Chip Kelly continues backing wide receiver Riley Cooper

Chip Kelly continued offering support for wide receiver Riley Cooper, who had three catches for 13 yards in Sunday's 24-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Cooper now has 46 catches for 470 yards and one touchdown this season. Kelly pointed out that Cooper had 47 catches all of last season. Of course, Cooper also averaged 17.8 yards per catch last season with eight touchdowns. This year, Cooper has 10.2 yards per catch and one touchdown.

"That's not Coop's fault, either," Kelly said. "The ball needs to be thrown in certain situation. We're facing a lot more zone coverage this year than last year. People played us in a ton more man last year. ...People are playing a lot more off-man than a year ago. ...He's one off with three games to go from where he was last year, and he has two drops."

Cooper was the target on Mark Sanchez's interception on Sunday. Kelly absolved Cooper from responsibility on that play, too.

"Coop was exactly where he needed to be," Kelly said. "Ball was thrown behind him."

**

Kelly said the Eagles would like to get Darren Sproles more involved, but defenses are focusing on stopping Sproles. Sproles had 26 offensive touches in the first two games of the season. He's had 52 touches in the 11 games.

**

Marcus Smith played seven special teams snaps on Sunday. Kelly said the first-round pick has shown improvement, but was in there only because Trey Burton was absent.