Eagles Wake-Up Call: Chip Just ‘One Of the Guys’

According to the creepy robotic voice booming out of the oversized speakers, it was time for Period 4.

“Period 4. Period 4,” warned the voice, as if it was counting down to detonation. Time to move — and move swiftly — to the next phase of practice. Chip Kelly and Michael Vick fast-walked side-by-side to the other end of the field. As Kelly gave instructions, Vick leaned in and put his arm around his new coach.

In another sequence, Kelly noticed something that Riley Cooper did that needed correcting. Instead of waiting for Cooper to return to the line of scrimmage, Kelly jogged out to meet him and coached him up on the way back. (The two seemed to enjoy some good banter for the rest of that session.) Later, during a wide receiver drill, Kelly demonstrated what he wanted out of DeSean Jackson by running the route himself. Of course he had to demonstrate it; how could anyone hear over Thunderstruck?

The new era is officially upon us — that was evident from the moment we stepped out onto the field Monday. This was far from an Andy Reid production.

Between the music blaring and the reporters lounging on the previously-forbidden concrete bleachers, it almost felt like the crew was cutting  loose while the supervisor was away. Until you remember that there is a new supervisor, and this is all his idea.

Change has swept through the entire building since Kelly took over for Reid. The atmosphere is different. Granted it’s only May, but there is little tension. There are fewer barriers and the hierarchy has been de-emphasized. That goes for the relationship between coach and players as well, according to Jason Kelce.

“With Andy — especially with me coming in later in his career after he had built up such a reputation in Philly among the players in the locker room — there was an aura around him where you never wanted to be yourself around him. You always had to have this front up,” Kelce told 97.5 The Fanatic Tuesday. “You always had to be, ‘Yes sir.’ You had to be on your P’s and Q’s. He was a hard man to kind of talk to and be loose around.

“It was always an uptight conversation whenever I had one with him. Whereas Chip is a lot more — at least at this point — one of the guys. He’s still the head coach and you still have great respect for him, but he converses with everybody, he strikes up conversations. He’s much more of a loose guy to be around than Andy was, that’s for sure.”

Maybe, but it’s important to remember that Reid’s approach served him well overall. He was the steward during one of the most successful stretches in franchise history. He established order and developed a winning culture doing things his way.

Kelly’s methods are decidedly different. And while in the honeymoon phase, different wins.

There is no telling how his approach will ultimately translate to the NFL. All we know for sure is that this era will be unlike anything we’ve seen over the last 14 years.

WHAT YOU MISSED

LeSean McCoy‘s publicist calls the allegations against the running back “unequivocally false.”

Wide receivers in Kelly’s offense will have option routes. Sheil explains.

Jason Kelce says his knee is “not 100 percent by any means.” 

Felix Jones talks about being an Eagle.

Kapadia provides some depth chart notes.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Jason Cole had a lengthy one-on-one with Michael Vick. There is a lot in there. One thing we learn is that Kelly doesn’t want his players talking Super Bowl. (Safe to say, he doesn’t want to hear the word “dynasty” either.)

Right, and I won’t go into detail about [my goals]  because Coach Kelly told us as a team, “Don’t talk about winning the Super Bowl, just put in the hard work to get there. You talk about if you get there.” So I don’t think about winning the Super Bowl anymore. I just think about working hard as I can and whatever’s in the future is going to come.

Dan Graziano believes Donovan McNabb’s retirement ceremony should be separate from Reid’s return to Philly.

Nice idea, but if it were me I’d do it some other week. I think the Reid return is going to be its own circus, and that the fans’ feelings about Reid are still too raw and negative to mix those up with McNabb’s big day. Reid will someday have his own day in Philadelphia, but I’d keep McNabb’s separate from that particular game this year. Just my $0.02.

COMING UP

The first set of OTAs wrap up.