For the Philadelphia Eagles new coach Chip Kelly, the 2013 NFL season brings a boatload of challenges. He has to rebuild the self-ascribed “Dream Team,” which never won anything, and begin anew after the tear down following that extreme build-up, and subsequent disaster.
There’s obviously a ton of talent there for Kelly to work with. And given the parity of the league; and the way things turn around quickly, no reason to think the Eagles won’t compete for the NFC East division right away.
But what’s going to be the biggest challenge for a coach like Chip Kelly who has never coached in the league before? And how do you think his offense is going to do this season?
Former long time Colts GM Bill Polian answered that.
“they run an up tempo offense, they’ll just have to recognize the time management issues, which are not — they’re not terribly significant. He’ll get used to them here in the preseason. It’s just a matter of getting used to the rhythm of an NFL game,” he said.
“He is by definition, because of the way his offense is constructed, a match up coach, so he’s going to recognize that the match ups in the NFL are more difficult every week. I’m sure he already knows that.”
Polian is now a NFL analyst with ESPN.
“And then getting used to the long season. That’s probably the biggest difference between the two levels of play. In college, at Thanksgiving, you’re finished and you’re on to recruiting and you’re getting your team ready for pre bowl game preparations. In the NFL at Thanksgiving the season is just beginning. As our linebacker coach in Indianapolis Mike Murphy used to say, then begins the dash for cash,” said Polian, making what I’m pretty sure is a NASCAR reference.
Chip Kelly talks and moves fast. And his offenses at Oregon moved even faster. They were beyond high octane; and they often finished off scoring drives in seconds flat. Chip Kelly also didn’t rely much on his placekicker, often going for two and pushing the envelope on fourth down when most coaches would not. In fact, being the Oregon kicker is the ultimate job, you don’t have to do anything, really! It will be interesting to see how these two concepts adapt in the NFL. Being a renegade about this stuff worked in the college football ranks, but can it translate to the pros? Chip Kelly retained Mike Vick, who epitomized the failures during the final years of the 14 year Andy Reid regime. However, Matt Barkley was drafted, and Nick Foles is back too.
It all starts with the QB, and it will be really interesting to see how this all shapes out. Chip Kelly year one will be nothing, if not entertaining.
“Again, it’s not a major transition. People make it every year. Players make it every year. Coaches, assistant coaches make it every year. And Chip is nothing if not intelligent and forward thinking. So I’m sure he’s already researched that with any number of people. I know he has, as a matter of fact,” Polian said of Chip Kelly.
“I’m anxious to see what he does offensively and how it functions in the NFL. He has better players obviously than he had at Oregon, and that’s a function of the NFL. That’ll be fun to see how he operates that,” Polian said.
“I think that this year, for people who really like Xs and Os, for football junkies like Jaws and myself, this NFL season is going to be one of the most interesting in a long time, because the idea of how people are going to defense the option is interesting and exciting, and how the new parts of the spread offense and the up tempo offense come into the National Football League and how they function and how people defend against them will be interesting,” Polian continued.
Chip Kelly turned his defense over to Bill Davis. Kelly will be running the offense, obviously. So will Chip Kelly be a Jim Harbaugh or Pete Carroll? Or will he be a Steve Spurrier or Bobby Petrino?
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, a Fox Sports affiliate. He is also an analyst for 95.7 The Fan, and writes on Chicago sports media for Chicago Now. President Obama follows his Twitter account (@PaulMBanks)