind to go play."

On the Eagles' having past success in short week situations: "Every situation is different. We got back into it yesterday and tried to hit it running. We had our focus on the Texans … You are going to ask the players to incorporate a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday practice all in one. If they get through today, they have the package and can do our mock game tomorrow."

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Also, the Eagles' game against the Cowboys on Sunday, Dec. 12 will remain in prime time, the league announced.

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