How Eagles spent bye week: Hunting, fishing, and a few surprises

The Eagles reunited on Tuesday at the NovaCare Complex after a week away from work. During the bye week, they scattered from one end of the country to the other. They went back home to visit family and friends. They went hunting and fishing. They returned to their high schools or colleges to see how things were going. They sat their aching bodies down and put their feet up. They did a lot, and they did nothing.

The coaches mostly scattered, too, but Chip Kelly stayed around to evaluate what has happened so far this season and to get a jump on planning for Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals. He said he didn't worry about what the players did during the bye, only whether they would need time to get back to full speed.

"You hope it doesn't, but you obviously had some time off, so you would hope they'd have a little bounce in their step . . . . We'll see," he said.

They were certainly going full speed when they split up the week before to rest, recharge, and bring back a few stories to tell.

"I went to Austin and got to cohost the Texas pregame show on the Longhorn Network with Ricky Williams and Vince Young," linebacker Emmanuel Acho said. "Texas got a win."

And listeners of the Longhorn Network got one interesting pregame show, no doubt.

Fletcher Cox returned to Yazoo City, Miss., which is about 120 miles southwest of his alma mater, Mississippi State, the No. 1 team in the country.

"They deserve every bit of it," Cox said. "I went home, relaxed, stayed off my feet. There's a long season ahead, but everybody down there in Mississippi is very excited about football."

One state over, Evan Mathis and DeMeco Ryans were in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where they were honorary cocaptains before the Crimson Tide game. In honor of Ryans, Alabama scored 59 points in shutting out Texas A&M.

Bennie Logan's No. 66 jersey was retired by Red River High School in Coushatta, La., the first football number retired by the school. Brandon Graham went home to Detroit East English Prep (formerly Finney-Crockett High School) and spoke to the team before its game with Cass Tech.

"I gave them the speech. I told them there's not much to be said. Just go out and show me with your pads. All the talk is over. It's game time," Graham said.

The talk wore off in the fourth quarter as Cass scored three unanswered touchdowns to come back and take a 19-12 win over East English.

"That was tough, but my little nephew made up for it," Graham said. "His little league team won."

In the great outdoors category, Cody Parkey was home in Jupiter, Fla., where he had been the top-rated high school kicker in the nation, and went deep sea fishing for Atlantic mahimahi but caught a shark instead. Trent Cole went bow hunting for deer in Ohio but only shot a coyote. There he was, in a tree stand with his Mathews Chill X bow with the 70-pound draw weight, and there wasn't a deer worth taking.

"We were pursuing whitetails near the white oak trees because this time of year the deer want to put on fat by eating the white oak acorns," Cole said. "But we had some coyotes interrupt the situation by chasing the deer off. So I took a shot at some coyotes. It's always coyote season."

Center David Molk said the best thing he did was absolutely nothing.

"I went home to Chicago and just hung out," Molk said. "When I left here Monday, I was so tired I totally forgot I deposited two weeks of game checks. I came back and was looking for them and thought I had lost them. I looked in my account, and there they were."

Cary Williams was in Nashville, where he began his professional career and still has a home.

"I'm not saying I just went home and laid eggs, but I definitely rested my mind and body," Williams said. "I learned from all the guys who had success before me that if you get a day, take a day. Then, when it's time to work hard, you work hard."

A few guys went to the beach. Florida was a favorite destination. Guys who needed medical treatment mostly stayed in Philly, as did quarterback Nick Foles.

"I got a lot of rest, both mental and physical," Foles said. "It was good to get away from everything for a while."

There isn't a prize for coolest bye week story, but if there were, Jon Dorenbos would probably win it. He has become friends with a big-time movie producer named Steve Chasman, who is from the area and remains an ardent Philadelphia fan. Dorenbos was at Chasman's house in Los Angeles for dinner, doing card tricks and all his usual schtick when in walks Mel Gibson, who lives up the road in Malibu.

"He was really cool and has this great voice," Dorenbos said. "I'd describe him as polite and humble. He and I were doing card tricks together for the kids that were there. We had this thing going for about 15 minutes where he would guess the card every time. And, yeah, he's a really good-looking guy in person."

Go ahead. Top that, all you guys who went back to see how the high school team was doing. All you losers who sat on the couch and watched The View. All you hunters and fishermen who went out for deer and mahimahi and came back with coyotes and sharks.

The long snapper had dinner with Mel Gibson.

OK, back to football.