Chip Kelly: 'Drops Have Hurt Us In Every Game'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A number of topics were broached to Chip Kelly at his weekly day-after press conference after the Eagles beat the New Orleans Saints 39-17 on Sunday, but what seemed to stir the Eagles' coach more than anything was the continuous problems with dropped passes.
"It's something that has hurt us in every game we've played," Kelly said. "We call them SIWs, self-inflicted wounds, that's us dropping the football, it's not the defense making a good play. If it's a tip or out of our reach, we understand that. We have to clean up the drops and when we do, I think we can be an even more explosive offense. They have hurt us and we need to continue to address it. It's a focus issue. It's a concentration issue in terms of going back to the fundamentals. Sometimes it's trying to run before you catch it. But you have to have your eyes through tuck and finish with the football before you ever start to think about turning up and running. The eyes have to see the football all the way through the tuck. You can't turn away."
The Eagles still have issues on third-down conversions. They're tied for 30th in the NFL, converting 17 of 60 third-down attempts (28.3), tied with Kansas City. But run production was far better against an anemic Saints' rushing defense, which is 31st in the NFL, giving up 135.8 yards a game rushing to opponents. The Eagles gouged the Saints for 519 yards of total offense, 186 came on the ground.
Kelly said he didn't make much of Sam Bradford pulling the offense aside prior to Sunday's game for a pep talk. Kelly said he feels it happens a lot, especially with this team.
What hasn't happened often is the quarterback lining up under center for the Eagles. Of the Eagles' 33 rushing plays against the Saints, 17 came under center.
"That was just what New Orleans was doing where the back was," Kelly said. "You look at the tape, we ran the same plays we always run. We just executed them. We just blocked better in the run game. Obviously if we get our run game going; we kept Sam clean. We gave him an opportunity to throw the football. It starts with us being able to run the football. We did a good job of that."
Kelly took accountability for the unsportsmanlike penalty he was called for in the second half.
"I was 100-percent wrong, and it was my fault, and it shouldn't have happened," Kelly said.
