Attention Eagles fans! Before you get too carried away with all this talk about Chip Kelly's up-tempo offense, there's something you might want to know.
The NFL officials might have other ideas.
In a Wall Street Journal story, the NFL's vice president of officiating Dean Blandino makes clear his belief that it's the referees - not the coaches or players - who dictate the pace of the game.
"We have to make sure teams understand that they don't control the tempo, our officials do," Blandino said.
Can you say fly in the ointment?
Much of the interest sparked by the arrival of Chip Kelly from Oregon is the notion of how his up-tempo, frenetic pace that steamrolled college opponents during his reign at Oregon would fly in the NFL.
Turns it might never get off the ground.
If I'm Jeff Lurie, I'm on the horn with Roger Goodell asking exactly what Blandino means. I don't think Lurie is depositing $6 million bucks in Kelly's bank account just to see him run the same offense everyone else in the league features.
Kelly pretty much wants to be running a play every 23 seconds or so. That's what he averaged at Oregon. Last year the Patriots featured a version of this offense.The Eagles and Patriots kick off the exhibition season in a couple of weeks. Maybe they should have a backup officiating crew on standby to give the regulars a blow.
Or maybe we'll find out the league is serious about the officials sticking a pin in Kelly's trial balloon.
And if that's the case, Lurie, Kelly and Eagles fans should waste little time in crying foul.
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