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  • Peace is declared in the Tun Tavern name dispute, which pitted Marine vs. Marine

    Peace is declared in the Tun Tavern name dispute, which pitted Marine vs. Marine

    There will be one Tun Tavern opening in Old City, now that a long-running dispute over the name of one of Philadelphia’s most storied colonial landmarks has been resolved.

    The settlement of a federal lawsuit, announced late Friday, has cleared the way for the Tun Legacy Foundation — a nonprofit led by Marine veterans and Philadelphia-area organizations whose origins trace back to the original Tun Tavern — to use the full name on its planned historic reproduction on Second Street.

    Montgomery Dahm — who through his company Aljess owns the trademark as well as Tun Tavern, a brewpub in Atlantic City — has agreed to drop his lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in June 2024. Aljess will retain the right to open Tun Tavern restaurants in other locations across the United States.

    Tun Tavern trademark owner Montgomery Dahm (right) celebrating at his short-lived Philadelphia restaurant on Chestnut Street during a commemoration of the Marines’ 250th anniversary on Nov. 10, 2025.

    Dahm told The Inquirer that he would no longer pursue plans to open a Tun Tavern at 207 Chestnut St. — just around the corner from the foundation’s proposed site, which is now a parking lot on Second Street just south of Market.

    Last fall, Dahm and partners took over the Chestnut Street building, previously Lucha Cartel restaurant. They opened it as Tun Tavern for a party on Nov. 10 to celebrate the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary — likely heightening pressure on the nonprofit. Terms of the settlement were made confidential, both parties said.

    Tun Tavern history

    The legal fight had become an emotional flash point among Marines, history advocates, and preservationists, and the truce removes the remaining obstacle facing the nonprofit’s effort to re-create a site that looms large in both local and national lore.

    The original Tun Tavern — whose site is now beneath the southbound lanes of I-95 near Walnut Street — dates to 1686 or 1693, depending on the source, when English traders Samuel and Joshua Carpenter built a tavern at Water Street and Tun Alley along the Delaware River. At the time, Philadelphia rose sharply from the waterfront; taverns, warehouses, and wharves were accessed by stairs leading up to Front Street.

    Reenactors line up on Second Street during the Tun Legacy Foundation’s celebration of the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary on Nov. 10, 2025.

    Over the decades, the Tun changed names with its owners and evolved into a gathering place for civic life. In the 1740s, under Thomas Mullan, it was known several nights a week as Peg Mullan’s Beefsteak Club, named for his wife. Located less than a mile from what is now Independence Hall, it became popular with members of the Continental Congress.

    Artist Frank Taylor’s drawing of Tun Tavern, created in 1922.

    In 1775, the Tun served as the first recruiting station for what became the Marine Corps. That same year, John Adams drafted the Articles of War that helped form the U.S. Navy in one of the tavern’s upstairs rooms. In June 1775, George Washington was honored there at a banquet marking his appointment as commander of the Continental Army.

    The tavern also hosted meetings of several colonial-era organizations that still exist today, including the Freemasons; the St. Andrew’s Society; the Society of St. George; and the Friendly Sons and Daughters of St. Patrick. Three of those charitable aid societies — St. Andrew’s, St. Patrick, and St. George — continue their work in Philadelphia more than two centuries later.

    The Tun was demolished in 1781. Visitors seeking the tavern today are directed to a historical marker on Front Street near Sansom Walk, several blocks from where the building once stood. Multiple efforts have been made to restore or re-create the tavern as a living piece of history.

    Incidentally, no one knows what the original Tun looked like. Artist Frank Taylor, whose 1922 drawing is the top hit in most online searches, was not born until 1846.

    Latest effort to revive Tun Tavern

    The most recent revival effort gained momentum in 2024, when the foundation purchased a surface parking lot on Second Street between Market and Chestnut Streets for $4.4 million. The foundation announced plans for a three-story reproduction combining a restaurant and museum, with all operating profits earmarked for charitable causes, including veterans’ initiatives and scholarships.

    The group had hoped to open in time for the Marines’ 250th anniversary, but that timeline slipped as legal and logistical challenges mounted.

    Complicating matters was the trademark. Dahm, who opened Tun Tavern restaurant and brewpub connected to the Atlantic City Convention Center in 1998, owns the trademark through Aljess. A Tun Tavern also operates at the National Museum of the Marine Corps near Quantico, Va.

    In April 2024, the nonprofit applied to trademark “The Tun,” the historic name of the original tavern. Two months later, Aljess sued in U.S. District Court, arguing that use of “Tun” would create confusion with the Atlantic City restaurant.

