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Good afternoon, Eagles fans! Want all the best Eagles news on this Thursday, November 12? You won't want to miss the stories, tweet, photos and video featured in The Read-Option today. Check them out now ...
The Last Word: Jordan Matthews – Dave Spadaro
"DS: Jordan, fans don't see behind the scenes ... what happens after a moment like that? The game is over and then what happens?
JM: A lot of guys go right to their phones or check social media and stuff like that, and I don't get into that too much. We have a family GroupMe with all my cousins. That's like my Twitter, my Facebook. Those are the main people I care about. They give me information and let me know how I feel. I check their conversation from the game and then I go on and say, "Thanks for the support." Then I text my mom and dad because they come to every single game and I let them know that I'll be out to see them soon. Everybody is excited after a win like that, but pretty much right after Coach (Chip) Kelly is done talking to us and he wraps it up, we're kind of already fixing our minds to the next week.
DS: You also have the responsibility of talking to the media. Is that something you enjoy?
JM: It's just part of the business. If you think about it, without the media, that takes away a lot of our revenue, too, so it's a hand-in-hand situation. We need y'all as much as you need us. I've always kind of been polished in that area so I put my focus on the team and that's all I care about, anyway.
DS: So I imagine that by the time you picked up your telephone you had a few messages waiting, no?
JM: I've condensed my circle a little bit. I've changed my number and stay in contact with only those people I'm really close with. I had a fair amount of text messages, nothing crazy. Maybe 30 or 40.
DS: Fans think that when you get on an airplane after a win like that there is a lot of celebrating. It was a late night. What was the plane ride back to Philly like for you?
JM: Not necessarily true. We have a mature team. A lot of guys were trying to get some rest. I will say that I was sitting near Miles Austin and DeMarco Murray, former Cowboys. They were extremely happy that we won the game. To my pleasant surprise, DeMarco was playing some Kanye (West) through a speaker and I love Kanye. Me and Miles were just rapping the lyrics the entire time. I didn't even go to sleep. It was a good feeling."
Tweet Of The Day
Submit your captions to Jon Dorenbos for this week's Picture Caption Challenge! Dorenbos will pick his favorites and announce them on the next episode of Inside The Eagles.
Caption This: Imma Let You Finish
Today's photo gallery of the day features the best Eagles memes from #BeatDallas.
Following the Eagles' win over the Cowboys, the players' expressions are the center of this week's Caption This. View the full gallery here...
Cox Continues History Of Great D-Linemen – Alex Smith
"On April 27, 2012, a wide-eyed, soft-spoken 21-year-old from Yazoo City, Mississippi took center stage in the auditorium at the NovaCare Complex. Meeting the Philadelphia media for the first time, his responses were brief but concise as he explained what the draft process had been like for him, how he started playing football in eighth grade and how he was looking forward to life in a new city that was entirely different from the place he grew up.
'I think my biggest challenge will be getting used to the speed of the game and learning the playbook and going out and playing as fast as I can,' said defensive end Fletcher Cox at his introductory press conference.
On that day, Cox was concerned about getting used to competition at the NFL level. Three-and-a-half years later, the NFL competition is still trying to get used to him.
To this day, the 12th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft remains soft-spoken. That hasn't changed. But now, the line of questions he receives on a weekly basis is a bit different. He's no longer asked about what could be, but rather how he came to dominate.
Cox has quickly established himself as one of the top defensive linemen in the NFL. Even more impressive is that he hasn't had to boast big numbers in order to do so. Sure, racking up three sacks a game looks great in the box score, but for Cox, it's often the plays that don't get tabulated in the stat sheet that are his most impactful. Cox constantly commands the line of scrimmage, displacing runners out of their lanes and forcing quarterbacks to become uncomfortable in the collapsing pocket.
It's the things that may go unnoticed to the casual fan that impress his coaches the most. Even after a three-sack, two-forced-fumble performance earlier this season against New Orleans, head coach Chip Kelly acted like the game was nothing out of the ordinary for No. 91.
'I really think for us, it's what Fletch has done here since we've been here,' Kelly said after the game, one in which Cox was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. 'I mean, he's been a very disruptive force on the defensive line since we've been here. I think he's just starting to get the notice that he probably should have gotten before. I think you even - you go back to last year, and an opponent is talking about going in, getting ready to play us, and they're talking about Fletcher's name.
'I think he's played at a really high level for a while here … He's made some really big plays; this wasn't his first big game for us. But, it's something that we've become kind of accustomed to because of the type of player Fletch is.'"
Chip Kelly One-On-One: Reviewing The Dallas Win
Eagles head coach Chip Kelly joins Dave Spadaro in studio to discuss the team's overtime win against the Cowboys in the video of the day.
Other Views
Improved Sam Bradford: It's All In the Footwork – Zach Berman, Philadelphia Inquirer
"The relationship between the quarterback and his position coach is an important one, and Day and Bradford have worked together since the spring. Day has been tasked with introducing Bradford to the offense while he also has been reintroduced to playing quarterback after missing much of the last two seasons because of knee injuries.
'We've really put a heavy emphasis on his footwork,' Day said. 'We've worked on transferring his weight on his throws and being more efficient. He has a really efficient motion, so I think the last couple of weeks we've put a heavy emphasis on it and it's showed up in the games.'
When Bradford analyzed his performance earlier this season, he noticed that his 'footwork was just all over the place.' He did not know whether it was the by-product of being in a new offense or his prolonged absence.
'But I feel when my feet are under me and I'm in rhythm, good things happen,' Bradford said. 'And when my feet are bad and I'm out of rhythm, that's when you see the underthrows and overthrows, throws too early, too late.'"
All-22: The Offensive Line's Transformation – Josh Paunil, Birds24/7
"The Eagles' offensive line couldn't have played much worse against the Cowboys in Week 2. They gave up so much penetration that the team totaled just seven rushing yards, averaging 0.4 yards per carry. If not for Sam Bradford's 9-yard scramble, they would've finished in the negative.
Down two starters (Jason Peters and Andrew Gardner) heading into their rematch against Dallas Sunday night, the offensive line appeared poised for another poor performance.
What followed surprised many, however, as they paved the way for a dominant performance on the ground. The Eagles rushed for 172 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry, and won largely because of how well they ran the ball.
'Those guys did a really nice job against a formidable front. We knew that going in that that was going to be a heck of a matchup for us,' Chip Kelly said. 'Our line, since the second game of the year, has really executed from a fundamentals standpoint. They're sticking on blocks better, they're covering people up and (they're) giving our backs an opportunity to run.'"
Chris Maragos' Twisting Road To The NFL – Bob Brookover, Philadelphia Inquirer
"The next spring, after Maragos had emerged as a starting safety and captain for the Badgers, (Bret) Bielema got his team together in a meeting room for an announcement. Maragos and another walk-on from Central Michigan were being awarded scholarships. The other kid was J.J. Watt, the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year with the Houston Texans.
'I don't think you can really describe what that moment was like,' Maragos said. 'It wasn't about the money. For me, it was about the validation of all the work I put in and how they respected that.'
Maragos, 28, believes that work ethic is what got him a look as an undrafted free agent with San Francisco in 2010 and then with Seattle after being cut by the 49ers when Jim Harbaugh took over from Mike Singletary."
