NFL to the Eagles: Not so fast Chip !!

[Chiefshrink]

NFL to the Eagles: Not So Fast
Chip Kelly's New High-Tempo Offense in Philadelphia May Face a Major Challenge: Referees

By KEVIN CLARK

Associated Press
Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly (in background watching quarterback Michael Vick) aims to run every play as quickly as possible with no huddles and no stoppages in play.

Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly has been plotting a football revolution since he was hired this winter to turn around the team's fortunes.

His plan is to continue the philosophy he perfected as the coach at Oregon: to run every play as quickly as possible with no huddles and no stoppages in play, all aimed at leaving the defense doubled over in exhaustion. This "up-tempo" strategy, already popular at the college level, looks like it could change the pro game forever. There is just one small problem standing in Kelly's way: referees.

As Kelly mans his first full week of NFL training camp, installing a high-revving Ferrari engine into the Eagles' offense, league insiders say there are exactly zero indications NFL referees will be willing participants in the Kelly era. The NFL, they say, has a long-standing pace at which they do things between plays and the referees "aren't going to change just to accommodate someone's offense," said Mike Pereira, a former NFL vice president of officiating who is now an analyst for Fox Sports.

"We have to make sure teams understand that they don't control the tempo, our officials do," said NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino. "We're going through our normal ball mechanics; we aren't going to rush [unless] it's in the two minute drill."

Blandino said he has talked to every NFL team coaching staff during the off-season to emphasize that there is no forcing the issue—the offense won't be able to snap the ball until the referees signals they're ready.

Kelly declined to comment. An Eagles spokesman also declined to comment.

Blandino said the subject of up-tempo offenses and how they're officiated was a major point of discussion by the NFL's competition committee in recent months. Last season, after what Blandino said was a record for total plays from scrimmage per game, he said the committee felt compelled to "re-emphasize" that NFL rules differ dramatically from college.

At a clinic for NFL officials this off-season, Pereira said he saw league executives taking the next step, drilling the message into the heads of its assembled referees: No matter what, we're going to run at the same pace.

It is easy to see why the NFL might want to tap the brakes on these rampaging offenses. The league has long cherished the somewhat languorous breaks between plays, which are also attractive to broadcasters. There is also a safety concern: The more plays get run, the more tired players become and the more their technique suffers—increasing the risks of injury.

For Kelly, who went 46-7 at Oregon and appeared in a national-championship game, the college game was essentially a racetrack. Since referee guidelines were more lenient, Kelly's teams were consistently able to get officials to work more quickly, setting them up to make lightning-fast snaps. In one game measured by The Wall Street Journal, Kelly's Oregon offense averaged just 23.2 seconds between snaps, a pace 32% faster than the norm for college football.

In the NFL, however, referees are required to change balls when a play dies out of bounds or when there is an incomplete pass. That can add five to 10 seconds between plays. Another source of slowness: The referee who spots the ball in the NFL must be behind the deepest offensive back before the offense can snap the ball.

In at least one collegiate conference, the referee has to only be two steps away from the ball for the offense to snap it. The difference between these approaches can add up to 10 seconds in some instances.

The NFL's policy on substitutions won't help the Eagles, either. If an offensive team substitutes a player, Blandino said, it doesn't matter how quickly that player gets to the line of scrimmage—the defense will also be allowed to make its substitutions. NFL referees, he said, will go so far as standing over the ball to make sure the defenders have time to get in the game.

Pereira, who saw Kelly's offense in action when he briefly oversaw Pac-12 officials two years ago, said Kelly was a coach who lobbied for officials to be more mobile so they could run with the Ducks and get the ball down on the line of scrimmage more quickly, giving the team's center the chance to get a snap off just seconds later. "In the NFL, I don't see him having the juice to persuade crews to work faster," Pereira said. "In fact, I know he doesn't."

