Chip Kelly On What Went Wrong
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The word of the day in Eagles Nation is "frustrating".
The Eagles had a host of mistakes in Sunday's loss to Arizona. One day after falling to 5-2, Chip Kelly talked about how his team let a very winnable game slip away. The coach said it was more than just one mistake which doomed his team in the desert, and that there is plenty of work to be done to fix the issues with his team.
"It's everything," said Kelly. "No one plays a perfect game. No one coaches a perfect game. I think we're all trying for that. That's obviously everybody's goal in that situation, but the first thing you do when you make a mistake is you've got to admit it and you've got to address it."
The Cardinals scored their game winning touchdown when Safety Nate Allen was beaten on a 75-yard touchdown catch by John Brown with 1:21 remaining in regulation. Kelly admitted Allen's mistake on the play, but defended the play of his safety throughout the rest of the game.
"I think Nate got beat once," Kelly said. "He bit the cheese and he admits it, but I don't think he can be defined by one play. I thought our defense played outstanding against a really, really good offense. It's unfortunate at times that when you're in that situation, you're going to get exposed."
Another issue which Kelly has received criticism for was not challenging a play late in the game. Chris Polk appeared to have picked up a first down near the Arizona goal line with the game tied in the final minutes, but the officials marked Polk short. Kelly elected not to challenge the play and explained his reasoning on Monday.
"We didn't have anything conclusive," said Kelly. "There's also a case of if you need your timeouts, so we would have been in that situation at the end. I think it's got to be conclusive and that's the biggest situation that we're looking for."
Turnovers and penalties also hurt the Eagles. The team committed eleven penalties and Nick Foles threw a pair of costly interceptions. Kelly knows his team must clean up the mistakes going forward.
"We didn't do what we need to do to win games," Kelly said. "Those negative yardage plays that are affecting you on offense when we're not going forward and going backward are things we have to address. The penalties and the turnover situation on the offensive side of the ball hurt us."
Kelly said he knew Center Jason Kelce would not be ready to play in Arizona, and said he won't put his starting center back in the lineup until he has completely recovered from his sports hernia surgery.
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