The Philadelphia Eagles under Chip Kelly keep reaching for the stars. They encourage fans to hope for a Super Bowl run with unselfish teamwork, clever schemes on both sides of the ball, and emerging young talent. Then reality slaps them back down to earth, as the Eagles lose to the top level of NFL teams: Green Bay (at Lambeau), San …
This is the most confusing football team ever. The offense is completely misfiring. Nick Foles led the league in long throws (over 20 yards) last year; in 2014, he’s 4 for 31, with three interceptions. Sunday was his personal low point in a miserable season; scrambling for a first down, he fumbled away the ball untouched as he rolled forward …
There is a reason why defensive line guru Jerry Azzinaro was the one Oregon position coach who joined Chip Kelly on the Philadelphia Eagles’ coaching staff. The 3-4 defensive scheme and two-gap technique are just as important to Kelly as the fast-tempo, zone-blocking, and packaged plays. Azzinaro was Kelly’s right-hand man in installing the 3-4 as the base defense at …
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 …
If you read or listen to or watch any kind of sports media, you’ve heard more about Michael Sam this past week than even the Winter Olympics. Yes, it’s a big deal, Michael Sam coming out as the first openly gay major-level football player, and all the discussion is an important part of digesting this big step forward. His timing …