Chip Kelly ‘Embarrassed’ About Cowboys Loss

Chip Kelly spoke to the media this afternoon a day after the Eagles’ 20-10 loss to the Cowboys. Here are some highlights from the conversation, including why he was embarrassed and what they need to change going forward.

• Kelly was candid when asked about his feelings on yesterday’s loss.

“I don’t know how the players feel, but I was embarrassed. That’s not the way we’re supposed to play football and that’s not what we’re all about.”

• The offense recorded just 226 total yards, including only seven rushing yards. The head coach said his team simply needs to get back to the basics.

“A lot of it comes down to fundamentals. It’s still a fundamental football game. We didn’t catch the ball very well last night and at times we didn’t pull very well. It wasn’t one specific person or one specific scheme, but a lot of that just comes down to fundamentals [and] I think maybe overthinking things a little bit too much.”

• One criticism the Eagles have faced is that their running game has become predictable, but Kelly refuted that and said his team’s tendencies weren’t obvious.

“We ran sweep from running back on one side of the quarterback; we ran sweep from running back on the same side as the quarterback. We ran sweep with motion; there were three different ways we were running it but we still didn’t block them up front. I don’t think how we were handing it off or the formation we were running it out of—they were all varied. The biggest thing is we didn’t stop penetration all night long, especially in the run game.”

• Because of the horrid rush attack, some have suggested the Eagles don’t have the right personnel on the offensive line. Although the head coach said no offensive player graded out well, he said no personnel changes are in the works.

“I feel like it can be fixed. We’ve had a couple of games since we’ve been here where we haven’t run the ball well but we’ve rectified that. We didn’t run the ball well against San Francisco a year ago. That’s a game that kind of stood out that we didn’t do a very good job running the football in that game, but we straightened things out as we went along.”

• Kelly said he deserved some of the blame for the Eagles’ inept offense.

“We’re not putting together a plan that’s good enough for us to execute offensively because we’re not executing it. That kind of falls on the coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball.”

• Although the focus was on the offense, the head coach also touched on Byron Maxwell’s comments about fatigue being a factor when the cornerback gave up a touchdown.

“I think it was a factor. They were on the field for 85 snaps. That was a byproduct of us not moving the ball offensively. I’m not a time of possession guy, but I am a snap guy. You look at the Atlanta game, it was 68-70; that’s an even football game. But this one was an 85-60 game, and that can’t happen. That’s where our offense has to be able to help our defense out. We need to continue drives and we can’t go three-and-out.”

• Kelly also mentioned that he hadn’t heard anything about the injury status of Kiko Alonso and Mychal Kendricks.