Mailbag: A Chip In Motion Stays In Motion

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From @heemy224: Chip was mic’d up n showed lots of personality on inside the NFL imo.What is your perceived take on Chip’s personality so far?

Here is the video if you haven’t seen it.

Kelly, as depicted there, is just non-stop. “We’ve gotta go, we gotta go, get these guys going.” That’s his mindset in a nutshell.

His press conferences are held outside in a tent on the edge of the NovaCare practice fields. That’s in the name of efficiency (like everything he does), so he can just bounce right to practice as soon as he utters his last syllable, not a second lost. If the horn (indicating the start of practice) blows while the press conference is still ongoing, he’ll leave mid-sentence and sprint onto the field.

He’s active during the practice sessions. He might throw some passes alongside the quarterbacks or come after the QBs like he was a defender, arms raised. Always moving. I went to school in Rhode Island, so when I call him a classic New Englander, I speak from experience. He’s a little bit of a ball-buster, doesn’t sugar-coat. Jeans and a t-shirt and I’m good, thanks.

Can’t say I know a ton about him personally. He doesn’t mingle much with the media outside of press conference settings. Too much to do.

From @Jonzee72: What are your plans for the bye week? A quick holiday?

Afraid not. One of the drawbacks of naming your site “Birds 24/7.” Whose idea was that, anyway? Oh, right…

I did get to unplug yesterday. Here are some highlights:

— Took a three-hour nap on the couch.

— Went to the park with my dog. (He’s a black lab named “Doug.” Doug the dog.)

— Watched “Ghostbusters” on CMT (the country music channel). There were so many commercials, it pushed the viewing time to three hours. Big commitment for a movie that’s almost 30 years old, but I hung in there.

— Capped the night with a beverage and the Arsenio Hall Show.

Conclusion? Outside of the beverage, I spent the day off exactly the way I would have when I was 10. Great day, in other words.

@RobRidarelli: do you think Chip will implement more power running plays if he decides to go with Foles long term?

Not sure what Kelly will do, but I believe some adjustments need to be made.

A closer look at LeSean McCoy‘s numbers help illustrate the point. Did you realize he was dropped behind the line of scrimmage five times against Washington? In all, six of his 20 carries went for zero or negative yards. He dances at times and that’s part of it, but it really speaks to the fact that the defense is selling out to stop the run. The unblocked man on the read option is often crashing down on the running back, and if Nick Foles gets a six-yard gain from time-to-time as a result, so be it.

There is not a better back in the league right now than McCoy, yet I feel that gets taken for granted sometimes when evaluating the success of this offense. He broke eight tackles on Sunday, per Pro Football Focus, and eluded dozens more.  Where would this running game — heck, this offense — be without McCoy juking his way to daylight? It’s not hard to see that holes are harder to come by without Michael Vick in there to keep the back side of the defense honest. He averaged six yards per carry over the first four games of the season when Vick was healthy. That has dropped to four yards per tote in the seven games since.

McCoy remains the most productive back in the league, but he’s had to work extremely hard of late to keep that train rolling. Imagine if that hamstring injury was as bad as it first looked?

Foles is taking advantage of the one-on-one matchups in the passing game created largely by the defense’s focus on McCoy. If he continues to thrive, the opposition theoretically will have to pull men out of the box, which would open things back up for McCoy. Until then, less read option and more straight ahead running seems to be in order.