Lane Johnson could be NFL man of the year. He’s driven by the motto of a Doylestown Marine killed in Iraq.

There was no time to tailgate after they parked in the farthest lot from the stadium and hustled to their seats, arriving just before kickoff of Monday Night Football.

Dave Borek nearly backed out earlier that day before finally deciding to go. Travis Manion, his brother-in-law, was set to be deployed later that month for a second time to Iraq. So this — a prime-time game at Lincoln Financial Field on Dec. 4, 2006 — was their last chance to catch an Eagles game.

“I was at work and kind of hee-hawing back and forth all day,” Borek said. “I didn’t know how I was going to make it work. Then I was like ‘I don’t care. I’m going to this game with Trav.’ Something kind of came over me. Just go. Find a way to go with him to this game.”

The night was perfect: Jeff Garcia threw three TD passes, the Birds rallied against Carolina, and the season was saved. Borek and Manion puffed cigars in the parking lot and toasted the win, making up for their missed tailgate while the traffic settled down.

Manion was a diehard — “Huge fan, live and die by the Birds, when we’re up, we’re up, when we’re down, we’re down” his brother-in-law said — and spent Sundays as a kid at the Vet. He grew up in Doylestown, was a three-sport star at La Salle High School, and graduated from the Naval Academy.

A Marine, Manion wanted to play a more important role when he returned to Iraq. A more important role, his family knew, meant a more dangerous role.

Walking out of the Linc, Borek put his hand on Manion’s back as a great night started to fade.

“I had it on my mind, like, I love hanging out with Trav, I’m having a great time, he’s going back pretty soon,” Borek said. “I was joking and said, ‘Man, let me just push you down these stairs. You’ll break an ankle and then you can be here for Christmas and you don’t have to go back.’ ”

“He turned to me and said, ‘Dave, if not me, then who? If I don’t go, then a younger Marine, someone who isn’t as prepared, will have to go in my place. That could put himself in danger, his team in danger. Dave, I’m prepared. I’m ready.’ ”

Lane Johnson hired a personal trainer in 2018 as a way to keep his career churning as he neared his 30s. Gabe Rangel and Johnson spent hours inside “The Bro Barn” in Moorestown, finding ways to make one of the NFL’s premier offensive linemen even better with age. But Rangel — who served with the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan — brought more than just plyometrics and power lifts. He brought perspective.

And that led Johnson to a hotel conference room last month, a night before the Eagles played at Dallas. Rangel had an idea before the season for Johnson to meet with a Gold Star family, the survivors of service members killed in action, before each Eagles road game. Rangel did something similar when he worked as the personal trainer for the pop band Maroon 5. Johnson was in.

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The Travis Manion Foundation — founded by Manion’s mother after Manion was killed in action in Iraq on April 29, 2007 — connected Johnson with a Gold Star family in each city the Eagles traveled to this season. The foundation works with both Gold Star families and returning veterans, aiming to “empower veterans and families of the fallen, and then inspire them to pass on their values to the next generation and the community at large.”

Johnson met that night with Veronica Ortiz Rivera, whose husband, Javier Ortiz Rivera, was killed in action as a Marine on Nov. 16, 2010 in Afghanistan. No cameras. No reporters. Just a conversation.

“I don’t think anyone knew why we were there to meet him,” Ortiz Rivera said. “It was almost like ‘If no one finds out I met with you, it doesn’t matter. I just want to get to know you and your family. I want to know about your fallen hero.’ ”

Johnson asked her about her husband, wanting to know who “Javy” was. He asked about their three children and how Ortiz Rivera has persevered since her husband’s death. The football star was a normal guy, she said.

“I don’t know what I expected, but he was so down-to-earth and just wanted to hear our story,” Ortiz Rivera said. “He listened. It was a reminder that football players, actors, actresses, celebrities, they’re all just people. They also are impacted by what happens in the world and there’s some really good ones who want to show their gratitude.”

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Johnson’s advocacy regarding mental health is a large reason he was nominated for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, given each year to an NFL player “for his excellence on and off the field.” The 33-year-old tackle has been open about his mental health and advocated for mental health awareness and treatment ever since his depression and anxiety caused him to miss three games in 2021.

But Johnson’s work with Gold Star families — which has been less publicized and more private — played a part too.

“When I look at what this award represents and what it stands for, there’s no better example of what a Walter Payton Man of the Year is than Lane Johnson,” said Ryan Manion, Travis Manion’s older sister who is Borek’s wife and the foundation’s CEO. “I know that Gold Star families want their loved ones’ names to live on, they want their stories to be told. To have someone like Lane, who has the platform that he has, to say, ‘I want to hear your loved one’s story,’ I know how special that would be to me, so I know how much it meant to all of them.”

Each NFL team nominates one player, and three Eagles — Harold Carmichael, Troy Vincent, and Chris Long — have won the award since it was created in 1970. Johnson could be the fourth. The money he would earn from the award — which can be as much as $250,000 — would be donated to the Travis Manion Foundation. The motto that the Marine from Doylestown lived by — “If not me, then who?” — resonated with Johnson.

“If anything is wrong or a fight needs to be fought, don’t count on others,” Johnson said. “Let others count on you and kind of lean in.”

Javier Ortiz Rivera was a Dallas Cowboys fanatic, the type of fan who hoped people would attend his funeral wearing blue and silver.

He was born in Puerto Rico, spoke little English when he moved to New York as a child, and fell in love with the Cowboys because their games were broadcast in Spanish. Ortiz Rivera, his wife, and children wore jerseys to church every Sunday and listened to the hecklers on the way out.

