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So, as a long-time Oregon fan, who is also excited to see what Chip Kelly will do in the NFL, I have been reading your forum all day. Here are some thoughts from somebody who has followed Chip Kelly and what he did at Oregon closer than any of the national pundits who have been spewing opinions all day. I'm going to try and focus on stuff I haven't seen much about, because it's the kind of stuff I'd be interested in if he was coming to my team.

-He is a brilliant QB coach and evaluator. As a coach, he made Dennis Dixon (a guy who was an interception throwing, time-splitting head case his junior year) a Heisman Trophy favorite before his injury. He then made Jeremiah Masoli (a guy who is 5'10" on a good day and can't throw for crap) into a household name. He follows that by taking Darron Thomas (a solid talent at best...as evidenced by the lack of NFL interest) and making him into a collegiate star. And now this season, he finally has Marcus Mariota (a true talent and future NFL QB) and he becomes one of the top QB's in the country as a Freshman. One thing we quickly learned at Oregon is if Chip offered a QB (no matter what the recruiting "experts" said), then he is going to be a stud. Oregon was the first school to offer both Mariota and Johnny Manziel (and in fact both originally committed to Oregon before Texas A&M got into the picture). He also once had a verbal from Taj Boyd of Clemson. So, when it comes to quarterback, if Chip decides on Vick or Foles or brings in a Dixon (backup possibility) or Alex Smith or decides to draft someone, his track record would suggest he knows what he's doing.

-Two other quick points on QB's. He wants a passer who can run, not the other way around. Chip also stresses to his QB's that they should avoid taking unnecessary hits. Philosophy is first down, touchdown, get down. He wants them to be a threat in the read option game, but not to take a shot to pick up a few extra yards here and there. Though Marcus Mariota gained 700 yards rushing this season, I'd say he took about 2 big hits all season on running plays (took more than that in the pocket, but those happen no matter your offensive philosophy).

-He is known as Big Balls Chip because of his 4th down decision making. When he took over as head coach, he analyzed the mathmatical data that says coaches punt and kick field goals far more often than they should if they're trying to maximize points scored. Plus he just believes that going for it more often puts strain on your opponents and sets an aggressive tone for your team. I suspect he will be a little more conservative in the league, but that just means he won't go for it on 4th and 4 from his own 38 (did it multiple times this season) on the opening possession. I still think he will go for it on any 4th down of a manageable distance once his team crosses the 50.

-An athletic center is a key to doing all the things he likes to do with his offense. Oregon had Max Unger (all pro for Seattle this season) when Kelly arrived and now have a future NFL'er in Hronnis Grasu. These guys are used in a ton of different ways. They pull a ton, are expected to get to the second level often and are huge in the screen game. I'm not sure what the Eagles current center is like, but if he is athletic, that will be a big plus. Oregon had Jordan Holmes (solid, but not a stud) in between the two guys I mentioned and they were forced to scrap some of their most effective plays.

-He will often play multiple backs at the same time, as long as one has the ability to be a threat catching the ball. In his early years as OC this happened less because he didn't have that versatile back, but over the past 3 seasons, he found tons of ways to get combinations of LaMicheal James, Kenjon Barner, and DeAnthony Thomas on the field at the same time. This lead to huge matchup issues and headaches for opposing defenses. It seems Philly has some guys well suited for some of this.

-His offense is great for tight ends and he uses them in a myriad of ways. When he had Ed ****on (Ravens), he flexed him often because he was a great receiver and blocked well in space. With David Paulson (Steelers), he put him on the LOS more often because that's where he was most effective and now he has Colt Lyerla (crazy athlete) and used him all over the place.

-His Oregon teams basically never had a letdown. They didn't play close games against inferior opponents, they obliterated them and then played backups the entire second half. He was a master motivator and has, by all accounts, some of the most efficient/unique practices in football at any level. How that will translate is up to debate, but my money would be on him figuring out how to make it work with the Eagles.

I know this is a long post, but hopefully (for those that stuck with it) you got some interesting tidbits of information. If you have any questions I might be able to answer, I'll be checking back and will do my best to answer them.

