Jason Kelce: 'Confident We Will Get Things Rolling'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- You know the story by now.
In his first offseason with complete personnel control, Chip Kelly overhauled the Eagles' roster despite back-to-back 10-6 seasons to start his NFL coaching career. And after a dominant preseason this summer, the media, the fan base, and even the odds-makers were mentioning the Eagles and the Super Bowl in the same sentence.
After an 0-2 start, however, many have soured on the Eagles' 2015-16 outlook.
Center Jason Kelce says the team still has complete trust in their third-year head coach.
"I don't think anybody at all has questioned the vision or anything like that," Kelce told Angelo Cataldi and the 94WIP Morning Show on Friday. "But I think that we really have a good locker room, the coaches have made it clear, and I think everybody sees. I mean, defensively they've played an outstanding six quarters really. They've gotten the job done through the majority of the first two games. It's offensively that we've been struggling. If we get things rolling, and we really feel confident that we will get things rolling, that we're just gonna start putting up points and we'll start winning games.
Listen: Jason Kelce on the 94WIP Morning Show
"So, there's a sense of urgency. It's not panic mode, but I think everybody feels that we can go out there and get this thing rolling."
Kelce, a fifth-year Pro Bowl center, has been the anchor of the Eagles' ground-attack under Kelly. However, after two games the Eagles are dead last in the NFL with just 70 rushing yards.
"Especially when your offensive line is struggling, it feels like you're not doing your job as a leader, or somebody that's bringing everybody else around," Kelce explained. "It's not like any one guy is not good enough to get it done, it's the group as a whole isn't getting it done.
"I take pride in trying to make sure we're all on the same page and ready to go, and quite frankly, for the first two games we haven't been doing that."
In particular, Kelce has surprisingly struggled to start the season. A Kelce holding penalty late in the game against the Falcons and an ill-advised snap against the Falcons have cost the Eagles early on. Kelce is taking full responsibility.
"This is two games in a row where I've had---a holding call in Atlanta that's drawn back a huge play for us," Kelce said. "And then a turnover in the red zone [against Dallas] right after our defense put us in a great position to potentially come back up and get things going offensively. Those are the type of mental mistakes I'm talking about, and those are probably the two biggest ones we had."
Allen Barbre and Andrew Gardner have replaced Evan Mathis and Todd Herremans at guard this season, and many are conveniently pointing fingers at the new guys for the Eagles' offensive line woes. Kelce says that's necessarily warranted.
"In all honesty, the two guards that we had out there last Sunday, pretty much got the job done," Kelce said. "And I really don't think that has anything to do with my mental struggles, especially the snap. That's just one hundred percent on me."
