What They’re Saying About The Eagles

It’s been quite the few days. We’ve been covering Chip Kelly‘s release around the clock, but it’s always good to get other perspectives. Here’s a sampling of what local and national writers are saying about the Eagles.

Former Birds 24/7 legend Sheil Kapadia weighs in on why the Chip Kelly experiment began with promise, and then failed spectacularly.

“If you weren’t in the room with Amos Alonzo Stagg and Knute Rockne, then you stole it from somebody,” Kelly said often. “We didn’t invent this.”

But the truth is, he did do things differently in Philly:

The Eagles ran a no-huddle program that focused on tempo and efficiency. They hired a former Navy SEALs coordinator to head their sports science department. They focused on nutrition and sleep and physical conditioning.

And while there were plenty of positives — Kelly went 26-21, put together a pair of 10-win seasons and made the playoffs once — the most important pillars of Kelly’s philosophy ultimately failed to yield positive results. And that is why he is no longer the Eagles’ head coach.

Jeffrey Lurie‘s decision to get rid of Chip Kelly after three seasons is a blown opportunity for the franchise, writes MMQB’s Peter King.

I leave you with this: Jeffrey Lurie has been the poster boy for patience in the NFL. He kept an ill-equipped Ray Rhodes after a four-win season, and he kept Andy Reid for 14 years, and Reid never won a Super Bowl. Lurie is a patient man. But he wasn’t patient with Kelly. Lurie knew something. Something happened that was untenable, and Lurie acted. I don’t like it, but I’m not in his shoes.

We’ll see how it works. For those saying the Eagles will be fine with the best coordinator or best young coaching phenom … cool. But remember: Chip Kelly was as imaginative a coach as has come into the NFL in years. We’re seeing a different game now, with lots of deep passing and an emphasis on the strong-armed quarterbacks. Kelly recognized that. He was on the verge of making Sam Bradford realize his potential.

But something happened. A few things, maybe. And as with Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco last year, and [Bill] Belichick with the Jets in 2000, a coach leaves early, with potential gains lost. I count this as one of the truly great missed opportunities in my 32 seasons covering the NFL. This should have worked. And because it didn’t, a storied franchise starts from scratch, and a great college coach might go the Steve Spurrier route. Sad.

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert writes that the Eagles’ head coaching job, normally a highly sought-after position, has lost its luster.

What remains should be a concern to the franchise and its fans. This is a job that every coaching candidate across the country should drool over. Being the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles is one of the best jobs in all of football, professional or college.

Not all of the problems that occurred were Chip Kelly’s fault. The circumstances he leaves behind are unique. As a result, I’m going to guess there will be something less than a stampede for this job, and that’s too bad.

The Eagles have some repairs to do, both internally and in terms of public perception, and failing to mend them will be a detriment to their search. So it goes.

Bryan Arman Graham of The Guardian writes that the Eagles will come to regret their decision to part ways with Chip Kelly.

How many NFL teams have more than 26 wins in their last 47 games? Ten, exactly. Only four in the NFC. Certainly none in Philadelphia’s division.

The Eagles have cut loose a good coach who made some bad personnel choices, most glaringly with the deficiencies at skill positions on this year’s team. Clearly, that falls on Kelly, the de facto general manager. But to think that he didn’t recognize those flaws and that somebody else would be better at solving it is nonsense.

The most popular theory for why Kelly had to go: he’d lost the locker room. Remember a few months ago when the Seahawks were divided and everybody hated quarterback Russell Wilson and the toxic environment would drag the whole team asunder? Now Seattle are bound for the playoffs with a third straight Super Bowl trip within reach.

 

ESPN’s Phil Sheridan writes that Jeffrey Lurie’s decision to fire Chip Kelly is another case of palace intrigue in Philadelphia.

To give Kelly control, Lurie had to remove it from GM Howie Roseman, a veteran in the executive offices. Instead of firing Roseman, though, Lurie gave him a raise and a new title — executive vice-president of football operations. Roseman is now back in the loop for football decisions. He will work with veteran executive Tom Donahoe and the new head coach to make personnel decisions.

That is why Ed Marynowitz, the 30-year-old executive Kelly named his top personnel assistant, was fired along with the coach. From his experience over the years, Roseman knew the protocol: The loser of any such power struggle was only dangerous if he remained on the staff.

That is how it has been done in the past. When Ray Rhodes was head coach and he wanted personnel control, executive Dick Daniels was let go. When Andy Reid won personnel control over Tom Modrak, the Eagles took advantage of a clause in Modrak’s contract that allowed them to dismiss him without having to pay him.

Chip Kelly seized power last offseason, but that exact same power is what cost him his job, writes USA Today’s Lindsay H. Jones.

While the Eagles’ 2015 season was a major disappointment, at 6-9 and out of the playoffs heading into Week 17, it’s hard to believe that Kelly was fired – because that really is what the word “released” means – strictly because of his team’s on-field performance. After all, Kelly coached the Eagles to 10-6 records in each of his two seasons in Philadelphia, making the playoffs in his first season.

No, Kelly is out of the NFL now because of what happened to the Eagles after owner Jeffrey Lurie handed him complete control of the team. He immediately went to work making bold moves to reshape the Eagles’ roster to his liking – moves that were either setting him up to look like a genius if they worked, or setting the Eagles up for disaster if they failed.

The latter happened, and the season was officially lost on Saturday night when the Eagles fell to the Washington Redskins – and DeSean Jackson, a player Kelly didn’t want in Philadelphia.