No Help for Dennis Kelly
Dennis Kelly was drafted by the Eagles in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He’s started 15 games in his four year career, all of which were brought about by injuries to the offensive line. In other words, Kelly is a career backup, and this year, he was the backup to the backup.
Kelly was forced into action for the second week in a row because Jason Peters was out with a back injury. And while injuries are hard to plan for and even harder to predict, the need to rely on (Dennis) Kelly almost certainly calls into question (Chip) Kelly’s decision to not draft a single lineman in each of the last two drafts.
From a team building perspective, many of the greats — and even Andy Reid — believe that you build a team from the trenches out. Kelly seemed to abandon that philosophy when he cut the likes of Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans (although the latter almost certainly deserved to be cut) without bringing in any reinforcements. It was a decision that many people criticized this offseason but one that Kelly seemed to treat with malcontent.
So while it is easy to criticize Kelly the GM for the offensive line woes, we should also lay blame on Kelly the coach for failing to adjust during the game when it was clear the offensive line was struggling.
While Dennis Kelly turned in a surprisingly effective start against the Cowboys two Sundays ago, it was clear early on that he was struggling with the size and speed of the Dolphins edge rushers. Add in Jason Kelce getting manhandled inside by Ndamukong Suh, and it made for a long day for Eagles quarterbacks: combined, Sanchez and Bradford were sacked four times and hit 10 times. The Dolphins defense also recorded nine tackles for a loss.
(Chip) Kelly could have alleviated some of these issues by calling screens, draws, and going to max protection more often. And while we saw a handful of screen passes — especially after Sanchez came in the game — (Chip) Kelly most definitely did not give (Dennis) Kelly enough help on the outside:
As you can see from this sack fumble, Kelly got manhandled at the point of attack. But notice that the Eagles do not have any extra blockers in: Murray, Ertz and Celek all run routes without providing any additional blocking support.
Later in the game, Bradford’s day was ended after Kelly was beat again for the sack:
An argument could probably be made that Bradford held onto the ball too long. But that still does not take away from the fact that Chip Kelly refused to give his blockers additional help — especially Kelce and Dennis Kelly — in a game where they clearly needed it.
The Sanchez Interception
Let’s end with the decision that likely cost the Eagles the game and has led to an avalanche of criticism of Kelly. The Eagles were down 20-19 with 4:37 left in the fourth quarter. Sanchez had done a good job (again) driving the Eagles deep into the Dolphins territory, and was faced with a 2nd & Goal from the Dolphins nine-yard line.
Chip Kelly called for Sanchez to run a bootleg off of a zone read play action fake to DeMarco Murray. Sanchez throws to Austin, who seems to pull up on the route, resulting in the interception:
Kelly defended the decision to allow Sanchez to throw the ball in that situation, saying that: 1) they were trying to score a touchdown because there was over four minutes left in the game, and 2) Sanchez had Celek open and should have thrown to him instead. And from this screen shot, we can see that Kelly was correct: Sanchez had a wide open Celek staring at him five yards down the field, but went for the higher degree of difficulty with the throw to Austin in the endzone.
Perhaps Chip thought that because the play worked as designed, he should be absolved of any blame. But it is fair to question this play calling. The Eagles are down by one point, and a field goal would have put them up two. With the way their defense had been playing all game, it was not inconceivable to think that Kelly could call two straight run plays and hope for a touchdown, and then rely on his defense to stop the Dolphins if the Eagles have to settle for a field goal.
I would have much preferred to go this route than to rely on a quarterback that has a career 3.6% interception rate, which is one of the worst rates among active NFL quarterbacks. Asking Sanchez to win the game for the Eagles there is a sign of a coach that misunderstands the talent at his disposal, or has too much hubris and thinks his scheme can compensate for that lack of talent.
Regardless of the motivation, it was a porous coaching decision which likely cost the Eagles the game. Que the sad face:
Conclusion
This wasn’t a fun article to write. I thought for sure heading into the Dolphins game that the Eagles would win. And after the Eagles went up 16-3, it felt like things finally were starting to turn around for this team and this season.
But the Eagles struggled mightily down the stretch, scoring only three points in the final three quarters. To make matters worse, the Eagles lost Sam Bradford to a shoulder injury and concussion when it finally looked like he was starting to find his groove.
While the players deserve plenty of the blame for the loss, so too does Chip Kelly the head coach. His mismanagement of players and play calling have been an under the radar issue all year that finally caught up to this team. Whether he can fix it will go a long way towards determining whether the Eagles make the playoffs.
Eagles Rewind 
Awesome work, man. I think you are the only Eagles analyst who caught the fact Austin was at fault on the play Bradford wound up running left and getting sacked.
The problem with Chip Kelly is he continuously thinks he is the smartest guy on the field – arrogance has been the downfall of many – and Chip personifies arrogance and stubbornness – I used to get angry at Andy for being stubborn but Chip takes it to another level – in addition to the above I cannot understand for the life of me his thinking before the half ended – he seems clueless on what to do – Bradford took a massive beating before the half and they got lucky on that interception which was negated by roughing the passer – the problem is that this same thing was done at least in a couple of more games (before the half ended).
A lot of the writers/analysts (eg Tommy Lawlor – aka Spadaro) say that the Eagles had bad luck go their way – with the tipped ball that got caught for a touchdown etc – however there were so many fumbles that actually got recovered by the Eagles…Chip may be a good coach but ultimately his arrogance will doom him and the Eagles – he will ultimately leave town after thoroughly gutting the team…leaving the poor fans to pick up the pieces
There is certainly a level of hubris involved with Chip and every coach. And I think his faith in his system is contributing to some of the Eagles struggles, because he refuses to adjust his scheme as much as is required. That call for Bradford to pass at the end of the first half was questionable at best. He compounded that mistake by defending the playcall in the following press conference. But, then again, I could care less about his press conferences if he just starts managing a game better.
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