The Philadelphia Eagles' fast-breaking offense was the talk of the football world Monday night, but coach Chip Kelly wasn't pleased with the pace of his first NFL game.
"I felt like it was slow, to be honest with you," Kelly said, via NFL Media's Aditi Kinkhabwala.
The Eagles' 53 plays through two quarters Monday night were the second most of any NFL team since 1991. Kelly believes his team can not only sustain that pace but also do a better job of keeping its foot on the gas pedal while playing with a lead.
The primary questions are whether that approach will work with the NFL's smaller rosters and longer season.
"I've never been a part of anything like this," Michael Vick said, via TheMMQB.com. "When the first quarter was over, I thought we were about to go into halftime. Unreal. The only thing I could tell myself was, 'It's going to be a long season.'"
Kelly is keenly aware of the injury risk to Vick but also understands it's probably too late to convince the 33-year-old quarterback to ditch his headfirst dives for a safer slide.
That's a battle Kelly won't win.
What he can control, though, is subbing more liberally to keep fresh legs in the game and adjusting his play-calling once the tempo slows as it did in the second half Monday night.
"We may have eased," Kelly acknowledged. "It's a different game than in college. We have a lot to learn."
Kelly garners well-deserved accolades as an offensive mastermind, but it's his curiosity and pliability that have kept him one step ahead of his peers.
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