Jason Kelce and his offensive line teammates are paying little mind to the reputation of the Detroit Lions and Ndamukong Suh.
Ndamukong Suh and the Detroit Lions reputation certainly precedes them across the NFL, and that is true in the Eagles locker room as well.
Suh of course has been fined a total of $139,000 this season alone for various instances of dirty play and obscene gestures and could present a challenge for the Eagles offensive line both before and after the whistle Sunday.
In addition to his extracurricular intimidation and activities, Suh has been dominant this season, and ranks second on the Lions with 5½ sacks.
"I don't honestly put any thought into it," Jason Kelce said of any concerns over possible chippiness up front. "I can't get caught up into thinking about dirty play or any of that stuff. If you do that, you're doing yourself a disservice by not just going about doing your job.
"My job is to go out there and block the guy in front of me. That's going to be hard enough this week without worrying if he's going to be taking any cheap shots."
The last offensive lineman to line up opposite Suh, Josh Sitton of the Green Bay Packers called Suh a 'scumbag' so you can see the type of thing Kelce and his offensive line teammates could be in for this week.
But could the Lions actually use their cheap shot mentality as an advantage to distract the Eagles and keep them from sticking to the uptempo nature of the offense that has made them so successful of late under Chip Kelly?
"We don't have time to get into any altercations or anything like that," Kelce said. "You're looking to the sidelines to get another play and get lined up. If you're jawing back and forth with a guy you're not going to be able to get ready for the next play.
Willie Young (6-5, 251), tackle Nick Fairley (6-4, 291) and rookie right end Ziggy Ansah (6-5, 270) join Suh to form one of the more dominant defensive lines in the league, who happen to employ the wide-nine, which the Eagles offensive line should be more than familiar with given Detroit's Jim Washburn's two-year tenure here as defensive line coach.
"We believe in what we do and I'm sure they believe in what they do," Lions head coach Jim Scwhartz said Wednesday via conference call. "We'll be prepared for their runs and we'll be prepared for their fronts. All schemes work if players fit the scheme, if players are well coached, and you execute what you work. Again, the other teams are going to be trying just as hard to stop what you do. It's going to be a good battle."
Ansah leads the Lions with seven sacks. They destroyed the Aaron Rodgers-less Packers on Thanksgiving last Thursday. The Lions produced seven sacks, two fumble recoveries, an interception and a safety against Sitton and his cohorts. Suh had a sack and a safety.
In spite of their reputation for being chippy at the line of scrimmage, the Lions passing defense is ranked a run of the mill 26th in the league.
Perhaps Kelce and company have the right approach when it comes to what may or may not happen after the whistle Sunday.
Matt Lombardo is the Editor-In-Chief of Eagledelphia and also an on-air personality on 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia. Join the conversation and follow Matt on Twitter.
