Kelly: 'When Healthy, Sam Is Our Starting QB'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Mark Sanchez entered the game with 5:20 remaining in the third quarter. The Eagles were holding a 16-13 lead.
However, thanks to a ridiculous tipped ball Jarvis Landry touchdown and an egregious Sanchez red zone interception, the Philadelphia Eagles lost 20-19 to the Miami Dolphins.
"Just had an opportunity that if you don't have it deep then you just check it down," Chip Kelly said of Sanchez's costly interception on Monday's 94WIP Morning Show. "I think we could have dropped it down to Celek right in front of the quarterback. We had a 2nd-and-9, put ourselves in a workable third down situation. But we wanted to try to score a touchdown in that situation. It was 4:32 in the game. It wasn't an end of the game situation where you're trying to kick a field goal at the end to win it."
Listen: Chip Kelly on the 94WIP Morning Show
On the Eagles' last play of the game, down just one-point facing a 4th-and-10 from their own 44-yard line, Sanchez completed a pass to Jordan Matthews four-yards short of the first-down marker. While he was certainly dealing with pressure, Kelly says Sanchez did have open receivers down the field.
"We had two guys running down the seam, we missed them," Kelly said on the team's final play. "The [Dolphins'] defensive end was right in Mark's face and he didn't have time to set his feet and throw the ball down the field. We sent four guys deep and had one guy as a check down, in case everybody plays out of there deep. Mark didn't really have very much time to set his feet because of the pressure upfront.
"He had a tight end open on the left and he had [Riley] Cooper open on the right."
Kelly said that despite the interception in the end zone, Sanchez (14-23, 156 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT) played well, keeping plays alive with his feet and moving the offense down the field. However, when healthy, Sam Bradford is the starter.
Bradford left Sunday's game with a left-shoulder injury and a concussion.
"When Sam is healthy he will be our starting quarterback," Kelly said. "He's in the concussion protocol. There's a whole system with the NFL. I don't know with Sam. Every concussion is kind of to the individual. It's totally in the doctor's hands."
The Eagles dominated the first quarter taking a 16-3 lead and in fact, out gained the Dolphins 436 yards to 289 yards for the game. The Eagles had 29 first downs and ran 88 plays compared to 19 first downs and 66 plays for Miami.
"We're not looking for plays, we're looking for points," Kelly explained. "I'll take eight plays if we score enough points. I've never been about plays, it's been about production on the offensive side of the ball. And when you keep---self-inflicted wounds on the offensive side of the ball is what hurt our football team. We had bad snaps that put us in a negative situation and too many penalties."
Many questioned Kelly's decision to throw the ball when starting a drive from their own 19-yard line with just 16 seconds remaining in the first half. Bradford's pass was intercepted, but luckily for the Eagles, the turnover was negated due to a Dolphins roughing the passer penalty.
"You hit two 15-yard plays and you get a shot for a field goal," said Kelly. "And you lost the game by one [point]. No I'm not concerned with a turnover. I think we do a good job with the ball. We're not a non-aggressive team. I think we're trying to score points. You lost the game by one. So you sit there at the end of the first half and don't try to score points. You're gonna take a knee? That's not the right way of us to go about things."