Les Echols des Jets surprised by criticism of Brady INT’s autograph

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Brandin Echols had a feeling that something special was going to happen.

The New York Jets rookie cornerback might imagine it throughout practice last week: Tom Brady would throw a pass in his direction and he would take care of the rest.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to have a pick against Tom Brady,’” Echols said.

Sure enough, in the dying seconds of the first half against Tampa Bay, Echols caught Brady’s pass intended for Mike Evans and sent it back 30 yards to help the Jets score a field goal.

“When it happened I was like ‘Yeah, I want the ball signed,’” Echols said. “I said it in existence and it happened. And then at the end of the game, that’s when I was like, oh yeah, take my ball and I wanna get it signed.

Echols found Brady in midfield at MetLife Stadium after the Jets’ 28-24 loss, armed with the soccer ball he intercepted and a pen.

The seven-time Super Bowl MVP said a few words to Echols, a sixth-round pick from Kentucky, signed the soccer ball, and the two shook hands and kissed. Fox cameras showed the exchange – and it immediately sparked a debate over whether what Echols had done was perfectly correct or unprofessional.

“There definitely could have been another way to do it, but I was just excited to take Tom Brady,” Echols said Thursday. “I’ve been watching him ever since I started realizing what football is like. So it was a big moment for me, and I was just caught in the moment. I just felt like I had to do it there. .

Echols, 24, was surprised at how much of a conversation piece he has become on social media and sports radio and TV shows.

“I thought it was the same as swapping a jersey,” Echols said of a common practice among NFL players after games. “But people made it bigger than it was supposed to be. It really doesn’t mean anything to me because I’m the one going out and doing what I do every week. It’s good to relax and live your childhood dream for once.

Coach Robert Saleh had no problem getting Echols signing his interception ball by Brady, even after a tough loss.

“It’s a very cool and authentic moment going on between the players,” Saleh said. “I think that says a lot. First off, it’s a little intimidating for a rookie to do it, but I think that says a lot about Tom Brady and his character.

As for Brady, he called Echols a “nice guy” in his “Let’s Go!” Podcast with Jim Gray, adding that the rookie’s unusual request “was pretty flattering.”

“It’s not often that I sign an intercept,” he said. “I think it’s the first time. I don’t necessarily like signing errors, let me say that. So this is the last time I’m going to do it. I know it’s the season. gifts – I don’t mean to give people more gifts. It’s much better to receive than to give, from my perspective as a quarterback. “

This means that Echols has a very rare piece of memorabilia to display for years to come.

“Yeah, he’s one of them,” Echols said with a laugh. “That’s how I see it: one on top of the other.

FAN OF AMERICA

NBA Hall of Fame member Shaquille O’Neal wants the Dallas Cowboys to play in the Super Bowl.

O’Neal, who has won three of his four championship rings with the Los Angeles Lakers, is hoping to see Dak Prescott lead the U.S. team in LA for next month’s big game.

“Most of the time when I meet professional athletes it’s just a huge amount of mutual respect,” O’Neal said on the AP Pro Football podcast. “What I didn’t take for granted as an athlete was that I thought to myself that if people are going to watch me play, spend money to watch me play, I have to give them a good show. Hope I gave them fun because I love watching Dak and the guys go out and play well.

Two days before the Super Bowl, O’Neal throws a big party in Los Angeles. Shaq’s Fun House will be held in the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on February 11. The party includes a music festival with Lil Wayne, Zedd and Diplo, as well as a carnival.

“All the other parties are in disguise, show up, shut up,” O’Neal said. “This one is going to be fun. People will jump up and down. It will be a good time.

This will be the fourth time that O’Neal has hosted his oversized event.

HONOR AN NFL TRAILBLAZER

The Los Angeles Rams have created a college scholarship program to honor the memory of football pioneer Kenny Washington.

The Rams say the scholarship will provide financial support for four years “to students from low-resource communities who are among the first in their families to pursue post-secondary education.” Students who are accepted into four-year schools will receive $ 5,000 per year for up to four years, and community college students will receive $ 2,000 per year for two years.

Washington broke the NFL color barrier in 1946 when the Los Angeles native and UCLA product signed with the Rams, ending a 12-year absence for black NFL players. Washington graduated from UCLA in 1940, but was initially banned from joining the league despite George Halas’ desire to sign him for the Chicago Bears.

Washington joined the LAPD and also played in a West Coast minor league for six years before the Rams arrived in Los Angeles from Cleveland. Under intense local pressure to make their roster part of the move, the Rams signed Washington, 27, and then Woody Strode. Although his knees have been damaged by a life in football before, Washington has had three productive years and had a 92-yard touchdown run that remains the longest in franchise history.

