49ers hire Chip Kelly as new coach

How Does Chip Kelly"s Hiring Affect Colin Kaepernick? | NFL Now

Whether you love him or hate him or are completely indifferent to the guy, the 49ers went big in hiring Chip Kelly as their new head coach Thursday.

Aah, who are we kidding? No sports fan is indifferent to Chip Kelly.

In Kelly, the Niners welcome one of the NFLs most potent lightning rods. His three years coaching the Philadelphia Eagles were either a thrilling success or a huge disappointment, depending on whom you talk to.

He is either an offensive genius or a defensive liability. He wants control over his teams roster, or hes perfectly content to focus on Xs and Os. Hes a wry wit. Hes an acerbic b**b. Hes a racist.

Its a good hire, said one NFL Network analyst, Steve Mariucci, who coached the 49ers from 1997-2002.

Foolish. Insane. Asinine. Backwards, said another, former NFL fullback Heath Evans. I have no clue what (general manager) Trent Baalke and (CEO) Jed York were thinking.

Theres no telling whether the 49ers can stagger away from the scene of last years 5-11 record under Jim Tomsula and become a playoff team once again under Kellys guidance. But its almost certain to be an entertaining show.

I think Chip Kelly is a very driven individual, particularly when it comes to football, said Nick Aliotti, who was the defensive coordinator at the University of Oregon when Kelly was the offensive coordinator and then the head coach there. Ill never forget when I was talking to Chip, and his main goal was to someday win a Super Bowl. So hes driven by that. He loves the game.

And the fact that he got back on the saddle three weeks to a month after getting fired, and going back into it, probably speaks volumes in his approach to show that he can get this done with his system, his way in the NFL.

Kellys way doesnt look like anybody elses. At Oregon he became famous for having assistants hold up picture placards on the sidelines everything from a jack-o-lantern to a toaster to the Burger King mascot to signal in plays, rather than relying on hand signals.

That was because hand signals are too slow. Kellys offense is built upon speed. His goal is to run as many plays as he can in as short a time as possible. His Oregon Ducks and his Philadelphia Eagles rarely huddled.

According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Eagles averaged one play every 23.1 seconds under Kelly, a good three seconds faster than any other NFL team.

The system puts tremendous strain on opposing defenses, preventing them from making substitutions and demanding they read formations and plays in a matter of seconds.

Its also a burden for his own defense. Kellys offense is on and off the field so fast, the guys on the other side of the ball rarely get to rest. Largely because of how many snaps they were forced to play, the Philadelphia defense never ranked higher than 28th out of 32 teams during his tenure there.

When we were at Oregon we played like a hockey team on defense, where you were substituting different guys every three or four plays if the tempo got to be too fast, said Aliotti, now a studio analyst for Pac-12 Networks. Thats something you have to make sure youre recruiting the right guys, drafting the right guys, and guys are in shape and guys are with you 100 percent. But it definitely can work.

Source: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/sports/5073817-181/49ers-hire-chip-kelly-as

Continue Reading ..

Chip Kelly Should Angle for the Indianapolis Colts Job ... Or Go Into ...

Breaking News: Eagles Release Head Coach Chip Kelly | NFL News

By: Jason Lisk| 9 hours agoFollow @jasonlisk

Chip Kelly is out in Philadelphia. His reign of terror in the City of Brotherly Love has come to a swiftly-guillotined end. Things starting going south last year, as the offense began to regress and the Eagles went from 9-3 to out of the playoffs. This year, after Kelly won a power struggle behind the scenes, his moves faltered and he paid the price.

He never could get a really good quarterback, and that was at least in part his fault. Sure, the Eagles werent in a position to draft a franchise QB, and they dont go on trees, but he went in on Sam Bradford this year in a trade, after signing Mark Sanchez (who has still been awful), and riding Nick Foles. That, along with jettisoning other talent on offense (that didnt meld personality-wise) led to the offensive demise.

DeMarco Murray Reportedly Told Jeffrey Lurie He Had No Confidence in Chip Kelly as a Coach10hr ago

Even with all that, the Eagles are 9th in Net Yards per Pass Attempt since the start of 2013 season. Look at the other teams on the list in front of Philadelphia and directly behind them, in terms of who the primary quarterback during that success has been. Its not even close in terms of doing more with less, personnel-wise, than what the Eagles have done with who theyve had at the most important position.

Of course, theres one team out there with a top QB prospect and a supporting cast set up to have more success than theyve shown to date. Its one that ranks solidly behind the Eagles in terms of passing production over the last three years. And no, Im not talking about the Tennessee Titans. Plenty of folks will point to the Mariota connection, and the Titans having a high pick.

Indianapolis Colts are the Most Painful Team to Watch in the NFL This Year3w ago

But if Im Kelly, Im angling for the Colts job. Maybe dont go down the road of trying to find success from someone like Sam Bradford or Mark Sanchez again, Chip. Andrew Luck is in place. T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, and Philip Dorsett are in place and dont seem to be as abrasive in the locker room as DeSean Jackson (and yes, removing that type of playmaker cost the Eagles dearly, and hopefully Chip learned that). Your #1 hurdle to longevity and success is removed.

Add in that Indianapolis is arguably even bigger of a disappointment than the Eagles. In the division they are in, what they have done this year is a major letdown, even with the Luck injury. Chuck Pagano and Ryan Grigson are at odds. If you think that Kelly made poor decisions with personnel, consider where the Colts roster is with Grigsons major decisions (Luck was a no-brainer).

This is the opportunity for Jim Irsay to clean house, bring in a new personnel person to work with Kelly (dont let him shop for the groceries on defense) and embark on the next era. Im confident that Kelly can work in the NFL if he learns from his mistakes and gets a QB.

Barring that, I think his other move (and this assumes that the Eagles would be on the hook for his coaching salary) is not to rush it and go into television for a year, charm the establishment and the media. He can be a funny guy and I think he would play well on TV. ESPN and the other networks would crave him. His demand for a NFL job wont be any worse a year from now, and he can sit back and take stock, and h**l also have the college options as a leverage point (even though Kelly insists he still wants to coach in the NFL).

After that, I would rank his options as:

3) Tennessee with the Mariota connection, and cap space and young team with small media market and suppressed expectations;

4) San Francisco, if they want to give Colin Kaepernick another go and move on from the easily-replaceable Jim Tomsula;

5) Miami, where he could see if he could get something out of Ryan Tannehill and look like a genius.

6-98) anywhere else outside of Ohio;

..

99) the Browns.

Chip Kelly, Indianapolis Colts, Philadelphia Eagles, NFL

Source: http://thebiglead.com/2015/12/29/chip-kelly-should-angle-for-the-indianapolis-colts-job-or-go-into-television-for-a-year/

Continue Reading ..