Chip Kelly: My play calling isn’t too predictable, problem is execution

AP

Chip Kelly says criticism of his play calling is not the problem on the 0-2 Eagles. The problem is the players’ execution.

Asked about criticisms that the Eagles’ offense is too predictable and opposing defenses have figured them out, Kelly said the reality is that the Eagles aren’t that predictable. They just need the players to run the plays better.

“I think we’ve been varied in our two games, and through our preseason and everything, we’ve been doing a different job, changing formations and things like that. When you’re not successful, I think guys are grasping at excuses, to be honest with you. We still need to block and tackle,” Kelly said. “What I’m saying is we need to execute.”

There’s little doubt that the Eagles need to execute better, but Kelly’s comments come across like he’s blaming his players instead of looking in the mirror. And even if the blame is on the players, they’re Kelly’s hand-picked players running Kelly’s system. It’s his job to get results.

So far, Kelly’s results are 0-2.

174 responses to “Chip Kelly: My play calling isn’t too predictable, problem is execution

  1. I agree if he had 2 good recievers like desean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin he could do something also he has crappy demarco give him lesean McCoy and he would be great and lastly how can he win with Bradford if he could get a guy like foles in there they could be a play off team. Chips roster just doesn’t have the talent and I don’t know who is to blame but not chip of course

  2. I’m an Eagles fan, and it’s very clear that the problem is Chip Kelly’s scheme. Defenses are able to tell what the Eagles offense is going to do and shoot the gap in his run plays. Doubling down on “execution” against a very good Jets defense is asking for trouble, this coming Sunday might get ugly.

  3. There’s an easy way to impress the women in the room with your football acumen while watching the Eagles. Call out “Screen!” before every snap, and they’ll ask in amazement: “How’d you know!?”

  4. The chickens are coming home to roost for Chip Kelly’s favoritism roward players who aren’t black. I called this team winning two games in the Preseason because I know football. Redskins are on the way to a winning record while God punishes the Eagles for their sins. #GodlovestheRedskins

  5. Die hard Philly fan here but the acts getting old this idiot traded some great proven NFL talent for someone elses IR list this is on him I was a believer in Chip but at this point I am growing tired and impatient Still don’t get the Foles trade and have a hard time rooting for Demarco Murray this clown blew up the real team for fragmented parts because if his EGO

  6. Yeah……gutting the team to bring in “your” guys to run “your” system and then deflecting blame and throwing the players under the bus isn’t exactly the way to inspire “your” team.

  7. Teams run pretty basic defenses in Preseason. … pretty slick to throw an entire team under the bus… good call, and I’d you listen close enough you can hear DeSean Foles and McCoy all.laughing at you

  8. If calling certain plays lead to higher execution failure rate, then play calling is a problem.

    May be Chip Kelly need to slim down the playbook a bit. Also there is a question in my mind – are Kelly’s players in better physical shape than the opponents so they gain an advantage in his high snap-count approach?

  9. The more Kelly replaces Andy Reid’s players with his own, the worse the Eagles get.

    As for execution, I’m reminded of the quote of the legendary Bucs’ coach John McKay. When asked what he thought of the execution of his offense, he quipped “I’m in favor of it.”

    I suspect Eagles fans feel the same way.

  10. I remember Eagles fans here cheering Chip for cleaning up the locker room of divisive elements, regardless of talent.

    Yep, that convivial losing locker room is sure winning over fans.

  11. Chip Kelly Strategy:

    1. Win 10 games back to back years with someone else’s players

    2. Demand total control of personnel

    3. Get rid of key players who aren’t Chip guys

    4. Bring in a bunch of Chip guys

    5. Complain about the execution of Chip guys

    6. Win 5 games doing it the Chip way

    7. Get fired

  12. It was the same with Cam Cameron. It was NEVER his fault. NEVER. It was always the players’ failure to execute. (Maybe that’s why he’s out of the NFL and coaching where he belongs — at the college level. Those guys are much more receptive to a coach assigning blame to them — justified, or not. NFL players don’t take too kindly to that sort of approach.)

