2. ITS SECRET COMES BETWEEN PLAYS [gap size=”10px”]

Eagles head coach Chip Kelly isn’t a mad scientistic who spends hours drawing up plays no one has seen before. What makes Kelly’s offense different is how quickly he attempts to run it.”That’s the thing we’re trying to emphasize to our players is that, ‘You’ve faced this. The thing you’ve haven’t faced is the up-tempo,’” Rivera said.Kelly has a 16-8 record since he brought his offense from Oregon to the NFL, so it’s hard to argue with his results. But some other numbers show the Eagles aren’t always able to impose their will.They’re averaging 72.1 plays from scrimmage per game this season, the second-most in the league behind the Colts (74.0). But last year, the Eagles ran 65.9 plays per game, which ranked 13th.“They were hyping it up like it was going to be fast, fast, but it was a regular game,” Norman said when asked about the Panthers’ 2013 preseason game in Philadelphia.Somewhat surprisingly, the Eagles aren’t on offense for long. They’re 31st with a 27:32 average time of possession this season. Only the winless Raiders have had the ball less. And in 2013, the Eagles finished dead last in time of possession, nearly a full minute worse than the Jaguars.So when they’re on, the Eagles run a lot of plays, but they don’t use much time. That puts an immense amount of pressure not just on opposing players, but on coaches as well.“One of the things we’ve talked about is how you react after a play. How important it is to get to your position after the play. That’s probably the most important thing,” Rivera said. “We need to make sure we’re smart about substitutions and understanding when the best time is to substitute. We have to be on top of our game as coaches. We as coaches have got to control them. We as coaches have to be prepared.”