Eagles Notebook: Dion Lewis set to play despite car crash

November 04, 2011|BY LES BOWEN, bowenl@phillynews.com
  • Dion Lewis hurt his right hand in a car accident, but expects to return kicks against Bears.

DION LEWIS' new Mercedes was totaled, but the Eagles' rookie running back escaped with a sore right hand, he said, when Lewis was rear-ended Sunday afternoon on his way to Lincoln Financial Field from the airport-area hotel the team stays in the night before home games.

Eagles coach Andy Reid elected to hold Lewis out of Sunday's 34-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, but Lewis practiced yesterday and expects to return kicks Monday when the Eagles host the Bears. In fact, Lewis got half the practice reps at running back yesterday, splitting them with Ronnie Brown after LeSean McCoy was sent home with a stomach virus, Reid said.

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Reid said he was confident the illness had nothing to do with the Jay-Z-Kanye West concert McCoy and a number of players attended Wednesday night.

"I was shook up a little bit, my hand was a little bit swollen, but I'm fine now," Lewis said. He said his car slammed into the guardrail after he was hit. "I was a little bit scared to drive the next day, but I got behind the wheel, so I'm fine now.

"Obviously, I wanted to play . . . At the same time, you've got to think about what I just went through, and that the coaches care about the players."

Lewis said the accident happened on one of the bridges leading from the airport to the stadium - he wasn't sure whether it was the Girard Point or the Platt.

 

Snap decision

That near-fumble against Dallas, when Jason Kelce snapped the ball into his own behind, had a simple origin, Kelce said yesterday.

The rookie thought Michael Vick was under center, didn't understand he was in the shotgun, the Birds driving for their third touchdown. Vick launched himself like a guided missile and came down on top of the ball.

"I just lost track on that one. Can't happen," said Kelce, who added that Vick "saved my ass. Literally."

Someone asked the obvious question - when the QB's under center, don't you like, um, feel his hands, ya know?

"You would think you would, but with everything that's going on in the game and how often [the ball is snapped] it's just like second nature," Kelce said. "I just gotta pay attention more."

Kelce has shaved his beard, accentuating his mustache during the "Movember" campaign against prostate cancer. Todd Herremans and Kyle DeVan have followed suit.

 

Birdseed

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