Then she was hooked on the Philadelphia Eagles.
When Wentz found out his newest fan was fighting an advanced stage of cancer Cheap Mason Cole Jersey , he sent her an encouraging message with inspirational Bible verses.
”How much joy I get from watching him and his team play supernatural football every week,” she said after reading it.
Two weeks later, Collesidis lost her battle with cancer the night before Thanksgiving.
”The message meant so much to Susan because she admired Carson as a person and believer more than a football player,” son-in-law Doug Horton said. ”He’s the reason she started caring about sports and she couldn’t wait to watch the Eagles every week.”
Wentz isn’t playing in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots because he tore his ACL in Week 14. But backup quarterback Nick Foles also is a ”brother in Christ” and one of the leaders in a locker room filled with guys who have formed a strong bond because of their faith.
”It truly is a brotherhood,” Pro Bowl tight end Zach Ertz said. ”Those guys are holding me accountable. Off the field, I’m holding them accountable. We truly care about each other, we truly care about the growth that each individual has in the word, as believers, as well as friends and family. There are a lot of guys who are truly trying to boost me up and keep me focused on the main thing, which is obviously the word. …”
Christian players openly expressing their faith is nothing new in the NFL: Reggie White, Kurt Warner, Tim Tebow, Ray Lewis and Russell Wilson among many others. But these Eagles are an unusually close-knit group.
”There is a stronger connection here,” said defensive end Steven Means, who played for three other teams. ”It’s another level because we push each other in certain areas that we are flawed at and open ourselves up to each other. We text each other throughout the day making sure that everybody is on the right path and doing the right thing.”
Torrey Smith played with Lewis on the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in 2012. They had a solid core of Christian players who used their faith for inspiration during their journey. Smith also spent two years in San Francisco before the wide receiver came to Philadelphia this season. He said it’s different here.
”I’ve been lucky to be part of three organizations that do have a very strong Christian presence,” Smith said. ”The difference here is a lot of younger guys lead.”
It starts with Wentz, the face of the franchise.
Wentz went on a mission trip to Haiti last May with former teammate Jordan Matthews and a group led by Kyle Horner, lead pastor of The Connect Church. He delivered a sermon a month later at a church back home in North Dakota and launched his Audience of One Foundation in July. Wentz and several teammates even created a devotional video series for the Bible app.
Four days before the season opener Vikings Cheap Jerseys , Wentz and teammates Trey Burton and Stefen Wisniewski spoke at a faith event in front of a crowd of 2,000 people who sat in the rain for a couple hours to hear their favorite players share their testimony.
But before he had an MVP-caliber season and led the Eagles from worst to first, Wentz received plenty of criticism from some media and fans because he openly talked about his faith on social media .
He wasn’t deterred.
”Jesus was persecuted everywhere he went,” Wentz said. ”So if Jesus, who is our ultimate example, endured that, then I can endure a couple tweets. I can endure a little riff-raff here and there.”
A large group of players meet for Bible study on Thursdays and hold a study for couples on Mondays. They get together for prayer and devotionals the night before games. They’ve even gathered for baptisms in some unusual places.
In October 2016, Burton and pastor Ted Winsley baptized six players in a cold tub at the team’s practice facility.
”It was crazy,” said Winsley, the team’s longtime chaplain. ”The guys were just hungry, wanting their lives changed.”
Before a Thursday night game at Carolina last October, second-year pro Marcus Johnson was baptized in a hotel pool.
”Since I’ve come to Philly, I’ve grown in my faith so much,” Johnson said. ”As a rookie last year coming in, you always hear about the locker room and how dysfunctional it can be and people playing for money and this and that, but when I got here, everyone was so supportive and I knew it was something special.”
Having strong faith doesn’t make players immune to adversity, but it helps them deal with it. The Eagles (15-3) have overcome numerous injuries to important players on their way to winning the NFC championship.
Nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters Donte Jackson Youth Jersey , running back/return specialist Darren Sproles, special-teams captain Chris Maragos and kicker Caleb Sturgis suffered season-ending injuries along with Wentz and Jordan Hicks, the playmaking linebacker and quarterback on defense.
Instead of anger and resentment, they’ve leaned on their faith to maintain a positive attitude.
