When the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles played the final game of their regular season slate, Chris Long and Beau Allen were among those who did not have the benefit of sitting it out.
On New Year’s Eve in 2017, frigid weather rolled through the Northeast, prompting ice-cold conditions for teams that played in places like New England, New York and Philadelphia. At that point in the campaign, the Eagles had locked down the division and a first-round bye, so their Week 17 game against the Cowboys meant absolutely nothing.
As a result, the Eagles rested a handful of guys for the game. Long, and to a lesser extent, Allen were veteran players, but their respective tiers of stardom didn't rise to a level that allowed them to take the game off. So, they ended up not just playing, but playing a ton.
Allen recently retired, and he appeared on Long’s podcast this week. He and Long recalled the time they had to play in brutal temperatures for essentially no purpose.
“We had to play way too long, dude,” Long said. “It’s Week 17, they’re resting the guys, it’s zero degrees and we’re tackling Zeke Elliott, so I’m already having a f–king day.”
“I remember at one point looking over at Chris,” Allen said, “This is like the third quarter and the game is going slow. And Chris is just like ‘What the f–k are we doing out here, man? What the f–k are we doing? I said ‘Bro, they don’t have anybody else.’ We played like 50 snaps or something. …
“Afterwards I tricked Chris into going to this f–king bar, I got us a table and the bar was packed to the gills with underagers. Everyone is staring at us like ‘Oh my god that’s Chris Long, he balled out today against the Cowboys.’”
“Jason Witten was in for six plays,” Long said. “We had a conversation, and then after like the second series he was like ‘See you later, brother. Damn, they’ve still got you in here, huh?” Witten was incensed, and that was the first quarter."
All told, Long played 42 snaps (62 percent) to Allen’s 41, with each also logging three plays on special teams.
The Eagles ended up losing that game 6-0, but went on to win the Super Bowl just over a month later. Maybe Long and Allen can spin their suffering into a belief that their sacrifice weeks earlier helped a refreshed Eagles defense later win on the biggest stage.