Kelly On Offense: We Were Our Own Worst Enemy

Chip Kelly was not happy with the turnovers and penalties Saturday night against the Jaguars, but overall, he didn’t seem too concerned with the performance of the Eagles’ offense.

“We were again our own worst enemy on the offensive side of the ball,” Kelly said. “We turned it over three times. One was on a punt return by Damaris [Johnson] and the one [Bryce Brown fumble] that goes through the end zone. And besides that, the two big penalties where we had huge first downs where we get them called back because we got penalties, whether it was on the 4th-and-1 or on the third down early in the first half. So those are the things that kill drives – the penalties and the turnovers. We need to continue to work on that.”

Other than the fumbles by Johnson and Brown, Michael Vick threw a first-half interception. Kelly said Vick was trying to throw the ball away on the play.

“I thought he did a real good job of keeping plays alive at times, but some other times where you’ve got to cut your losses and get us back to the line of scrimmage and get the next snap,” Kelly said.

Asked if he felt Vick held on to the ball too long, Kelly said: “No, I thought Mike, a couple times, they did a good job in coverage, put a man underneath and ran with receivers. The one thing I don’t think he did, besides the one he tried to throw away, he didn’t force the football. And I think he did a good job of keeping them honest and picking up some real good yardage running after they kind of did a good job early in coverage. And if you do that, then the quarterback can hurt you with his feet. …That’s an encouraging thing that when you have a guy back there that when they do have good coverage on you that you can then beat them on our feet, and that’s what he did.”

Vick went 15-for-23 for 184 yards, a touchdown and an interception, playing into the third quarter. He also ran seven times for 53 yards.

The starting offensive line played together for the first time. Kelly said he thought Jason Peters was “a little bit rusty” but he felt the protection held up for the most part.

“We were OK,” Kelly said. “There were times where we picked it up well, and there were other times we didn’t, so that’s what this deal’s all about. We need to get back and make the corrections we need to do. A couple twists early got to us, and guys gotta be ready early, I think. That’s part of the deal.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles rotated Nate Allen and rookie Earl Wolff at safety with the first team. Kelly said that was Billy Davis’ plan going into the game.

Veteran Kenny Phillips has been dealing with a quad injury. He tried to give it a go during warm-ups, but wasn’t ready and didn’t play.

Follow Sheil Kapadia on Twitter and e-mail him at skapadia@phillymag.com.
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