Eagles' Swag Bordering on Arrogance with Lightly-Regarded Detroit on Deck

Was Jason Kelce trying to warn his team earlier in the week about not being comfortable?

PHILADELPHIA - When it comes to football in Philadelphia, there is a certain trust that Jason Kelce has earned over the years.

That sentiment extends on and off the field thanks to an impressive coupling of performance and market savvy that has made Kelce the quintessential Philadelphia athlete for the current generation despite the fact that the All-Pro is actually a Cleveland guy.

For that reason, Kelce’s expletive-amplified dissertation on comfort and expectations earlier this week at the NovaCare Complex was an eye-opener with the season-opener in Detroit looming.

It also struck me as somewhat calculated because a relatively innocuous question on Nick Sirianni potentially being more comfortable in his second season as the head coach was used as a launching pad by the veteran center.

“I don’t like comfort,” Kelce said. “I think comfort is a [expletive] terrible place to be if you’re in this league."

To that point when we last saw the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium, Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald, and Co. were raising the Lombardi Trophy.

Fast forward to the 2022 opener on Thursday night and the Rams were playing the role of Louisiana-Monroe to Buffalo’s Oscar-worthy depiction of Alabama.

McVay, who has gone from flavor of the month in the NFL when it comes to coaching to flavor in perpetuity, used the term “humbling” to describe the 31-10 beatdown.

'We weren't ready to go. I take a lot of pride in that, and that's on me,” McVay said. “I've got to do better. There were a lot of decisions that I made that I felt like didn't put our players in good enough spots. 

"So it was a humbling experience, but we're going to stay connected. We're going to all look inward. We're going to do a better job moving forward.”

It’s not hard to picture those exact words coming out of Sirianni’s mouth after the Eagles’ first loss of the season because McVay is the template for the modern coach, the cat a copycat league is always trying to replicate.

After an offseason filled with puppy dogs, rainbows and "F@#$ then picks" T-shirts the Rams’ mentor is also the latest example of what Kelce was trying to convey.

The minute you believe you’ve got this thing solved, the NFL has a way of chopping everyone down to size.

The feel around the NovaCare Complex this week was confidence (a very good thing) bordering on arrogance (a very bad one).

Sure the Eagles are more talented than the Lions, but the Penei Sewells and Aidan Hutchinsons of the world are starting to pile up in Detroit even if a Jeffrey Okudah has been a miss so far as the No. 3 overall selection in 2020.

All-Pro center Frank Ragnow was back at practice on Friday as well but most of the talk about this Lions team wasn't about the difference-makers they do have, it was about esoteric traits like toughness and relentlessness.

It was essentially, the Harlem Globetrotters tapping the Washington Generals on the head.

Sirianni is aware of the ramped-up expectations around his team but has noted the passion of the fan base in Philadelphia bake that in any way. Despite the narrative that the Eagles were rebuilding last season that was a memo that never got to the then-rookie head coach, especially when the team was 2-5.

Where Sirianni might be missing the boat is the potential unrealistic part of the expectations although if the Rams proved one thing in Week 1, it’s that there is room to do damage in the NFC because all the perceived top teams have flaws.

And that’s where Kelce was steering.

"I know everybody expects us to be Super Bowl champions in Philadelphia right now, and I think that can definitely happen, but it’s not going to happen being comfortable," he said. "I can guarantee you that."

It’s also not going to happen by being arrogant.

The first significant test for this Eagles team is taking the Lions seriously.

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen