On Monday afternoon, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly met with the media to recap what he and the coaching staff saw on film from the Eagles' exhilarating 33-27 victory over Dallas. Here are five takeaway's from Kelly's press conference ...
On Sam Bradford's Progress
"I think everything in Sam's game has gotten better, and as I said before, I've seen Sam improve on a weekly basis here. We're in game 8, so he's better in game 8 than he was in game 1. I think he's more comfortable in terms of what we're doing. In terms of where we are as an offense with a lot of these guys, it's kind of like there's a movie being shown and he showed up halfway through it and he's supposed to figure out what he missed in the first half of the movie, because he hadn't been here as long as Brent (Celek) has been here and Kelce and some of those other guys. It's something you have to get through reps. It's not something that can be forced. He works extremely hard at it. He's in this building all the time, he's watching film and studying and working at it, but we've seen constant improvement out of Sam and I hope it continues."
On The Offensive Line Stepping Up Without Jason Peters.
"I thought Dennis played really well. It was his first start at tackle for us. He did a really good job in protections. Did a great job in combination blocks with Tobin. I thought both of those guys on the right side played really well. I was excited for him. He's worked extremely hard since I've gotten here and put himself in that situation, but I thought Dennis played really well for us."
On The Eagles' Motivated Week Of Training
"I think this is the best week of training that we've had since I've been here to be honest with you. I think the whole group practiced well, but Jordan in particular, I think if you're in a slump it takes someone with a great work ethic to get out of a slump, and that's what Jordan has. He worked extremely hard. He did a lot of work actually after our reps on offense were done, mimicking Dez Bryant for our defense and did a really good job of that too. The kid is tireless in terms of his ability to work and what he can do,a nd it showed. That's what he talk about. You sink to your level of training, and he trained at a really high level last week and played at a really high level last night."
An Injury Update On Agholor And Hicks
"If you asked Nelson two minutes after his injury, (he would have said) I'm going the next day. That's just the type of kid that Nelson is, but we're not going to put him in harm's way. He's worked extremely hard in his rehab, but it's not an injury that's going to take two seconds and I'm back. There's a certain amount of time you have to work. He practiced every day last week, and I just felt that he needed a little bit more time and I wasn't going to rush him back from it. It also speaks to the type of guy Nelly is. Nelly thought he could go when he first hurt himself. I'm fine. When you hear from the doctors it might be a little bit of time here, but he's back training and we'll monitor him again this week and hopefully we can get him back for the Miami game."
"(Hicks) is supposed to get an MRI this afternoon. I don't have any information from yesterday. They said he was supposed to get an MRI."
UPDATE: Hicks was placed on season-ending injured-reserve later on Monday afternoon.
Is This Win A Turning Point?
"It's always about the next challenge. We talk about that all the time, so the next thing for us is to have a really good day on Tuesday … A year ago on Thanksgiving, we beat these guys to go 9-3 and then what happened? Then we go 1-3 and it wasn't a turning point game for us. It's always what you do next … Every game is a big game. If we don't do something after this win against Dallas, then that game wasn't a turning point for our season, that's our point.
"They were excited and rightfully so in terms of what you did and what you accomplished, but again that's in the past. It's what we do moving forward. If we go out and don't have a good Tuesday, then we didn't use the fuel from what we got on Sunday night."
