Jason Kelce said Eagles Must be Accountable for their Play
PHILADELPHIA – Three days after the Eagles lost to the Miami Dolphins the mood inside the locker room was glum.
For starters, there weren’t many players who showed themselves on Wednesday when it opened for 45 minutes to the media. In fact, there were more players on their way out of the building as reporters were being let in.
There are still a handful of days for the Eagles to snap out of the funk the Dolphins delivered in a 37-31 win on Sunday. The Eagles even have an extra day to shake the malaise since they don’t play the New York Giants until Monday night.
Asked if last week’s loss was a wake-up call, center Jason Kelce said: “I like to say we’ve been awake. I think that everybody knows the situation. Obviously we didn’t get it done last week which is very disappointing. The emphasis is on winning now and each and every game from here on out. Time is of the essence. We have to do this now. I think everybody is fully aware of that situation.”
Technically, the playoffs have arrived for this 5-7 Eagles team which hasn’t won a game in more than a month. Their last victory was on Nov. 3 against the Chicago Bears.
“It’s been lack of consistency,” said Kelce. “When you look at it across the board, there have been games where the defense has been consistent and the offense hasn’t and there’ve been games where the offense has been consistent and the defense hasn’t. We have timed it up well at all.
“That was no different last week. Offensively, we moved the ball up and down the field but penalties, dropped passes -the same things that have killed us, killed us over and over - killed us last week.”
The Eagles still control their own destiny. If they win their remaining four games, they will win the NFC East and make the playoffs.
They would even get a home game against a team with a better record.
If they stumble and lose once, it could be all over before January arrives, depending on how the 6-6 Dallas Cowboys do with the remainder of their schedule.
“Our mindset is now we’re in playoffs,” said linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill. “We can’t lose. That’s our mentality.”
This is a team that hasn’t win more than two games in a row all year. Now they need to win four in a row.
Sounds like an impossible task for a team that has been inconsistent in just about every aspect of the game this season.
“I did not expect to be 5-7 before the season,” said Kelce. “It’s been a frustrating season so far, but it doesn’t matter what you expect, reality is it is what it is right now. We’re in this situation because of how we’ve played.”
Kelce is one of the leaders that head coach Doug Pederson talked about on Monday, a leader who must try to get the team re-focused on trying to find a way to win.
“As a leader you just take accountability,” said Kelce. “I think that’s what leadership is. Leadership is taking accountability of yourself and holding others to the same standard regardless of what’s going on. To be honest, I don’t think that’s any different this week than it was last week.
“I think weak leaders stop doing that and they start pointing fingers when times get tough. Strong leaders hold strong, they remain accountable, they try to lift others up take things off other people’s shoulders, put more on theirs, that’s what a good leader is.
"That’s what I’m all about and I think that’s what the majority of the guys in here are about. We’re just going to focus on New York and try to play as good a football as we can.”
