Chip Kelly: 'They Played Harder Than Us In First Half'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's why we love sports. Unfortunately, in Philadelphia's case on Tuesday morning, why we hate them also.
Once the whistle blows and the game starts, "on paper" becomes irrelevant. Instantly, it becomes about who wants it more, especially in football.
And on Monday night in Atlanta, the Falcons wanted it more than the Eagles.
"I don't have a theory on it, I just told our guys at halftime that they played harder than us in the first half," Eagles head coach Chip Kelly told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday. "I thought we played really hard in the second half, but it was too late. You dug yourself too big a whole. Giving up 10 points in the last two minutes there I think hurt us, and that was a problem. They did play harder than us in the first half.
"20-3 is a tough hole in this league."
Listen: Chip Kelly on the 94WIP Morning Show
The Eagles got their act together in the second half and took a late 24-23 lead, but it wasn't enough, as Falcons kicker Matt Bryan nailed an eventual game-winning 47-yard field goal with 6:33 left in the game.
In Kelly's first two years in Philadelphia, the Eagles had one of the league's top offensive lines in the league. This year, with Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner replacing Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans, Kelly admitted the protection was not good enough in game one.
"We didn't protect [Sam Bradford] well," Kelly said. "That line play, all those guys played together and played what we normally do with a one group [in the preseason]. Think we were just a little bit unsettled up front."
With less than three minutes to go in the game, the Eagles were staring at a crucial 4th-and-inches from the Falcons 26-yard line, trailing 26-24. After some seemingly initial confusion, Kelly rushed Cody Parkey out for the go-ahead 44-yard field.
He missed it.
"We felt comfortable with the ball anywhere inside the 35, based on what [Parkey] did---he hit every kick in warm-ups so I felt comfortable kicking the field goal in that situation," Kelly said, when asked if he thought about going for it.
"I thought during the second half besides the one long pass to Julio, our defense did a good job against those guys," Kelly said. "I felt like we had settled down on that side of the ball."
The matchup that crushed the Eagles all game long was Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones on Eagles corner Byron Maxwell. Jones caught nine balls for 141 yards and two touchdowns on Philly's new top corner. Certainly, not an ideal debut for Maxwell.
"No he missed some things, just like everybody," Kelly said of Maxwell. "I think the one thing when you like at, defending a receiver like Julio as we were talking about, it's a combination of a lot of things. You better get a better pass rush so that the quarterback doesn't have five seconds to locate a receiver. That's a long time to cover anybody. It was a total team issue on the defensive side of the ball in being able to stop Matt Ryan and Julio."