Eagles fan Pat Driscoll caught the ball A.J. Brown fired into the stands. Here’s why Driscoll gave the ball back.
It was just another touchdown for Brown, but it was the first in the NFL career of Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee.
Pat Driscoll does not regularly attend Eagles games, but a season ticket-holding friend asked the 22-year-old from Audubon, N.J., early Sunday if he wanted to go to the game.
It was an easy answer for Driscoll: “Yeah, of course. 50 degrees and sunny, go watch the Birds. No doubt.”
He could not have predicted how the rest of the day would turn out.
The Eagles were already well on their way to a division-clinching blowout win over the rival Cowboys when Driscoll went viral. Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee was in the game for Kenny Pickett when McKee, the second-year third-stringer out of Stanford, threw a jump ball for A.J. Brown, whose 20-yard touchdown catch extended the Eagles’ lead to 34-7.
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Brown, unaware of the significance of the moment, threw McKee’s first touchdown ball into the seats. Deep into the seats.
Driscoll played wide receiver at Audubon High and tight end at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
“I’m just chilling and I see a ball coming up from out of the end zone, obviously,” he said. “I saw it coming up and just grabbed it, naturally. My friends were like, ‘holy [expletive]. Oh my god. A.J. Brown just threw it up, you just caught it.’”
It quickly became clear to Driscoll that this wasn’t just any football. To Brown, too. The receiver was alerted on the sideline that he threw away a souvenir.
“I felt so bad because I threw it so far,” Brown said. “Glad we got it back for him.”
McKee said he didn’t see where the ball went. He was too busy being surrounded by his offensive linemen.
“I was just hugging all of those guys,” McKee said. “I had no idea where the ball went.”
It was in Driscoll’s hands.
“I’m holding it,” Driscoll said. “Obviously don’t want to let go of it, A.J. Brown just threw it up from the end zone. I see some people coming up being like, he wants the ball back. It meant something.”
Down the steps from his seat in Section 110 Driscoll went. At the bottom of the steps were a few members of the Eagles organization, including do-it-all security czar Dom DiSandro. There was no negotiating on Driscoll’s side, and he wasn’t even fully aware of what made the ball special to the Eagles.
“For whatever reason it was, A.J. wanted that ball back, let’s get it back to him,” he said. “It was important to them.”
Brown signed his game-worn jersey after the game and tossed it to Driscoll.
“I’m just happy to be here, man,” Driscoll said. “Hopefully they win this game, then keep going on a roll throughout the rest of the playoffs. They look good right now.”
The notifications on his phone were starting to pour in.
“All my friends from school are hitting me up on text messages,” he said. “I didn’t think anything of it. I knew I caught it and then they started asking for it.
“How lucky of it for me to just be sitting right there catching that ball.”
Moral of the story: Always say yes.