    Historical reenactors celebrate at Tun Tavern in Old City on Nov. 10, 2025.

    The conflict escalated in September 2025, when Dahm announced plans to convert Lucha Cartel into his second Tun Tavern.

    On Nov. 10, as Marines marked the Corps’ anniversary, the dispute played out in public. Thousands of Marines and their families gathered on the foundation’s parking lot site, while several hundred attendees and Revolutionary War reenactors celebrated at the Chestnut Street restaurant, which had been lightly redecorated for the occasion. Dahm closed the restaurant shortly afterward to begin renovations — plans that are now shelved.

    “We’re charging the hill together, now that we’re no longer in a lawsuit,” Dahm said Saturday.

    A cake was served during the Tun Legacy Foundation’s celebration of the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary on Nov. 10, 2025.

    For the Tun Legacy Foundation, the settlement marks a turning point.

    “This lawsuit was the last external obstacle to getting the project done,” said Craig Mills, the foundation’s board chair, a Marine veteran, and executive shareholder at the Center City law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

    Mills said the foundation has secured the rights to plans and drawings prepared by architectural firm Ballinger, which he said donated a significant portion of its services. Those plans, he said, are complete and approved, with zoning and permits in place.

    With the legal uncertainty resolved, the remaining challenge is financial. Mills said the foundation has raised just under $11 million toward a budget of about $21 million.

    Mills said the foundation wanted to raise more before putting shovels into the ground. “We want to have enough reserves to weather the early months,” he said. “Restaurants don’t make much money right out of the gate, so we want to be prudent and break ground confidently.”

    Mills said the settlement should help accelerate fundraising. While donations never fully stopped during the lawsuit, he said, some potential supporters were hesitant to commit.

    The agreement also resolves the naming question that sat at the heart of the dispute. While the foundation had planned to operate as “The Tun,” Mills said the settlement grants the right to use the full historic name.

    “This really could be a great thing for Philadelphia,” Mills said. “Every great historic city has a period pub — Alexandria, Williamsburg, you name it. Philadelphia hasn’t had one since the original Tun closed long ago. It would be meaningful to bring that back and give it to the city again.”

  • Former Disney and 6abc exec Rebecca Campbell joins The Inquirer’s board

    Former Disney and 6abc exec Rebecca Campbell joins The Inquirer’s board

    Rebecca Campbell, a former longtime Walt Disney Co. executive who has also worked in local television in Philadelphia, has joined The Inquirer’s board of directors.

    Campbell has deep ties to Pennsylvania journalism: She was raised in Tamaqua — where her father owned a local newspaper — and she went on to study journalism at Bloomsburg University. Early in her career, Campbell worked at TV stations in Allentown and Lancaster, and later served as president and general manager of 6abc.

    Campbell has read The Inquirer for over five decades. As her career took her out of the area, “Wherever I was in the world, I could access The Philadelphia Inquirer digitally,” Campbell said in a phone interview. “My roots are local, and I know what the paper is for the community and keeping everybody connected to that community.

    “My whole background in media, streaming, digital, and even local television, gives me a strong appreciation for the tradition of journalism and what’s ahead. I’m honored — truly honored — to be asked to be on the board.”

    During her 26-year tenure at Disney, Campbell had stints leading the global media and entertainment company’s operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and later Disneyland Resort, overseeing theme parks and hotels. Before retiring in 2023 she was chairman of international content and operations.

    Campbell was mentioned as a potential successor to longtime CEO Bob Iger, who called her “a truly valuable and trusted leader,” the Orange County Register reported.

    Her departure came at a tumultuous time for the company: Iger announced a major restructuring and job cuts aimed at making Disney’s popular but money-losing streaming services profitable, according to the Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times.

    In May 2025, Campbell was asked to take over as interim CEO of Meow Wolf, a large-scale immersive art installation company, after joining the board of directors in 2024. Founded in 2008, that company is known for interactive, mind-bending multimedia attractions that operate in states including Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico, and opening in Los Angeles later this year.

    Campbell joined The Inquirer’s board Feb. 1. She is also on the board of Versant Media Group, a spin-off of Comcast that owns cable channels such as MS Now — formerly MSNBC — CNBC, and the Golf Channel. She lives part-time near Philadelphia.

    The Inquirer’s board of directors, chaired by corporate finance attorney Lisa Kabnick, is responsible for key operational decisions, such as hiring the publisher. The newsroom operates independently.

    Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments and background from Rebecca Campbell

  • Saturday’s Olympics TV schedule features skiing, figure skating, and hockey

    Saturday’s Olympics TV schedule features skiing, figure skating, and hockey

    When it comes to the Winter Olympics’ traditional sports, there’s nothing quite like Alpine skiing’s downhill race.

    For decades, the sight of people flying down the slopes as fast as cars on a highway has been one of The Games’ signature spectacles. This year’s stage will make the show even more spectacular: the Stelvio ski course in Bormio, Italy, up in the Dolomite Mountains.

    Bormio has been a tourist attraction for over 2,000 years thanks to its thermal baths. But as the Wall Street Journal wrote on Friday, the Stelvio course is renowned for an icy surface and steep drops, earning the nickname “The Ribbon of Death.”

    That will add more unpredictability to an event with a long history of it. The Olympic men’s downhill has never had a repeat champion since starting in 1948. Even some of the most famous skiers of all time, like France’s Jean-Claude Killy, have only won it once, if at all.

    The last American to take the title was Tommy Moe in 1994. Will that wait end this year? It could, because Vermont native Ryan Cochran-Siegle is among the favorites. He’s challenging Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt, the top name on the board, and Italy’s Giovanni Franzoni and Dominik Paris.

    Marco Odermatt flies down the Stevio course during a training run on Friday.

    You’ll have to wake up early to watch the event live, as it starts at 5:30 a.m. Philadelphia time on USA Network and Peacock. But you can also catch a rebroadcast during NBC’s prime-time show.

    NBC’s live coverage during the day includes women’s speed skating’s 3,000-meter race, which is likely to be dominated by the Netherlands on the ice and in the stands. The Dutch fans are a show on their own. There’s also figure skating’s team event, the women’s Skiathlon with American Jessie Diggins, and the first luge runs on the icy sliding track.

    After striking gold in Paris in 2024, can NBC do it again at the Winter Olympics in Milan?

    USA Network’s live coverage includes snowboarding, curling, freestyle skiing, and the U.S. women’s ice hockey team’s second group game against Finland. The Americans routed Czechia, 5-1, in their opener on Thursday.

    How to watch the Olympics on TV and stream online

    NBC’s TV coverage will have live events from noon to 5 p.m. Philadelphia time on weekdays and starting in the mornings on the weekends. There’s a six-hour time difference from Italy and here. The traditional prime-time coverage will have highlights of the day and storytelling features.

    Germany’s Timon Grancagnolo slides down the track during a luge training session on Friday.

    As far as the TV channels, the Olympics are airing on NBC, USA, CNBC, and NBCSN. Spanish coverage can be found on Telemundo and Universo.

    NBCSN is carrying the Gold Zone whip-around show that was so popular during the Summer Olympics in 2024, with hosts including Scott Hanson of NFL RedZone. It used to be just on Peacock, NBC’s online streaming service, but now is on TV, too.

    Every event is available to stream live on NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports app. You’ll have to log in with your pay-TV provider, whether cable, satellite, or streaming platforms, including YouTube TV, FuboTV, and Sling TV.

    A beginner’s guide to watching figure skating at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics

    On Peacock, the events are on the platform’s premium subscription tier, which starts at $10.99 per month or $109.99 per year.

    Here is the full event schedule for the entire Olympics, and here are live scores and results.

    Hilary Knight (left) watches her shot go in for the fourth goal in the U.S. women’s ice hockey team’s 5-1 rout of Czechia on Thursday.

    Saturday’s Olympics TV schedule

    As a general rule, our schedules include all live broadcasts on TV, but not tape-delayed broadcasts on cable channels. We’ll let you know what’s on NBC’s broadcasts, whether live or not.

    NBC

    7 a.m.: Cross-country skiing — Women’s Skiathlon

    8 a.m.: Freestyle skiing — Men’s slopestyle qualifying

    10:05 a.m.: Speed skating — Women’s 3000-meter

    11:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing — women’s slopestyle qualifying (tape-delayed)

    12:30 p.m.: Luge — men’s singles, run 2

    1:45 p.m.: Figure skating — team event, men’s short program

    3:15 p.m.: Snowboarding — men’s big air final (delayed)

    4:05 p.m.: Figure skating — team event, free dance

    5 p.m.: Cross-Country Skiing — women’s Skiathlon (delayed)

    8 p.m.: Prime-time show replays, including figure skating, Alpine skiing, and snowboarding

    11:30 p.m.: Late night show replays, including men’s and women’s freestyle skiing

    Curling is back at the Olympics. What are the rules? Why do people love it? And how can I watch it?

