Eagles' Sirianni: DiSandro Tried to 'Defuse the Situation' Before Ejection vs. 49ers

Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni addressed Sunday's sideline altercation between the team's chief security officer Dom DiSandro and San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw during his press conference on Monday, saying he doesn't believe DiSandro intended to escalate the situation.

"Dom is as good as they get in this business," Sirianni said, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. "I'm so thankful for him. He is always going to try to defuse situations. That's what he does, that's his job. Obviously, unfortunate yesterday. I know in Dom's heart he truly was trying to defuse the situation right there. I am sad it came to what it came to that anybody got thrown out of the game."

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Monday that the NFL is investigating the incident:

The altercation occurred in the third quarter when Greenlaw tackled Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith by picking him up and slamming him down near the Philadelphia sideline. Multiple Eagles players and coaches were yelling at Greenlaw, and he and DiSandro began jawing and pointing at each other.

It appeared that at least some contact was made between the two of them, which led to Greenlaw being ejected from the game and DiSandro being removed from the sideline. NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson told a pool reporter after the game that Greenlaw was ejected because he made contact with someone who was not a player.

"I didn't get to see it all from where I'm at," 49ers head coach Shanahan told reporters after the game, which San Francisco won 42-19. "But when I started hearing people explain it to me and stuff ... I just can't believe someone not involved in a football game can taunt our players like that and put their hands in our guy's face and from what I was told, Dre did it back to him and [I] was told that he kind of mashed him in the face a little bit so he got ejected. But it was a very frustrating play."

Sirianni confirmed in his press conference on Monday that he apologized to Shanahan when they met after the game. He added that he has not yet heard from the league office regarding the matter.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 10-2 this season. The team will try to bounce back quickly as it will have a pivotal matchup against the NFC East rival Dallas Cowboys in Week 14.