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Though he's now officially out of the professional football business, at least on the field, Jason Kelce is still incredibly dialed into the Philadelphia Eagles, remaining in support of his former squad despite building a minor media empire between his role at ESPN, his various commercials, and his New Heights podcast alongside his brother Travis.
And on the latest edition of the show, the elder Kelce weighed in on the Eagles' ugly Week 4 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which was the first game of the season where Nick Sirianni's team looked truly outmatched.
While Kelce gets that there are some growing pains when a team swaps out nine starters, two coordinators, and their All-Pro center, he also noted what every fan in DelCo and beyond did as well: the Eagles simply aren't executing up to their standards.
“The runs weren't working. The passes we did call like we had a couple drops. We ran a screen I think got dropped or didn't work. We got sacked; you can't be in third and long. You can't be in third and long against a team like that without your best two players. It's just going to be dang near impossible. They were playing cover one; they're doing pick stunts with the running backs guy. Like good luck passing off that stunt. I know everybody in Philadelphia is frustrated; I was frustrated watching it. I d**n sure know the guys out there were frustrated and pissed.
Goodness, Kelce is still calling the Eagles “we?” Gosh, that warms the heart… and then breaks it whenever the Eagles fail to execute their slightly less automatic signature play, the Tush Push.
Is Kelce on the money with his assertion? Yes, he most certainly is, as the Eagles were routinely in third and long situations, and their inability to execute when it mattered most had to be incredibly frustrating for every player in the building, including the ones who now work for ESPN. Fortunately, the Eagles appear to understand their issues and are looking to fix them during the bye, including getting the ball out of Jalen Hurts' hands quicker and getting other players like Jahan Dotson more involved. If they clean up those issues, maybe the Eagles' winning ways will return, too.
Lane Johnson explains why Jason Kelce made the Tush Push work
Speaking of the Tush Push, Lane Johnson broke down what made Kelce such an effective lead blocker for the position last month for ESPN, which may include a notable detail some fans might not notice when they watch the play on television.
“Kelce did such a good job of staying low consistently,” Johnson told ESPN. “I think it's why we were so successful — him and then our two guards and tackles kind of seep in and make sure there's no leakage. He did a good job with his leverage and really knowing how to execute. We're going to try and keep it to the same standard as far as execution-wise, but as you know, every [Eagles] team looks different, players look different, so we've still got to wait and see.”
So far, the Eagles have been pretty good at executing the Tush Push without Kelce, even if they have notoriously whiffed on a few critical plays at key moments. While some of that might be due to a small sample size, with the number going up or down by the end of the season, for now, the play appears to still be a fixture of Sirianni's gameplan moving forward, even with Cam Jergens snapping the ball.
