We’ve all heard a ton about Chip Kelly and the fast-paced offense he is bringing to the NFL. One thing we need to be clear on is the fact that Andy Reid didn’t exactly run a slow offense. The Eagles were 4th in the NFL in seconds per play last year.
I guess the key here is context. Chip Kelly’s pace is beyond what is fast in terms of NFL standards. The only team that is likely to be at his pace is the Patriots, who led the NFL last year in offensive plays and the speed in which they were run.
Chip Kelly’s offense averaged 77 plays per game at Oregon over the last 3 years. This is one of the leading figures in college football, where there is more emphasis on offensive tempo. If Kelly can get the Eagles up in the 75 to 80 range (plays per game), I think he’ll be happy with that pace. Last year the Eagles were just above 67 plays per game.
Is this not more attributable to the number of clock stopping plays? Those 80:20 passing games would skew this quite a bit. The more interesting stat would be average seconds left on play clock.
it would be a better stat, but one which is probably difficult to obtain