Camp Kelly

Posted: July 16th, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 31 Comments »

Chip Kelly talked about the upcoming Training Camp when he met with the media a while back. The details got released last week. Here are some things that stood out.

On whether or not he needs to “mark his turf” in his first camp: “I’m not that deep. I don’t ever think that way. I don’t think of signature moments and those things. We’re just trying to give our team a chance to envision what they have to do. I get up every day, and we have a vision of what this thing’s supposed to look like, and we keep working towards that vision. I think sometimes if that’s the way you think, then you may be a little full of yourself, to be honest with you. Maybe if you had a bunch of guys with you that were bucking the system, you would say ‘This isn’t the way it’s going to be.’

“But again, these guys have been fantastic since day one, so there hasn’t been a time where I’ve had to say ‘Hey, here’s why.’ I think these guys, they want to win. That’s the one thing that was extremely evident from the first conversation I had when I got here in January, to every single day when these guys are here. They want to win, they want to prepare and that’s the fun part of this job. I didn’t know what it was going to be like, but that part has just blown me away as far as how receptive these players have been, but the bottom line is that’s what they get judged at. We’re all going to be judged the same way, and that’s did you win or did you lose, so it’s a lot easier when we’re all going in the same direction, as opposed to fighting it.“

Ike Reese said on Twitter that Andy Reid’s first TC was the hardest of his NFL career”by far“. Reid was new to being a head coach and new to the Eagles. He probably felt the need to set the right tone.

I think Kelly is different. He brings such a strong reputation from Oregon that players are going to listen to him. And he ran such a different set of OTAs and minicamps that I think players understand the Reid era is over and it is Kelly Time (sadly, not as awesome as Hammer Time). There is no need to do anything special. Kelly is natually different, for lack of a better phrase.

On mixing up the hitting during practices: “You have to. There are certain amounts of work you have to get done, but you can’t go full-go every single day. You still have to be cognizant of that fact that you have to prepare for a season and prepare for games. That’s the big catch-22 for all coaches is how much work do you need to get done, but also you don’t want to injure any of your own players in practice. That’s kind of a fine line and it’s the toughest one I think coaches have to handle. How physical can your practices be? The game’s certainly going to be physical, but you’ve always sort of got your fingers crossed that you’re not going to get anybody hurt in practice.”

Kelly’s answer got a few people talking. It sure sounds like his camp won’t be nearly as physical as Reid’s. We have no idea if that is a good or bad thing. Many NFL teams dialed back the contact in camps in recent years. The main thinking was, as Kelly touched on, to avoid getting your players hit too much.

You must go live in practice to get players in the full flow of football. Also, it helps to evaluate players. You can’t tell much about interior linemen (O or D) without hitting. Sure, Jason Kelce has a magnificent beard, Evan Mathis is a sexy beast and Isaac Sopoaga makes a mean spinach dip, but you don’t know if they can play until you see them violently punish each other on the practice field, each man hoping to destroy the soul…the very will to live…of the man across from him. Until the play is over 2.7 seconds later. That’s football.

Kelly has thoughts on several other subjects. I think it is interesting that practices will take place at 12:30. He’s trying to get players body clocks set for 1pm kickoffs. This is interesting. We don’t know if it will work or not. The idea is based in logic, but you never can tell if something like that will make a difference.

I’m going to miss Lehigh, but I totally get Kelly’s thinking behind having camp in Philly. As I’ve stated before, I’m all for anything that will help the team win. As long as Kelly delivers 5 Super Bowls in the next 8 years, he can do whatever he wants.

I’m all about being fair and reasonable.

Tick tock, Chipper.

* * * * *

Rookies report next week. Can’t wait.

* * * * *

That hack Jimmy Bama did a QB write-up as Part One of his Training Camp Preview. Watch the video clip he links to at the beginning. Jamie Dukes is such a jackass that it is truly astounding. It’s like combining Beethoven, Einstein, Picasso and Megan Fox’s greatness and turning it into an evil super power. Clearly facts are not his Kryptonite. We’ll have to find out what is.

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31 Comments on “Camp Kelly”

  1. 1 micksick said at 12:26 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    “Evan Mathis is a sexy beast” pause

  2. 2 TommyLawlor said at 12:32 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    You think that compliment wasn’t strong enough?

