How many NFL coaches or GMs would have traded Foles for Bradford?

HOW MANY other NFL coaches or general managers would have been willing to do what Chip Kelly did in March?

How many other coaches or general managers would've had the cojones to trade a 26-year-old, Pro Bowl quarterback only two seasons removed from a 27-touchdown, two-interception season for a guy who was coming off back-to-back ACL tears in his left knee?

Zero, that's how many.

But Kelly wasn't interested in what other NFL people would or wouldn't do. After missing the playoffs despite a second straight 10-win season, he thought he needed a franchise quarterback to help the Eagles go to the next level.

He didn't think Nick Foles was that guy. He did think Sam Bradford was that guy. If he could stay healthy.

So, armed with the blessing of his boss, Jeff Lurie, he went ahead and rolled the dice on a deal that probably either will: a) put the Eagles in the thick of the Super Bowl hunt; or b) blow up in Kelly's face.

"The thing about Chip," said Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis, "is he has no fear. He does not make decisions from a fear-of-failure platform."

Jimmy Johnson knows a little something about ballsy moves. He made a lot of them in the five years he coached the Dallas Cowboys, including the October 1989 Herschel Walker trade involving 18 players and draft picks, which went a long, long way in helping transform the Cowboys from one of the league's worst franchises to one that won three Super Bowls in four years in the '90s.

"It was easy for me to make ballsy moves when I took the Cowboys job because we had the worst team in the NFL," said Johnson, a longtime NFL studio analyst for Fox Sports and one of only three men in history to win NCAA and NFL titles (Pete Carroll and Barry Switzer are the others).

"I had to do something. Anything I did was going to be better than what was done before, because we took over a team that won three games. And we won only one game our first year.

"But Chip has won 10 the last couple of years. Some of the moves he made in the offseason are a little more sensational, if you look at all of them. And they definitely have been ballsy.

"But if you look at each individual move, there was a pretty good reason for it. Whether it was the salary cap, or in the case of Bradford, the belief that he would be a more accurate passer than Foles and a better fit for his offense."

Another Super Bowl-winning former NFL coach-turned-broadcaster, ESPN's Jon Gruden, applauded Kelly for making the gutsy trade for Bradford.

"Everybody goes back to those 27 touchdowns and two interceptions [that Foles threw]," he said. "But he didn't play as well last year [13 TDs and 10 interceptions in eight starts]. And while Sam's had injuries, so has Foles."

Foles missed the final eight games last year with a fractured collarbone. Sat out a game in 2013 with a concussion and missed the final game of his rookie season in 2012 with a broken hand. But all of those injuries fall in the stuff-happens category. ACL tears are a little more consequential. But Gruden believes Bradford is worth the risk.

"I don't think very many people come across the road that can throw the ball like Sam Bradford," Gruden said. "If this kid stays healthy - if - and if they can protect him, Kelly has proven he can get open targets for him. And when Sam Bradford gets protection, he can hurt you real bad. He's a phenomenal passer. He's just been hurt."

The health question will follow Bradford all season. Eagles fans will hold their collective breath every time he gets hit, every time he is knocked down and doesn't immediately pop back up. But if he can stay healthy, the sky's the limit for him in Kelly's offense.

"Sam is very comfortable in a no-huddle offense," Gruden said. "He looks at home in Chip's system. You look at that Green Bay [preseason] game, not many people go 10-for-10 at Lambeau, even in a preseason game.

"If you get people open and if you give him protection, he's a pinpoint passer. The question is, can you get people open all of the time and can he stay healthy?

"Can he play 85 snaps a game potentially for 16 weeks, plus the playoffs? Obviously, St. Louis didn't think so."

Kelly is betting he can.

What can the Eagles expect from the Falcons' offense Monday night under their new offensive coordinator, Kyle Shanahan? A defensive coach who has gone up against Shanahan on multiple occasions provided the Daily News with a glimpse into his offensive philosophy:

"Kyle wants to throw the ball, but he wants to run the ball to be able to throw it. He'll come out one series and run it to set the pass, and then he'll come out the next [series] and pass it to set the run.

"He's a big play-action guy. His whole success is predicated on play-action boots. He likes to push it down the field. He likes to get chunk yardage. He likes to run a lot of crosses.

"He's not afraid to play-action boot and throw across the grain. His main thing is three levels [of receivers] coming to the [side of the] boot. But he'll set you up and get somebody going to the backside and throw against the boot to the other side of the field. [Matt] Ryan has a strong enough arm to do that.

"Kyle likes to move his quarterback around. He's heavy on bootlegs, heavy on movement. He doesn't want him to run, but he wants him to press the perimeter to throw.

"He's not a big tight end guy. He likes to get the ball to the wideouts and he likes to use his running backs in the passing game. When he was with the Browns last year, he didn't have backs who excelled at catching the ball. But he has them now. Tevin Coleman can catch it. So can Devonta Freeman. So I would expect him to use the backs more [as receivers] than he did in Cleveland.

"He's not going to have Ryan throw the ball 660 times or whatever he threw it last year. He likes a run-pass balance. His ideal is 52-48 run. But he'll do what the game dictates. He's very creative. He will find the mismatches and exploit them. He'll spread the ball around.''

