The NFL is obsessed with innovation. Since the 2000’s, there’s been the Wildcat, the Pistol, the spread, the “Air Raid”, the spread option, the Spread HD and the A-11, amongst others. There’s been Cam Cameron’s, Hal Mumme’s, Rich Rod’s, Gus Malzahn’s, Art Brile’s and Dana Holgorsen’s. For every new way to manipulate 11 players on offense, there’s an even cleverer name. Behind every clever name, there’s a man. And after being named head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles last January, it was Chip Kelly’s turn to crack the NFL innovation complex.
But it wasn’t as if Kelly schemed offenses with two footballs and 14 players on the field (at least the A-11 features two quarterbacks) – he still had a quarterback, wide receiver, running back and offensive lineman. His teams were built to run the ball, hardly a revolutionary idea. They just played a lot faster. It was bebop to football’s traditional swing music.
Then again, pace has always been a concept NFL offenses tried to manipulate. I grew up watching the Buffalo Bills “K-Gun” offense, which was a variation of the no-huddle offense invented by the Cincinnati Bengals (hat tip to Wikipedia) – the same no-huddle concept that was a foundation of Oregon’s offense. Chip Kelly the innovator? Football has always been innovating.
Chip Kelly, the Pragmatist
Chip Kelly’s offense works not because it’s a gimmick… it does well what good teams have always done well, albeit with a slightly more modern wardrobe. Behind the speed, the spread, the Daft Punk helmets, and the flashy uniforms, Oregon ultimately wins with old-fashioned, fundamental, run-it-up-the-gut football
–Chris Brown
Kelly seemed far too practical, pragmatic, and intelligent to try and be a genius in the NFL. The spread, the speed, and the pace were only symptoms. Oregon’s offense didn’t make Chip Kelly a successful coach, but, as Chris Brown points out in his article above, leveraging mismatches in the running game did. The breakaway touchdowns that left opponents, announcers, and fans in awe were taken care of by a well conditioned team with track stars at skill positions. The rest was taken care of by Nike’s branding.
For all the multi-hundred paged playbooks and 20 hour work days, a team’s success depends on the quarterback position. Chip Kelly and Michael Vick seemed like a great match with how successful mobile quarterbacks did under Kelly at Oregon – until Vick got hurt. Nick Foles lacked the mobility of Darren Thomas, Marcus Mariota, and Vick. Would the offense collapse? Did Kelly bite off more than he could chew? Was the era of making football fun over after just seven games?
Again, we mistook symptoms for the cause. No, Nick Foles wasn’t a running quarterback, but he did set a team record by throwing 233 passes without an interception. And he did have the best TD-INT ratio in NFL history. And not turning the ball over is a basic tenant in football’s doctrine (along with having a strong run game). Chip Kelly might not a revolutionary genius, but he may be a successful NFL head coach. But then again…
The Real, Subtle Impact
It’s the little things behind the scenes [Chip Kelly] is trying to do that I believe will have a big impact on the league in the future. The NFL is very much like an old boys’ club, from the top of management to the bottom. Change doesn’t happen often, especially from a first year coach out of college. Chip doesn’t care: He wants to be different and he doesn’t care who doesn’t approve.
–Erin Andrews
Except, perhaps, Kelly is revolutionizing the game, in places well beyond the TV cameras, X’s and O’s breakdowns, blogs and Twitter. Erin Andrews picked Chip Kelly as her most compelling sports figure for 2014. She continues:
Practices: They are shorter, held on different days, they seem like track meets (similar to his ones in college), and he has them choreographed to music, with a DJ that lowers the music and turns it back on at full blast when appropriate.
Recovery: Sleep is very important to him. He has the guys hooked up to something that shows how much REM sleep they are actually getting. It then turns into a competition with guys –how much REM sleep did you get, how much did you get?
Kelly’s true impact may be in modernizing the NFL. That’s a weird statement to say because it supposes that the NFL is some in dark ages. After all, Red Zone is a top 5 invention of the 2000s, and billion dollar stadiums are Modern Art. But much like Nike’s branding of Oregon, that glosses over reality. There’s little stuff like whether or not a team should go for it on 4th and short, which probability says that more teams should do, but is taboo. And then there’s the concussion issue.
I see a lot of similarities in the language used to describe Kelly and how Arsene Wenger was treated when he became Arsenal coach in the mid 90’s. Stakes are exaggerated for the sake of narrative, but the story goes that the English Premier League pre-Wenger was a wild, wild west, and he “frowned on red meat, eggs, chips, baked beans – a caricature of the English footballer’s staple fuel. His dietician came in and explained the benefits of pasta, boiled chicken, steamed fish, raw vegetables and water”. Wenger also ran precisely timed and planned 45 minute practices, much to the chagrin of his players. And that’s not even mentioning his worldwide scouting network.
Of course, the opposition caught up to these advances, and Wenger and Arsenal haven’t won a trophy in over eight years. That may ultimately miss the point – winning titles is one thing, but modernizing a league is another. And that legacy will be felt far beyond any offensive scheme.
