Image courtesy of Insidetheiggles.com
LAST year LeSean McCoy led the NFL in rushing yards. Part of that was due to his 314 carries. Part of it was the Offensive Line opening holes for him. Part of it was the Line having fewer people in the box to block. Don’t expect Shady to repeat in 2014.
With the subtraction of DeSean Jackson from the line-up, Chip Kelly is going to do things to try mimicking that effect, even if he no longer has the last year’s cause.
Expect to see Darren Sproles in motion a lot. Expect to see the TE split wide 30-50% of the time. (When they’re out there.) Expect to more 4 WR formations than you’ve seen here since the days of Greg Lewis and Hank Baskett.
Expect to see “The Spread” as God and Mother Nature intended it. In many ways we’re finally about to see Oregon’s Chip Kelly.
Last year Jackson’s presence gave Kelly’s system a shot of pure adrenaline. Kelly had never had a WR who could give him what Jackson did in 2013. Never before did Kelly have a WR who could take the top off the defense and evacuate the box, but that’s gone now. Those days are over. Then again that’s not where Kelly’s head is anyway.
In 4 years as Oregon’s Head Coach, Kelly’s system produced just one WR with 700 yards or more (Jeff Maehl in 2010). Kelly (like early Andy Reid) simply doesn’t value the position highly. He wants blocker/tackle breakers, not dynamic field stretchers. Role players, not game changers. He wants a Billy McMullen, not a DJax.
And you don’t spend a 1st round pick on a role player.
Believe it or not, I don’t expect the passing game to be less efficient. I do expect the running game to be less explosive though. There are a number of reasons why. (Especially if they trade Evan Mathis, when it was Todd Herremans who struggled.)
1. McCoy won’t see as much work. In 4 years as Oregon’s Head Coach there were no 300+ carry RB’s for Oregon. Kelly likes to spread the carries out between his QB and (usually) 2 RB’s.
2. The box will be stretched horizontally to create more space, but there will still be just as many defenders in the box. Last year wasn’t a true test of the spacing aspect of Kelly’s system, but he gon’ learn TODAY! Especially since Kelly can no longer take advantage of collegiate hash mark spacing.
3. NFL defenders are faster than college players. With fewer players in the box last year, Kelly didn’t have to coach against this. Expect a few plays this year where Shady gets blown up by lateral hits he didn’t see coming.
4. Last year I said there were some smoke and mirrors along our 10-6 season. One of them was the Offensive Line. I’m waiting to see if a fundamental problem gets addressed in the Draft, because it’s been ignored so far.
That being said, not leading the league in rushing isn’t the same thing as being ineffective. McCoy will churn out yards and will probably even tote a decent average (4.1 maybe?). However more guys in the box will make him pay a lot more often for those sick juke moves.
BTW: If Sproles finishes 2014 as the starter, don’t say no one ever mentioned it.
Don’t think we will take a WR first, but we should. ODB or Cooks would allow chip to say go ahead and load the box these guys will still beat you deep.
But as of now I couldn’t agree more. Shady will have a tough time. I see a broken leg coming, knock on wood. Foles is gonna have smaller windows to throw through, more picks coming regardless.
Mathis can just shut the fuck up. He isn’t close to the best guard in the nfl. If he is man those other teams are in serious trouble.
This year will make or break chip, especially now without desean. This will prove if shady is better than AP. If maclin and cooper can survive without double coverage to another wr.
Shitty move eagles. Shitty move indeed.
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LOL! Absolutely.
This IS the make or break year for Kelly. Last year there were an awful lot of Reid’s starters out there and there was some adapting of the new scheme to the players talents, like Kelly said he would do.
What’s different this year is that there’ll be less adapting and more of Kelly’s pure system. What’s sad it that it still won’t be the pure system.
I know people hate when I say this, but Kelly made his name behind QB’s that could run. Foles isn’t in a wheelchair, but c’mon…Those carries that would normally go to the QB, I’m wondering if they end up on Shady, because you can only put so many on Sproles.
If we take a step back the media will look for a reason and guess what they’ll point to? It’ll only be worse if Jackson has a decent season. Someone will get the blame for this, and my guess is that the FO will slide Kelly under the bus. Though the guy truly responsible is Roseman.
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There’s a lot of holes to fill on this roster and cutting Jackson just added one more. If Kelly thinks he will get NFL with players like Jeff Maehl then he’s in for a rude awakening. On the Eagles site fans are already being content with the Eagles taking a step back. Chip Kelly talking a step back is a failure in my opinion considering how vulnerable this division is right now.
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LMMFAO!! I JUST used that rude awakening line in a response to you.
This fan is expecting it, but I’m anything but fine with it. It almost feels like we gave away being the class of the division.
Then again why not? We give away everything else.
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