  13. back off people its not coach chip’s fault. he obviously doesn’t have the right players to run his scheme. the problem is gm chip’s fault.

  14. I’d say it’s a leadership issue, if the players don’t buy into the crap you’re running, you haven’t done a good enough job selling it.

  15. Yup I am sure it was Chip Kelly’s play design to have defenders come due to a missed block and tackle Demaro before Bradford even finishes the hand off.

  16. Yes. It’s the execution. Obviously the reports of Dallas players calling out the Eagles’ plays before they were run were mistaken. They must have been calling out, “The center is going to miss his block! The receiver is going to drop the pass! The QB is going to overthrow the tight end!”

  17. This guy is another reason the Browns fired Joe Banner as team president. Joe wanted this guy so badly he said Chip could live in his house while relocating.

  18. I’m torn. I’m not an Eagles fan but I liked Kelly and thought he brought innovation to the league and I enjoyed watching his team play. When the Eagles offense is on the field you can’t even run the fridge between plays and that’s exciting but man they have looked surprisingly bad. And since they play fast football it looks even worse plus their poor defense doesn’t have a chance to rest or really, have short adjustment meetings on the sideline. The speed highlights the offense failures.

    I think everyone is jumping on them a LITTLE too quick. It’s only been two games but blaming your players only invites locker room problems on top of your on the field problems.

  19. Translation: i brought in the wrong players but it’s not my fault

    Oh floratiotime chimes in again with a dream team quip, still stuck in 2010 eh? Was that the year? I don’t even remember but I’ll bet floratiotime, with his awesomely witty user name will since he likes talking about it so much

  20. man – if he’d only had the foresight to keep more black fellas- it would be a lot easier to use the whole “my offense is to complicated” line, wouldn’t it chipper?

  21. Sean Lee should send us a fruit basket as thanks for gift wrapping Def. Player of the Week award to him – not like the INT was right in his gut or anything. Not like the defensive players were blocked…

    Hate to say this phrase…

    I need to do a better job.

    I’m cringing….

  22. Coaches have half the team who hates him and half the team that isn’t sure yet. Kelly just lost the unsure half. How to lose control of a team: throw them ALL under the bus!

  23. It’s been 2 games. How about all the lovers and haters chill out. With a lot of new pieces, this was going to take some games before it became a finished product.

  24. Texas Longhorns should give him a call. I really think Kelly’s out of his element in the NFL. His offense is perfect for today’s college game, not the NFL.

  25. It doesn’t matter if you blame the system or the execution of the system it all comes back to Chip. It’s Chips system being “executed” by players he handpicked. The talent Andy Reid left him with executed the system just fine for 2 years. He was given too much power way too soon.

  26. What a TOOL! Steve Spurrier 2.0. This guy will be shipped out of the league by the end of the year. I am still stunned that so many people picked this loser to lead this team into the playoffs this year. He obviously didn’t pay attention to the fact that Spurrier already tried and failed bringing his former NCAA team in thinking that he could win. See ya Chip!

  27. Getting rid of the starting guards wasn’t really a bad thing. They’re both in their 30s and declining. Both of them were becoming more injury prone as they aged. However, NOT replacing them was stupid. I could see releasing them if you had a plan to sign or draft replacements, but Chip didn’t. He thought the backups who weren’t good enough last year when injuries struck the line would somehow be good enough this year. So far they have not been.

  28. Kelly is very blunt. He’s honest. The anti-Belichick in that regard.

    If he says their execution is problematic, then it is. That doesn’t mean there aren’t personnel problems as well.

    As an oregonian I really liked Chip’s tenure with the Ducks. Rooting for the guy to succeed in the NFL, but I’d have to say it’s not looking real good right now!

  29. Dude tore apart a winning team instead of improving it.
    Gave away home-grown Pro Bowl players for nothing in return.
    Now when it’s looking like he’s turned the franchise into the kind that will be a 5 win team long after he’s back in college, he chooses this time to throw the whole team under the bus.

