With just two days to go until their Thanksgiving meeting with the Lions in Detroit, the Eagles are already in the thick of preparations for that game. Coming off a 45-17 loss to the Buccaneers at home on Sunday, Philadelphia is hoping to get the taste of that frustrating defeat out of its mouth quickly and move on.
On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Bill Davis spoke to reporters about Sunday's game and the challenges ahead of the team. Here are a few key takeaways:
A Deflating Loss Doesn't Need To Carry Over To Thursday
Sunday's loss to Tampa Bay was undoubtedly the Eagles' worst of the season. Coming into the game, three of their five losses through the first nine games of the season came by a combined total of just six points, and two more came by 21 combined points. The 28-point loss to the Bucs came by a greater margin than all five of the losses that preceded it this season.
Davis is hoping, though, that the team can treat the game as a learning experience and come into Thursday with more focus than with which they entered Sunday's game.
"It's draining to lose like that. It's draining to put all that work in and then not have it show up on Sunday," he said. "We were feeling real good about ourselves all the way through the first nine games, and we felt were making progress, and we still do, but to have one game where all of it kind of implodes on you at once is humbling.
"But the guys are resilient, they're tough, they know what hard work is and how to get through it, and we've got to turn around and we've got to make sure that we show up on Thursday with our best effort."
Effort Is Key, And The Effort Will Be There On Sunday
Sunday's loss was especially frustrating because there were a handful of plays on which the effort on the defensive side of the ball appeared to be lacking. Bill Davis saw that too while reviewing film, and said that it's something he and his unit will address heading into Thursday.
"I looked at that hard, and there were some on the ba"(If it had been it) could have been there to stop an 80 (-yard gain] and turn it into a 30 (-yard gain). But we'll get that corrected. The guys are a prideful group. They own their mistakes, and they'll move on."
A quick glance at some of the key players the Eagles will need to contain during their Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit...
QB Matthew Stafford has thrown for 15 touchdowns, and has an 84.8 rating through Week 11
RB Ameer Abdullah has accumulated 284 yards and one touchdown through Week 11 of his rookie season
WR Calvin Johnson ranks ninth in the NFL with 828 receiving yards this season
DE Ezekiel Ansah has racked up 28 tackles on the season, along with eight sacks
WR Golden Tate ranks second on the team with 52 receptions for 502 yards
LB Stephen Tulloch leads the Lions with 70 tackles
WR Theo Riddick is entering Week 12 with 78 yards
Looking Ahead To The Lions
Detroit ranks 29th in the league in points scored, averaging just 18.5 points per game. But Bill Davis knows not to overlook an offense that features Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate at wide receiver and barrel-armed signal-caller Matt Stafford at quarterback. Part of what has held the Lions' offense back this season has been its 21 turnovers (31st in the NFL), so the Eagles will look to get back to their playmaking ways after totaling just one takeaway in their past two games.
"They've got a veteran group of receivers," he said. "They've got two running backs that are good, that are starting to grow. ... They've got big tight ends that are all athletic and big receivers that are really getting all the targets. So we've got a nice offense coming at us that we've got to stop."
