Jason Kelce voices opinions on Eagles resting starters, Super Bowl chances: ‘We can beat anybody’

5 days ago 1

The Philadelphia Eagles were criticized by many for resting their starters in Week 18, losing to the Washington Commanders and failing to secure the NFC’s No. 2 seed.

But Eagles legend Jason Kelce agrees with Nick Sirianni’s decision to prioritize the team’s health ahead of what they hope is another run to the Super Bowl.

The No. 3 seed Eagles, who play the No. 6 seed San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in the Wild Card round, needed two things to happen to secure the No. 2 seed in Week 18. They needed to beat the Commanders, and they needed the Chicago Bears to lose to the Detroit Lions.

The Lions did their job, beating the Bears in Chicago on a last-second field goal. But Philadelphia’s backups lost to Washington, 24-17, at Lincoln Financial Field.

On this week’s episode of the “New Heights” podcast, Kelce broke down Sirianni’s decision to rest Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the rest against the Commanders.

“They prioritized the rest going into the playoffs, which I think is right,” Kelce said. “If the Eagles could have guaranteed getting the No. 2 seed by playing their starters, I think they probably would have played. But because there was this other game that also had to take place, you have the risk of injury, and it’s kind of outside of your control. The one thing you can control in that situation is making sure your team is raring and ready to go for Week 1. And to be honest with you, I was pretty confident the Eagles’ backups would beat the Commanders.”

Tanner McKee, Tank Bigsby and Co. came close. But the Eagles gave up two fourth-quarter touchdowns and didn’t respond. That, paired with Chicago’s loss to Detroit, gave Sirianni detractors plenty of ammunition on Sunday night.

“It looks bad in hindsight. Because Chicago lost, we’ve got the egg on our face because we didn’t play our starters, and we could have the No. 2 seed, most likely, if we would have played everybody,” Kelce said. “But if they start the starters and one of the premier guys gets hurt and the Lions don’t win, then everybody’s going to be on Nick Sirianni saying, ‘What (expletive) idiot is playing his guys in a game that’s meaningless?’”

Kelce’s brother, Travis, chimed in: “Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t.” Jason Kelce then shifted the conversation and looked ahead to the Eagles’ Super Bowl path.

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“You’ve still got to go through good teams to win the Super Bowl. Like yeah, if we’re the No. 2 seed and can guarantee two home games, that is a big deal. But at the same time, we’re going to have to play great teams regardless,” the future Hall of Fame center said. “If the team is good enough, they’re still going to find a way to get it done. I don’t think that Week 18 decision is going to determine the outcome of this team. I just think that when we play up to our potential, with the defense we have and the offensive firepower we have, I think we can beat anybody.”

We’ll find out on Sunday if the Eagles can beat the 49ers and advance to the Divisional round.