Everyone is having fun in the end zone thanks to the NFL's now relaxed end zone rules, but no one has done it better this season than the Philadelphia Eagles. With a three quarters of the season in the books, let's rank our favorite Eagles celebrations this season.
5. Jason Kelce's handsome spike
You never properly appreciate how important having an efficient offensive line is until you don't have one and everything goes to hell. So consider touchdown maker Nelson Agholor's decision to hand the football to center Jason Kelce a very public act of appreciation for the glue-like nature of the big men up front. When Kelce fires the pigskin into the turf with gusto, he does it for every fat kid who ever got passed over on the playground. Viva la Husky!
4. Kenjon Barner bankrolls a rainy day fiesta
I teach my two young boys all the time: Sharing is caring. Kenjon Barner gets it. The running back scores on a hard-fought 5-yard run, then makes his way to an imaginary safe, dials in the correct digits, then proceeds to hand out the contents of the lock box to his teammates. From there, the Eagles make it rain in front of everyone at JerrahWorld, only the NFL's mecca of grand opulence. Well played.
3. Defense brings back the electric slide
I always found the electric slide to be the most cringeworthy part of any family wedding I attended during my formative years. Man, you haven't lived until you've seen Uncle Howie -- five rum and cokes deep, tie now functioning as a headband (a signature White Guy Wedding Reception move for the ages) -- losing himself in the groove. One can argue that the Eagles arrived to save the electric slide from corny irrelevance, but that feels like a substantial stretch.
Still, this Eagles team is just so likable you find yourself signing off on the whole affair. This choreography takes real practice! If nothing else, it makes you think back to a more innocent time when Uncle Howie danced like no one was watching and Aunt Martha had yet to take his boat in the divorce.
2. Alshon Jeffrey goes bowling
I keep reading how bowling is a dying American pastime, which, besides being yet more misfortune for poor Uncle Howie, feels like a grave injustice in the grand scheme of things. Bowling is fun. Can't we get rid of golf instead?
Judging by his form, it looks like Alshon Jeffrey knows his way around the lanes a little bit. This is pretty close to a perfect celebration. Silly, original, and everyone gets to take part. It's amazing that something so innocent would have been celebrated with a 15-yard penalty just last season.
Make Bowling Great Again.
1. The Eagles channel the Phillies
And finally, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II of end zone celebrations in 2017. Maybe ever. Again, the brilliance is in the details: Nelson Agholor with the windup and pitch. Jeffrey in the catcher's squat, Wentz the umpire, Ertz and Blount front-row spectators. Even Torrey Smith's little pre-swing bat wiggle is a inspired touch verisimilitude.
This hardball sequel, which transpired three weeks after the first "at-bat", puts Ertz on the mound and looking for some revenge after Smith admired his moonshot a bit too much. Jeffrey gets drilled in the thigh and the fight was on. Consider this the most entertaining baseball Philadelphia has seen in years.
