Phil Sheridan, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Eagles expect shape-shifting Cards defense

PHILADELPHIA – Everything Chip Kelly wants done on a football field, he wants done fast. His offense is built to take advantage of mismatches created when opposing defenses don’t have the time to get their desired personnel on the field.

In previous games this season, opposing defenses had settled on one personnel grouping that could handle most of what the Eagles tried to do. That was not the case last year, however, when the Eagles met the Arizona Cardinals.

The teams play each other again Sunday, and Kelly expects the Cardinals to be as varied in their defensive approach as they were in 2013.

“Todd [Bowles, Arizona’s defensive coordinator] does a really good job,” Kelly said. “They get in and out of everything. I don't think anything we did affected in terms of them, and they showed a lot of different looks, a lot of multiple looks, and did a real good job in defending us last year.”

The Eagles got out to a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter of that game. Nick Foles threw three touchdown passes to tight ends. After the third, to Brent Celek, the Cardinals shut out the Eagles the rest of the game. Arizona scored two touchdowns to get within 24-21, but were unable to close the gap.

While time of possession is not important to Kelly, that was one game where the Eagles held the ball nearly as long as their opponent: 29 minutes, 21 seconds compared to 30:39.

“We were just trying to work the clock a little bit more,” Kelly said. “So we were running the ball, and I think everybody in the stadium knew we were running the ball. So they went to some zero-blitz stuff and kind of crowded the line of scrimmage. But you're still working the clock. If you throw the ball in those situations and it's incomplete, you stop the clock.

“You're in that bleed-the-clock -- you're obviously trying to get first downs to stay on the field, but there's kind of a risk-reward situation if you say, ‘All right, now let's just throw the ball over the top.’ They are forcing you to throw it over the top -- if it's an incomplete pass, it stops the clock also.”

Kelly said it helps preparations when facing a team with the same coaching staff and offensive and defensive approaches. But quarterback Nick Foles said there wasn’t much benefit for him in facing the same defense he’s already played against.

“You go into each game as prepared as possible, whether you’ve played them or you haven’t,” Foles said. “Everybody switches up players from year to year, guys are injured. They might add different things. So maybe you’re used to seeing the jerseys a little bit more, but when it comes to playing each week, you try to treat it the same.”

The Cardinals are especially challenging because they change their defensive approach so much, even within the same game.

“Their scheme is somewhat unique in terms of getting in and out of fronts,” Kelly said. “They run a lot of different looks on the defensive side of the ball, so they can confuse you a little bit, but also they've got some really, really good football players on the defensive side of the ball.”

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