Eagles ‘Big Brother’ ejected in loss to 49ers may face a ‘significant’ penalty
PHILADELPHIA – Dom DiSandro, the Eagles head of security and special assistant to general manager Howie Roseman, does not like to be in the middle of the spotlight, wanting to stay in the background and observe what is going on in the environment the players and coaches are in, trying to keep them safe.
BUY EAGLES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETMASTER
DiSandro found himself in the middle of a scuffle during Sunday’s 42-19 loss to the San Francisco 49ers and reportedly could find himself in trouble with the league, threatening his ability to be on the sideline in future games.
With the 49ers up 21-6 in the third quarter and the Eagles driving down the field, wide receiver DeVonta Smith caught a 9-yard pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts. As Smith was being tackled, 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw slammed Smith out of bounds. The tackle drew the ire of the Eagles’ sideline who appeared to say something to Greenlaw.
Greenlaw was not happy with what DiSandro said and seemed to throw a punch at him. Greenlaw was flagged for a personal foul penalty, and he and DiSandro were ejected. The Eagles eventually scored on the drive, which was capped off by a 1-yard Hurts run for a touchdown. In a pool report released after the game, NFL Senior Vice President of Officiating Walt Anderson said the replay booth and the command center in New York became involved in deciding to eject both Greenlaw and DiSandro.
“The officials had a flag on the field for a personal foul by San Francisco No. 57, and then there was continuing action,” Anderson said. “What Rule 19 allows us to do is provide assistance by looking at the video. We saw video that showed that there was a staff person that made contact with the player and that the player involved, No. 57, made contact with the staff member, which warranted his disqualification. The non-player was contributing to that escalation. Rule 19 does not afford us the ability to help the officials in throwing a flag that they do not throw for a non-player. That’s only afforded for a player action.”
Anderson added that he felt the officials did a good job controlling the game afterward, stating that he thought they prevented the situation from escalating further on the sideline after the play and for the rest of the game.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was not happy about DiSandro’s involvment, claiming DiSandro was taunting his players.
“I tried my hardest not to lose my mind,” Shanahan said. “I hope I didn’t embarrass myself too bad. I didn’t get to see it all from where I’m at but when I started hearing people explain it to me and stuff, I just can’t believe someone uninvolved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands in our guy’s face. From what I was told, Dre did it back to him and I was told that he mashed him in the face a little bit, so he got ejected. It was a very frustrating play. I have to watch it to have a true opinion on it. I love how we rallied after.”
