Fire Chip Kelly

[hbionic]

phillycrew, until I see some consistent pass-rush from the front 3 or 4 line-men, this defense ain't shtein. I don't care what the linebackers or secondary does.

Maybe we're so bad that I'm focusing on this, but I like the energy that Barkley brings to the QB spot. Sadly, the guy hasn't been able to put one good drive together...but I see some potential there. He's a rookie, so I expect this shtein, but I woudn't mind giving it to him the rest of the way to see what he has. He's definitely not gun shy like Foles. I can't speak on Vick because well, we all know what we have in Vick.

I think our corners have been doing an admirable job considering I thought they'd completely blow ass the whole year and they seem to make more plays than I think them capable of doing.

Problem is, I don't know if this team is on it's way up or down. Seems more down than up with so many question marks.

Can we at least get a decent kick-returner? I'm tired of having these 5ft nothing midgets returning the shtein with no size or speed. Does Papale have a grandson or something that can try out?

[QB Eagles]

From Barnwell's column:

Well, it didn't take long for the NFL to figure out the Chip Kelly offense. Over the past two weeks, Kelly and his vaunted offense have been held to exactly three points, with the Cowboys limiting them to a field goal before the lowly Giants shut out the Philadelphia offense on Sunday. Only a special teams touchdown on a botched punt could get Philly on the board, and even that wasn't enough to produce a victory for the rapidly fading Eagles.

This is the story that's beginning to surround the Kelly offensive attack; that it was effective for one half against the taterskins, and once the league figured out you could man up the receivers and take away DeSean Jackson, it was lights out for the naive college coach who thought he could bring his silly "numbers" to the NFL. Even worse, it's vanilla. Nothing produced at Oregon is vanilla! Neon vanilla, maybe.

Anyway, that story is just flat-out untrue. The Eagles do have their issues on offense right now; it's hard to score three points over two games without having problems. But they were plenty successful after the taterskins game, and they're not being schemed out of opportunities by adapting defenses. They're creating opportunities and failing to execute upon them. And that reveals what might be the biggest difference between what Kelly was able to do in college and what he can get away with this year in the pros.

First, the idea that the Eagles' offense had somehow stalled out after the first half of the taterskins game is just inaccurate. They scored 33 points in that game ... and then averaged 26.6 points over their next five games, one of which came against the best defense in the league, Kansas City. (The Eagles scored 16 points in that game and produced 431 yards of offense, nearly 100 more than anybody else has against the Chiefs this season.) Philadelphia was fourth in the league in points per game heading into that Dallas game, and even better, it was second in the league in offensive DVOA. This isn't even up for debate; if you think the Eagles weren't playing well on offense before the Cowboys game, you are objectively wrong, and it's not particularly close. I'm not sure how much simpler I can make it than that.

So, what's happened to the Eagles over the last two games? Matt Barkley happened. With injuries to Nick Foles (concussion) and Michael Vick (hamstring) forcing the Eagles away from their starting quarterback in each of these last two games,4 they've had to turn the ball over to their rookie third-string quarterback for significant reps, especially against the Giants. That hasn't been pretty; Barkley has thrown four interceptions, fumbled three times, and dropped a couple of snaps amid his 49 dropbacks these past two weeks. Barkley's a rookie fourth-round pick, which means he's not ready to play this early in his career, regardless of which system he gets thrown into. We were spoiled last year by Russell Wilson.

Furthermore, when the nominal starters have been in the game, they haven't been effective. Vick was a shell of himself Sunday, struggling with his mobility within the pocket and his mechanics as a passer. He reaggravated his hamstring injury and had to come out during the first half. Foles suffered a concussion that forced him out, but before that, he was simply having a poor game. As the indispensable Sheil Kapadia noted, Foles left a number of big plays on the field against the Cowboys. Kapadia suggested that average quarterback play would have netted 300-plus yards and 20-plus points against the Cowboys, given how many times receivers were open for big plays. And that speaks to how Kelly's system is creating opportunities; it just needs a skilled quarterback to actually capitalize on those opportunities and recognize open receivers.

I think that's the biggest difference between what Kelly was able to do at Oregon and what he might need to do to succeed in the long term in Philadelphia: His offense will require a good quarterback. At Oregon, Kelly basically ran through a series of middling options at quarterback and got great work from just about everybody he tried: Dennis Dixon, Jeremiah Masoli, and Darron Thomas all had success with Kelly as relatively unheralded (or, in Dixon's case, relatively unsuccessful) options at quarterback. Marcus Mariota was a three-star recruit coming out of Hawaii, but he was the most productive quarterback Kelly had at Oregon, and that was as an 18-year-old redshirt freshman.

