Jeff McLane Ejected from Press Box by Eagles: Latest Details, Comments

Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer was ejected from the press box at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Sunday after a disagreement with the Eagles' public relations staff.

Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News tweeted a photo of the situation:

Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News said the situation was blown out of proportion:

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This is a ridiculous situation, a minor disagreement that the Eagles are making into a huge incident.

During confusion over a penalty a while ago, we were all trying to figure out the call. An Eagles staffer yelled for us to be quiet. Many of us took exception, Jeff most vocally. He then went to the staffer and calmly discussed why the admonishment was inappropriate. A while, later, security guard comes and tells Jeff he is being ejected "for violating the fan code of conduct."

"

Executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer Stan Wischnowski commented on McLane's ejection, per Chris Palmer of Philly.com: "We find the actions taken by the Eagles media relations staff to be extremely disappointing and unprofessional. Jeff has spent eight years covering the Eagles exhaustively in a fair, accurate and thorough manner."

The Eagles, who are eliminated from playoff contention, hosted the NFC East champion Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

Bowen criticized the Eagles and the manner in which they treated McLane after he left the press box:

Bowen later added that Eagles senior vice president Anne Gordon "made it clear to everyone objecting that she would be happy to eject us all, and that fallout did not concern her."

Gordon said McLane violated the press box's "well-understood code of conduct" in the interaction, per Palmer. "I asked for security to eject Jeff from our press box, a press box that has a standard code of behavior that every reporter understands and actually participates in endorsing and policing, so that people can watch the game and can follow and do their jobs carefully," Gordon explained.

The McLane incident caps a difficult season that began with plenty of promise when the Eagles opened the campaign 3-0.

Prior to last week's win over the New York Giants, however, Philly had dropped five consecutive games and seven of eight.

Philadelphia defeated Dallas 27-13 Sunday in a game that saw the Cowboys rest many of their top players.

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