    I was a fan until he gave away DeSean Jackson for Nothing.
    That’s when I knew there was something wrong with him.

    This is gonna hurt, Philly fans. We were duped.
    I hope Lurie fires him before he can do more long term damage.

  30. I don’t say this often… but…

    The New York Jets are gonna whip the bleep out of my team if they don’t make some SERIOUS adjustments.

    That felt just as weird to type as I thought it would

  31. No chip the problem is your trying to run a college offense in the NFL. That’s the problem. You are the problem!

  32. If my memory serves me correctly, Bill Belichick didn’t win anything before he got Tom Brady. I’m willing to be patient with Kelly too. The other guy turned out alright because the Patriots were patient. Chip Kelly just took over personnel a few months, so it’s not like he’s been running the entire show for an extended period of time. I’m also trying to remember the last time the Eagles won the super bowl. Can someone please help me with that one. It takes a couple years to get the talent in place to win. We’re only two weeks into this thing. Give it a chance. Patriots started 0-2 last year and won the super bowl. A lot of folks gave up on them too.

  33. Yikes. He keeps this up and he will have completely lost the team by the time they hit their bye week.

  34. When you hand-pick the personnel and insist on running the offense exactly the way you designed it, how could anyone else be to blame? Sure, the players aren’t executing well, but they’re your players and your playbook and it’s your job to get them to run it proficiently.

    You can’t take all the credit and none of the blame, especially when you demand total control.

  35. Hey Chip? The people on the other side of the field are getting millions of dollars too… including the opposing coaching staff, who spends all week planning against you. And guess what, some of those coaches are better than you.

    NFL “schemes” don’t work without stars. Bill Walsh had the West Coast offense, but he also had Montana and Rice, arguably the best of all time at their positions. Kelly sent all the Eagles stars packing in exchange for guys who were willing to play his “system”, but it’s pretty clear they’re not as good as who left.

  36. I see the genius PFT commenters are ready to pick the SB teams in week 2. Heck – some of you guys were ready to crown the Bills in week 1.

    Let’s let things play out a bit before we declare the Cowboys division champs and the Eagles a failure. A lot can change going forward.

  37. Chip gets credit for two 10-6 records with Andy Reid’s players but after cleaning house he puts the blame on HIS players when they’re losing. By this time next year Chipper will be back in the college ranks.

  38. O-LINE is the problem when the RB gets tackled in the backfield every time! Bradford may end up on the injury list after this Jets game (hope not).

  39. It’s funny, being a fan closes your eyes to so much horror. Everyone has been telling the Philly fan base for years that this scheme was a fad and going to be revealed for what it is: a high school/college gimmick. The NFL figures out gimmicks fast. Run & Shoot, K-gun, Wildcat, Read Option. They are all a nice page in a play book, but can’t succeed as the whole playbook.

    The looks on the Philly defensive players faces last week was priceless. They were gassed and so many had the look of, “not again”, every time the Dallas OL got into their stances. Forty and a half minutes they were on the field.

  40. Wow. Throwing the players under the bus. RIGHT AFTER stories come out suggesting that opposing teams can readily anticipate the plays being called.

    But by all means, Kelly, keep it up. I want my Cowboys right in the playoff hunt when the stars return to the team.

  41. Most of us knew he’d be back in college once he started gutting the Eagles roster as GM. He’s on a fast track to losing this team, and being fired after the season.

  42. Maybe they should just take .20 PSI out of the footballs and then they can win 4 Super Bowls in 15 years and steamroll the league while winning 12-14 games every year too………..right, haters? That .20 PSI is the difference…….has to be LOL.

  43. funny, they must be running Chips offense in Buffalo since Shady McCoy isn’t doing much. And running Chips offense in KC and it’s slowing Maclin down. In fact, I bet it was Chip’s offense that put that blocking sled in Deshaun Jackson’s way and got him injured!