To understand the difference between what Kelly wants to bring to the NFL and what the NFL is used to, consider that 12.8% of NFL plays last season were run without a huddle. While that is nearly double what it was five years ago, it doesn't hold a candle to Kelly's Ducks teams. Those squads went without a huddle on 78.5% of plays last year. Eagles receiver Jason Avant said that in his time in the NFL he's come to realize that every NFL team runs the same plays with different names. "But not this offense," he said.

Blandino said that in his meeting with Philadelphia, Kelly didn't show any "overconcern" about these changes. "They had questions about what the parameters were going to be," Blandino said of the Eagles. "It's going to be different from college." Blandino said he didn't sense pushback from teams. He said he wanted every team aware of the mechanics that take place before a snap.

The NFL's version of an up-tempo offense—as tepid as it may be compared with college—has caught on with a handful of teams, most notably the New England Patriots, which ran 74.4 plays per game last season, the most by an NFL team in two decades. By all accounts, the Patriots wish they could go faster. "Tom [Brady] always wants to go faster and faster," said wide receiver Matthew Slater.

But even that pace has stirred up controversy in the NFL. Jets linebacker Calvin Pace called the Patriots' up-tempo offense "borderline illegal" and Jet coaches have publicly complained about the Patriots breaking substitution rules.

"Coach Kelly will not be playing as fast in Philadelphia as he did at Oregon," said Gerald Austin, a longtime NFL referee who now instructs officials and is an analyst for ESPN.

Write to Kevin Clark at kevin.clark@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...350207808.html

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by Guru

I think that goes without saying. Refs just need to do their job.



Seriously? They added an official just to spot the ball? Maybe it is time for younger officials that can multitask.

yes. Bill Snyder had suggested they add an 8th official to monitor illegal substitutions, so they decided that was a great idea, but they added him just to set the ball and watch for OL penalties. They say this will increase the tempo of the game. Like we needed that.

I feel that should be an NCAA thing, not a conference decision.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ial-to-keep-up

[splatbass]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

This is bullshit. The role of the referees is to judge the legitimacy of the flow of play under the league rules. They have no business, aside from stopping play for injury or review, setting the pace of play. They are observers and interpreters, not an active element of how the flow of play proceeds.

It isn't to slow down the play, it is to assure they are in the correct places to see the play. This seems reasonable to me. if one of them missed something because they weren't in place you would probably raise all kinds of hell.

[mnchiefsguy]

Sounds like the refs are basically saying...they are not going to move faster just because one team wants them too. As long as they do their job at the same pace throughout the game, I have trouble finding fault in that.

[Rasputin]

What more can the officials do than hurry up put the ball between the hash marks and get out of the way?


I heard the Patriots averaged a league high with 70 plays a game last year. That sounds like the refs do a good enough job to put the ball in play to me.


Really Chip Kelly should keep his mouth shut about what the Eagles are going to do on offense and just take the league by storm his first year. Why give teams extra info to get ready for?

[beach tribe]

****in refs. What total BS.
IMO they have absolutely no business dictating how fast a team can call and run plays.
Sorry sons a bitches need to focus on not ****ing at least 25% of the calls they make.
Maybe an up tempo game can help them get some calls right when a regularly paced game takes place.
They **** up enough calls though, that they could **** a team over and it would just look like their normal performances.
That alone would keep me from trying this though.
I would do my best to make sure the bastards didnt have any underlying negative feelings toward me or my squad.
Like I.said, they **** up enough and already have way too much Influence on the outcome of games.
I would love it if you could dispute and even challenge calls.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

****in refs. What total BS.
IMO they have absolutely no business dictating how fast a team can call and run plays.
Sorry sons a bitches need to focus on not ****ing at least 25% of the calls they make.
Maybe an up tempo game can help them get some calls right when a regularly paced game takes place.
They **** up enough calls though, that they could **** a team over and it would just look like their normal performances.
That alone would keep me from trying this though.
I would do my best to make sure the bastards didnt have any underlying negative feelings toward me or my squad.
Like I.said, they **** up enough and already have way too much Influence on the outcome of games.
I would love it if you could dispute and even challenge calls.

