How the Jaguars Avoided the Chip Kelly Disaster

"Yeah, I hate that we had to do this at this time. This is just uncharted waters, basically, but we worked for a long time trying to come together and communicating so it fits the style of play that we want to play with," Carroll said on Monday.

"And we didn't quite get it done, and I could feel it coming, and I was working at it, and Chip [Kelly] was working at it, and he's been a phenomenal coach, and his past is extraordinary of all the things he's accomplished, but at this time, I just felt like we needed to take the next step, and we were kind of staying the same and staying the same, and so it wasn't good enough for our fans and for our guys. And so, that's why we made the move."

The common connection between Coen and Kelly was always veteran coach Mark Whipple, the father of Jaguars quarterbacks coach Spencer Whipple. Coen and Kelly each have a close relationship with Whipple, who coached Kelly at New Hampshire and employed Coen at the University of Massachusetts.

"He was one of the first guys to offer me a scholarship. Chip Kelly was, [UMass Head Coach] Mark Whipple was the first, then Chip was second at New Hampshire and those were our rivals. UMass-New Hampshire was a rivalry," Coen said before the Jaguars played the Raiders earlier this season.

"Played against Coach Kelly multiple times when he was the offensive coordinator at New Hampshire and they were doing stuff that not a lot of people were doing in our conference and around the country. Fast forward a year, he goes from New Hampshire OC to Oregon, and the Northeast is like, ‘Wait, what?’ Not because you didn't expect it, it just hadn't really happened that jump before and it was very well deserved.

So much respect for Chip and man, we talked a ton last year. We've always stayed in close contact over the years. And you could just see the creativity, the ability to try to get the ball in playmaker's hands like they're trying to find their way as an offense."

Kelly and the Jaguars never came close to happening, and the Jaguars seem to be better off considering how different their season has gone from the Raiders',