Chip Speaks
Posted: June 11th, 2014 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 91 Comments »Before the Eagles held their second practice of the week, Chip Kelly met with the media. He didn’t offer any groundbreaking info, but said a few things of interest.
Kelly got a bit defensive when asked about QBs and snap counts in practice. I think he is trying to protect his players. If he tells the media that someone is the 3rd or 4th QB, it might make the player feel upset about his standing. Kelly wants all the players to compete as if they are potential starters. Clearly some aren’t, but if you can get them to practice like they are, it helps them to play better and makes the whole team better.
The worst thing you can have is a bunch of players who accept where they are and don’t work to move up.
Kelly did also make a key point when he talked about the fact that OTAs are very loose in terms of the depth chart. The coaches will meet after the OTAs are over and make some adjustments when preparing for Training Camp.
Both last year and this year Kelly talked about how things get jumbled due to the speed of practice. You might see Matthew Tucker with the 1’s. Or Damaris Johnson. That doesn’t mean they are climbing the depth chart. That is simply how the rotation worked at that moment. The time to pay attention is when someone consistently lines up with a specific group. Right now Brad Smith is running with the 1’s in the slot. That means something. Jordan Matthews will probably take the job in the next couple of months, but for now the coaches like having Smith on the field with the starters.
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Kelly pointed out that the Eagles wanted Malcolm Jenkins and he was their top target. He didn’t make it clear if this was in all of free agency or just at the Safety position. After doing my tape study, I came to the conclusion that Jenkins was the best fit for the Eagles. That doesn’t mean he was the best player, but he was the best fit.
So far everyone is impressed by Jenkins.
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Kelly praised Mark Sanchez. While that’s expected, you can hear some good points from Kelly. Sanchez is adjusting to a new team and a new scheme. Also, he’s not 100 percent healthy right now. In other words…don’t look at him as a finished product. Save that mindset for August when Sanchez is playing in preseason games and has more time under his belt in this offense.
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One reporter asked Kelly about whether the team was making a mistake by relying on so many veteran defenders to improve simply because they know the system better this year. The reporter asked about how you can expect 30 year-old players to get better.
Kelly responded by talking about individuals. While I thought the reporter asked a valid question, Kelly offered a smart answer. Not all veterans are the same. You must judge them as individuals. Trent Cole is getting up there, but the guy is healthy. He played well down the stretch last year. You would think a veteran would wear down, but Cole got better.
DeMeco Ryans played the most snaps of any defender in the whole league. He never broke down physically. Ryans made some mistakes to be sure, but again…it wasn’t a clear case of a player wearing down and looking substantially different in November than in August.
I really am curious to see how Sports Science works on some players in the near future. Can it really extend some careers?
I don’t think there is any question that Sports Science worked well in 2013. We’ll see how it does long term.
And really the performance of veterans is a bit of a different issue. Kelly expects them to get better because they now know the schemes and what the coaches are looking for. That ties in to health, but not entirely.
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Good Stuff Tommy, I really feel the team will get better as last season was a season meant for our players to adjust on both sides of the ball.
Most of our offense never played in anything remotely close to the way Chip runs his offense.
That also goes for our defense as well.
They had to make a huge change going from 4-3 to 3-4.
There were players that were really clueless, (Chung) and some that adjusted with great success, (Foles).
By seasons end we won the division and almost won a playoff game.
By rights, we had no business even sniffing playoffs as we had some many good reasons not to.
The amazing thing is that enough players adjusted for us to make a run and we came together as a team and accomplished something we shouldn’t have.
I think we have good reason to be optimistic as our arrow is pointing straight upwards and all we need to do is build off what we have already done and I am totally confident we can be even better.
I used to root for Kinne kind of as a joke, but I’m legitimately pulling for him this year to make the team. I just don’t like Barkley at all.
Same but Sanchez instead of barkley
Sanchez can stay cause at least he doesn’t bitch
As an honest question– why not like Barkley? What is it about him that makes you hope Kinne beats him out for a backup spot?
I’d like to hear your opinion, this isn’t an attack on your position or thought process (I’ll save my position for later in the conversation)
Attiitude plus poor play. I could deal with poor play if the attitude was better. Though poor play is annoying given his starting experience. But he really just rubs me the wrong way when he’s got the Mic. That said I hope he’s not doomed to repeat fates of other usc qbs.
Poor play? Two AFC Championships in his first two years in the league. Followed by a playoff appearance, then he got hurt. Seems pretty effective to me.
I shouldn’t even respond but the question was “As an honest question– why not like Barkley?”
But my issues with Sanchez are similar. I don’t think he should get a ton of credit for team successes. You see what happened when they moved to a WCO, though to his credit he didn’t have great weapons. But he was a golden child in NY and blew it. I hope it gets better for him too — like him better than MB.
In fairness to the frat boy, I doubt:
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1) he ever was privy to this level of offensive coaching
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2) ever enjoyed this type of QB friendly offense with a HC who is brilliant at “scheming guys open”
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3) Ever had the firepower around him in New York to really succeed as a passer
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Hopefully we get lucky and Chip can turn him into a quality backup
I think he was commenting on Barkley, not Sanchez.
