Eagles' Brandon Graham going home for Thanksgiving
The linebacker is excited about playing Lions in his hometown.
THANKSGIVING in Detroit is less than optimal for just about everyone traveling with the Eagles this week, except outside linebacker Brandon Graham, who grew up there. The Lions play every year on Turkey Day.
"I always used to say I wanted to play for the Lions on Thanksgiving," Graham said. "Now that I'm playing against 'em on Thanksgiving, it's just that much sweeter, because I've got so many people in my family that are Lions fans.
"To go out there and give 'em an 'L' and then go eat some food with 'em, it's going to be great. I'm just hoping we go out there and take care of business."
Graham said he bought 40 tickets for friends and family. "I tell everybody, 'Merry Christmas, because I just want to do something special for ya'll,' " he said.
He said a few of the folks have half-Lion, half-Eagle jerseys with his name and number that they plan to wear.
Graham and his wife, Carlyne, will stay in the Detroit area, where Graham's mother, Tasha, is a retired Chrysler worker, until Monday, he said.
Defensive wounds
Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis certainly welcomes playing again Thursday, so he can stop talking about his unit's worst performance of the season, and the 283 rushing yards surrendered to Tampa Bay.
"We were feeling real good about ourselves all the way through the first nine games. We felt we were making progress, and we still do. But to have one game where all of it kind of implodes on you at once, it's humbling," Davis said Tuesday. "It makes you step back and look at everything again. Not that we don't every week anyway.
"But the guys are resilient. They're tough. They know what hard work is and how to get through it. We've got to turn around and we've got to make sure that we show up on Thursday with our best effort and put it out there, not what just happened."
Davis said he has rewatched the 45-17 loss "a hundred times now." Davis said players didn't just pack it in.
"The effort is there. It really is," he said. "I looked at that hard, too. There are some on the backside angles (on breakaway runs) that we pointed out where the effort wasn't there. (The effort) could have been there to stop an 80 (-yard gain) and turn it into a 20 or 30. We'll get that corrected. The guys, they're a prideful group. They own their mistakes. We'll move on and grow from it."
Birdseed
The Eagles brought wideout Jonathan Krause up from their practice squad and released inside linebacker Emmanuel Acho Tuesday. It was an odd move, in that the Birds aren't facing any sort of injury crisis at wide receiver, but the New England Patriots are; Krause formerly played there, and New England might have wanted to sign him again . . . Running back Ryan Mathews and tight end Zach Ertz have not progressed through the concussion protocol and presumably will not be playing in Detroit . . . Center Jason Kelce suddenly appeared on the injury report with a knee problem, which caused him to miss Tuesday's walk through. There was no indication this was a serious problem . . . The Eagles are 6-0 all-time on Thanksgiving, including last year's 33-10 demolition in Dallas . . . Safety Ed Reynolds, a 2014 fifth-round draftee, said he thinks he will be active Thursday for the first time in his career, at least for some special-teams work.
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