Chip Kelly: 'I Gotta Do A Better Job Play Calling'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Eagles' offense has converted just 13 out of 49 third downs at the quarter-pole of the season. Their 26.5-percent success rate is 31st in the NFL, ahead of only the Kansas City Chiefs (26.1-percent).
"I think a lot of it goes to first and second down, lack of success on first and second down," Chip Kelly told reporters on Wednesday. "I gotta do a better job play calling, put us in better situations so we've got a little bit [more] manageable third down situation in terms of always being in third and long. Percentage wise, you're just not gonna convert as much as you are gonna convert on third and short, and third and medium. So I think it's an effort for us to do a better job on first and second down."
Another glaring problem on the Eagles' offense is their ground-game, which has totaled just 280 yards (29th) on 3.1 yards per attempt (31st).
New Eagles back and reigning NFL rushing champion, DeMarco Murray, has yet to get going. After managing an unfathomable 11 yards on 21 carries in the Eagles' first two games, Murray missed Week 3 with a hamstring injury, before rushing for 36 yards on just eight carries last Sunday in a loss at the Redskins.
While the banged up offensive line has certainly struggled, Murray has combined for less than 50 yards rushing on an underwhelming 29 attempts in three games played.
"When you look at the numbers overall, you also have to remember DeMarco didn't play versus the Jets," Kelly explained. "So I think that's part of it, that there's a game that he missed in there. We need to get all those guys going to be honest with you.
"Again, I think there's not enough data for you to just say that this is better than that, because one of them didn't play in the one game where we had success running the football."