I think your being a little hard on the beaver. Ooops wrong thread. lol.
But seriously, aren’t you being a little harsh on a kid who is still green?
It’s not like we have had a huge sample of him in the prime of his NFL Career or anything close to that.
I agree that he does seem somewhat annoying to listen to but I am not too concerned about how he interviews.
I would love to see Barkley elevate his game in year 2 and see him beat out Sanchez and GJ.
Otherwise, he would be considered a wasted pick and I am just not ready to write him off just yet.
Let’s hope he can find his old form because he had a pretty good year at USC back in 2011.
He led the PAC 12 in 2011 and 2012 in passing TD’s. In 2011 he threw for 39 TD’s with just 7 INT’s.
I
I always go hard on the beaver.
That said agree w your thoughts, I hope he takes a big leap. I do like what GJ is doing b/c everyone thought he was a joke, but he took himself seriously, worked hard and now hes performing.
I think we haven’t seen the master plan yet, Rome wasn’t build in a day. We got Barkley last year! this year we got Sanchez. The next phase is AQUIRING Matt Leinert and then Chip will take the 3 USC doofus’s and Frankenstein the shit out of them to form one capable backup!!
I’m guessing you are talking about Sanchez……
It’s always more fun to cheer for the underdog. While Barkley isn’t exactly the favorite right now, him being so good for so long gives the impression that he’s been given everything. He hasn’t, but I can see why GJ Kinne lovers would hate that about him.
Screw the underdog loll.. Tired of that role!! I’m trying to cheer for the dominant hammer of god!!
The dominant hammer of third string QB?
Sounds good to me 🙂
Hey Tommy, can I get you to comment on how you think the O`s season is going so far? We just had a horrible game offensively tonight but it was nice seeing Tillman actually show up to pitch for the first time in a while. It sucks when your ace is slumping. Another thing, do you think the Jays can keep up the pace they are winning at? They really came out of no where and shocked me. Feel free to pm me if ya ever wanna talk baseball.
Frustrating year. Hitting gets hot, pitching goes cold. Pitchers dominate, but bats go silent. The team is good, but are they good enough?
Tillman has been incredibly frustrating this whole year. Looks outstanding every few games, but mediocre the rest of the time. Not sure what’s going on.
Wieters needs to be okay.
Shocked at JJ Hardy’s inability to drive the ball.
Wonder if they have any interest in getting JJ back. Sounds like A’s want him gone and will pay big chunk of salary.
Nate McLouth >>> David Lough. I miss Nate. Loved watching him play.
Nate was fun to watch, but I thought Reimold could possibly solidify LF if he stayed healthy. Cruz has been a huge pickup. It feels good to have a competent DH for once. Gausman had a nice game last week. It’d be cool to see him put it all together. As for the glaring whole at second base. We need to find an answer there. I think schoop could be the future there, but that’s a ways off. Man I miss the days of healthy Brian Roberts. As for the revolving door a closer. Yikes, Hunter, Oday, Britton. Oday seems a lil off compared to last year, but it is hard to replicate what he did. Strange how Britton went from starter to closer, he might have a chance to do well. We aren’t the best second half team so we need to catch up to the jays soon.
Re: Sports Science
“I really am curious to see how Sports Science works on some players in the near future. Can it really extend some careers?”
I think we may be getting a bit carried away with the effects of Sports Science. I think what Chip Kelly is doing with the Sports Science stuff is great, but expecting it to extend careers in any significant way, especially only after one year, on guys who have already played the majority of their careers “Sports Science-less,” is a bit extreme. Keep in mind, this is also Chip Kelly’s first time experiencing players decline due to age. As a college coach, you are almost entirely dealing with players improving each year from the Freshman year to their Senior year. Guys are not generally getting slower or losing physical talent. Obviously, the Sports Science stuff is adjusted to the NFL and NFL players, but I just don’t see it as being a magical elixir.
In addition, while Chip Kelly is using the Sports Science stuff to a unique level, let’s not mistake the fact that other teams are oblivious to Sports Science. If it was such a straight forward thing that a coach that is new to the NFL could implement it immediately, other coaches would have already been using a lot of the Sports Science.
“I don’t think there is any question that Sports Science worked well in 2013. We’ll see how it does long term.”
The Eagles were relatively healthy in 2013, but before we immediately assume that Sports Science was the sole reason for that, we need to see it over a few seasons. It is entirely possible that we were simply lucky last season.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the Sports Science stuff that Chip Kelly is doing. I just think expectations of what it will do are a little unrealistic, especially early on. I am sure Chip Kelly will adjust things as he gets a better idea of what works and what doesn’t. But I’m not ready to say our older players are going to start going back in time so easily.
I think the sport science angle is a classic case of an “unknown new thing” that gets people excited. No one knows really anything about it outside of Novacare, we barely had major injuries last season, we have a smart new coach, so the narrative fits.
If we have as much luck with injuries again you really have to talk about it. Two years in a row could still be luck, but it’s not very likely. But no doubt, it was important for us last season. Chip needed to establish a winning culture here and we had 0 depth at some positions.
