Eagles buying in to Kelly's lifestyle changes

EVERY EVENING, before he goes to bed, Brent Celek spends 45 minutes to an hour stretching. That's right. Stretching. The 28-year-old Eagles tight end didn't tell me how he had utilized those 45 minutes before Chip Kelly and his army of sports scientists rolled into town, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't stretching.

"I've gotten into a routine of doing it," he said. "Just because if I don't do it, I don't feel good the next day. Considering how many plays we're running here, you've got to feel good.

"It's been a lifestyle change for me, to be honest. A total lifestyle change. It's been good for me. Change is good."

Eagles players are doing a lot of things they didn't do under Andy Reid, including stretching, including getting 8 to 10 hours of sleep, including a new work week in which they practice 2 days after games, including eating better, including training differently.

And they love it. Boy, do they love it. Because almost to a man, they've never felt this good before. Seriously.

"The fact that they brought in a guy who is so forward-thinking, so innovative, so different than any other coach in the NFL, it's been drastic," center Jason Kelce said. "The culture has shifted from kind of a stagnant one to now sort of an energetic, youthful, innovative one. It extends throughout the entire organization - strength and conditioning to the medical department.

"It's been great for us."

Todd Herremans probably could count on one hand the nights he got 8 hours of sleep before Kelly arrived. Now?

"It's almost impossible to think about it if I don't get enough sleep," the 30-year-old right guard said. "I'd be worthless. I'd feel like .

"And as you focus on getting enough sleep every night, it keeps you from doing other things ."

Kelly's uptempo offense is the talk of the NFL. But every bit as important as his offense is the strength, conditioning and wellness program that is allowing his players to run it and practice against it and be ready to get back out on the field after both three-and-outs and three-and-ins.

Three games in 11 days? These guys are acting as if it's a piece of cake. Ask Kelly whether his team can keep up this pace for 16 games, and he points out that his teams at Oregon "were always the freshest teams when we played, by and large." He's not bragging. He's just stating a fact.

"This staff really hones in on getting you at your peak optimal condition on game day," Kelce said. "That's the most important thing. They're still going to make sure you're fully prepared for the game. But they're going to make sure our bodies are prepared, as well. The mental preparation is still there, but the body also has to be prepared so that it's at its peak operating point at kickoff."

You walk into most NFL locker rooms, you're going to see your fare share of fat guys. Walk into Chip Kelly's locker room, there's less flab than at a cheerleader calendar shoot.

"It's not a big change for me," said left guard Evan Mathis, who owns a 13,000-square-foot fitness center in Scottsdale, Ariz., and has more canisters of protein powders, vitamins and supplements in his locker than a GNC store.

"I've always been a performance-based gym rat, for lack of a better term. I've always known that sleep is an integral part of recovery and that if you want to be at your best, you need to get optimal sleep. So I've always done that.

"The habits they've been emphasizing, a lot of them I already had been using. But it's refreshing to see a coach come in here and educate everyone on how to get the most out of their performance and recovery."

Things haven't worked out terribly well for Matt Barkley since his decision 21 months ago to take a pass on the 2012 NFL draft and return to USC for his final year of eligibility.

The Trojans ended up having a terrible season. Barkley injured his shoulder late in the year and missed the final two games. He ended up slipping into the fourth round of the April draft. He wasn't really given a chance to compete for the starting quarterback job. And unless Mike Vick or Nick Foles gets hurt, he probably will spend all 16 game days this season in a polo shirt.

How things go after that is anybody's guess.

"Once Michael earned the starting job, the question becomes, over time, can Barkley become 2 over Foles," said NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock.

"I think the Eagles drafted him knowing they got a hell of a value. Over time, I think he's going to have a chance to compete with Foles. And let's keep in mind, Vick has a history of injury. So who is going to be No. 2 is a significant question here."

For now at least, it's Foles. But Mayock thinks Barkley has the ability to eventually supplant Foles as the No. 2 quarterback and believes he has the talent to be a capable NFL starter at some point in the near future.

