Jason Kelce praises the Eagles offense as he and Travis break down key NFL Week 1 story lines on ‘New Heights’
Travis might be biased, but his advice for quarterbacks was to "find the tight end." For the Eagles, that likely means Dallas Goedert, who had four catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday.
On Wednesday, former Eagles center Jason Kelce said “You never want to overreact to Week 1.”
Still, Jason’s warning about reading too much into things too soon didn’t stop him and his brother, Travis, from dissecting all of the ins and outs of the NFL’s opening week on the latest episode of their podcast, New Heights.
‘Find the tight end’
He might be biased, but Travis had some advice for quarterbacks, including the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts.
“You want to be good at quarterback, just find the tight end,” Travis said when recapping the Eagles’ 24-22 win over the Washington Commanders.
While Jason acknowledged that most people were curious to see what the offense would look like under new offensive coordinator Sean Mannion, he said his biggest takeaway was how good Hurts looked.
» READ MORE: What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 2 vs. the Titans
Both brothers credited Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert with helping with what Jason called “awesome plays,” resulting in four catches for 77 yards and two touchdowns.
“This offense I think will fit [Goedert] pretty well,” Jason said. “All this misdirection and stuff, they scheme things up, and it stresses those linebackers.”
He also acknowledged the struggles for the Eagles offensive line, including Landon Dickerson, who was placed on injured reserve with a bone bruise on Monday.
“You could tell he wasn’t redirecting as well as he needs to or has,” Jason said. “And it’s a shame because when he is healthy, he is one of the best guards in the league. So he struggled a little bit in the game, and then I think Cam Jurgens had a couple holding calls. I don’t think he played as bad as I think what Twitter maybe seemed to say.”
Neither Kelce thinks there’s reason to worry just yet as the Eagles settle into this season and the new offense with a 1-0 record, which Travis said it “doesn’t get much better” than.
» READ MORE: Landon Dickerson revealed the cold reality of the NFL. Does anyone even care? | Mike Sielski
The return of the Chiefs dynasty?
During a dominant 31-10 Monday Night Football win over the Denver Broncos, Travis became second all-time in receiving yards for a tight end. He currently has 13,073 career yards and passed Dallas Cowboys legend Jason Witten (13,046) with a 59-yard catch in the third quarter.
But don’t get it twisted. Travis was adamant that it wasn’t a record, despite his brother’s protests that he “broke Jason Witten’s record.” Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez remains the all-time leader with 15,127 career receiving yards.
Just being in conversations with players like Gonzalez, Witten, and other tight end stars from his childhood is a big deal for Travis.
“To be in the same talks as these guys at this point in my career, Jason [Witten], it’s an absolute honor to be in the same conversation as you,” Travis said. “I’ll have to just play another five years to catch Tony.”
Travis also gave credit to the rest of the Chiefs, including Patrick Mahomes, who returned from injury and “did what he needed to do,” and running back Kenneth Walker III who, in his first game with the Chiefs, had 173 rushing yards on 23 carries, including a 60-yard touchdown run. Walker added a receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“You can’t say enough about what Kenneth Walker is and what he’s going to be for this, this team and this organization and this city,” Travis said. “He’s one of those Kansas City guys, and you guys that in Kansas City that don’t know him yet, to the core of who that guy is. He’s, he’s an A1 person.”
Down to a science?
The brothers discussed how other teams fared during Week 1. They took a look at how offenses seem to be trending upward with 10 teams scoring 30 or more points on Sunday, which is more than any Week 1 since the stat first started being recorded.
On the topic of firsts, they reviewed the first NFL Australia game, which the San Francisco 49ers won, 27-7, over the Los Angeles Rams.
The brothers focused on the teams’ travel. The Rams made the 15-hour flight one day before the game while the 49ers flew out a week in advance. Jason grew impassioned while not giving these studies much weight.
“To me, all these science, whatever they put in front of the team to sell you on the reason they’re doing it is you can find the science to say whatever the [expletive] you want to do,” Jason said. “You can pick and pull. They made a whole study out of saying chocolate’s healthy for you because it has, like, antioxidants in it.”
The Eagles eked out a season-opening win over the Washington Commanders thanks, in large part, to Jalen Hurts channeling the elements of his game that make him so dangerous. But when it comes to other areas of the offense, concerns from last year still linger. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and David Murphy assess Hurts’ performance, Sean Mannion’s debut as offensive coordinator, and warning signs on the offensive line Listen here.
Listen to all episodes here or wherever you get your podcasts.
