November 04, 2015
If you're like most people, you enjoy your time off from work. Maybe you take a vacation. Spend more time with your family. Or — and this is my favorite — you just do nothing.
But that’s not what it’s like for NFL coaches, at least not Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly.
“I'd actually rather keep training, to be honest with you,” he said Tuesday when asked if he enjoyed the midseason break. “I think [the bye week] gets you out of your rhythm."
Not all his players agree, however.
"Well, the last game we lost, so I'd want to disrupt that rhythm," said veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins, who spent his bye week traveling between New Orleans and Philadelphia for different events for his foundation.
But Jenkins does understand what his coach is talking about.
"As a player, you enjoy the bye week until about Thursday or Friday, and then you start getting ready to get back into game mode; you don't want to get too far away," he added. "Because you do feel like you hit a rhythm at some point when you have a routine that you do week in and week out. You get away from that routine, as a creature of habit, it bothers you a little bit."
Tight end Zach Ertz used his time off to get away with his girlfriend, professional soccer player and U.S. women’s national team member Julie Johnston.
"We like the bye to rest our bodies," Ertz said. "But at the same time, we love coming in here every day and just being out on the practice field every day. I mean, we were 3-4 and we were heading in the right direction, so it did throw us off a little bit. But at the same time, everybody [in the NFL] gets a bye."
Linebacker Brandon Graham, however, didn't want to pick a side.
"I'm not going to get into that," Graham said with a chuckle when asked about his coach's comments. "But, I know, as a team, I felt that that was the right time for us to just take a break. Everybody has there personal preference -- I'm sure some players don't like the bye. But there's a lot of us that like to just get away because we've been going so hard since April."
But it isn't just physical healing that the players look forward to during their week off. They need to rest their minds as well.
"That's the hardest part," Graham, who spent part of his bye week in California, added. "Being able to get your mind right and train yourself to be able to do it every day, come in here every morning, wake up same time every day, six o'clock be here.
"When you get an off day, sometimes you jump up [from bed] and you get kind of scared because you think you're missing something. That's when you know you've been working a lot and you need a little break."
Not all the players were able to break away during their week off, however. Injured left tackle Jason Peters, for example, stayed in town to get treatment and rehab his injured back.
And as for the Eagles coach, well, he spent his bye week — and this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone — reviewing film at the NovaCare complex just like it was any other week.
“Just a lot of film watching in all three phases,” Kelly said Tuesday when asked about what specifically he did in terms of evaluation during his “off” week. “All the staffs get together and break it down by situation. [On offense] we break it down by field position, break it down by red zone, third down, coming out, four-minute offense. It’s the same thing for [defensive coordinator Bill Davis on defense], short yardage, [looking at] what are we doing in the special teams aspect.
“So pretty organized. It's very organized; it's been the same since I've been here. Take a lot of input from guys that have been at other places. Got a lot of good work done.”
"I think [the bye week] is good, especially at this point in the season. Just to kind of get your mind away and recharge in the middle of the season because we've got kind of a long haul in front of us."
Anyone who’s been around the Eagles knows how much Kelly enjoys watching and breaking down film. This week just allowed for a little more self-evaluation.
“I mean, I think when you have more time, you get to study a little bit more tape of yourself,” he said prior to Tuesday’s practice. “Usually each week you're on to your next opponent. But that's just the benefit, and everybody has a bye week, so everybody usually does the same thing.”
Despite all that self-scouting, the third-year coach didn’t have much to say Tuesday about the play of his quarterback, Sam Bradford — other than the standard platitudes he’s been dispensing most of the season.
“We feel very comfortable with our quarterback situation,” Kelly said when first asked about what he saw on film this past week.
He was later pressed on the topic, and asked for specifics, which led to this exchange:
Q. What were your takeaways from evaluating Bradford? Did you see him trending?
CHIP KELLY: I think Sam's done a nice job.
Q. Anything further into that about what your takeaways were?
CHIP KELLY: Done a good job, nice job.
Q. I mean, there is obviously more to it.
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, that's how I feel about it. I think Sam's done a good job.
Q. Is there anything you've seen Bradford progress in from Week 1 in terms of getting better?
CHIP KELLY: Yeah, I think Sam has improved as the season has gone along, yes.
For a week of scouting, that’s not really saying much.
As for Bradford, he'll get a chance to makeup for the team's worst offensive performance of the season on Sunday night in Dallas. A win would certainly go a long way towards helping the former Heisman winner ingratiate himself to an Eagles fan base that is beginning to lose patience with it's quarterback's mediocre play.
More importantly -- at least in the short term -- it would move the Eagles back into first place in a weak NFC East.
And that's exactly what this Eagles team need as it comes off the bye and heads into the second half of its season.
"I think [the bye week] is good, especially at this point in the season," Jenkins said. "Just to kind of get your mind away and recharge in the middle of the season because we've got kind of a long haul in front of us. Especially with the way the season's been already -- it's kind of been a rollercoaster, as far as emotions -- so it's a good time for us to get away and relax our minds."
With Dallas on the horizon, vacation's officially over the Eagles players -- even if it never quite began for their coach.
"We definitely had a nice little break-up in the middle of the season," Graham said. "We have nine more games to go, and I'm just excited. Everybody came back refreshed. ...
"Shoot, first place isn't that far off."
Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin
