Eagles hold out hope Acho can play

CHIP KELLY cautioned reporters yesterday not to "write [Emmanuel] Acho off as dead yet," and sure enough, much like the fellow who resisted being heaved upon the cartful of bodies in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," there stood Acho in the locker room after practice, talking about playing Thursday at Dallas.

"Tough to tell. I think I'll be able to, but again, people recover differently," said Acho, who has been splitting the middle-linebacking job with Casey Matthews since DeMeco Ryans went down with a season-ending Achilles' tear Nov. 2 at Houston.

Acho left Sunday's victory over Tennessee in the second quarter with a groin injury. If he can't play Thursday, the remaining middle-linebacking candidates are Matthews and first-round rookie Marcus Smith, who still grapples with a steep learning curve. There is a practice-squad inside linebacker, ex-Detroit Lion Brandon Hepburn, but playing him would mean cutting someone before Thursday.

"The inside-linebacker position is not the position to get hurt at," Acho said. Ryans, Najee Goode and Travis Long all are on IR.

Acho said his injury is similar to one Ryans suffered earlier in the season. "He played the following week, [but] he had 7 days; I have 4," Acho said. "I got a role to play, so I gotta do what I can to get ready."

Acho said he was not, in fact, injured on Delanie Walker's 68-yard catch-and-run, but four plays later, when he tried to tackle Titans running back Shonn Greene on a 2-yard touchdown run. Acho said a lineman bent him backward.

"It's not ideal, especially being born and raised in Dallas," Acho said. He said he wasn't really a Cowboys fan growing up, that he rooted more for individual players, notably then-Denver running back Terrell Davis. He said he often attended the Cowboys' annual Thanksgiving game, and always looked forward to playing in it.

Matthews, meanwhile, said he doubts the Eagles will play a whole lot more dime, with corner Nolan Carroll functioning as a linebacker, if Acho can't go, which was one of the options defensive coordinator Bill Davis mentioned after the Tennessee game. Matthews said he doesn't know whether he will just play more, or if Smith will take on an increased role.

Matthews was asked if having Smith in the lineup doesn't add another layer of responsibility to the other inside linebacker's job. He agreed that it does.

"Any time Marcus is in the game, obviously he's new to the position, so first we got to get the call to the whole defense, then we've got to line him up, then we've got to focus on what we have to do," Matthews said. "I think that's really the biggest part; when he gets comfortable and he knows what he has to do, I think it'll slow things down for him, let him be able to play fast."

The other inside starter, Mychal Kendricks, said he sees Smith, drafted to play outside linebacker, "being a lot more vocal, a lot more demonstrative in his calls. That's what they're asking him. He's coming into his own."

Smith said he doesn't know what his role will be, but he thinks he's ready. He played 14 snaps against the Titans.

Carroll, 6-1, 205, said he welcomes more snaps.

"I'm getting impatient a little bit. I want to be out there," he said. "The more experience I get at that position, the more natural it'll be for me. Every single week I feel more and more comfortable - identifying things and communicating with [Kendricks], seeing things in the defense from the linebacker's perspective. Knowing route combinations, what the 'two' receiver might like to do, or the tight end, what the back's going to do, what the protection is. I'm starting to see that more and more."

Carroll said knowing running "fits" and "knowing where they might set the pass protection to, who they're looking at, who they're trying to identify, and those things, is stuff I wasn't really paying as much attention to" as a cornerback.

But Davis probably doesn't want DeMarco Murray running at Carroll on Thursday, regardless of how well Carroll learns the dime role.

Eagles coach Chip Kelly, who expressed confidence in Smith, was asked yesterday if he thought Matthews could play first and second down all day, if needed.

"He has to," Kelly said. "Unless you can play."

Second-year safety Earl Wolff, on injured reserve, appeared in the locker room on crutches yesterday after what Wolff called "mini-microfracture surgery" on his right knee, performed last week by Dr. James Andrews.

Microfracture surgery, in which holes are drilled in the kneecap to stimulate growth of cartilage-like tissue, is pretty serious. Wolff said his procedure was less so, and he said he expects to be full go by April or May.

"I got stem cells in it," Wolff said. "It wasn't as severe as most microfractures are. I'll be on crutches for about 4 weeks . . . my cartilage was damaged, from the injury last year . . . It was just a couple of little spots."

Wolff, injured Nov. 10, 2013, at Green Bay, never really got full confidence back in his knee.

"I'm not really sure" if surgery a year ago would have been a better way to go, Wolff said. "It started feeling better. I had my good days, I had my bad days."

Coaching on Thanksgiving for the first time, college or pro, doesn't register much with Chip Kelly. "It's not like we're going to have a turkey or a cornucopia on the sideline," Kelly said yesterday. "We're just going to play football" . . . The Eagles listed kicker Cody Parkey as a full practice participant with a groin injury. "I'm just sore," said Parkey, who was 5-for-6 on field goals Sunday, including a 50-yarder. "I'm good" . . . Wideout Riley Cooper said he enjoys his blocking role. "I'm content with how the offense is going in general," said Cooper, whose snaps have decreased as rookies Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff have gotten more comfortable. "[Jeremy] Maclin's trying to get a contract, so he's probably not going to come out of the game," Cooper said, smiling. "We want to sub, as much as we can [to push the tempo with fresh legs]. It doesn't matter who it is; hopefully Maclin gets this thing done, and he'll probably be subbing just as much . . . We try to rotate every four plays" . . . Vinny Curry, who lost two sacks to penalties Sunday, estimates he has lost four that way this season. "You work so hard," Curry said, shaking his head. He has six sacks, in limited snaps. "Sacks ain't easy in this league, man."

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian