Writer: Kevin Durso
Cary Williams calls out Chip Kelly’s practice regimen following win
The Eagles may be 3-0 but that does not mean all is well in the locker room.
Following the Eagles 37-34 win over the Redskins on Sunday, Cary Williams criticized teammates and the coaching staff about being overworked in practice.
For the third straight week, the Eagles rallied from a first-half deficit. Williams praised his teammates for their resilience.
"The way this was handled today, it shows that one, we're fighters. In our room, it just shows our resilience," Williams said following the game. "It shows our toughness."
But Williams then fired the shots at the practice regimen that worked wonders for the Eagles last season.
"You can't continue to run your team into the ground and expect great results," Williams said. "You gotta give 'em some type of opportunity to recuperate. You gotta give 'em an opportunity to get that energy back, and we've been sapped of that energy for three weeks."
Williams has always been an outspoken member of the Eagles. He made headlines in the preseason when he called out the New England Patriots on Spygate. His forward comments on Sunday hinted that he wasn't the only one that has a problem with the Eagles intense practice sessions.
"I'm burnt out. I'm not the only guy that feels burnt out," Williams said. "I'm just a guy that's man enough to stand up for players and just say that we're burnt out.
"Something has to be modified and something has to be changed, and I'm not afraid to say, 'Hey look, that's what needs to be done.' I'm not hurting anybody. I just know what this locker room feels like. I know what the guy to the left of me to the right of me feels like."
Williams has a point. Something seems to be different.
The Eagles aren't as fine-tuned as they were a season ago on the field. The sport science methods that kept them so healthy hasn't been working. At the close of Sunday's game, the Eagles were playing with four backup offensive linemen – granted Jason Peters was not on the field after being ejected. Is Chip Kelly's magic wearing off?
"You take those words with a grain of salt from last year," Williams said. "To be honest with you, it is what it is.
"I just hope that we can do better by getting guys ready for the game during the week, and then on Sunday, we'll be popping out of our skin running around, flying around the way they want us to be. Just for these three weeks, we just have not been that. A lot of guys come into the game and been exhausted, and I'm one of them. I've been exhausted for the last three weeks. Nothing has changed. No modification has been done, so that's just that."
Kevin Durso is a contributor for Eagledelphia. Follow him on Twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.