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Of everything that came out from the San Francisco 49ers’ 42-19 drubbing on the road against the Eagles in one of the most hotly anticipated games of the season, only in Philadelphia would the main story be about a hefty bouncer/security official/general manager’s assistant who somehow managed to get tossed from the game after an altercation with a player. But that’s what happened when Dom DiSandro met Dre Greenlaw.
With 9:19 to play in the third quarter and things still tight between the NFC powerhouses, Greenlaw tackled wide receiver DeVonta Smith with a bit too much force on the Eagles sideline—OK, it was a full-on body slam. Eagles players and, notably, coach Nick Sirianni took exception to the play and called for Greenlaw to be ejected.
In the scrum that ensued, Dom DiSandro stepped in and made contact with Dre Greenlaw. It was difficult to tell what, exactly, happened, but Greenlaw was either reaching to point or attempted to swipe at DiSandro. He hit him, though lightly, on the cheek.
Greenlaw was thrown out and given a 12-yard penalty. The referees did not quite know what to do about DiSandro, though. He was ejected, too, but there was no penalty for his actions.
Dom DiSandro Is Not an ‘In-Game Bouncer’: PFT
It was, to say the least, an unprecedented situation on the sideline. And at Pro Football Talk, league insider Mike Florio said he believes there will be discipline coming for the Eagles because of the Dom DiSandro-Dre Greenlaw confrontation.
“Big Dom was sent off the field, too,” Florio wrote on Sunday. “And that could just be the beginning. As one high-level executive with another team predicts to PFT, there will be a significant punishment imposed both on DiSandro and the Eagles by the league.
“Team security officials are not in-game bouncers. Keeping the peace is the job of the officials. Non-players who insinuate themselves into the game action risk losing access to the game area.”
Dre Greenlaw Ejection Boosted 49ers
There was speculation, at least among the game’s broadcasters, that the result of the Dre Greenlaw confrontation with Dom DiSandro would be a momentum shift toward the Eagles. And, indeed, the Eagles did use the Greenlaw penalty to move down inside the red zone and, from there, managed to score a touchdown that pulled the score to 21-13 and gave the Eagles a glimmer of hope.
But it was also a scenario that lit a fire under the 49ers offense, which gained confidence as the game went on and began hitting the Eagles with a series of big plays.
After the Greenlaw ejection, the 49ers responded with back-to-back touchdowns to run the score to blowout status at 35-13.
Kyle Shanahan was not a fan of the play. But he loved the 49ers’ response.
“I tried my hardest not to lost my mind,” Shanahan said in his postgame press conference. “Hopefully I did not embarrass myself too bad. … When I started hearing people explain it to me and stuff, I just can’t believe someone not involved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands in our guys’ face. From what I was told, Dre did it back to him, from what I was told, he mashed him in the face a bit so he got ejected, but that was a very frustrating play. … But I love how we rallied after.”
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