… 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: Winning Ugly
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 …
Fixing the Philadelphia Eagles
With the early season struggles of the Philadelphia Eagles, suddenly everyone is breaking their legs jumping off of the Chip Kelly bandwagon — proclaiming that they saw it coming. Everyone has their magic fix for the offense: “If LeSean McCoy were still here they’d be winning,” one will say, or “Jeremy Maclin is the magical missing piece.” I’d even bet …
Chip Kelly Update: Injuries Start to Pile Up
Two weeks of training camp are done, and Chip Kelly‘s Eagles play their first preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. Meanwhile, injuries are starting to accumulate. Kelly plays it safe, with no tackling to the ground at all in the preseason outside of actual games, and the team is making great efforts to handle inevitable injuries with its “reconditioning” …
Chip Kelly is Walking a Fine Line in the NFL
There’s a famous Johnny Cash song, way before my time but great nonetheless, that summarizes Chip Kelly‘s NFL off-season perfectly. Kelly is walking a fine line, and if he slips it could end catastrophically for the former Ducks coach. If he succeeds, he could revolutionize how GMs and coaches approach player management and personnel decisions entirely. Kelly’s off-season began with the higher-ups …
The Dawn of the Second Coming: The Oklahomafication of Chip Kelly’s Offense
Judging by the numbers, the Philadelphia Eagles had one of the best NFL offenses last season. They ranked third in scoring, fifth in total yards, sixth in passing yards, and ninth in rushing yards. However, PhillyVoice writer Jimmy Kempski persuasively argues the fast-tempo positively skewed the Eagles’ offensive statistics. Apparently, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly also decided the numbers didn’t add up, …
One Odd Duck, Chip Kelly — the New Bill Walsh?
Everybody has an opinion on Chip Kelly. Some people see him as the mad genius who will lead the Philadelphia Eagles to greatness by using unconventional means that no one else has thought of to give his team an advantage. Others see him as just plain mad. While this has been the story of many great innovators — both inside …
Shorts, Passes, and Screens — The New Read Option?
Needless to say, the Philadelphia Eagles have had an interesting offseason. With a flurry of moves that had (and still have) many Eagles fans questioning Chip Kelly‘s sanity, Philadelphia has set themselves up to have the strongest run game in the NFL. With potentially the strongest stable of runners Kelly has ever had, the Eagles are primed for dominance. Interestingly, what may …
Chip Kelly Update: Charles in Charge
Coach Charles (“Chip”) Kelly asked for control over the Eagles roster, trades and draft picks: owner Jeff Lurie gave it to him. Philadelphia’s sports writers have used the occasion to shake off the atypical friendliness they’ve shown toward Kelly since he was hired two years. They’re back to full-on Philly pessimism, watching every move he makes more closely than The …
Chip Kelly Update: Hang-gliding in a Hurricane
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 …