Chip Kelly: We will ask NFL to clarify why Baker hit was legal
Like most of us, Eagles coach Chip Kelly was under the impression a defensive player couldn't hit a QB on an interception return unless the QB was actively trying to make a tackle. The NFL apparently disagrees.
Eagles coach Chip Kelly seemed as surprised as everyone else to hear that NFL vice president Troy Vincent had told the Washington Post that Redskins defensive lineman Chris Baker "did nothing wrong" and should not have been penalized, let alone fined, for his blindside hit on Nick Foles at the end of the return of an apparent interception.
Kelly said he would "touch base with league officials before we play again ... That's news to me, if that's a legal hit. I know the referee threw the flag pretty quickly. Everything we've taught and we know, you can't blindside a player, whether it's a quarterback or not. It's also my understanding that the quarterback on a change of possession is basically a defenseless player. That's in the past. We're going to clarify it, so we don't get put in that position in the future; we're hands-off after the interception, on the quarterback, because that's the way we interpret the rules."
In fact, despite Vincent's assertion that Baker would have had to hit Foles in the head or neck for his blast to be a penalty, the NFL has fined players over the years for hits to QBs after interceptions that did not involve hits to the head, most notably in January 2002, after then-Eagles defensive end Hugh Douglas knocked Chicago quarterback Jim Miller out of a playoff game by dumping him on his throwing shoulder following a pick. Douglas received a $35,000 fine, and Gene Washington, who then held Vincent's job, said Douglas was not allowed to contact the passer after the interception unless the passer assumed a distinctly defensive position. Washington made no reference to any requirement that the hit had to be to the passer's head, and Douglas did not hit Miller in the head.
Apparently, from what we can find on the Internet, the NFL added language to the relevant rule in 2011, specifically pointing out that quarterbacks couldn't be hit in the head during INT returns, after such a hit from New Orleans' Bobby McCray drove Kurt Warner into retirement. Vincent has not responded to messages from the Daily News, but it would seem he reads the rule now as ONLY prohibiting contact to the QB's head on an INT return -- that you can pretty much hit him anywhere else, with no penalty.
As Kelly mentioned, this is not the interpretation under which teams have operated for the last decade or so. In fact, if you watch this clip from a November 2011 Eagles-Giants game, Eagles defensive tackle Trevor Laws was penalized, then fined $7,500, for his post-interception hit on Eli Manning, which was nowhere near as vicious as Baker's shot, and which certainly did not involve a hit to the head.
Anyhow, be that as it may, the Eagles are well into preparation for their Sunday visit to San Francisco. Kelly cautioned that the offensive line configuration unveiled Tuesday -- Jason Peters, Matt Tobin, Dave Molk, Dennis Kelly and Todd Herremans -- will only hold true if Tobin's ankle holds up to a full week of practice. Tobin said Tuesday he was OK.
Kelly said the Eagles have to do a better job running the ball. He faulted the patchwork offensive line, not LeSean McCoy. "We're not striving for balance for the sake of balance, but you certainly can't chuck it every down," he said. (Somewhere, Andy Reid and Marty Mornhinweg are reading this with puzzled amazement.)
Kelly talked of his relationship with 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, whose camp Kelly visited when he coached at Oregon, after Harbaugh left Oregon rival Stanford following the 2010 season.
"Jim Harbaugh has won everywhere he's been," Kelly said. He called the 49ers coach "a competitor, a grinder," whose teams reflect his personality.
Join the weekly Daily News football picks contest to win big prizes.