Chip Kelly Felt Like Eagles Pace Was 'Slow' Against Washington
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Ask anyone to describe the pace of the Eagles offense Monday night against Washington in one word, and chances are they'll say the same thing: FAST.
Almost everyone was impressed by the speed and precision of the Eagles offense in the first half of Monday night's 33-27 win. Everyone except Chip Kelly.
"I felt like it was slow, to be honest with you. I'm not joking," Kelly said on Tuesday. "We've got to do a better job. We left the ball on the ground too much. We didn't get the ball to the officials. We could have sped things up from a process between plays. That's something we need to continue to work on."
The Eagles started off impressively on both offense and defense, and then faded in the second half when Washington scored 20 straight points, and were within an on-side kick recovery from having a chance at winning the game in the waning seconds.
You know, I think part of what we do in our successes is we get into a rhythm. It's almost like trying to get that first first down. It's not as much taking your foot off the gas from the standpoint of the tempo that you play, but it's just maybe play selection, some of those other things," Kelly said. "You're conscious of working the clock a little bit because it starts to get into a possession game. So when it's 33‑7, how many scores? It's four scores. How many possessions are left in the second half? Do they have enough time left on the clock? Are you just putting them out there?"
"Obviously you don't think you're going to turn the ball over, and obviously you don't want to go three‑and‑out and waste 20 seconds off the clock. As I get a better feel for our guys, they get a better feel for us, it's something that you're always going to continue to work on. Four‑minute offense, so to speak, is just as important as the two‑minute offense."
The Eagles appeared to get tired, on both sides of the ball, as the game progressed.
"But I think you always have fatigue in the fourth quarter, no matter what team you're on, what you did. You've played a game. So in the fourth quarter you're not going to be as fresh as you were in the first quarter," Kelly said. "The biggest thing is not to be as fatigued as the team you're playing against."
Michael Vick played well, but definitely seemed to put himself in harm's way, as he's prone to do. He was seen blocking downfield for LeSean McCoy on more than one occasion, and slid head first, instead of the classic foot-first quarterback slide.
"I think that's the way Mike likes to do it. I think that's the way he's going to do it," Kelly said of the slide. "We've just got to make sure that we can put him in a little bit better situation than that. But I don't think we're going to get him to hook side, I can tell you that."
As for blocking down field for McCoy?
"Those are not by design, not at all (laughter)," Kelly said. "[I will] Tell Mike not to do it, simply."
