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Chip Kelly Says Wing Bowl Is Second Only To The Super Bowl


PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Before Chip Kelly arrived in Philadelphia, it seems like he did his homework. He managed mentions of booing Santa Claus and Vince Papale during his first 24 hours in town.

It wasn't the only Philadelphia institution he mentioned.

"I know that the second most important bowl, besides the Super Bowl, which is my goal, is the Wing Bowl," Kelly said in his introductory news conference.  "I am not going to participate, but I understand what this city is all about and I'm just glad that I got an opportunity to be here.

I know about the fan base in Philadelphia, and that excites me. When I was at the University of New Hampshire, I recruited, I had from South Jersey to Harrisburg, and I spent every December, January, and May in this area."

Before he took the job, he spoke to two of the most successful coaches ever to work in Philadelphia, Dick Vermeil and Andy Reid.

"One person that I really want to thank, in terms of advice in this whole thing, was Andy Reid," Kelly said. "In the fact that Andy reached out to me and told me about his experience here, just told me what this organization is all about. There's not a classier guy. When Andy texted me yesterday when I accepted the job, I told him I had really, really, really big shoes to fill, and in typical Andy fashion he said just be yourself and you'll be fine. I want to publicly just thank Andy, because that really, right there, spoke to me about what this organization is all about. I'm excited to be an Eagle, and excited to get started, and we're ready to go."

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