    USA Network

    4:05 a.m.: Curling — Great Britain vs. Canada mixed doubles

    4:30 a.m.: Freestyle skiing — women’s slopestyle qualifying

    5:30 a.m.: Alpine skiing — men’s downhill

    9:30 a.m.: Curling — Great Britain vs. United States mixed doubles

    10:40 a.m.: Ice hockey — United States vs. Finland women

    1:30 p.m.: Snowboarding — men’s big air final

    3:10 p.m.: Ice hockey — Switzerland vs. Canada women

  • Your brain can be trained, much like your muscles | Expert Opinion

    Your brain can be trained, much like your muscles | Expert Opinion

    If you have ever lifted a weight, you know the routine: challenge the muscle, give it rest, feed it, and repeat. Over time, it grows stronger.

    Of course, muscles only grow when the challenge increases over time. Continually lifting the same weight the same way stops working.

    It might come as a surprise to learn that the brain responds to training in much the same way as our muscles, even though most of us never think about it that way. Clear thinking, focus, creativity, and good judgment are built through challenge, when the brain is asked to stretch beyond routine rather than run on autopilot. That slight mental discomfort is often the sign that the brain is actually being trained, a lot like that good workout burn in your muscles.

    Think about walking the same loop through a local park every day. At first, your senses are alert. You notice the hills, the trees, the changing light. But after a few loops, your brain checks out. You start planning dinner, replaying emails, or running through your to-do list. The walk still feels good, but your brain is no longer being challenged.

    Routine feels comfortable, but comfort and familiarity alone do not build new brain connections.

    As a neurologist who studies brain activity, I use electroencephalograms, or EEGs, to record the brain’s electrical patterns.

    Research in humans shows that these rhythms are remarkably dynamic. When someone learns a new skill, EEG rhythms often become more organized and coordinated. This reflects the brain’s attempt to strengthen pathways needed for that skill.

    Your brain trains in zones too

    For decades, scientists believed that the brain’s ability to grow and reorganize, called neuroplasticity, was largely limited to childhood. Once the brain matured, its wiring was thought to be largely fixed.

    But that idea has been overturned. Decades of research show that adult brains can form new connections and reorganize existing networks, under the right conditions, throughout life.

    Some of the most influential work in this field comes from enriched environment studies in animals. Rats housed in stimulating environments filled with toys, running wheels, and social interaction developed larger, more complex brains than rats kept in standard cages. Their brains adapted because they were regularly exposed to novelty and challenge.

    Human studies find similar results. Adults who take on genuinely new challenges, such as learning a language, dancing, or practicing a musical instrument, show measurable increases in brain volume and connectivity on MRI scans.

    The takeaway is simple: Repetition keeps the brain running, but novelty pushes the brain to adapt, forcing it to pay attention, learn, and problem-solve in new ways. Neuroplasticity thrives when the brain is nudged just beyond its comfort zone.

    The reality of neural fatigue

    Just like muscles, the brain has limits. It does not get stronger from endless strain. Real growth comes from the right balance of challenge and recovery.

    When the brain is pushed for too long without a break — whether that means long work hours, staying locked onto the same task, or making nonstop decisions under pressure — performance starts to slip. Focus fades. Mistakes increase. To keep you going, the brain shifts how different regions work together, asking some areas to carry more of the load. But that extra effort can still make the whole network run less smoothly.

    Neural fatigue is more than feeling tired. Brain imaging studies show that during prolonged mental work, the networks responsible for attention and decision-making begin to slow down, while regions that promote rest and reward-seeking take over. This shift helps explain why mental exhaustion often comes with stronger cravings for quick rewards, like sugary snacks, comfort foods, or mindless scrolling. The result is familiar: slower thinking, more mistakes, irritability, and mental fog.

    This is where the muscle analogy becomes especially useful. You wouldn’t do squats for six hours straight, because your leg muscles would eventually give out. As they work, they build up byproducts that make each contraction a little less effective until you finally have to stop. Your brain behaves in a similar way.

    Likewise, in the brain, when the same cognitive circuits are overused, chemical signals build up, communication slows, and learning stalls.

    But rest allows those strained circuits to reset and function more smoothly over time. And taking breaks from a taxing activity does not interrupt learning. In fact, breaks are critical for efficient learning.

    The crucial importance of rest

    Among all forms of rest, sleep is the most powerful.

