Forget that they were in a room adjacent to the showers in the home locker room at the Linc.
Doesn’t matter where they were.
What’s important is that Sam Bradford is now comfortable doing things he wasn’t comfortable doing a month and a half ago.
Things this new group of Eagles needs.
Nobody can be a leader until they’ve gained the trust of the people around them, and that takes time. And it seems Bradford has done that.
“I feel a lot of times people question my leadership just because I’m quiet,” Bradford said Thursday. “But they don’t see what I do behind the scenes or the relationships I’ve built with those guys. I’m very comfortable stepping up and saying something when I feel like it needs to be said.
“I’m very comfortable. I’ve been around here now, going into the sixth week of the season.”
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Much was made of Bradford’s pregame pep talk before the Eagles beat the Saints last Sunday, and Bradford said it was the first time he's felt compelled to address the offense in that fashion.
It just takes a while with new teammates until you're ready to do it.
“I think for anybody coming in new to an organization or a team, there's got to be — you've got to establish yourself a little bit before you can start to speak up,” head coach Chip Kelly said. “Because anybody would be like, ‘Why is this guy telling me something to do? He just got here.’
“And I think Sam handled it really well. Sam was a little bit more quiet in April and May because he wasn't really full-go in terms of what we were doing, but I think as he has gotten more snaps, as he came back to preseason camp and we started rolling here in August, you could start to see him assert himself a little bit more.
“So I think it's a process. But I think it always happens when you have a new group together.”
Bradford doesn’t like to talk about leadership.
Most athletes don’t. Those who do generally aren’t really leaders at all.
But quarterback is the one position in sports that really demands leadership qualities, and Bradford understands that.
“I like to lead by example and just come in and work hard,” he said Thursday.
“Once the guys see that you’ve bought into the system and you’re willing to put in the work, they’re going to follow you.
“I think if you just come in here and it’s all lip service and you start barking out orders the first week and they haven’t seen you do anything, I think they're a lot less likely to respond to that.”
What about his remarks in the shower Sunday?
Predictably, Bradford shrugged it off.
“It really wasn’t that big of a deal and, to be honest, that was just between us,” he said.
“I don’t like to put that out there. If you weren’t in that locker room or in that shower, you’re probably not going to know what was said in there. It was just something that I felt the time was right.
“Something needed to be said. Hopefully it got the guys fired up.”