Chip Kelly: 'It Was Kind Of Like Madden Football, We Put The No Kick Button On'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Michael Vick was supposed to be the guy on the Eagles that was like a video game. Yesterday against the Lions, it was Chip Kelly, Nick Foles and the rest of the team that was playing like it was on an XBox.
"It was kind of like Madden football, we put the no-kick button on," Eagles coach Chip Kelly told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show. I think the part of it is, besides the footing for the kicker which was obviously difficult, where do you actually place the ball? Are you going to place it on a six inch mound or are you going to get down to the ground? And the other part was just fielding the snap, from our snapper, from Jon [Dorenbos] and Donnie [Jones] being able to catch it clean. It looked like a recipe for disaster. They [Detroit] tried one and it obviously didn't work."
The no-kick plan looked like it was going to benefit the Lions, until the fourth quarter rolled around and the Eagles exploded for 28 points (34 all told), and LeSean McCoy ran for 217 yards and two touchdowns by the time the game ended.
The Eagles have now won five straight, and will at the very least be in a tie for the NFC East lead after tonight's Cowboys game against the Bears.
"For us when I thought about what we can remember, is how we can build upon [the win in the snow]," Kelly said. You know I think there was a lot of different occasions in that game when it would have been easy to just say hey, the weather has kicked our tail, the balls not bouncing our way. There was an opportunity to make a lot of excuses on why we couldn't be successful, but that's not the group of guys we have around here. We'll keep fighting, we'll keep banging. I think the fans were unbelievable. If you could hear how loud they were, kind of cheering us on. It was a special and you will remember it, but hopefully it's something that we can build on so we can continue to have a special season."
It's a season that looks like it will end up in the playoffs, when many said that 8-8 is the ceiling for the Eagles. Well after 13 games, they've already got eight wins, double what they had last season.
"It's a unique thing because there is so many people involved in this, but to get everyone on the same page is a lot of fun and when you do it, it's simple. And that's the thing we talk about all the time, it is simple, but simple doesn't mean easy. Easy, I think, is taking the short way out and that's not what it's about. It's about a lot of hard work and it's about having a great mental attitude every single day when you show up here to work and it pays off on Sundays."
