Eagles place a bet on the future, hire Chip Kelly
Eagles hire Chip Kelly
Eagles place a bet on the future, hire Chip Kelly
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Up off of the floor, then. A splash of cold water on the face and away we go. Chip Kelly is the new coach of the Eagles. The Gus Bus has left town, replaced by what Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie believes will be the laser-quick offense of the future.
You know it took a big bag of money to pry Kelly away from the clutches of the University of Phil Knight. So this is where the Eagles-are-cheap narrative goes to die an overdue, deserved death.
You know, too, that the Eagles are not settling here, and that they did not bungle their search, and that pretty much everything said and written in the last week about this process has been conversation in search of reality. Well, this is the reality: the guy they wanted all along -- or at least one of the guys, along with Penn State coach Bill O’Brien -- is now theirs.
People who loved the idea of Seattle defensive coordinator Gus Bradley -- mostly because they heard him say “bleep” and yell at his player on a YouTube video -- could very well hate this. People who carry a fondness for old-style NFL football -- who wanted to rekindle something they last felt when Buddy Ryan coached this team -- and who disliked the way Andy Reid spent 14 years trying to outsmart people on offense, could also be in for a disappointment. Because the only certainty here is that Kelly plans to innovate on offense, and then innovate some more.
But in a league where you need to score 30 points even to think about winning most playoff games, and where the Patriots’ fastbreak offensive attack has helped to make them the even-money favorite to win the Super Bowl, the Eagles have grabbed as their coach the most prominent practitioner of hurry-up football in the nation (and the guy who schooled both O’Brien and Pats coach Bill Belichick on the concept).
We do not yet know the details about what happened. We do not know why Kelly walked away from the Eagles after a long interview right after Oregon played in the Fiesta Bowl, or why he has had this change of heart, or how much the Eagles intend to pay him for the privilege.
What does this mean for Nick Foles, the immobile kid quarterback who seems miscast if Kelly wants to play read-option football to go along with the hurry-up? Don’t know. What does it mean for Michael Vick, the expensive, aging quarterback on the roster who moves better than Foles but not as well as he used to move? Don’t know.
There are a million unanswered questions here. The answers will come when they come. Critics will see risk -- in the offense, and how it might translate to the NFL, and in the fact that Kelly has never worked in the league. It is fair to wonder. But to deny the potential upside is to ignore the trends that have been so evident in this NFL playoff season.
There are no certainties here, except one: that a franchise that had grown stale has just placed an enormous bet on the future.
YO CHIP....DUMP VICK......Vick is an old washed-up loser who has LOST SEVEN GAMES IN A ROW....Chip Kelly needs to START FRESH...YO CHIP...SHIP VICK— jim35- How do you post a response to a particular post rather than just a general one?— jrzdvl
- Who bets on the past?— 2ndNlong
- All of the rules changes have made this an offensive minded league. Lurie is just following the trend with this hire. I think its a shame, in a way. A good 14-10 game is every bit as exciting as a 45-38 game. We will know in 2 or 3 years whether this works out or we'll be searching for a new coach again.— SteveS11
- Well, once again the Philly press got it WRONG. All I want to know is if he can fix the O-Line and the secondary. Is this the right guy? Nobody knows, we'll know in about a year. Note to Howie: We need a guard, tackle, two corners and a safety. That much hasn't changed.— Craig321
- One thing's for sure; People are definitely curious and will be counting down the day's until training camp. I have a feeling this will either be very sucessful or go down in flames like we've never seen. Definitely worth watching either way.— AngryGregR
- @Ihatenewyorkers: You are right about the Eagles, they were a fiasco the last 2 years(and the 4-0 finish in 2011 was deceiving). However, you shouldn't equate the Eagles with the 76ers' coaching situations, even those both teams have management/personnel guys who deserve to be replaced. The 76ers have had 7, that's right, 7 coaches in the last 10 years since Brown left for Detroit(Ayers,Ford, O'Brien, Cheeks, DiLeo, Jordan, Collins). There was a lot of change this past offseason, but perhaps it wasn't the right kind of change. For example, Lou Williams, though he opted out, wanted to stay here; does anyone think Nick Young will shed any more tears than Iguodala when he departs Philly?— 76erfn
- Lots of hoping going on here, hoping Chip can adapt his system (which he is a leading developer of but not the inventor) and motivate NFL players, hoping we can find a crack DC, hoping they can make consistently solid personnel decisions over the next few years. That's a lot of question marks, rarely are the answers to so many questions all positive, as we have seen. I do think Lurie backed up his words once again despite the rampant negative portrayals of this process. He got a coach who has been described as innovative, adaptive, brilliant with adjustments and ahead of the curve; he got the man he wanted. Now, I just hope he wanted the right man.— EagleEye61
- Oh boy, I can see the PR department working OT: New Era for Eagles.....Birds in the hunt again for Super Bowl....The Year of Transition has begun......and anything else that will keep selling tickets.— STEPHEN1988
- A for Mr. Lurie, you got your top choice, congratulations.— Blue Hens Rule
- I agree with you exactly Santino! This stinks! I did not want Chip Kelly and was relieved that he was staying in college. I actually thought they were going to end up getting the perfect coach by accident. I wanted smash mouth football for the north east weather. Now this happens. The Super Bowl is not coming anytime soon with Kelly... Hope I'm wrong but I doubt it....— robbiemac11
- You're dead wrong. Chip is a bad dude and Philly just got a lot better. Don't think the offense Oregon ran is coming to Philly. Chip has a mentality of winning and he is bringing it to the Eagles. If the players buy in you fans are going to look back on this day like it was December 25th. — OregonDuckFan
- He is dead wrong because he's an idiot. North east weather? Gimme a break. Im a Philly native and I watched a ton of Oregon games the last 4 years or so because I bet on them so much. Um do you know how much Oregon runs the ball? Gimmick? No! Its about speed and mismatch. You say you want smash mouth? Thats what you're gonna get. When this guy smells blood he goes for the kill and doesn't stop. Watch some games and not just a bowl game and get a clue. You have no idea what you're talking about. — HateAndy
- Let's see Shady run the wildcat!— gubbers97
- As a guy who watched every Oregon Duck football game Kelly ever coached, it is difficult to hear people talk about a "Gimicky Offense". He is a smash mouth, run the ball football type coach. If you don't believe me take a look at the rushing yards Oregon put up the last 2 seasons.
2012 Total Rushing Yards - 4095
2011 Total Rushing Yards - 4189
And the yards didn't come from a gimicky offense. Oregon wore down defenses and punched them in the mouth when they got tired. Chip is going to kill it in Philly...mark my words— OregonDuckFan
