Jason Kelce not worried after watching ‘Hard Knocks’; Pat McAfee gets a big new ESPN gig
"You can look at it, too, like they’re worn down and we’re fresh," Kelce said of the Lions' hard-hitting practices.
At lot of fuss has been made over the past month (mostly by hosts on 94.1 WIP and 97.5 The Fanatic) about the Eagles’ decision to have softer practices during training camp.
The approach is being thrust into the spotlight thanks to the Eagles’ Week 1 matchup against the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Lions’ head coach Dan Campbell has taken a tougher, old-school approach to practice that’s on display during HBO’s Hard Knocks, which aired its final episode Tuesday.
“As long as this game still has pads, you have to do some of that. You have to get them prepared,” Campbell told reporters last month while donning a hat featuring the word “grit.”
» READ MORE: Amid NFL broadcasting shuffle, Eagles announcer Merrill Reese remains a familiar voice
If some are worried about the Eagles’ lighter approach this offseason, Jason Kelce isn’t among them.
During an interview on WIP Wednesday, the Super Bowl champ and five-time Pro Bowler said the Eagles’ focus on health over hitting could end up benefiting the Birds on Sunday, just as it appears to have played a role in the team’s success last season.
“I don’t know how much the training camp schedule plays into it,” Kelce said. “You can look at it, too, like they’re worn down and we’re fresh. Whatever way you want to look at it, you’re going to try to find a way how to skew it however you want.”
“But I do know this — I think Detroit’s a really, really good team. And if we don’t come out there and play up to our potential, and play as good as we can play, we will get beat,” Kelce added. “They’re too good for us to be like, ‘Hey, we made a bunch of offseason moves this year, and on paper we’re better.’ That’s not the way it works in this league.”
As columnist Marcus Hayes pointed out, the approach — formulated by head coach Nick Sirianni and general manager Howie Roseman — appeared to work last season, with the team remaining healthy throughout the season and fresh after Thanksgiving.
“The Birds last season cut the number of games missed due to soft-tissue injuries by about 75% and cut the number of games missed due to all injuries by almost 60%” Hayes wrote. “That might have been luck, but man, that’s a lot of luck.”
As far as his own elbow injury is concerned, Kelce said he practiced for the first time last week and as expected, he’ll play on Sunday against the Lion.
“The elbow appears really good,” Kelce said. “Feels better than it’s felt in probably a couple years, honestly.”
» READ MORE: Nick Sirianni’s soft practice schedule makes sense for the Eagles in the new NFL
Pat McAfee gets a big new ESPN gig
Former Indianapolis Colts punter turned sports media mogul Pat McAfee just landed a plum new job.
McAfee, a Pennsylvania native and the all-time scoring leader for West Virginia, is joining ESPN’s popular pregame show College GameDay as a full-time analyst, first reported by the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand and confirmed by McAfee on Twitter. His first show will be Saturday from Austin, Texas, where No. 1 Alabama will face Texas.
It’s certainly going to be a crowded desk. McAfee is joining a show that already features host Rece Davis and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, David Pollack, and Desmond Howard. But ESPN is in a head-to-head competition with Fox and its Big Noon Kickoff, which will also be in Austin on Saturday, and the addition of the popular sports talker who has made frequent appearances on the show will certainly help bolster its lineup.
McAfee will continue to host his daily show on YouTube (he parted ways with SiriusXM last month after simulcasting for two years) and he’ll appear live on WWE SmackDown Friday nights on Fox, which will certainly lead to a number of red-eye flights this season.
“DUMBEST LIFE OF ALL TIME,” McAfee wrote on Twitter Tuesday night.
» READ MORE: Former 97.5 The Fanatic host Mike Missanelli lands another gig ahead of Eagles season
Quick hits
Not only are Eagles announcers Merrill Reese and Mike Quick entering their 25th season together on 94.1 WIP, the duo is being honored with their own beer. The Merrill & Mike Philly Special, a hazy double IPA from Conshohocken Brewing, will debut Sept. 14 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at Puddlers Kitchen in Bridgeport, with proceeds going to First Tee of Greater Philadelphia.
Someone send Rich Eisen a Jalen Hurts jersey. On Tuesday, the longtime NFL Network praised the Eagles starter and blamed some of the doubt attached to Hurts on Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who leapfrogged him on the depth chart when the two were teammates at Alabama.
Every announcer makes mistakes, but during Sunday’s Yankees-Rays game on the YES Network, announcer Michael Kay delivered a eulogy to longtime sports reporter Bob Trainor. The problem? Trainor is very much alive.
Philadelphia native and Hall of Fame journalist Andrea Kremer is returning to Amazon’s Prime Video this season alongside ESPN’s Hannah Storm for an alternate Thursday Night Football broadcast. Unlike last season, Kremer and Storm’s broadcast will stream during just two games, and will feature live interviews and behind-the-scenes stories. Amazon didn’t announce which game the duo will be calling. The Eagles will play on Tuesday Night Football against the Texans on Nov. 3 (fans in Philadelphia will be able to also watch on Fox29).
Audacy, the parent company of WIP and KYW Newsradio, has lost $1 billion since 2018 and was warned it could be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because its stock price had fallen below $1 for at least a month.