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Talking smack on a rival city is a sure way to get bulletin-board material up in an opponent’s locker room. The Jacksonville Jaguars might be grabbing a year-old quote from Jason Kelce to fuel them heading into Week 4.
Twitter was ablaze on Wednesday as angry Jaguars fans pounced on Kelce for calling Jacksonville a “miserable” place to play where “nobody cares.” The Philadelphia Eagles will host the Jaguars at 1 p.m on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Buckle up and get ready for battle because this AFC South versus NFC North showdown just got really interesting.
“Everybody’s going to get crushed at some point,” Kelce said on October 21, 2021. “Everybody’s going to go through a down turn or be struggling, right? And at all times this city is going to be keeping you accountable for doing your job and performing. But if you stick to it and you fight through it, and you get better and everything like that, they’ll respect the hell out of you. That’s what I think most guys miss, I really don’t think this is a hard place to play at all. I think it would be miserable to play in a place like Jacksonville where nobody cares.”
The All-Pro center was pontificating about holding people accountable and earning respect in a hard-scrabble town like Philly. He had been attempting to contextualize Ben Simmons’ heel turn at the time. It also should be noted that his comments came prior to Doug Pederson taking the reins there as head coach.
Jaguars Fans on Kelce: ‘F This Backstreet Boy’
Kelce was sporting a bleached blonde boy band look when he offended the Jacksonville faithful. He had lost a bet with then-teammate Zach Ertz prior to 2021 training camp in Philadelphia. Needless to say, Jaguars fans gravitated toward his hairdo as they unleashed their venom on Kelce.
One “new Jaguars convert” wrote she “would run through a f****** wall to beat the s*** out of Philly after this kind of statement.” Whoa. Another Jaguars diehard named Steve Phillips added: “@Jaguars please beat the crap out of them. Step on their throat.” Harsh.
Meanwhile, Pederson jumped on a Zoom call with Philly reporters on Wednesday where he was asked what to expect in his Philly homecoming. This will mark the first time he’ll face the franchise he guided to a Super Bowl championship since being fired. Pederson, honest and genuine as always, said he doesn’t know what to expect. Anything is possible.
Eagles Offensive Coordinator Not Worried
Offensive coordinator Shane Steichen is keenly aware of Pederson’s familiarity with the Eagles personnel. He coached up Jalen Hurts as a rookie quarterback while overseeing the drafting and development of guys like Dallas Goedert, Miles Sanders, Boston Scott, and Quez Watkins, as well as a good chunk of the offensive line. Pederson knows what he knows. Steichen won’t lose any sleep over it.
“I think personnel-wise obviously he knows those players really well. We’re aware of that,” Steichen told reporters. “I think offensively as coaches, schematically, each and every week we have to do a hell of a job putting our guys in position to make plays and dressing up the looks. As you get going in the season, you do have some tendencies, you need to be able to break them. Going into Week 4, still early in the season, but we need to do a good job as coaches of dressing things up.”
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