PHILADELPHIA -- Jason Avant refuses to apologize for his remarks. He's more than willing to explain them.
"We don't want people jumping on our bandwagon now," Avant said after Philadelphia defeated Dallas, 34-7. "We want people to go out and still talk bad about us."
Avant also said: "We look at home games like road games" and, "We like to get booed by our fans."
The Eagles (3-4) have won two straight, and will face Chicago (4-3) on Monday night. On Thursday, Avant said his remarks were misunderstood. He said he wasn't knocking fans, but was trying to explain that the Eagles will play through any sort of adversity they face. The Eagles seem to have recovered after losing four straight.
"I'm trying to motivate my teammates to keep focused," Avant said. "We've got the underdog mentality, and that's my opinion. ... I'm a person and this is America, right? I can have an opinion, right? That's my opinion.
"I take offense when we've got signs outside (the NovaCare Complex) talking about firing coach (Andy Reid). I take offense to it so, definitely I'm not apologizing for that, but what I am saying is it was to motivate my teammates.
With 31 catches for 412 yards through seven games, Avant is having a career year.
Discussion of Avant's remarks filled the airwaves on Philadelphia's two sports-talk radio stations the past few days, and many fans said they plan to boo Avant on Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
Avant isn't concerned.
"I don't really care, you know why? Because I play my hardest," Avant said. "I play my hardest for Jesus Christ and for this team. You going to boo me for playing hard? You going to boo me for being the guy that's going to chase down the play when nobody else is running? You going to boo me for being the guy that's doing special teams or going over the middle and taking a big shot?
"Boo me for doing what's right."
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
