Deshazor Everett insisted it wasn’t a cheap shot. The Eagles disagreed just a tad.
“An obvious cheap shot,” Zach Ertz said.
Everett, a second-year undrafted safety from Texas A&M, knocked all-pro returner Darren Sproles out of Sunday’s Eagles-Redskins game when he plowed into the defenseless Sproles as he prepared to field a punt 3 ½ minutes into the fourth quarter (see Instant Replay).
Earlier in the quarter, Everett was penalized 15 yards for an illegal hit during a Donnie Jones punt that knocked Brent Celek out of the game with a stinger. He never returned.
Everett’s hit left Sproles lying motionless on the Lincoln Financial Field turf for several minutes. The Eagles said he was being evaluated for a concussion, and he never returned.
“I thought it was BS,” Ertz said. “Darren didn’t even have the ball and the guy tried to take his head off. He tried to take Brent’s head off and knocked him out of the game too. I don’t know who that guy is, but I thought it was BS.”
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Everett said he heard it from the fans at the Linc after the hit on Sproles.
“I was getting a lot of comments from the fans,” Everett said. “I just know I had to keep playing football and couldn't let it get to me on to the next play. Like I said, nothing was intentional.”
The hit sparked a brief shoving match among players from both teams deep in Eagles' territory, but no flags were thrown other than a 15-yarder on Everett for interfering with Sproles’ opportnity to catch the punt (see 10 observations).
“Tensions are high, that's for both sides,” Everett said. “If it happens to one of our guys, we expect the same thing out of our team. You can't tell whether it's intentional or not if a guy hits your guys is illegal. It's definitely an illegal hit, so I understand why they were angry. But it's part of the game.”
Jason Peters had to be restrained by teammates from chasing after Everett.
“That was a cheap shot,” Peters said. “I wanted to do more. I knew I just couldn't get thrown out the game. We were on our third or fourth tackle, if I'd had got thrown out, I don't know who would play left (tackle).
“I reacted but I was talking to myself like, ‘Don't get thrown out the game.’ I just kind of like stepped back and let the referees break it up.”
Everett defended the play and said his intent was not to injure Sproles.
“Football is a split-second game, and unfortunately I did not make the right decision,” Everett said. “But I was just giving my full effort to go out there and make the tackle.
“I thought the ball was right there in front of me when I went for the tackle, but unfortunately it was not. The ball hit me in the back, as you can tell.”
Malcolm Jenkins was one of several Eagles players that took exception to Everett’s hit.
“I’m not sure if the guy did it intentionally or not, but obviously it’s something that you never want to see, especially to one of your teammates,” he said.
“Obviously, in the moment, we thought it was a pretty cheap shot. We don’t know the guy’s intention, but it’s something you never want to see happen to one of your teammates.”
The Eagles, already down Lane Johnson to a 10-game suspension, Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Allen Barbre to injuries and Brandon Brooks to illness, couldn’t afford to lose Peters.
Not with the game still in the balance.
“Anybody could have took that lick and we would have went out there,” he said. “That's our teammate. We're going to go out there and try to rally around him and protect him.
“I don't know how riled up we got, but we was riled up because that was just a cheap shot.
Head coach Doug Pederson didn’t have much to say about the play, other than agreeing with the penalty.
At least one Eagle — Brandon Graham — said the hit wasn’t a cheap shot.
“I understand in that moment, you want to make a play,” he said. “I’m going to let the league handle that. There’s nothing we can do now. Sproles is OK, I’m happy. Everything is good for him, but obviously you need a guy like him in there all the time.
“I don’t see it as a cheap shot. I see it as he was down there running, helmet-to-helmet, stuff happens in the game.”
But Ertz was still fuming about it an hour later.
“Darren was trying to field the ball and the guy hits him before the ball gets there and the guy threw the flag for a reason,” Ertz said. “The guy took a cheap shot on Celek, too.
“I’ve honestly never really seen the guy before. Didn’t know who he was going into the game. If that’s how he wants to make a name for himself, then so be it.”
As for Celek, he wouldn't speculate about whether Everett's hit on him was over the line.
"I don't know," he said. "He hit me in the head and got penalized. It is what it is."
