Jason Kelce Apologizes After 'Monday Night Football' Broadcast Turned Into A Show About Him And The Eagles

Published|Updated

There was a football game being played that featured the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night, but you may not have noticed if you tuned into various portions of the broadcast on ESPN, given that the network decided to make Monday night Jason Kelce's night.

Monday marked Kelce's first game in Philadelphia since retiring as an Eagle and joining ESPN's ‘Monday Night Countdown’ pregame crew. While it was understandable for the pregame show to focus its attention on Kelce given his legendary status within the franchise and city, the Kelce love extended well beyond the pregame segment.

The former Eagles' center joined Joe Buck and Troy Aikman in the booth for the third quarter, and after being served nothing but Kelce and pro-Eagles content throughout the entire pregame show, Falcons fans and even neutral fans just looking to watch a football game quickly got tired of the shtick. 

While Kelce understandably enjoyed his night - outside of the Eagles losing the game - he became well aware that he may have been getting a bit too much attention.

"Atlanta had to deal with me for four hours before things got rough for the Eagles," Jason explained on his ‘New Heights’ podcast that he co-hosts with his brother, Travis Kelce.

"How crazy is it? The first time I’m back in the building I’m commenting on a game?" Jason continued. "Before the game, being out in the parking lot, the countdown, being up in the booth with Joe and Troy, it was really, really awesome for me, so selfishly, I am just beyond happy that that was kind of how I get to remember my first time being in the Linc not as a player. At the same time, I fully understand why a bunch of Atlanta people hate my guts right now so I apologize."

It wasn't just the fact that ESPN leaned way too heavily on Kelce throughout the game, the entire game felt like you were watching and listening to a very pro-Eagles broadcast. Ultimately, the ESPN crew did have to mention the Falcons late in the fourth quarter when Kirk Cousins diced up the Philadelphia secondary to pull off the 22-21 comeback win.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.