Eagles Coach Chip Kelly Praises Denver's John Fox for Adapting New Offenses

The NFL and media are all abuzz about new Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, who was known at Oregon for running a fast-paced, dynamic offense.

But in the pros, Kelly is not expecting to catch anyone off-guard.

"I don't think anybody's inventing anything new," Kelly told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times on Saturday. "It's a very cyclical game.  A lot of things that are being done with the Wildcat formation was the single-wing formation run way back when.  We don't run some magical offense or defense."

Kelly noted that he's going to adjust to what his players do best, not ask them to adjust to him.

"If you've got a good coaching staff, that's what you do," he said. "The best example in the NFL is (Denver Broncos head coach) John Fox.  A year ago, he had Tim Tebow and went to the playoffs.  Now, he has Peyton Manning and runs an entirely different offense, and went to the playoffs.  When you're good, you adapt to who you have."  

With Tebow, Fox and former offensive coordinator Mike McCoy implemented an offense that heavily relied on the read-option, riding it all the way to the playoffs.  Fox did not ask Tebow to do anything he was uncomfortable with—adjusting to his players rather than asking them to adjust to his offense.

But Denver's coaching staff is capable of running more than just the read-option.  Last offseason, the team revamped the offense to be Peyton Manning-friendly, using three-WR shotgun sets throughout much of the season on their way to another AFC West title.

It's called Foxball, and it's what Fox does best.

"(Foxball is doing) whatever the hell it takes," Fox told NFL.com's Jeff Darlington in 2011. "I mean, what the hell? You don't get points for style in this league."   

Letting his players do what they do best, Fox has led the Broncos to a 21-11 record since taking over as head coach two years ago.  Moving forward, Denver will be competitive in the AFC West as long as Fox gives his players opportunities to succeed, something he has equipped them to do on their own terms.

Playing to your quarterback's strengths is something that every NFL team does (most notably in Seattle, San Francisco, Washington and New England), but according to Kelly, nobody does it better than Fox.