Philadelphia Eagles: Reactions to the cancellation of a White House visit
Some of the Philadelphia Eagles and some of the media took to social media to respond to the cancellation of their trip to the White House.
The one constant about the NFL is change. It’s almost like you need a scorecard to keep up sometimes. Two days after postponing the June 4th session of OTA practice, the Philadelphia Eagles are back at the Novacare Complex and working following the news that President Donald Trump was uninviting ‘The Birds’ to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The news broke shortly after dinner time on the east coast.
NFL Network‘s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo were among the first analysts who broke the news. Take a look:
Here’s a couple of Monday night’s tweets.
Donald Trump issues a statement saying neither the #Eagles, nor team representatives, are welcome at the White House tomorrow for their Super Bowl visit. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/PXEoZ43XY0
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 4, 2018
The Eagles held meetings with their players in recent weeks and, according to sources, Jeff Lurie didn't want to put the players in a tough spot so he decided to send a smaller contingent. Other players were going to have an optional day at the facility. Now, no trip to D.C.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) June 4, 2018
Here’s another from Tuesday morning.
After being disinvited to the White House by Donald Trump, the #Eagles are holding an OTA day today instead, I’m told. They choose to put the suddenly free day to good use.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 5, 2018
As expected, several of the Eagles players and some of the media took to Twitter to comment. Here are some of the highlights:
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) June 5, 2018
This can’t be serious.... Praying before games with my teammates, well before the anthem, is being used for your propaganda?! Just sad, I feel like you guys should have to be better than this... https://t.co/kYeyH2zXdK
— Zach Ertz (@ZERTZ_86) June 5, 2018
#FakeNews: FOX News shows pictures of Zach Ertz and other #Eagles players praying, claims it is them kneeling during the national anthemhttps://t.co/xffJE1RmPp
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) June 5, 2018
No #Eagles player ever intentionally stayed in the locker room during the national anthem last season as a form of protest. No player ever knelt. Malcolm Jenkins raised his right fist, as did a few others on occasion. Chris Long placed his arm on Jenkins’s shoulder. https://t.co/YiF3Dby2oV
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) June 5, 2018
Now what?
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So, what are the Eagles going to do now? It’s simple. It’s back to ‘the new norm’ for them. Philly, with their newfound free time, have decided to go back to work. Phase 2 of OTAs is still underway, meaning things won’t be as intense.
That won’t begin until Philly enters Phase 3, where they’ll be able to participate in more drills such as 11 on 11s.
The June 5th session of OTA practice won’t be open to the media. The Wednesday and Thursday sessions will be. As it stands now, each practice session between June 12th and June 14th will be open to the media as well.
Eagles head coach Doug Pederson is scheduled to meet with the Philly media prior to Wednesday’s session of practice. So far, there’s been no news of that no longer being the case.
If we haven’t learned anything else from this week, we’ve learned, as we mentioned earlier, that change is constant in the NFL, and if things do change, expect the news to travel quickly.
We, at ITI, will be here to advise you of the updates.