Eagles Wake-Up Call: Three Kelly Leftovers

Yesterday, we covered what Chip Kelly had to say about Nick Foles and the QB situation, but he discussed a variety of other topics. Here are three things that stood out.

1. Foles had plenty of time to find receivers downfield Sunday. A big reason for that was the play of the Eagles’ offensive line, which had perhaps its best performance of the season.

“I thought they did a really, really good job,” Kelly said. “For most of the day, Nick wasn’t pressured very much, so he had an opportunity to set his feet and get the ball out on time. I thought that group up front played really, really well. I think we were pretty clean for the most part of the day in the pocket, and that always helps. We’ve said all along that pass offense is a combination of everybody. And I think they contributed greatly to that because I think he was clean in most of his throws.”

The guy to watch in the coming weeks is Lane Johnson. I didn’t see him give up any pressures at all vs. the Raiders. The rookie has been a good run blocker, but Johnson’s been inconsistent in pass protection. If he can get that part of his game cleaned up, it will really help the offense in the final seven games.

2. A couple coaches have had health scares recently. Denver’s John Fox had heart surgery, and Houston’s Gary Kubiak collapsed on the sideline before halftime Sunday night.

Kelly was asked about the pressures and rigors of being an NFL head coach.

“I don’t say, ‘Hey, it could happen to anybody’ because I understand what goes on because I do it,” he said. “I also know there’s a lot of people that have stressful jobs. There’s firemen, policemen, doctors. There’s everybody.

“I think whether you’re a football coach or you’re anybody, I think you should take notice of what happened and just make sure that you can be preventive in what goes on. But I don’t think it’s specific just to football coaches in general. I think there’s a lot of people that have stressful jobs out there. And everybody should kind of not think about that, ‘Hey, I got this. I got a job to do, I got to take care of it.’ You have to balance that out and take care of yourself.”

Kelly made headlines in the spring for recommending that his players get eight-to-10 hours of sleep. He said he tries to get six hours a night himself.

“When we got here, everybody on our staff got physical, it’s a yearly thing,” Kelly said. “The organization’s pretty proactive in terms of that aspect of it. But it is something I think everybody should be aware of.”

3. The Eagles expected to have a strong 1-2 punch at running back going into the season. But Bryce Brown had been a disappointment – until last week, that is. Brown had his strongest game of the year against Oakland, rushing seven times for 54 yards.

“I think Bryce did what we’ve expected Bryce to do and I think what Bryce expected of himself,” Kelly said. “Maybe not on the same scale as Nick. But it wasn’t a surprise to anybody, I guess, that’s been around him. I think he did a really good job of squaring his shoulders up, not really trying to create something that wasn’t there. And he’s a big, physical guy. I think when we can get him to run up inside the tackles, which is really his strength is, I thought he did a really nice job.”

LeSean McCoy has 168 carries – second-most in the NFL. The Eagles could really benefit from some more production and explosive plays from Brown in the run game.

WHAT YOU MISSED

Position-by-position game review of the Eagles’ offense.

Kelly says Foles’ performance confirmed what he thought about the QB. But he didn’t name Foles the starter.

Our Eagles-Raiders day-after piece has five thoughts, No-22 breakdowns, the number that matters and more.

Riley Cooper, three months later. T-Mac catches up with Cary Williams and others.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Paul Domowitch of the Daily News has some Eagles-Raiders notes:

The Eagles ran a half-dozen screens against the Raiders and were very successful with them. Riley Cooper gained 42 yards on a bubble screen on the Eagles’ first possession. LeSean McCoy picked up 5 and 13 yards on a pair of screens. Tight end Brent Celek gained 24 yards on a middle screen. And DeSean Jackson picked up eight yards on a bubble screen.

The Eagles play the Packers at Lambeau in five days. Will Green Bay have Aaron Rodgers? The latest from Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

When asked specifically about the injury, coach Mike McCarthy was evasive.

“He has a shoulder injury; we don’t have a diagnosis,” McCarthy said.

Asked if he could say it was a broken collarbone, he said, “I don’t have an exact diagnosis.”

Asked if Rodgers had undergone tests at Lambeau Field, McCarthy said he had. Pressed as to what the results of the test were, he said, “I don’t have anything.”

COMING UP

We’ll hear from Pat Shurmur, Billy Davis and Eagles players down at the NovaCare Complex.

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