Here's why Jason Kelce's toughness leaves his Eagles' teammates near tears

PHILADELPHIA – There are few players who can inspire rugged football players to tears just by showing up every day.

Jason Kelce is one of those players. 

So enjoy Kelce while you can because the Eagles and their fans will miss him when he decides to retire.

For the record, that time isn't here yet. But Kelce is 34 years old, and one can only wonder how much longer he'll want to keep putting his body through the pain that he has throughout his 11 seasons in the NFL.

The latest example left running back Boston Scott near tears, and head coach Nick Sirianni saying, "I got chills thinking about how much it means to him to be out there and fight through things that he fights through."

They all saw Kelce leave the game in the first quarter with a knee injury during the Eagles' 13-7 loss to the Giants on Sunday. He went to the locker room, then tried to test it on the sideline in the second quarter by blocking against teammates, only to determine that he couldn't. 

So Kelce stood on the sideline by himself, his helmet off, his frustration evident.

"I noticed I really couldn't fire my quad in my stance," Kelce said.

Kelce kept trying. He went back into the locker room and had the knee taped, but that didn't work, either.

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"We tried like soft-tissue things, little exercises to get it to fire," he said. "We kind of tried a little bit of everything ... and after coming out in the second half, I redid some of the exercises on the sideline, felt good, and went back out there."

None of his teammates were surprised.

"Jason Kelce, if nothing’s broken or they tell him he can’t play, he’s going to play," right tackle Lane Johnson said. "We’re an entirely different football team with him at center."

Left tackle Jordan Mailata used a reference to "The Hobbit," mentioning "The Battle of The Five Armies."

"The dwarves are getting slaughtered," Mailata said. "Then the old king jumps over the wall, and they come running out and rally to him. Rally to the king.

"There’s a reason why Jason Kelce is Jason Kelce."

But to Kelce, that's just what he does.

Kelce has started 117 straight games, the longest active streak among NFL centers. And it's going to take a lot more than what he called "a weird deal," as he described his injury, to keep him from starting his 118th this Sunday against the Jets.

To Kelce, the toughness is shown in the consecutive games played.

Sure, that consists of playing through a knee injury that is probably worse than Kelce is letting on, something that he'll probably admit to after the season. He has also played through a foot injury, and probably many other things that we don't know about.

Kelce admitted after the 2018 season that he played through knee, foot, shoulder and elbow injuries. He never missed a game.

"Toughness is a weird thing," Kelce said. "The conventional mold is like this macho, very physically dominating, sometimes angry type of fellow. That's what I used to think it was ... But you really realize toughness is the guys that can do the same thing over and over and over again."

This is why Scott was practically crying Sunday night when asked about Kelce returning to the game.

"He’s the embodiment of this team," Scott said. "He’s the embodiment, in my opinion, of Philadelphia. Just gritty, nasty, you know what I’m saying? You might knock him down, but he’s going to get right back up."

Scott said that's why his fumble with 1:34 left in the game was so disappointing.

And here, Scott paused as he fought back tears.

"It really hurts me because guys like that have been in the league for such a long time," Scott said. "You don’t know how many years they have left."

Then he choked up again: "So guys like that make me want to give my all."

Kelce wouldn't have it any other way.

"I really care about the game," Kelce said. "I care about my teammates, and I care about this sport and this team. I just try to do everything I can, and it's nice to hear that guys appreciate it.

"I think that's kind of the way it should be done, and I think for the most part how guys in this organization go about it."

We are seeing this part, too.

After all, quarterback Jalen Hurts said he, too, will play through an ankle injury this Sunday against the Jets.

None of this makes the Eagles unique, of course. Players throughout the league play through their injuries. 

But Kelce has been doing it for years. 

"They should do a case study on him to see what makes him this tough," Sirianni said.

Actually, the case study would read like what Kelce described in the movie, "A Bronx Tale."

Kelce said he couldn't remember the exact quote from Robert DeNiro's character, Lorenzo Anello. But it goes like this: 

“It don't take much strength to pull a trigger. But try getting up every morning, day after day, and work for a living ... Then we'll see who the real tough guy is. The working man is the tough guy.”

That's Kelce, the working man.

Miles Sanders: I'm playing

Eagles running back Miles Sanders said Thursday that he will play Sunday against the Jets. Sanders hurt his ankle in the second half against the Giants, the same ankle that kept him out for the three previous games.

The Eagles are off next week, so Sanders was asked if he'd be better off sitting out another game, thus giving him two more weeks to heal.

"If I can play vs. New York, I’m going to play, and then I’ll worry about the bye week after that," he said.

As for other injuries, Kelce did not practice Thursday. Neither did RB Jordan Howard (knee), who missed the game against the Giants, nor RB Boston Scott (non-COVID illness). WR DeVonta Smith returned to practice after missing Wednesday with an illness.

Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.