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Philly fire witness goes viral after ripping Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor about dropping the ball

“The absolute greatest quote in the history of Philadelphia," one Eagles fan noted after the comments from a witness to a West Philly fire went viral.

A man who identified himself as Hakim Lewis ripped Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor while he described a rescue during a West Philadelphia fire early Monday morning.
A man who identified himself as Hakim Lewis ripped Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor while he described a rescue during a West Philadelphia fire early Monday morning.Read moreCBS3

Early Monday morning, a fire ripped through a West Philadelphia apartment building. According to officials, firefighters rescued some of the 11 residents displaced by the blaze and took five people to hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries. It took roughly 30 minutes to bring the fire under control.

But the story is being spread widely on social media thanks to the reaction of one witness, who clearly had the Eagles’ disappointing loss on Sunday to the Lions on his mind.

A man who identified himself as Hakim Laws told CBS3 he happened to be walking near the apartment complex at 52nd Street and Girard Avenue around 2 a.m. when he saw flames shooting out of the building’s first two floors. Laws told reporters he quickly jumped in to help residents who were attempting to escape, but also felt the need to vent about the Eagles’ loss, and wide receiver Nelson Agholor in particular.

“I see a guy hanging out the window screaming that his kids were in there,” Laws said. “My man just started throwing babies out the window. We was catching them, unlike Agholor."

In a different angle of his comments, shared by 97.5 The Fanatic host Natalie Egenolf, we can see Laws giving the camera an extended eye roll after ripping Agholor.

But that didn’t stop Eagles fans from turning Laws into a hero on social media — both for assisting residents in the fire and calling out Agholor.

The absolute greatest quote in the history of Philadelphia,” wrote one Eagles fan. Another joked, “In this situation, I too would be throwing the underachieving football team under the bus.” The New York Daily News even covered the viral sensation with the headline, “Unlike the Eagles, Philly fans are in midseason form.

In a Monday evening tweet, Agholor responded to Laws’ criticism by inviting him and his family to the Eagles’ next home game, which takes place Oct. 6 against the Jets.

Agholor lost a fumble late in the second quarter, the second-straight week the receiver has made a costly error for the Eagles. Despite Agholor pulling in two touchdown passes, he also had a couple of drops, and my colleague Jeff McLane wrote that the receiver has been marred by inconsistent play the past five seasons, after having been drafted in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft.

» READ MORE: Nelson Agholor and Eagles wide receivers can’t hold down fort in loss to Lions

“For all his ability, and despite the resiliency he has shown multiple times — and again Sunday — Agholor can’t seem to get out of his own way,” McLane wrote.

Staff writer Joseph A. Gambardello contributed to this report.