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Eagles prepare for Cowboys - quickly

Chip Kelly will celebrate his 51st birthday on Tuesday while preparing for his first Thanksgiving football game in more than three decades. The Eagles' coach last spent the holiday in a game in November 1980 as a senior at Manchester (N.H.) Central High School, although Kelly is avoiding any sentiment associated with Thursday's Eagles-Cowboys duel.

Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. (Derik Hamilton/USA Today Sports)
Eagles head coach Chip Kelly. (Derik Hamilton/USA Today Sports)Read more

Chip Kelly will celebrate his 51st birthday on Tuesday while preparing for his first Thanksgiving football game in more than three decades. The Eagles' coach last spent the holiday in a game in November 1980 as a senior at Manchester (N.H.) Central High School, although Kelly is avoiding any sentiment associated with Thursday's Eagles-Cowboys duel.

"We don't really read much into it or wax nostalgic," Kelly said. "It's not like we're going to have a cornucopia and a turkey on the sideline. We're just going to go play football."

It was business as usual when the Eagles returned to work on Monday to prepare for a matchup of two 8-3 teams, with the winner taking sole possession of first place in the NFC East.

The coaches made the short trip from Lincoln Financial Field to the NovaCare Complex after the 43-24 win over Tennessee on Sunday and immediately went to work on the Cowboys. They broke down the Cowboys' offense, defense, and special teams, but they needed to wait until early Monday morning for film of Dallas' fourth-quarter win over the Giants.

Kelly said he didn't even watch the Cowboys' game-winning drive on live television. He was consumed by other work at the time. He saw quarterback Mark Sanchez at work in the building, too.

Sanchez said he came in to review Dallas' personnel to get a head start. There was little time to decompress after the Titans win. Linebacker Connor Barwin, who had two sacks, said he skipped other postgame beverages for bottles of water. That's the reality of the Sunday-to-Thursday turnaround that each NFL team endures, although there's only so much recovery and preparation that can be done in three days.

"Especially at this point in time, the Dallas Cowboys are going to do what they do and we're going to do what we do, and we're going to see who the best team is on Thursday," Kelly said.

The Eagles returned to the practice field on Monday. It was only a light workout, and Kelly called it a "big mental day." The Eagles will practice again on Tuesday before picking up the tempo on Wednesday.

Rookie wide receiver Jordan Matthews said the Eagles' practices are usually harder than the games. Because they have an intense practice as early as Wednesday most weeks, he believed the Eagles would recover in time for Thursday.

"It's really not a big deal," safety Malcolm Jenkins said. "There's not much you can do from a physical standpoint, so really, the challenge comes in digesting the game plan. You don't want to go in too simple without any weapons. You don't want this complicated game plan that's too hard to digest in a short week."

When Kelly coached Oregon, the Thursday games were preceded by bye weeks. Last year was his first time coaching a game in with so little time to prepare. The Eagles lost, 26-16, to the Kansas City Chiefs. Kelly said he did not learn anything from that experience other than the need to be ready to play.

"One thing we don't worry about is what we don't control, and we don't have any control over the schedule." Kelly said. "We [had] our plan in last night as a staff before we went to bed. Players were here this morning, excited about the opportunity. . . . And then both teams have the same amount of time, so it's not like anybody has an advantage over it."

Kelly said he was impressed with what he saw from the Cowboys, whose hot start to the season was a relative surprise after four seasons without a winning record. Kelly observed a "vastly improved" offensive line and said there is "probably not a [defense] that plays harder" than the Cowboys. He also praised quarterback Tony Romo and running back DeMarco Murray, who leads the NFL in rushing.

The Eagles are also coming off a strong performance, with running back LeSean McCoy totaling 130 rushing yards and the defense forcing three turnovers and recording five sacks. Quarterback Mark Sanchez completed nearly 70 percent of his passes while throwing for 307 yards, although he also threw two interceptions.

Sanchez will start for the fourth time this season on Thursday. He has been versed in the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry since the summer, when fans told him he must beat Dallas even before he took his first training-camp snap.

Sanchez also knows that the Eagles are embarking on meaningful late-season football, and their path to the postseason will be helped if they can respond to the three days of rest with a Thanksgiving win over the Cowboys.

"You get the analogy this is a marathon and not a sprint. But if you think about it, it's 16 sprints," Sanchez said. "You get your rest in between, you get your preparation in between. And then you go run, with everything you've got. That kind of culture is the way it is here. And that's what you learn as you go on."

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