Reviewed by Emory Hunt
I had the pleasure of reading Alex Kirby’s book “Speed Kills: Breaking Down the Chip Kelly Offense” recently, and I must say that it satisfied a lot of what I want to get out of a book. Going into this book, I thought I had a pretty good idea of what Chip Kelly’s offense was all about and I later found out that it was only ten percent.
Where Kirby excels in this book is by utilizing the K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) approach to breaking it down; and that’s essentially what Chip Kelly does offensively. Kirby takes you through the ‘why’ of a play/concept/package before delving into the ‘how’ of the play/concept/package. For me, this is a great way to teach because it illustrates the philosophy behind Kelly’s methods.
The book is broken down into four parts: The Basics, Run Game, Pass Game & Pass Protection. There’s sub-sections to each part that dives deeper into each main subject. That adds the depth to the book.
Kirby has a background as a high school and college coach, but he does a great job of not going ‘too technical’ with the coach speak. It’s conversational and informative. Without giving up too much of what’s inside, I’m a big fan of the play diagrams because it adds the visual element to the words which helps you get an even better picture of the offense.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to others as well as the other books that Kirby has written here: www.lifeafterfootballblog.com. He’s a ‘football guy’ that breaks it down simple and effective.
