Eagles Mailbag: Chip Kelly's job, scheme and cornerbacks

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Well, that loss was about as ugly as ugly can be. 

The Eagles were embarrassed for the second straight game and gave up 90 points in five days. After high expectations in the preseason, the Eagles now just have to somehow finish the rest of the season, which starts next week in New England. 

You guys aren't happy, so we'll skip the small talk and get into your questions: 

I still think Chip Kelly is the coach of the Eagles next year. If they lose every game the rest of the season they way they did in Detroit, I'd have to rethink that, but for now, he's still the guy. 

Look, the Eagles invested too much in Kelly to just give up now. This is his first year with full control so it probably buys him a grace period. 

Remember, Jeff Lurie is the guy who would have to fire him. Lurie is the same guy who once held a half hour press conference to tell everyone he wasn't firing Andy Reid. 

Some people probably think Kelly would just walk away but I don't see that either. Kelly seems like a pretty proud man. Not so sure he'd be willing to admit failure in the NFL. 

https://twitter.com/Pz624/status/670266138383638529

I actually don't think previous NFL head coaching experience is a necessity. After all, if a coach has previous NFL head coaching experience and they're looking for a job, it probably means they've failed somewhere else. 

I think there's something to be said of NFL experience (something Chip Kelly didn't have before coming to the Eagles). Reid is a great example of a guy who had NFL experience but wasn't a head coach before the Eagles hired him. No, he never won the big game but it's hard to argue with the level of success he reached in Philadelphia. 

If it continues like this, the Eagles simply won't have a choice. The defense gave up 38 points against the Buccaneers and 45 against the Lions. That's pathetic. 

After the game in Detroit, I asked Kelly point-blank if Bill Davis was going to remain the defensive coordinator. Kelly didn't hesitate before saying "yes." 

It's hard to believe the defense has fallen off as much as it has. Through the first several weeks of the season, it was the defense that was bailing the offense out every week. They were playing at an extremely high level. It's wild to think that the last turnover the defense forced was Jordan' Hicks' pick-6 in Dallas. 

I agree with you on this point. It's a fundamental problem with Chip Kelly's quick tempo offense. Obviously, when the offense is going fast, he doesn't want the quarterback slowing things down and changing the play. That would be counter-productive.

There are positives and negatives of Kelly's offense. This, for me, is one of the biggest negatives. It's a thing of beauty to watch a good veteran quarterback diagnose the defense at the line of scrimmage and change the call. 

https://twitter.com/JohnVogel27/status/670261750575448064

I saw what you did in the Lions game, especially with Eric Rowe. The defense was worried about Calvin Johnson beating him deep, so the rookie was lining up way off the line of scrimmage and conceding the short gain. 

Although he got beat a few times by Johnson, Rowe actually showed a little something. I think, with his background as a safety, he might have the ability to be a little more physical at the line, something that we'll have to keep an eye on. 

As for the receivers across the middle, Jordan Matthews does make plays across the middle. And the Eagles get the ball to their tight ends in the middle of the field. Really, the problem is the lack of plays outside. 

Because … what else would you do? 

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