  44. Hard to argue with his track record. Hardly think it’s his play calling. Players have to execute. Fact was he didn’t get his qb. And took a chance by getting Bradford in hopes he could use him as trade bait.

  45. “The chickens are coming home to roost for Chip Kelly’s favoritism roward players who aren’t black.”

    So how do you explain him bringing in Murray? Or any of the other black players on the roster? They just don’t exist? And what about him ditching the white quarterback who had done well leading his offense?

  46. He still acts like a college coach in throwing the players under the bus and having the authority to not care at all what they think.

    I got news for you Chip, these guys will determine your future and you just threw them under the bus. A smart coach would take responsibility instead of blaming his tools.

    Too much ego to be successful. Too bad you can’t go back to college huh?

  47. He is right, Lurie shouldn’t firee the coach, he should fire the GM. Wait. Hmmm. Who to blame who to blame.

  48. expatpatfan says:
    Sep 23, 2015 12:16 PM
    Anyone else starting the Jets’ DST in fantasy this week?

    I picked them up this morning. I was surprised they were available!

  49. Hmmm,
    In Buffalo you have Rexy falling on his sword when his front 4 couldn’t do their jobs against 3 rookie o-lineman.
    In Philly you have Chip saying the players need to execute when they were obviously not prepared to execute HIS game plan. Preparation = coaching.
    Not much wonder to what team will appreciate and benefit more from their coach’s approach.
    Here’s your sign Chip…
    STUPID

  50. Is it me or after Sam Bradford started playing ( that is if you called his performance this past Sunday “playing”), I started wanting the players to quit on Kelly?

    For some reason, I kind of want this to end badly and See him go to U. of Texas. That way Eagles owner Jeffrey Lauri that way Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie will finally understand that big money on big names does not work .

  51. Great picture. He looks so sad. Caption: How many more games will the Eagles lose this year?

  52. Your play calling isn’t predictable, it’s so unpredictable it’s stupid. Why is he running Murray out of the shotgun and to the outside, when his strength is pounding it up the middle? Maybe that’s why he has 11 yards through 2 games and over 20 carries.

  53. Eagles owned the Falcons in the second half of that first game.
    That’s enough to show me Chip’s system can work.
    If not, hockey starts on Oct 8th.
    Go Flyers.
    =====
    A quarter of the time is enough…?

  54. Problem with running the whole show is that even if the players are to blame, Kelly picked the players so it’s still basically his fault. Who’d have thought having $1 million worth of guards blocking for $22 million worth of running backs might not work out? Or that bringing in a QB who couldn’t throw down field even when healthy at his last stop might have the same issue with the Eagles? Kelly totally outsmarted himself.

  55. Sounds like Chip being a coach in the NFL is like Tebow being a QB in the NFL….sure they did well in college but just are not able to perform at a “NFL level”….but then again, Tebow owns his shortcomings and did manage to win a NFL playoff game…so I guess that leaves Chip as “peaked in college rob lowe” who has cable!
    #inchipwetrust LOL

  56. pacificdan says:

    When the Eagles offense is on the field you can’t even run the fridge between plays and that’s exciting
    —————————————————————

    But they’re only on the field for 20 minutes a game so you still have plenty of time to run to the fridge.

  57. Just moments ago on 104.5 The Zone in Nashville:

    “The Eagles’ formations and plays are making them a bit predictable. Can’t play fast and have a high volume of plays.” ~ Greg Cosell, NFL Films

  58. It really is too bad he didn’t end up working for Washington. Watching him and RG3 blame each other for their mess would be hilarious. 😉

  59. As a Cowboy fan I feel the Eagles fans need to take a step away from the ledge. Last year after the first game against the 49ers everyone was ready to call the Dallas a 0-16 team and they went 12-4. Let’s let this play out a little before Eagle fans brotherly love Chip right out of Philly.

