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Eagles fans give home team the road treatment
With the team struggling at home (0-4) and thriving on the road (5-1), Chip Kelly joked that he might just have the buses drive around for a half-hour to simulate an away game this week.
He can count on the fans giving his club the road-team treatment when they finally do pull up to the Linc to complete the experience.
“Sometimes it’s like a road game coming in because our fans don’t really know if we’re the visiting team or home team because we ride a bus in, too,” said Evan Mathis. “Sometimes we’re greeted by our own fans.”
Greeted?
“Uh, they’re telling us we’re number one, with sign language,” he said with a grin. “We’re wearing these shirts [Eagles tees] and we kind of go like this (push the logo up to the window) and they’re like, “Oh, it’s the Eagles. Oh, hey.”
Never really thought about that before, but it makes sense. The buses are unmarked. How would the fans know whether it’s ally or enemy on board? Might as well be safe and assume it’s the enemy, right?
“We see the middle fingers, everything,” said Trent Cole. “All of a sudden someone gets a glimpse [of an Eagles player] and you see their face just change. Like ‘[Gasp], it’s the Eagles! That’s our home team.’ ”
Visiting players and coaches have long told stories of the type of abuse they have taken in Philly, including during their bus rides in. According to the players we talked to, the Eagles bus hasn’t had anything thrown at it to date. Of course, if the 10-game home losing streak goes much longer, that could change.
McCoy’s top 5 RBs
LeSean McCoy took his assignment seriously.
He was asked to name the top 5 running backs in the league right now, and wasn’t about to just start rattling names off the top of his head. He needed to do some research, and so he brought up ESPN.com on his phone and began going through the numbers.
“I’m not even going to tell you the first name I see,” said McCoy, shooting up a playful glance. The 25-year-old leads the league in rushing with 932 yards – 61 yards more than his closest competitor, Marshawn Lynch.
“I have the most carries out of everybody, though,” McCoy added, sounding a little concerned. Then relief. “But I have the highest yards per carry,” giving a Ric Flair, “Woooo!”
After a few minutes, McCoy finally unveiled his top 5:
1) Adrian Peterson
2) Marshawn Lynch
3) Frank Gore
4) Jamaal Charles
5) Matt Forte
He left himself off the list for humility’s sake. But the guess here is he’d put himself near the top, maybe behind A.P. Maybe.
With the team struggling at home (0-4) and thriving on the road (5-1), Chip Kelly joked that he might just have the buses drive around for a half-hour to simulate an away game this week.
He can count on the fans giving his club the road-team treatment when they finally do pull up to the Linc to complete the experience.
“Sometimes it’s like a road game coming in because our fans don’t really know if we’re the visiting team or home team because we ride a bus in, too,” said Evan Mathis. “Sometimes we’re greeted by our own fans.”
Greeted?
“Uh, they’re telling us we’re number one, with sign language,” he said with a grin. “We’re wearing these shirts [Eagles tees] and we kind of go like this (push the logo up to the window) and they’re like, “Oh, it’s the Eagles. Oh, hey.”
Never really thought about that before, but it makes sense. The buses are unmarked. How would the fans know whether it’s ally or enemy on board? Might as well be safe and assume it’s the enemy, right?
“We see the middle fingers, everything,” said Trent Cole. “All of a sudden someone gets a glimpse [of an Eagles player] and you see their face just change. Like ‘[Gasp], it’s the Eagles! That’s our home team.’ ”
Visiting players and coaches have long told stories of the type of abuse they have taken in Philly, including during their bus rides in. According to the players we talked to, the Eagles bus hasn’t had anything thrown at it to date. Of course, if the 10-game home losing streak goes much longer, that could change.
McCoy’s top 5 RBs
LeSean McCoy took his assignment seriously.
He was asked to name the top 5 running backs in the league right now, and wasn’t about to just start rattling names off the top of his head. He needed to do some research, and so he brought up ESPN.com on his phone and began going through the numbers.
“I’m not even going to tell you the first name I see,” said McCoy, shooting up a playful glance. The 25-year-old leads the league in rushing with 932 yards – 61 yards more than his closest competitor, Marshawn Lynch.
“I have the most carries out of everybody, though,” McCoy added, sounding a little concerned. Then relief. “But I have the highest yards per carry,” giving a Ric Flair, “Woooo!”
After a few minutes, McCoy finally unveiled his top 5:
1) Adrian Peterson
2) Marshawn Lynch
3) Frank Gore
4) Jamaal Charles
5) Matt Forte
He left himself off the list for humility’s sake. But the guess here is he’d put himself near the top, maybe behind A.P. Maybe.