Angry Bird? At least Polk runs that way

ON LAST WEEK'S Fox broadcast of the Eagles and Texans, Chris Polk was described as running "angry."

LeSean McCoy agreed with that description of Polk, when it was relayed to him. "I would say so - that whole, 'Arrrhh!,' head down . . . He runs hard," McCoy said.

"That's the only way I know how to run," Polk said as the Eagles prepared for tonight's encounter with the Carolina Panthers. "It's not that I'm angry. I just like to take what the defense gives me. So, you know, I just hit it and get it."

If you met Polk away from the field, you probably wouldn't guess he was a football player, and you almost certainly wouldn't guess he was a power back. He's 5-11, said he weighed in at 217 last week. Polk doesn't look overweight, but he also isn't ripped. Even though he turns 25 next month, he could pass for a smooth-cheeked 19.

"Big legs," said center Jason Kelce, another man whose physique doesn't really tell the story of his ablity. "He's kind of run that way since he's been here."

All of Polk's 2014 carries - 11 for 63 yards - have come the past 2 weeks, but despite missing 2 weeks with a hamstring problem, he leads the team with seven special-teams tackles.

Polk suffered a serious hamstring injury early in training camp. He sat out the whole preseason, and some observers thought he might not make it through cutdowns. Eagles coach Chip Kelly said last week that he never thought of replacing Polk, who made the team as an undrafted free agent in 2012.

"No, we weren't. I was just hoping that whatever was wrong with him, we could get straightened out, because we were so excited about him," Kelly said. "And I felt for him, because the one big thing with Chris is, he had such a great offseason for us. Really, we thought going through OTAs and minicamp that we were really excited about where he was, and [he] was really moving very well when we first started camp. It was either Day 2 or Day 3 that he went down. We were like, 'What are we going to do now?' So it was one of those things where I was hoping we could get to the season and we wouldn't have to make that decision."

Polk ran back a kickoff 102 yards for a touchdown Sept. 21 against the Redskins, but he reinjured his hamstring 2 weeks later and missed the Oct. 12 game against the Giants. This is the healthiest he's been, he said.

"I'm still not where I would like to be, but I'm happy with where I'm at, because I'm feeling better every week. It has been a long struggle," Polk said. "I'm just going to try and stay on top of that; I'm not trying to go back into the treatment area anymore."

Practice-squad running back Kenjon Barner heard a reporter talking with Polk about being a "north-south runner" and joked that Polk is so slow, he has no choice.

"Yeah, I know," said Polk, whose touchdown last week against the Texans was his fifth on 33 career touches. "It works, though . . . You can't outrun everybody."

Polk left the University of Washington as its second-leading all-time rusher. He thought he might get drafted in the second or third round, but predraft tests on a previously injured shoulder led some teams to label it "degenerative." That was that, until the draft was done.

Some obsevers felt the Huskies pretty much used up Polk, leaving him with a body that wouldn't withstand NFL rigors. Given those concerns, he seems well-cast as a role player here.

"It's definitely been a humbling experience [not being the star], but I wouldn't trade it for the world," Polk said. "It's made me a better person."

Coincidentally, left guard Evan Mathis makes his return from a torn MCL against the Carolina team that drafted him in the third round out of Alabama in 2005. Mathis bounced from Carolina to Miami to Cincinnati before finding a home with the Birds in 2011. "I'm a completely different player and person" than in 2005, Mathis said. "A lot of days between here and there" . . . Eagles outside linebackers coach Bill McGovern was Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly's position coach at Boston College . . . Wonder what Ricky Manning Jr. is doing these days?