TSO Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 https://theringer.com/chip-kelly-san-francisco-49ers-offense-f332f053870e#.6ryb44v6d Excellent article I came across and thought I'd share considering how much of a topic of conversation Chip's been around here. Must read, imho. Quote His offense was the epitome of speed, scoring, and football style. Three years ago, he took the NFL by storm. But it’s been downhill ever since. What happened to one of the game’s greatest minds? And can he recapture the magic in San Francisco? By Thanksgiving Day 2014, it looked like the NFL had found its coach of the future. Armed with a diabolically clever spread offense and fueled by a sports science program that had somehow made smoothies a topic of national conversation, Chip Kelly’s Philadelphia Eagles smashed the Dallas Cowboys 33–10, all but sealing the 9–3 Eagles’ second straight NFC East title under Kelly. But now, in 2016, the idea that Kelly — whose team made the playoffs just once in three years and who ultimately was fired with a game left in the 2015 season — could personally usher in a football revolution seems almost quaint. Bill Parcells once said football “is not a game for well-adjusted people,” but Kelly, now the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, is unusual even by the standards of football coaches. From his puzzling power plays and bizarreroster moves to his odd backstory (it took Kelly 10 years to get his undergraduate degree and most — including Kelly’s biographer — thought he was a lifelong bachelor until The Washington Post discovered last year that Kelly had been married for seven years in the ’90s), Kelly is one of the most enigmatic figures in football. But analysis of Chip Kelly the person and Chip Kelly the general manager has obscured a more straightforward question: What happened to Chip Kelly the offensive guru? Kelly’s vaunted spread offense incinerated his opponents when he coached at Oregon — including college defenses coached by NFL-pedigreed luminaries like Pete Carroll (613 yards and 47 points), Monte Kiffin (730 yards and 62 points; 599 yards and 53 points), and current Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio (626 yards and 52 points) — and it dazzled the NFL as his 2013 Eagles team finished first in rushing yards, rushing yards per attempt, and yards per play, third in offensive efficiency (per Football Outsiders), and fourth in scoring. But in the two years since Kelly’s offense has gotten progressively worse, bottoming out in 2015 as the Eagles ranked a putrid 26th in efficiency, 23rd in yards per play, and 28th in adjusted yards per pass attempt. And now Kelly — stripped of any oversight over personnel — is in charge of a 49ers offense that boasts arguably the worst skill-position talent in the NFLand will be led at quarterback by Blaine Gabbert, whose 71.9 career passer rating puts him behind such exalted figures as Geno Smith and Brandon Weeden. While Kelly’s Oregon and early Eagles offenses broke records by weaving together multiple formations, adaptable running schemes, and multifaceted read-options, all powered by an ingenious spread offense philosophy and a frenetic, up-tempo pace, in the past two years those elements have been undermined or simply fallen away, and Kelly’s offense has become, in Evan Mathis’s words, the most “never-evolving, vanilla offense” in the NFL. How did that happen? Click on the link for a lot more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 Head this article mentioned on Simmons podcast and wanted to read it. Thanks for posting For those unaware, The Ringer is basically the new Grantland that Simmons started after being fired from ESPN. Same type of content and most of the writers followed him over too. Now, to read the article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade7 Posted September 10, 2016 Share Posted September 10, 2016 48 minutes ago, Momma There Goes That Man said: Head this article mentioned on Simmons podcast and wanted to read it. Thanks for posting For those unaware, The Ringer is basically the new Grantland that Simmons started after being fired from ESPN. Same type of content and most of the writers followed him over too. Now, to read the article Read that and another article on Justin Blackmon. Just some incredible writing, they do great work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BornaSkinsFan83 Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Haven't read the article in the OP but I did look at the Blackmon piece the other day. I don't know. I get the appeal of longform journalism but...I don't remember who said it (Steinbeck or Twain I think?) but the quote is basically that the best writing is to "say as much as possible in as few words as possible." That's how I like my wiring. BThe Blackmon piece had I think five full paragraphs on his smile. Five. So much longform just seems like a complete waste of time to me. Complete overkill trying to be poetic. The writer trying be special instead of the subject. But that's just me. Don't want to turn this into a long firm hijack. I'll def check out the Chip piece when I have some down time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma There Goes That Man Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Oddly one of the things Simmons talks about is how journalism has changed and people dont want long articles anymore. They would rather have lots of smaller snippets and pieces and that's something they looked at and are trying to incorporate into the Ringer. With so many people consuming their news and reading on phones and tablets they want shorter peices. So we will see now that shapes up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s0crates Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 He's occupying space in our heads! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I think Chip will do pretty well out in SF. I mean, he's gonna get fired after a couple years but it's not gonna be a total disaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Califan007 The Constipated Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Just now, TryTheBeal! said: I think Chip will do pretty well out in SF. I mean, he's gonna get fired after a couple years but it's not gonna be a total disaster. "Pretty well" = "Not a total disaster" lol... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 6-10, 8-8, 6-10, fired. Something like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhead36 Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I still think he can be a good coach, just don't let him control personnel. When he had talent he won. He's not some revolutionary like Bill Walsh, but he can win games with the right players(like a lot of coaches). It'll be a tough first couple years in San Fran though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voice_of_Reason Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 1 hour ago, Warhead36 said: I still think he can be a good coach, just don't let him control personnel. When he had talent he won. He's not some revolutionary like Bill Walsh, but he can win games with the right players(like a lot of coaches). It'll be a tough first couple years in San Fran though. That's a pretty tough division to break through in, though. And you've got to be a little tough in the trenches, or Seattle and Arizina will thump you into the pacific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeDinNYC Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 7 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said: I think Chip will do pretty well out in SF. I mean, he's gonna get fired after a couple years but it's not gonna be a total disaster. good stuff right there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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