Jason Kelce has been an Eagle for 13 years now. Two Super Bowls. Six trips to the playoffs. The best record in the NFC.
The Eagles win so regularly and so consistently and so frequently it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Which is that the Eagles for the last quarter of a century have been one of the best teams in the NFL.
They haven’t had consecutive losing seasons under the same coach since 1997 and 1998. They haven’t had back-to-back seasons without finishing either 1st or 2nd in the NFC East since 1998 and 1999.
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They’ve been to three Super Bowls since Jeff Lurie bought the team and they’ve reached the postseason 15 of the last 23 seasons. Three of their last four coaches have reached a Super Bowl. And here they are again, one of only two unbeaten teams five weeks into the season.
They win. All the time.
And Kelce has been around for enough of it to have tremendous perspective on why the Eagles have had so much success with different quarterbacks, different coaches, even different general managers.
“It predates me being here,” Kelce said. “I think we've had a good culture in this building for a long time. Obviously, Andy Reid, and even before that most likely, but it feels like this locker room, the group of guys that have been in here, the leaders that have stuck around, it feels like there's been a constant culture to this building.
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“And I think that, if I'm being honest, I think the city and all the attention it puts on it and the sense of urgency that the city puts on the organization also helps pump that. So I think it's a lot of things, but overall, we've had really good players, really good leaders and a really good culture in the building that has sustained through multiple regimes, the organization has done a great job of keeping certain pieces around and not (changing) everything, which I think is a mistake that a lot of teams make when they are doing transition periods. So I think a lot of that kind of goes into it.”
When the Eagles face the Jets Sunday at the Meadowlands, Kelce will start his 145th consecutive game, which will break the franchise record of 144 he shares with Jon Runyan. With two more starts, he’ll break Brian Dawkins record of 182 games started in an Eagles uniform. And with eight more games, he’ll break David Akers’ record of 188 games played.
Kelce is one of the greatest Eagles ever and it’s no coincidence he’s been here for most of the Eagles' greatest period of sustained success.
The Eagles are one of five teams to reach three Super Bowls in the last 20 years and one of only two in the NFC, along with the Seahawks.
Since 2000, only the Packers and Patriots have reached the playoffs more than the Eagles and only the Packers and Patriots have won more division titles. Only the Packers, Patriots, Steelers and Colts have had more winning seasons.
“It's crazy to think how many playoff games we've been to and how many division titles we've won,” Kelce said. “And also in the (13) years that I've been here, we've had four different head coaches. I think it's not very common. Usually when you have that much turnover, it leads to consecutive losing seasons.
“So it feels like every time we've had to make that (coaching) transition, it's happened really quickly. And I think the organization makes good decisions, not only with who they're hiring to lead it at the head coach position but I think having the personnel to match up with that and keep the culture in the building that it feels still like a tight-knit family group.
“And I think that's what's hard in transition is that everybody sees the business side of it, so it's hard to go through free agency. Once you've already kind of been burned by a team, it's easy to kind of (think), ‘This is just a job, right?’ And for me and a lot of guys, the only thing we know is the Philadelphia Eagles. So that leads to a level of loyalty that I think is hard to have once you've been other places.”
It's wild to think that three of the last four coaches Lurie has hired have reached the Super Bowl. Two of them in their second season. And the last four had a winning record.
And all five head coaches he’s hired have reached the postseason by their second season.
Along with Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham, Kelce is one of three current Eagles to play for Reid, Chip Kelly, Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni.
“I love all of the coaches I’ve been with,” Kelce said. “I've learned something from all of them. You know, it started with Andy Reid. He was obviously a tremendous coach, a tremendous person, and now he's coaching my brother (Travis) and still having success.
“And Chip Kelly, a lot of the things we did with him revolutionized a lot of the thinking in the NFL and started pushing a lot of the league into a different realm of growth mindset. And I know that it didn't end well here with him and some of the personal decisions didn't pan out. But I'd be hard-pressed to say anything negative about the guy from a personal standpoint and from what he did for my career.
“And then went from him to Doug Pederson. Everybody knows that story. The amount of success we had with him, you know, it's as good as we've had it so far.
“And then Nick certainly picked up what Doug's left off.
“I've been very fortunate to play with a lot of really good head coaches, a lot of really good offensive coordinators, only two offensive line coaches, which is also rare, and one of them being here for a long time, Jeff Stoutland.
“So although we've had turnover, we've kept constant throughout the turnover at the same time. I think the organization has learned, not just myself, the organization has learned from each of these coaches as well.”
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