This Sunday the Eagles travel to D.C. for an NFC East showdown with division rival Washington. More interesting, though, is Philadelphia seemingly going out of its way to avoid using the team's nickname when talking about Washington.
The Eagles seem to be going out of their way to avoid using Washington’s team name
Is Philadelphia the first NFL team to stop using the controversial nickname?
Jeffrey G. Pittenger-USA TODAY Sports
This was first pointed out by NJ Advanced Media’s Matt Lombardo, a longtime Eagles reporter, who discovered that the nickname can’t be found anywhere in Philadelphia’s media guide for its Week 4 game against Washington.
This is interesting. The #Eagles appear to have wiped the name #Redskins from this week's weekly media guide. #NFL pic.twitter.com/VgA9ksVrbi
— Matt Lombardo (@MattLombardo975) September 30, 2015 During his 12-minute press conference on Wednesday, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly never used Washington's nickname, either, according to the Washington Post. He did, however, use it once while taking to the media on Monday.
When asked if any of these were calculated decisions, the Eagles PR office told SB Nation that they were not aware of the story but that they would look into it.
This is not the first time the Eagles have kept Washington’s nickname off the cover of their media guide. They did so last December as well (H/T to Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation).
It's worth noting that the Eagles starting quarterback Sam Bradford and starting left guard Allen Barbre both have Native American backgrounds. Philadelphia would be the first NFL team to take a stand against the controversial name.
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