Washington Redskins vs. Philadelphia Eagles: Chip Kelly's Offense is Dangerous for Philly

By Michael Moraitis--Featured Columnist (@michaelmoraitis)

The Philadelphia Eagles will hit the road to take on the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football in what will be a highly-anticipated game that features new Eagles head coach Chip Kelly's offense.

Kelly will be bringing his college system to the NFL as Philly's new lead man. The system is a spread offense that is frantically paced and was wildly successful during Kelly's days with the Oregon Ducks.

How will it translate to the pros? Nobody can be certain, but there are as many dangers to this system as there are positives.

For starters, no defense in the NFL has seen what Kelly and the Eagles are bringing. The idea is to have the offense run plays as quickly as possible with spread out formations in order to keep opposing defenses tired and on their heels.

Don't be surprised to see some Redskins hitting the field with "injuries" should things get out of control for their defense. This approach has become commonplace in the NFL nowadays and Kelly's offense may bring out the worst in what is a growing problem for the league.

On the flip side, there are some negatives to all of this.

Kelly will be expecting a ton from his players, namely winning a battle with fatigue. Granted, opposing defenses won't have an easy time catching a breather, but Kelly's players may also have to pay the price as a result of the pace.

With a veteran quarterback in Michael Vick who is oft-injured, there is a great threat that Kelly could run his signal-caller into trouble in multiple ways. On top of that, keeping up this pace for a 16-game season could produce more wear and tear on the team as a whole than what is normal.

But that is the risk Kelly has decided to take in implementing this scheme from college. He must be careful because if things go bad and players start dropping like flies from injuries or fatigue, it could create a scenario where a mutiny takes place and Kelly may lose his team if that happens.

The unpredictability of the Eagles offense may catch some teams off guard during the season, but it must be done responsibly or else Kelly may do more harm than good.