Kelly not ready to say how much Sam will play Saturday

You know Sam Bradford will be playing Saturday night against the Green Bay Packers, and I know it. So does Bradford.

But Chip Kelly, once again wary of a Legionnaires disease outbreak, wasn't ready to confirm that Thursday morning, and certainly wasn't ready to tell reporters how much Bradford would play against the Packers if/when he does play.

"We have not met and talked about that at all,'' the Eagles coach said.

"Like every week, we'll have a meeting this afternoon and talk about everybody and what our rotation will be, and then finalize it after tomorrow's training session.''

Kelly said Bradford's two ACL injuries would have no bearing on his playing time Saturday.

"I think he's beyond the point of us being cautious with him" because of the injury, he said. "It's just a matter of what do we want to get done, what do we want to get accomplished, what do we need to see.''

Kelly said the fact that Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers might not play will not affect how much Bradford plays.

"I never talk to any coach in the preseason about what he's doing,'' Kelly said. "I coach my team, and he coaches his team.''

Inquirer beat writer Zach Berman mentioned to Kelly that Nick Foles played 38 snaps in the third preseason game last year and Mike Vick played 46 the year before, and asked Kelly if anything has changed in the way he views the third game of the preseason.

"I have no idea,'' Kelly replied.

Asked what factors might impact how much Bradford plays, Kelly mentioned weather.

"There's rain coming in Green Bay,'' he said. "It's 54 degrees there currently. I was monitoring the weather there a little earlier. There's a lot of different factors. Start with weather, though.''

Bradford played 14 snaps last week against Baltimore. He completed 3 of 5 passes for 35 yards and engineered a touchdown drive.

"We're just looking for daily progress from Sam,'' Kelly said. "We've seen it on the practice field. He's better today than he was when we started (camp) on Aug. 1. And he's continuing to get comfortable in what we're doing.

"He's not making the same mistakes. He's a really coachable guy. He has a great understanding of the game of football. He's played in a couple of different systems, so I think that benefits him. We continue to see continual growth with him, which I think is important.''

Bradford said he might have been a little too amped up against Baltimore last week. Kelly agreed.

"Yeah, you could tell he was a little amped up,'' Kelly said. "He probably wants that (deep) throw to Riley (Cooper) back. But that's understandable. Not having played football in such a long time, that's just a natural kind of feeling that we would anticipate him having.''

--Kelly on wide receiver Miles Austin: "He's a really skilled route runner. That was one thing that stuck out even in Cleveland last year. Whether it's press (coverage), whether it's off (coverage), he has a great understanding of concepts. He has a great understanding of techniques as far as how to get himself in and out of breaks. He's unique in that way. He's helped a lot of our younger receivers in terms of that.''

--Kelly on why they decided to sign linebacker Mychal Kendricks to a contract extension now: "Because he's a really good football player and we like him. ... We want to build our team around the guys that we feel fit in terms of what we do.''

--Wide receiver Josh Huff, who had been excused from practice for personal reasons the last two days, was back on the field for Thursday's walk-through.