DT Hart happy to be back with Eagles

TAYLOR HART figured he might be headed for the Eagles' practice squad when the Birds cut him back in early September, but he was picked up on waivers by San Francisco. Last weekend, the 49ers had some injury problems and needed to make a roster move, so they released Hart, with the idea he would land on their practice squad. The Eagles claimed him.

In Hart's case, the waiver wire has been more of a coast-to-coast shuttle.

"You really have no idea. Whoever claims you, that's where you go," Hart said. "Obviously, this is where I started. I loved being with the Eagles. I'm happy."

Hart was a Chip Kelly project, a fifth-round 2014 pick from Kelly's Oregon Ducks, projected as a 3-4 defensive end at 6-6, 281. He didn't get on the field as a rookie but played in a backup role last season, and seemed to be making a decent adjustment to 4-3 d-tackle this year, after Kelly was fired and the Eagles changed schemes.

But the defensive line was the Eagles' deepest position in the preseason, and the emergence of defensive end Steven Means ultimately was bad news for Hart. Kelly snapped him up, then didn't find much use for him - Hart played in only one game as a 49er.

"He's always the same guy," Hart said when asked for a Kelly update Wednesday. "He's not going to change."

Hart stands a decent chance of playing more here. With Bennie Logan sidelined, seemingly for a while, by a groin injury, the defensive tackle rotation was down to three players Sunday against Minnesota. That's not what Jim Schwartz wants this week, facing Ezekiel Elliott and the Cowboys' strong ground game.

Jordan Matthews caught nine passes for 133 yards in last November's Dallas visit, including the 41-yard Sam Bradford pass that won the game in overtime, 33-27. Matthews was asked Wednesday about playing well in Jerry Jones' opulent AT&T Stadium, where he caught four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown in his other visit, as a rookie.

"It's like a concert . . . it doesn't really feel like an away game. It feels like this big, like, hoopla," Matthews said. "The Eagles' fans, they travel like crazy to that game. Cowboys fans are gonna be there, they're fightin' each other, and then you got tourists there because they just want to see 'Jerry World.' And then there's a big TV (scoreboard hanging over the field) that's as big as three cities. So it's a whole bunch of stuff going on; half the time I think the DBs don't even notice me running around, so I guess I've had a couple good games there."

Carson Wentz talked about refining footwork, in regaining the accuracy he seems to have lost the past few weeks. He also discussed the repeated snap problems the Eagles experienced against the Vikings.

"It's just continuing to just do it, continuing to rep it," Wentz said. "Going back and looking at tape, a lot of 'em were me. I've just gotta catch the ball, plain and simple. I took my eyes off it too early a couple times, trying to make my reads before I had the ball. It's pretty simple stuff, really."

DT Bennie Logan (groin) and special teams linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill (hamstring) were the only Eagles who didn't practice. Both seem unlikely to play this week . . . Dak Prescott told a conference call with Philadelphia-area reporters that he and Fletcher Cox ran the same 40 time, Prescott's redshirt year at Mississippi State. Cox said Prescott "was real dedicated to everything he did." After being drafted by the Eagles in 2012, Cox told Andy Reid that Prescott "would be real good someday."

@LesBowen

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