Eagles News: Chip Kelly needs to be more creative

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Forget tradition -- Chip Kelly needs to go back to being himself to save the Eagles - NJ.com
In the past two weeks the Eagles, and Kelly's offense, has totaled just 31 points. In 11 games this season the offense has scored under 20 points five times, and over 30 points just twice. They are nowhere close to the fast-paced, big-play offense they were in Kelly's first two seasons.  They aren't electric and innovative. They are boring.  So what happened? Looking back at the way Kelly has transformed this team over the past two years, it's clear that instead of being the head coach he was in college, a style that has brought him so much success, Kelly has tried to conform to the NFL.  Gone are the quick, shifty, play-making skill players he had so much success with at Oregon. Gone are the trick plays, the two-point conversions and the guts to go for it on fourth down. Instead, Kelly, a student of the game and history guru, has tried to build his team like the teams that have traditionally won in the NFL.

Lurie will decide if weeding out Kelly is the answer - Inquirer
To pull a weed and make sure it dies, you have to get to the root. The Eagles are a garden full of wild plants. You don't succumb to the struggling Lions, 45-14, four days after falling to the mediocre Buccaneers, 45-17, without having several issues with your team. The questions, then, for the owner of that team are: Do you look at your garden and think that some Weed B Gon will do the trick, or do you come to the conclusion that the soil needs to be turned over and it's time to start anew? It is, frankly, shocking to be asking these questions after Chip Kelly went 10-6 in each of his first two seasons.

A look ahead to the 2016 quarterback class: Christian Hackenberg edition - PhillyVoice
I watched four of Hackenberg's games from his library on DraftBreakdown.com. The first three games were against quality defenses (vs. Temple in 2015, and vs. Michigan State and Ohio State in 2014). His performances were so bad in those games, that I actually went to his game log, and picked out his best statistical game in 2014 to see if I could find something positive to say, which happened to be against Boston College.  Unfortunately, there wasn't anything all that impressive there either.

Free Advice - Iggles Blitz
If Jeff Lurie were to ask my advice on what to do with the Eagles, here are a few things I would tell him. Let the season play out. The goal is to get the team back on track. That might mean a coaching change. It might mean adding a GM. It might mean changes on the coaching staff. There will be roster turnover (fact of life in the NFL), but you need to know what changes need to be made. It would be easy to say "Fire Bill Davis!", but just 2 weeks ago you could argue his unit was carrying the team. Did he become an idiot in 2 weeks? I don’t think so. Still, the results are so incredibly bad that you can’t just brush them aside. That’s why it is critical to see how the defense plays the last 5 games. If they continue to struggle, Davis needs to go. If the defense rights the ship, then you have to really study the 2 blowouts to figure out why things went so horribly wrong.

Eagles-Lions, The Day After - Birds 24/7
How did it get like this? The answer is complicated and hasn’t fully revealed itself, but there are some truths that can be pieced together that lead us closer to an understanding. The players have been asked, from the moment Kelly arrived in Philly, to take a leap of faith. There was science to back up some of the methods and a history of success at the college level to validate his practices to a degree, but his approach and demands were nevertheless unorthodox and not universally accepted. With such an emphasis on collecting data in the name of maximizing performance, certain freedoms that come with being a professional player -- an adult -- were infringed upon.

Chip Kelly's team hits bottom a year after reaching high point - ESPN
Ten wins wasn’t a good enough result for Chip Kelly last season. It will be impossible this season. Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles are 4-7. Even if they win the rest of their games, which seems unlikely, given their remaining games against New England and Arizona, the best the Eagles could do is 9-7. They are guaranteed their worst record in Kelly’s three seasons. "I'm not saying we're doing a better job," Kelly said after the Eagles' season-defining 45-14 loss to the Detroit Lions. "We're not. But I don't look at 10 wins as a good job, either. I've never looked at it like that."

DeMarco Murray: 'I’ve never been a part of anything like this' - CSN Philly
DeMarco Murray was on top of the world this time last year. The Cowboys were on their way to a 12-4 record, Murray was piling up yards at record pace and it was all pointing to a big finish and a huge new contract. And here we are. Murray is having a miserable year, the Eagles have lost three straight games in excruciating fashion and last year seems so long ago for the former NFL rushing leader. "It’s frustrating," Murray said. "I’ve never been a part of anything like this."

Is media attention taking its toll on Chip Kelly, Eagles? - The 700 Level
Philly is not the only place where people care way too much about sports, and the Eagles are not the only franchise in the world people are downright fanatical over – but it’s right up there with the craziest. It would be fair to surmise Kelly is not appreciative of this aspect of the job, and that alone is enough to make me wonder if he isn’t on his way out. This is purely my opinion, but I don’t believe Kelly wants to go back to college football, nor do I think he’s the type of person who would run from a challenge. From a professional standpoint, there couldn’t be a much better situation – he has full control of personnel, great facilities and an owner in Jeffrey Lurie who doesn’t meddle. And while it appears as though Kelly made a mess of things, in theory there’s nothing wrong with the team that can’t be fixed. Give all that up to go back to college and deal with boosters and recruiting? Not willingly.

Next Man Up: Rowe Ready For Action - PE.com
When Nolan Carroll went down with a broken ankle in the second quarter of Thursday’s game, the next man up for the Eagles’ secondary was rookie Eric Rowe. While the Eagles’ coaching staff has been using Rowe sparingly this season as he adapts to the league, Rowe was baptized by fire on Thursday, often being forced to cover Calvin Johnson in front of a national TV audience. After hanging with Johnson very well on a pair of passes, Rowe couldn’t contain Johnson on a 25-yard score right before the end of the first half. Johnson would ultimately get the best of Rowe, as well as other members of the Eagles’ defense, piling up eight catches for 93 yards and tying a career best with three touchdown receptions.

It sure looks like the Eagles defense has given up - SB Nation
The Eagles' defense was among the NFL's best just a couple weeks ago, but gave up 45 points in back-to-back games for the first time ever.

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