I kinda figured it out late… but largely thanks to a spirited exchange here between ATV of Henderson, Nevada, and Beanstalk of Australia, I finally got it right…
Eagles QB’s in Chip’s NFL offense have no real role in keeping the ball and running… it’s all a silly illusion… the intent all along is to hand off the ball to a running back in motion. The Chippah thinks the disguise of a potential QB keeper will give his blockers up front and his designated RB a split second advantage. But by now everyone in the NFL knows Sam Bradford ain’t gonna take off with the ball in his hands on an option read…and the same reality applied to Nick Foles last year. Even Mark Sanchez (who actually could pull off the option deception) was handcuffed by Kelly in his own scheme.
“What the hell is going on out there?”—- to quote the Chippah’s patron saint, Vince Lombardi.
The recent brouhaha involving the Ravens’ Terrell Suggs and his leg tackle on Bradford as a mincing fakir in the alleged read-option call by Kelly in PS2 kinda brings this whole story line home.
Look—face reality… Bradford is a pure pocket passer and will never be mistaken for a running QB. He should either hand off to a RB straight-up in a manly way or drop back to pass with the best pass-pro the Eagles can muster. It’s really a simple game. You don’t need the smoke and mirrors.
This is the aspect of Chip Kelly I do not like— he has an impulsive need to “cute” things up in an attempt to outsmart his hero Lombardi.
Chippah, nobody is going to buy into Sam Bradford as an option runner.
The insanity must stop. Chitler must be reined in by his advisors. Hopefully, he listens and does not decide to invade Russia in the Spring, anyway…
I am not the only one, along with Beanstalk and ATV, who have come to this epiphany on the verge of calling out the Chippah for his apparent madness…
Check out this blurb summary of Jason La Canfora, respected NFL commentator for CBSSports.com:
JASON LA CANFORA CBS Sports NFL Insider Follow Jason
“Chip Kelly invited disaster with how he re-introduced ever-injured Sam Bradford back to the NFL after yet another long absence from an ACL tear.
“If you are looking for a coach to go off on, a decision to micro-analyze, it’s Kelly putting Bradford into the line of fire on a read-option play in a meaningless preseason game as the quarterback tries to avoid suffering yet another season-ending injury.
“After handling Bradford with kid gloves through the OTAs and training camp, in his first game back, against a vicious Ravens‘ defense, Kelly puts Bradford in a vulnerable space against elite edge defenders likeTerrell Suggs who have been instructed to crash down on the quarterback on such plays.
“That’s silly and unnecessary, and if it’s indicative of the kind of offense Kelly will continue to run with this particular passer, then you’ll probably be listening to plenty of grousing from the Eagles‘ linemen about the kind of hits Bradford has to absorb.
“Let’s get something straight right off the bat: Suggs did nothing illegal here. The Eagles were in a read-option look, as much as Kelly may protest and nitpick about their intent in that shotgun formation. Bradford, through his own actions and location on the field, was still declared as a runner and not a defenseless quarterback. Thus, there are no additional protections afforded him with hits below the waist and around the knee.
“The Eagles left Suggs totally free to sprint in. You can scrutinize the play all you want on replay, but in real-time, it’s a bang-bang play as to whether Bradford would keep the ball or hand it off. Dean Blandino, the NFL’s head of officiating, said as much in unequivocal language during radio interviews Monday morning and then, in an extended meeting with CBS broadcasters and officials as part of the officiating aspect of our annual seminar, he took just as direct of an approach with us.
“Bradford was still an active participant in the play, Blandino said, and it was absolutely a “legal play.”
“Think about the timing of this. We all know the NFL has gone to tremendous lengths with health and safety initiatives recently at a time when, if anything, many believe some players are being protected too much — with quarterbacks in particular increasingly untouchable.
