Lane Johnson Playing with Urgency as "Time in League Grows Thinner"
PHILADELPHIA – Jason Kelce’s ironman streak is well-known.
The Eagles center is on track to start his 137th straight game in Dallas on Saturday, which is the second-longest active streak in the NFL behind Jake Matthews’ 142 and second-longest in team history behind Jon Runyan’s 144 from 2000-08.
Lane Johnson’s NFL record may not be as well known. At least the right tackle doesn’t believe it is.
That record is 27 straight games Johnson has yet to surrender a sack. He has played 928 straight pass snaps without yielding a sack.
“I don’t think anybody really gives a (bleep) about O-linemen to be honest,” said Johnson on Wednesday at his locker. “The thing is, I don’t know. This whole season, I think too many people look at PFF and analytics and how they grade. I think it’s all (messed) up.”
Both Kelce and Johnson have been stalwarts on the Eagles' successful offensive line for more than a decade now, and the Eagles coaches certainly appreciate the work Johnson does and has been doing since arriving as the fourth overall pick in the 2013 draft.
“You know what, he's a tremendous, tremendous athlete and he works his butt off every single day,” said offensive coordinator Shane Steichen on Wednesday. “As a coach, you have to respect the heck out of that with the way he goes about his business and the way he leads and the way he fights and the way he plays.
"He's the best tackle in the league in my opinion.”
The coaches have so much trust in Johnson that he rarely ever gets any help when the Eagles pass the ball because he doesn’t need it.
“They leave me a lot on the island, so that’s respect from the coaches, but it’s just one of these jobs that when the season is over you can relax and think about it, but for me, it’s just one day at a time and keep stacking it up," said Johnson.
Johnson isn’t sure how many more NFL days he will continue to stack it up.
He doesn’t believe it will be many more, though admits to not being fully sure of when the end may arrive.
“At least a couple more (years), at least two,” he said. “We’ll see though. The game takes me away from my kids a lot, so that’s what I don’t like.
“I love the game. It just keeps you away from your family a lot. As they get older and stuff, you realize you miss out on a lot of life. Money’s great and all that and I love the game, but yeah, as people get older and you start seeing life for what it really is, I guess, it gives you a different perspective.”
Replacing Johnson whenever the day comes, and he makes it sound like it’s coming quick, won’t be easy to do.
He continues to play at an extremely high level, just like Kelce, and he credits his offseason regimen of training for that, but also something else.
“I think a lot of people doubted me throughout my career, so I feel like, as my time in the league grows thinner, my sense of urgency’s increased,” he said. “I’m not looking to waste any more time.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
