Tag: Chris Long

Eagles’ Jason Kelce nominated for Walter Payton Man of the Year Award

Philadelphia #Eagles legendary center Jason #Kelce is the organizations’ nominee for the Walter Payton #NFL Man of the Year Award#WPMOYChallenge | #WPMOY

This summer Jason Kelce and his wife, Kylie, helped raise $50,000 for the Eagles Autism Challenge, with the couple matching another $50K, for a total of $100,000 in raised donations.

“Obviously, we’re really passionate about EAC (the Eagles Autism Challenge), but just being involved in the community (is what is important for players),” Kelce said. “Anything that any player does to give back to the community, I’m in awe of, whether you’re starting your own foundation, joining other foundations, giving your time, whatever. This is all part of the job, in my opinion. The Eagles have done a great job historically of that. I was brought up through that culture, so it’s part of my job to show the young guys this is what it is to be an Eagle.”

Kelce’s huge heart and service for the community landed him another honor, as the Eagles legendary center was the organizations’ nominee for the prestigious, Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award for 2021.

The accolade is presented annually to the player who displays excellence in volunteer and charity work in his community as well as on the field of play. All 32 teams have put forth one player for what the league considers its highest individual honor; the full slate of nominees was released Tuesday.

Kelce is a four-time Pro Bowl selection (2015, ’17, ’20, ’21), three-time Associated Press first-team All-Pro honoree (2017, ’18, ’19), and Super Bowl LII champion, while also starting a franchise record 118 consecutive regular-season games, the longest active streak among NFL centers.

All 32 nominees will receive up to a $40,000 donation in their name to their charity of choice. The winner of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award will receive a $250,000 donation to their charity of choice. All donations are courtesy of the NFL Foundation and Nationwide.

The 2021 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a primetime awards special to air the Thursday before Super Bowl LVI, on ABC.

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Julian Edelman tells story of Bill Belichick ruthlessly roasting him in meeting after fight with Stephon Gilmore

“What the (expletive) are we doing?’ We can’t have this.

New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was never safe in team meetings. Almost every workday of the NFL season, Bill Belichick would stand up in front of his team to break down film. And every Monday, Belichick would review film from the game, which would be particularly grueling after a loss.

Edelman would get grilled for drops or muffed punts. But his most memorable Belichickian roast came after a fight with cornerback Stephon Gilmore during practice. Here’s what Edelman remembered of that film session in front of the entire team during an appearance on former Patriots defensive end Chris Long’s podcast, “The Green Light.”

“I got in a fight with Gilmore, and (Belichick) puts it on,” Edelman said. “And he’ll just sit and rewind it like 45 times with silence. Silence. And then when he stands up, there’s the guy where his job is to run and turn the lights on — like majestically turns it on — and then when he sits down, they turn it off.”

Edelman added: “So he sits and rewinds it like 45 times and he stands and he goes, ‘What the (expletive) are we doing?’ We can’t have this. You know what Edelman, you’re over here thinking you’re a tough guy.’ Just getting on me in front of the team. But I think low key he loved it.”

Edelman referred to these sessions as “BillTube” and “Lowlights.” They are an infamous part of playing for the Patriots. And according to Long, Belichick’s practice of sitting down the team — particularly for open criticism — is not common in the NFL. Apparently, most teams break into position meetings or meetings within offense, defense and special teams.

It’s rare for a coach to take the time to break down film, and even rarer for the coach to find the film that leads to criticism of his best players.

“This guy, every day for 45 to 50 minutes each day — every day — and he could call each phase of the game like he was a coordinator,” Edelman said. “And he’s called plays for each phase of the game. And I didn’t even realize that until guys like you (Long) showed up.”

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Chris Long hilariously posed as United Airlines on Twitter to roast Mark Ingram

Well played, Chris.

Out of all the social media manager jobs out there, I have to imagine that it’s the least enjoyable experience to run an airline Twitter account. You have an endless stream of tweets complaining about lost luggage, flight delays, in-flight internet issues — as if someone running a Twitter account can do anything about that.

It’s always a huge eye-roll whenever one of those complain-to-airline tweets ends up on the timeline, but few ever do anything else about it.

On Thursday, Chris Long was the exception to that rule.

Mark Ingram tweeted an angry tweet at United Airlines about lost luggage, and rather than leave that tweet alone, Long took the time to make his verified account look like United’s account. It set up this tweet:

Posing as United Airlines, Long told Ingram, “You’re rich. Buy clothes.”

And if you weren’t paying close attention to the Twitter handle, it would have been easy to think that the actual United Airlines account had just roasted Ingram for complaining about lost luggage. But no, it was Long.

He fooled some people, though.

Well played, Chris. Good tweet.

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It sounds like former Bears RG Kyle Long is returning to the NFL

It appears former Bears offensive guard Kyle Long is ready to get back into the NFL after a season away…just not likely with Chicago.

It appears former Chicago Bears offensive guard Kyle Long is ready to get back into the NFL.

According to Macon Gunter, co-host of the Green Light Pod with Chris Long, Kyle’s brother, the 32-year old offensive lineman is ending his retirement and will look to sign with a team this offseason after signing with Select Sports Group.

