Football fans are stuck in the doldrums, and with no wind in their sails, they’re just waiting for the endless (month-long) break between mini-camp and training camp to end. Luckily you have us football writers, struggling furiously to generate enough hot air to fill those sails. Chip Kelly’s Eagles finished spring workouts full of smiles, with no drama (after the DeSean Jackson release and …
Is Mark Helfrich a better recruiter than Chip Kelly? That question has slowly crept into the minds of Duck recruiting fanatics as the early commitments have seemingly poured in over the last few weeks. Earlier this week, writing for Duck Sports Authority, I talked about the change in early commitments not being significantly different for the Ducks. At the time …
It’s only year two of the Chip Kelly era in Philadelphia, and the Eagles have already overhauled their receiver group. They released three-time Pro Bowler DeSean Jackson and veteran slot receiver Jason Avant. They re-signed Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin. Then, they traded up in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft to select Vanderbilt’s Jordan Matthews, but the front …
Oregon’s second game on the schedule brings a match-up that could define the Ducks’ entire season, for better or worse. A win against Michigan State would help the Ducks dramatically improve their chances of contending for a National Title — especially under the new playoff system. While there has been a lot of talk about the offensive and defensive match-ups the …
Mandatory mini-camp is in session for three days of open-to-the-press practices, and there’s a sudden flood of information in the blogs and newspapers. It’s not really any different than the last three weeks of OTAs (organized team activities), though. “Mandatory” doesn’t mean much, for one thing, since the Eagles had 100% turnout at the voluntary OTAs. Safety Ed Reynolds was …
The trademark of the Oregon offense since the start of the Chip Kelly era has been the speed with which the ball gets moved down the field. The Ducks have a habit of marching down and scoring in a hurry, and since Mark Helfrich took over last season, not much has changed. Since the Chip Kelly offense took over at Oregon, one …
It will be three months until real regular season football games begin, but the Philadelphia Eagles are at least doing something again. Phase 3 of the off-season program — the organized team activities or OTAs — began last week, with actual offense-against-defense drills and all the famous Chip Kelly practice twists: blaring music, extreme speed and innovative, often goofy practice devices. Only a …
Chip Kelly didn’t just bring his offensive scheme with him to the Philadelphia Eagles. For the second time in his coaching career, he changed a 4-3 base defense to his 3-4 scheme. To ease this transition in Year 2, Kelly drafted a player in the fifth round who he relied on during the defensive scheme change at Oregon: defensive lineman …
I’ll never forget the date: Oct. 10, 2011. I remember feeling completely lost, staring into my computer screen for literally hours. You see, I had my first post due for something called “FishDuck.com” at 3 a.m. the next morning. And, while I had been able to come up with a topic and the basis of what I wanted to say in …
In the past three years a lot of teams in the Pac-12 have had coaching changes, with the sole exception being the University of Utah where Kyle Whittingham has been the coach since 2005. The other 11 schools in the conference have all hired new coaches since 2011. There are three programs — Oregon, California and Colorado — heading into Year …
The Philadelphia Eagles are increasingly becoming an NFL reflection of the Oregon Ducks. The NFL draft earlier this month saw two Ducks go to the Eagles, wide receiver Josh Huff (3rd round) and defensive lineman Taylor Hart (5th round). The Eagles also signed un-drafted UO defensive lineman Wade Kelikipiki, the three joining five other former Ducks already on the Eagles roster, in Brandon …
The long, slow, dull days of winter are over and Chip Kelly’s Eagles are crackling with activity. He drafted a solid if unflashy group of players (including Ducks Josh Huff and Taylor Hart), added a number of UDFAs (such as a savage-tackling kicker nicknamed “Murderleg”) and wielded some innovative technologies that caused a stir around the league. Better yet, Chip’s …