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.
- I, also, find the New York thing patently offensive.
On the other hand, I am also "afraid" they might keep Michael Vick, but simply because he has been a disaster in Philly for two years.— BEMiller - Kelly's system works at the college level where teams can't spend a lot of time working against a system they see once a year. Those teams have a lot of kids who are only a couple years out of high school. The NFL teams are not going to let Kelly score 50 points a game, so the question will become, can he adapt to something that that works or is he a one trick pony?— jrzdvl
- This is, perhaps, the nine thousandth time I have seen the nonsense that, "His system works at the college level…"
Frankly, I don't particularly expect he's going to try to run the Oregon offense in the NFL. On the other hand, several NFL teams gave up more than 50 points during games this past season, and I hardly think their opponents were "letting them score" that many points.
Of course the question is about Chip Kelly's being able to adapt what he might want to do to making it work in the NFL. Happily, similar things are all ready being run in the NFL.
Thus, as always, it comes down to a matter of being able to draft the players who can make him a success! It always comes down to players!— BEMiller - RG3 just got MURDERED trying to run a similiar system in washington and his career could be in jeopardy already, after only ONE SEASON in a system similiar to this. Russel Wilson is out of the playoffs already and he even had the #1 DEFENSE BACKING HIM, STILL LOST. Its a GIMMICKY SYSTEM THAT YOU RUN IF YOU HAVE A SCRAMBLING QB. IT HAS NOT WON ONE SUPERBOWL EVER. And you think Chip Kelly with Howie Roseman making the picks is going to get a better result then either of those teams ???? MAke the playoffs and LOSE in the playoffs at best coming up, THE SAME FREAKING THING THAT HAS BEEN THERE FOR 14 YEARS. THIS MARKS ALMOST NO DIFFERENCE FROM THE ANDY REID YEARS. ITS A CONTINUATION OF THE SAME STUPID IDEAS, WITH A DIFFERENT GUY. GENIUS GENIUS GENIUS 0 SUPERBOWLS JEFF "INNOVATION" LURIE. GENIUS.
- Yeah who knows what this means, but it does feel like the right way to go. The next step is to get a QB, either keep Vick's option and trade to Oakland for Terrell Pryor to back Vick up for a year. This would be probably the simplest thing to do.
Or . . .trade(a #3 pick and a young backup) for Alex Smith, who is 1) really smart and 2) ran a spread offense in college and who 3) has finally become a pretty decent pro QB, albeit not with the arm he once had before his shoulder injury. Still very mobile though and reads Defenses well.
Or . . . maybe let Kelly figure it out. What a concept. Even before this, I never could see building an offense around Nick Foles, who, from my perspective was basically the next great white hope in Philadelphia, and not the Eagles QB of the future.— aintnorep - on another note; when is dougie gonna be canned and the sixers get a new hc. it's apparent they've quit on him and he's lost the locker room like the birds and andy this season. dougie's act always seems to get stale too. another change should be in the offing immediately and not wait til later like this eagles 2011-2012 fiasco that unfolded.— ihatenewyorkers
- i would have loved to read all the articles relating to saban's hire in miami way back in 2005...and spurrier's high flying offense..and bobby petrino..and well, you get the picture.— Shemp Howard
- ...or Jim Harbaugh with the 49ers when he left college to come to the NFL, or Pete Carroll with the Seahawks, or Tom Coughlin with the Jags and Giants....well, you get the picture. Contrary to popular myth, college coaches can have success coming to the NFL. — LeeJPC
- Is it time for Tebow?— jim mcelya
- No. Even if Chip were to run his blur offense, he uses a passing quarterback who can also run NOT a running QB who can throw a little. And in Tim Tebow's case that is a very little. — hokieduck
- I would have preferred Gyp Rosetti as coach. No one disrespects Gyp.— MrBigDizzle
- Get ready for lots of excitement but no titles... Plenty of appearances on MNF, but no trophies. And the tantalizing success, with lots of regular season wins but plenty of failure in the playoffs, could last a decade or more.
Shapes up to be the Dan Fouts era of Eagle football...— Mr. Magee - Rich, you mention that the Patroits are a a Super Bowl favorite with their fast break attack, then ask the question later if the immobile Foles will be miscast in the Kelly system. Well Brady is one of the most immobile QB's I have ever seen and he does just fine. Not to say Foles is in a class with Brady, but I believe he will be able to do some good things with the proper coaching.— watsonmr
- Lovie Smith could be the Defensive Coordinator?— TripleOption
- In Chip we trust! Why? Why not? What the hell else are we going to do?— hillbillybirdsfan