Think about it: what would have happened if Barwin got injured last year? We would have had either a lot of Cole/Graham on the field for the same time, which means zero coverage abilities from both OLBs and QBs pick you apart, or you let Matthews on the field – which is a terrible idea on so many levels. You could play more nickel, but that would mean more Carmichael on the field. Yikes.
Even if you argue we haven’t improve our starters, you have to be out of your mind if you think we didn’t improve our depth. Jenkins (puts Allen or Wolff on the bench), Carroll, Watkins, Smith, Hart on D, on offense you have 3rd rounder Huff as your #4 WR. Some of those players may not pan out, but some should. That means even if the injury bug bites us more this year, which we should assume due to probability, we are better prepared for it.
Agreed. Theres a lot of confirmation bias floating around the airwaves. Without more evidence, we’re still just looking at correlation.
I think it is fair to raise the question of whether Sports Science can extend careers. Notice I didn’t make a statement that it would. Clearly there are lots of unknowns. And as you point out, this is the first time Kelly’s ideas are hitting guys in their 30s.
That said, some of the stuff comes from Australian sports and some comes from the military. Those aren’t all 21-year old kids.
Maybe Kelly got lucky last year with durability, but I think the SS stuff worked on helping to keep players healthy. Peters, Mathis, Herremans, Cole, Ryans, Barwin and Williams all played all 16 games. Those are veteran players with lots of wear and tear. What are the odds that all of those veterans were on the field for every game for a full season? I think SS played a part.
The long term effects of SS are totally a mystery, but definitely one worth discussing.
I think what has gotten the media`s panties in a bunch is the use of the word science when discussing the game of football. If Kelly had stated from the beginning that he has specific ideas for conditioning, a physical regime or football strength people wouldn`t be so doubtful.
Googled science and got regime, then went to physical regime and got football strength…and here a few lines from that article. Wikipedia…maybe this will shed some light and give a better idea of this “magic formula“
Football strength is a training regime, considered the most complex physical quality to be developed by an athlete.[1] The training regime, exercises used, how the exercises are performed, and the types of equipment all play important roles in achieving desired results.
If strength exercises are not used effectively, there will be a disparity between the functional levels of the skeletal muscle system and the capabilities of the neuromuscular system.[3] Specialized strength work produces a strong training effect on the intramuscular system.
Specialized exercises are used to develop the physical and psychological qualities that apply directly to football
Developing physical abilities specific to running, cutting, and jumping technique will have profound results in football-related strength and game performance….All the advantages of specialized strength work can be realized only with its effective organization
Specialized strength exercises are designed and selected so that their movements and actions most closely match those required for the execution of the sport’s specific skills. They also promote psychological traits such as decisiveness, willpower, perseverance and confidence to achieve specific goals. They require similar concentration and psychological qualities as those required for competition on the football field. For example, execution of certain specialized exercises requires concentration to develop the neuromuscularpathways needed. Any strength exercise that duplicates one aspect of a skill requires ultimate concentration and perseverance to repeat exactly the same movement time after time to develop the necessary muscle feel and activate the neuromuscular pathways. For the specialized exercises to have maximum positive transfer, the athlete must be decisive in his or her movements and actions to develop the confidence to repeat the action during play.
Given the speed at which “we” play all the old guys said they’d never felt better as the season went on. To me that speaks volumes because that weardown was something that worried me since we play a lot of snaps on both sides of the ball.
Add in the fact that our defenders like Meco were on the field for an insane number of snaps…
…One year intel isn’t enough of a sample size to know whether it’s the sports science or dumb luck… But I think it’s interesting to see the effects of it in the next couple of years
Tommy, Let me chime in as a full-blown believer in Sports Science. There is so much info available to us now on weightlifting, aerobics, diet, supplementation, rest and recovery that anyone who hasn’t studied it extensively in the last 5 years is well out of date in their knowledge. Forget all the Old Wives Tales about what works and doesn’t. This is down to a science now. I’ll be 73 soon but trust me, I could kick ass on a bunch of kids half my age in the gym or on the field. I have studied hours a day for some 20 years reorganizing and refining the approach I take in my training. My goal is staying strong and fit to 100, and I wouldn’t bet against me if one were wise. This week I have done 100 (10 X 10) bodyweight Pullups in 10 mins, 120 (10 X 12) leg presses with 400 lbs in 10 mins and 100 Rack Deads (10 X 10) at 220 lbs in 15 mins. My routine includes extensive supplementation with protein shakes and vitamins. Careful, dedicated planning and training allow me to function as if decades younger than my calendar age. If I can do it, there is no reason in Hell that dedicated Pro athletes with the best of trainers, facilities and support can’t cut a couple years off their own competitive calendars. Chip is just a giant step ahead of everybody else in his beliefs and commitment.
ask Jerry Sandusky how he feels about it.
My point isn’t that SS didn’t play a part. My question is how much of a part did it play vs. how much of it was luck. Had we gotten unlucky last season with injuries, that also would not have been “proof” that there was anything wrong with SS. Or if one or two of those guys went down, it wouldn’t mean that SS was not having any kind of affect. Right now, I just think it is WAY to early to know the extent of the effect SS is having, but due to the anecdotal evidence that we had a relatively injury-free season, people are drawing up conclusions that may far exceed the reality of the effects.
