Mike Vick wants to make things right after poor play against Pittsburgh last week.

Against the Pittsburgh Steelers in last Thursday’s second preseason game, the Eagles starters looked more like rookies overwhelmed by the speed of the game than a team that has been tabbed the “Dream Team” because of all the high profile free agents the Birds grabbed in the offseason.

Rookie middle linebacker Casey Matthews was overwhelmed with everything thrown at him by the Steelers, who were a team on a mission to play well after a poor performance the week before in Washington.

The Steelers, in what will probably happen often against the Eagles talented secondary, went over the middle and under deep coverage repeatedly with success; torching the Birds first team defense for three first half touchdown passes and a 21-0 lead at halftime.

Matthews had two tackles in the game, his total for the entire preseason.

While it is not fair to judge the former Oregon standout after just three quarters of play, it should be a concern to Eagles fans that the linebacker corps, led by Matthews, is woefully short on experience going into a season with such high expectations.

New defensive coordinator Juan Castillo defended his team’s seeming lack of attention to the linebacker position in the offseason.

“When I look at it, they did address it,” Castillo said. “They drafted some kids. They’re young kids that they drafted. It takes time to develop kids. Going back to some of you guys, I’m sure your first year when you started doing what you’re doing now, I’m sure you’re a lot better now than you were when you first started. It’s a process, and it’s our job to develop the kids and make them better. I’m responsible and I have to do a better job and they’ll continue to get better just because we’re doing the right things. We’re doing the right fundamentals and it takes time.”

Castillo, who was promoted from offensive line coach to coordinator in the offseason, a move many around the league felt was unusual, said his greenhorn middleman will get better.

“Well you know what; he only had seven plays the first game,” Castillo said at his press conference earlier this week. “Sometimes I think it’s important to understand, when you’re looking at a game and you think ‘well it’s this guy’s fault,’ you know, sometimes, unless you understand what’s going on, well this guy it wasn’t his gap. The ball goes into certain different gaps. Casey is going to be, it’s his first time being a middle linebacker. He’s going to get better, and better, and better. Every day he’ll get better.”

Castillo was asked if his linebackers should play more than the other starters given their lack of NFL experience.

Castillo said he was talkin’ about practice.

“What we try to talk about, is it’s about practice,” He said with a straight face. “Practice is playing. Practicing fast, practicing hard, practicing physical. That’s what we did yesterday, that’s what we’ll do this afternoon. Those are reps that are important for those kids, but we’re trying to get them in practice so they feel that. We’re trying to put them in those situations so they can get that experience in practice.”

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Quarterback Mike Vick had probably his worst outing wearing and Eagles uniform last week against the Steelers.

Vick went 5 of 12 for 47 yards…his passes that were caught by Steelers – all three of them – actually looked like better thrown balls than the ones that were caught by his teammates.

Vick said he can’t wait to play Thursday against the Cleveland Browns at Lincoln Financial Field (7:30 p.m. ETA)

“Yeah, I’m just looking forward to getting back out on the field, playing,” Vick said. “110 percent effort and just doing what I love to do, and that’s playing football and playing smart football and having a good time playing the game.”

Vick talked about getting his mojo back after a disastrous game against Pittsburgh.

“Absolutely, you know as a competitor and as a player you always want to go out and put on a great performance,” Vick said. “And you’re able to go back and look at the film and you know why certain things happened the way it happened and what could have been done differently. And like I said last week, that’s a positive. I know why I made the mistakes that I made and how I can correct them and I’m just going to go out this weekend and try to put on a great performance. As long as I’m out there, even though it’s preseason, it’s still a game.”

Vick said he might have been guilty of taking risks he would not have taken in the regular season.

“Sometimes you might play just a tad bit reckless and play faster than you normally play,” Vick said. “You know, just trying to get the ball out and trying different things, getting the ball into different receivers’ hands. But for the most part you try to stick within the system and do what works.”

Teams rarely admit they game plan for preseason games. The logic is you don’t want to show your hand and give your opponents the opportunity to get extra time to game plan for you. Vick said the Eagles want to do well in their final home preseason game and were indeed making plans specifically for the Browns.

“Yeah, our schedule is a little bit different this week,” Vick admitted. “So we’re preparing as if we were going to play a full game. We just want to go out and put on the best performance possible, play as a unit, play smart and stay healthy.”