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Ole' Hogs Haven friend of ours, Parks Smith, emailed me last a week a brilliant idea to Photoshop some of Chip Kelly's in-game placards with a NFL twist. We bounced around some ideas and here's what we came up with.
To preface this for the non-college football fans (they exist?), ESPN spent some time in 2011 trying to crack Chip Kelly's placards, which they were unsuccessful on, but they were able to surmise Kelly needed the cards for two reasons:
(1) Coaches felt that Ohio State may have been stealing the Ducks' hand signals during last year's Rose Bowl;
(2) The team needed a quicker way to communicate.
They spend as little as 13 seconds between plays. They don't give defenses time to make substitutions or adjustments; they don't give defenders time to think or breathe; they've outscored bewildered opponents 277-77 after halftime this season. And they can't do any of that without a reliable signaling system that takes less than five seconds to process.
And more specifically:
Kelly told ESPN that the placards communicate formation, play and snap count, and that each image means something.
So, what can he use for the NFL? Here are some suggestions:
I call this first one the "Wildcat" package. From top left clock-wise: Kid that vomited on a girl at Phils game, Andrew Bynum, baby drinking beer at Phils game, and the infamous Taser kid.
The "Pro set" package...some of Philly's finest: Boyz II Men, Will Smith, Rocky, Kobe. Are the two "I"s in Boyz II Men mean the I-formation...or does Rocky mean the Pro-formation? You'll never know.
The "Wish bone" package...because all four of these college coaches wish they could have made it in the NFL but ended up getting boned one way or the other. Any chance I get to use a picture of Bobby Petrino in a neck brace I must take.
"Victory" formation....Always Sunny in Philadephia.
I call this one, "The sign you hold up the entire game at Cowboys Stadium"....bonus points for Chip since that Michael Irvin picture was from Veterans Stadium.
Might as well do a NY Giants one, too. It wouldn't be fair to exclude former NYG Punter, Matt Dodge, from this article:
