Chip Kelly denies meeting with USC

Philadelphia Eagles Coach Chip Kelly denied reports that the University of Southern California met with him to discuss its coaching vacancy before the school hired interim coach Clay Helton on Monday.

Kelly, in his third year with the Eagles after a very successful run in the Pac-12 with Oregon, addressed the issue at his regularly scheduled news conference.

“I have never spoken to anybody from USC. I have never emailed anybody from USC,” Kelly said, “I never had a phone call with anybody from USC. I never had any contact with anybody from USC.”

The coach said his agent did not, either.

“Same thing,” Kelly said. “No., I am not involved in any college jobs. I’ve said it before. The same thing happened a year ago with Florida. I have great respect for all of those schools.”

::

The Arizona Cardinals have not confirmed a report that running back Chris Johnson has a broken left leg. The injury was reported by Fox Sports. Cardinals Coach Bruce Arians said earlier in the day it was a bruised knee, but MRI results on Johnson weren’t available then.

::

Miami Dolphins interim Coach Dan Campbell will go with a new quarterback to jump-start his offense. Campbell fired offensive coordinator Bill Lazor and assigned Zac Taylor to be the primary play-caller. Taylor will remain quarterbacks coach. The moves came after the Dolphins lost 38-20 to the New York Jets on Sunday. The Dolphins (4-7) were shut out in the first half and have scored fewer than 21 points in each of their past five games. Lazor was in his second season with the Dolphins, and Taylor is in his fourth year

::

Indianapolis Colts running back Ahmad Bradshaw will sit out the rest of this season after injuring his wrist in Sunday’s 25-12 victory over Tampa Bay. The Colts re-signed running back Zurlon Tipton replace Bradshaw on the roster.

::

New York Jets cornerback Marcus Williams has a sprained knee ligament that could keep him out against the Giants next Sunday. Coach Todd Bowles confirmed during a conference call that Williams injured the medial collateral ligament in one of his knees and is “day to day.” Williams started Sunday in place of Darrelle Revis, who is still going through the NFL’s concussion protocol. Bowles said that Revis has made “slight progress,” but that it was too too early to tell if he would be available.

::

St. Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey remained in intensive care in a Miami area hospital, improving from two gunshot wounds to the head last week. Coach Jeff Fisher says the 25-year-old Bailey was put in a medically induced coma the night before undergoing surgery on Wednesday that lasted more than six hours. Fisher said that Bailey’s girlfriend texted a picture of Bailey signing his name on a piece of paper to teammates before Sunday’s loss at Cincinnati.

::

Buffalo Coach Rex Ryan shouldered the blame and indicated changes were being introduced a day after he failed to challenge any one of three questionable calls that went against Buffalo in a 30-22 loss at Kansas City.

“Did that process let us down yesterday? Absolutely did. It failed on a couple of occasions, obviously,” Ryan said. “We need to find a way to get it better, where people at home can see something and we don’t see it. To me, that can’t happen, and it won’t happen in the future.”

::

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston appeared to have a strained ligament in his left knee, though the team is still awaiting MRI exam results to determine the severity of the injury.

::

The Carolina Panthers looked to improve their secondary depth by signing veteran cornerback Cortland Finnegan.

::

New York Jets cornerback Marcus Williams a sprained knee ligament that could keep him out against the Giants next Sunday. Todd Bowles confirmed Monday during a conference call that Williams injured the medial collateral ligament in one of his knees and is “day to day.”

::

Dallas Cowboys Coach Jason Garrett said that while Tony Romo is out for the season the 35-year-old quarterback is expected to heal and will not have surgery for his broken left collarbone. Romo will also stay involved with the team and connected with quarterbacks Matt Cassel and Kellen Moore. Garrett said that Cassel’s experience with the Cowboys in his earlier four games this season will benefit him the second time in the starter’s role.

::

Tennessee Titans interim Coach Mike Mularkey said that the NFL termed referee Jeff Triplette’s crew’s handling of a late fourth down in a 24-21 loss to Oakland a “poorly officiated play.” Mularkey said he believed the crew missed both a false start by Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree and offensive pass interference in the end zone by receiver Andre Holmes on the two Titans defenders breaking up the pass. Instead, Titans cornerback B.W. Webb was flagged for holding on the other side of the field, and Oakland scored the winning touchdown two plays later.

“So I vented my frustration about that, and they said if you guys have any questions on that, call them, because they said it was a poorly officiated play,” Mularkey said. “It should never have even started, the play never should’ve started.”

This is Mularkey’s third stint as a head coach, and he said he had not heard such strong wording before when talking to the NFL about officiating. Mularkey declined to comment when asked whether league officials need to be disciplined for mistakes.

“I know how we feel as guys, as coaches and players and organizations and owners, I know how we feel the emotional letdown, OK?” Mularkey said. “Do they ever feel how we feel? Do they understand what’s affected? That’s what I want to know.”