Chip Kelly: Lane Johnson Is Not Far Off
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Chip Kelly feels Lane Johnson's conditioning isn't far off after returning on Tuesday from his four-game suspension. Kelly also believes linebackers Emmanuel Acho and Casey Matthews have played well for the injured Mychal Kendricks (who did not practice on Thursday) and how a balanced offense last year led to the Eagles' late-season surge.
Kelly addressed those areas and more speaking to the media on Thursday as the Eagles prepared for the visiting St. Louis Rams this Sunday.
Johnson's return was the highest priority. The Eagles will have three of their five starters back on the offensive line against the Rams playing in their natural positions.
"He's probably not up to speed with everybody here just because he was out for four weeks, but he's not far off," Kelly said about Johnson's conditioning. "I just think it's probably just getting acclimated. Probably a little bit more sore after practice than our guys because we are doing a different type of running.
"I don't think you can go anywhere and train for what football is like because you have to actually do it. You can run around and go away to train and things like that but that's not exactly what we are doing. His conditioning level is good. It's just a matter of some of the residual soreness that comes after a practice but he seems like he's handling it halfway decent."
Kendricks, who's been out since suffering a calf injury in the second half against the Indianapolis Colts, is another concern. He missed the Washington and San Francisco games and Kelly says he is moving a little better in practice. It's still day-to-day.
"We'll see how he is, but he hasn't gotten to a point where we are putting him back in drills yet," Kelly said about Kendricks. "Yeah, he's shown improvement. He's moving, he's running a little bit more. He was running on the treadmills in the weight room and he's now out on the field doing some things."
Asked if he'd play someone if they hadn't practiced much during preparation week, Kelly said, "Depends on who that guy is. How sharp they are, how much do they pick up the game plan, how much they have played, how much experience they have. Obviously you treat someone like a Mychal different than you treat a rookie, just because he's been around."
In the meantime, Acho and Matthews have stepped in trying to spell Kendricks, who's been improving each season.
"They have done a good job," Kelly said, mentioning Acho and Matthews. "I think probably [in] both games they have been split right down the middle, kind of one or two snaps off. They are giving you what they have got and they are both very intelligent football players [who] can key and diagnose very well.
"They are obviously a lot better in the run game and we have gotten into some more nickel and dime sets in passing situations to get them off the field, but both of those guys have really contributed."
As for the running game struggles, Kelly saw those same struggles last year, before the Eagles' busted loose against the Oakland Raiders, who Nick Foles torched for an NFL-record tying seven touchdown passes.
"I don't think there's 'Aha moments,'" Kelly said. "We didn't change what we did offensively and say, 'Hey, let's run this scheme.' We contributed.
"But I think both games go hand in hand. When you're throwing the ball better, you're running the ball better because people can't gang up on one aspect or another. That's why I say all the time it all goes hand in hand. You can't be one way or another. You can't just throw the ball every down and you can't just run the ball every down because I think everybody in the stadium knows what's going to happen.
"I think you need to be balanced. Over the course of the season last year we ended up being a really balanced team and we were really close on rushing attempts and passing attempts, and I think that's part of being a really good offensive football team is that you can be balanced in terms of what you're doing.
"There wasn't an 'Aha moment' when we went to go play. Nick came back healthy, that was number one. We had our quarterback back, so we plugged him back into the lineup and everybody was getting open and everybody was -- the ball was being delivered on time. We were catching footballs and so it kind of all went hand in hand."
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