Friday’s final injury report showed both the Cowboys and Eagles at nearly full strength heading into a Sunday night showdown that will help decide the NFC East.
But Philadelphia will nevertheless be a man down, at least as far as their usual sideline staff goes.
Dom DiSandro, the Eagles head of security who was involved last week in a confrontation that got physical with 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw, has been barred from Philadelphia’s sideline when the team visits AT&T Stadium in Week 14, per NFL insider Adam Schefter, citing sources.
DiSandro is being allowed to travel with the Eagles team and perform all of his other duties during their trip to Dallas, but he will not be allowed to be on the sideline during the game.
Greenlaw got into a shouting match with several Eagles players on their sideline after making a tackle that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty. DiSandro positioned himself among the players and tried to push Greenlaw away. Greenlaw’s hand then appeared to make contact with DiSandro’s face while making pointing gestures.
Greenlaw was disqualified from the game for the contact; DiSandro was booted from the Philadelphia sideline for “contributing to the escalation” of the argument.
The NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams this week with a reminder to “please ensure that all members of your game-day staff understand that their role does not extend to being involved with game day altercations and that they must refrain from such involvement.”
Greenlaw and DiSandro reportedly exchanged formal apologies through respective team channels, but the league is said to still be considering further discipline. Both men could face fines for their actions.
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The league was expected to take further action past even the game-day ejections and memo; there was some concern that teams could begin instigating such incidents intentionally, using a low-tier staffer to bait an opponent’s star player into an altercation in an effort to get that player disqualified.
“It won’t be [a strategy]. It can’t be, and that’s why they probably did make a big deal out of [it],” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said earlier in the week. “It can’t be a strategy. They’ll put an end to that, which I think they already have.”
Things were already sure to be plenty tense on both sidelines this Sunday night, as the longtime rivals square off for the 130th time and with the late-season division lead on the line. The absence of one Eagles staffer likely won’t completely prevent tempers from flaring at some point, but DiSandro’s presence after last week’s scuffle with a star player would only have made an ugly incident more likely.
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