* Even though he plays for the Bills now, even though he has a nice, new five-year, $40 million contract with nearly $16 million in guarantees, LeSean McCoy remains fixated on the team that traded him away. In an interview with GQ, McCoy said his replacement, defending NFL rushing champ DeMarco Murray, is good, but, "I don't see him as competition as far as the [league's] best backs [in the league]." Alrighty then. Here's a comparison of the pertinent rushing numbers for McCoy and Murray over the last three seasons (2012-14). You decide:

McCoy Murray

Games Played. . . 44 40

Rushing Yards. . . 3,766 3,629

Yds./Carry. . . 4.56 4.71

Fumbles / Lost. . . 9 / 7 11 / 8

Rushing TDs. . . 16 26

Runs of 10+ yards. . . 105 91

Rushing 1st Downs. . . 192 193

Negative Runs. . . 180 129

First Down Rush Avg.. . . 4.61 4.82

Second Down Rush Avg.. . . 4.59 4.81

And-One Conversions. . . 49-66 58-72

Pct.. . . 74.2% 80.6%

* In what hardly is a surprise, the Eagles had the NFL's lowest average time of possession per drive last season (2:07). That's almost a minute less than the team with the highest average TOP per drive, the Steelers (3:03). Rounding out the top five: Dallas (3:02), Seattle (3:01), Carolina and Green Bay (both 2:58).

* With help from their special teams, which scored seven touchdowns, and their defense, which scored four, the Eagles finished third in the league in scoring last season. But they were only 13th in points per possession (1.98). The year before, they were eighth (2.18).

* Murray and Ryan Mathews are pretty similar to McCoy as far as ball protection is concerned. Over the last four seasons, Murray and Mathews have collectively averaged a lost fumble every 153.4 touches (rushing attempts and receptions). Over the same period, McCoy has averaged one every 160.1 touches.

FROM THE LIP
* "It does make you wonder. We all sat there and said, 'How do they know what we're doing? This is ridiculous. It can't be possible. There's no way they knew this was coming.' But they did." — Former Carolina Panthers LB Will Witherspoon, on speculation that the Patriots videotaped their practices before Super Bowl XXXVIII for the purpose of stealing their offensive and defensive signals

* "Once you change schemes, and you want to go to a scheme that really you haven't done throughout your career, it does take some time. And I don't think [Redskins owner] Dan [Snyder] or Robert [Griffin] realized the transition that it was going to take for him to make that step." — Former Redskins coach Mike Shanahan, on the team going away from the zone-read-heavy offense it ran during RG3's successful rookie season to a more traditional pro style offense

* "I'd like to talk to whoever thinks he's on the decline. They've got screws loose. We get caught up so much all the time on how old the guy is. But you have to look at his production. What does he do when he's on the field? Look at a guy like Larry Fitzgerald. I mean, he's still a dominant player in this league.'' — Lions S James Ihedigbo, on suggestions that 30-year-old WR Calvin Johnson isn't what he used to be

BY THE NUMBERS
* The Steelers had faced Tom Brady nine times before last night. Brady's Patriots won seven of those nine games and he had a 68.1 completion percentage and a 109.6 passer rating.

* With 49 quarterback sacks and 32 sacks allowed, the Eagles had the third-best sack differential in the league last year (+17). The Ravens were first (+30) and the Broncos were second (+24).

* The Ravens have only 11 players left on their roster from their 2012 Super Bowl-winning team. The team they beat, the 49ers, has only 13.

* Colts tight ends had 18 touchdown receptions last season. That's the most in league history by a tight end group. Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen each had eight. Their No. 3 tight end, Jack Doyle, had two.

* The Eagles caught 100 different kinds of hell from people last year when they passed on Jairus Byrd, who was considered the top safety on the free-agent market, and signed one who was more affordable and a better fit for their scheme, Malcolm Jenkins. The Saints, who let Jenkins walk, signed Byrd to a six-year, $54 million deal that included $18.3 million in guaranteed money, despite a checkered injury history. The Eagles signed Jenkins to a three-year, $15 million deal that included only $6 million in guarantees. Jenkins played 16 games last season and was the lone bright spot in an otherwise poor-performing secondary. Byrd played in only four games before tearing the meniscus in his knee, and isn't expected to play until at least Week 2 or 3 this season because of continued swelling on the surgically repaired knee.

* Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis has been pleased with the way Vinny Curry has embraced his added duties at outside linebacker. "A lot of guys, you test the stress they go through when you move them [to another position]," he said. "And you say, 'OK, is he confident in this move or not?' Vinny's very confident that's not going to be a problem, that he's not getting out of whack about having to cover somebody that he's never covered, or in a drop that he's never done. And I can help him with calls when he's out there.''

* Davis has talked previously about the possibility of having cornerback Byron Maxwell shadow other teams' top wideouts. But in talking to Davis yesterday, it doesn't sound as if they plan to do that Monday night against the Falcons' top wide receiver, Julio Jones. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that the Falcons have another very good wideout in Roddy White. Another is Davis said he wants to mix up his coverages against the Falcons. "Matching up, there's a little more to it than just saying, 'Hey, go get that guy,' " he said. "If you go get that guy, then you have to play man every snap. And you don't want to do that."

On Twitter: @Pdomo

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian.com