Jason Kelsey said the 49ers’ defense has no weaknesses for the Eagles to exploit

The Eagles are just days away from hitting the field in The Linc for the NFC Championship game, and center Jason Kelsey spoke to reporters on Thursday about how the team remains focused, and what he thinks of the game 49ers defense, and also touched on his eventual retirement.

Kelsey mentioned that on game day, his job is to communicate with QB Jalen Hurts and his teammates. He said that Hurts is always confident and composed which makes him such a special player.

This is what the captain said:

To stay focused this week

“The formula and everything is the same. You commit during the week, you work hard, you train hard, you work on your fundamentals and your technique, and you know, you trust your training, you go out there and you play.”

Kelsey noted that they are where they are now because they have great players and great coaches, and they are getting ready to play a team that has the same things.

Talk again later about how veterans continue to stress to young people the need to focus in the moment, not to get too emotional, or start doing unusual things. Kelsey said Nick Siriani did a good job playing it that week as well.

“The stakes are higher, but you are still playing the same game.”

But, the center also said that it’s not just the coaches or the veterans, it’s everyone, and they think they have a really good group across the board, even if they don’t have the same experience. Kelsey quipped that you can’t have too many old people or you won’t have enough energy, and you can’t have too many young people out there or they won’t know how to channel that energy – so he really likes the depth of their roster.

on the 49ers defense

Kelsey admitted that this defense would be the best defense they had faced all year, while noting that they had played some good players, but the 49ers would probably be the best.

“Overall, it’s a very, very good unit. They don’t have any weaknesses to exploit. A lot of other teams have really strong players in certain locations, but other areas you can kind of benefit from – there’s not a lot of that on tape.

They’ve got good players across the board. Great d line, great players, great databases. They play fast, they play physically, they run, they’re all in sync with each other. They are well coached by my man, DeMeco Ryans. So, they’re a massive group this week.”

When asked if winning the Eagles has to come with good offensive line play, Kelsey said it will require every player to do their bit to win on Sunday, not just the ones up front. He admitted that against the Giants, it was on the OL — there was a priority to stopping the defensive front, being able to cover the blitz packs, which they did. But against the 49ers, who are a complete team, it’s going to take everyone.

On the field home feature

Dallas Goedert mentioned earlier in the week that he was so loud at The Linc this past weekend that they actually had to use a silent count a few times. They’re iterating it both ways at this point, Kelce said, and while they’d prefer it to be quieter when the offense is on the field for communication purposes, they know what it’s like to play in Philly and are ready for either way.

The veteran also said he’s not a fan of what the NFL thinks about the neutral site conference championship games — noting with a smile, he was guessing because the league could make more money that way.

“A big part of the regular season is the bye week and that home ballpark [advantage] I got. They’ve already added another playoff game. They’ve already added another regular season game. And I think one of the really cool things about football is that the regular season is so important — you just get so many opportunities.”

Kelce said he actually really liked when power He was in New York for a year and it was snowing and everyone was complaining, but for him, that’s what football should be like. It needs to be played in the elements, and that should be a factor. One of the things he loves about football is that it’s about which team is better on any given day, in those specific circumstances.

on possible retirement

Kelsey was asked if he thought Sunday’s match could be his last at The Link.

He talked about how that kind of thing was on his mind three years ago, last year to Doug Pederson. But, since then, he’s learned that he may never know when that last match will come, so he thinks about it a little less.

“It’s always a chance that that will be the situation, but you just have to try to think about the game, focus on enjoying the moment and being there 100%.”