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Yahoo's Eric Adelson was just waiting for the Philadelphia Eagles offense to fail

Whenever something new gets brought about in any field, it seems that the skeptics are just waiting for that moment it fails. It doesn't matter if the idea, strategy, or product had been successful fourteen consecutive times prior to that very moment, if it fails on attempt #15, the skeptics will shout in unison, "Ah-ha! See? I told you so!"

This seems to be the case with Yahoo sports-writer Eric Adelson, who, in light of the Philadelphia Eagles losing to the Dallas Cowboys 17-3 yesterday, wrote an article, titled, "Chip Kelly's warp speed attack doesn't look so revolutionary anymore in the NFL."

He starts his article with: "So about that Chip Kelly revolution..."

After bashing the Eagles, Adelson then lightens up and says this: "Kelly deserves to bring in more talent and make his way work, but this isn't Oregon anymore." Okay, he didn't lighten up a great deal. The skepticism is still well in tact.

Toward the end of his piece, Adelson says the following: "The past-paced offense needs time to adapt to the NFL, not the other way around."

While I'm sure Adelson enjoyed his Eagles-bashing session, let's get a few things straight here:

1. Before yesterday's game, the Eagles led the league in rushing yards (still do), and were among the league leaders in total yards and points. They've scored 30+ points in four of their seven games this season. They only did that once all of last season, in a 38-33 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

2. The Eagles finished last year at 4-12. They're 3-4 at this point in the season and would only need to finish the year 2-7 to improve upon last year's record.

3. Philly has been banged up at wide receiver all year, losing starter Jeremy Maclin and others for the year. They're now also banged up at quarterback, with both Michael Vick and Nick Foles sidelined due to injuries.

4. This is Chip Kelly's first year in the NFL. He's made some rookie-like moves to this point in the season, but has been appearing to make some good adjustments. In any case, it's utterly impossible to prove the long-term effectiveness of a new coach's strategy based on a seven-game sample.

5. Believe it or not, but the Eagles are still in the hunt for the NFC East title, just one game back of Dallas, a half a game up on Washington, and two and a half up on the Giants.

There have been some definite bumps in the road for the Eagles offense, and there will continue to be, under first-year head coach Chip Kelly. However, skeptics like Eric Adelson should at least admit that the team's offensive production has vastly improved from last year to this year. In 16 games last season, the team eclipsed 30 points just once. In 7 games this season, its eclipsed that point four times. While doubts are understandable, credit should be given as well.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--chip-kelly-s-warp-speed-attack-doesn-t-look-so-revolutionary-anymore-in-the-nfl-231637202.html

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