When you compare how Chip is using Sport Science compared to other teams you need to think about how close every player is in the NFL.
NFL players are the best athletes that have top skill levels.
Every little advantage counts – when you consistently have all the little advantages.
How often do close games come down to 1 or 2 critical plays?
The sports science just 1 facet of how Chip is pushing to find the 100’s of 0.1% improvements that will allow his team to make those critical plays.
I actually fully agree with you. I think the added benefit of SS is valuable and I hoped to make that clear (but based on some of the responses, I must not have). I just think some people are viewing SS to have an added benefit of 50% rather than 1%. That’s the point I was trying to make. Also, I think that benefit is likely to be most noticeable long term, as players gain those improvements over multiple years, rather than only after a single season. So for players who were approaching the end of their careers already, I don’t know that SS is likely to make significant improvements on their longevity in the league. On the other hand, for younger guys who will gain those improvements every season over their career, that’s what would interest me in terms of the potential for SS to extend careers.
Yeah, I haven’t really seen anyone in Novacare claim that sport’s science will extend careers like a fountain of youth, so I don’t know where people picked that up and ran with it (I know Tommy didn’t, but you see a ton of people jumping to that conclusion).
The focus of sport’s science is attaining maximum performance on game day and healing in between. We’ll never get the data to be able to confirm the effects of sports science with the Eagles. The only thing we have access to concerning the Eagles is earnest opinions from the locker room who have obviously bought in.
A lot of it is simply uncommonly heavy emphasis on commonly known things to help heal like sleep and things to help perform like hydration. I will say this, Sports Science is only 1 year old on the Eagles, but it’s universal in every major sport not centralized in America. I think generally the data is extensive enough to prove it’s worth world wide. It addresses such a wide range of issues, some it has very pronounced and proven results in, some not so much. Applying it to American football is something we’re on the cutting edge of, which means not all of what they do will be proven, but much of it is.
But I agree, generally there is nothing conclusive about sport’s sciences effects on injuries, big or small, or longevity, but in general I buy into the concept of sports science. After all, finding out what works and what doesn’t is part of what sports science is all about.
I’m not sure anypne really knows what sports science will develop into and how it can impact the careers of athletes. The science is still in its early stages.
My thoughts about it are it’s just basic nutrition (eating less fried chicken and more healthy sources of protein), staying properly hydrated, regimented workout/rest cycles, and good all around common sense when it comes to eating and training. We all look at the fruit slushies and have a little chuckle, but it’s protein, vitamins, minerals, and “good” carbs. Healthy eating, smart training, and good down time helps conditioning, stamina, and healing. Saving the partying for the off-season probably helps a lot too!
Sports Science is simply a buzzword that somebody slapped on it. That is Chip Kelly’s “gimmick”!
You really don’t know what a healthy human is until you read a book like Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price. This guy travelled the world and photographically documented the people he had heard accounts of that said these people were in another universe of physical excellence. They were all primitives and ate natural diets. Basically, in every tribe he documented, the men were all built like modern professional atheletes (every single one) and the women weren’t too bad either. The men were capable of physical feats our professional athletes couldn’t even do, like carrying 100lbs in each arm and another 100lbs in their teeth for three miles without rest. Our modern atheletes can barely press 50lbs above their head and walk fifty yards. Listen to Gray Cook’s stories about his work in the NFL for more on that.
So I look at those peoples’ lifestyles and diets and compare it to how our modern athletes live. You know, most of our athletes are eating substandard food at restaurants, cheesesteaks, god forbid even junk food. They’re drinking gatorade (industrial sugar water) during games, so it’s not so surprising their bodies fail in 90 degrees like Lebron, one of the most elite athletes in the world. A primitive would have looked at that situation and been stunned. A man hunting with a spear on foot in the African savannah works every day in 100 degrees with no difficulty, and he’s sprinting all day, not jogging and not just playing some game for 3 hours.
Basically, there’s an absolutely massive amount of improvement to be made in every athelete’s lifestyle choices, as far as maximising his physical ability and endurance goes.
Hunting is more waiting than running but think you have a point. However, those guys exercise all day everyday for their whole life to survive so I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. They can carry huge amounts of weight for miles uphill both ways because they’ve been doing it every day their whole lives.
But what did our athletes do all day as kids?
Play football 2-4 hours a day seasonally.
To add to LBJ, he plays really physically and at 260 he’s much bigger than the dudes you’d see “in nature”. That body on body physicality greatly increases physical exertion/it’s like running and wrestling for 2hours in 90 degree weather. He’s not a 120lb kenyan running marathons (those guys are incredible too but it’s different).
Well, I’m only going to speak to the groups I’ve heard accounts of. Most didn’t grow to 6’9, sure, but a few had men 6’6 to 7’0. Their physical performance was about the same as the smaller people.
Man, I’m not an athlete and all I did was sports. 4 hours was more like the floor. Kids might not be able to do football for longer than that, but why not play some basketball after practice? I’m talking about kids 13 and under, the ones who don’t run out of energy, and I’m talking a couple decades ago and further back. Video games have thrown a wrench in the whole thing recently for sure. And you can see the physical condition of our nation as a whole deteriorating further in the last twenty years or so, so I’m definitely not going to deny physical activity level is an important factor.
