Eagles center Jason Kelce ‘embodies’ Philly toughness | Marcus Hayes

Nick Sirianni sent Jason Kelce a text message after Sunday’s game:

You’re the toughest guy I know. We appreciate the (heck) out of you, coming back in.

The legend grows.

Miles Sanders fell on the back of Kelce’s right knee late in the first quarter, immobilizing Kelce‘s quadriceps and destabilizing the knee. Kelce went one more play (of course) then left for the sideline, then the locker room. There, he got it taped, and returned to the sideline in the second quarter. There, he badgered Sirianni, walking up and down the sideline with him as Sirianni tried to call plays. Sirianni ignored him; the Eagles medical staff wouldn’t clear Kelce.

So, Kelce crouched and sprinted, and he bent and he begged. He pestered offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who looked like a lion tamer trying to calm a big cat. He harangued the medical staff, who hovered over him, worried. He remained in the locker room after halftime, getting massaged and manipulated. Finally, shortly after the third quarter began, Kelce emerged, convinced everyone he was sound, returned to the game — and dominated.

Of course he did. He’s more than tough. He’s 34, in his 11th season, and he’s got more dings than a Philly cab, but he’s Philly tough. He’s what you think of when you think of Chuck Bednarik, the Broad Street Bullies, and Smokin’ Joe Frazier. He’s what Brian Dawkins and Chase Utley were to this town: all-business overachievers who played their game hard, and right, and for the game’s own sake.

“He’s the embodiment, in my opinion, of Philadelphia,” said running back Boston Scott after Sunday’s game. Scott paused, and actually choked up. “Just gritty. Nasty. You might knock him down, but he’s gonna get right back up. Work hard. Blue collar. He embodies this city.”

Kelce was stunned to hear that Wednesday. He knows he’s an icon, but he figures Philly made him as much as he reflects Philly.

“I do think teams take on the embodiment of where they’re at and the fan bases that root for them. I think there’s no question the majority of Philadelphia Eagles teams are labeled tough, hard-nosed, physical football teams. I think a large part of that is the vibe, the energy, and what the city demands.”

“I am the product of a lot of different things.”

That includes parents, and experience, and Philadelphia. He shares the ethic of the heroes that came before him. Dawk. Chase. Concrete Charlie.

“I really care about the game. I care about my teammates. I care about this sport and this team,” Kelce said. “I think that’s kind of the way it should be done.”

Kelce is more than a Mummers costume and a Berserker beard and dyed-blonde hair and star tight end Travis Kelce’s non-”Bachelor” brother. He’s been to four Pro Bowls and he’s made All-Pro three times, but he’s prouder of his 117 straight starts, the longest current run by a center. It will grow to 118 Sunday at the Jets. Appropriately, the last time he missed a start, in 2014, Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” was No. 1 on the charts. He shakes it off — and he realizes you do, too. Sick. Hurt. Exhausted.

Kelce believes a person’s toughness isn’t measured by testosterone-fueled machismo.

“You really realize toughness is the guys who can come and do the same thing, over and over and over again,” Kelce said.

He got a little misty-eyed at that point, thinking of all the mechanics and electricians and bus drivers who’d gone to work that day with a limp, or a cold, or an aching lower back, and that long black sleeve Kelce wore to protect his right knee seemed insignificant.

Kelce then cited a stirring scene from the film A Bronx Tale, in which Robert De Niro explains to his young son that a mob boss isn’t tough, just ruthless:

“Let’s see him try and get up every morning, day after day, and work for a living. Let’s see him try that! Then we’ll see who’s the real ‘tough guy.’ The working man is the tough guy.”

Kelce has made nearly $56 million. He’s playing for a losing team for the second year in a row, a team in the beginning stages of a rebuild. He had no incentive to return besides a love of football and loyalty to his teammates and coaches.

“It was unbelievable,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “That’s what you want from your leaders. A guy who’s going to do everything he can do to give of himself to his teammates. That’s the selflessness of Jason Kelce. ... He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever been around.”

Sirianni’s in his first year, so he wasn’t around when Kelce lost 14 games in 2012 to two knee surgeries, which could have cost him a significant portion of 2013. He started all 16. Kelce lost four games early in 2014 to core muscle surgery but played so well in the final nine games that he made his first Pro Bowl. In 2018, Kelce played through a grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee, a broken left foot, and a torn left elbow ligament, and didn’t miss a start. Kelce hurt his elbow in Cleveland last season, missed four snaps, returned with a brace, played on, and made his fourth Pro Bowl, for a four-win team. He still wears the brace.

Kelce missed a handful of snaps in Detroit on Halloween due to a foot injury. Then Sunday, and the knee. Sirianni never expected Kelce to come back.

“What I saw was, a guy, like, sprinting, trying to see if he could go,” Sirianni said. “It was just awesome. I got chills thinking about how much it means to him to be out there, and fight through things that he fights through.”

Sirianni’s eyes got big, as they do when he’s excited about an idea. Scientists should probe Kelce’s kick-butt DNA.

“They should do a case study to see what makes him this tough,” Sirianni said. “Our team feeds off that.”

Kelce wasn’t supposed to be anything. Not really. He was a sixth-round pick in 2011, undersized by modern standards at 6-foot-3 and 295 pounds — really, extra poundage overpacked onto a tight end’s frame. Still, despite a lockout that squelched offseason workouts in 2011, Kelce won the starting job as a rookie over incumbent Jamaal Jackson.

By his third season, in 2013, Kelce was the NFL’s second-best center, as graded by profootballfocus.com. He’s been in the top 10 in seven of the eight seasons since, was No. 1 from 2017-19, and stands at No. 2 this season behind Chiefs center Creed Humphrey.

His toughness — his resolute, utter Philly-ness — nearly moved Scott to tears.

“It’s just incredible to watch. Incredible to see. So whenever I make mistakes like that ... " Scott paused, shook his head as he recalled his fumble, then continued, his voice quavering “... because guys like that have been in the league for such a long time you don’t now how many years they have left.”

Scott bit his lower lip.

“Guys like that make me want to give it my all.”

Inspiration might not seem to matter much with a 5-7 team like the Eagles, but then, Kelce’s inspiration might be the reason they’re 5-7 instead of 2-9. If anyone has bought into Sirianni’s touchy-feely, Flower Power philosophy, it’s crusty old Jason Kelce.

» READ MORE: ‘Flower Power’ actually worked for Nick Sirianni and the Eagles. Who knew? | Marcus Hayes

After their win in Detroit, Kelce broke down the team, saying:

“Keep them roots growing, baby! Roots on 3! 1-2-3 ROOTS!”

Kelce’s return electrified the team. After Jalen Hurts threw his third interception, Sirianni wised up and rode his big horses. The Birds blew through the Giants with eight straight run plays: Hurts off Kelce’s right hip for 12, Miles Sanders behind Kelce for 5, then 4; Hurts for 13 outside thanks to no penetration, Scott off Kelce’s left hip for 5, Hurts scramble up the middle for 14 because Kelce, at 295 pounds, shoved 342-pound tackle Dexter Lawrence aside. Kelce knocked aside a linebacker for Scott’s 12-yarder, and then, two plays later, a 1-yard TD as Kelce bullied Leonard Williams into the end zone ahead of Scott.

It began with Kelce.

It always begins with Kelce.

“He’s a tenacious dude, man,” Scott said. “He’s the embodiment of this team.”

And this city.