The Eagles’ Week 1 victory over the Lions had fireworks up and down the field with a total of 73 points on the scoreboard, but the most popular part of the game in the eyes of the internet happened away from the ball.
Eagles center Jason Kelce and Lions linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez mingled in the red zone at one point in the Eagles’ season-opening victory Sunday, when Rodriguez outplayed veteran Kelce, he hip-dropped it into oblivion and captured the attention of eagle-eyed onlookers. .
If you missed the clip, this specific tweet with a four-second video of the movement has nearly 900,000 views on Twitter, and there are likely dozens of the same clip on the internet. At this point it’s extremely viral:
It’s a pretty sick move from Rodriguez, the rookie from Oklahoma State who (like Kelce) was a sixth-round pick. No matter where his career goes from here, he can always tell that he threw a possible Hall of Fame center into the ether during the first football game of his career.
Here’s how Kelce responded to his brother Travis by giving him a friendly little joke about the move on the brothers’ New Heights podcast:
“TRAVIS: You’re viral right now because of your encounter with the Lions” [linebacker] Malcolm Rodriguez. I gave you a good hip throw from WWE.
“JASON: It was good. I thought I had it, I was driving it to the end zone, and right at the last second HUZZAH judo hip hop on me. I didn’t see it coming.
“TRAVIS: Productive game?
“JASON: It was impressive though. It was a quick turn of the hips. He’s a good player. He made a better move on me earlier in the game on a tying play where he tackled Jalen Hurts. That kid has a really bright future, he’s been a star of Hard Knocks, he seems to have a great mindset. And it’s not the first time I’ve gone viral for kicking my ass, and I’m sure it won’t be the last [laughs].”
I have to love Kelce’s humility here, and also his effort to point out Rodriguez’s talent and another play where he beat Kelce one-on-one. I’m sure some football players would be a little less willing to offer extra props to a guy who outplayed them on the field, but Kelce is just a different guy.
Also, for the record, Kelce has also gone viral more than a few times during his career for being the one to kick ass. It’s the duality of the NFL: There’s always someone looking to destroy someone else. He is crazy out there. One day it’s you, one day it’s the boy next to you.
We are in Minnesota.
Source: www.nbcsports.com