But you take someone like Lebron James, he may only practice for 2-4 hours but he’s working out in some of the rest of the time in other ways. Conditioning jogs, lifting weights, etc. If you ask me, the quality of his workout is inferior for reasons I can’t get into without writing a thesis, but as far as quantity he’s right there with the primitives I’m talking about.
you could be right. i’d read a these – i’m always trying to upgrade my workout game.
If you can eat the way Weston Price talked about in that book I mentioned and in the way all of the people who came after him expanded on talked about, you’re going to take exercising to the next level without changing a single thing about your workout. If you can then eat the foods that Weston Price recommended but prepared in the way Aajonus Vonderplanitz says to prepare them, you’ve just taken it to yet another level and probably entered the realm of what would be called by modern people superhuman. Aajonus is not for everybody, but if you can get over the initial shock and actually try it you will be amazed at what happens. I’ve made the diet changes and stuck with them for a less than a year, and yesterday I basically went on a mountain climbing expedition with my dog. Not climbing like cliffs, but steep enough that I was using all four limbs. We clocked in over three hours and at no point did I feel the slightest fatigue or begin panting. The reason I had to stop was because I was going barefoot off trail and by 2 and a half hours my feet were getting wrecked by the tough terrain.
As far as changes to your workout, anything by Gray Cook is golden. His work isn’t about how to workout though so much as what the foundation for fitness has to be. He sets a flexibility baseline you have to achieve and emphasises that you need to focus on your stabilising muscles and not on the movers that propel you forward when you run or make the heavy things move. He also discusses the importance of practicing calm, deep breathing no matter how strenuous what you’re doing is. His book Movement is the most comprehensive single work in that area. Beyond that, I say screw curls and other exercises that isolate muscles. Stick to exercises that work as much of the body at once as possible. Deadlifts, squats, bench press, etc. My lifts are not really impressive because I’m still rehabbing my flexibility and stabilisation, which is an absolute must before you really start asking yourself to put on weight. I did powerlifting for years and barely made progress, my situation was so bad. You can put on weight, but you might hurt yourself and you’re gonna run into a ceiling at some point because that’s just what happens when the body does not have a strong movement foundation to build the strength onto. A very comprehensive book for what to do based on your fitness goals after you have the foundation is written by Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John and is called Easy Strength.
Non-blog reading? Good think I have amazon prime — i’ll give it a try.
You mention seasonally…don`t understand why pro athletes don`t stay in shape in their respective offseasons, nor that administations don`t stipulate contractually that players stay in top physical condition all year. Certainly would reduce OTA,preseason injuries.
think pro teams do have some expectations — not sure that it’s the same growing up. But agree — I wonder how much monitoring there is in the offseason. I’d try to get with a guy that’s a gym rat, since i’m not one.
If you are running with a spear all day, you are hunting wrong. A snare is probably much, much more likely. I just came from Zimbabwe, where poaching/hunting with snares is common.
I’ve seen shows on tribes that are still secluded (one on Mumbai comes to mind), and not one of those tribesman looked like a professional athlete.
I don’t doubt there are improvements to be made, but some of your assertions seem a little exaggerated.
Check out the book I mentioned. It’s full of pictures. You can find a pdf if you google it so you don’t even have to pay. They’re a little less swoll but have the same enormous and well developed frames. More important than how they look are the feats of strength and skill they’re capable of that are discussed in the book. Also, compare the size of their nostrils to some football players’ then compare all of those to yours. You will never look at noses the same.
I’m definitely not claiming every primitive tribe of people in the history of earth had a good life or was healthy, though.
Last I checked, this sports science is just about taking caring of your body, and yes, typically the better you take care of your body, the longer your career will last… It’s not uncommon to see 28-30yr old players, smarten up and start to really focus on taking care of their bodies when they get older.. That is directly a result of trying to prolong their careers… Typically you don’t see 23yr olds sleeping in hyperbaric chambers…. This is all about best possible way to take care of our players bodies, from performance, to injury prevention, longevity, and recovery to best perform on game day..
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The better you take care of yourself, the better your chance at prolonging your career…so how can you just automatically rule that out? Trent Coles body went from eating taco Tuesdays to now wearing sleep monitors and all kinds of things to better train his body…so yes, it could help a guy like him or celek in terms of career longevity, compared to the training they were getting around here before Chip…
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We can’t quantify how much it will help, but it will be curious to see the effects these next few years…and the fact that we made an organizational change from when we used to automatically euthanize 30yr old players, it looks like Chip thinks his training can squeeze and extra year or two out of players over 30…..but one years worth of data isn’t enough to really have any idea
I think you are misinterpreting what I wrote (or maybe more accurately, I was not clear enough). I don’t question at all that the SS stuff is beneficial. The question I have is the extent at which it is beneficial and how many people are ready to overvalue the effect it will likely have, especially in the short term.
