Eagles Kelce Offers Real Insight to Difference of Jim Schwartz

After a very spirited two days of joint practices, Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce spoke to the media and had some very flattering things to say about the Browns defensive line.

Kelce who was born and raised in Cleveland, was asked about going against the Browns said "Listen, you're not going to find a better end to end duo in this league. The way Myles rushes the passer, and his pure physicality, how he moves and bends and all that, Za'Darius can do it all too, I mean he can rush from the edge, he can run games unbelievably."

He went on to say "It's no shocker that they have a phenomenal defensive front. I think Dalvin Tomlinson is a very underrated player, has been for a long time, they just signed Shelby Harris, they have good players across the board, linebackers fly around. So we knew what we were getting in store for."

Every time I hear Kelce talk about football, I walk away with how astute he is in explaining the game. In his availability he spoke about several topics, from the Browns defense, to questions about his own team. He had some really interesting things to say in regard to Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts that I found insightful as well.

I highly recommend anyone to listen to the entire interview but I will stay focused to everything he said about the Browns. If you take one thing away from this article about Kelce discussing the Browns; it's this next quote, and while it will seem very simplex, the context should be decisive when you consider what defensive lineman were asked to do during Joe Woods tenure.

While the entirety of the question wasn't audible, a reporter asked something specifically about being against a Jim Schwartz defense. Kelce responded, "Jim, his defensive lines are aggressive and explosive they're getting off the ball, they're not reading anything, they're working on penetration, knock back, getting to the quarterback."

What stuck out to me in that quote is "they're not reading anything." This to me is what the biggest difference Jim Schwartz will bring to our defense compared to the past of Joe Woods. With all of the talk of the "wide-nine" which has been a bit overblown in my opinion, the alignments that Woods ran are similar to what Schwartz has in his past.

The biggest difference is in what Woods was asking them to do both pre and post snap. In the NFL, when you spend time keying on movement from different positions at the snap you are leaving yourself open to being fooled by what you think your eyes are seeing.

This coupled with the split second that it takes to assess, can leave you with players who seemingly underperform or just don't develop fast enough. Do those two concerns with defensive line players sound familiar with any of Andrew Berry's draft picks?

Kelce would know as well as anyone, the All-Pro center, was with Schwartz every year of his tenure in Philly, going against his defenses everyday in practice. He is uniquely qualified to talk about defenses as he has studied them all and has been the greatest center of his era.

To further the comparison to Woods, should we really just believe that it's Schwartz's eye for talent that has produced so many elite defensive lineman? Every general manager across the league drafts from the same pool of players but somehow it seems that an inordinate amount of players have an excellent career under Schwartz.

Maybe just maybe, rather than scheme, it is simpler than what we've been explained as fans. Perhaps it really is as simple as a fundamental attitude and philosophy that says "your job is to [mess stuff] up."