Turnovers, penalties bedevil Kelly and Eagles

Chip Kelly often talks about self-inflicted wounds. Turnovers and penalties can infuriate the Eagles coach. After Sunday's 24-20 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the three turnovers and 11 penalties seemed to agitate Kelly the most.

"Really, the penalties and the turnover situation on the offensive side of the ball hurt us," Kelly said Monday.

And it was not just the Cardinals game. The Eagles are among the top teams in the NFL with a 5-2 record, but issues that can be overlooked in winning become obvious in losing. The Eagles are at minus-7 in turnover differential, which is the fourth worst in the league. Among the 11 other teams in the bottom 12, only one has a winning record.

The Eagles also have the 10th-highest total of penalties and penalty yards per game in the NFL. Other contending teams such as Denver, New England, San Francisco, and Seattle are also high on those lists.

In Kelly's first season in Philadelphia, the Eagles were one of the least-penalized teams in the NFL and one of the best in turnover ratio. It seemed to be a point of pride for Kelly.

"No one plays a perfect game. No one coaches a perfect game," he said. "But I think the first thing you do if you make a mistake is you've got to admit it. You've got to address it. Why did it happen? Dissect why it went on, and then go out and what do you need to do to fix it? That's basically how it is no matter what it is, no matter what went on in the game on Sunday."

When he studied the turnovers, Kelly said there were no consistent problems. That makes it more of an issue, since it's more difficult to fix. The Eagles have 17 giveaways, the second-highest total in the NFL. Nine have been Nick Foles interceptions. Three have been fumbles that Foles lost. Last season, Foles had only two interceptions and two fumbles lost.

"Sometimes it's the rush, sometimes it's we weren't running the proper route, and sometimes it's the quarterback," Kelly said. "If there is one thing, it would be easily fixable, but it's not one thing."

One of the issues involves Foles' throwing the ball off his back foot. His first interception, which came with the Eagles in scoring range, was a back-footed throw. Kelly said afterward that Foles should never have thrown the pass and that it was not a fundamental issue. Foles also seemed to have a pattern of backpedaling when a rush was coming.

"It's a combination, and at times he probably shouldn't have gone as far," Kelly said. "I think sometimes you feel something coming, you think it's there, and you've got to set your feet and take that hit. And there were times he did set his feet and take the hit and deliver the ball on time. Again, it's not just one thing."

Regarding the penalties, Kelly noted that it was an issue for both teams. The Cardinals had 10 accepted penalties, the Eagles had 11. That was in large part the by-product of an officiating crew that called a tight game.

The Eagles' coaching staff discusses the tendencies of the officiating staffs with the players, but, Kelly said, "They're not making things up out there."

"The week before against the Giants, I thought we did an outstanding job from a penalty standpoint," he said. "But this game we didn't do what we needed to do to win games, and those penalties, those negative-yardage plays that are affecting you on offense when we're not going forward, we're going backwards, we've got to address."

In the locker room after the game, there was a consensus that those mistakes were what cost the Eagles the win. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said that turnovers kill a team - especially when they occur in the red zone - and that Sunday's game was "living proof" that turnovers and penalties are "really hard to overcome."

"We can't make dumb mistakes - penalties, turnovers - and expect to beat a very good team," tight end Zach Ertz said.

They likely won't be a very good team with those mistakes, either.

"It's obviously something we preach each and every week," Maclin said. "But we've got to clean it up."