Chip Kelly Has His Own Replay Man
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Chip Kelly looks for every edge he can get, and that means sometimes getting more eyes on more things. So on Friday, Kelly acknowledged that the Eagles had hired former ACC senior replay official Frank Kosman to help him make replay calls.
"I just want to get better at every aspect," Kelly said. "I analyze everything after the season and how do we improve on what we did the year before, and just thought that was the right way to go."
Kelly also corrected the misconception that in the past offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur used to make the replay calls.
"Pat wasn't the guy," Kelly said. "I think that's a misconception. Pat talked to me because he's on the headset with me. But Pat wasn't the guy making the decision. If we were on offense, Pat's telling me the down and distance our defensive coaches were looking at trying to help us out on the defensive side. If it was a defensive call, then Pat would help us out or whoever was in the box, and those guys would talk about it.
"Pat's still the guy talking to me on the headset. So when he consults, should we challenge, shouldn't we challenge? I think it's a misconception was because Pat's the one talking to me. But Pat doesn't make all those decisions. He's relaying the information that's been accumulated in the box."
The other misconception Kelly made sure to point out is the Eagles don't get the same feed all the time that the fans viewing on TV get.
"So when you get, hey, you should have challenged that because on TV they got that," Kelly said. "We're governed by the feed that we get in the box. There have been some games I've asked should we challenge, and the guys in the box say we haven't seen a replay yet. And it always seems like it happens when we're on the road. I don't know how that happens. But it's interesting that we never get an opportunity sometimes. But it's happened in two cities [last] year when I wanted to challenge it, but we didn't get a replay. So it's tough for those guys to tell me. And we're not going to challenge it because it is taking a timeout, if they haven't seen it. We're not going to guess on what we saw. And the replay is huge, but you have to be able to see the replay. I know in two specific incidences we didn't get any replays in the booth."
Asked if he could bring a portable TV to the coaching booth, Kelly said, "I wish we could. Maybe someone should have their phone on and they can text them from home. But there are a lot of times after the game, why didn't you challenge it? Well, you talk to the guys in booth, that's not what they saw. That's not the feed they were given all the time, and it's not always the same as it is on television."
But there are NFL rules, Kelly stated, that prohibit a TV in the coaching booth.
Which begged the question: How strange is it fans watching at home have a better view of the game from a coach on the sideline, or coaches in the booth at the stadium?
"That's why we play eight games at home and eight games on the road because everything evens out, right?" Kelly said. "That's how you look at it. I'm a positive looking guy. Eight times a year we get the best view in the world."
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