  60. coachbeck says:
    Sep 23, 2015 12:52 PM
    He is a darn good coach and to say he isn’t or is predictable is ridiculous. If he was predictable he would have been exposed long before now.
    _____________________________
    He was exposed in College every time he faced a team with a top 25 defense

  61. ieatfootballs says:
    Sep 23, 2015 11:21 AM
    He’s right, can’t do anything with ZERO PUSH up front. They tried to retain Mathis, he went to Denver for a smaller contract. No run game, no chance.
    _______________________________________
    If you consider basically laughing Mathis out of town trying to retain him, then sure they tried.

  62. I can defend some of Kelly’s moves, but with every move you make you carry risk, and when you make a ton of them that risk is bound to show up and bite you in the butt. That’s why you see teams like the Packers make very few calculated moves.

    Letting DeSean Jackson and McCoy go I can understand. McCoy wouldn’t run behind this o-line either.

    But trading for Bradford and letting Evan Mathis go? Keeping Riley Cooper on the team after all that has been said?

    Absolutely terrible ideas that he should be criticized for. He neglected the most important part of any offense, the big guys in the trenches.

  63. It’s over in Philly.

    First, the losing.

    Second, the coach blames players for all the losing.

    Third, coach is unemployed and Philadelhia sports talk radio lights up until kickoff, 2016.

    Enjoy.

  64. Remember during the pre-season all the sports writers were asking what Chip thought on anything and everything football? Remember when I said Chip may or may not end up being the best thing that has ever happened to the NFL? Remember when I said we should wait until he wins his first playoff game before anointing him as the savior of the NFL?

    Well, I’m saying again: 2 games is not enough to call Chip a failure, but lets at least stop calling him a genius for a while.

  65. ebbycalvinlaloosh says:
    Sep 23, 2015 2:51 PM

    *So far, Kelly’s results are 20-8.

    ==============

    Did losses in his first season not count? Try 20-14.

  66. Ah. And with Chip Kelly as HC, Philadelphia sports are back to 100% underachieving. All of our teams were going to the playoffs a couple of years back, makes me sad. Please, somebody please, please take Chip Kelly, Jeff Lurie, Howie Roseman, Ruben Amaro Jr (NOW, not when the season is done), Ed Snider, Paul Holmgren, & Sam Hinkie. PLEASE!!!

  67. Look 3 previous posts were removed–guess I was too blunt. The point here is Chip believes in the read option and that’e been shown to be ineffective in this league. Just ask RG III and Tim Teebow. These college concepts are fine on a trick play or two but not full time in today’s NFL. Also the no huddle all the time makes no sense because you have game management to consider first and your defense second.
    Just cant see him lasting unless he changes…

  68. kaptingavrin says:
    Sep 23, 2015 12:52 PM

    “The chickens are coming home to roost for Chip Kelly’s favoritism roward players who aren’t black.”

    So how do you explain him bringing in Murray? ”

    He thought DeMarco Murray was Italian/irish.

  69. I’m no Rex Ryan fan but when I watched his news conference this week he shouldered full responsibility for the Bills loss to the Patriots saying he was out coached.

    Therein lies the difference between a man that’s looked in the mirror and one who is still blaming others.

  70. Chip Kelly “Super Genius” in my best Wile E. Coyote voice.

    Anyhow, pssst hey Chip your job as a coach is to adjust and coach up players to make them execute better.

  71. Hes probably right though. An o lines job is to make a hole for Murray. If hes getting blown up in the backfield chances are the o line hasnt executed their job very well

  72. But here’s the deal:

    The guy has won a lotta football games at every level he’s coached, and that includes the NFL.

    You don’t just start sucking over night. And two games does not an adequate sample size make.

    The haters think they smell blood, but let’s just chill and see what happens this season.

    And anyone who thinks Chip is out the door after this year has forgotten how patient Lurie was with Reid: 14 seasons of B+, not-quite-good-enough football.

  73. Quit it with the ‘this is the roster he wanted’ nonsense. The players he moved on from haven’t done anything worth mentioning since leaving here and no one can say that they or the Eagles would be better off now, if they were still here. The players he brought in are Pro Bowlers, past and present, who simply aren’t performing right now. That’s his point, and he is right.

