Kelly: Foles Is QB Beyond This Season (Maybe)


Chip Kelly committed to Nick Foles beyond the 2013 season Monday, then let reporters know that his words meant absolutely nothing.

The Eagles head coach was asked if he expects Foles to be the starting quarterback beyond this season.

“As long as he can stay healthy,” Kelly replied.

That response raised a few eyebrows, seeing as Kelly would typically dance right around such a question. In his short time in Philly, we’ve learned that he won’t tie himself to a QB unless he has to. By the sounds of it, he’s grown weary of the same line of questioning and chose a different approach this time around.

“I’ve been asked the question a thousand times so I will say it: He’s the starting quarterback for the next one-thousand years here,” said Kelly, in full I-don’t-give-a-damn-what-you-write mode. “And if I’m wrong next week then I’m wrong next week.

“I’m on a one-week deal. I don’t think we have to do anything. I don’t think Nick is going to come in tomorrow and say, ‘I don’t want to play anymore because I don’t think you guys want me here six weeks from now.’ The questions we get asked about it long-term, right now is not long-term. Long-term for us is this Sunday against the Detroit Lions, that’s the deal. That’s it.”

To recap: Kelly said that Foles is his QB next season if healthy, possibly because he was bored. And if it works out that Foles is not his man next year and you try to hold him to these words, he could not care less.

Some other highlights from Kelly’s day-after press conference:

— Kelly was asked about the offense sputtering in the fourth quarter while holding a lead: “It’s all the little things, but it’s part of being a real good football team is you have to learn how to finish games. It’s something that we have to continue to work on. There’s gotta be things to work on every single week and that’s something we’ll really address this week.

“I think what happens is everyone in the stadium knows you are going to run the ball, so they’re playing zero coverage. If you do throw and it’s incomplete you stop the clock. Even if you [run] and don’t gain a yard you’re still running 40 seconds off the clock, so there’s kind of a Catch-22 there, but people aren’t playing the defenses that they normally play in the first, second and third quarter.”

— Are they still learning how to run an efficient offense when they get out of the up-tempo?

“No. I mean, we’re always working on it but I think if you look at what we did in the Green Bay game and what we did in the Tampa Bay game, we’re capable of doing it and we have executed it. In two games we were very successful at it, in two games we weren’t good at it.”

— On Foles filling the leadership role on the team:

“I think the leadership aspect of all that stuff is extremely overrated. I think that’s people writing stuff down. I think the biggest thing you need to have is followship. You have to have a bunch of guys that are all going to buy in.

“I think we all have the same vision. And when you have a great team and not a good team, you’ve got a bunch of guys that understand what the mission is. It’s not when the crap hits the fan we look at one guy and say, ‘What do we do now?’ I think they all know what to do, and I think that’s a credit to what this team is, in terms of us moving forward, is get a bunch of guys that understand what we need to do and what we need to get accomplished. ”