Keyshawn Changes His Grade For Chip
Most pundits agree that Chip Kelly did an above-average coaching job in his first year in the pros. Keyshawn Johnson was only willing to give Kelly a ‘C’ when handing out grades earlier this month.
“Because he started off slow. He thought that his offense was going to work to the point of no return. It’s been OK. It hasn’t been this eye-popping… we’re all of a sudden gonna change the way that football is played on the professional level. It hasn’t done that, and I think that was the expectation. I would say that he’s come up short of expectations.”
Jon Marks and Sean Brace talked with Johnson on 97.5 The Fanatic Tuesday to question him on his thinking. Johnson’s stance is that the much-hyped offensive system Kelly brought with him from Oregon proved to be average on this level, and Kelly was forced to alter his approach in order to succeed.
“The offense that Chip Kelly burst onto the scene with was a ‘C’ grade, was it not?” said Johnson.
“The entire preseason he hid whatever this magnificent offense was supposed to be, then they unveiled it against Washington…and everybody was like, ‘Oh, God,’ then all of a sudden, the offense looked worse than the damn Minnesota Vikings.” He added: “The offense that he brought from Oregon does not work in the National Football League. Why is it that so hard for Philadelphia Eagles fans to get? You cannot run that offense — ninety plays or whatever it is a game — and expect to be winning consistently. It doesn’t work.”
Flawed as his argument might be, he was really grading Kelly’s “Oregon offense,” not Kelly. So, what grade would he give the Eagles head coach?
“If you’re giving him a grade you would have to give him a B-plus considering the division was terrible but he did come in there and did what he was supposed to do, which was win the division, and he can build from there,” said Johnson. “Chip Kelly is a great coach, he’s a great coach because he made the adjustments. He wasn’t Steve Spurrier, he wasn’t a guy that said ‘I’m going to do it my way regardless. He wasn’t a Greg Schiano. He changed and said, ‘You know what? What I’m doing doesn’t work. This ain’t working. I might be putting up a lot of points but something ain’t right. I gotta change.’ ”
Johnson managed to throw in a couple “Philly fans booed Santa Claus!” mentions and talked about being neighbors with Justin Bieber. Give it a hate listen.