Feb 6th is Judgement Day (9 more days)

How the hell did you come up with that out of this pick? If anything it looks great for Foles.

If you boo McNabb during this you should turn in your fan card. For all his shortcomings, McNabb had a great career here. Donovan deserves some acknowledgement and respect for all the good things he did as an Eagle.

PhillySmoke, on 13 May 2013 - 11:49 PM, said:

Yeah!

A 92-49-1 record?! What a jerk!

Me and my buddies in The Dirty 30 are gonna get some good seats on the 50 yard line and send him out the way we brought him in. With a chorus of boos.  That'll teach him to achieve a win-loss record and on-the-field credibility that QBs like Vick and Kolb could only dream of.

Vick isn't a RB. He is a QB.

Speed isn't what makes shady dangerous. Its his cuts.  But whatever..

Tell me when Vick beats someone in a reading a defense and throwing the ball accurately competition..

Let's hope Barkley asks for 7

Duck fan here....so I think I know the Chipper pretty well.  Here's a couple of my guesses, based on the practices I've been to both when Chip was the OC and the HC.

- There wasn't a huddle.  Anywhere.  I bet the huddle is gone entirely.  I would bet a reasonable sum that the Eagles won't huddle all season.  I didn't see the Ducks huddle once, in a game or in practice, in the 6 years of games, or probably the 20+ practices I saw.  When they want to take the air out of the ball, and slow the game down, they run to the line...and then just stand there, as the clock ticks down.  It's a little eerie to get used to, but Chip does this so the D can't sub.  If they pull players, you just snap the ball.

- When Celek says "from a communication standpoint it's gonna change the league", it's cause EVERY player has to know all the calls.  Each individual is responsible for getting their call from the sidelines.  Again, there's no huddle, and plays can get in much more efficiently.

- I would bet a healthy sum that the Eagles will lead the league in plays by a healthy margin.  Maybe as high as 15%.  Chip ain't gonna change his stripes.  He thinks there's a per-play advantage to be had by playing fast.  He's not going to give that up, except for VERY specific in-game clock situations, or when the game is well in hand.

- If you want a breakdown for "who's playing with the 1s/2s/3s", good luck.  It rarely works like that, and even if it did, Chip wouldn't tell you.   Players are flying in and out.  Position groups are constantly changing, with their own rotations.  It is VERY fluid.  When it's up and running, they're firing a practice snap every 15-20 seconds tops (that's no joke).  The 2s get as many reps as the 1s.  Chip wants something like 140+ reps out of a practice that goes less than 2 hours...he'll watch the film afterwards to grade how everybody did.

- Players LOVE this kind of practice.  There's no standing around.  None of this 5 or 6 hours on the field BS.  Get in, fire it up, and get it done. And since they let the college kids pick most of the practice music at Oregon, I'd be shocked if he didn't let the players pick it here (funny story, Chip used to demand 2 song picks per practice...and he almost always picked Country.  So there'd be a long list of R&B and hip-hop tracks...and then break in with a Country ballad)

- Chip's playbook usually isnt that deep.  When he says 15% of the offense, I would guess that means he's installed the Inside Zone Read, the Outside Zone Read, and a couple passing concepts...and they've run those 5 or 6 plays about 200 times already.  

- When reports say Vick was "better with the ZR today", that doesn't necessarily mean he was "bad" on the first day.  Getting used to the ZR takes some time.  The pure mechanics at the mesh point are something you have to pick up.  Chip wants THOUSANDS of reps on this action alone before it's live-go time.

- Per the draft - I would bet it's between OT and OLB.  Thats how Chip builds teams.  He has to find out some things immediately.  If the returning O-linemen aren't athletic enough to get out and destroy people in space, Chip will find someone who is.  If Cole is incapable of dropping into coverage at OLB, they'll draft his replacement (he's not going anywhere, but his reps will become very situational).  Maybe I'm crazy, but I'd be shocked if they picked Gino at #4.  