You bring up Trent Cole and Brent Celek as examples, and those are exactly the types of players I think the effects will be less significant than some seem to want to believe. First of all, I think it is very safe to assume that (good) NFL players try to take care of their bodies, regardless of if we are talking about using SS or simply eating reasonably healthy and working out regularly. Even fringe players generally will work closely with a trainer to make sure they are ready for the season and close to peak physical condition. So what Chip Kelly is doing with the SS stuff is designed to supplement and/or improve on that. But we are not talking about guys who have been eating junk food all offseason, laying on a coach all day and now all of a sudden working out properly and at scientifically determined efficient levels. The SS stuff is designed to improve players, but as DanJ3645 said below, it is to give player that 1% extra, not that 100% extra.
With that in mind, take Brent Celek and Trent Cole for an example. Their entire career, they have worked hard to be good at their positions. They have taken on the challenge of staying in shape and being healthy for several years without the SS stuff. Now, after one single year of adding that additional 1% extra with the SS, people seem to believe it will completely reverse the wear and tear the rest of Celek and Cole’s careers have had on their body? I just don’t think that is likely to be the case at all.
On the other hand, for guys like Lane Johnson, Zach Ertz, and all the younger guys on the team that are starting or close to starting their careers following the SS, that’s where I see the long term benefits potentially being interesting. Having that additional 1% each year to improve the health and condition of their body may indeed have long term affects. We certainly will not know that for sure immediately, but I just find that to be the more likely way we see it benefiting the players. Maybe I’m wrong, but I just think if it truly were that easy, we would have seen a lot of others doing it already.
I’m not sure most people realize what the sports science stuff is about, it isn’t just crazy experiments and new ground breaking techniques to improve players. The main goal is to achieve optimal physical fitness and Kelly is doing this by improving players nutrition and monitoring their sleep patterns to see if they are getting enough. These types of things aren’t ground breaking at all, but they are vital and aren’t something most players do necessarily. And, if you don’t believe having a proper diet can help prevent muscle strains or tears then you are sorely mistaken. Players getting the right nutrients will also heal from injuries faster. We saw it on the field that Chip is gonna maximize players ability and that is what he’s trying to do off the field as well, except this is an ability that every player is able to maximize / enhance with a bit of knowledge. Gone are the days of Reid’s training camp cafeteria’s with unhealthy options and I personally love it!
Somehow, I don’t think fans are running around thinking Chip is some scientific witch doctor Bruha… Simply staying ahead of the curve and implementing all the latest cutting edge methods.. Basically he is shunning the “old boys club way of doing things” and looking towards the latest intel and methods to build the fittest team possible, decrease the odds of injuries, and help bodies recover as much as possible throughout the week to give guys the best chance to perform on Sunday…
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You would actually think that this isn’t a big deal! but it’s amazing how many stale coaches just do things the way they have always been done… No way that a coach using training methods that were used In 2003 is putting his team in a better position than a coach who is committed to keeping up with all the latest advancements….
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To think that Taco Tuesdays exsisted in a pro football cafeteria as little ago as 2012, is crazy… And it shouldn’t have taken some crazy outside the box thinking coach to come along and not just do things the way they have always been done…you are doing a major diservice to your players if you aren’t keeping up with the latest advancements and just sticking to the old tough guy way of doing things
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Our players get the latest and most cutting edge advancements…where as Andy Reid is still training plays the way he learned from Mike Holmgron 20 years ago smh
A bit defensive? Seems more annoyed at the same question being asked over and over.
Sports Science can also potentially be used to assess if a player is physically declining.
The team has significant data around what state a player is in – and therefore what their recovery needs are. I would assume that some of the older players data will show that they need more recovery “stuff” this year than last year.
By monitoring this data the team should be able to predict physical capability drop off. Obviously this is going to be somewhat unquantifiable as to impact, but there is likely to be an accelerating decline over the years.
I’d guess that if Trent, Meco and herremans’ recovery requirements are still within an ‘acceptable’ range then the coaches will trust them to physically perform through out the season.
I remember when Chip first got here and I was trying to find out all I could about him.
I came across this article on USA today and decided to cut a piece out of it as it pertains to this particular chat subject.
“Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly at last has unveiled his
full coaching staff, and it includes one coach with an interesting
title.
Shaun Huls will serve as the Eagles’ “Sports Science
Coordinator” – a job separate from strength and conditioning. Huls,
according to the Eagles, previously was the strength, conditioning and
“combatives” coordinator for Navy Special Warfare.
In other words, Huls joins the Eagles after training Navy SEALs.”
I remember how excited I was to see how our Eagles would play after basically being trained like Seals in some aspects.
IMO I think it’s already paid early dividends and I would be willing to bet our success has a direct correlation.
I thought it could really help us late in games and also deep into our season.
I thought our players seemed to have an extra edge and what really got me believing in Sports Science is when the 3rd quarter would arrive and a lot of the defenses we played were bent over between plays due to exhaustion, all the while our Eagles still were looking fresh.
Call me crazy but I think Sports Science is the bomb.
While I agree. One year sample size could just be dumb luck… NOW IF WE ARE the healthiest team in the league again, it be hard to ignore the sports science effect…
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And btw, even if it’s all bullshit, seems like it could have a placebo effect with guys like Celek, Cole and Demeco swearing by the sports science! recovery techniques… Even
Sport Science isn’t some magical thing that we’re doing and nobody else is. Chip has simply collected what has worked in the past and built his program around that research. That’s it. The only reason that is a radical idea is because football is one of those “We play a tough sport so we do it the hard way because we’re tough!” kind of places.
