By Daniel Gallen
The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.
PHILADELPHIA — Nelson Agholor wants to bring Hakim Laws to a Philadelphia Eagles game.
The embattled wide receiver posted to Twitter on Monday night that he was trying to get in touch with the West Philadelphia man after an early morning television interview went viral earlier in the day.
“Thank you for being a hero in the community, would like to invite you and your family to the next home game,” Agholor wrote Monday night.
The backstory: According to CBS Philly, Laws was in West Philly early Monday morning when he saw an apartment building on fire. A former firefighter, Laws sprung into action and attempted to help rescue the children inside. Eventually, he helped firefighters with a ladder to bring the trapped residents down safely, and he said someone was tossing children out of the window to safety. It sounds like a harrowing scene.
But it led to a quote/video/local news moment/piece of viral content/Very Philadelphia Thing that might be most memorable thing about a rough start to the Eagles season:
“My man just started throwing babies out the window,” Laws told the cameras. “But we was catching them — unlike Agholor and his mishaps. I’d like to put that out there.”
“We was catching ‘em ... unlike [Nelson] Agholor.”
After catching children thrown from a window during a fire, a Philly man was feeling extra petty ?
(via @SteveLindsayCBS)pic.twitter.com/b5qlaVlQz6
— ESPN (@espn) September 23, 2019
It is incredibly cliche and tired to say “Only in Philadelphia,” but a man criticizing an embattled wide receiver in the middle of the night after helping rescue children from a burning building? Yeah, you could probably say that and it would be fine.
Agholor dropped two passes unofficially and had a fumble that led to a field goal in the Eagles’ 27-24 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. That came a week after he dropped a potential game-winning touchdown in the Eagles’ 24-20 loss at the Atlanta Falcons.
In the past two games with fellow starters Alshon Jeffery and DeSean Jackson out with injuries, Agholor has 16 catches for 157 yards and three touchdowns, but his miscues have loomed large and apparently were lodged in the mind of the fan base.
It’s clear Agholor understands what it means to play in Philadelphia.
———
©2019 The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)