Eagles Notes: Chip Kelly Provides Injury Updates

Photo by: Jeff Fusco.

Chip Kelly addressed the media this afternoon after the Eagles’ first win of the season yesterday. Here are some highlights.

— Reports surfaced shortly before the press conference that the Eagles are trying out kickers today because Cody Parkey is injured. Kelly explained that the team doesn’t know the extent of the injury and they’ve brought players in for tryouts the last two weeks on Mondays.

“Cody got hurt pregame a little bit yesterday, so just precautionary measures. He did play in the game for us and kicked well when he was in the game. It’s a new injury in his leg. He kind of adjusted how he was kicking the ball off, [and] didn’t get the kickoffs where we normally get the kickoffs.”

— Kelly confirmed that Kiko Alonso went to Dr. James Andrews for a second opinion on his sprained knee. He added that he doesn’t know if surgery will be required, and he doesn’t know anything about Andrew Gardner’s injury. One player who has returned from injury but didn’t play yesterday was Marcus Smith.

“[Smith] does have a future here. Each game expresses itself differently and how it is. He spent a lot more time in base defense in practice last week than nickel stuff and we were in nickel [in the game]. They kind of abandoned the run from their standpoint. Once we got up 24-0, it turned into a nickel and dime game for us defensively.”

— Ryan Mathews played well yesterday, despite a fumble, but Kelly denied that Mathews is a better fit for the offense than DeMarco Murray. He did explain, however, why Mathews fits well.

“No, DeMarco fits in perfectly with what we’re doing and Ryan fits in perfectly with what we’re doing and so does [Darren Sproles]. I hope if God willing, and the Pope can bless us again, all three of them will be available to us on Sunday against the Redskins.

“Mathews does a nice job with the ball in his hands and can break contact at the line of scrimmage. Sometimes when there’s not a real, huge hole there that anybody can get through—when there’s an arm tackle or something like that—he’s a big, physical runner and obviously runs behinds his pads really well. He did a nice job after contact.”

— Although the run game was better, the Eagles struggled through the air. Zero wide receivers outside of Jordan Matthews caught a pass against the Jets.

“Obviously there was a matchup out there with [Darrelle] Revis and [Antonio] Cromartie at the outside spots, so really part of our game plan was to attack the inside and to really get our backs isolated on linebackers, which I thought we did and I thought we were successful at.”

— The defense forced four turnovers yesterday, and Kelly praised the secondary for their performance.

“I’ve been pleased really with both Walter [Thurmond] and Malcolm [Jenkins]. Malcolm’s versatility to be able to come down and play nickel at times in certain looks or to cover slot receivers has been really good for us; but Walt has that ability also. They’re interchangeable, that’s kind of what we’ve always wanted to get. But I think both those guys are playing really well right now.”