I can see bogus calls because the refs get tired running up and down the field trying to keep up with a fast pace tempo offense.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by splatbass

It isn't to slow down the play, it is to assure they are in the correct places to see the play. This seems reasonable to me. if one of them missed something because they weren't in place you would probably raise all kinds of hell.

They get paid a lot of money to do their jobs.
A team should not have to slow down for them.
They have to do it in the most crucial parts of the game already.
Why are they unable to do it the rest of the time??

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by KC Tattoo

I can see bogus calls because the refs get tired running up and down the field trying to keep up with a fast pace tempo offense.

Then they need to work on their conditioning or be replaced by people who wont **** up just because the pace quickened a little.
College refs already do it.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by KC Tattoo

What more can the officials do than hurry up put the ball between the hash marks and get out of the way?


I heard the Patriots averaged a league high with 70 plays a game last year. That sounds like the refs do a good enough job to put the ball in play to me.


Really Chip Kelly should keep his mouth shut about what the Eagles are going to do on offense and just take the league by storm his first year. Why give teams extra info to get ready for?

Sounds like he was just giving them a heads up so they dont flip out when he does it.

[cdcox]

All the referees are saying is that they will control the pace of the game enough to allow:

1) new balls to be brought into play when the rules require it;
2) officials to get into position to make the proper call as required by the rules;
3) the defense sufficient time to make substitutions in response to offensive substitutions as required by the rules.

The only way to speed up the tempo is to change the rules, Are you guys advocating that the NFL should change its rules to accommodate the whims of a new coach, because it sure sounds like it.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by Guru

I think that goes without saying. Refs just need to do their job.



Seriously? They added an official just to spot the ball? Maybe it is time for younger officials that can multitask.

Exactly. Get refs who can see and who can hustle.
FTR. I dont give a shit About Kelly, hate the Eagles and hope he fails, but the refs should not dictate the pace of any offense when they cant during the 2 min offense.
A team should be able to run a 2 min O the entire game if they so choose to do so.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

Then they need to work on their conditioning or be replaced by people who wont **** up just because the pace quickened a little.
College refs already do it.

The Buffalo Bills of the 90's ran a fast pace no huddle offense and I don't remember any complaints about how refs officiate their games.


This isn't anything new to the league. Mostly teams that run that kind of offense run out of gas for themselves.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by beach tribe

Then they need to work on their conditioning or be replaced by people who wont **** up just because the pace quickened a little.
College refs already do it.

Pro refs are recruited from the best of the college refs. It's really not consistent to say that the colleges are doing a better job than the pros, because the best college reffing talent is going to the pros.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by cdcox

All the referees are saying is that they will control the pace of the game enough to allow:

1) new balls to be brought into play when the rules require it;
2) officials to get into position to make the proper call as required by the rules;
3) the defense sufficient time to make substitutions in response to offensive substitutions as required by the rules.

The only way to speed up the tempo is to change the Riled, Are you guys advocating that the NFL should change its rules to accommodate the whims of a new coach, because it sure sounds like it.

I dont have a problem with any of that.
Getting a new ball in should not slow the game for any reason if the refs are on point and have a ball ready.
I think the D should be able to make adjustments the same way they do during the 2 minute drill.
And of course the refs have to get into position. Just like they do during the 2 min drill.
And like I said I dont give shit who is running the up tempo offense, just that theh should be able to do it.
This ref makes it sound as though they would not be quickening their pace just because the offense does.
Hence the matter of factly comment about how the game would not change from its current pace.
Sounds lazy and arrogant.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Pro refs are recruited from the best of the college refs. It's really not consistent to say that the colleges are doing a better job than the pros, because the best college reffing talent is going to the pros.

I didnt say that.
I said the refs in college are already adjusting to the up tempo pace......because they have to because offenses have increased their pace.
In the case of the NFL refs, they are acting as though they just arent going to do it because they Dont Have to.
They are setting the pace and making offenses follow suit instead of the other way around.
Offenses should be setting their own pace .
There is no reason why the rules In place should keep the refs from being able to do their jobs.