Jason Kelce makes admission about ESPN’s Eagles-Falcons coverage
Oct 9, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce (62) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Monday’s Philadelphia Eagles-centric “Monday Night Football” broadcast certainly rubbed some fans the wrong way, and Jason Kelce is acknowledging as much.
ESPN added Kelce to its “Monday Night Football” analyst crew during the offseason after he retired from the Eagles. With Philadelphia hosting its home opener on Monday, Kelce was heavily involved, and ESPN readily promoted its new personality. He was shown dancing with fans onstage during a pregame tailgate, and even joined Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth during the third quarter. It all combined to give ESPN’s coverage a very Eagles-heavy tone, even though it was the Atlanta Falcons who staged a stunning comeback to win 22-21.
In this week’s “New Heights” podcast, Kelce conceded that the nature of ESPN’s coverage probably rubbed Falcons fans the wrong way, and that he understood the complaints.
“Atlanta had to deal with me for four hours before things got rough for the Eagles,” Kelce said, via Jaclyn Hendricks of the New York Post. “Listen, I want to apologize to Falcons fans watching because I understand that you just had to watch just a Philadelphia celebration and a parade of a former player coming back home.”
Kelce did add that he could not bring himself to apologize completely because he found the whole experience “f—ing awesome,” but did acknowledge the complaints from some viewers.
“It was really, really awesome for me, so selfishly, I am just beyond happy that that was kind of how I get to remember my first time being in the Linc not as a player. At the same time, I fully understand why a bunch of Atlanta people hate my guts right now so I apologize,” Kelce said.
It’s fair to say the Falcons certainly got the last laugh, but ESPN’s coverage probably won’t change much. After all, the network has a long history of promoting its on-air talent pretty aggressively by any means necessary.
