By Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Jeremy Maclin of the Philadelphia Eagles played football today with a group of high school students.

But it wasn’t on the gridiron — it was a computer game that offered some valuable life lessons.

The Eagles’ wideout played coach to a team of Benjamin Franklin High School students engrossed in “Financial Football,” a Madden-style video game in which teams have to answer financial questions in order to move the ball downfield.

“I was impressed, man,” Maclin (center of photo) said afterward.  “There was a couple on there — two, three, four of them on there, that I didn’t even know!  So it was a lesson for me, too.”

Financial Football is the work of a  major credit card company and the NFL, designed to promote financial literacy.  They’ve introduced the game into schools across the country, and now state treasurer Rob McCord is promoting it in Pennsylvania.

“It’s about behavior, but it starts with knowledge,” McCord tells KYW Newsradio, “and the earlier you get it, the better off you are.  Somebody needs to understand a credit card is not equal to free money. They need to understand the hazards of making the wrong choices early in life.”