When did you decide that Michael Vick was going to start?
COACH KELLY: Probably after Friday's practice. He said he felt good going into Saturday.
Did he try that hundred yard sprint he was talking about?
COACH KELLY: He worked out. I don't think he sprinted a hundred yards. But he worked out and felt good. Ran around again on Saturday in practice and felt good.
Was the hamstring reinjured today?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, that's what they said. Somewhere in either that second or third drive, he said he felt it pop or just felt like he reinjured it. I think he tried to go and I asked him and he looked at me and said, coach, I don't think I can go.
How much influence did he have in determining whether he was going to start today or not?
COACH KELLY: I think you have to listen to him. Watching him in practice I didn't see any ill effects. None of our coaching staff or training staff or doctors saw that. He moved around pretty good, moving in the pocket, running around, doing those things. He said he felt good. Obviously, I listen to him. I'm not going to put him out there if he said he didn't feel good. That would have really changed the decision. But he said he felt good.
He took reps first team leading up to that point. Is that based off how you felt?
COACH KELLY: How he felt, what we were hearing from Mike and what we were hearing from our trainers and the doctors that he felt like he was pretty good. When it was originally diagnosed, it was supposed to be 10 to 14 days. It was actually 21 days until we played. So he felt good about it. Our training staff and doctors felt good about it. We as a coaching staff didn't see any effects in terms of him doing anything from a practice standpoint. Felt like he was going to be the number one guy. As we moved along, part of it is on a day‑to‑day basis how do you recover and go in the next day? So he got one reps and Matt got the two reps.
How confident did you feel about Matt's preparation? How he would do if called upon?
COACH KELLY: It's catch 22 for everybody. Mike hadn't been in for two games and you have to give Mike the requisite amount of reps and you also have to get your second‑string guy the amount of reps. That's just the way it goes. There are only a certain amount of reps we can do. We can't stay on the field for 45 reps for our offense because we'll run our other guys into the ground. It's a tough deal getting your second guy ready to go. But Matt got all those snaps and then Matt gets a lot of snaps throwing afterwards and whatnot. But it's tough to get that second guy ready to go.
Can you take us through the play call on the 2 yard line?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, we called timeout. I just wanted to get Matt settled. We went and talked about it. It's a play we've run. We've practiced continuously here six weeks or seven weeks since the beginning of the season in the red zone. It was just a naked one route with DeSean out wide and then tight end on a drag on the back side. If we didn't have it, throw it away.
Why not LeSean McCoy in that situation?
COACH KELLY: That was the play I called. You can go back. It didn't work. So obviously it didn't work. But we know in that situation we're first and goal and we talked about it. If we don't have it, let's throw it away and we'll go the next time.
Why go for the onsides kick with 4 minutes left and 1 timeout?
COACH KELLY: I only had one timeout, so it didn't matter if we kicked it deep, it was still the same amount of time on the clock. We felt like if we could get it at that point in time, that was my decision. In terms of the time off the clock is going to be the same exact thing.
So the play that DeSean wasn't there on that route, did Matt try to make something happen? Is that what happened there?
COACH KELLY: That's what it looked like from our standpoint. It's only two‑man routes. If we don't have one or two, let's get rid of the ball and play the next snap, because it's still 2nd and goal at the two.
You had Alex Henery try a 60‑yarder last week, why did you pass on a 50 yard kick today?
COACH KELLY: Just when we go through pregame and how far he can fit, and what Fipp feels where he is, when I talk to Fipp about it. There was a wind, you're talking about the one in the third quarter going the other way? Yeah, there was pretty good wind there. That was a tough wind that's why we went for it on fourth down, down there. Whenever we get close, Fipp's right near me, and I'll ask him. He said we need to get a little bit closer in that situation.
How about on the decision to punt?
COACH KELLY: It was a two‑score game. So I knew we were going to stop them. I have great confidence in our defense. I wish they stopped them on the first and third down, and we got them on the second down, and we felt like we were going to get the ball back with time to score and get an onside kick.
The running game struggled again today. Did they do a lot of things similar three weeks ago than they did today?
COACH KELLY: No, they changed it up from what they did last time but more from a coverage standpoint whether they played zone or man. But the box was the same count. So there was still a hat for a hat. Sometimes we've got to hit it up in there and kind of take what they give us. There were a couple times we got it moving there in the beginning of the second half, but it's not consistent enough for us to win football games.
What stage is Nick Foles at with his concussion?
COACH KELLY: I don't know. I know he was in on Saturday, but he still hasn't been cleared to fully practice. So that's a big question mark going into next week. Again, until he gets fully cleared, he has to also see an independent, so he can't participate in anything. So he was in, he attended meetings on Saturday, and he was around. But he has not been cleared to play yet.
Do you anticipate Matt Barkley being the quarterback?
COACH KELLY: I don't know. I really don't know right now. It really depends on the full report on Mike and the full report on Nick. But it could look that way.
Did you see any progress from Matt Barkley from last week to this week? If so, in what areas?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think Matt's been thrown in twice into some tough situations. I think he prepares outstanding. There are probably a couple throws he wants back, but there are a couple times he gave us a little spark, little energy. He sets his feet and gets the ball out quick. He made some good decisions. A couple sailed on him a little bit. But I think the biggest thing for us is not capitalizing at the end of the first half there. We've got to do a better job. Then all of a sudden, you end up losing the game by eight, those points we left out on the field are the things that killed us.
