The stadium crew decided to introduce the offense - thank God!
But they did something a little more this week. While saluting the troops is pretty common at FedEx Field, this weekend was more a tribute than usual since we missed celebrating Veteran's day due to the bye week.
So, they introduce the starting offense, and as you would expect Griffin is the last person to be introduced. When he appears at the tunnel he's carrying the American flag. He runs quickly down the line of players, flag flapping in the wind, then he shoots across the field, eventually meeting with the rest of the team in the corner of the end zone, on the home team side, opposite of the tunnel where the team comes out of.
The crowd
went
nuts.
It was an incredible way to open the game. And that tone carried over to kickoff, and then through the next 4 quarters of play. The eagles were never in the game, at any point. They lost before kickoff even happened; the crowd was so pumped up it was absurd. The eagles fans at the game were quiet for 4 straight quarters. There was an energy that is hard to describe.
My buddy looked at me while they were lining up for the opening kickoff and said "Look at everyone, that was powerful bro!" He was right... it was powerful... in that really cheesy, lame way - that it almost brings a tear to your eye when you retell it kind of way.