- The shakes are the tip of the iceberg.  Chip's got theories about contact days, how to "ramp-up" to gameday.  He made Friday (the day before game-day) a hard practice with contact, cause the research says in any "weekly cycle", you're at your peak performance on the 2nd or 3rd day of the cycle, not the first.  There are schedules for when to push mass-building weight training, vs almost exclusively olympic lifts.  Tons of nutritions stuff.  Sleep schedule stuff (he wants his players sleeping 10-12 hours a day). And on and on and on.

10. The most significant QB performance of the weekend did not belong to Peyton Manning or Robert Griffin III or Tony Romo. Michael Vick had the performance we can read into, the performance that potentially foreshadows the rest of the season.


Every team brought its best to the field in NFL Week 1.

It was laughable reading stories about Andy Reid defending Vick’s performance. Andy Reid needed to be defending his own performance.

Let me explain. I don’t want to shift focus away from Vick’s awful performance. He was bad. Really bad. But Reid was every bit as bad as Vick. Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinwheg were absolutely clueless on Sunday. Philly’s pass protection was non-existent in the first quarter. Vick took some big hits and was seemingly harassed on every play. Vick and Philly’s offensive line needed to be bailed out by LeSean McCoy.

Reid refused to run the football. The Eagles kept throwing and Vick kept getting hit and more frustrated. Vick is undersized and, for the first time in his career, he can’t simply rely on his legs to fix problems created by his arm. Vick desperately needs the support of a strong running back-led running game. He’s a bootleg, play-action passer. He doesn’t move linebackers and the secondary with his eyes and clever pump fakes. He’s not that kind of QB. He can only fool linebackers with play-action passing. The threat of McCoy is the key to creating passing windows for Michael Vick. This is not some CIA secret.

Andy Reid is the only person on the planet who refuses to accept this simple fact.
In a tight game the Eagles led for much of the day, Reid waited until the fourth quarter, until after Vick’s fourth interception, to realize he needed to feature McCoy. Vick threw the ball 56 times on a day McCoy averaged 5.5 yards per carry.

Andy Reid is a moron. I mean that. I don’t care how many regular-season games he’s won. Or maybe Reid wants Vick carried off on a cart so the Eagles can switch to a quarterback who can actually play the game from the pocket with some savvy.

Gocong was one of those weird Andy Reid 3rd round picks.   The guy got a billion sacks during his college career, so what do we do with him?  Make him a SAM in a 4-3, assigned to cover TEs, and never attack the QB.

Beat him 50-0.

I am very disappointed this wasn't about Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

You're really tired of the Vick vs. Foles threads........so you start your own. Makes sense.

Dude signing Vick has set this team back in the first place.

Thank You.

Thank You for the intensity you played every play.
Thank You for the offseason work you put in to be the best you could be.
Thank You for being so humble and using that humilty to strive to be the best
Thank You for caring enough to be as mad as the fans when we lost a game
Thank You for being a true role model, a fine family man, a man of faith that others could look up to
Thank You for being a true leader who made others better
Thank You for being idiot man every Sunday
Thank You for "getting" the Philadelphia Fan
Thank You for exceeding my sometimes unreasonably high expectations of what an athlete should be.
Thank You for singing that fight song after every Eagles TD.
Thank You for forgiving the idiots who let you go to Denver. (We sent one of them to Cleveland as punishment!!)
Thank You for retiring as an Eagle and giving us the chance to properly honor you tonight.

Thank You for being my favorite athlete in my 48 year life time, any sport, any city.

They should move Vick's locker to Minnesota.

We were 4-12, what would he be ruining?

I have to admit, it looks shockingly familiar to our past BS. Injury reach, small school lineman, a player drafted in part because of his family name, mid round linebacker. The change here is so refreshing..

KingxEagles, on 19 March 2013 - 02:09 AM, said:

Vick   (fumble, INT, fumble, INT, fumble, ...) will do the most "damage".

Geoff Mosher ‏@GeoffMosherCSN17s
Just saw helicopter flying above. Belichick getting his preaseason scouting started early.