BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Dog masks are so NFC Divisional Playoffs.
For the Super Bowl, Eagles All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox showed up to the second day of player media availability wearing a Kelly green Eagles rubber Mexican wrestling mask.
And he wore it for the entire hour he was being interviewed.
"As long as I don't start sweating, I'm going to keep it on." Cox said of the mask.
While the Patriots have it down to a science how to handle Super Bowl week, given that this is Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and New England's eight Super Bowl appearances However, the Eagles are taking a far more buttoned up approach to the week, as illustrated by Cox's new headgear.
"I think if you come in here all uptight, you come in here and it's just really not good. We talked to guys that have been around and been to Super Bowls before. They said that you can't go into this whole thing uptight. You still have to have fun.
"I just want to be professional about it at the same time. We have practice later today, and that's really important."
While Cox and the Eagles take the practice field for the first time on Wednesday, head coach Doug Pederson has tried to maintain consistency in terms of the team's schedule since arriving in Minnesota on Sunday.
Fortunately for Pederson and the Eagles, the team can draw on the experience of a December week-long road trip in Los Angeles ahead of a Week 4 NFC East Division championship clinching victory over the Rams.
"We talked back then that this (West Coast trip) was sort of a precursor for hopefully this opportunity and kind of going through it a little bit with the team hotel, the meetings, the travel to a practice site, the media obligations, and things like that," Pederson said recently. "Now having been through it makes it a little bit easier going up to Minneapolis," Pederson said. "It's just on a grander, bigger stage obviously so the attention will be a lot more. There will be a lot more distractions, a lot more pulling on coaches on players, personnel. Having gone through it in L.A. really has kind of given us a leg up now going up there in a week."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at MLombardo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoPHL.