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Eagles Head Coach Chip Kelly Press Conference
8.24.15
 
 
Q. On the play where Ravens LB Terrell Suggs hit QB Sam Bradford, was that a zone‑read play or was that —
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, it’s just a handoff. Not every shotgun run is a zone‑read play.  We didn’t run any zone reads.  We don’t run – we had this conversation last year.  We don’t run as much zone-read as everybody thinks we do.  We’re blocking the back side, but he’s not reading anything, he’s just handing the ball off.
 
Q. So technically that was roughing the passer?
           
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah. I thought the interpretation on the field was correct.
 
Q. Did you talk to the league about getting clarification on that play?
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, I haven’t talked to the league.
 
Q. Did you think the hit was deliberate –
           
CHIP KELLY:  I didn’t think it was deliberate.  But I haven’t talked to the league.  So I thought it was a penalty, and I thought [referee] Jerome Boger called it right.
 
Q. So how troubling is today’s rule interpretation from the NFL’s Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I haven’t talked to Dean, so I don’t know what the ruling is, to be honest with you.
 
Q. It was ruled that it was a completely legal hit.
           
CHIP KELLY:  Well, Derek [Eagles director of Public Relations Derek Boyko] gave me what he thought he said, but [Blandino] said he thought it was a read‑option play; it wasn’t a read-option play. I know our quarterbacks can be hit on a read‑option play, but not every run we have is a read-option run: we run sweep, power, counter and trap, all those things out of the gun.
 
Q. Are you concerned that it’s going to be difficult for officials to decide whether a play is a zone‑read play or not, and then therefore the quarterback could be susceptible to contact?
           
CHIP KELLY:  No.  I mean, everybody in the league, I think, runs shotgun runs, so I don’t think it’s a problem.
 
Q. But you run zone-read more than —
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, we don’t.
 
Q. But you run it more than most teams run it.
           
CHIP KELLY:  We don’t run it more than Seattle; we don’t run them more than San Francisco.  We don’t run it as much as you guys think we run it.  Every shotgun run is not a zone‑read play.  The only people we’ve run zone-read with since we’ve been here this offseason is Timmy [QB Tim Tebow].
 
Q. But if the league looks at it this way, does it matter?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I haven’t talked to the league.
 
Q. Do you have to talk to the league and tell them what you just told us in order to make them aware so this doesn’t happen again on just a normal running play?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I don’t know.  Are they going to hit every quarterback in the league when they handoff in the shotgun?  That’s up to the league.
 
 Q. So, do you tell your quarterback not to fake the handoff —
           
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, Sam wasn’t going anywhere.  I mean, if you watched him, he handed the ball off.
 
Q. So do you plan to talk to the league?
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, that’s their deal.  They’ll talk, and if they want to get to the coaches, they send out a video and all that, and they can discuss it.
 
Q. So how can the official determine what the difference is then?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I don’t know what Jerome [Boger’s] answer was, but our quarterback, from what we were told, if your quarterback’s not carrying out any fake [he can’t be hit]. [Bradford] wasn’t carrying out any fake, so he wasn’t going anywhere.
 
Q. So the way to distinguish it is if —
           
CHIP KELLY:  I think that’s a better question for them.  You can ask the officials.
 
Q. As the play caller, I’m sure you don’t want your quarterback getting hit after he hands off, so how would you distinguish it?
           
CHIP KELLY:  Then we’re not running a zone‑read play.  On a zone‑read play, a quarterback can be hit, and that’s not a zone‑read play.  So that’s the way we determine it.  That’s the way it was explained to us.
 
Q. Do you feel you changed your offense a little bit?  I know you don’t do much of the zone-read, but would you do less of it because of Bradford?  You said in March that you weren’t going to do more of it because Bradford’s not a runner.
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, we did the same — We run the same offense we ran with Nick [Foles].  Nick had 16 carries, and I think a couple run scrambles in eight games last year.  In the eight games Nick played, Nick was credited with 16 rushes.  So, you know, you can go back and look at all of them; some of them were on quarterback scrambles where he went over the line of scrimmage, so it turns into a rush.
 
Q. Suggs made reference to the fact that Bradford is coming off two ACL injuries. You said that in your interpretation, it was not a deliberate hit?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I haven’t talked to Terrell.  I don’t know what he did, and we’ve moved on, so it’s not a big deal for us.
 
Q. Are you concerned — and Bradford acknowledged this — that defensive players are going to be going into Bradford’s knee?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I think everybody in this league knows what people have for injuries, so if that’s what their choice is, that’s what their choice is.  But I’m not saying Suggs did that, so don’t say that.
 
Q. Is there anything you can do to prevent it or at least help avoid it?
           
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, we can put him in a glass case. [Joking] I mean, he has to go out and play football, so I don’t ‑‑ I mean, we didn’t call any designed runs for Sam, if that’s the question.
 
