For Chip Kelly and the Philadelphia Eagles, it seems victories on Sundays are being made possible by coming to work on Tuesdays this season. Photo Courtesy of Philly.com
Chip Kelly has often been accused of being innovative or revolutionary but perhaps his most dynamic change that he's brought to the Philadelphia Eagles in his first NFL season is having his players practicing on Tuesday.
In a league where the players are creatures of habit above all else, Kelly's Eagles are the only team in the league that practices on Tuesday which has traditionally been the day off for players since time immemorial.
This Tuesday both offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and defensive coordinator Bill Davis Jr talked about the impact that winning on Tuesday has not only on the players, but their ability to be ahead of the curve on Sunday.
Compared with the heart monitors worn at practice, the sleep monitors at night, custom blended protein smoothies, getting the Eagles veterans to buy into the thought of coming to work on Tuesday undoubtedly must have been Kelly's hardest sell.
Yet, following the team's five-game winning streak rapid ascent to the top of the NFC East standings, the philosophy is obviously working both in theory and in practice.
"The message and we just got done talking to the guys, is all about Tuesday," Davis explained in his weekly session with the media at the Novacare Complex. "The question we always pose is; can we out-meet, out-train, out prepare and out recover the Minnesota Vikings on this Tuesday?
"And we do that one day at a time. We focus on our corrections from the previous Sunday's game and moving on to the Vikings and throwing everything into that one-day and the things we can control."
As difficult as it must have been for the players to relinquish their typical midweek day off, the preparation the Eagles are able to accomplish early in the week has proven to set the stage for success on Sunday.
"The message to the team really is; there's nothing in our sights other than playing Minnesota," Shurmur said. "Our guys have done it and shown that they can do it by hitting the reset button and saying 'let's go'. Our guys understand the process. What we do training wise is different than they've done in the past. The veterans that have been around have been really good about putting the last game to bed and moving on. We always talk about this being 'the best Tuesday of the year' and they embrace that."
As far as the quarterback play goes, at least part of Nick Foles' success this season has to be attributed to the extra film study and practice he's afforded by being in the complex with his teammates on Tuesday.
"All I can tell you is Nick has taken that 'put it to bed and move on' mentality and embraced it," Shurmur said of Foles. "he's upstairs now going over tape and getting ready for his training session. He's always here trying to get better every day."
For all Kelly's sports science innovations and new wrinkles on offense, it appears the first-year head coach may have stumbled on th most critical change of all in the way of how business is conducted in the NFL and the success that could come with it.
"We always emphasize [that we're the only team working on Tuesday]," Davis explained. "We think that is a big advantage for us because I think we get a little bit of a head start on getting in here on Tuesday and getting some kinks out of the Sunday soreness."
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
