John McTigue, ESPN Stats & Information 8y

Kelly's offensive moves not paying off for Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles enter Week 12 at 4-6, having lost three of their last four games. They came in at a season-low 25th in the Week 12 ESPN NFL Power Rankings.

Chip Kelly’s offense, while still fast-paced, hasn’t produced the same results as in his past two seasons, when the Eagles went 10-6.

Expected points added is a measure of the impact of every play on a team’s potential points. The Eagles’ offense averaged 7.2 expected points added per game in Kelly’s first season as head coach (fourth in the NFL). In other words, the Eagles' offense was a touchdown better than an average offense on a per-game basis.

This season, the Eagles’ offense is adding -0.02 expected point per game (22nd in the NFL) one season after adding 2.6 expected points per game (14th in the NFL).

Kelly has control of the Eagles' 53-man roster, and the personnel moves he made to build the offense have not been working out.

Trading for Bradford

Sam Bradford, whom the Eagles traded for in March, ranks 29th out of 31 qualified quarterbacks with a 37 Total QBR this season. Only one quarterback who has logged as much time as Bradford has a lower QBR since 2009 -- Bradford’s backup, Mark Sanchez.

The Eagles are among two teams this season that have thrown more interceptions than touchdowns. The Denver Broncos are the other team.

Adding Bradford has hurt the Eagles’ ground game as well.

They are averaging 4.4 zone-read rushes per game this season, down from 16.6 per game from 2013-14. The Eagles have averaged 5.2 yards per rush on zone reads under Kelly and 4.1 yards per rush on all other run plays.

Spending on running backs

Kelly traded LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for Kiko Alonso in March. The money he saved by trading McCoy was given right back when he signed DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews. Philadelphia running backs are guaranteed $31.5 million, about $15,000 less than the Bills', who have the most guaranteed money at the position among current NFL contracts.

The Eagles this season are averaging their fewest rushes per game (28.9), rush yards per game (119) and yards per rush (4.1) under Kelly.

Letting Jackson and Maclin go

In 2013, DeSean Jackson gained 1,332 receiving yards, second-most in Eagles franchise history. Jackson was cut by the Eagles on March 28, 2014, and he signed with the Redskins five days later.

Last season, Jeremy Maclin gained 1,318 receiving yards, third-most in Eagles franchise history. He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in March.

No Eagles receiver is on pace to gain 1,000 yards this season. Jordan Matthews is on pace for 904 yards.

Drafting from the Pac-12

The Eagles have selected an NFL-high nine players from the Pac-12 over the last three drafts. The four offensive players drafted from the Pac-12 have not contributed much at the professional level.

Kelly drafted two non-Pac-12 offensive players in that time –- Jordan Matthews, the team’s leading receiver over the last two seasons, and starting offensive tackle Lane Johnson.

Impact on playoff chances

According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Eagles entered the 2015 season with a 54 percent chance of winning the NFC East. They had as high as a 69 percent chance to win the division as recently as Week 10, but that has dropped to a season-low 32 percent.

The New York Giants are first in the division at 5-5 with a 47 percent chance of winning the division. This is the second time this season a team other than the Eagles entered the week as the NFC East favorite, according to FPI.

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