I Have Confidence In Chip Kelly, The Offensive Coordinator, But…..

A lot of Eagles fans are very concerned about Birds head coach Chip Kelly shipping All-Pro running back LeSean McCoy to Buffalo, but I’m not because Kelly is a great designer of ways to attack a defense, especially in the running game.  I do have concerns about Kelly, but it’s not in his offensive coordinator’s role.

I’m concerned about him as the team’s General Manager.  He’s only been in the NFL for two years and I think he’s got a lot on his plate to have final decision making status with the team in only his third year.

In the role of offensive coordinator, Kelly is confident that he can design a potent rushing attack behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFL.  I agree with him.  The guy is a genius when it comes to designing a running game.  He sees things that other offensive coaches don’t see.  The guy knows how to put pressure on a defense, especially in the running game.

Many of the offensive coaches around the league are copying his attack.  Seattle has copied his running attack and you see Marshawn Lynch and Russell Wilson executing Kelly’s run plays to one Super Bowl title and nearly two, if Pete Carroll had given Lynch the ball on that last play.

Look how many times a year ago that Darren Sproles had big plays, when he was in the game in place of McCoy.  The quick pitches, handoffs, quick screens and regular screens are all in a way running plays because Kelly gets the ball to his backs behind their offensive line.  Not only Sproles, but Chris Polk was productive when he was in the game.

I’m not taking anything away from Shady because he’s a great back, definitely one of the best in the league with great vision and the unique ability to make drastic changes of direction in an instant.

Still, Kelly doesn’t believe he needs to have a Pro Bowl running back on the roster in order to have one of the best running attacks in the NFL.  Kelly does believe he needs a quality offensive line in order to produce that yardage and he has just that in All-Pro’s Jason Peters, Evan Mathis and Jason Kelce.

I agree with him.  The guy does a great job of designing a running offense.  He spreads a defense out and puts a lot of pressure on every gap in the front seven of the defense.

The recently released veteran offensive lineman Todd Herremans said Kelly values his quarterback and his offensive line more than he does the running back.  I think Kelly will have success this year as long as they get a solid, one-cut running back, who has decent size, speed, and toughness.

The former Oregon Ducks head coach wants his backs to run the ball where the play is designed to go, 90 to 95% of the time.  He doesn’t want his backs to dance in the backfield like Shady McCoy does.  If he draws a play up to be run up the middle, he wants the back to trust that the hole will be there and to start up the middle with the ball, after the handoff.

Most of the time the hole is there in Kelly’s run attack.  Most of the time in Kelly’s attack, he gives the running back an option of two or three holes to choose from where the opening will be.  Many times his running plays put the defensive guy in the predicament where he can’t be right.

In Kelly’s offense, the running back is running partly on his instincts and partly on the play design.  He only has to read one or two blocks and Kelly is able to tell him where the hole is probably going to be.

McCoy likes to run almost solely on instinct and he may take a running play outside, that was designed to go inside.  On the other hand, Shady my have a sweep play to the right that he takes all the way back to his left.  His ability to improvise is what separates him from other good backs.  Kelly doesn’t like his backs to take those kind of chances with the football because reversing field means taking the risk of losing five or ten yards.

Once you lose those yards, you limit Kelly’s play calling and you make it a must passing situations on second or third down.  This is the mindset of Kelly the offensive coordinator.

Kelly believes in and wants a one-cut running back, who will take the handoff, decide where the hole is, then hit the hole, and get north and south immediately.  Meaning if the line blocks well enough for a four yard gain.  Chip wants his back to get those four-yards, so it’s second down and six.  Now he has the defense where he wants them, guessing. He can throw or run.

If the line blocks well enough for a five-yard gain.  Get the five-yards and nothing less.  He doesn’t want his backs to be looking to turn the five-yard run into fifty-yard run because they run the risk of having a negative play.

If the line blocks badly and the running back can’t get back to the line of scrimmage and is forced to lose a yard, then he wants the back to lose that yard and no more.  Kelly doesn’t want his running back to dance in the backfield and lose five or ten yards because it puts tremendous pressure on the offense and on the offensive coordinator in particular.

This is the way Kelly thinks with regards to his running game.

Again, I believe in him as a offensive coordinator and especially as a running game designer, but I don’t have the same confidence in his skills as a General Manager.  He’s got to prove to me that he can be a General Manager in the NFL after only two years pf experience.