Eagles’ Javon Hargrave summons ‘Mamba mentality’ to spark a win against the Houston Texans

HOUSTON — Javon Hargrave has a stockpile of Kobe Bryant clips saved on his phone specifically for moments like Thursday night.

The Eagles defensive tackle showed up to NRG Stadium in some neon green Kobe 6 “Grinches” and played videos of the late basketball legend pre-game to get himself mentally prepared for what was to come.

“That’s my dog,” Hargrave said. “I look at Kobe every day, every game, just to get me going. During the week, when I’m down, I just look at Kobe to keep me working and keep my mind right.”

What followed Hargrave’s ritual on Thursday was a three-sack performance against the Texans, anchoring the Eagles defense in a 29-17 win to remain undefeated.

» READ MORE: Eagles’ 8-0 start is the best in franchise history after winning in Houston

His performance, his teammates said, was reminiscent of the relentlessness Bryant showcased on a basketball court.

“He was in that zone,” said defensive tackle Marvin Wilson. “He has that Mamba mentality, one versus one, he’s just going to keep going for more and more. ‘Grave just has that mentality to keep going.”

Hargrave has five sacks in the last four days, pushing his season total to six. Before the Eagles’ Week 7 bye week, he had 17 pressures and just one sack. In the two games since the week off, he’s had 12 pressures and five sacks according to Pro Football Focus.

The 29-year-old said the difference is that he came off the bye week “healthy” after playing through a nagging toe injury during the first six games. Hargrave suffered the injury during training camp.

The former Pittsburgh Steeler said the injury wasn’t an excuse for his slower start to the season, but acknowledged he feels much better after the week off his feet.

“I was dealing with [being] a little nicked up,” Hargrave said. “I think that bye just helped me kind of really get over it.”

Hargrave’s hot streak is coming at the right time for the Eagles, who placed rookie nose tackle Jordan Davis on injured reserve Wednesday with a high ankle sprain. The former Georgia standout has been the key cog in the Eagles’ odd fronts, occupying the zero-technique directly across from the center and freeing up Hargrave and Fletcher Cox to play from wider alignments.

With Davis expected to miss at least the next three games and potentially longer, Hargrave has been thrust back into splitting his time between the nose and the three-technique.

On Thursday, he took advantage of playing from multiple alignments.

“I was lining up in different places and just doing my normal rushes,” Hargrave said. “It’s really fun to play different positions. You get different looks in all of them. It was working today, but it was fun today.”

Two of Hargrave’s sacks against the Texans came when matched up with Houston center Scott Quessenberry as the interior-most lineman. Both times he beat Quessenberry with quickness, something he says wins more often when you’re lined up closer to the center.

“It’s shorter space, so you can win pretty quick at the nose,” Hargrave said. “But I like everything. There’s advantages to all of them.”

If the second half is any indication, Hargrave could be spending even more time at the heart of the Eagles defense until Davis returns.

Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon used a few different methods to make up for Davis’ absence Thursday night, at times using Wilson and Marlon Tuipulotu in Davis’ place and also trying more even fronts on early downs.

The Eagles obviously missed Davis. They got gashed against the run, especially during the first half. Texans rookie running back Dameon Pierce rushed for 139 yards on 27 carries, with 88 of those yards coming in the first half. Some of the team’s problems stemmed from poor tackling, but the defensive front struggled mightily with runs right up the gut.

» READ MORE: Eagles' D-line reacts to Jordan Davis’ injury

By the second half, Gannon started using Hargrave at the nose more and stopped the bleeding. Pierce averaged 6.8 yards per carry on 13 attempts in the first half and just 3.6 on 14 carries in the second half.

“I did play a little bit more after the half,” Hargrave said. “I started playing a lot of nose.”

When Hargrave returned to his locker stall after the career performance, he was greeted by a small sheet of paper; he’d been randomly selected for a performance-enhancing drug test by the NFL.

A.J. Brown questioned the randomness of his test earlier this week after the league chose him following a three-touchdown performance against the Steelers.

“Shoot, if I had [three] sacks, I’ll take it every time,” Hargrave said, laughing.