Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Bowen: This time, Eagles taking momentum to Detroit

LAST THANKSGIVING, as the afternoon wore down, a few reporters waited in a gloomy, underlit passage outside the entrance to the visitors' locker room. The reporters watched players, coaches, and other team personnel trudge up a ramp toward an open portal under Detroit's Ford Field, to buses parked outside at the curb.

Doug Pederson, pointing to field during Sunday’s game, and his staff spend time during the week plotting offensive strategy for early in games.
Doug Pederson, pointing to field during Sunday’s game, and his staff spend time during the week plotting offensive strategy for early in games.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

LAST THANKSGIVING, as the afternoon wore down, a few reporters waited in a gloomy, underlit passage outside the entrance to the visitors' locker room. The reporters watched players, coaches, and other team personnel trudge up a ramp toward an open portal under Detroit's Ford Field, to buses parked outside at the curb.

A gaggle of fans stood near the buses, behind a fence. Then-Eagles coach Chip Kelly stopped and wordlessly signed autographs before trudging aboard.

The reporters were hoping to get a word with Eagles chairman Jeffrey Lurie, in the wake of a stunning, 45-14 loss to the host Lions that left the Eagles 4-7, but Lurie never appeared.

Later, there were reports that this was the loss that sealed Kelly's fate, the day that began the countdown to his Dec. 29 firing, which came with a game left in what would go into the books as a 7-9 season.

Tight end Brent Celek acknowledged Monday he had heard such things.

"You never know, in the moment, obviously" whether this or that straw is really the last. "But it was a game we needed to win, and we didn't get it done."

Like several other Eagles following Monday's back-from-the-bye practice, Celek wasn't eager to delve into the past.

"You're talking about last year. I can't remember how I felt two weeks ago," he said.

But the subject is part of this week's narrative, given that the Eagles visit Detroit again Sunday, with so much looking so different for the 3-0 NFC East leaders.

Defensive end Brandon Graham deflected talk about revenge - the Lions are hardly bitter Eagles rivals, and it isn't like Detroit did anything underhanded in shredding then-coordinator Bill Davis' defense for five touchdown passes.

But Graham, a Detroit native, did get a bunch of tickets to last year's game for family, and with a nine-day break before the next game, he did stay in the Motor City, forced to marinate in humiliation.

"Because it's my hometown, I do want to get a win. Last year did give me a bad taste, because I had to eat in front of my family, who are big Lions fans. They're BG fans, but . . . I do want to go in there and get a win. You can call it what you want. I'm not going to say 'revenge game,' I'm just going to say we want to go 4-0," Graham said.

In the time of Carson Wentz, an Eagles game started by Mark Sanchez somehow seems longer ago and farther away than 10 1/2 months. But in case you've forgotten where the Eagles were then, here are some reminders:

It was the second game in a row the opponent racked up five TD passes, following by four days a 45-17 home loss to Tampa. The Bucs and Lions went 11-for-12 in the red zone. Starting corner Nolan Carroll went down early in Detroit with a broken ankle, replaced by rookie Eric Rowe, but for far too long, Davis kept Rowe on the same side as Calvin Johnson, instead of switching Rowe with Byron Maxwell. The Lions led 38-7 less than 10 minutes into the third quarter.

In the space of 11 quarters, after taking an early lead over Miami at the Linc, the Eagles were outscored 107-34 and lost to three teams their fans thought they would handle, back when the 2015 Birds were being touted as preseason Super Bowl contenders.

Injuries to rookie linebacker Jordan Hicks in an overtime victory at Dallas the week before the Miami game, and to quarterback Sam Bradford, who suffered a shoulder injury and a concussion against Miami, seemed to plunge both units into chaos.

"Forty-five points put up on you back-to-back, that's disgusting," defensive tackle Bennie Logan said in the losing locker room at Detroit. "We've really got to figure out what the problem is and just correct it because I can't continue to take an embarrassment like that. Me, personally, that was disgusting. National television, Thanksgiving Day and you get embarrassed like this."

One Eagle inteviewed Monday who didn't mind recalling last year's Detroit encounter was linebacker Stephen Tulloch, a starter for the Lions that day.

"We just got off to a good start. Obviously, they ran the hurry-up offense. We prepared for it all week. We expected what they (showed) to us, and we were able to attack 'em," Tulloch said.

"Our DL created a lot of pressure, and we were able to get after Sanchez a lot (sacking him six times) and make some big plays, and carry it throughout the game. As halftime came, we had a pretty good lead and held onto it."

The 2016 Lions also have changed, and not for the better. Johnson, who caught eight passes for 93 yards and three touchdowns against the Eagles, has retired. Tight end Brandon Pettigrew is out with a knee injury. The 1-3 Lions lost their third in a row, 17-14, Sunday at Chicago - where the Eagles won easily in Week 2 - with Matthew Stafford being intercepted twice and unable to connect on a TD pass.

For the Eagles, the focus is less on vengeance and more on continuing their unexpected early-season roll. They visit the Redskins in their first divisional matchup Oct. 16, as the schedule quickly gets tougher.

Fletcher Cox, named NFC defensive player of the month for September, said: "I don't think it's about other teams, I think it's about us, the way we prepare, the way we practice. And obviously, we control what happens on Sunday.

"I don't think anybody will get complacent or comfortable. They know what this city is about."

Cox said "the energy level was great" Monday.

Graham said Monday's workout, closed to reporters, was reassuring.

"We're really excited to be back, man. We look like we didn't miss a beat," he said. "That was the biggest thing; I wanted to see how the energy was going to be. We looked like we were ready to get rolling."