Chip Kelly Update: Everything’s Good Again …

Mark Saltveit FishWrap, FishWrap Archive, NFL

… or is it? After weeks of despair and dissension, the 4-7 Philadelphia Eagles rallied to stun the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots, 35-28. Chip Kelly outsmarted coaching legend Bill Belichick in their first head-to-head battle. Sam Bradford returned from injury and outdueled uber-QB Tom Brady, playing efficient, error-free football. Best of all, on Monday night the discarded DeSean …

Chip Kelly Update: Killing the Zombie

Mark Saltveit NFL

All of the NFC East rivalries are bitter, but Philadelphia vs Dallas is probably the worst. These games bring out the best or worst in the Eagles. No game last year was as fun for Eagles fans as the 33-10 demolition of Dallas in front of 20 million viewers on Thanksgiving Day, not even the 27-0 shutout of the disrespectful …

Chip Kelly Update: Winning Ugly

Mark Saltveit NFL

Wow, was that some bad football. Let’s not get too negative, however. The Eagles won their second straight game, and amazingly, at 3-3, lead the NFC East division. It’s not even a tie, given the head-to-head tiebreaker with New York, though they’ve lost to two of their three division rivals. Philadelphia’s defense was outstanding after allowing an 80-yard touchdown drive in …

Chip Kelly Update: Things You Don’t Already Know

Mark Saltveit FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

There is a lot of “conventional wisdom” going around about the Philadelphia Eagles these days. For example: — Chip Kelly is an offensive wizard who doesn’t care about defense. — DeMarco Murray is worn out and headed for a crash, while LeSean McCoy will be huge for Buffalo. — All of the Eagles’ new players — Murray, Kiko Alonso, Ryan …

Chip Kelly Update: Hang-gliding in a Hurricane

Mark Saltveit FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Chip Kelly began his first stint as an NFL general manager the same way he coaches — fast, decisive, and not giving a damn with what anybody thinks. In the first three days of the official NFL year, when free agency and trading first become possible again, he outmaneuvered the entire rest of the league put together by adding 7 …