Chris Long saves brother Kyle from possible ejection during Rams-Bears game

Blood is thicker than uniform color: Chris Long (left) saved brother Kyle from further trouble during a midgame scuffle. (Seth Perlman, Nam Y. Huh/AP) One of

Doug Farrar | Nov 24, 2013

Chris Long saves brother Kyle from possible ejection during Rams-Bears game /

Blood is thicker than uniform color: Chris Long (left) saved brother Kyle from further trouble during a midgame scuffle. (Seth Perlman, Nam Y. Huh/AP)

One of this week's underrated narratives was the debut of the Long-Long matchup, as St. Louis Rams defensive end Chris Long and Chicago Bears right guard Kyle Long -- both the sons of Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long -- faced off on the field for the first time when the two teams played Sunday. While the brothers could have locked horns in a real sense if Chris Long stunted inside or played tackle in sub-packages, it turns out that Chris made the biggest bit of news by saving his little brother from a possible in-game ejection.

With 8:59 left in the first half, the Bears had the ball at their own 47-yard line. Quarterback Josh McCown threw an incomplete pass to fullback Tony Fiammetta. In the ensuing scrum, Fiammetta gave Rams cornerback Trumaine Johnson a rather vigorous facemask grab when Johnson picked up the ball, thinking that it was a fumble. This caused a fight near the St. Louis sideline that had Kyle Long in the middle, and Chris running over from the sideline to pull his brother away from the action.

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In the end, Kyle was given a 15-yard penalty for pushing off a Rams player, Fiammetta got a face mask penalty, McCown was busted for intentional grounding, and it was the Fiammetta call that was upheld. The Bears were sent back to their own 32-yard line, but eventually drove to a touchdown when McCown hit Brandon Marshall for a three-yard touchdown.

Published Nov 24, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.