The Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive lineman are not big fans of the New England Patriots. A couple months ago, right tackle Lane Johnson took a couple shots at the Patriots. And now, it’s center Jason Kelce turn to take a jab at the Patriots, particularly their defensive players.
In an interview with Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated, Kelce came away from watching the Patriots defenders on film with a sense that Bill Belichick and his coaching staff were propping up a poor collection of players on that side of the ball.
“The last defense we had seen was Minnesota’s, and we were like, ‘These dudes have got some players.’ Then we see [the Patriots] and we’re like, ‘These dudes have got some . . . coaches.’ ”
Of course, Kelce and the Eagles offense ended up doing quite a number on that Patriots defense which he found underwhelming. They scored 41 points and racked up 538 yards en route to the upset win.
While Belichick built the Patriots dynasty on the back of strong defenses, they haven’t been quite as strong on that side of the ball over the past couple of years. They’ve elected to trade their young blue-chip defenders like Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins instead of paying them more than they think they’re worth.
Belichick the coach has done well to paper over the flaws of the roster as Kelce alludes to, but his role as the team’s de facto GM has been responsible for putting together that limited group in the first place.
To be fair, the Eagles' own highly-rated defense got carved up as well in that game. But no one will argue that on paper, Philly has the superior talent on that side of the ball than the Patriots, and it likely played a part in their Super Bowl win.
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