Chip defends 'Sea Coast' offense
Asked to respond to comments from Cards coach Bruce Arians that were interpreted as critical of Chip Kelly's offensive approach, Kelly resisted being defined by 'read option,' said he doesn't much care about others' opinions.
One thing Chip Kelly has done consistently, vigorously, ever since being named coach of the Eagles is resist being defined as a guy who runs a "read option" offense. Kelly feels his offense, which utilizes zone-read concepts, responds to what the defense presents, and usually, that means not all that much read option. The Eagles certainly don't use it the way the 49ers or the Redskins do.
So, setting the Thanksgiving table here: the Daily News' Paul Domowitch asked Arizona coach Bruce Arians on a Wednesday conference call about the read-option. Arians called it a "great college offense" and added that given the size and speed of NFL defenders, the quarterback is going to get "beat up and bruised up" in such an attack. "You don't won't your quarterback feeling bruised up when he's trying to throw and be accurate," Arians concluded.
Of course, when Kelly's Thanskgiving session with reporters arrived, this subject dominated. Kelly went through his whole "I don't think (read-option) is an offense, I think it's a play" bit, and christened his attack the "Sea Coast" offense, because "if we see something and we like it and we think it fits, we're going to run it."
Kelly also indicated that he did not find Arians' apparent criticism devastating to his belief system. Asked if he still finds resistence to plays that involve QB runs from coaches "who have been around a while," Kelly said:
"I don't really think about what other coaches think, that have been around -- whether they've been around for one year or 10 years, what they think. Our staff puts together a plan that we think is going to be successful that week, and that's all that concerns me."
Later in his session, asked if it's inaccurate for people to assume a QB is more likely to get hurt on a read-option play than on any other kind of play, Kelly said: "I don't care what other people think. It doesn't bother me. I mean, to spend time for me to think about what someone else thinks is counter to anything I've ever believed in my life. If I believe what other people think, then that means I value their opinion more than I value my own.
"Quarterbacks get hurt in practice, quarterbacks get hurt running out of bounds, and quarterbacks get hurt when the blitz hits them and they don't recognize it. I don't look at it that way, and I've never looked at it that way."
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Asked if he thinks Nick Foles can continue his top-of-the-NFL passing pace, Chip Kelly said he has no idea. "It'd be really cool if he could," Kelly allowed.
As expected, everyone except safety Earl Wolff (knee) practiced Thursday.