The Eagles announced their training camp schedule earlier today, and it included a pair of joint practices with the New England Patriots on Aug. 6 and 7.
Why does that not surprise me?
Chip Kelly and Bill Belichick are friends and cohorts… it's a New England camaraderie thing, I guess… I've been telling you all along that these guys like each other—a lot— and in fact I am on record as saying that Chip Kelly is virtually guaranteed the head coaching job at New England if things don't work out so well in Philly, and Belichick decides to move on up to an exclusive front office job with the Pats.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves…
It also makes sense from Belichick's perspective to have a chance to pick the brain of the one guy he still believes in from the collegiate level by sharing a practice or two with Kelly…
Asked how the arrangement came about, Chip Kelly said, “He [Bill Belichick] called me. I didn’t call him. He called me.”
The Boston Globe reported previously that Kelly had visited Gillette Stadium three times and discussed the up-tempo, one-word no-huddle with Belichick.
At the owners’ meetings in March, Belichick called Kelly a good friend, but downplayed any influence the Eagles’ head coach might have had on what the Patriots are running.
“I’ve known Bill for awhile. I used to go visit the Patriots when I was in college,” Kelly said. “I’ve got a ton of respect for him. When he presented it, it just makes sense. You’ve got to prepare for your first preseason game anyway. Instead of us trying to give looks to our defense of what the Patriots’ offense is going to look like, the Patriots’ offense can give us some looks."
“We’ll cooperate and spend some time in terms of how we’re going to practice together, but when he presented the idea to me – he’s done it before I think with the Buccaneers with Greg [Schiano] and the Saints – it sounded like a good idea to us. And they’re coming here, so it really doesn’t upset our schedule whatsoever, so I think it’s a positive thing.”
The practices are scheduled to take place at the NovaCare Complex and will be closed to the media. The two teams face off in a preseason game at the Linc on Friday, Aug. 9.
I don't mean to imply anything more than two peers who like sharing each other's approach to the game from this, but the fact is we will be witnessing a job interview of sorts when the Eagles and Patriots practice together. I've said all along that Chip Kelly is really a clone of Belichick… and the perfect choice to succeed Belichick in New England. The stars are aligned. The Chippah is always in a New England state of mind. It's in his DNA…
As a New Hampshire native, Kelly’s dream job may be that of New England Patriots head coach. There’s no telling when Bill Belichick may be ready to retire, but would you like to see Kelly replace the five-time Super Bowl champ one day?
Kelly visited the Patriots over the summer, and New England added some elements of the Oregon offense to their offense. Kelly would bring a spread offense that relies heavily on the no-huddle. Belichick obviously would approve of Kelly if he had the confidence to use parts of his scheme, but is he a perfect fit for the Patriots?
One part of Kelly’s game that doesn’t fit New England is that he needs a mobile quarterback to make his read option work. Tom Brady certainly doesn’t have the legs to do it, and neither does his successor in Ryan Mallett. We’ve seen elements of the option work in Washington, Seattle and San Francisco this past season, but finding the right player to man the read option in the NFL may not be so easy.
So what do you think, is Kelly a good fit in New England once Belichick retires?
While Kelly was at the University of New Hampshire, the staff would sometimes travel up to Brown to talk schemes, and play the occasional pick-up basketball game. It was there that Kelly started to share no-huddle ideas with Brown assistant coach Bill O'Brien, and their friendship carried over to when Kelly went to Oregon and O'Brien joined the Patriots staff.
Kelly went back to the east coast to talk the no huddle with the Patriots staff a handful of times, including two years ago when he caught the ear of Bill Belichick. Kelly told Belichick and the staff that he was moving to a no-huddle system that used just one word to signify the entire play call.
One word was all Kelly planned to use to to communicate the entire offensive formation, protection, motion, shift and play.
While it was hard for the New England staff to grasp at first, Chip Kelly's message to them was to not put a limit on the players' minds, because they will learn what you teach them.
“I was interested to hear how he did it,” Belichick explained of Kelly's no-huddle knowledge. “I would say he expanded it to a different level and it was very interesting to understand what he was doing. Certainly I’ve learned a lot from talking to Chip about his experiences with it and how he does it and his procedure and all that.”
New England switched to the one-word system while O'Brien called the offense in 2011 and had to adjust the one-word play calls a few times throughout the year before they really got things rolling in the playoffs. Now, because of their unique personnel with guys like Aaron Hernandez, they're able to check out of an empty backfield pass formation, to an under-center run to take advantage of a defensive alignment, all with one word.
Meanwhile…
Michael Vick's had better days on a football field than Wednesday. He threw two interceptions in an Eagles practice where many of the passes were of the shorter/screen-type variety.
His main competition, Nick Foles, threw none. Foles, who took the initial snaps with the first team on Wednesday, had a strong day throwing the football and commanding the Eagles' offense in the second-to-last practice of the offseason. Minicamp ends on Thursday afternoon. The Eagles won't reconvene until training camp in late July.
The numbers from Wednesday's practice aren't everything, but they pretty much speak for themselves. Vick had two turnovers. He also fumbled when the media attended OTAs last week. It's these miscues that could greatly affect Chip Kelly's decision on his starting quarterback.
| Michael Vick | Nick Foles | Matt Barkley | Dennis Dixon | G.J. Kinne |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 reps (17 first team) | 37 reps (22 first team) | 24 reps (24 third team) | 10 reps (2 first team, 8 third team) | 2 reps (2 third team) |
| 14 of 22 with TD and 2 INTs | 23 of 26 with 1 TD | 12 of 16 with 2 TDs | 3 of 4 with 1 INT | 1 of 1 passing |
Kelly said his quarterback choice will ultimately come down to who can move the team best. That's the most important factor according to the Eagles coach. He then threw in a few caveats, among them how each quarterback secures the football and whether or not they turn the ball over. That's where Vick must improve if he's going to earn the full trust of the new coaching staff.
Vick's first interception came when Nate Allen stepped in front of a mid-range pass down the middle of the field. The second came on a screen pass late in practice that defensive end Vinny Curry plucked out of midair. It wasn't one of Vick's better days. Ironically, it came on the heels of a strong practice the prior day.
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