If there is one player not concerned about being dinged up, it’s Jason Kelce. The Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center started his 148th consecutive game (including playoffs) in the team’s 38-7 win on Saturday night. He walked off the field with a slight limp at one point, grabbing his thigh in pain, but it’s nothing to worry about it.
Kelce — a “true warrior,” according to Jalen Hurts, played through it and he’s in no danger of missing the NFC Championship Game. The Eagles are hungry for a championship. No, they are starving for it.
“Who needs a quad? It’s not that important,” Kelce joked in the post-game locker room, via The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane.
The 35-year-old will be heading to his second career NFC Championship Game, readying for a Sunday showdown against the San Francisco 49ers at 3 p.m. When asked if this one might be extra special due to his advanced age — remember, Kelce has flirted with retirement in each of the past three offseasons — he paused for a minute, then took the opportunity to credit Howie Roseman and the front office for turning things around in a hurry.
“I don’t know that it means anything more, obviously it’s better than not heading to the NFC Championship Game,” Kelce told reporters. “I just think, regardless of the stage in my career, it means a lot with these guys and how much the organization’s been through. And three years ago, just how different things are, and how quickly it’s turned around.”
Not everyone can be like @JasonKelce at Center 😅
Kelce continued: “If there’s one thing, you have to credit Howie Roseman and the Eagles front office. We’ve turned things around very, very quickly here which is something I don’t think you’ve seen too much from other organizations, and I think we keep really good people around.”
Kelce Autographs Baby, Fulfills Football Prophecy
There was a hilarious clip of Kelce making the rounds on Twitter where he’s seen slapping his autograph on a baby. For the record, it’s not a human infant. It is a doll. However, the scene had people cracking up because Kelce had vowed to do it earlier in the week after his brother, Travis Kelce, relayed a story about refusing to sign a baby. Jason said, “I’ll sign a baby. Gimme a baby, I’ll sign it,” on the New Heights podcast. Prophecy fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Jason and his wife, Kylie, woke up on Sunday morning to their first-born daughter, Wyatt Elizabeth, singing the Eagles fight song in her crib. Jason can be heard saying, “What have we done?” in the background. Amazing. Jason and Kylie have a younger daughter named Elliotte Ray who was born in 2021.
Nick Sirianni Shares Special Walk-Through Story
Head coach Nick Sirianni was talking about Lane Johnson’s toughness after Saturday’s win, then decided to veer off and provide an example of Jason Kelce’s football intelligence. Sirianni shared how Kelce immediately diagnosed that the Eagles were lined up wrong at Friday’s walk-through and he started moving people around.
He was literally yelling at his teammates: “you, move over here, you, move over there,” according to Sirianni. His smarts are off-the-charts.
“He’s so smart,” Sirianni said of Kelce. “To be that tough and that smart, that’s an incredible thing that he has to do each week, to use his brain, but then have to play this crazy, physical game … He’s a special leader, special center, and then all those guys, they just played their butts off today. Yes, Jalen demands a lot of attention on the backside, but that O-line, they make things go.”
.@Eagles @JasonKelce just letting the @giants feel his punch. Play after Play. Power to the Kelce’s. #BaldysBreakdowns
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Eagles All-Pro Jason Kelce Provides Update on New Injury