Chip Kelly: 'That's Not The Way We're Supposed To Play Football'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The Eagles have the poorest rushing attack in the NFL after two games, with just 70 yards and 2.1 yards-per-carry average. Chip Kelly addressed the running game, Sam Bradford and the aftermath of the Eagles' 20-10 debacle on Sunday.
"We didn't do a great job on our down blocks on the sweep game, there was too much penetration, whether it was from the defensive end or defensive tackle," Kelly said. "We didn't run a lot of plays. We ran sweep with motion, three different ways we were running it, we still didn't block them up front, so I don't think the formation we were running had anything to do with it. The biggest thing is we didn't stop penetration all night long, especially in the run game. No one on the offensive side of the ball graded very well.
"I feel like it can be fixed. We've had a couple of games here when we haven't run the ball well and we rectified that. We didn't run the ball well a year ago against San Francisco. That was a game that sort of stood out, but we straightened things out as we went along. A lot of it comes down to fundamentals, the blocking, throwing and catching aspect of it. We didn't catch the ball well last night, and at times, we didn't throw very well. It's a combination of all of those things. Unfortunately, one of those things would rear its ugly head. We game plan versus specific defenses. The guys we have are the guys we're playing with the rest of the season."
Kelly placed blame on himself for what happened. The Eagles had 7 yards rushing against Dallas and 219 yards passing—most of which came when the game was well decided. Sam Bradford, who Kelly confirmed will continue to start, was the Eagles leading rusher on Sunday with 9 yards.
"We're not putting together a plan that's good enough for us to execute offensively, because we're not executing it," Kelly said. "That falls on the coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball. That's what we have to spend our time on this afternoon. I was embarrassed. That's not the way we're supposed to play football and that's not what we're all about. We didn't play well and I was embarrassed the way we played yesterday."
Kelly said part of that may be because the Eagles are over thinking, instead of just playing.
"In a lot of situations, we are just over thinking a few things," Kelly said.
As for the time of possession, Dallas had the ball 40:30 to the Eagles' 19:30, Kelly said, "I'm not a time-of-possession guy, but I am a snap guy. You look at the Atlanta game, it was 68-70. That's an even football game, both sides of the ball. This one was an 85-60 game (actually a 70-55 game). That can't happen. Our offense has to help our defense out. Three-and-out is still three-and-out. We have to stay on the field on third down. We hold on to the ball on third down, it's a different dynamic. We're upset, too, and we have to get it straightened this week when we go and play the Jets."