Chris “Mad Dog” Russo knew he was about to get some heat for taking a dig at Jason Kelce. But he didn’t care.
Russo, known for his energetic, passionate, and sometimes controversial commentary style, declared that ESPN is hitting NFL fans a little too hard with the Jason Kelce exposure.
Kelce joined the ESPN Monday Night Countdown pregame crew this season and Russo, apparently, has already seen enough of him.
“You’re gonna get mad at me,” he told the panel on Wednesday’s episode of First Take. “I’m gonna say it anyway because I feel like it. I’m in one of those moods.”
“I think we’ve all seen plenty of Jason Kelce in the last few weeks.”
And with that hosts Stephen A. Smith, Jeff Saturday, and Molly Qerim promptly clutched their pearls.
Chris Russo Had ESPN Melting Down
Take into account the setting here. Russo is on ESPN, criticizing ESPN for giving us too much Jason Kelce. Simply amazing.
Stephen A. Smith immediately pounced on Russo’s comments saying, “I happen to like Jason Kelce.”
Qerim was flat-out shocked that he would go there: “Woah, woah woah!… We all [like Kelce]… He’s a star, OK.”
Saturday almost had a coronary, live on the air.
“You’re a hater,” he shouted, pounding the desk.
While most of this back and forth was likely done in good fun, Smith took a serious tone, perhaps realizing that Kelce is a network personality and, well … you can’t criticize the folks at ESPN.
“He’s a new star to the network,” Smith said. “I’m very proud of him and I’m happy to see him. I got no problems with that. He’s not the one on ESPN Bet commercials.”
Is The Jason Kelce Shtick Too Much?
Sure we razz Jason Kelce when he goes shirtless in sub-zero weather, chugging beer and looking like Yukon Cornelius, but the man sounds like a pretty cool fella.
He gave football fans 13 incredible seasons in the NFL. During his career, spent entirely with the Philadelphia Eagles, Kelce won a Super Bowl, was a 7-time Pro Bowler, and a 6-time First Team All-Pro.
And he’s a fun-loving guy.
But is ESPN giving us too much of a good thing?
Fams certainly seemed to grumble a bit when he joined the pre-game show for a contest between his former team and the Atlanta Falcons. The coverage turned into a homecoming of sorts, with Kelce tailgating with fans in the parking lot and dancing in a green velvet tracksuit that looked like he just sewed it together after ripping the surface off a pool table.
Jason Kelce is BACK in Philly 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/TlsaCV81Wf
— ESPN (@espn) September 16, 2024
Kelce seemed to acknowledge that the air time he received was a bit much after that game.
“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,” he said.
“At the same time, I fully understand why a bunch of Atlanta people hate my guts right now so I apologize.”
Apparently, so does Chris Russo.
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