Broncos S Mike Adams (5’11 / 200) is a FA and is begging for a team. Wonder if we bring him in or at least talk to him. He’s played all 16 had 60 tackles, a pick and 7 PD and knows the offense (most importantly). Problem is he’s my parent’s age.
Don’t think we have room… Built some nice safety depth
Agree with that and he’s probably too old to bring into a new system. However, I’d sign him vet min, un-guaranteed dollars — if he learned the system he’d be a starting quality backup.
Why would you want to lose a young player for a 33yr old who isn’t good enough to start? Who’s spot would he take? maragos is here to develop a dominant ST, Reynolds we won’t want to cut… Wolff Nate and Jenkins will all 3 be used in games… If a Super Bowl contender doesn’t want a 33yr old they are already familiar with as depth, why would we?
I think Chip is being honest about snaps in the OTAs. He’s realistic, the OTAs aren’t about making judgments about players, rather, they’re basically “walk throughs” to get free agents and rookies on board with his schemes before training camp. He wants to balance continuity with getting reps for new comers, so rookies without a clue are on the third team, even if they’re expect to move up in camp, veterans who need snaps are often on the second team.
He moves players around because he wants guys like Tobin to get comfortable at OT as well as OG, Smith at both OLB spots, etc.
Once TC starts in August, Chip doesn’t want to waste his time bringing players up to speed, he wants to practice fast and hard, get the guys ready to play in September, and determine who is worth keeping. Then depth charts start to matter, right now they’re pretty much a media thang.
Coaches can’t judge players until the pads go on, that’s a football basic. Everything you do in the spring is merely preparation for August.
Absolutely… While every day is a chance to make an impression, playes aren’t even competing yet… OTAs is all about getting every player up to speed and in top shape for camp, which is when roster spots and depth chart spots are up for grabs…. Really doubt we use OTAs to make roster decisions…
Hard to ignore the sports science when new veteran players coming from Super Bowl winning franchises like the saints are blown away by our training and recovery methods….
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A major part of the sports science is recovery….it’s not like Chip is a witch doctor, he just chooses to go with the cutting edge methods instead of the old boys club antiquated way of doing things
I think I read that B. Smith(I could be wrong) is running in the slot with the 1’s. I know who they are running with doesn’t matter, according to Chip. However, does that mean Smith is on track to make the final roster? Mac/Coop/81/Huff/B. Smith/Benn? Or is DJ making a push? Should be a great battle for roster spots.
Smith is def making the roster, when you give the guy redzone touches at quart back a month after he got here, probably says you like the kid. I thought Brad was always a lock, especially since he brings it on ST, but word is, he is really playing well and building nice chemistry with FOles this OTA
I definitely wouldn’t read it as Smith is on track to make the roster. A lot can happen between now and final cuts like a young guy emerging and giving you equal performance + youth. I’d just say Smith is a smart veteran with experience running things the way we run them, so he’s running with the ones because he won’t slow them down.
We will keep 5 or 6 receivers. Mac, Coop, Matthews, Huff are all locks. Smith most likely is WR5 due to his ability to line up at all three receiver spots, special teams impact, veteran presence, and experience being a role player. Benn is the front runner for WR6 if he stays healthy, but WR6 isn’t a guaranteed roster spot. Benn has to be good enough to justify having WR6 be on the roster, over RB4, TE4, OLB5, CB6, etc. Benn is in competition against all other position groups for his job, because the Eagles could very well choose to just keep one of the young players on the practice squad to be WR6.
Word is Damaris is playing OK in OTAs, but I doubt he makes this team. Maehl probably won’t make the roster and he is ahead of DJ..
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Benn, Damaris, Maehl… None of these guys are a significantly better WR than Brad, and none bring as much as he does to our ST… I’d actually be pretty surprised if Brad doesn’t make the roster
Wanted to post these quotes yesterday but I figured they were so awesome that Tommy would use them.. Either way, exciting stuff:
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Play of the day yesterday was FOles rolling right and throwing a bomb to Maclin who caught it in stride 40yards down field with Cary in coverage.
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Sanchez on Mathews: “I don’t know that I ever been around a rookie who can work like that. Caught 4 balls in a row in 7 on 7. One of the guys that doesn’t say much, comes in, works hard, asks a ton of questions and always wants to stay and throw extra after practice. Jordan makes it easy because he likes to work. Never complains, always going 100 miles per hour. You almost have to slow him down. Really focused, he has it all. Got all the talent, really strong harnds and he wants it. He wants it real bad. He could be really good for us. We’ll see”
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Wolff on Jordan: “yeah he’s a good WR. You wouldn’t think because of how he runs, he is a long guy, but he is pretty fast, pretty explosive, and catches basically everything you throw at it”
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Nice to see the national media not sound like clueless fools. NFL networks Albert Breer was watching OTAs and says the first thing you notice is “the confidence the offense is playing with so soon in June and the confidence FOles is playing with. Looks in total command of offense, looks very confident and decisive with the ball. Team mates are noticing that he is now working with the idea of taking more chances which is exciting for the team.. I take this as it meaning he is trying to test his limits to see what chances he can get away with, and what’s a bad idea… If he can improve in this area and keep the INTs down, it will take us to the next level…
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Gonna suck when we have to wait 6 weeks between OTAs and camp
“Gonna suck when we have to wait 6 weeks between OTAs and camp” — that’s when the yearly Punter articles come out….
