Chip Kelly's optimal time of possession

I LOVE CHIP Kelly's offense. Kelly has no time for the time-of-possession stat.

Thankfully, Kelly wouldn't know me from Adam Vinatieri, because I do care for time of possession. If you are an Eagles fan, maybe you should, too. I will show you why . . . But first, two caveats:

* Wrap your head around the fact that time of possession is not just an offensive stat, but every bit a defensive stat, as well. How quickly can my defense get your offense off the field so my offense can do its thing?

* Winning the time of possession is not important. (There, I said it.) But there is a differing level of T.O.P. that most offenses need to reach to function at their highest level. Some offenses (like the Christian Okoye Chiefs of the late 1980s/early '90s) need 35-plus minutes a game to grind out their points. Others (like the Jim Kelly Flying Circus in Buffalo around the same time) could make due with less time than it takes KYW Newsradio to give you the world.

(By the way, those Bills once put up 38 points on the Raiders despite just a 20:46 T.O.P. Kelly had three TD passes that day. Kelly? Hmm . . . Maybe it's the name.)

The bottom line is that most coaches' offenses have time-of-possession level, a number at which point the team - offense and defense - can perform optimally. And we have Chip Kelly's number:

Twenty-four minutes.

In 76 games as head coach at Oregon and with the Eagles, Kelly's teams are 10-11 when they have a time of possession under 24:00.

When they have the ball 24:00 or more, those teams are 51-4. That's 51 . . . and 4.

Oh, yeah, those four losses? Here ya go:

* To No. 1 Auburn in the 2010 BCS title game.

* To No. 4 LSU to kick off the 2011 season.

* To the Denver Broncos, who were just beginning to put the pedal to the metal with one of the greatest offenses of all time.

* And to the New Orleans Saints in last year's playoffs, which might not have been a loss but for a late, clutch kickoff return. (And whatever happened to Darren Sproles anyhow?)

So all I ask of the Eagles offense is at least 6 minutes a quarter. Time enough for Chip's boys to do their thing with the ball, but not so short that the defense hardly gets off the field before it has to get back on.

After all, 51-4 doesn't lie.