Chip Kelly Gives 94WIP Blessing To 'Run With' QB Controversy
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Here we go again. Another Eagles season, another quarterback controversy.
While the Eagles are 6-2 and the new leaders a top the NFC East, quarterback Nick Foles suffered a clavicle injury in the first quarter of Sunday's game, that will cause him to miss several weeks. Backup Mark Sanchez lead the Eagles to a 31-21 over the Texans, and here we are.
So what happens if Sanchez continues to impress while Foles is out? Could Foles lose his job?
"I don't deal in hypotheticals," Eagles head coach Chip Kelly told the 94WIP Morning Show during his Monday morning call-in. "I mean you guys did the same thing last year with Nick. So, I mean, I leave that up to the sports talk radio hosts of the world. It'll be great talk for you, for the next whatever. You guys can run with that all you want. We don't run out staff meetings like you run your morning show."
Listen to Chip Kelly on the 94WIP Morning Show:
Sanchez played three quarters, completing 15 of 22 passes for 202 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. Kelly's offense didn't skip a beat with Sanchez in the game, who hit Jeremy Maclin deep down the field on his first snap.
"I've said since day one you need to have two quarterbacks in this league just because of the nature of what a physical game it is and you know, I think he proved that he's a starting quarterback in the National Football League," Kelly explained. "It's not like we took it easy on him. The first play he threw was a fifty yard bomb."
"I mean, they're both starters in the NFL," Kelly said of Foles and Sanchez. "That's how we felt when we got Mark. I know what happened in New York, but I also know that he took them to two AFC Championship games. He's got a bunch of starts in his career. He's a proven, experienced player. He was a high draft pick in this league. He's got a tremendous skill set to play quarterback, so we were excited and he was guy, right from the beginning, that we had targeted."
The Eagles accumulated 190 yards on the ground against J.J. Watt and that tough Texans front, highlighted by a four-play---all runs---70-yard drive resulting in a Chris Polk touchdown.
"Our players had come up and told me that they though, that we were wearing them down," Kelly admitted. "And you could kind of sense that and feel that. They have an outstanding d-line [defensive line], probably the best d-line that we've faced so far, but and you watch them in the first quarter---and I said it yesterday---they were coming over the walls. They were teeing off and flying. And I think, the results of---we ran 79 plays in the game, so I think there's a kind of an accumulative affect to what we do in terms of tempo and wearing people down and I think it showed in that drive."
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