A Combative Chip Kelly Vows Eagles Will Play To Win Sunday
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It is understandable why Chip Kelly was not in the best of moods on Monday.
After watching his team get eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend, Kelly has to field questions in his weekly news conference about his team's December debacle. Three straight losses have put the Eagles out of playoff contention, leaving one meaningless game remaining against the Giants on Sunday in North Jersey.
Just don't tell Kelly the game is meaningless.
"Let's get that straight," said Kelly. "We're going there to win the football game. There's no, 'Hey, let's go see what we can do.' Our job is to go up and play the New York Giants and we're going to do everything we can to beat the New York Giants."
Many teams that fall out of the playoff picture late in the season turn their attention to their younger players. Teams will give players who have seen less playing time during the season a chance to get on the field to help evaluate where they stand for next season. However, Kelly said it's not the type of approach he will take in the season finale.
"It's not about trying to see what the future is," Kelly said. "It's about we got a game. I would not be fair in any of my beliefs and I would not be fair to any football player right now if I said to some guy, 'Hey, I know you're a better player, but I'm going to play a younger guy now.' That's not what we're all about. If you want to go do that, go somewhere else. That's not us."
The Eagles were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday when Dallas defeated Indianapolis. In reality, the season's playoff hopes ended in Washington on Saturday. However, Kelly said all six losses were the difference in the season.
"Sometimes the ball bounces your way," said Kelly. "You always kind of forget about the close ones you win and don't think about how close they were. When we lose the ones that we've lost, like the one on Saturday, you continue to go back and harp on all those things that didn't help you win that football game, and rightly so."
In the end, it amounts to a stunning collapse for Kelly and his squad. A team which was sitting atop the NFC at 9-3 after Thanksgiving will now be home for the post-season.
"Not happy with the situation we're in right now," Kelly said. "We just can't sit here and feel sorry for ourselves. That's not what this group I'm around will do, and I know that. I think we're going to go back out there and we're going to train really hard and we're going to get ready to play one last game against New York."
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