Chip Doesn’t Want Any Surprises, So He’s Sitting Bradford

You probably know by now that Eagles number one quarterback Sam Bradford won’t be playing on Sunday, but he will be working out against the Baltimore Ravens this upcoming week.  Chip Kelly let us know that he was the sole person, who made the decision to sit Bradford for this game.

I do believe this shows some fear on part of Kelly and his staff.  I don’t see any reason what Bradford could go in for a series or two of safe plays, where’s handing the ball off and making short throws so he can get the ball out of his hands.   Obviously, Kelly and his coaches don’t want to take that chance, which isn’t much of a risk.  It says something to me, if they’re so nervous about the guy playing.    At one point or another they’re going to be forced to take that red shirt off of him.

According to Zach Berman of Philly.com, Bradford made sure to let it be know that he’s completely healthy and that this decision had nothing to do with his knee.

Bradford: “I haven’t sat out a practice. Haven’t missed a rep. Haven’t [missed] anything. This has nothing to do with the knee."

— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) August 14, 2015

I think Kelly wants to let Bradford get plenty of work against the Ravens defense and all their pass rushing schemes.  He doesn’t want the quarterback and/or the rest of the offense to be surprised by a blitz or rushing scheme that they aren’t totally familiar with.  The Eagles aren’t sure what they will face this Sunday against the Colts, but they will have a week to look very closely at everything the Ravens defense will throw at them.

There might be a blitz of some type that the Colts might run that could surprise Bradford and the Eagles offense.  It could end in a disaster.  Chip Kelly doesn’t want any surprises.

I’m telling you what I think because Kelly didn’t give a definitive reason for holding Bradford out, but he said it’s something he decided to do.

In addition he let us know that Eagles tight end Zach Ertz injured a core muscle this week and will undergo a procedure.  I saw him sustain the injury when he dove to make a catch at practice earlier this week.  It took him a long time to get up and he never returned to the workout.  Ertz will miss the rest of the preseason because of the injury and procedure.

It’s most likely that the injury is a hernia of some type because Dr. Myerson is a sports hernia surgeon.

The Eagles aren’t pushing inside linebacker Kiko Alonso to satisfy the conditions of the NFL Concussion protocol as of yet.  According to Chip, they’re in no rush to test him, because they want him fresh and ready to go when they play the Atlanta Falcons in the first game of the season.

Running back DeMarco Murray might not play on Sunday.  Kelly said they had only made decisions about the quarterbacks with regard to who was going to play this week, but I get the impression that they’re taking it easy on Murray.  He’s missed quite a few practices, plus he’s stood and watched at a few practices as well.   Don’t expect to see much of Murray on Sunday.

Veteran inside linebacker DeMeco Ryans still has a ways to go according to defensive coordinator Billy Davis.  Ryans is rehabbing from an Achilles tendon tear, so don’t expect to see much of Ryans on Sunday, as well.