Q. So how troubling could this be for you if your quarterbacks aren’t protected?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I think it would be troubling for the league if every quarterback in the shotgun can get hit.  Then, I mean, that’s their determination.  It’s up to them on how they want to handle it.
 
Q. Will you talk to Blandino at some point?
           
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, sure.  I haven’t talked to Dean since last year, so…
 
Q. But is this something you want to talk to him about?
           
CHIP KELLY:  We know the rules.  If our quarterback hands the ball off and isn’t going anywhere, you shouldn’t be able to hit him, from the way the rule’s been explained to us.  So I don’t know.  If they want to get into that, they can get into that.  But then every other quarterback in the league, when they get back in the shotgun, can be hit when they hand the ball off.  So if that’s what they want to do, then we’ll all have to adjust because everybody in the league has runs out of the shotgun.

Q. Whether it’s you or somebody else in your organization, doesn’t somebody have to talk to Blandino to question why he made this ruling?
           
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, he sends out a video and talks to the coaches at the end of every week, so he tells you what went on the week before and that’s where we get interpretations of it.
 
Q. So you will talk to him then?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I’ll get the video that he sends out this week.
 
Q. How did you think Bradford did as a thrower, specifically in getting the ball out quickly to his open receivers?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I thought Sam did a good job.  He got rushed on the one where he got hit in the chest and he missed, I think it was Nelson [WR Nelson Agholor].  We just were running a post and he threw it a little bit to the outside on Riley’s [WR Riley Cooper], but besides that I thought he was good.
 
Q. How is WR Miles Austin doing and is he going to be practicing this week?
           
CHIP KELLY:  Yes. He’ll be out there today.
 
Q. How do you think T/G Andrew Gardner played?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I thought Andrew played another good game.  We’re really pleased with how he’s playing right now.  He played well.
 
Q. Is that competition over?
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, we’ve got time.
 
Q. Is Gardner moving ahead though?
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, we’ve still got the Packers game and the Jets game before we have to do anything, so there is no reason to rush to anything.  But he’s doing a really good job.
 
Q. How would you assess the play of QBs Matt Barkley and Tim Tebow the other night?  It seemed like on one play Tebow kind of held the ball for a while.
           
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, but people were covered, too.  The one he held, I think for a while, everybody was covered and then they ended up getting a penalty for defensive holding.  So I think you’ve got to look at it.  He missed one on a zone‑play, zone‑drop where he could have hit it.  But I thought both those guys were just up‑and‑down.
 
Q. Why do you think your running game is going so well in the preseason?
           
CHIP KELLY:  I think our line is doing a really good job at the point of attack.  And I think our running backs are hitting it.
 
Q. S Jerome Couplin played a lot and was really active. What did you see from him?
           
CHIP KELLY:  We were just happy to get him back out on the field.  It was unfortunate that he had the appendicitis and then the appendectomy.  So we didn’t get a chance to play him in the first game.  He was behind a little bit just because he hadn’t gotten those game reps, but I thought in the run game he was really good.  There were a couple things he could clean up in the pass game, but the run game was really good, and he did a good job on special teams.
 
Q. I’m sure you heard about some of the injuries this weekend. Packers WR Jordy Nelson sustained a serious one.  You’ve been a little, I guess, conservative with how you’ve had some of your starters and first teamers play.  Do you look at the preseason differently three years into your time as an NFL head coach in terms of the value of playing in those games versus the possibility of having a season‑threatening injury?
           
CHIP KELLY:  No, I think you just weigh it on what they did and who needs what out of the whole deal.  My first year here we had a quarterback battle, and that’s why those guys were playing because we didn’t know who our quarterback was.  But our guys haven’t played a lot of reps in the first two games, if you’re [looking at] your quote unquote guys that we’d consider starters.  But it’s a fine line in how you play them.
           
You look at what happened in Washington. I said it after the first game, [Washington] lost both their tight ends.  It’s tough.  You lose someone, a player like Jordy Nelson, what a great player who does everything right and it looked like, from the quick view I saw on TV, it was a non‑contact injury because he kind of turned and spun. I think [Steelers C Maurkice] Pouncey went down in that game from what I heard.  It’s fine line.
 
Q. There have been discussions about having half the preseason games and maybe two more regular season games.  How would you feel about that?  In college football they don’t have a preseason and everyone just plays the first game.  Do you think that would be even make a little more sense in the NFL?
             
CHIP KELLY:  That’s above my pay grade.
 
Q. If LB Marcus Smith does not return this preseason, have you seen enough from him to get a sense of how he can fit in this year?
             
CHIP KELLY:  No, not really.  I mean, we got one game, so it’s tough to project.  Obviously, this camp is better than last camp.  But with one game, it’s tough to project where that whole thing will shake itself out and it’s just been unfortunate for him.
 
