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Chip Kelly Hater Alert: Heath Evans continues to sound dumb

By Anthony DiBona

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Right when the Philadelphia Eagles decided to hire head coach Chip Kelly back in 2013, everyone was quick to judge the move. No single person was more critical at that moment than former NFL fullback and current NFL Network analyst, Heath Evans. As soon as the move was announced, Evans put out this gem of an article bashing the Eagles’ hiring of Kelly.

Let’s just take a look at the two opening paragraphs from this awful piece of writing Evans put together:

"Now that the Philadelphia Eagles have reeled in perhaps the biggest fish on the coaching market, I am going on the record calling Chip Kelly one of the worst hires in pro football history.Yes, worse than Steve Spurrier, the old ball coach who is one of college football’s top offensive minds ever but who failed miserably in the NFL, going 12-20 in two seasons with the Washington Redskins (2002-03). Kelly, too, is a dynamic college head coach, but what he’s about to bring to the NFL simply won’t work."

Evans couldn’t have been anymore wrong then he was in that article. The worst part of it all is when Kelly’s first season as a head coach came to a conclusion, following the Eagles finishing the year with a 10-6 record and reaching the playoffs, Evans didn’t admit he was wrong. Somehow he ended up pointing his finger at the editors of his article, claiming the article was initially written for the Cleveland Browns…wait, what!?

Exactly. Evans was dead wrong and still wouldn’t own up to his awful claim. Now two years late and Evans remains one of Kelly’s harshest critics. But the worst part of it all is that he honestly doesn’t have any good reasons to dislike Kelly either. Maybe it’s the fact that Kelly opts to not use a fullback in his offense, that may truly offend Evans deep down inside. His former position is becoming somewhat of a fossil in the NFL.

Earlier today, Evans joined the Mike Missanelli Show on 97.5 The Fanatic and continued to bash Kelly and the Eagles. Here are a few tweets that recap Evans’ appearance on the show:

Let me get this straight, Evans’ biggest problem with Kelly’s offense is the main reason it’s so damn successful? Sure, that makes a ton of sense…except not at all. The main reason Kelly’s offense has been dominant at every single level he’s coached at is because of the pace in which his team’s play at. Defenses just don’t have the time to adjust to all of the plays that are being thrown at them. Kelly loves to use the entire field and spread a defense out, that allows him to create huge holes for his offense to attack.

Sure, you could make an argument that maybe the tempo isn’t healthy for the player’s on both sides of the ball since they play such an increased amount of snaps. But the Eagles have been the healthiest team in the NFL since Kelly has become their head coach. So once again, this argument wouldn’t make much sense either.

Here’s another point that just doesn’t make sense. Evans may not be aware of this but one of Kelly’s best friends is New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. Now I may be wrong, but Belichick knows a thing or two…or six about winning Super Bowls, doesn’t he? Belichick may be one of the greatest, if not, the greatest head coach in NFL history. He’s not known to have a ton of close friends either but for some reason, he remains close to Kelly and the two even held joint practices together in both 2013 and 2014.

Then there’s former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson who won two Super Bowls as well, he’s apparently a fan of Kelly as well. How do I know that? Because he told Emily Kaplan of MMQB.SI.com those exact words himself in an article from last month:

"“I’m a fan of Chip Kelly. I like what he’s doing. The biggest concern I have is that even though they’ve been the healthiest team in the league the last couple years, because of his holistic approach with sports science and nutrition, he’s taking some big risks trading and obtaining players with major injuries. That’s the only concern I have.”"

Lastly, there’s this gem from Evans. Kelly’s offense obviously changes each and every week. Does he slow it down? Of course not because it works. But he certainly involves new players and attacks different levels of a defense based on their opponent each week. That being said, regarding Kelly’s plan…this has been discussed before:

Game over.

Next: Eagles Analysis: Chip Kelly has tough decisions to make

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