NFL teams
Phil Sheridan, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Kelly: 'Trying to win every football game'

PHILADELPHIA -- For a team that leads the NFL in offensive yards and points scored, the Philadelphia Eagles certainly have a lot of players dissatisfied with their performances after two games.

Quarterback Nick Foles and running back LeSean McCoy expressed that dissatisfaction after Monday night’s 30-27 win in Indianapolis. Meanwhile, starting wide receivers Riley Cooper and Jeremy Maclin have not put up particularly big numbers yet.

For Chip Kelly, it’s all about the overall production, which has led to the Eagles’ 2-0 record.

“We're not trying to win rushing titles,” Kelly said, alluding to McCoy’s leading the NFL in rushing last season. “We're trying to win football games. I think he's always a very, very harsh critic of himself, which is an admirable quality. I think that's one thing that pushes him. That's why he trains so hard in the offseason. Our standard is trying to win every football game each week, and that's it.”

It’s all related. McCoy has gotten intense attention from Jacksonville and Indianapolis. Those teams seldom see him, so they were committed to bottling up the Eagles’ running game. But doing that leaves other areas vulnerable for the Eagles to exploit.

“Sometimes things are geared to take him away,” Kelly said. “If they're geared to take him away, then other guys have to make plays. We have enough weapons around LeSean where you have to pick your poison, so to speak, in terms of who you have to defend. People are honed in on him and rightfully so. Now it opens the field up for some of the other guys. So some of our big plays have all occurred on play-action passes. There’s a reason for that. If you're going to gang up on the run game, we need to have guys open in play-action pass.”

With defenses keying on McCoy, Darren Sproles has 15 carries for 97 yards and 11 catches for 166 yards. With secondaries trying to limit Foles' ability to go downfield to Maclin and Cooper, tight end Zach Ertz has seven catches for 163 yards.

“I just think there are a lot of matchup things when you have Zach,” Kelly said. “So if you do choose to play man (coverage), you have to man everybody. You can't just man the two outside receivers. So if you do, I think our inside receivers, himself and the running backs coming out of the backfield, become matchup problems, too. So the quarterback in man situations is always trying to find his best matchup.”

As guys like Sproles, Ertz and Jordan Matthews have success, defenses will have to adjust and focus on them more. That should free up McCoy, Maclin and Brent Celek a bit more. Kelly doesn’t care where the production comes from, just that it comes.

^ Back to Top ^