Chip Kelly did a lot more on Thursday when he told Lowell Cohn they had a disagreement. He didn’t just handle a situation right or say the right things, which he did. Kelly made a statement. Something every successful head coach needs to make directly and publicly.
Kelly said he has his players’ backs.
Now, him sitting there telling the media that he wants his players to answer things truthfully doesn’t seem like much, but let’s look at the options available to him.
A: “Take that up with the locker room. I don’t get involved with it.”
B: “That’s between you and [insert player here]
C: “There’s an issue that our player[s] aren’t comfortable with, and they are just telling you how they feel. We don’t instruct them on how to handle the media. I have no comment.”
Those are your typical answers available to a head coach and we’ve seen answers like this before. Look to Bill Belichick and the whole deflategate scandal to how to distance yourself from the fire.
Kelly on the other hand, took option D: Stand behind his players.
And that may not seem like much, but that’s how you win a locker room and get your guys to run through a wall for you. More important is these opportunities present themselves very rarely. Jim Harbaugh had a chance to defend Justin Smith a few years ago before a game with the New York Giants when they accused Smith of cheating via defensive holding. Harbaugh hopped on the first platform he saw and called out NY and defending Smith. It’s important, it’s needed and it’s awesome.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and admit that I don’t know if this opportunity presented itself in Philadelphia, all I’ve heard is how Chip Kelly is an awful human being. Awful as he is, as a coach, he just told the media “Say what you want, I am with my players.”
In the corporate world, there’s always that manager that may be hard, may be gruff, may be unfriendly. But when trouble arises and you’re in a jam, there’s those rare moments where the manager jumps in front of the line and defends his employee, whether right or wrong, and that’s how you get one thing: Respect.
Chip Kelly may have gotten some of the players respect before this happened. But after that interview, he’s definitely shown he has his players’ backs. This isn’t his star player or a pet project. This is his backup quarterback who was a few weeks ago told by Trent Dilfer to be quiet. He could have thrown Colin Kaepernick under the bus, but he didn’t. The team has to have noticed this, and maybe the team will play harder for him knowing that at the end of anything, Kelly will go to war for them. I’ve ranted enough, onto the links.
Colin Kaepernick mural painted in Oakland (Biderman)
Injury report: Seahawks' Rawls doubtful; 49ers' Davis out (Maiocco)
Lund: Harbaugh’s departure officially ended 49ers-Seahawks rivalry (KNBR)
Eagles Malcolm Jenkins appreciates Chip Kelly's support of Colin Kaepernick (Biderman)
Michael Bennett on protests: “You need a white guy to join the fight” (Pro Football Talk)
Kelly: Trent Brown yet to scratch surface of potential (Maiocco)
Aggressive style yielding mixed results for 49ers defense (Barrows)
Niners Face Huge Hurdle of Beating Seahawks in Their Nest (Williams)
Mike Ditka to Colin Kaepernick: “If you don’t like the country . . . get the hell out” (Pro Football Talk)
49ers guard Beadles has been steady on, off field (Branch)
What a horrible night to have a curse...