Week 5 in the 2026 NFL season didn’t just get chippy - it tipped straight into chaos.
The league saw its first three ejections of the year, and two of them came at the same time in London, where the Philadelphia Eagles and Jacksonville Jaguars turned a kickoff into a wrestling match. It was the kind of moment that set the tone for a wild Sunday, even if the day’s ugliest headline might have been Washington’s miserable clock management in a tie with the New York Giants.
In London, the Eagles were trying to stop a third straight loss, while the Jaguars were riding an early-season surge. That tension showed up immediately. On the opening kickoff, Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr. and Jaguars defensive end Bryan Thomas Jr. got tangled up and refused to let go, each trying to throw the other to the turf while Jaguars rookie Josh Cameron raced the return back for what looked like a 90-yard touchdown.
The score didn’t count. The problem wasn’t the fight itself, at least not directly - it was offsetting penalties on both teams.
But the scrapping kept going long enough for the league to step in. Both players were ejected for continuing non-football actions, with Thomas Jr. even appearing to kick from his back during the exchange.
For Philadelphia, the loss mattered on more than just one play. Trotter Jr. was expected to start on defense, and with the Eagles already dealing with a pile of injuries, they lost a starter before the game really settled in. And in the end, special teams finished the job against them anyway.
After Philadelphia had taken the lead, the Eagles kicked off with eight seconds left and gave Ameer Abdullah enough room to return the ball into range for kicker Cam Little. With one second remaining, Little drilled a 57-yard game-winner. Trotter Jr. was gone, Thomas Jr. was gone, and the Jaguars walked off with the result.
The other ejection came on the West Coast, where the San Francisco 49ers edged the Seattle Seahawks 32-29 in a game that came down to a fourth-down throw to Cooper Kupp. Kupp came up just inches short of a first down, and the 49ers survived.
That finish was only part of the story, though. 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw was tossed after a sideline confrontation with Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV. Greenlaw had ended up near the Seahawks bench after a tackle out of bounds, and once the words started flying, the bench area quickly became crowded.
Then Greenlaw crossed the line. He delivered a helmeted headbutt to Jones IV, who was not wearing a helmet, and that was enough to get him ejected. Per NFL Insider Tom Pelissero, the league used a new rule that lets the offices in New York remove players for non-football acts even if no flag is thrown on the field.
With NFL headquarters now able to go through countless camera angles, it’s easier than ever for the league to catch that kind of behavior. In this case, Greenlaw didn’t exactly hide what happened. The bigger question going forward is whether players adjust once they know the league is watching so closely - or whether emotions keep winning out anyway.
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