CCBoy
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Sabin: Does Eagles coach Chip Kelly's offensive approach undermine his defense?
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...-offensive-approach-undermine-his-defense.ece
IRVING
For the next few months, and especially on Sunday, the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles will battle for supremacy in the NFC East. The rivalry has long interested pro football fans because each franchise has fielded competitive teams and featured gigantic personalities over the years. In this day and age, none is bigger than Chip Kelly, the Eagles' head coach.
Kelly is viewed as either a genius or madman, an iconoclast in a sport that promotes conformity. He has a unique offensive philosophy based on maximizing the number of plays and possessions to increase the Eagles' chances of scoring. And they have more than every other team except Denver and New England since Kelly was hired in 2013.
But during that same stretch, no club has held the ball for a shorter period of time than the Eagles, who haven't won a playoff game and are 5-4 in December under Kelly's watch. In each of Kelly's first two seasons in Philadelphia, the Eagles were ranked last in the NFL in time of possession. Standing across Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday will be the team that finished first in that statistical category in 2014 - the Cowboys. Last year, Dallas held the ball on average 32 minutes, 26 seconds, almost six minutes longer per game than the Eagles.
The Cowboys won the NFC East in 2014 with a formula that consisted of controlling the ball and limiting the exposure of a suspect defense. Over the course of the year, it seemed to produce a positive, cumulative effect. The Cowboys finished 4-0 in December as the Eagles stumbled to a 1-3 record in the final month of the season...
http://www.***BANNED-URL***/sports/...-offensive-approach-undermine-his-defense.ece
IRVING
For the next few months, and especially on Sunday, the Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles will battle for supremacy in the NFC East. The rivalry has long interested pro football fans because each franchise has fielded competitive teams and featured gigantic personalities over the years. In this day and age, none is bigger than Chip Kelly, the Eagles' head coach.
Kelly is viewed as either a genius or madman, an iconoclast in a sport that promotes conformity. He has a unique offensive philosophy based on maximizing the number of plays and possessions to increase the Eagles' chances of scoring. And they have more than every other team except Denver and New England since Kelly was hired in 2013.
But during that same stretch, no club has held the ball for a shorter period of time than the Eagles, who haven't won a playoff game and are 5-4 in December under Kelly's watch. In each of Kelly's first two seasons in Philadelphia, the Eagles were ranked last in the NFL in time of possession. Standing across Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday will be the team that finished first in that statistical category in 2014 - the Cowboys. Last year, Dallas held the ball on average 32 minutes, 26 seconds, almost six minutes longer per game than the Eagles.
The Cowboys won the NFC East in 2014 with a formula that consisted of controlling the ball and limiting the exposure of a suspect defense. Over the course of the year, it seemed to produce a positive, cumulative effect. The Cowboys finished 4-0 in December as the Eagles stumbled to a 1-3 record in the final month of the season...
