Nick Piccone
It’s interesting to see that while no coaching or player personnel changes are being made with Chip Kelly’s Eagles so far this season, that many other teams are making changes of their own. One of those teams, who beat the Eagles after staging a comeback after being down 16-3 a few weeks ago at the Linc, fired their offensive coordinator today, who just so happens to be a former Eagles quarterbacks coach.
Bill Lazor, who we can probably thank for giving us Nick Foles’ best season as an NFL quarterback in 2013, is now jobless. I wouldn’t put it totally out of the question if Kelly was the first head coach to call him to see if he’d be interested in returning to the Eagles. Lazor’s time in Miami came to an end in an unfortunate way, though.
Lazor’s play-calling was second-guessed because of his emphasis on the pass. The Dolphins are averaging 4.6 yards per rush, seventh-best, but run the ball less than any other team in the league— only 33 percent of the time.
In addition, Lazor drew criticism for giving Ryan Tannehill little latitude in calling audibles.
Tannehill has regressed in his fourth season. His completion percentage, yards per attempt and interception rate are all worse than a year ago.
The Dolphins’ latest loss dropped them to 0-5 against AFC East teams, and they’re likely to miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year.
“It’s hugely disappointing,” Tannehill said following Sunday’s game. “I came in with such high expectations. I think our team came in with such high expectations, and to see this season go the way it’s been, it’s tough and it hurts. You look in that locker room and the talent we have, the guys that we have, and it hurts. There’s no way we should be sitting where we’re at, but we are, and that’s on our shoulders.”
Tannehill is a lot better than Nick Foles, so Lazor’s inability to get the most out of him seems like a red flag. But, at this point, maybe it’s the best Eagles personnel move Chip can make.