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‘Unlike Agholor,’ Philadelphia residents catch babies thrown from burning building

The Philadelphia Eagles’ Nelson Agholor, right, fumbles the ball against Detroit Lions’ Trey Flowers during Sunday's game. (Michael Perez/Associated Press)

A tough day for Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor became fodder for a viral video Sunday night, when Agholor found his name being mentioned during a newscast about, of all things, a fire rescue.

Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, missing several of his top weapons, was hurt by repeated drops in Philadelphia’s 27-24 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday, and Agholor appeared responsible for multiple mistakes. Later that night, the game evidently remained fresh on the mind of a man who was asked by a TV reporter to describe a harrowing scene that included children being tossed from a burning building.

“I see a guy hanging out the window screaming that his kids were in there,” Hakim Law, a former firefighter who was walking by, told Philly’s CBS affiliate. “My man just started throwing babies out … And we were catching them, unlike Agholor and all his mishaps.”

That set the phrase “unlike Agholor” trending, but the scene was very serious.

Witnesses told Philly’s NBC affiliate that the fire in a West Philadelphia building broke out around 2 a.m. There is a check-cashing business on the ground floor, with apartments on the second and third floors.

As heavy smoke filled the apartments and stairways, residents were unable to get out. “I looked out my window, I just see a bunch of smoke coming from below … like shooting up,” Nadir Darby, who lives with his family of seven in the building, told CBS. “I woke everybody up. My kid went to the door to try to get out and smoke rushed up the steps so the only way out was through the window. Once they got the ladders up it was only a matter of getting everyone out.”

CBS reported that 10 people were displaced, with two taken to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and another to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

On Monday night, Agholor tweeted the interview clip and asked for help in connecting with Law.

“Thank you for being a hero in the community, would like to invite you and your family to the next home game,” he wrote.

Agholor caught eight of the 12 passes he was targeted on for 50 yards and two touchdowns Sunday, but he has had a rough start in 2019 with a costly error in a second straight game. Last week, he dropped a sure touchdown late in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He lost another Wentz pass Sunday and fumbled late in the second quarter of the loss that dropped Philadelphia to 1-2.

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