Before the second play of his first NFL game, Philadelphia's new head coach, Chip Kelly, a man who made his reputation as the architect of college football's most prolific offense — the Oregon Ducks' fast-break, spread-it-out attack — did the unthinkable: He had his team huddle. He followed this with another knee-weakening moment: His quarterback, Michael Vick, lined up under center, an alignment from which the Eagles ran a basic run to the left. For 31 other NFL teams, this would be as ho-hum as it gets. But this is Chip Kelly, he of the fast practices, fast plays, and fast talking. By starting out this way, Kelly, who repeatedly has said he doesn't do anything without a sound reason behind it, was no doubt sending some kind of message to fans, pundits, and opposing coaches waiting anxiously to see what a Chip Kelly offense would look like at the professional level. It was a message that was unmistakable: See, I can adapt to the NFL.
At least that’s what I thought at first. But after studying Philadelphia's game against New England, I came away with almost the exact opposite conclusion: While there were clear differences from what Kelly’s system looked like at Oregon, his Eagles offense looked a lot more like the Ducks offense than I ever anticipated.
Preseason game plans are often described as being "vanilla," and rightly so. The ostensible purpose of the preseason — other than as an opportunity to put more football on TV, which I'm not complaining about — is to evaluate talent as rosters get cut to 53 and players compete for starting spots. Given that preseason football is essentially practice with game uniforms, there is no incentive for a team to reveal its intentions for when the real games begin.
Yet in these vanilla preseason plans often lies some basic truth about a team's identity. In the regular season, the plan will be carefully tailored to the specific strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies of that week's opponent; in the preseason, the plan is stripped to focus only on the most basic, foundational concepts installed in the first few days of camp — the elements the coaches have decided are so essential that a player who cannot master them cannot be on the team.
And so, at the risk of sounding like Vincenzo Coccotti, Michael Vick may have said the Eagles only used about "a third" of their total scheme, but what Philadelphia did was show a lot about how Kelly and his staff will approach bringing his offense to the NFL. More than anything else, Kelly showed that he's not leaving behind what worked for him at Oregon.
Tempo
For years, Kelly's teams have been synonymous with one word: speed. Speed on the field, in practice, and, most famously, in how often they run plays. Known for a blistering, unrelenting pace, Kelly's teams at Oregon were perceived to have simply exhausted opponents, causing missed tackles and blown assignments as defenses cried out for help. This isn’t devoid of truth, but the idea that Kelly's teams always went at warp speed has been overblown, and since he became head coach of the Eagles, the myth that Kelly would go into every game trying to run as many plays as possible has been treated as established fact.
"It will be a weapon for us and a tool in our toolbox," Kelly said of the fast-paced no-huddle after the game, according to the team’s website. Even at Oregon, Kelly's offense had not one but three speeds: red light (slow), yellow light (medium: team gets to the line but quarterback can slow it down and change plays), and green light (superfast: get to the line and run the play). Good defenses will adapt to any pace, but a good no-huddle — whether it’s Kelly's Eagles, Peyton Manning's Broncos, or Tom Brady's Patriots — will vary the speed, using it strategically, waiting to put its foot on the gas pedal precisely when the defense has the wrong personnel stuck on the field.
At least that’s what I thought at first. But after studying Philadelphia's game against New England, I came away with almost the exact opposite conclusion: While there were clear differences from what Kelly’s system looked like at Oregon, his Eagles offense looked a lot more like the Ducks offense than I ever anticipated.Preseason game plans are often described as being "vanilla," and rightly so. The ostensible purpose of the preseason — other than as an opportunity to put more football on TV, which I'm not complaining about — is to evaluate talent as rosters get cut to 53 and players compete for starting spots. Given that preseason football is essentially practice with game uniforms, there is no incentive for a team to reveal its intentions for when the real games begin.
Yet in these vanilla preseason plans often lies some basic truth about a team's identity. In the regular season, the plan will be carefully tailored to the specific strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies of that week's opponent; in the preseason, the plan is stripped to focus only on the most basic, foundational concepts installed in the first few days of camp — the elements the coaches have decided are so essential that a player who cannot master them cannot be on the team.
And so, at the risk of sounding like Vincenzo Coccotti, Michael Vick may have said the Eagles only used about "a third" of their total scheme, but what Philadelphia did was show a lot about how Kelly and his staff will approach bringing his offense to the NFL. More than anything else, Kelly showed that he's not leaving behind what worked for him at Oregon.
Tempo
For years, Kelly's teams have been synonymous with one word: speed. Speed on the field, in practice, and, most famously, in how often they run plays. Known for a blistering, unrelenting pace, Kelly's teams at Oregon were perceived to have simply exhausted opponents, causing missed tackles and blown assignments as defenses cried out for help. This isn’t devoid of truth, but the idea that Kelly's teams always went at warp speed has been overblown, and since he became head coach of the Eagles, the myth that Kelly would go into every game trying to run as many plays as possible has been treated as established fact.
"It will be a weapon for us and a tool in our toolbox," Kelly said of the fast-paced no-huddle after the game, according to the team’s website. Even at Oregon, Kelly's offense had not one but three speeds: red light (slow), yellow light (medium: team gets to the line but quarterback can slow it down and change plays), and green light (superfast: get to the line and run the play). Good defenses will adapt to any pace, but a good no-huddle — whether it’s Kelly's Eagles, Peyton Manning's Broncos, or Tom Brady's Patriots — will vary the speed, using it strategically, waiting to put its foot on the gas pedal precisely when the defense has the wrong personnel stuck on the field.
by Chris Brown, Grantland | Read more:
Image: Drew Hallowell/Philadelphia Eagles/Getty Images
