Chip Kelly Needs To De-Chip Himself
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Ben Franklin was a genius. Chip Kelly is not. Geniuses discover cures for deadly diseases, not design football plays in PowerPoint. And it's not that Kelly ever publicly deemed himself a genius just that his arrogance, which manifests itself in snarky, patronizing responses at press conferences, sometimes gets in his way when it comes to refuting the "G Tag."
The Eagles are now 0-2 and the blame lies at the feet of the one many locally and nationally were calling "a genius." The Eagles lost 20-10 on Sunday to a Dallas that dominated them, despite 18 penalties for 142 yards. Heck, even the 90-plus loss Phillies had more victories than the Eagles have after their first two games.
What's more is that this could have been preventable.
Letting go of Evan Mathis was a mistake, as was trading Brandon Boykin. They were two productive guys on the field; two "Kelly-type" players off it. Those Kelly decisions are not looking too prudent right now.
Kelly wanted control of the team, garnering full autonomy of personnel decisions. He got it. It was Kelly who drafted Eric Rowe in the second round and so far the former Utah cornerback isn't even good enough to get on the field.
Kelly believes deep down that he can plug me, you and the guy stumbling out of the bar at 3 a.m. into his system and it will work (a slight exaggeration, maybe not me and you). Teams full of talented players win in the NFL, not slightly above average players that would be backups on most teams. The Eagles have two human turnstiles in guards Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner. You have to figure wouldn't Mathis look good in at least one of those spots right now?
Kelly doesn't believe time of possession matters. Apparently he wasn't looking at his defense as it trudged off the field after chasing around the Dallas offense for 23:09 in the first half and 40:30 for the game. In the second quarter alone, Dallas had the ball 12:04 to the Eagles 2:56. The Cowboys ran off 70 plays to the Eagles' 55. That's a good way to wear down a defense.
The Eagles are 0-2. It's not working, at least not now. The Eagles were beaten by a Dez Bryant-less Cowboys team that went with Terrance Williams and Cole Beasley. The Cowboys beat the Eagles up front and sawed away with tailback Joseph Randle, who had two-times more yards rushing in the first quarter (25) than DeMarco Murray has all season (11).
"We have to clean up a lot, we have the watch the film and there's a lot we can do to get better," Dallas guard Zack Martin said. "I think our team does a great job of focusing on the task at hand and our coaches do an unbelievable job of preparing us. We do have a lot to clean up from tonight. There were a lot of things we didn't do great."
All of Kelly's off-season moves have thus far backfired terribly. Sam Bradford is skittish in the pocket and though his quick release attracted the Eagles, he made poor choices in the 20-10 Dallas loss, turning the ball over three times, on two interceptions and a fumble.
Kelly admitted that he may be looking to do some more tinkering.
"We've got to assess everything," Kelly said. "That includes everybody; coaches, everybody. It's execution and it's coaching. We're not doing a good enough job. We're not putting those guys in position to make plays. If we can't run the football, we're not going to win many football games."
The twist is that the Eagles could, and probably will, still win the NFC East—by default, as being the best of a bad situation. With the two best players in the division, Bryant and now Tony Romo, out for extended periods of time, Kelly has time to get this right. Starting with himself.