"If you took Christian Ponder on the left side and Barkley on the right side and asked me to distinguish, say which one is a first-rounder and which one is a fourth-rounder, I would struggle with that," he said.

"The bottom line is the kid is a grinder. He's not a Southern California beach boy. He loves the game of football. He has good arm strength, not great arm strength. He's smart. He's tough.

"I would bet on the kid down the road. But I don't think Foles is going to give up easily."

Kelly isn't a big statistics guy. He said this summer that the only statistic he ever really pays attention to is response-after-turnover.

"It's not what you do in the turnover battle," he said. "It's what you do . Our defense can create four turnovers, but if our offense doesn't score any points off of them, it doesn't matter. You say, 'Hey, were plus-4 in turnovers.' But what did the offense do with them?

"It's the same the other way. Our offense might turn the ball over four times, but maybe our defense goes out and pitches a shutout. They picked us up."

During last season's 4-12 death spiral, the Eagles not only had the most turnovers and fewest takeaways in the league, they also scored 100 fewer points off turnovers than their opponents.

Against the Redskins Monday night, the Eagles forced three turnovers and scored touchdowns off two of them. But the defense also allowed a touchdown off Jason Avant's fourth-quarter fumble.

* The Eagles ran 53 offensive plays in the first half Monday night. They ran a play every 23.0 seconds they had the ball. But Kelly's right about their being able to increase the tempo. They averaged a play every 22.3 seconds in the preseason. And at Kelly's speed factory in Eugene, Ore., last year, the Ducks got a play off every 20.5 seconds.

* Two of the Eagles' four touchdown drives against the Redskins were one or two plays. Last year, they had only two TD drives of one or two plays the entire season. None of their four TD drives Monday ate up more than 3:13 off the clock. Last year, only 13 of the Eagles' 28 TD drives were that quick.

* The Eagles had 30 rushing attempts in the first half against the Redskins. In the previous 5 years, they had more than 20 first-half carries only twice - 22 against the Ravens last year and 25 against the Giants in 2011. Under Andy Reid, they averaged only 12.7 carries per game in the first half over the last five seasons.

* Monday was only the ninth time since 2000 that the Eagles had 40 carries in a game. Their 263 rushing yards were the most in a game since '02, when they rushed for 295 yards in a 17-3 win over the Giants.

* The Eagles' average starting field position against the Redskins was the 38.9 yard line. Last season, the Eagles finished 27th in the league in starting field position (25.6). Five of their 14 possessions Monday started in Washington territory. Last year, only 10 of their 184 possessions started on the other side of the 50.

* LeSean McCoy had 10 rushing first downs against the Redskins. He had a total of 45 in the 12 games he played last season.

* The Redskins game was only the 17th time in Michael Vick's career that he threw two or more touchdown passes and no interceptions.

* The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the names of 126 preliminary modern-era nominees for the class of 2014 this week. Ten of them have Eagles ties: Randall Cunningham, Herschel Walker, Ricky Watters, Eric Allen, Troy Vincent, Sean Landeta, Brian Mitchell, Dick Vermeil, longtime Eagles executive Leo Carlin and trainer Otho Davis. Sam Mills, who played for the USFL's Philadelphia Stars, as well as the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers, also is a preliminary nominee. Mills and Davis both have passed away.

* The Manning brothers will face off for the third time in their careers Sunday in the Meadowlands. "The past two times that I've played against the Giants, for whatever reason, Eli and I were kind of on the same yard-line singing the national anthem,'' Peyton said. "I just take a moment and realize that it is pretty unique and it is my brother over there and I'm grateful for the opportunity, because it is special for that reason. But once that ball is kicked off, you're just playing another good team on the road."

* What a difference a week and a six-point road win over the Redskins makes with the oddsmakers. Last week, Bovada had the Eagles' odds of winning the Super Bowl at 50/1. Now they're up to 28/1.