  3. 3 micksick said at 12:59 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    you forgot to say “no homo” unless you didnt forget.. lol

  4. 4 Guest said at 1:11 AM on July 16th, 2013:

  5. 5 Guest said at 1:13 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    …..

  6. 6 theycallmerob said at 1:14 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    ….

  7. 7 TommyLawlor said at 2:07 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    I will never say “no homo”. Ridiculously stupid phrase. i don’t see the humor in the phrase and I don’t like promoting stupidity.

    People who read my material know what’s a joke and what isn’t.

    And if they don’t…I couldn’t care less what they think anyway.

  8. 8 micksick said at 5:53 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    i know, i was joking. No need for soapboxes. And you just said no homo.

  9. 9 Sb2bowl said at 9:47 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    I wasn’t going to “up” your comment until the last part; that’s funny.

  10. 10 micksick said at 10:05 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    lol

  11. 11 TommyLawlor said at 11:25 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Jokes like that aren’t funny. If a gay person happens to read this site, they likely don’t want to read something like that. They don’t know how you intended it to be taken.

    My joke with Mathis was making fun of his looks. Had nothing to do with sexuality.

    Sorry if you don’t like me on the soapbox, but you have to be careful with what is said in a Comments section. Things can get taken the wrong way and lead to some annoying situations. Trust me, I get emails from readers complaining about all sorts of things that don’t get brought up in here. Not everyone is comfortable publicly confronting others that bother or offend them.

  12. 12 Tyler said at 1:36 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    My response to “no homo” is always something like: “You’re not part of the homo genus?”

  13. 13 micksick said at 10:04 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    Like this annoying situation. Like making fun of one looks is any better. But if gay person is gay they are homosexual… i have nothing against anyone.. theres no difference between “no homo” and “im not gay”, in fact that is what it means, is it wrong to inform people who might get the wrong impression that you are not gay??/ Me thinks not.. so Tommy chill out homie and i wasnt talking about mathis sexuality i was inferring about yours LOL but whatever….

  14. 14 micksick said at 12:30 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Jamie Dukes is def horrible cant stand that guy, how do people like that get a job? At least warren sapp has an excuse, and that excuse is he is warren sapp LOL..

    anyway cant wait for TC!!!!

  15. 15 GEagle said at 7:31 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    How do people like that get a job??? The million dollar question

  16. 16 the guy said at 1:42 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Every year we would read about how physical Andy Reid’s practices were, but I don’t recall his teams being especially physical in games. Individual players (like Dawk) were, but not the team as whole.

    Am I alone in this? Was my memory tainted by the last few years? Was it something that changed over time?

  17. 17 TommyLawlor said at 2:10 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    I wouldn’t say the Eagles were finesse under Reid, but they sure weren’t the Steelers or Ravens. It will be interesting to see how the team does with a less physical camp. We can check out the performance vs some trends from the Reid era.

  18. 18 GEagle said at 7:33 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Would be interesting to chart camp injuries under Reid, and how they compare with the number of injuries in cHips camp

  19. 19 Sb2bowl said at 9:52 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    The early to mid 2000s teams were pretty stout; not on the level like the Ravens or Steelers, but they held their own.

    I really do think the issue with the lack of physicality on defense wasn’t because of “soft” players (though undersized)- it was because of hesitancy and lack of trust in the calls and scheme.

    No trust or questions about the calls makes a defense slow to move and attack. Trotter knew what he had to do for JJ, and that was to make the centers’ life a living hell for 3 hours on Sunday. Man, I miss having a mean middle linebacker!

    As a side note, I named my black lab Trotter. It just seemed appropriate. My uncle named his (German bloodlines) Rottweiler “Dawk”

  20. 20 austinfan said at 7:40 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Just because Kelly wants to moderate hitting, doesn’t mean his camp won’t be as tough as AR’s first camp. With Kelly having practice in the heat of the day, with no breaks for “instruction,” and drills designed to maximize the number of reps by players (i.e. no standing around and preserving stamina), conditioning will be a key factor – and I think that’s why Kelly isn’t worried about providing a Hegamin moment – because when some players start puking on the field or have to take themselves out and a few days later hit the waiver wire, the point will be made without histrionics.

