Eagles Notes: Cowboys' Ryan fires back at Eagles' Jackson

Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan responded to DeSean Jackson Friday, one day after Jackson responded to Ryan's preseason barbs.

"If they need my motivation to get ready to play us, then we're gonna kick their ass anyway," Ryan said Friday, according to reports from Dallas. "It ain't going to matter."

In the preseason, Ryan referred to the "all-hype team" - clearly referencing the Eagles - and vowed to "beat their ass."

On Thursday, Jackson said: "It's hard for me to kind of respect that because the coach is not really out there playing." He added, "It ain't like I can run on the sideline and tackle the coach."

Cue the voluble Ryan Friday. The hefty coach invited the slim Eagles receiver to tackle him.

"He can tackle me. That'd be great, because I'm going to land on his shoulder and put him out. So that'll be awesome. Hell, he can tackle me two or three times," Ryan said.

Defensive end Brandon Graham is "healthy and ready to go," Eagles coach Andy Reid said Friday, but he has not decided if Graham will play Sunday against Dallas.

Graham, the team's No. 1 draft pick last year, practiced all week, his first full practices since undergoing microfracture surgery in December to help repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. But he remained on the physically unable to perform list Friday afternoon, not the team's 53-man active roster.

"I'm going to go look at the film," Reid said. "He did a little bit better [Thursday] than he did on Wednesday. So I'll see how he held up [Friday] and go from there."

Earlier this week, Graham said that though he felt some soreness in his right knee, the biggest challenge was getting back into cardiovascular shape. He did not speak to reporters Friday.

The Eagles have until 4 p.m. Saturday to put Graham on the active roster if they want him to play Sunday. If they did that, they would have to cut another player. If Graham does not play Sunday, the Eagles have two more weeks to evaluate him before making a decision.

Reid compared Asante Samuel's comments ripping the Eagles front office to a family spat.

"I obviously could have done a way better job of communicating than I did, and so we move on," Reid said in his first meeting with reporters since the incident on Wednesday. "We fix it, and we move on."

Samuel is not expected to be disciplined for saying team president Joe Banner and general manager Howie Roseman are playing "fantasy football" with owner Jeffrey Lurie's money.

Late Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, who will be added to the Eagles Honor Roll at halftime Sunday, gave Mike Vick fits, the quarterback said Friday.

"I can't think of another defensive coordinator that I went into the game knowing it was going to be a hell of a game. On my end, I had to be on top of my P's and Q's and know what was happening, but I didn't know what to expect. I knew I was going to get blitzes from everywhere and people walking all around," Vick said. "He was probably the only defensive coordinator - I can honestly say that and I'm not lying because I've played against some good ones, and I played great against them - that I ever faced that I ever had a tad bit of doubt in my abilities. It speaks volumes, and it's the truth. . . . He did a lot of things I had never seen before."

The Eagles expect to have all the players on their active roster available Sunday. Cowboys running back Felix Jones (ankle) is out. Another Dallas running back, Tashard Choice (shoulder), is questionable.