* Mayock thinks Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg deserves a lot of credit for Geno Smith's decent performance in Sunday's 18-17 win over the Bucs. "I thought Marty did a phenomenal job protecting his quarterback," he said of the former Eagles assistant. "They also ran the ball 29 times. They didn't run it well, but they committed to running it. They also moved the pocket, both with bootlegs and sprintouts. Marty did everything you can do classically to protect a young quarterback." Smith completed 24 of 38 passes for 256 yards and a touchdown. He also had an interception and lost a fumble.

FROM THE LIP

"It's definitely eye-opening to be in this environment as opposed to a locker room. I'm a work in progress. [The other analysts] were once rookies too. Each and every day I learn something." - Former wide receiver Randy Moss, on his new job as a studio analyst for Fox1.

* "I could see two punches thrown at Joe's head. Well, one punch and an open slap. If you're going to go to the face, come with some knuckles, not an open slap. That young man works very hard on being a tough guy. He'll have some repairing to do to his image after that slap." — 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, on Packers linebacker Clay Matthews' altercation with Niners offensive tackle Joe Staley

* "We've got to do a better job of blocking for him. We need that guy. He's a great quarterback. And if he goes down, the team is going to go down." — Cowboys DT Jason Hatcher on the shoddy protection his offensive line gave QB Tony Romo in Sunday's win over the Giants

BY THE NUMBERS

* With the Broncos' win over the Ravens last week, Peyton Manning became the first QB in the Super Bowl era to win at least 12 consecutive regular-season games three separate times in his career.

* Eight of the 16 teams that won in Week 1 trailed in the fourth quarter.

* The Browns are 1-14 in season-openers, including 1-13 at home, since they returned to the league as an expansion team in 1999.

* Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne extended his NFL-record of consecutive games with at least three receptions to 65 Sunday against the Raiders. Wayne had eight catches for 96 yards and a touchdown.

* The Giants have lost three straight season-openers for the first time since 1981-83.

* There were 63 touchdown passes thrown in Week 1, which is a league record. The old mark was 58.

* WR Anquan Boldin is very good in debuts with new teams. In his first game with the 49ers Sunday, he had 13 catches for 208 yards and a touchdown. In his first game with the Cardinals as a rookie in 2003, he had 10 catches for 217 yards and 2 TDs. In his first game with the Ravens in'10, he had seven catches for 110 yards.

Thumbs up: To Giants defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins for his witty comeback when asked yesterday about Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' claim that Giants defenders were faking injuries in Sunday night's game to slow down the Cowboys' offense. Said ex-Eagle Jenkins: "I don't know what he saw. I'm not sure. Maybe he should get his son-in-law to clean his glasses again to see what's going on out there."

Thumbs down: To Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who continues to sully his reputation as one of the league's better interior linemen with dirty play. Suh, who previously had been fined and/or suspended four times for kicking a quarterback in the groin (Matt Schaub), stomping on an offensive lineman (Evan Dietrich-Smith) and illegal hits on two other quarterbacks (Andy Dalton, Jay Cutler), was fined $100,000 this week for an illegal low block on Vikings center John Sullivan.

1. Broncos 1-0

2. Seahawks 1-0

3. 49ers 1-0

4. Packers 0-1

5. Patriots 1-0

6. Texans 1-0

7. Colts 1-0

8. Bears 1-0

9. Chiefs 1-0

10. Lions 1-0

11. Saints 1-0

12. Falcons 0-1

13. Bengals 0-1

14. Ravens 0-1

15. Vikings 0-1

16. Cowboys 1-0

17. Eagles 1-0

18. Dolphins 1-0

19. Rams 1-0

20. Titans 1-0

21. Redskins 0-1

22. Giants 0-1

23. Steelers 0-1

24. Bucs 0-1

25. Panthers 0-1

26. Cardinals 0-1

27. Bills 0-1

28. Chargers 0-1

29. Raiders 0-1

30 Jets 1-0

31. Browns 0-1

32. Jaguars 0-1

On Twitter: @Pdomo

Blog: ph.ly/Eagletarian.com