END NOW

The Philadelphia Eagles this week launched a campaign against gun violence in collaboration with nonprofits in the area and the city.

There were 562 homicides in Philadelphia in 2021 – a 13% increase from 2020 – surpassing a city record for annual homicides dating back to at least 1960. The Eagles Social Justice Fund at the Philadelphia Foundation awarded 316 $ 600 in grants to 32 Philadelphia nonprofits committed to serving the region through specialized social justice work.

“Ending gun violence in Philadelphia is part of the NFL’s Inspire Change platform,” Eagles president Don Smolenski said on the AP Pro Football podcast. “Our players, they don’t just play here. They work here and they live here. Their families are here. They are anchored in the community. And, like all of us in 2021, just hearing about, reading, seeing the loss of life and the number of shootings and homicides in the city of Philadelphia affects us and we are aware of it. happening in the community.

“So when the players came back to training camp and the social justice committee started meeting with new members, it was kind of a natural conversation between it’s an opportunity for the team and players to really collaborate, to really build something that starts in July or August and really do that throughout the season, right through to Community Mondays, and leading up to the Inspire Change platform here in 17 weeks. and 18.

RUN TO MOUTH

New York Giants coach Joe Judge is used to giving long answers at times, and last weekend he perhaps said a little too much after a loss to Chicago.

Discussing his team’s progress towards the end of his second season, Judge said he believes the groundwork for success has been laid. The Giants are playing strong despite a 4-12 record and they are not pointing fingers.

“So this is not a team that is punching the sidelines,” Judge said at the end of his 11-minute response. “It’s not a clown show organization or anything.”

Whoops. That was the problem.

The Giants end the season Sunday against Washington – and in Dallas’ 56-14 win on Dec. 26, Washington defensive linemen Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne battled in the second quarter on the sidelines.

The judge insists he was not talking about Washington.

Washington coach Ron Rivera said he had a lot of respect for the Giants’ organization, but said little about Judge’s comment.

“One thing I tell our guys is to pay attention to what’s important, not what’s interesting,” Rivera said. “For me that’s an interesting comment.”

HBCU SHOWCASE

An NFL-sanctioned combine for historically black college and university players will be held Jan. 28-29 at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.

The combine, in partnership with the Senior Bowl being played in Mobile, will feature 40 players from various HBCU schools. Members of the HBCU Development and Women’s Pipeline Initiative will also be involved: sports coaches Lauren Askevold (Jackson State), Regyn Davis-Young (Winston-Salem State), Brianna Robinson (Florida Memorial) and Annie Wilkerson (Alabama A&M); equipment managers Vikaya Powell (North Carolina A&T) and George Stubbs (Grambling State); and video staff Jamel Askew (State of Virginia) and Mia Stephens (Minnesota Vikings).

Expected players: Alabama State TE Dee Anderson, QB Aqeel Glass and RB Ezra Gray RB; Alcorn State QB Felix Harper, S Juwan Taylor and OLB Solomon Wise; Arkansas Pine-Bluff WR Josh Wilkes and RB KeShawn Williams; Bethune-Cookman OLB Untareo Johnson and OT Jamal Savage; Delaware State WR’s Trey Gross and Kwannah Kollie; Fayetteville State S Elvin De La Rosa and DE Keyshawn James; Florida A&M S Antwan Collier and G Keenan Forbes; WR Shemar Bridges of Fort Valley State; Hampton DT James Fagan and QB Jett Duffey; Jackson State WR Keith Corbin; Miles RB Kingston Davis; OLB Jerry Garner of Mississippi Valley State; Norfolk State QB Juwan Carter and OLB Chris Myers; North Carolina A&T WR Korey Banks, WR Ron Hunt and RB Jah-Maine Martin; Prairie View A&M QB Jawon Pass; South Carolina State ILB Chad Gilchrist, CB Zafir Kelly and WR Will Vereen; Southern WR Marquis McClain and QB Ladarius Skelton; Tennessee State OT Cam Durley and S Cory Rahman; Texas Southern WR Jonathan Giles and RB Jeff Proctor; and Virginia State S Will Adams, OLB Javon Frazier and OT Zachary Wilcox.

CABIN SOUND

Due to COVID-19 protocols, Tom McCarthy will call Sunday’s Carolina-Tampa Bay game in place of Jim Nantz.

This is the second year in a row that CBS’s top team has struggled with COVID before the final week of the regular season. Boomer Esiason had to replace Tony Romo before the Arizona Cardinals-Los Angeles Rams game last year.

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AP Pro Football writers Rob Maaddi, Dennis Waszak Jr. and Barry Wilner, and AP Sports writers Greg Beacham, Tom Canavan and Joe Reedy contributed.

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More AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL

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