Eagles Iron Man Closing in on 100th Straight Start

Center Jason Kelce hasn't missed a game since October of 2014, and he will make his 98th stat in a row when Eagles visit Giants on Sunday

PHILADELPHIA – The Eagles’ iron man is closing in on his 100th straight NFL start, with center Jason Kelce about to play in his 98th straight game when the team heads to North Jersey to meet the New York Giants on Sunday.

It is a streak that can perhaps be better appreciated now, given how injuries have ravaged the Eagles’ offensive line this season, so, there are no guarantees that in two weeks when the Eagles host the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football that he will line up for No. 100.

“Don’t jinx it,” said Kelce prior to Wednesday’s practice, forced indoors due to rain in the region.

So close, yet, so far in the NFL.

The last game Kelce missed was Oct. 26, 2014, at Arizona, a 24-20 loss. He returned the following week, on Nov. 2, a 31-21 victory at the Houston Texans.

The longest games played streak right now is 103 by Atlanta’s OT Jake Matthews, with another Falcons player and another center, Alex Mack, checking in at 89 in a row.

Kelce, who just turned 33 on Nov. 5, said he owes his streak to good fortune, staying in shape year-round, and, interestingly, spending his offseason working out in the team’s facility.

“There are guys that tend to get hurt a little bit more and that’s kind of more soft tissue non-contact injury type stuff,” he said. “The contact stuff you can’t help. I remember my second year in the league, I wasn’t even planted, I was run blocking Mount (Terrence) Cody and Ed Reed just dives in there at the wrong angle, hits my knee and I was done for the whole year. A lot of this stuff you can’t help.”

That was 2012 and it happened in just the third game of the season.

Kelce has been around long enough to know the value of not going in and out of shape during the offseason and making regular trips to the team’s facility in South Philadelphia.

“Obviously staying in shape year-round, I’m a big believer in that,” he said. “We throw up the numbers all the time in the weight room, but guys who tend to stay here all offseason and stay throughout the entire conditioning in the Eagles building tend to have less of the little injuries for whatever reason I don’t know.

“…It’s a combination of luck and just trying to make sure I’m in the best shape I can be from day one. I think that’s probably the biggest thing.”

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