Todd Herremans: Sunday's Last O-Line Man Standing
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS)— Todd Herremans started Sunday's 37-34 Eagles victory over Washington at right guard—and ended up at right tackle, literally the last man standing from the Eagles' 2013 starting offensive line.
Gone was right tackle Lane Johnson (out with an NFL suspension), center Jason Kelce (left the Washington game with a sports' hernia that required surgery), All-Pro left guard Evan Mathis (out eight weeks with a sprained MCL in his left knee) and All-Pro left tackle Jason Peters (ejected from the Washington game for defending Nick Foles after an intentional blindside fourth-quarter hit).
On Sunday in San Francisco, the Eagles will be starting their second reconfigured offensive line this season. That didn't happen once last year.
So far this season, from left to right, Peters, Mathis, Kelce, Herremans and Allen Barbre started in the opener against Jacksonville. From left to right, Peters, Dennis Kelly (replacing Mathis), Kelce, Herremans and Andrew Gardner (replacing Barbre) started the second game in Indianapolis.
Against Washington, that group started again, but with the loss of Kelce and Peters, it looked far different in the fourth quarter with Gardner at left tackle, new acquisition Wade Smith at left guard, David Molk at center, Kelly at right guard and Herremans, the last true starter remaining, at right tackle.
Got all of that?
Somehow, someway, the Eagles have managed to start 3-0 for the first time since 2004, when they won the NFC and went to the Super Bowl.
"What we learned, I think, is for some reason we enjoy winning really close games, but it's better to come out on top of those than go out the other way," Herremans said. "We knew for the first couple of games that we're a team that can persevere through a lot of things. We're a team that stays focused on our goals. Things aren't always going to happen the way you expect them to.
"We're a team that has each other's back. That's something we knew, but it was obviously confirmed when things started getting crazy with the fight [on Sunday]. Everyone was out there."
There was one other brawl that came to mind, in Herremans' rookie season, when the Eagles and Atlanta Falcons got into it on Monday night to begin the 2005 season.
"That was my first game ever," Herremans said, laughing. "I saw Jason on Sunday and I knew what was about to happen, so I buckled my chin strap back up and went over there and I knew Jason was taking care of [Washington's Chris Baker].
"I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Jason Peters running at you angry is a pretty scary guy. I knew he was pissed off and there was a reason for it. But once it got to a point where you start breaking things up, because you don't want any injuries, that's what I was doing, trying to get everyone to calm down a little."
Herremans likes the bond this team has formed. That showed on Sunday.
"It's the kind of the culture that we have in our locker room right now and it's part of the whole process here of bringing the right guys in that will have that mentally to stick up for each other," Herremans said. "We battle for each other; we fight for each other, because ultimately we have each other's back. The teams that care about guys that you're playing with, those are the teams that are going to win games."
Foles was pretty fired up after the melee, telling his teammates in the huddle, "Okay, let's go make them pay for this. We win this game—we get them back."
"Nick didn't curse, not a word, because if he did, I'd have probably remembered it," Herremans said.
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