Nick Piccone
This will, for sure, silence Stephen A. Smith, methinks.
Yesterday, Chip Kelly joined the Philly media in a roundtable discussion that was live-tweeted by some, written by others, but caught the attention of all. Mostly. Maybe.
Kelly was asked a plethora of questions and didn’t stop short of supplying any reporter with quotables, especially when he was finally asked what a “Chip Kelly player” was.
“Someone who works hard and is passionate about playing the game,” Kelly said when asked for a definition.
Boom. Roasted. Some other awesome quotes include:
Kelly wants players who are concerned only with what they can control and aren’t distracted by outside influences. It is the way he works. It has resulted in a climb to the heights of his profession. It is why he has no desire to let outsiders in or to use the media to craft a message or image.
“If you’re thinking about crafting,” Kelly said, “you’re not spending enough time on your job.”
Love it. Essentially saying if you’re not invested in your job, don’t bother. I think we can all relate to that. He then compared Sam Bradford to Peyton Manning and Drew Brees – but not in the way that you might think.
“If you’re not going to pick 1 or 2, how do you go get a quarterback?” Kelly said. “Peyton Manning switched teams because of an injury. Drew Brees switched teams because of an injury. So we went down that path.”
Bradford wasn’t the only addition with an extensive injury past. Last season alone, five new faces missed three games or more – Alonso (16), Maxwell (3), running back Ryan Mathews (10), defensive back Walter Thurmond (15), and receiver Miles Austin (4). Running back DeMarco Murray didn’t miss a game, but sat out 11 games in his first three seasons.
“I think everybody in the NFL is 100 percent injury-prone,” Kelly said.
Boom. Everything Chip does makes sense to him. When I hear people say “Chip doesn’t know what he’s doing!” I have to sit back and laugh. He does. You don’t have to agree with it, but to say he doesn’t know what he’s doing is silly. He’s getting his players on his team. Every coach does that – in high school, college, and professionally. Whether they’re good players or not remains the issue.
Chip also said he doesn’t think the team would look much different if Howie was still in charge.
“I don’t think things would have been much different if Howie was still in control,” Kelly said. “I think we were all on the same pages in terms of making moves and trying to make this team better.”
For more [awesome] quotables, check out Jeff McLane’s piece here.