Chip Kelly is Vince Lombardi. At least that's what you'd think if you lived in the metro-Philadelphia area.
Kelly has been the Eagles coach for one season, where he brought a team from 4 wins to 10 wins and a playoff appearance. This team was one of the least injured teams in NFL history, but in the end still won regular season games when it counted.
Eagles fans, reporters and "talk show" personalities are both enamored and mesmerized by the legend known as Chip Kelly. Things commonly heard are "Phillies suck, but at least we have Chip". "NFC East teams vastly improved this offseason, but the Eagles have Chip Kelly".
So my conversation is, how much of the Eagles success last year is on the shoulders of Chip Kelly? Do you think teams will catch up to his scheme this year and the Eagles come down to Earth? Do you think he's a legit NFL mastermind?
Obviously their expectations are based on hope. For decades the city of Philadelphia has had nothing (minus a brief run by the Phillies). Their football team has never won it, their NBA team is a joke. Phillies are now in a hopeless hole. It's NATURAL to cling onto hope, whether it be a person or persons. But is this hope legit??
Not that I follow the Eagles all that closely but he seems like a good innovative coach
He had a 6 game turnaround which happens a decent amount of time. The Eagles were very healthy last year and had the element of surprise with their offense which is different than the rest of the league.
The year before that, the team basically tanked.
Couple all of that with a last place schedule in a very weakened division last year and the rookie record isn't anything that impresses me. It is obviously better than 6-10 or 8-8 but this is the year that he starts proving if his methods work.
They have a great OL, perhaps the best RB in the league, and some decent receiving options, especially at TE. Their defense won't be very good but they will score a lot of points. The one place I can see a struggle, and the one guy that I personally think is being massively overvalued, is Foles. Let's see how he responds this year. I hope he falls on his face, but that is admittedly wishful thinking.
So, I'd say he's earned some credit
And in a sports town where their biggest heroes are a fake boxer from a movie and a bartender who covered kickoffs for a few years, I'd say they are a little desperate.
OK, I'll give them Dr J too, even though he was from New York...
And then they got him. Ugh.
It kind of sucks that they had Jim "No Desire To Be a Head Coach" Johnson for all those years and now have a very good head coach to succeed Reid's long, winning tenure.
When was that? They finished last in their division both years. And I recall his hiring being wildly criticized.
Have Chip Kelly start James Brewer, Jim Cordle and David Diehl and lets see what happens...
Anyone can look like a genius one year. It's how they react to the league going forward that tells the story.
year 2 for a new guy is the make or break.
you'd think people would realize that after the rg3 nonsense but some never learn. this is the big leagues
go canes
I agree it would be unfair to say his direction didn't play a part, but Googs' point is valid as well. They were historically healthy, which helps tremendously. And their QB had a stunning season which he's not going to duplicate, no matter how talented he may be and how offensively gifted Kelly is as a coach. That doesn't mean he's not a good coach and the team will do poorly this year, but there were some very positive factors that shouldn't be attributed to Kelly.
It's like when Coughlin came in, it went from lax to focused. It seems like he focuses on a team first mentality (hence the departure of Vick and Jackson).
I'm excited to see how opposing DCs adjust to Kelly's game.
I'm impressed so far -- let's not go overboard
I think you have to give Kelly the benefit of any doubt. He has always been successful. With that said, I am not sure that last year's results are necessarily indicative of much more than playing in a weak division, against a weak schedule, getting their offensive line back, and remaining injury free (I don't think they put one player on IR after camp). Playing a similar schedule down the stretch, we went 7-3. Did we look like a 7-3 team? We will see this year how it turns out, especially if they lose key players, unlike last year.
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but i remember when Schiano was also an exciting, transformative figure.
When was that? They finished last in their division both years. And I recall his hiring being wildly criticized.
Maybe I don't remember that well, I guess. But I thought I remembered reading that his young, hungry, passionate approach was blah, blah, blah.
KC went from 2-15 to 11-5 while the Eagles went from 4-12 to 10-6.
I think teams are more familiar with what Reid put out there than what Kelly put out there yet Reid had the better record. He didn't have the surprise factor.