“A flag was thrown on the play, but after substantial review, Blandino is adamant that there shouldn’t have been one. The Eagles launched postgame tirades against Suggs, but where is the outrage over Kelly putting Bradford in that situation in a meaningless game? Given the fact that Bradford ain’t exactly Cam Newton or Russell Wilson or, hell, even Mark Sanchez running this zone-option stuff, well, there might be a rethink in store for Kelly. This is how it’s going to be, and if Bradford gets jumped handing off in the shotgun and potential Hall of Fame pass rushers are given a free shot at him, this quarterback might have another truncated season in store.
“Kelly is giving the appearance there may be some deception in where the ball is going in the run game. If he thinks defenders — who haven’t caught a break from the NFL’s rule makers in seemingly forever — are now going to have to diagnose intent and whether this is simply a shotgun handoff, as he claims, or a designed zone run play, well, it ain’t happening.
“Many, many teams will implore the defensive ends and outside linebackers to crash the quarterback regardless of whether Bradford can really run with it. It became the norm against RG3, by the way, and helped expedite his litany of injuries. While defenses might get burned by the read-option a time or two for big gains, the Eagles running it is also going to put a significant amount of pressure on Bradford.
“Unless Bradford makes outsized motions to look defenseless — in essence removing himself from the play and retreating — he’s going to be judged as a runner.
“Former Pro Bowl linebacker London Fletcher, who ended his career with the RG3 Redskins, told me that things reached the point in Washington to where then-coach Mike Shanahan would urge the quarterback repeatedly in meetings to make it clear he was out of the play after handing off the ball.
‘”Shanahan would tell him to put his arms up like this,” Fletcher said, while holding both arms up over his head, “and back-peddle out of the play.”
“Now, that would be a declarative statement. Nothing about this play Saturday gave that sense, but Bradford didn’t really have time to do so even if he wanted.
“Blandino was asked if hypothetically a quarterback ran downfield 15 or 20 yards after the handoff, pretending as if he still had the football long after it was clear someone else had the ball, if he would be fair game for a hit like the one from Suggs. He answered in the affirmative. So, trust me, in real-time in these bang-bang plays, this certainly seems like the rare instance where the defense is accorded more or less the benefit of the doubt.
“So, perhaps Kelly should instruct his QBs to do as Shanahan hoped Griffin might — the “look-ma-no-hands” approach — or limit these high-risk plays to only games that matter. Regardless, the odds of Bradford suffering a third-straight season-ending injury might be higher than the norm. With him making $13M this season and Sanchez, Matt Barkley andTim Tebow comprising the other quarterbacks on the roster, it will be interesting to see how headstrong Kelly is with these plays in the other exhibitions.
“Given his iconoclastic approach to the NFL to this point, I don’t figure much changes now even after this tempest. Kelly told reporters on Monday that he was going to run the same offense he did with Nick Foles, that there were no designed runs for Bradford ( again, defenses aren’t going to be privy to his intent) and this was simply a shotgun run play. Doesn’t sound like someone about to alter his approach.
“Of course, the Eagles couldn’t even agree as to whether this was definitively a read-option play, with different players saying different things to the media Monday. Some called it a read-option look with an unblocked defender.
“As they sort that out, the Eagles might want to backtrack on some of their comments about Suggs from the weekend. If anything, the play offered a template of what’s to come possibly. It triggered a rare preseason war of words with another team, with Ravens coachJohn Harbaugh taking umbrage with the Eagles’ verbal attacks of Suggs. He said the Eagles “popping off about someone’s character” is not something the Ravens “respect.”
“Philly players getting touchy now about injuries — for a roster filled with guys who either have a long history of health issues or who are still trying to recover from a 2014 surgery or all of the above — isn’t going to serve them well, given the sheer number of guys Kelly has assembled who are nursing those situations as the regular season approaches.”
“You can’t keep everyone in a bubble, though some require it more than others. Bradford, especially on a winning team with that contract, would seem to be the poster boy for going to any reasonable length to protect him, however. Calling a play that imperils him and runs counter to his natural strengths and abilities, anyway, might not be the best bet. If Jay Gruden was the guy calling that play for Bradford, I suspect we’d hear a lot more outrage about it. And if Kelly still had RG3 in that game in Washington, I suggest we’d hear barely a whimper.”
Time’s yours…
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