Q. What has impressed you the most about WR Rasheed Bailey?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I missed it.  I just heard something about Bailey.  What did you say?
 
Q. What’s impressed you most about him?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I thought coming in here that it may be a little bit too big for him just because [he was] coming from Delaware Valley, but he’s kind of handled everything really well.  First game in the Linc or first two games in the Linc, I thought he’s shown up in both games.  He works extremely hard at it, has a great work ethic.  We knew that.  But then what you don’t know when you have players like that is is the game going to be too big for him?  But he has the skillset to play, and I think he’s shown us that.
 
Q. Have you done much analysis of Bradford here in camp and how quickly the ball comes out in terms of release from snap to the pass?  Is that something you saw prior with him when he was with the Rams?  Is that part of his skillset — the fact that he does get rid of it quicker?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, yeah, that’s one of the reasons we traded for him.  We’re very impressed with that, whether it was from college or the time he was with the Rams and we’re seeing the same things here.
 
Q. Does that come from how he processes the play when he gets it in from you or does that come from physical strength?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think it comes from both, but he is really sharp at processing things, and that’s part of the thing about being a great quarterback. You’ve got to be a great decision maker and I think he really makes good decisions.
 
Q. S Chris Prosinski only had five snaps in the game and that was a sharp decline from week one. Was there a reason for that?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, they were just holding him back a little bit.  We’ll see if he can go full this week.
 
Q. In regards to RB Kenjon Barner and the way he’s been returning punts, is a lot of that vision, acceleration? What has made him so effective as a return man?
             
CHIP KELLY:  It’s part of what being a good running back is all about.  I think it is vision, it’s his ability to make people miss. On both returns for touchdowns, there have been a couple of unblocked guys that he’s made miss.  You can’t block them all coming down the field, but the unblocked guys, he made miss and on both plays gotten to where we were trying to get a return and it was blocked up pretty good.
             
But he’s done a great job of making those initial guys miss while moving forward, and that’s what you always want in a returner.  A lot of guys can try to do it, but they’re always working east and west.  The one thing with Kenjon, he’s a lot like [RB] Darren [Sproles] in terms of he’s always hitting it and going downhill and we’re going to get positive yardage out of him, whether it be a 5‑yard gain or 10‑yard gain or he can break one for a touchdown.  He’s not a dance guy back there that’s trying to figure out how to hit a home run but they end up losing yards on the thing. I think he’s always advancing the football and that’s what we want our returners to do.
 
Q. On Rasheed Bailey, you’ve coached at a lot of different levels of college.  For somebody making a jump like that, what is the biggest problem?  What is the biggest hurdle?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think the thing I just talked about is really between the ears.  Can they handle it?  There are a lot of guys at all levels that you see have the athletic ability and skillset to play at this level, but they kind of get overwhelmed by it.  For some reason, they hold themselves back and they don’t play with confidence.  They kind of talk themselves out of it instead of talking themselves into it.
             
That is the thing that’s impressed me with him is that he hasn’t been overwhelmed by the situation.  It’s a credit to him.  A lot of guys, you don’t see that happen, but for him I think he’s got a sense of maturity to him and it hasn’t been too big for him.
 
Q. You referenced the turnovers that S Walter Thurmond has forced throughout the summer.  Is there something about him that gives him a knack for creating turnovers?
             
CHIP KELLY:  I think he’s smart.  He always seems to be around the ball.  Very rarely is he out of place.  So he’s got an intuitive feel for where the football’s going to be.  Then he’s got outstanding hands.  So I think when the ball is out, you watch the interception, it was a one‑handed [catch]. He’s done that a couple times out here.  You can see him catch the football in a wide variety of ways, and just he’s really, really a smart football player so he always seems to be around the ball.
 
Q. How did DE Vinny Curry and LB Brad Jones do at outside linebacker?
             
CHIP KELLY:  They both did well.  I think Vinny had been practicing there for about a week and a half, almost two weeks.  So it was his first real game experience out there.  But I know [Defensive Coordinator] Billy [Davis] and [Outside Linebackers Coach Bill McGovern] McGovs and [Defensive Line /Assistant Head Coach Jerry Azzinaro] Azz and all those guys are really happy with where he is.  And Brad’s played it, so he’s got a really good understanding.  He’s just a really smart football player.  But both those guys we thought did well.
 
Q. Will the three inside linebackers do everything today?
             
CHIP KELLY:  Yeah, they should.  They’re full go.  So work them back in and hopefully get them back on the field, barring any setbacks.
 
Q. Is it possible that you keep five running backs?
             
CHIP KELLY:  We keep what?
 
Q. That you would keep five running backs?
             
CHIP KELLY:  We haven’t gotten into that.  We’re going to keep the 53 best football players.