Bill O Brien

Is Chip off the block for the Eagles? The Browns were close to signing Oregon coach Chip Kelly just hours after his Ducks beat Kansas State in the Fiesta Bowl, according to an NFL Network report Friday evening. Still, a source close to the situation said that it was not a done deal and that Kelly could entertain other offers or even return to college. ESPN reported that he was scheduled to meet with the Bills on Friday night and the Eagles on Saturday. The Eagles did not confirm the interview.

Nittany Nation could finally exhale Friday after receiving word that Penn State coach Bill O'Brien had ended his brief flirtation with returning to the NFL as a head coach and announced he would be back on the Beaver Stadium sideline in 2013. Neither O'Brien nor his agent, Joe Linta, responded to requests for comment. In an interview Friday with Steve Jones, the radio voice of Penn State football, O'Brien, a former offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots, said NFL teams, which he did not identify, "reached out" to his representative.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Eagles on Thursday joined the Cleveland Browns as teams to interview Bill O'Brien, but that tasty morsel of news was rendered moot when O'Brien told the Harrisburg Patriot-News he was staying at Penn State. A source close to the situation confirmed to the Daily News that the Eagles interviewed O'Brien in Massachusetts, while the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Browns had spoken with him this week, before their scheduled Friday interview in Arizona with Oregon coach Chip Kelly.

PENN STATE'S Bill O'Brien is the best professional head-coaching prospect out there. He has successful pro experience with the franchise every other NFL franchise wants to be like and was stunningly successful amid the worst of circumstances in his first season as Penn State's head football coach. That he did this amid national, if not worldwide, media scrutiny answers that question as well. I think the Eagles would have been crazy not to hire him. And I think he would have been crazy to come here.

WHAT FOLLOWS is based not upon somebody whispering in my ear. It is more about body language, and tone of voice, and reading between the lines, and understanding the history. It falls somewhere between an educated guess and a gut instinct. This: that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie likely wants either Chip Kelly or Bill O'Brien to be his next head coach. To understand why, it is best to begin with a statistic. It is a rather arcane number, to be honest. It isn't in the box score and people do not quote it very often.

PENN STATE coach Bill O'Brien is strongly considering interviewing with an NFL team, according to a report from Peter King, of Sports Illustrated and NBC. The report does not say if a team has asked O'Brien for an interview. ESPN reported that the Eagles and Browns consider him a candidate and the Jaguars reportedly are interested in talking with O'Brien. O'Brien just completed his first season as Joe Paterno's successor and led the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 record. He was widely praised for holding the program together in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

With at least seven NFL coaching vacancies needing to be filled after Monday's rash of firings, the name of Penn State coach Bill O'Brien has come up for most, if not all, of them. O'Brien, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, could have his choice of any job after earning national honors for leading the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 mark in his first season. As for whether he has been contacted, O'Brien's agent, Joe Linta, has not responded to a request for comment.

With at least seven NFL coaching vacancies needing to be filled after Monday's rash of firings, the name of Penn State coach Bill O'Brien has come up for most, if not all, of them. O'Brien, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator, could have his choice of any job after earning national honors for leading the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 mark in his first season. As for whether he has been contacted, O'Brien's agent, Joe Linta, has not responded to a request for comment.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. - Out here in the dark last week, on a street primarily illuminated by a gleaming front-lawn Santa Claus display in which the father of Christmas commands a single-propeller plane instead of a sleigh, there is a small house with a punching bag in the driveway instead of a car. Adam Breneman works out in this house's garage. You already might be able to guess this garage doesn't contain a car, either. What it lacks in standard automotive potential, it makes up for in might and force and similarly intimidating nouns, such as power.

No one can say that 2012 was an easy year for the Penn State football program. The fallout from the Jerry Sandusky child sexual-abuse scandal continued. Within a one-month period, Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts; Penn State officials such as coach Joe Paterno and president Graham B. Spanier were implicated in the damning report of the commission chaired by former FBI director Louis Freeh; and the NCAA issued crushing sanctions that included a four-year bowl ban, scholarship limitations, a $60 million fine, and the elimination of 112 wins.