November 30, 2015
Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly asked me on Monday morning to deliver him a pie -- a good-luck charm that brought five straight wins to his Eagles two seasons ago. When I asked what kind, he left that decision up to me.
OK, then -- later this week, I will bring him a fresh-baked humble pie. Because never, in his three years here, has he exhibited the humility that two ghastly losses have demanded of him. Never in his seven-year head-coaching career has he dealt with the adversity facing him right now.
In fact, Kelly has begun using a phrase that would have seemed foreign to him just a season ago.
I don’t know.
The first time he made that confession was when he was asked why Tampa Bay had squashed the Eagles, 45-17, eight days ago. He said it again after Detroit had ruined Thanksgiving with a similar 45-14 thrashing. His Eagles gave up 90 points in five days -- in games they had to win against mediocre opponents.
How is this possible? How could the innovator who choreographed his practices to the beat of music, the forward thinker who embraced sports science with smoothies and sleep monitors, the coach who had never experienced anything close to a losing season, suddenly provide no answers for his lost team?
The answer, of course, is that Kelly himself is lost.
His power play for control of personnel has ravaged his roster, and – even more significantly – has undermined his philosophy. Scheme beats talent? Culture is more important than skill? No and no.
Over the next few weeks, the only important question hanging over the Eagles is whether the coach deserves a chance to clean up his own mess. Unlike Andy Reid, Kelly has built no equity in the front office with his people skills. The snubs in the hallway and the sarcastic answers to reasonable questions are all conspiring against him now.
As owner Jeff Lurie ponders the immediate future of his team, he needs to consider whether his bright but obstinate coach can do more than just admit he doesn’t know why his team has imploded. The coach has to be willing to change the things that aren’t working. Kelly has to accept that he has been wrong, in both his methodology and his manner.
So far, other than his humble demeanor, there is little actual evidence that Kelly will do that. In fact, the Thanksgiving massacre showed quite the opposite, as the coach’s stubbornness led to a humiliation that defied logic.
As Fox commentator Troy Aikman scrambled for new ways to express his astonishment, Kelly refused to alter his strategy for covering Detroit’s world-class wide receiver Calvin Johnson after starting cornerback Nolan Carroll broke his ankle in the first quarter.
For most of the game, Kelly -- and clueless defensive coordinator Billy Davis -- allowed Johnson to baptize rookie Eric Rowe into the NFL with eight catches for 93 yards and three touchdowns. Kelly said after the game that he tried to counteract the bad matchup with more pressure on quarterback Matthew Stafford. Helping Rowe was not a priority.
If Kelly isn’t willing to change his approach while getting nationally embarrassed on Thanksgiving, what are the chances he’ll entertain more important long-range issues like his spectacular failure as a GM, the health problems resulting from his hurry-up offense or the lack of effort by free-agent busts DeMarco Murray and Byron Maxwell?
Lurie has a reputation for patience under duress, but he will face a new challenge in the weeks ahead. The owner will have to decide if it’s possible for his lost coach to find himself again, and for his franchise to un-do the damage of this devastating season.
Is Chip Kelly willing to change? Will he come back for a fourth season with the Eagles?
If the answer to the first question is no, then the answer to the second one should be obvious.
***
There is actually one member of the Eagles who has acted more misguided than coach Chip Kelly in recent days. He is Lane Johnson, an offensive lineman who truly has been offensive on and off the field during the collapse of his team.
In the midst of a combined 90-31 obliteration by opponents over a five-day span, Johnson decided it was the perfect time to blame the real culprits for his and his teammates’ failures – the fans.
Huh? The same fans who have waited 55 years for an NFL championship, and aren’t likely to be scheduling any parades in the near future? The same fans who fill every seat at every game, in good times and bad? The same fans who are currently financing Johnson’s $20 million contract?
Yup, same fans.
Johnson saw fit to rip into them after the 45-17 loss to Tampa for denying the Eagles a home-field advantage. Johnson whined that all of the booing at that game hurt the morale of his teammates, thereby adding to their failures on the field. Of course, the Eagles then immediately lost even worse, 45-14, on the road in Detroit.