At the professional level, the windows Kelly's offense creates are smaller, and the decision-making his quarterback needs to perform has to be done faster and more reliably than the speed at which his current options operate. Foles misses too many big plays. Vick holds on to the ball too long and isn't accurate. Barkley is a project at best. Philadelphia's quarterback of the future — the guy who will eventually prove whether the Kelly offense can sink or swim in Philadelphia — isn't on the roster right now. The Eagles will almost surely draft a quarterback in the talent-rich class of 2014, and it wouldn't be a surprise if they picked Mariota.

Until then, the Eagles will probably be a pretty good offense that takes an unnecessary amount of flak for being unconventional. As long as they're starting an overmatched midround rookie in Barkley, they're going to look bad on offense, because that's what happens to overmatched midround rookies. Then again, just as I cautioned with the Bengals, remember how low Washington sank during the middle of last season. Its hot start on offense gave way to a disappointing halfway point, including two games in which it scored a combined 25 points against the Steelers and Panthers. The taterskins came back after their bye and scored more than 25 points in six of their seven ensuing games. If the Eagles can get Vick or Foles active and healthy, they should be an above-average attack. And once they get Mariota or some other hotshot young quarterback whom Kelly can mold into his system, they'll be even better.

[Rome]

So Kelly will need a great quarterback to have a great offense?

[ice grillin you]

why did it take that idiot 4000 words to say the same thing i said on the last page in 17

if they have even a legit nfl starting qb they win both the dallas and giant games

[reese125]

because you both are rocket scientists...great work.

[General_Failure]

One of you is paid by the word, the other is paid to poop.

[ice grillin you]

more likely one of us is a fan of advanced metrics and one of us is a fan of football

[smeags]

When you're done patting yourself on the back can we get back to the discussion ?

[ice grillin you]

patting myself on the back for knowing their qb's suck....what?

more like if you didnt know that you should shoot yourself in the ear

[Rome]

Stating the glaringly obvious is one thing if you're a random person on a MB. 

A supposedly professional journalist doing it is another.   That shtein was embarrassing.

[ice grillin you]

exactly my point....and writing a manifesto to explain it is even worse

[phillycrew]

phillycrew, until I see some consistent pass-rush from the front 3 or 4 line-men, this defense ain't shtein. I don't care what the linebackers or secondary does.

Maybe we're so bad that I'm focusing on this, but I like the energy that Barkley brings to the QB spot. Sadly, the guy hasn't been able to put one good drive together...but I see some potential there. He's a rookie, so I expect this shtein, but I woudn't mind giving it to him the rest of the way to see what he has. He's definitely not gun shy like Foles. I can't speak on Vick because well, we all know what we have in Vick.

I think our corners have been doing an admirable job considering I thought they'd completely blow ass the whole year and they seem to make more plays than I think them capable of doing.

Problem is, I don't know if this team is on it's way up or down. Seems more down than up with so many question marks.

Can we at least get a decent kick-returner? I'm tired of having these 5ft nothing midgets returning the shtein with no size or speed. Does Papale have a grandson or something that can try out?

You are right and I should have clarified.  I think we have a horrible talent gap on defense and it starts with Howie.  They had two good games but there is still a problem there.

[ice grillin you]

in no way am i trying to oversell the defense....its not good.....but four games in a row they have given up 21 or less pts and only one other team in the nfl has done that this year

half way thru the season the offense and defense imo are equal parts to blame

[Sgt PSN]

The defense seems to progressively be getting better while the offense is getting progressively worse. 

The one thing that Kelly seemed to have going for him was that he would tailor the offense to best suit the players on the field......specifically the QB.  But that's the exact opposite of what we saw when Barkley came in.  Granted, Barkley wasn't taking 1st team reps throughout the week, so the game plan was built around the premise that Vick would be on the field for all 4 quarters, but you also knew going in that Vick wasn't 100% so if Barkley wasn't prepared, that falls squarely on Chip. 

Also, since you knew Vick wasn't completely healthy then you probably should have been a lot more prepared to run plays that play to Barkley's strengths instead of his weaknesses.  Chip was either too stubborn to adjust the play calling once Barkley came in the game or he was too stupid to.  Either way, he absorbs 100% of the blame for that as well. 

There's a top 3 RB in your backfield, not Darnell Autry.  Feed him the ball.  Run a couple screens.  Run some max protect packages that only have 2 receiver/TE routes so that your rookie QB can make quick reads and either throw a pass or just get rid of the ball and try again on the next down.   

Just like we used to mock Reid with running play action when everyone knew he was throwing, Chippy deserves the same amount of ridicule for continuously running the read option with Barkley when there's practically no threat of Barkley keeping the ball himself.  And even if he did keep the ball once or twice, it's not like Barkley is picking up big chunks of yardage on his own. 

[smeags]

i had to watch the game again to see if i imagined the rollout play with barkley that turned into a fumble at the 2.

i didnt hear if chip had a reason for that play if was a designed rollout or if barkley tried to do something on his own.