The Chip Wagon

A New Era with Some Refreshing Changes

Yes, I am fully aware that if I am going to add new posts in the 2016 season that the blog needs to undertake a name and branding change. Truth is, I am not sure how much I'll be able to commit to any regular positing but follow me on Twitter at @chipwagoneer or follow the feed to best receive updates on when I manage to add something new here. Honestly, I haven't had much time to really dive deep into any of the preseason material, but the dress rehearsal was one game I paid close attention to. There were couple of general themes from the last regime that caught my eye on Saturday night. 

I have to go deep back into the archives for this one, but prior to last season when the Eagles made the trade for the immobile Sam Bradford, I wrote a long post about how Chip would have to introduce some different concepts if he wanted to insist on his overall philosophy of running out of a shotgun spread. The fact of the matter is, there's a reason so many teams (including Doug Pederson) run out of the shotgun spread. Chip's philosophy was built around tempo and simplifying a playbook so that they could execute less concepts at a faster pace. In Oregon, Chip mixed up the running game quite a bit with inside zone, outside zone, power, sweep, etc. By the time Chip's career was ending in Philadelphia his running philosophy grew incredibly stale where he relied primarily on inside zone and a sweep play. One of the main reasons Chip was successful running out of the shotgun spread at Oregon was because he often had mobile QBs  who were a threat to run the zone read on the backside. This forced the backside defender to stay honest (and unblocked!) and allow them to win a numbers game with double teams on the playside.  Things started well in Philadelphia with Michael Vick for much the same reason. Heck, even Nick Foles was willing to keep and run when the defense gave it to him, and that helped the Eagles have one of the more potent running attacks in the NFL in Chip's first season. When Sam Bradford joined the Eagles the dynamic dramatically changed. If Chip was going to continue being successful running a shortlist of running concepts, he was going to have to build in some other constraints. Early on Chip used things like orbit motion and packaged plays to challenge the backside of the defense on his inside zone, outside zone and sweep running concepts. As time went on, he dramatically moved away from that and I never understood why. The zone read, orbit motion and packaged plays were almost non-existent once Sam Bradford took over the offense. I can understand the first, but if he was going to continue to run the same simple run concepts out of a shotgun spread he needed to add some constraints. One of which I screamed for was the jet sweep. As frustrating as it was to not see this in 2015, it was refreshing to see it last Saturday night in the preseason. 

First, I realize this wasn't out of the shotgun but the same principles apply. Highlighted below you will see how the Eagles run inside zone to the left with the threat of jet motion to the right. The idea behind this is exactly the same as using orbit motion or the zone read to freeze an unblocked backside defender (#93). As the play progresses you can see the hesitation from #93 off the snap. Furthermore, you can see how the Eagles OL win the numbers game on the playside with some double team and second-level opportunities. Furthermore, Zach Ertz sells the block on # 93 and then lets him go to get down to the second-level defender. As you can see the run action freezes #93 just enough that he can't get Josh Huff in the backfield and it's game over: 

  

People who have read this blog or follow me on twitter know that I am not one of Sam Bradford's biggest fans. However, another thing that was pretty obvious to me on Saturday night is just how much comfortable Sam Bradford looks in this offense. I know Sam looked like a Hall of Famer in week 3 of the preseason last year, but there is something about his poise in the pocket and his control of the offense that looks more legit this year. I think Pederson does a great job of getting the offense out of the huddle quickly and Sam looks a lot more comfortable surveying the field and making adjustments. The following play was an encouraging sign where the Colts bring a corner blitz off the edge from the DB covering Dorial Green-Beckham. Sam takes the snap and immediately looks to the middle of the field. As he scans to the bottom of the screen, he sees the blitzing CB and immediately lets the ball rip and hits DGB in stride. Really nice read and reaction from Bradford:

 

Lastly, I am sure Pederson will carry over some favorites from the Chip Kelly playbook. Here's one in particular. The Eagles ran this passing concept to death during the Chip Kelly era with a pretty good level of success. It's a play really designed to beat man coverage and run shallow crossing routes with the hope to set natural rubs underneath to free up a receiver coming out of the mesh point. One way the Eagles evolved this play against zone coverage is to run another receiver beyond that mesh point so when the cross receivers depart, the additional receiver can sit in the spot vacated from the mesh point. The play works perfectly here out of 13 personnel with 3 Tight Ends. Brent Celek and Zach Ertz will run the shallow crossing routes and you can see all 3 Colts linebackers step up at the mesh point. As the receivers separate Trey Burton does a nice job sneaking behind the linebackers and sitting in a nice soft spot in the middle of the field. Bradford hits him for a 1st down:

 

Doug Pederson has described his offense as a hybrid WCO with spread concepts. I must admit I've seen fewer spread concepts in the 3 preseason games than I had hoped but I am sure they are holding some things back in the preseason. Furthermore, they are going to play to their personnel and Bradford is very familiar and comfortable with many of the WCO concepts Pederson and Andy Reid employed in Kansas City. I expect the hybrid offense and spread concepts to appear more if and when Carson Wentz gets his chance. 

