’13 Seconds’: Eagles and Jaguars Players Ejected Before Either Defense Takes the Field in Wild London Start

Imagine flying 3,500 miles across the Atlantic, running out of the tunnel in front of a packed London crowd, lining up for the opening kickoff — and getting thrown out of the game before your defense ever takes the field. That is exactly what happened to two NFL players on Sunday, and it took all of 13 seconds.

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Bryan Thomas Jr. were both ejected on the opening kickoff of the teams’ London game after getting locked up near midfield and refusing to let go — fighting well after the play had already ended in the end zone.

Here is how it unfolded. Jaguars rookie Josh Cameron fielded the opening kick and raced 90 yards for a touchdown that sent the London crowd into a frenzy. But while every camera followed Cameron to the end zone, Trotter and Thomas were having their own private wrestling match around each other’s head and neck back at midfield. Fan footage posted by @DutchJawn on X and amplified by Barstool Philly — the angle the TV broadcast missed — showed Trotter throwing Thomas to the ground long after Cameron had crossed the goal line, with Thomas appearing to kick back at Trotter from the turf before officials finally stepped in to separate them.

Their battle reportedly traversed some 15 yards of turf, ending up on the NFL shield logo at midfield. Multiple officials lost their hats throwing flags into the scrum. When the dust settled, both players were disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the touchdown itself was wiped out — offsetting penalties, an illegal formation call on Philadelphia and a holding flag on Jacksonville linebacker Branson Combs, forced a re-kick.

What the broadcast missed

The whole ordeal took officials around five minutes to sort out, prompting NFL Network broadcaster Kurt Warner to quip, “So with all that going on, we just starting this whole thing over?” The kickoff was indeed taken over, with Jacksonville’s Ameer Abdullah returning the re-kick 15 yards.

There is a larger lesson tucked inside this 13-second sideshow, and it is about how we watch football now. The multi-million-dollar broadcast — with its army of cameras, its slow-motion replay system, its rules analyst on standby — completely missed the actual fight because every lens was glued to the return man. The definitive angle came from a fan in the stands holding a phone. @DutchJawn’s video did not just supplement the coverage; for most of Sunday afternoon, it was the coverage, passed from account to account until Barstool Philly put it in front of millions. The NFL’s camera crews will surely have a note about it in their production meeting this week.

It was the first ejection of a player in a London NFL game since Baltimore’s Kyle Hamilton was tossed in a 2023 game against Tennessee — a rare distinction neither Trotter nor Thomas will be bragging about.

The timing stung both sidelines. Trotter, 23, the son of four-time Pro Bowler Jeremiah Trotter, was expected to make his second start of the season in place of Jihaad Campbell after logging 15 tackles the previous week against the Rams. Thomas, 22, an undrafted rookie appearing in just his fourth career game, had been contributing mainly on special teams. The Eagles entered the game at 2-2; the Jaguars led the AFC South at 3-1.

To be fair to both players, kickoff coverage is one of the most chaotic plays in football — bodies flying at full speed, tempers already high in an international showcase. But the league draws a hard line at fighting after the whistle, and ejections are typically reviewed for potential fines on top of the early shower.

Neither player had publicly addressed the incident as of Monday. Whatever was said between them at midfield, it cost them both a transatlantic trip’s worth of game action — 13 seconds in, two lockers emptied, and one very long flight home to think about it.