Saturday wasn’t an ideal place to be for the New York Giants. Before they even had to take on the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles in a road divisional round game, they were without water in their downtown hotel. (Which had some speculating about “sabotage.)
And after the Eagles quickly took a first-possession lead on a Dallas Goedert touchdown, New York’s answer drive would be temporarily derailed. No, not by any defender or nuance in the Philadelphia defensive scheme. The first-down chain broke, leading to a stoppage in play as on-field staff worked to repair it.
Of course, with this being a game in Philadelphia, a chorus of fans let off a rather hilariously predictable chorus of boos as the chains were prepared.
Friends, what exactly are we booing? Oh, forget I asked:
The 1st down chains were broken, so officials brought out the backup chains, and it took just a little bit to unravel them 😅 Ready to go now! pic.twitter.com/sSES5w4hri
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 22, 2023
Come on, they’re doing their best. Let’s show them some patience, everyone!
Taking a quick break to fix the 1st down chains. 🛠 pic.twitter.com/iRebH00TCH
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 22, 2023
No wonder the Eagles wanted home-field advantage throughout the 2023 NFC playoffs so badly. They just might have pro football’s most raucous fans, who are apparently willing to boo absolutely everything that happens on the field.
NFL fans thought the first-down chain being broken stopping Eagles-Giants was hilarious
there's a chip inside the football. yet here we are in a commercial break for a BROKEN CHAIN im dying
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) January 22, 2023
Once again reminded that a business with $18 billion of annual revenues uses two sticks and a (now broken) chain for down measurement. #NFLPlayoffs
— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) January 22, 2023
It’s 2023 and we got a stoppage because a chain is broken. 😂
— Darius Butler (@DariusJButler) January 22, 2023
Hahahaha the NFL is an $18bn industry and a very important game is being delayed because of a broken chain pic.twitter.com/tQ3fZtF1W5
— Danny Jamieson (@DannyJamieson) January 22, 2023
Broken chain delay… ⛓ pic.twitter.com/b7BtvLtM9V
— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) January 22, 2023
Eagles fans boo the broken chain.
— Jimmy Kempski (@JimmyKempski) January 22, 2023
An administrative stoppage here in Philadelphia for a broken first-down chain. In 2023.
— Conor Orr (@ConorOrr) January 22, 2023
Fans booing broken chain 🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/IuIAiQGLfo
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) January 22, 2023
First, a broken chain.
Second, a contact lens.
What’s next? Dial-up internet?
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) January 22, 2023
We got a broken first down chain and a contact falling out this game is hilarious
— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) January 22, 2023
“The chain is broken.”
– a real reason to suspend NFL game play in 2022, no for real, I’m so serious
— Kate Magdziuk (@katemagdziuk) January 22, 2023
The year is 2023, we’re stopping a real life NFL game because of a broken chain used to manually measure down and distance
— Adam Koffler (@AdamKoffler) January 22, 2023