Johnson didn’t help matters when he became a human turnstile after replacing Jason Peters at left tackle early in the loss to the Lions. A first-round draft pick who has played more like a third-rounder, Johnson would be wise to find someone else to blame. The fans will not boo Johnson and his underachieving teammates if they play well.
What is so difficult for Johnson to understand here? Winning equals cheers. Losing equals boos. Got it?
If Johnson wants to bring back the home-field advantage at Lincoln Financial Field, here’s a thought: Maybe he should start earning the money those fans are paying him to play for their team.
***
There are no numbers in the analytics world where Sixers GM Sam Hinkie resides that will explain what is happening right now to Jahlil Okafor. There is no statistical breakdown that will describe what it’s like for a 19-year-old basketball player to lose the first 18 games of his NBA career.
And that’s why no one in the front office has explained the Boston street fight Okafor recklessly started after a Celtics fan informed the young star that “the Sixers suck” -- or another nightclub incident back in October that was also triggered by hecklers. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the culture of losing is at the core of these dangerous incidents.
In Okafor’s one season at Duke, he won a national championship and led the Blue Demons to a 35-4 record. Before that, his high school, Whitney Young in Chicago, won a state championship and went 94-29. He has won most of the biggest awards available to young players. He has been a star since the first time he stepped onto a basketball court.
And now, for the first time in his life, he is a loser. There is no Hinkie computer program to explain the impact this pathetic Sixers roster is having on that young man. All we know is that Okafor was no thug before he got to Philadelphia, nor does he appear to be one now. He is a victim of circumstance, courtesy of his GM.
What the incidents do expose is the folly of Hinkie’s rebuilding plan. A terrific analysis on this website last week by Rich Hofmann revealed another example of the GM’s ineptitude, and this time it is right there, on the basketball court, for every fan to see.
The pairing of Okafor and Nerlens Noel – two thirds of the future front line with Joel Embiid – has been “disastrous,” according to Hofmann, and he has the stats to prove it. The bottom line is that their styles do not complement each other, at least right now. The Sixers are a much better team when they are not on the court together.
Of course, Hinkie never calculated how the two talents would mesh, because he is too busy acquiring every asset he can get, regardless of how they all fit together. Hinkie is all about numbers, without taking into consideration basic human behavior.
That’s why the Okafor-Noel pairing has not worked, why Okafor risked serious injury by lashing out twice at hecklers, and – above all – why Hinkie’s plan is destined to fail.
***
And finally ...
• All of the talk about overuse last season and a poor offensive line this year begs the question of how DeMarco Murray could be so amazing in 2014 and so ineffective now. Actually, there are 21 million reasons. That’s how much the running back was guaranteed in his new deal with the Eagles. Free agents often take the money and run. Murray has just taken the money.
• The most bizarre coaching hire by Chip Kelly continues to haunt the Eagles. Billy Davis held 10 previous jobs in his career, most resulting in failure. Why is Davis the defensive coordinator? What made Kelly think Davis would succeed here? How many more 45-point games will it take for Kelly to fix the problem? Stay tuned.
• Now that the Cowboys are dead at 3-8, is it OK to talk about how owner Jerry Jones’ obsession with bad acts like Greg Hardy and Dez Bryant created the karma that broke quarterback Tony Romo’s collarbone twice? The only consolation in this awful Eagles season is that Dallas is even worse.
• If you’re trying to figure out what jersey makes the most sense for Christmas in this barren wasteland of Philadelphia sports, you can’t do much better than Flyers’ 22-year-old defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who won two games in the past week with blistering one-timers in OT. That kid can play.
• I can’t believe I’m writing this, but Temple football has become a refuge from all the losing for me, and probably for many other disgruntled Philadelphia sports fans. I have watched more Temple football this season than in the last 10 years combined. No more wisecracks, at least until coach Matt Rhule leaves. Go, Owls!
