For Kelly, Offense's Fix Is About More Than Vick
By Joseph Santoliquito
Philadelphia, PA (CBS) — Chip Kelly was direct, accountable and right now seems very patient in dealing with the media and something new Kelly very rarely had to deal with at Oregon—losing.
The Eagles turned the ball over five times in losing their second-straight game, dropping a 26-16 decision to the undefeated and once-woeful Kansas City Chiefs Thursday night.
The defense hung in there, while the offense, Kelly's offense, sputtered. Michael Vick struggled, going 13 for 30 for 201 yards, with a touchdown and two first-half interceptions. One was his fault, one wasn't.
But Kelly, his own cell phone creating a brief interruption during the day-after presser, remained somewhat upbeat and in the mindset that this is a process that will take time to correct.
"I think you draw on the positives, and what did you do well and then look at what correctable mistakes occurred in the game and address them," Kelly said. "That's what I talked about in the locker room after the game with our guys. The people that are going to fix this right now were in the locker room last night. That's our coaching staff and our players. We'll get together as a group and get ready to put a gameplan together to play the Broncos."
Kelly was emphatic that the Eagles won't feel sorry for themselves. That won't solve any issues.
"It's about putting your head down and going to work and understanding that mistakes are made, and if you continue to make the same mistakes that's when we really have an issue," Kelly said. "Let's fix what we saw and what went wrong Thursday night and try to build upon it."
Getting DeSean Jackson open remains a priority. Kansas City seemed to have the right scheme against the Eagles. Vick was able to take advantage of the single coverage the Chiefs had, running through gaps up the middle with all the Eagles receivers covered.
The Chargers and Chiefs had almost a two-to-one advantage in time of possession. But what gnaws at Kelly is that both the Chargers and Chiefs outnumbered the Eagles in plays run.
"Time of possession means nothing, it's plays run," Kelly said. "And they're running a lot more plays, and we're not running enough plays. That's what I mean and that's the whole argument that I've always had with the time of possession. Because a team can hold it for 40 minutes, but if they run the same amount of plays, that's a different deal. We're not running enough plays on offense. We turn the ball over too much offensively; we're not executing the way we're supposed to execute. That's what we have to do to keep our defense off the field."
As for Vick, Kelly thought he played OK. Kelly said Vick has played better.
"It's a team game and it's not always on one guy," Kelly said. "We had a couple of balls tipped. We have to be able to stand in the pocket at times. We have to be able to get at the top of our drop and not give up so much pressure. There are times for Mike when the ball has to get out of there a little quicker in certain situations."
Joseph Santoliquito is a contributing sports blogger for CBS Philly.
