"I realized I needed training," the defensive end said. "I wasn't really ready for that, and it didn't take somebody else to tell me."

Clemons signed with the Eagles on March 1. The year before, when he played for the Oakland Raiders, Clemons was at training camp in the Napa Valley, staying at a sprawling resort hotel. During two-a-days, one practice was in the early morning and the other at night, so his body had time to recharge.

Compared with Camp Reid, it was Camp Granada - without the marshmallow roast.

"Here, it was different," Clemons said.

Early in training camp, he was hospitalized for dehydration. Then nagging injuries slowed him.

Seven games into the season, Clemons, hired as a pass rusher who could bolster Jim Johnson's defensive-line rotation, had no sacks, no hurries, no tackles.

Many who follow the Eagles wondered why they had made the 27-year-old Clemons their second-biggest free-agent signing behind Asante Samuel, handing him a $12.6 million deal with a $4 million bonus.

But he got his first sack at Seattle, the eighth game of the season, and slowly began to contribute.

Then came last Sunday, the biggest game of the season, a day when Clemons was so impressive against the Dallas Cowboys he was named NFC defensive player of the week.

Clemons had two sacks, jarred the ball loose from quarterback Tony Romo, and scored the first touchdown of his career when he picked up a fumble and ran 73 yards, using a textbook stiff-arm on the Cowboys' Tashard Choice.

"I guess I always had that fantasy of stiff-arming someone going into the end zone," Clemons said.

The most remarkable aspect of his remarkable day was that he accomplished all that in only 14 plays.

"I was in my zone. I was having a real good game, and once you get in that zone you're hard to stop," he said. "I did nothing different. I didn't feel any different. Sometimes when you get in that frame of mind, nobody can stop you.

"I always knew I could play like that. I just had to get myself in condition to be able to play. I started hitting stride against Seattle, and that's when the coaches saw I could be productive on the field."

Johnson sends Clemons into the game at the joker position on passing downs. At 240 pounds, Clemons is small, but his speed and range appealed to the Eagles. As the joker, he can play like a linebacker on middle blitzes or stunt with a defensive end. The position requires a player who can act as both a defensive end and linebacker.

Although Clemons said he had been comfortable with Johnson's defense from the beginning, the coordinator said it had taken time for the newcomer to adjust.

"He was banged up a little bit and got off to a bad start, and I think the confidence of not knowing the defense was there," Johnson said. "The more he got to work at that position - we worked him in the joker a little bit - he felt more comfortable. I think the last six or seven weeks, he's really come around pretty good. He just missed a lot of training camp, and not being in shape also hurt him."

Clemons typically plays more than 14 downs but didn't see more action against the Cowboys because he had to be hooked up to an IV to relieve cramping, Johnson said. He said Clemons will play a lot more Sunday in the wild-card game at Minnesota.

"He just all of a sudden cramped up, and we couldn't get him in the game," Johnson said. "But out of those 14 plays, he was pretty productive."

Clemons, who has six sacks and two fumble recoveries, probably couldn't be going into his first-ever playoff game feeling better about himself. He dismissed his lack of playoff experience as a nonfactor.

"You can't put a lot of pressure on yourself," he said. "Some guys let their emotions fly, and the result of that is usually a bad game because they put so much pressure on themselves. I don't pressure myself. That's why I look forward to going into this weekend and just being Chris Clemons."

Contact staff writer Ray Parrillo at 215-854-2743 or rparrillo@phillynews.com.