Birds over beers: Why was everything so out of sync for the Eagles?

(Every week this season, Rich Hofmann will get together with a colleague from the Daily News, perhaps over a beverage, and talk about what's going on with the Eagles. This week, it's columnist David Murphy attempting to keep the populace from going off the deep end.)

RICH: So, do you kick the field goal?

Dave: Yeah, I think so. You have to try to go ahead there.

Rich: I looked it up - teams trying to hold a lead like that at the end of games give up a score about 30 percent of the time. That's average QB against average defense. I'm not sure the Eagles' defense is average at this point, and Matt Ryan is above average.

Dave: He's one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the game.

Rich: Said the quarterback snob.

Dave: I love me some Matty Ice.

Rich: I'm sure you do. But I can make the argument that you go for it. I'm not a big statement guy, but that would have been an interesting statement for Chip to go for it in the opener. Then again, maybe the statement is that you think your defense sucks, which is probably why he didn't do it. I mean, nothing's alarming after one game. But Byron Maxwell is at least a little bit alarming.

Dave: He has to be able to cover Roddy White. That's one part of the story. He had one year as the starter in Seattle. He was opposite Richard Sherman. He always had help over the top. He played behind Brandon Browner. But I went to bed thinking the defense was bad and woke up thinking it wasn't so bad. What it comes down to, they expect the offense to score more than three points in the first half.

Rich: It's clear, that's when they lost the game.

Dave: But I have to say, I think both Chip Kelly and Bill Davis got outcoached. Eight Atlanta starters were back from one of the worst defenses in the league and they looked damn good. That's Dan Quinn, the new coach. With the Eagles, maybe it's not the personnel.

Rich: I'm desperately trying not to jump to any conclusions, but when you look at the offensive line, I think it might be the personnel. You're talking about Chip Kelly getting out-coached. When you look at that line, I think you're going to find out if Chip Kelly got out-general-managed.

Dave: The problem is, the Falcons sometimes kept six or seven guys in to block and the Eagles just never do that. Chip Kelly puts his players on an island. I'm not sure he adjusted in the first half like he needed to.

Rich: I don't know. First read, get the ball out, play fast, keep it moving - I'm OK with that as a philosophy. But if you can never run between the tackles, that's an issue. To me, in the first half, he saw he was getting nothing from the guards so he went to a quick passing game almost exclusively and it wasn't in sync. So he takes a breath at halftime and tries to run wide - and that started working. Then the quick passing game got more in sync.

Dave: I don't think you can make a living doing that. Their whole running game seems predicated on letting guys go unblocked to get into the second level. The Falcons were doing things to counteract that. I don't think it's a coincidence that the Eagles couldn't run against Seattle last year and couldn't run against the Falcons this year, coached by Seattle's old defensive coordinator.

Rich: If you're trying to run the read-option, and the quarterback is never an option regardless of what the other team does, that's a problem. I would watch it last year and Nick Foles looked like he handed it off about 80 percent of the time when he should have been running - but at least there was that 20 percent. Sam Bradford is going to be 0 percent for a while, it seems.

Dave: I thought the guards were a problem, especially Allen Barbre. Andrew Gardner was OK. That's a concern. But Dan Quinn showed what a very good defensive mind can do for a defense. And I wonder if people are starting to figure out Chip. If he was going to get exposed, this would be the year. There's a reason why nobody has run this offense in the NFL before.

Rich: I don't own the T-shirt, but in Chip, I trust.

Dave: I do, too.

Rich: But look at the second half. He took a deep breath and said, 'Let's try something else,' and it was much more successful. The essence of it is the quick passing game, one read, and he has the right quarterback for that. And I think the tempo really started to show in the game in the second half. When they got it going, when they were snapping the ball with 25 seconds left on the play clock, 22, 24, 25, play after play, it starts to make a difference, and I think it did the other night.

Dave: Chip has shown that he will adjust. When he sees something that isn't working, he does something.

Rich: When Andy Reid did it, he would go off the deep end and then he would eventually correct - but it really was eventually. This isn't a fat joke, but it really was like trying to turn an aircraft carrier. This guy makes faster changes.

Dave: But you still have to be able to run the ball at some point. To me, DeMarco Murray didn't look comfortable in that type of running game. It was just weird. At some point, you have to be able to line up and get 3 yards on the ground just because your guys beat up their guys.

Rich: Dammit, Ditka said.

Dave: Seriously - you do. Is the read-option ever the right way to run the ball on third-and-1? I don't think so. I'm just very interested in seeing how people will defend this running game. All I know is, the three best defenses they played last year shut them down on the ground, and the Falcons - coached by one of the coordinators from those three teams last year - also shut them down.

Rich: Maybe you have to establish the wide stuff first. Maybe you have to establish the quick passing game first. Maybe that's when the inside running game opens up. Maybe that's the counterpunch. To me, it's a personnel concern up front, not a schematic concern.

Dave: Or Dan Quinn could just be a genius. I think Atlanta is a lot better than people think - better than the Cowboys.

Rich: I don't know - I left the night feeling good about Bradford, and that's the most important thing. A lot went wrong, that probably wasn't his fault, and he got clobbered, and he hung in nicely. Of course, when they announce they're amputating his ankle next week, my feeling might change.

Dave: Every time Bradford gets hit, you're not sitting there thinking that he's going to explode anymore. That's a positive. He got hit a lot. My biggest thing with him is that he doesn't always look comfortable in the pocket, especially when there are guys at his feet. But he's so much a better passer than Nick Foles - stronger arm, quicker release, more accurate.

Rich: On the other side of the ball, I was concerned about their four-man pass rush. I'm worried about Brandon Graham - not that he isn't a good player, but he can't play every snap, and what's behind him? Connor Barwin, same thing. I'm worried a lot about DeMeco Ryans. But Kiko Alonso . . .

Dave: He's not going to make a one-handed, barrel-rolling interception every week - but that's what he does. That's the kind of athlete he is.

Rich: They started blitzing more, and suddenly Fletcher Cox gets loose. They do that, and suddenly Atlanta looks so ready to be beaten. But you can't fall so far behind because then, you pretty much have to be perfect at the end of the game, and they weren't.

Dave: So, the Cowboys?

Rich: I think Tony Romo is going to have a good day, with or without Dez. I still think they're going to have to outscore people all year. Thirty is probably the number, and it's just going to be like that. I think they were hoping it wasn't going to be like that, and they invested in the defense to try to make sure it wasn't going to be like that, but I think it still is like that. I think it's personnel, but now we're hearing about technique issues with Maxwell. That's alarming. I mean, Bill Davis had a bad stretch run last year, and he has admitted that. I wonder if Chip is ever in Davis' ear in a big way on this stuff, or more this year than last year.

Dave: Maybe he's changed there. We don't know. But I think everything comes down to how Chip Kelly adapts on all kinds of levels.

Rich: I think Chip's a born counterpuncher. I don't think he's married to anything.

Dave: To be fair, if he was, he wouldn't tell us.