After three weeks of rehab for Michael and going through the series, are you concerned going forward about his ability to stay on the field? And your willingness to go through a week like you just went through where he gets the majority of the reps?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I'm concerned. I know we thought it was going to be a 10 to 14 day thing and so did Mike. And Mike felt great. That is the one thing that's disappointing for Mike. He did everything from a rehab standpoint that we asked him to do. And put in all the time. And not to be able to go out there and be a hundred percent is a concern, yes.
Your offense was so dynamic early on why has it bogged down?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think we've had some instability at the quarterback position. I think we've also got to step up. And it starts with me. I'm the play caller. I'm the guy calling plays. In the last two weeks I haven't done a very good job of it. Until we can get that straightened out, the disappointing thing is I think our defense played a really, really good football game again today. They've really come along. But offensively we haven't done what we need to do to win two football games and we need to get that fixed.
I know it's hindsight, but looking back on it maybe on Tuesday when you got to practice, you had Mike trying to push to do that hundred yards?
COACH KELLY: I go with whatever the trainers or doctors tell me. So for me to go out there and say I think we need to be doing this from a rehab standpoint, that's not my expertise. I listen to them and Mike and we make a plan accordingly.
Can you talk about specifics on defense today?
COACH KELLY: I just think they're starting to really get the grasp and understanding of what our defensive coaches are doing. I think they're in the right spots. They're holding disguises a little bit longer. They can confuse the quarterback at times. There are a couple of delay of games there where I think they're not exactly sure what was coming. If we were going to put pressure on them or if there was going to be pressure at all. They're starting to understand the package. I think since day one they're playing with great effort and doing a better job tackling right now. I think we defended some of the deep balls, some of the balls thrown in the end zone. They've done a really good job with that. They haven't gotten the ball thrown over their head, and they've kept the ball in front of them. So I think we can build from where we are on the defensive side.
Did you think Mike looked okay the first few series of the game?
COACH KELLY: You know, obviously, that first drive when we end up throwing the pick, but I didn't see anything from him physically that happened there. They said that he didn't feel right. But when they asked him if he could go back in, he said he could. After the third series I went over and talked to him and said, Mike, where are you? And that's when he told me he couldn't go.
Was there a plan to keep Vick in the pocket more and not run as much?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, we didn't have designed quarterback runs where we were going to be running him up and down the field, but that's not really what we do anyway. Lot of what Mike does ends upcoming from when someone's covered and he takes off and goes, that's always been a huge weapon for him. It was a huge weapon for him the last time we played these guys. But we didn't go into this saying, hey, we've got a lot of designed runs where we're going to try to get Mike on the perimeter and do those things. That wasn't our plan.
What did you see on the first interception with Mike?
COACH KELLY: We were running the shallow cross and the wheel route and they looked like they were both covered. Then all the sudden it came up and the ball was out and I was watching the shallow cross and the wheel, and then they were covered and I looked up and I think it was Celek, and the ball was behind him. So I don't have the exact answer, but I know the first two reads were covered.
Did you think that was a play where in the past Mike would have taken off and ran?
COACH KELLY: I can't tell you. I didn't see. I know what happened on the first two reads because that's what I was looking at. But I didn't see the rest of it. I know there were some guys up on them from a rush standpoint. But I couldn't tell you if there was a place to escape or get out of there.
If you had said during the week you were uncomfortable with the situation because you had two quarterbacks less than 100% healthy. Is that the scenario you fear the most by coming out and Mike not being able to make it after having him work all week in practice?
COACH KELLY: Yeah, I think when you're unsettled at that position in this league, it's real difficult. You didn't have a concrete answer. I know some of you wanted it during the week is he going to start on Tuesday? I don't know if he's starting on Tuesday. How do we go through the week of practice and see where he is. And that was the way it was. I was telling you the truth then. I was concerned all week long. When you're not settled at that position in this league, you better have a quarterback. And right now we're unstable at the quarterback spot and we are not playing well at the quarterback spot, and we lost our last two games because of it.
What does that do especially to your offense though?
COACH KELLY: I think it does to everybody's offense, I don't care who you are. We haven't asked our quarterbacks to run, I wouldn't get caught up in that. But if we can't execute what we need to execute, just getting the ball on people when guys are getting open and giving them a chance to make plays, then I think that becomes a real difficult deal. Whether you're running the Eagles offense or anybody else's offense in the NFL. If you have instability at the quarterback spot, we have to figure things out as a coaching staff to make sure we score enough points the way our defense is going right now.
Do you think stability at quarterback is going to fix the issues or is it something else?
COACH KELLY: No, I think if we can get settled there, and I look up and I see guys are open and we can get the ball to them in the right spot. I think we can move the ball. We were a hair away. There was twice where we hit receivers and if we lean forward we would get a first down, we get a drive going. It all compounds itself. You're going to look at every single play and say how can we make that better. How can we execute that a little bit better? That's what we as a coaching staff will do as we look at the tape and put a plan together. But we know where we are right now and we understand what our situation is right now. We've got to get whoever is ready to go this week, I don't think Matt's banged up, but if Matt's ready to go this week, we have to get him as much work as we can and get him ready to play Oakland.
On the crossing route to DeSean it looked like you had a chance for a first down?
COACH KELLY: From my angle, I can't tell you did he understand what the sticks were or what type of tackle it was. But I thought DeSean played well today. We got the ball to him. He was a weapon. But I think you can individually look at every single play that wasn't successful and say was it this, was it that? If we were deep enough on the first curl route, we may not have been in that situation. Those are all the little teeny things. But when you add them up and you're not moving the ball offensively, every single thing adds up. That's what we need. Especially when we're not where we need to be right now at the quarterback spot because of injuries. We need some other guys to say we'll get this thing straightened out.