    Kelly isn’t a “my way or the highway” traditional NFL coach, he’s from the new school, “here’s what we’re gonna do,” and just as important, “here’s why we’re doing it this way.” Telling players why he wants them to do things his way, and explaining the purpose promotes buy in, and when a coach is reasonable, failure to buy in alienates a player from his teammates and makes it easier to dump said player. If the coach has a good reason for executing a play a certain way, and someone like Vick wants to free lance, the other players will be less tolerant of his refusal to accept coaching.

  21. 21 GEagle said at 9:05 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Good stuff. Totally agree. I expect a much less physical camp, but I still expect it to be a grueling camp.
    ..
    Practicing at this pace at 12:30 in the afternoon is no joke. Philly Heat will test your fortitude every single day..

    I have heard arguments suggesting that the extreme Physical Nature of a Reid camp had a lot to do with us always getting off to a slow start early in the season. Almost every year we stumbled out the gate, had a rough first month, but showed fortitude and went on a run in November and December…I wonder how much the physically of camp had to do with those slow starts?

  22. 22 TommyLawlor said at 11:26 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    The camp won’t be as physical, but that clearly doesn’t mean it will be easy. Kelly does push players in other ways.

  23. 23 OregonDucker said at 2:05 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    One of the “other ways”, will be mental. Too many mistakes will get you cut before PS.

  24. 24 Daniel Norman Richwine said at 8:12 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    So you don’t see Chip Kelly going off on the players and riding off the field on his motorcycle parked at the 50 yard line?

  25. 25 TommyLawlor said at 11:18 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    That would signal the beginning of his demise.

  26. 26 Adam said at 8:53 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    Hey Tommy, wondering what your thoughts are on whether or not you’re going to see a guys playing their way up the depth chart in training camp, more like a college football team. With Andy, you basically knew who your starters were going to be, it was just a matter of who made the team for depth. But with Kelly preaching open competition, I’m interested in seeing if a guy who has a good few days of practices on the 3rd team, could play his way on to the 2nd, 1st etc and unseat some vets.

  27. 27 GEagle said at 8:57 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    I expect preseason will carry the most weight. I think we will see less hitting then we expect in camp, and then turn it up in the preseason..So this year guys won’t be able to coast thru the preseason just going through the motions the way Meco(Can’t believe some people we calling him a bust lol) did last year…Guys like Vick, who we sit in the preseason to protect from injury, will be fighting for their lives this year.
    ..
    What I’m curious to see is the balance between Evaluating our players to decide on our starters, while also not revealing our schemes to the rest of the world..very curious to see how that’s going to work..
    ,,,
    Also want to keep track of the plays we run in the preseason, and see how they compare to what we run during the season

  28. 28 eagleyankfan said at 8:57 AM on July 16th, 2013:

    first order of business — sign that tackle. If not .. he’s in for a long season and will be next years OTA’s talk about how he’ll respond after a year on the bench.

  29. 29 ACViking said at 2:15 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    Re: Reid’s first 5 games of the season from 2000-10

    In his first year as HC, Reid opened 1-4. After that . . .

    2000: 3-2
    2001: 3-2
    2002: 3-2
    2003: 2-3
    2004: 5-0
    2005: 3-2
    2006: 4-1
    2007: 2-3
    2008: 2-3
    2009: 3-2
    2010: 3-2

    No sense in discussing 2011 or 2012.

  30. 30 TommyLawlor said at 2:21 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    Reid wasn’t fast out of the gate, but boy could he close. Even in 2011.

    No sense in discussing 2012. 🙂

  31. 31 Ben Hert said at 2:32 PM on July 16th, 2013:

    T, you made a comment yesterday regarding Shurmur and Lazor helping Kelly incorporate some elements from the WCO into his offense. I’ve always been curious, what aspects of that do you think will be added in? Is it more of a zombification of the the two types of offenses? Is it specific route trees, plays, formations, or simply just the mindset of getting those short underneath passes to stretch the field horizontally. I’m curious to see how you, or anything else here, sees CK incorporating the principles Shurmur and Lazor can provide, into his style of offense.