Expectations for the Chip Kelly era in Philadelphia

On January 16, 2013, the Eagles franchise officially turned the page. Jeffery Lurie and company had found the successor to Andy Reid after Reid had been their man for 14 years. That successor was Chip Kelly who bolted from the University of Oregon after a very successful four-year stint to take his up tempo, fast-paced offense to the NFL.

I believe this was the right hire for the Eagles. Now while many wanted former Seahawks defensive coordinator and now Jaguars head man Gus Bradley, after the Eagles had failed to accomplish their ultimate goal of hoisting the Lombardi trophy under a West-coast style offense it was time for a change, time to adapt to the new college-oriented option offense and who better to hire than Kelly.

Conventional wisdom says defense wins championships, and while that may be true, that doesn’t necessarily mean a defensive-minded head coach is who the Eagles needed to one day have that parade down Broad Street. Last year the Ravens won the Super Bowl and coach John Harbaugh was in his fourth season with the team but before being hired by Baltimore Harbaugh was the Eagles special teams coach.

Andy Reid was never a defensive mastermind, but in large part the reason why the Eagles got to five NFC Championships and one Super Bowl under Reid was due to the genius that was Jim Johnson. Since Johnson’s tragic passing, the Eagles have yet to find that defensive coordinator to engineer a top flight defense. Sean McDermott didn’t exactly get the job done, neither did Juan Castillo, and as for Todd Bowles…that didn’t work out either.

Now while current defensive coordinator Bill Davis and his new 3-4 defense might be as much of a flop if not more so than recent defensive coordinators and schemes, it’s important if the Eagles struggle defensively not to blame too much of that on Kelly. After all Jeffery Lurie, Howie Roseman, and the rest of the front office have shown year in and year out since Johnson’s death the inability to bring in another coordinator that could keep them stout defensively.

Getting back to Kelly though, the NFL is a changing league and an innovative head coach is just the guy to have in this situation. With guys like Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, Colin Kaepernick, and even Russell Wilson running read option now in the NFL, the popularity of something that was originally only seen on Saturdays is now becoming more and more prevalent on Sundays. Last year quarterback Marcus Mariota and running backs Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas combined for 3,220 rushing yards for Oregon and all three averaged well over six yards a carry.

                                                                                 gcobb.com
Chip Kelly has earned a chance to coach in the NFL.

So now the question becomes does Kelly have the personnel on the Eagles roster right now to make a flawless transition and keep his offensive scheme through it all? One of the first moves the Eagles made after Kelly’s hire was to restructure Michael Vick’s contract and bring him back for the 2013 season. So after this move to me it became evident Vick would be team’s starting quarterback in 2013 barring injury, and we all know health has been a problem for Vick in his time in Eagles green. But why bring the veteran back on a one year deal with no intention of starting him for that one year? So the recent questions of who the quarterback will be have been in my mind unwarranted. Yes Vick has had turnover problems the last couple years but it’s not really fair to hold the last couple years against Vick and thus conclude the Eagles are better off with Nick Foles or rookie Matt Barkely this season.

The Eagles had three fatal injuries on the offensive line last season. Jason Peters, Jason Kelce, and Todd Herremans all missed significant time. This subjected Vick to lots of hits and was probably more than anything else the reason he missed time last season with a concussion. In addition, the Eagles are running a completely different offense this year as opposed to the style under Reid. Vick is without question the best suited quarterback for Chip Kelly’s up tempo style as Vick can make lots of plays with his legs in addition to having a strong left arm to air it out with as we saw Friday night on his 48-yard touchdown pass to Desean Jackson in the preseason opener. Couple Vick’s playmaking ability with a now healthy and improved offensive line after the Eagles drafted mobile offensive linemen Lane Johnson from Oklahoma, and to me it’s a no brainer for this year that when healthy Michael Vick needs to be the starting quarterback.

But Chip Kelly got a five-year contract. So if this year doesn’t go as planned, the defense struggles, and Vick goes down it’s important not to abandon ship. While Kelly’s fast-paced offense may or may not work this year, Eagles fans need to be slow in judgment, which may be tough after years of Super Bowl or bust. Since when does a first-year head coach come in, inheriting a 4-12 team and win a Super Bowl? I’m not trying to sound negative; as a matter of fact I’m very excited about the future of the team. We just don’t know what’s going to happen in 2013.

Best case-scenario Michael Vick thrives in the new offense and the Eagles overachieve and contend for a playoff spot this season. But even in a worst case-scenario where Vick goes down and maybe the Eagles have another 4-12 season, that’s not the end of the world. If Vick proves he is not the guy this season, the Eagles will have options at quarterback moving forward. Matt Barkley in the 4th round could wind up being the steal of the 2013 draft, but if the Eagles are high enough in next year’s draft dual-threat quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel, Teddy Bridgewater, and Tahj Boyd could become a reality and have lots of success in a Chip Kelly offense.

The Eagles have a plan moving forward with Chip Kelly at the helm and I’m all in. Kelly was 46-7 in four years at Oregon; he proved he deserved a chance at the next level. Now he has five years in Philadelphia. Don’t jump to any conclusions after one year, this is a project and maybe they have to take a step back before taking two steps forward, or maybe this is an instant success. Time will tell.

Photo:

http://gcobb.com/2013/01/19/impressions-from-chip-kellys-press-conference/