Eagles head coach Chip Kelly’s conference call with New York Media. Photo by Jeff Berkes/contrastphotography.com

Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly
Conference Call, October 2, 2013

Q: What did you think of all the hype your offense received and do you think your offense really is all that new to the NFL?
A: We don’t pay attention to the hype. We don’t control what’s written or what’s said and I’ve said since day one in what we’re doing isn’t new to the NFL. Sam Wyche did it with the Cincinnati Bengals a long time ago and was very successful with it. Marv Levy had an unbelievable run with the Buffalo Bills. I don’t think anything we do is revolutionary.

Q: How would you assess how your players on offense have taken to your system?
A: I’ve think they’ve done a really good job. They have a good understanding of what we’re doing. Obviously everything we’re doing offensively and defensively and special teams is new because it’s a new staff and we’ve got a lot of new faces from a player standpoint, too. We’re young from being around each other, but our guys have been fantastic in terms of picking things up and really being students of the game. I’m really pleased with how they picked things up.

Q: What do you see from the Giants? Do you see a team that has lost its way or a team that is close?
A: We don’t look at teams like that. We really just break them down very analytically offensively, defensively and special teams. Obviously, offensively it starts with Eli. He’s one of the premier quarterbacks in this league. He’s got two Super Bowl wins. He’s a proven winner. He’s tough as nails. He gets hit and just keeps getting up and puts the ball on people. Victor Cruz is obviously a standout receiver in this league and so is Hakeem Nicks. I think they do a real good job of getting the ball around to different people. They’ve got some injuries on the offensive line. When you watch their games with who played against the Cowboys and who played in the opening game and then who played in the last game against the Chiefs was a little bit different. Defensively, their front has always been where it starts with Tuck and JPP. I think Prince is a really, really good corner. You’ve got an outstanding safety in Rolle. So that’s how we look at it. We don’t look at the totality of the team. Everything is kind of… How do we attack their defense? How do we attack their offense and how do we attack the special teams?

Q: Do you feel urgency for yourself to right things before the season slips away?
A: I think everybody feels urgency every week, no matter what situation you’re in. There are 32 teams in the league and if you don’t feel urgent on a weekly basis, you’re going to lose. That may be a perception on the outside for any team in this league, but all 32 teams when you get the one day of game week have a sense of urgency to them.

Q: Is it heightened when you’re 1-3?
A: Our philosophy and our approach is, it’s never heightened. Every week is the Super Bowl. You can’t be heightened one week because you lost the week before, but then you win and you say it’s easy this week. It’s hard every week and there’s a sense of urgency every week.

Q: Are you worried about the strain a fast-paced offense can put on your defense during a game?
A: No.

Q: Why is the defense struggling the way it is? Is it because of the scheme change?
A: I think if you look at specific things, I think we need to get more consistent. We have some inconsistencies over there. At times we do some things right, guys are in the right gaps. Other times, we’re not where were supposed to be. Sometimes it’s tackling. I think we all look at it as an individual thing. There’s not a totality and there’s never one word or one quick sentence that’s going to say ‘it’s this.’ If it was that, you would correct it.

Q: Coach, the Giants’ pass rush hasn’t been what it’s historically been. When you break that down, do you see something consistent that’s happening or is it what the other teams are doing? What do you see?
A: I don’t look at things historically, seeing as I just got here. I didn’t watch any tape of what those guys were like one year ago, two years ago, three years ago. We obviously have a bunch of games from this season to kind of go off and rightfully so, because those are the guys we’re going to play against. You can turn on last year’s tape and there are different guys on the defensive line. We’re just looking at what they’ve done specifically in these first four games, some are things from the preseason. I think Justin Tuck is still one of the premier players and I feel the same thing about JPP. I think you have a great inside player in Linval Joseph and then you have Cullen Jenkins who has a skill set to rush the passer. You have two big bodies in Patterson and Rogers and Perry does a decent job of changing up blitzes and who’s coming. It’s never the one same specific guy.

Q: How difficult was the Riley Cooper situation this summer? Especially given the fact that it easily could have caused a rift in your locker room?
A: I think the leaders of our team did a tremendous job in a very difficult time. I think they knew Riley as a person and what Riley did was wrong. He fully admitted it and understands that and I think the players on the team have known Riley for a while. I think it displayed great leadership on the teammate’s part.

Q: Did it take long for Cooper to regain the trust and respect of his teammates, or has it even reached that point?
A: I think that’s a question for them.