Getty Eagles center Jason Kelce has been accused of moving the football illegally at the line of scrimmage.
Khalil Mack had choice words for Jason Kelce following the Eagles’ 22-14 win over the Bears. Mack didn’t appreciate the “bull—- Kelce was kinda doing with the ball.”
The comments sounded a bit like sour grapes at the moment, maybe an excuse for five neutral zone infractions in the first half alone. On Thursday, Kelce appeared on Sportsradio 94WIP to respond to Mack’s bogus claims.
While the Eagles center admitted to slightly moving the ball at the line of scrimmage throughout his career — a trick of the trade veterans regularly employ — he didn’t do it against the Bears. In fact, the refs had warned him about doing it after seeing some questionable movement in the Buffalo game.
“Before the game the referees came up to me and they were yelling at me to make sure I did not move the ball,” Kelce told Sportsradio 94WIP. “So quite frankly, that was probably the least I ever moved the ball in a game and I think these guys are just trying to make excuses.”
Happy birthday, Jason Kelce!
Mack never said anything directly to Kelce on the field. Instead, he saved all his complaining for the post-game interviews.
“Nobody really said anything directly to me, it was more just to the refs,” Kelce said. “I think it may have been in their heads more than it was actually something going down on the field. Those guys, they’re searching for answers and if it helps him cope with it mentally, sure I moved the ball.”
“Those guys, they’re searching for answers and if it helps him cope with it mentally, sure I moved the ball.” 😅
Khalil Mack Calls Out Jason Kelce for Questionable Play
In post-game interviews, when asked about the neutral zone infractions, Mack was not silent. He called out Eagles center Jason Kelce specifically, whose tactics throughout the game seemed uncouth to the Bears linebacker. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Mack said after the game:
“You see the bull—- Kelce was kinda doing with the ball, just moving it a little bit…But even then, you can’t really make no excuses. That’s not the type of group we have. We’ve still gotta get there, regardless of what it is and what that was. All those offside penalties, it hurt us.”
As he said, Mack didn’t seem to be making excuses about his team’s poor play. It is also worthy to note that Bears head coach Matt Nagy said after the game that he didn’t hold his defensive players accountable for getting the penalties–even though they were costly ones. Nagy stopped at criticizing the officiating, however, as he likely didn’t want to get a fine.
Apparently, according to Mack, Kelce was moving the ball ever-so-slightly before he snapped it, which is technically a false start and should draw a flag on the offense. Instead, the Bears drew four offsides penalties in one half of football. When asked if he told the officials that Kelce was moving the ball pre-snap, Mack said:
“Yeah, you point it out, but who cares? Who cares, man? You’ve gotta make plays and win ballgames. That’s what it’s all about.”
He’s not wrong there. And over the last four games, the Bears have not made enough plays on either side of the ball to win once. They’re currently in last place in the NFC North after winning the division just a year ago.
— Heavy.com’s Bears reporter Beth Mishler-Elmore contributed to this report.
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