  74. You don’t just start sucking over night. And two games does not an adequate sample size make.
    =================

    If we go back to the last 4 games of last year he’s 1-5. Is that a big enough sample size?

  75. Its the system, its a college type system and is predictable..the thing that makes it work os the tempo..they just wear defenses out, but if you just play physical with them it neutralizes that. My 9ers killed them last year by just jamming wr’s and controlling the LOS, they only crossed the 50 once vs us.. Frank gore is a very smart football guy..i knew when he backed out of his agreement with Philly something was up there.

  76. @BringBackTheFlex:

    Apparently, a six game (or maybe two game?) sample is big enough for you.

    Would you fire a coach you hired after six games? And what about the other 20 games he won? They don’t count?

    You don’t get to choose your sample size.

  77. The real problem here is our Fairy of an owner Jeff Lurie. He gave this fat little dictator total control and it’s over. Good job Jeffy!

  78. Would you fire a coach you hired after six games? And what about the other 20 games he won? They don’t count?
    ==============

    You don’t fire him, but you strip him of his GM duties. Every single personnel move has been a disaster. He’s definitely trending down – 10-6 make playoffs, 10-6 miss playoffs, 0-2 season start.

    And he’s not being fired after 6 games. But these last two have been ATROCIOUS. All of the injury prone players he traded for or spent big bucks for are hurt. All of the positions he didn’t think were important are gaping chasms of ineptitude. And the scheme players he brought in are completely lost.

    Other than that, heck of a job.

  79. @BringBackTheFlex:

    Now you’re just making my argument for me. You’ve decided after two games that every move he made is a disaster. You might be right, but you don’t know that after two games.

  80. Jaworski said that of the 27 running plays the Eagles have run the ball 81% the ball was run to the opposite side of where the back started. If he lined up right the run went left and vice versa. If Jaws can figure that out so can other teams in the league. The should start running some in the same direction. At the end of the Atlanta game they started running sweeps to the same side the back wad on and it started working and tiring the defense. Gotta have some variation.

  81. Belichick figured out Andy Reid’s eagles offense in SB and it’s called cheating. Dallas figures out chips offense and chip is the problem. Hypocrisy anyone?

  82. Does the execution of the Eagles players, especially on offense, deserve to be heavily criticized? Absolutely.

    And I’m all for Chip reading his team the riot behind closed doors for their poor play, which I’m sure he has.

    However, utilizing the media to not only deflect blame from his shoddy playcalling, but also to rip his team, comes across as an awfully bad look for Chip, especially when you consider that this is a team of his hand-picked players.

    I’m typically not one to jump to conclusions, but this definitely seems like the first sign that Chip may be about to buckle under the extreme pressure that he brought upon himself.

  83. Look, I’m a Bills fan living in Philly. I like the Eagles. I’m a fan of Chip Kelly as a coach. A lot of the plays, formations and schemes I’ve seen over the last few years, as an outside fan, look really impressive.

    But you can’t tell me that Chip wouldn’t enjoy DeSean or Maclin helping him right now. I can’t possibly think that Shady, who is now making less money per year in Buffalo on his new contract than he did in Philly and who said he would take a pay cut to stay, would look any worse than Demarco Murray right now.

    I can’t imagine this team having a better roster than they did before releasing Evan Mathis and trading Boykin for a pick next year.

    Chip, if the problem is with the execution, at least part of the problem is that you got rid of the guys who can execute and brought in your guys. If that’s a problem, CHANGE THE SCHEME.

  84. Wow. I have defended Kelly against the ridiculous racism accusations, but this is just not good. He is totally deflecting here and he is supposed to be the leader. I suspect that he will be out of a job after this year unless things turn around.

  85. Oh floratiotime chimes in again with a dream team quip, still stuck in 2010 eh? Was that the year? I don’t even remember but I’ll bet floratiotime, with his awesomely witty user name will since he likes talking about it so much
    ==============================================================

    It was 2011…Pretty memorable because the Giants won the Super Bowl that year as well.

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