Long last played in 2019 for the Bears before being placed on injured reserve a few weeks into the season for a hip issue. He was shut down for the year and retired from football in early 2020.

The former Oregon Duck was drafted by the Bears in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft and made three Pro Bowl appearances at two different positions. Though he was one of their key leaders on the offensive line for many years, injuries plagued Long over his last four seasons in the league that ultimately led him to step away from the game.

Following his retirement, Long found a gig with CBS Sports as a studio analyst during the NFL season, but began dropping hints that a comeback to football could be in the works. He admitted as much to the “Parkins & Spiegel” show on 670 The Score last week when he said he missed the game everyday.

If and when Long makes his return to the league official, he will be a free agent as the Bears released him from his contract last March. While fans would love to see him back in Chicago, Long will likely be playing elsewhere as he hasn’t been shy with his feelings about head coach Matt Nagy on his way out of Halas Hall.

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Ex-Patriots Tedy Bruschi, Chris Long react to Bill Belichick declining the Medal of Freedom

“Proud to have played for this man…”

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick decided to decline accepting the Medal of Freedom from President Donald Trump, an event which had been on the White House schedule for this week.

Belichick had planned to accept the award, but changed his mind after the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol last week, which President Trump instigated at a rally prior to the events. Five people died as the mob attacked and breached the Capitol.

“One of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020 when, through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions,” Belichick said in a statement on Monday night. “Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”

Here’s how two of his former players reacted.

It will be interesting to hear from the leaders in New England’s locker room in Devin McCoury and Matthew Slater, who have been outspoken about putting social justice at the forefront.

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Current and former Eagles players react to Philadelphia parting ways with Doug Pederson

Former and current players reacted to Doug Pederson being out as the head coach in Philadelphia

Doug Pederson is out as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, but he’ll always be remembered in this city for the 2017 Super Bowl.

A players coach until the end, former and current Eagles players and guys from around the NFL reacted to Pederson’s firing.

Rodney McLeod named Philadelphia Eagles nominee for Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award

Rodney McLeod is the Eagles nominee for Walter Payton Man of the Year

The Philadelphia Eagles have announced team captain Rodney McLeod as its nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award presented by Nationwide.

Considered the league’s most prestigious honor, the award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field.

With the COVID-19 pandemic having a deadly impact on the Philadelphia region and across the nation, Rodney and his wife, Erika, founded the Change Our Future Foundation.

The Foundation was designed to empower people through education, advocacy, and awareness in the areas of youth development, healthy lifestyles, and community enrichment.

McLeod had already established various signature campaigns and programs through his foundation and during Week 2, Rodney was named the NFL Players Associations’ Community MVP after distributing 40,000 pounds of fresh food to families through Philadelphia’s Share Food Program.

McLeod released this statement on the nomination.

“I’m incredibly honored to be named the Eagles’ Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year,” said McLeod. “Growing up, I had a lot of people sacrifice to help me get to where I am today. The fact that I have this platform to give back, alongside my family, teammates and the City of Philadelphia, is truly humbling. Impacting the lives of others is one of the highest honors we can all strive to achieve, and I’m blessed to be recognized next to an inspiring group of peers who are making a difference in their communities.”

Since the establishment of the award in 1970, the Philadelphia Eagles have had three players earn the prestigious Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award (2018 – Chris Long; 2002 – Troy Vincent; 1980 – Harold Carmichael).

The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year will be announced during NFL Honors, a primetime awards special to air the week of Super Bowl LV on CBS.

Matt Ryan on the challenges of playing without fans

One of the unusual elements will be stadiums having capacity restrictions, including not letting fans sit in the first six-to-eight rows. 

The 2020 NFL season figures to be unlike any other, if it happens, that is. One of the unusual elements that players are going to have to adjust to will be stadiums having capacity restrictions, including not letting fans sit in the first six-to-eight rows.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan joined Chris Long on the Green Light podcast to talk about some of the unique challenges that playing in a quiet stadium will present.

Listen to Ryan discuss why he thinks defenders could have an edge, along with the bizarre new helmet prototype floating around the internet in the clip shared by Long below:

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Former NFL DE Chris Long describes the difficulty of sacking Texans QB Deshaun Watson

Former Super Bowl winning defensive end Chris Long described in one video on Twitter how hard it was to sack Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson.

What is it like to try to sack Deshaun Watson?

Former NFL defensive end Chris Long wasn’t asked the question, but a video posted from an EA Sports NCAA Football game on Saturday prompted him to recall the difficulty in sacking the Houston Texans’ Pro Bowl field general.

In the play that was posted to Twitter, the quarterback somehow manages to throw a completion to a downfield receiver despite in the grasp of the defender and lying on his back.

For Long, the image alone was enough to remind him of what it was like facing Watson on Dec. 23, 2018, Long’s only encounter with the Texans’ quarterback.

In reality, Watson nearly willed the Texans to victory as he took four sacks from the Eagles’ defense but still managed a 29-of-40 for 339 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions slash line.

Ultimately, the Eagles prevailed 32-30 at Lincoln Financial Field, but it wasn’t because Watson was inadequate. Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles led a game-winning drive to setup kicker Jake Elliott for the 35-yard field goal as time expired.

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