Sean weatherspoon, LB for falcons, done for the season,,,,
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So nervous over injuries this time of year… Let’s get thru camp healthy!!
is that the same Sean Smith that a lot of us wanted to bring in as a FA a year or so ago? or was that someone else with a completely different name?
Same idiot.. I assume they aren’t currently engaged in OTAs if he is getting hammered on a Tuesday night.
Ok…,this is getting out of hand.. How is no one talking about the stadium renovations? They took seats out of the ENDZONE sections so that they can build a friggin pool, with two decks, and you can rent 4 person Cabbannas pool side while you watch the game for and have all you can drink and Eat for like 10grand a game…. Am I being PUNKED? How is this even possible? How do you build a pool and rent cabanas to a December game in freezing philly?
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Hope this is some cruel joke instead of turning the Linc into a bigger corporate hell hole than it already is..l
You mean the Jags?
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11055495/jacksonville-jaguars-poolside-cabanas-stadium
That would make so much more sense lol… Iike Reese was reading all the reports about the stadium renovations, and i assumed he was talking about ours,, you make an ass when you assume rings true lol…
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What’s being added in our stadium renovations?
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Isn’t the jags stadium a piece of crap? Sounds like putting lipstick on a pig to me
I think they’re adding seats, mainly in an attempt to build a better “home field advantage”/”12th man.” Closing off some of the open areas.
Closing off those open areas to keep the noise from getting out would be so awesome..
Except I really liked how you walk up that one set of steps and you could see everything at once, the field and the seats and the walkways. It gave it a smaller, personal feel. I think that is where they are planning to add seats. That will be disappointing.
Can’t think of a coaching staff that ever tried to keep one of It’s members as much of a secret as we are doing with Huls. Dudes not allowed to talk not even sure many media members know what he looks like lol
1) maragos
2) Braman
3) Jason Phillips
4) Brad Smifh
5) James Casey
6) Ed Reynolds
7) Nolan Carroll
8) Marcus smith is probably an upgrade to Brandon Graham on ST
9) Jaylen Watkins
10) Josh huff
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Seems like an opportunity to really build a strong ST unit
We have a mini camp coming up…. Do we get to put the pads on for mini camp or is it basically just mandatory OTAs?
Yeah it’s mandatory OTA’s, maybe the shells will go on for thuds, though? Not sure.
Anxious to start the hitting so we can see how our defensive puppies (cox,Logan,Curry,Kruger,Kendricks) have grown..
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Saw video last week of Cox terrorizing a blocking sled lol, anxious to see if he becomes a menace for our quality veteran Oline to deal with.. Word is Curry is up to 280lbs, he was asked to make the toughest transition on our team. Dude works hard and wants it bad,,anxious to see his improvements in two gapping and interior pass rushing.. Plenty teams have edge terrors, not many have top interior pass rushers and their is no pressure like pressure up the middle. Curry was always really good with his hand usage which is why I suspect they moved him inside. Think Cox and Curry have the potential to grow into a beastly interior pass rushing tandem when we go to our 4man lines..and curry growing into an interior pass rusher, with Barwin,Cole or Marcus as the DEs give us the ability to basically line up with 3 DE/OLBs… Be really huge if Curry can grow to handle this transition. Hopefully he is studying Justin smith religiously.. Then again, we are pretty darn stout against the run. If he can be a pass rushing terror what he does against the run won’t even really matter
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Need the pads to come on ASAP
Agreed. They get to beat on some patriots this summer as well.
Wow, Curry at 280?
I hope he can still show speed at that weight.
I’m a big fan of Curry and want to see him become a starter.
He was a huge Eagles fan growing up so it’s in his blood to hate Dallas.
He is living out my dream. Go Eagles !!!
Shame to let that first step go to waste 2-gapping. Since they didn’t trade i’m assuming they have a plan.
watching some of the games more on gamerewind i noticed a few things. one, we did get lucky a few times for sure, but it all evened out with weird penalties so i think thas just the nature of the game.
one thing i kept thinking was how good our offense will be getting first downs with sproles in the mix. and touchdowns.
also think Huff will be a beast that will take those djax swing screens and go off. jax is fast but thats all, he has no heart at all, you can tell watching those games, he runs out of bounds every time and cannot block. we have upgraded immensely from djax and Avant in terms of speed for Avant and toughness for djax.
and if cooper makes “that catch” over the middle against new orleans, damn, that was 3rd down too.. we could have won that game.
we had a lot of timely turnovers last year that helped us beat teams with back up qbs. we wont have that much luck this year so its good we upgraded!!
go eagles
That drop man…..such a killer.
I agree with all your saying. Hopefully self-tacklin got the memo as well. We’re a team that needs to punish other teams — mentally and physically.