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“We” belongs in the stands, not the booth.
Former Eagles center turned ESPN broadcaster, Jason Kelce, has had a tough time nailing down that part of the job and the Worldwide Leader is admitting it.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, longtime ESPN producer Jeff Dufine, who is in his first season in charge of the international games broadcast, said that Kelce is still a work in progress with a microphone in his hand.
“We’ve tried to get the ‘we’ out of him,” Dufine admitted, adding that professional athletes transitioning into the booth have had this common mistake.
During a halftime show alongside Scott Van Pelt and Pat McAfee on Sept. 28, when the Bears made easy work of the Eagles on “Monday Night Football,” Kelce couldn’t stop referring to the Eagles as his team.
“We played really well offensively, we had opportunities, we shot ourselves in the foot but we’ve moved the ball, we’ve ran the ball well,” Kelce said at the table drawing some immediate criticism from McAfee.
“A lot of ‘we’ talk out of Jason for Philly,” McAfee quipped, forcing a slew of apologies from Kelce on the broadcast.
The interaction drew some discussion around Kelce’s transition as a broadcaster, as he’s been heavily featured on ESPN broadcasts.
Fired ESPN broadcaster Ryan Clark, who successfully made the transition from player to the booth, came to Kelce’s defense in the matter.
Dufine believes that Kelce has a natural talent for the business, he continued in his interview with the Inquirer.
“He sees the game really well,” Dufine said before the Jaguars-Eagles game in London, where Kelce provided color commentary. “Just tell me what you’re seeing, and we’ll support you the best way we can throughout the course of the game.”
Kelce also jumped in to quell any nerves of Jaguars fans who were expecting biased commentary.
“I want to assure Jags fans I’ve seen a lot of the Jags accounts already saying that they’re not looking forward to this,” Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast. “I will be doing my utmost to give you guys the credit you deserve. Jacksonville’s playing as good as any team right now in the AFC. I really do believe that.”
Everything seemed to go smoothly from Kelce’s perspective in the game, though the Eagles blew the game late on a horrific kickoff to the Jaguars that led to a game-winning field goal attempt as time expired.