GREEN BAY, Wis. — As Avonte Maddox was being taken off the field on a stretcher late Thursday night at Lambeau Field, the 23-year-old was already moving his extremities and joking around with his teammates.
That eased their minds enough to win the game two plays later.
“He was smiling and moving around,” said Eagles safety Andrew Sendejo, whose friendly fire hit injured Maddox.
As the Eagles were finishing off their huge 34-27 win over the Packers, Maddox was being sent to a local hospital for further evaluations. But the Eagles’ second-year defensive back had movement in all his extremities and the trip to the hospital was precautionary, the team said.
With 1:15 left in Thursday night’s game, Aaron Rodgers completed a pass to tight end Robert Tonyan. As Maddox tried to make the tackle, Sendejo charged forward and his helmet hit Maddox’s facemask full force. Maddox was instantly down inside the 10-yard line.
Malcolm Jenkins immediately called the training staff over. And, eventually, the entire Eagles’ sideline gathered around Maddox to wish him well before he was taken off the field.
“Yeah, I felt bad,” Sendejo said. “It’s part of the game. I think we all felt bad for him. You don’t ever want to see anyone like that, especially one of your boys.”
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After Maddox left the game, the Eagles were down to just two cornerbacks because Sidney Jones (hamstring) was ruled out earlier in the evening. Reserve Craig James, who hadn’t played all night, got the game winning PBU on the interception by Nigel Bradham to seal the win.
After the Eagles knew Maddox was OK, they desperately wanted to win for him.
“As soon as he went down, we were like, ‘man, we gotta win this game,’ Bradham said. “Everybody gathered around. That’s why you saw the whole sideline gather around, show love to him, show how much we appreciate him for playing this game. It’s a dangerous game, but when you got guys like that at that caliber it’s really impactful.”
Updated: 12:07 p.m.:
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