Eagles Blog

Apparently there is some guy who played for the Boston Red Stockings named Ted Williams. I’m not sure if he was any good or not, but he’s certainly not in the same league as Eagles assistant coach Ted Williams.

Dan Klausner wrote a good piece for PE.com on Williams and his amazing tenure with the team. Just how long has Williams been with the team? When he was hired, Dave Spadaro had hair, I still believed Randall Cunningham could lead the Eagles to the Super Bowl and Klausner was playing with Legos and watching Sesame Street. Yikes.

Heading into the 2013 regular season, the biggest story was how Kelly would adjust to the NFL and adapt his philosophies to the pro game. Williams has served as a sounding board when called upon and observed Kelly’s unique program evolve.

“Chip, I think, has been learning what it is he wants,” Williams said. “I think he has a firm idea of how he wants to do things, but the process is different at this level. I think, in his defense, he’s learning what it takes to get done what he wants to get done and how he wants to do it. I don’t think that’s etched in stone yet. There are still stones to be turned over, leaves to be brushed aside to find out the best way to do it, but he has a system for him that functions well and works well.”

Sharp and prescient as ever, the 70-year old Williams has been re-energized by the arrival of Kelly and excitement provided by the 2013 season. Yes, he has seen it all over the years, but that burning desire to help young men achieve their full potential drives him every day.

Good assistants like Williams can be invaluable. He’s now working with his 3rd Eagles head coach. That’s pretty amazing.

There aren’t many Eagles around from the 2008 playoff run. Geoff Mosher wrote a good article about the 4 veterans who were key players on that team.

Cole, Herremans, Celek and Avant have combined for 486 regular-season games and 27 playoff games, all with the Eagles.

Cole is No. 2 on the franchise sack list, behind only icon Reggie White. Herremans has played more seasons (nine) than all but four other Eagles offensive linemen in team history. Avant has played the fifth-most games by a wide receiver in team history and Celek’s 312 catches are second all-time by an Eagles tight end behind Pete Retzlaff.

Amazingly, Avant was the highest-drafted of the core four, and he went 109th overall in the fourth round of the 2006 draft.

Because of age, position depth or salary cap figure, none of those four is guaranteed to be back in 2014, which makes this somewhat of a final hurrah for them. It’s also why the team’s 3-5 record back in October weighed a little heavier on them.

“All along we wanted to get into the playoffs and make some noise,” Herremans said. ”We thought if we could get in, we could make some noise. It means a lot. Definitely [had] gone through some tough years. That’s behind us now. We’ve just got to keep looking forward.”

I hope those guys get to experience some more postseason joy.

Pete Prisco covers the NFL for CBS Sports. He wrote a piece about overlooked players on playoff teams. For the Eagles, he decided to cover DE Ced Thornton.

The Cedric Thornton story is a good one. He wasn’t recruited out of high school, walked on at Southern Arkansas, grew from 210 to 260 pounds, was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons for his final two games as a senior, didn’t get drafted, spent 2011 on the Eagles’ practice squad and 2012 as a reserve before emerging as a force this season.

That odyssey makes Thornton play hard all the time, never wanting to waste this opportunity. And it shows on the tape.

Thornton has emerged as a big part of the Eagles’ defense. Now settled at left end after spending time at both end and on the nose, he will be a key in whether the Eagles make a playoff run.

Check out the piece for some All-22 pics that show what a good run defender Ced is. Glad to see him getting some love from the national media.

Word out of locker room is that Kurt Coleman will play some safety on Saturday w/ Wolff unlikely to play. Will probably split time w/ Chung.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 1, 2014

Asked Kurt Coleman about possibility and he said, We'll just have to see and smiled.

— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) January 1, 2014

Patrick Chung has some struggles in coverage. That’s one reason Coleman could get involved. Also, the Eagles could be interested in some 3-Safety sets. Earl Wolff doesn’t sound likely to play so Chung, Nate Allen and Coleman would be the 3 best Safeties.

Bill O’Brien is headed to Houston. Who will replace him at PSU?

Here is an article with lots of good questions, but not many good rumors. The situation just occurred so there hasn’t been much time for the rumor mill to get going.

Larry Johnson, the DL coach and  a long time assistant at PSU, has been named the interim coach. Johnson’s job will be to talk to any current players who are considering going to the NFL, as well as dealing with recruits. Johnson is a great recruiter and should do a good job of keeping those players informed of what’s going on.

Yahoo blogger Frank Schwab decided to rank the NFL playoff coaches. He’s got Chip Kelly at No. 5 on the list (out of 12).

5. Chip Kelly, Eagles
Perhaps this is too high after just one season, but it’s hard to ignore what he did. Once he figured out, thanks to Michael Vick’s injury, that Nick Foles was the best quarterback for his system, the Eagles played remarkably well. The Eagles started 3-5 and then went 7-1 down the stretch. They improved on both sides of the ball. They were very difficult for opponents to prepare for because of the creative schemes. The coach who is No. 4 on this list had just four wins with pretty much the same Eagles roster in 2012. In a few years we might look back and say that No. 5 was way too low for Kelly.

Andy Reid is 4th. Interesting.

Dan Wetzel is a great columnist for Yahoo. He wrote a good piece on Chip Kelly making the successful transition from college to the NFL.

Kelly didn’t just deliver one of the biggest turnarounds in the league this year, taking a four-win team to 10-6, a divisional championship and a home playoff game against New Orleans on Saturday night.

He changed the way college coaches may be seen by the NFL. This wasn’t someone who bounced between the pros and colleges. This wasn’t a veteran guy with a deep network of peers. This wasn’t a former player. He was a chalkboard guru, who as recently as 2006 was a small college coordinator and had only four seasons of head coaching experience.

There was no road map for success, just a well-worn path of failure.

There was also a profound acumen that immediately convinced players he knew what he was talking about. Kelly didn’t just talk to McCoy. He talked to everyone. They all immediately realized he knew of what he spoke.

“Chip is just an outstanding coach, it’s the only way to put it,” center Jason Kelce said.

There was also a deep respect for the players. Kelly treated them as more than something to mold or bully, more than just chess pieces to move around the field. He handled the potential minefield of preseason scandal involving Riley Cooper using a racial slur at a concert. He deftly juggled adversity, injuries and other setbacks that happen in this league. He won everyone’s trust.

Kelly really did a phenomenal job this year.

Click the link. You’ll be happy you did.

Ten sports Vines that will restore your faith in humanity: http://t.co/Dqe9xruso7

— Deadspin (@Deadspin) December 30, 2013

This is my favorite drive in a long time.

Definitely my favorite part of last night's game. http://t.co/OoDTO1JZOS pic.twitter.com/nMLPTLexgB

— BountyBowl (@bountybowl) December 30, 2013

The entire Eagles offensive line started all 16 games together this season, their first time doing so since 2006.

— Brett Strohsacker (@BStrohEagles) December 30, 2013