 

Where Did it All Go Wrong? The Rise and Fall of Chip Kelly

I apologize for what was a very quiet 2015 NFL season at the Chipwagon this past year. There are a couple reasons for that. 1) I started a new job in September and it has been pretty demanding of my time and balancing that with the family life didn't leave a lot of time left to put blog posts together. 2) Watching the 2015 season was one of the worst and most frustrating seasons I can recall watching. I realize that this was far from one of the worst seasons in Eagles history, but from beginning to end it was just so frustrating and aggravating to watch. We had lapses in execution all season long and Chip's offense that I loved so much in 2013 and 2014 just went completely stale.  The truth is, there is no one reason why things didn't work out in Philadelphia. Certainly, Chip the GM, Chip's personality, the power struggle with Howie Roseman and his apparent fractured relationship with Jeff Lurie will lead the way in the headlines. Our old friend @sheilkapadia was spot on this assessment which really nicely summarized the downfall of the Kelly regime. However, to look at it from another angle, one really needs to understand that Lurie's decision was not exclusively a non-footbal decision. To put it bluntly, the Chip Kelly we fell in love with just stopped showing up on the chalkboard in 2015. The offense we saw in 2015 was a stripped down version of what we saw in 2013 and 2014 and lacked any imagination, creativity or evolution as defenses around the league continued to adjust and catch up. Furthermore, it seemed in 3 years Chip Kelly's offense lacked some of the fundamental concepts and philosophies that need to be considered and applied in the pro game. Here is my post-mortem and likely final chapter on Chip Kelly's offense.

What Do We Gain with Mark Sanchez?

For the second straight year, the Philadelphia Eagles playoff hopes rest on the shoulders of Mark Sanchez. While it is unclear how many games Sam Bradford is going to miss, at 4-5, the Eagles have left themselves with such a low margin for error that the game this weekend against Tampa Bay has to be considered a must-win. With Sam Bradford at the helm, the Eagles offense has been inconsistent and uneven all season long. However, while Bradford was showing some improvement, he just wasn't get the job done. As much as I've seen my fill of Sanchez as the Eagles starting QB I must admit, this offense desperately needs a spark from somewhere. Can it be from Mark Sanchez? Based on the predictable back-breaking INT he threw vs. the Dolphins last weekend in relief duty it doesn't look likely. During much of the offseason, it seems the basement most people set for Bradford, "if healthy" was that he could be Mark Sanchez without the turnovers. Whoops. In 9 starts this season Sam Bradford has 10 INTs and 6 fumbles. In 8 starts last year, Sanchez had 11 INTs and 7 fumbles. I could sit here and right a post about how Mark Sanchez is a poor decision maker and a turnover machine but everyone knows it and everyone has covered that.

Bradford's performance this season begged the very good question from Jimmy Kempski, "What Does Sam Bradford Do Well?" Truth is, while Bradford has had some bright spots this year, there's absolutely nothing that you can hang your hat on that he has done consistently well. We thought we were getting an excellent decision maker. We haven't seen it. We thought we were getting an accurate passer. We haven't seen it. We thought we were getting a guy who would thrive in the fast pace no-huddle offense. Haven't seen that either.  

The one immediately noticeable thing we all saw when Sanchez took over was a dramatic difference in the pace that this offense moved. It appeared Bradford was running this offense at a snails pace compared to everyone else who has run this offense. Pace and tempo is one of the competitive advantages of Chip's Kelly's offense. Bradford hasn't been able to run it that way for whatever reason. 

But unfortunately, tempo alone doesn't win football games. If you are looking for perhaps a glimmer of hope on what Sanchez might offer that could jump start this offense, I might have something for you. 

One Step Forward?: Gameplan vs. Execution in the Passing Game

In my last post, I talked about the Eagles improvements in the running game vs. the Saints being a mix of better execution from the personnel and better game-planning from the coaches. I think its fair to say that the same can be said for the passing game last Sunday. First and foremost, I thought Chip did a good job deciding to attack with the passing game from the start and even his decision to go for it on 4th down on the opening drive (more on that in a bit) was a good one to try and extend the rhythm they have had such a hard time establishing in the first several games. That said, I think it's important to note that the Saints do not have a good defense and were beat up in the secondary. It played a major role in making the Eagles offense looking good. 

The Eagles Ground Game: From Hot Mess to Work in Progress

Needless to say, the Eagles really needed to get the ground game working if we were to expect to see any improvements on the offensive side of the ball. Fortunately, we saw that on Sunday against a tough New York Jets front. Fran Duffy over at Philadelphiaeagles.com did a great job outlining how the Eagles game-planned against that Jets defensive front with a heavy dose of outside running to avoid the interior of the Jets DL. Certainly, after reviewing the All-22 we saw some major improvements in the execution of the run game, but Chip also did an excellent job of moving away from the inside zone and sweep play and introduced a bit more diversity in the run game. In this post, we'll talk a little bit about how Chip mixed up formations and used a heavy dose of outside zone to attack the Jets with some decent success. That said, the Eagles only averaged 3.2 yards per carry on Sunday, and even against a strong Jets front, that is a number that needs to improve moving forward. As you'll see in this post, this group is still a work in progress who now faces another challenge in dealing with Andrew Gardner's season-ending injury.