Also, Reid was in a tougher division than ours last year. Naturally not the Raiders but the Chargers and Broncos were better than the Skins, Girls, and us.
This is another fresh offensive look for the NFL that comes out of the gate hot but teams will figure it out (i.e. wildcat, read option, etc).
Unless he stays innovative, fresh, unpredictable, etc, I'm not concerned. They were better off with Reid and Reid is better off without them.
Shady is that team.
I actually think he chickened out a bit last year by not going for it on 4th down nearly as often as he should have. I thought that Chip would be the first coach to never punt and was slightly disapointed.
Couple all of that with a last place schedule in a very weakened division last year and the rookie record isn't anything that impresses me. It is obviously better than 6-10 or 8-8 but this is the year that he starts proving if his methods work.
Last place schedule? You mean the whopping two games... which were against Arizona (10-6) and Tampa? Yeah... no.
it could be why the Eagles defense is so poor.
Other than the complete adoption of sports sciences and all that comes with that adoption, I don't see a great deal of innovation. Coupling a zone running game with option isn't new, hurry up offense isn't new and their passing game isn't unique.
I'm not finding any fault with him, I just don't find the schemes all that innovative.
I think he'll have a long successful career. Wish it was in the AFC.
However, watching a lot of their games, the scheme calls for an insanely amount of easy throws..............
Teams will adjust, and it will be up to Kelly to re-adjust........let's see who wins.
My gut feeling is this is just a pit stop.
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People in college started figuring out Kelly's schemes and tendencies fairly soon. And Oregon started losing games in conference play they probably shouldn't.
It will be the same in NFL I think. The league tends to catch up to 'gurus' very fast.
We'll see how healthy they stay this year. The NFL is a tough sport. And if the Eagles do stay healthy, expect most other teams to copy what the Eagles are doing.
Defense will still be suspect but they have some talented young players.
Philly sports radio also really thinks the Giants will be garbage this year.
People in college started figuring out Kelly's schemes and tendencies fairly soon. And Oregon started losing games in conference play they probably shouldn't.
It will be the same in NFL I think. The league tends to catch up to 'gurus' very fast.
What are you talking about?
2009 (Chip Kelly's first year as HC) they 10-3 with losses to #14 Boise State, Stanford, and to #5 Ohio State in the Rose bowl
2010 Went undefeated all the way to the National championship game where they ran into a stacked Auburn team and only lost 22-19 finished 12-1
2011 Lost to #4 LSU and #18 USC while beating Wisconsin in the Rose bowl to finish 12-2
2012 Lost to #14 Stanford in OT on the way to winning the Fiesta Bowl over Kansas State to finish 12-1
10-3, 12-1, 12-2, and 12-1 including winning both their last 2 BCS bowl games... 46-7 including 36-4 his last 3 years. There isn't a coach or team outside of Nick Saban who did that well (FYI Alabama 14-0, 10-3, 12-1, 13-1... 49-5 Chips last 3 seasons Saban went 35-5)
They did not figure out Chip Kelly fairly soon or even fairly late. He only lost to one non-ranked team and that was an Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh Stanford.
Side note... Urban Meyer during that time went 13-1, 8-5 (wasn't full strength), didn't coach, 12-0 ... 33-6
Regarding Chip, they act like he's the Messiah. Its almost eery.
Not that NY radio is that much better. But ay least Francesca gets good interviews.
Have Chip Kelly start James Brewer, Jim Cordle and David Diehl and lets see what happens...
This. And let us not forget that this "guru" did not select the all pro QB as his starter coming out of training camp, he went with Mike Vick. Yea, he's a genius alright.
Regarding Chip, they act like he's the Messiah. Its almost eery.
Not that NY radio is that much better. But ay least Francesca gets good interviews.
Jet fans sort of treated Rex like the messiah his first two years here.
Regarding Chip, they act like he's the Messiah. Its almost eery.
Not that NY radio is that much better. But ay least Francesca gets good interviews.
Trust me, I agree. It's quite bad. They love Chip...but at least they usually admit he needs to do it again.
Not predicting that for CK as he might be the "Jim Harbaugh" goods, but I will reserve overall judgement(as I did with Harbaugh) for another year, possibly two