PHILADELPHIA – Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly doesn't plan to get caught in a trap.
So the words Dallas and Cowboys have not been mentioned as his team prepares to host the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
After a 53-20 blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, and with the NFC East showdown Thanksgiving Day in Dallas, it might be easy for the Eagles (7-3) to look past a struggling Titans team from the other conference.
Kelly won't let it happen.
"No," Kelly said Friday. "No. 1, I don't believe in trap games. I think everybody knows in this league, everybody can beat anybody on any given day. There are a million examples of it, and I think it's. . . it doesn't help anybody if you're looking for one team to go to the next game. The great thing about our league is you only have to play one game a week, so our focus and attention is on the one game we have this week."
Former Eagles head coaches, most recently Andy Reid, would have some assistants look ahead when his team had a Thursday game coming up to get a jumpstart on the opponent. That's not second-year head coach Kelly's style.
"No," Kelly said about working ahead. "We've had this mapped out. We know exactly what we're going to do on Sunday (after the Titans game). We'll come right back in as coaches and get working on the game plan and be here all night.
"Then our players will come back in on Monday and we'll train on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and get ready for the game. So we have the formula. We're not doing anything in terms of showing players film (on Dallas) or anything like that. Our attention, and sole attention, is on the Tennessee Titans."
Eagles players are buying into Kelly's thinking. The defense is concentrating on rookie quarterback Zach Mettenberger and rookie running back Bishop Sankey, not Tony Romo and DeMarco Murray. Not yet.
"We're all about Tennessee," Eagles safety Nate Allen said. "Dallas is a week away. We'll worry about that game after the Tennessee game. You can't afford to look ahead. That's how you get in trouble.
"It's up to us to bounce back from last week's game, take care of our business, here at home, and then in a quick turnaround get ready for the next game."
Tennessee comes in at 2-8, a loser of four straight and eight of nine. The Titans rank 31st in overall offense and in run defense.
Kelly's coaches, like himself, don't want to forget the Titans.
"That's next week's question, right?" offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said when asked how he deals with a Sunday-Thursday turnaround. "No, we're working solely on Tennessee. We know, as coaches, we have what are considered four-day weeks. Last week we had a six-day week. But the bottom line it's who do you play this week, and for us that's Tennessee."
NOTES: Only quarterback Nick Foles (broken collarbone) was ruled out for Sunday's game. The Eagles do list eight players as probable on their final injury report: defensive end Brandon Bair (elbow), cornerback Brandon Boykin (hamstring), center Jason Kelce (thumb), linebacker Mychal Kendricks (calf, hamstring), wide receivers Jordan Matthews (knee) and Jeff Maehl (foot), safety Chris Maragos (groin) and guard Matt Tobin (concussion).
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