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Chip Kelly's words of encouragement for Nate Allen

Coach won’t dwell on safety’s one mistake

Eagles safety Nate Allen chases Cardinals wide receiver John Brown. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)
Eagles safety Nate Allen chases Cardinals wide receiver John Brown. (Yong Kim/Staff Photographer)Read more
    by Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer | Columnist
    Published 

IF SOMEONE wants to donate a gently used safety to the Eagles, Chip Kelly will take it, he said yesterday. No word on whether you'd get a tax receipt for your contribution.

But Kelly's point yesterday seemed to be that he doesn't expect any such miracles by today's 4 p.m. NFL trade deadline. He added that the Eagles "aren't actively looking to upgrade" anywhere as the deadline nears.

Perhaps partly because of that expectation, and how hard it is to engineer impact trades in the NFL, even more so during the season, Kelly delivered a strong defense of Nate Allen. The fifth-year safety has improved under the Kelly-Bill Davis regime, but still gets fooled too often - as on John Brown's game-winning 75-yard touchdown catch with a minute and 21 seconds remaining Sunday at Arizona.

"I think Nate got beat once. I think he made two outstanding plays," Kelly said, one being the Andre Ellington fumble Allen both forced and recovered, the other defending "a seven-route in the corner of the end zone."

On the Brown double move, Arizona facing third-and-5, Kelly said: "You know, he bit the cheese, and he admits it, and it's one thing. But I don't think he can be defined by one play. I thought there were two 'X-plays' [given up by the Birds] in the game, one 80-yarder [on a blitz] and one 75-yarder. Besides that, I thought our defense played outstanding all day long against a really, really good offense."

Kelly said it's unfortunate that a safety's mistake is so visible, "but I think Nate has played well this year, and we're real happy with Nate."

Kelly noted that at last year's deadline, the only deal made came when the Eagles unloaded nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga on New England for a fifth-round pick, which eventually in the offseason became Darren Sproles.

Allen said after Sunday's game he was unaware of a Pro Football Talk report that said the Eagles were shopping for safety help, and he seemed unconcerned. Kelly said such reports are usually floated by teams "that want their safety picked up."