PHILADELPHIA — The fallout from the late-game brawl between the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders has only grown louder, and one decision remains at the center of the storm: offensive lineman Tyler Steen being ejected despite video appearing to show him trapped in the middle of multiple Washington players.

What looked like a chaotic pile-in became a flashpoint for questions about fairness, consistency, and player safety — and now a franchise icon has stepped in to demand answers.

Jason Kelce, the Eagles’ legendary former center and one of the most respected voices in Philadelphia’s locker-room culture, publicly defended Steen and called for the league to reduce any excessive punishment tied to the incident.

Kelce’s argument isn’t that the NFL shouldn’t enforce its fighting rules — it’s that enforcement must be consistent. In his view, Steen becoming the headline consequence while other Commanders players appeared to escalate the situation or join late with force creates the exact opposite of accountability. “If you want to protect players, you can’t punish the guy who’s boxed in and absorbing contact while the aggressors walk away,” Kelce’s stance made clear.

The incident erupted late in the fourth quarter after tensions boiled over. What started as routine post-play shoving escalated rapidly into a full brawl, with bodies collapsing into a tight scrum and arms swinging in every direction.

Broadcast angles showed Steen quickly engulfed, surrounded shoulder-to-shoulder by Commanders players. Yet when the dust settled, Steen was among those tossed — a result that fueled instant backlash among Eagles fans and sparked leaguewide debate.

Kelce’s criticism went straight at what he called “unfair” officiating — not because officials have no authority to eject players in fights, but because the outcome suggested selective discipline in the moment.

He urged the NFL to review the entire sequence, including who escalated the confrontation and who delivered the most dangerous contact, and he pushed for the league to evaluate the officiating crew’s decision-making.

To Kelce, consistency is the standard that keeps chaos from turning into a precedent: if a player can be outnumbered and still be treated as the primary offender, it sends a damaging message about how quickly fairness can disappear when a situation gets ugly.

That pressure didn’t stay confined to Philadelphia. As the clip circulated and analysts weighed in, attention shifted from a single ejection to a broader question: whether on-field discipline is being applied evenly when multiple players are involved.

With the league already sensitive to optics around player safety, the incident became the type of moment the NFL rarely ignores for long.

According to the story’s framing, the NFL responded quickly — launching an immediate review of the officiating crew and issuing postgame discipline after tape evaluation. The league’s approach signaled that accountability would not end with the final whistle, and that players identified as participating in or escalating the brawl would face consequences.

Whether through fines or suspensions, the intent was clear: deter the “pile-in” mentality and remove any doubt that a scrum is a free pass for late hits or retaliatory shots.

For Kelce, the point goes beyond defending one player. It’s about protecting the integrity of the game — ensuring that discipline reflects what actually happened, not what was easiest to call in the moment.

And in Philadelphia, where toughness is celebrated but fairness is demanded, his message landed like a challenge: if the NFL wants players to trust the system when emotions explode, then the system must prove it can deliver consistent justice — even when the situation is at its messiest.