“You either love the Cowboys or you really, really hate them,” Ortiz Rivera said. “Every hater popped up as soon as they saw us.”

After Ortiz Rivera died in Afghanistan, the church was a sea of blue. Guests were asked to wear military dress blues or Cowboys gear to his funeral, just like the Marine wanted. So it’s fair to wonder how Ortiz Rivera would have felt when his wife pulled on an Eagles jersey — “He didn’t like them,” she said — after meeting Johnson.

“Javy probably would’ve said, ‘You don’t have to wear it. You could’ve just held it,’” Veronica Ortiz Rivera said. “As time goes on, the biggest thing that worries me is that people are going to forget. That meant a whole hell of a lot to me that Lane is invested in honoring the fallen after all this time.”

Their conversation was so comfortable that Veronica Ortiz Rivera felt as if she was talking to a family member. Johnson gave her tickets to the game and a signed jersey, which she wore for a photo with the Eagles lineman. Ortiz Rivera apologized that she wasn’t an Eagles fan. He said that was OK and told her to cheer for the Cowboys when she was at the game.

“I think she thought I was going to give her hell for being a Cowboys fan,” Johnson said. “I told her I was born in Texas and have a lot of family who say they’re Eagles fans but probably secretly root for [the Cowboys]. I wanted to know more about her situation.”

Janet Manion started the foundation after her son’s death as a memorial fund with a scholarship to La Salle. It was simple, and Ryan Manion thought it was just her mother’s way to grieve the loss of her son. But Janet Manion — who died from cancer in 2012 — had bigger plans.

“She saw something in this idea of continued purpose and making sure that we give veterans an opportunity to serve. She took it and ran with it,” Ryan Manion said. “I always say my mom started it and my dad and I jumped on the bandwagon when we saw something was happening. She was the catalyst. Here we are some 10 years after she passed and I’m still following the blueprint she put together.”

The foundation organizes service trips across the country — Veronica Ortiz Rivera’s introduction to the foundation was a trip to Puerto Rico to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Maria — and has a mentorship program that has guided more than 500,000 children.

“The ‘If not me, then who?’ really resonated with me,” Ortiz Rivera said. “It made me want to be a better human and give back without expecting something in return.”

The Character Does Matter program utilizes veterans and Gold Star families as instructors, challenging children to live by Manion’s motto.

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“It’s the little things. It’s picking up the trash, it’s opening the door for someone, it’s treating your parents with respect,” Ryan Manion said. “That’s what Travis did. That’s how Travis lived his life. Because he was so big on the little things, he was even bigger in the big things when it counted. When April 29 happened, he acted because of all those small moments.”

President George W. Bush awarded Manion the Silver Star after he was killed. When Manion’s patrol was ambushed, he exposed himself twice to enemy fire in order to pull two members of his patrol to safety. “His courageous and deliberate actions inspired the eventual counter attack and ultimately saved the lives of every member of his patrol,” the Silver Star citation said.

“I would do anything to have my brother back here with me, but I feel incredibly blessed to be able to serve others and live a life worthy of his sacrifice,” Ryan Manion said. “The Travis Manion Foundation has given me that opportunity.

“People always ask what Travis would think of it. He would love it, he would love serving. But there’s one thing he wouldn’t like about it. And that’s that it’s named the Travis Manion Foundation. He was so incredibly humble and he certainly wouldn’t want something to be just about him. So I always try to think about what my response would be to him. What I say to him when I’m praying at night is that his name represents this generation of men and women who served and sacrificed. I think it’s so important for society for us to have a name and a face.”

Borek told his wife what her brother said — “If not me, then who?” — but then pretty much forgot about it until Manion died in Iraq. News vans were parked outside their house. Reporters were knocking on the door. The war was raging in Iraq and a local Marine — a former star high school athlete — was killed.

“We had to get Trav’s story out,” Borek said. “We couldn’t just sit there and not tell people how great Travis was. I remember sitting in our living room and the reporter asked for some color about Travis. I don’t know how it came to mind, but that story about the game came to mind.”

The family knew then that the motto would become their rallying cry. And Borek knew that that Monday Night Football game was a night he’d never forget. It was the final Birds game Manion ever attended, the last time he used his family’s season tickets.

“We had the best frickin’ time,” Borek said.

Manion’s old ticket is now reserved every Sunday for Borek’s son, named Travis in memory of his uncle. Her 9-year-old son, Ryan Manion said, gets first dibs every week just like her younger brother did with their dad at the Vet. Borek and the younger Travis were in the seats last January for both Eagles playoff wins as the Birds clinched a trip to the Super Bowl.

“I remember sitting in the same seats with me and Trav,” Borek said. “Now I look to my left and here is his namesake and my son. He’s sharing the same memories. When I took him to the NFC championship, older guys were coming up to me saying, ‘He’s going to remember this forever.’ And it’s true. I want him next to me. I want him in the crowd.”

The younger Travis is already a crazy fan — “Totally dejected right now. Taking his jersey off in anger and throwing it,” his father said — just like his father, grandfather, and uncle. He’s cheering each Sunday in his uncle’s old seat in Section 106. And one of the players he roots for is inspired by his uncle’s memory.

“Each and every one of us has an opportunity to demonstrate what it means to live by ‘If not me, then who?’ ” Ryan Manion said. “Lane Johnson is doing that right now. If he’s not going to be the one with this platform to talk about mental health and meet with Gold Star families, who else is going to do it?”