Chip Kelly Says The Bye Week 'Gets You Out Of Your Rhythm'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Every team in the NFL gets a chance to enjoy a bye week. Chip Kelly would rather not have everyone take a vacation.
Kelly's Eagles returned from their bye on Tuesday as they get set to take on the Cowboys Sunday. While most players around the NFL are happy to get a week off, Kelly would have no complaints if there was no vacation time during the season.
"I'd actually rather keep training to be honest with you," said Kelly. "I think it gets you out of your rhythm."
Kelly would apparently be outvoted by his players on Election Day if it came down to deciding on keeping the bye week. Many of the players had the chance to recover from injuries, while others such as Brandon Graham were happy to get a mental break from the grind of the NFL season.
"That's the hardest part," Graham said. "It's to get your mind to train yourself to do it every day. You wake up the same time every day and be here. When you get an off-day, sometimes you jump up and you get kind of scared because you think you're missing something. That's when you know you've been working a lot. You do need a little break."
Among the injured players who returned to practice were Jason Peters, Kiko Alonso and DeMeco Ryans. Tuesday was a short work day, so the Eagles will know more about their walking wounded as the week progresses. While other players missed games due to injuries, others have been forced to play hurt over the first seven games. Tight End Zach Ertz missed the preseason due to an injury and used the bye week to finally get back to full strength.
"The good news is that I feel 100-percent now," said Ertz. "I feel like where I was in the spring and coming into training camp, so I think that's a very positive sign."
While the players spent much of their time off resting their minds and their bodies, Kelly was dissecting tape from the first seven games of the season. One of the biggest problems Kelly sees is the same problem most of the fans have seen with the receivers.
"Too many drops," Kelly said. "That is the first thing with everybody when we came out of there. We dropped too many balls. I think we were last in the league in drops or first in the league in drops, however you look at it.
There were a lot of things that could have extended drives for us and kept us on the field. We really affected our third-down efficiency in terms of holding onto the football, and we've got to do a better job catching the football."
There are nine games left in the season and despite a 3-4 record, the Eagles are very much alive in the NFC East race. While players such as Malcolm Jenkins were glad to get their time off, they are ready to get back to work and hope the final games of the season will lead to a division crown.
"It was a good time for us to kind of get away and relax our minds," said Jenkins. "Now, we're back to finish this stretch out."