”Character is always revealed in times of testing,” said Horner, who pastors several players. ”For these men, Christ is not a crutch to lean upon, he is the foundation which their life is built upon. For them, faith is not an intellectual acknowledgement of truth, but a day-by-day expression of their love for God. This is where it all starts.”
Saying the comments don't reflect the person he has become, Allen vowed it's on him to prove to everyone how much he's matured.
"I do take it on the chin," Allen said during a conference call Thursday night, shortly after being selected with the seventh pick in the NFL draft.
"I'm extremely grateful that they went out of the way, they stuck out their neck for me," he added, noting he was parroting rap lyrics and catchphrases from TV and pop culture. "Now it's my chance to go prove and make sure they look like they made the right move by trading up for me."
After spending the day having to be re-assured they didn't miss anything in regards to Allen's character, the Bills went ahead and traded up five spots to make him just the fourth quarterback selected in the first round in team history.
Along with swapping first-round picks with Tampa Bay, Buffalo also gave up its two second-round selections 鈥?53rd and 56th 鈥?in Brandon Beane's first draft as general manager.
Beane said he was taken aback when Yahoo Sports on Wednesday night revealed Allen sent the now-deleted tweets.
"Listen Youth Martinas Rankin Jersey , we don't condone anything. We did our due diligence," Beane said of spending the day talking to Allen as well as his former Wyoming coaches and teammates.
"This was a 14- and 15-year-old. I'm not into making an excuse, but I know there's probably things that I would be disappointed myself that I did at 14 or 15," Beane said.
"And he's going to own it. That's all he can do. He's owned it. And he's going to have to earn the trust of his teammates, the fan base, our organization."
Wyoming coach Craig Bohl said Allen had "great relationships with his teammates and our fan base" and Allen "embraced diversity" while at Wyoming.
After selecting Allen, Beane made another move up by trading Buffalo's No. 22 selection to Baltimore in order to fill a big need on defense by selecting Virginia Tech linebacker Tremaine Edmunds with the 16th selection. Buffalo also traded its third-round pick, 65th overall, while acquiring the Ravens' fifth-round pick (154th overall).
Edmunds, who turns 20 on Tuesday, is listed at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds and was a two-year starter at Virginia Tech. He led the Hokies with 109 tackles and 5 1/2 sacks and named a Butkus Award finalist last season.
He will be given an opportunity to take over the middle linebacker spot after Buffalo lost starter Preston Brown in free agency last month.
Much of the focus will be placed on Allen, who carries the expectations of filling what's been an unsettled position in Buffalo since Hall of Famer Jim Kelly retired after the 1996 season.
The Bills have had 13 quarterbacks start at least five games since, including three-year starter Tyrod Taylor, who was traded to Cleveland last month despite helping the Bills to a 9-7 finish and snap the franchise's 17-year playoff drought.
At 6-foot-5 and 237 pounds, Allen is a strong-armed but occasionally inaccurate passer after spending the past three years at Wyoming. He finished 365 of 649 for 5,066 yards passing with 44 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 27 games with the Cowboys.
Allen is from Firebaugh, California, and was not heavily recruited coming out of high school. He instead spent his freshman year playing at California's Reedley Community College Youth Danny Shelton Jersey , before going to Wyoming in 2015.
An NFL draft scouting report billed Allen as likely being "the biggest boom or bust quarterback prospect in the draft." Though he has prototypical size, he was knocked for his 56.2 career completion percentage at Wyoming.
Allen chuckled and said, "don't do it," when asked what fans might make of his statistics.
Allen then said spending three years playing in the windy and snowy elements at Laramie, Wyoming, qualifies him to play in Buffalo, where the conditions can also become harsh come November.
"Being in Laramie, out of all four, five quarterbacks in this draft, I'm the one that was suited for Buffalo," Allen said. "Hopefully, I call this place home for the next 15 to 20 years."
The first question is when he might be deemed ready to become a starter on a team that has two other untested quarterbacks: Free-agent addition A.J. McCarron , who spent the past four seasons serving as Andy Dalton's backup in Cincinnati; and Nathan Peterman, best remembered for throwing five interceptions in the first half of a blowout loss to the Chargers in his rookie season.
The Bills also acquired a seventh-round pick, 255th overall, in the trade with Tampa Bay. The deals leave them with six picks in the draft, including a third-rounder 鈥?96th overall 鈥?on Friday.
.