    Sleep is the brain’s night shift. While you rest, the brain takes out the trash through a special cleanup system called the glymphatic system that clears away waste and harmful proteins. Sleep also restores glycogen, a critical fuel source for brain cells.

    And importantly, sleep is when essential repair work happens. Growth hormone surges during deep sleep, supporting tissue repair. Immune cells regroup and strengthen their activity.

    During REM sleep, the stage of sleep linked to dreaming, the brain replays patterns from the day to consolidate memories. This process is critical not only for cognitive skills like learning an instrument but also for physical skills like mastering a move in sports.

    On the other hand, chronic sleep deprivation impairs attention, disrupts decision-making, and alters the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism. This is why fatigue drives sugar cravings and late-night snacking.

    Sleep is not an optional wellness practice. It is a biological requirement for brain performance.

    Exercise feeds the brain too

    Exercise strengthens the brain as well as the body.

    Physical activity increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, a protein that acts like fertilizer for neurons. It promotes the growth of new connections, increases blood flow, reduces inflammation, and helps the brain remain adaptable across one’s life span.

    This is why exercise is one of the strongest lifestyle tools for protecting cognitive health.

    Train, recover, repeat

    The most important lesson from this science is simple. Your brain is not passively wearing down with age. It is constantly remodeling itself in response to how you use it. Every new challenge and skill you try, every real break, every good night of sleep sends a signal that growth is still expected.

    You do not need expensive brain training programs or radical lifestyle changes. Small, consistent habits matter more. Try something unfamiliar. Vary your routines. Take breaks before exhaustion sets in. Move your body. Treat sleep as nonnegotiable.

    So the next time you lace up your shoes for a familiar walk, consider taking a different path. The scenery may change only slightly, but your brain will notice. That small detour is often all it takes to turn routine into training.

    The brain stays adaptable throughout life. Cognitive resilience is not fixed at birth or locked in early adulthood. It is something you can shape.

    If you want a sharper, more creative, more resilient brain, you do not need to wait for a breakthrough drug or a perfect moment. You can start now, with choices that tell your brain that growth is still the plan.

    is an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh.

    Reprinted from The Conversation.

  • Preserving Black history must start in the classroom

    Preserving Black history must start in the classroom

    James Baldwin liked to remind us: “History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. If we pretend otherwise, we are literally criminals.”

    Any teaching of our collective story that erases the genius, the contributions, the struggles, and the successes of Black people isn’t history at all. It is indoctrination. Propaganda. The criminal theft of an entire people’s existence.

    Ours is a story that should not — cannot — be confined. Nor segregated within a designated month, select classrooms, or special curricula.

    To build on the words of Malcolm X, America has tried to destroy Black people by denying and obliterating the nation’s collective understanding of Black history through lies and gross omissions, or by flattening the full contours of our story into one of only oppression and resistance. The renewed burial of the previously buried history of the President’s House that the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition and others worked so hard to have mounted is a prime and recent example of these attempts to erase.

    Through multiple generations (up to this very day), students of all backgrounds have missed out on learning and benefiting from the full humanity of the Black experience where they rightfully should have expected it: in their schools.

    That our history has survived and even been enriched over the years is itself a testament to the power of our intergenerational communities. In our grandparents’ living rooms, through family lore and handed-down traditions, photos and treasures, we have resisted the robbing of our past and appropriation of our identity.

    But despite this resistance, there have been lasting impacts of this ongoing, systemic exclusion. One of them is that our teaching force (including Black educators) feels ill-equipped to share the story of Black people, continuing the cycle of misinformation and diminished returns not just for students, but for us all.

    We can change this. As Makinya Sibeko-Kouate once said, “Education should be a maker of a virgin future rather than a slave to an unjust and shopworn past.”

    Living up to this requires not only the creation of temporal and physical space for Black inclusion throughout the school year and across all disciplines, but also the adoption of a new mentality.

    And educators, it starts with us.

    To realize Black history’s potential of shaping the academic experience as a praxis in liberation — where the American story includes everyone and excludes nothing, from the soul-searing to the inspirational — we must be willing to learn along with our students. Embarking on this journey together with our students, however, requires seeing ourselves as students, the lead learners in the classroom.

    Share with your students what you’re curious about. What you’re thinking, feeling, and learning — including what they are teaching you.

    Tyler Wright teaches fourth grade in Charleston, S.C. Teachers must be willing to learn along with their students, writes Sharif El-Mekki.

    With this kind of demonstrated humility, we educators can present not just windows but mirrors to brighter futures, reflecting for our students the change and growth possible in the learning enterprise that is so essential to a liberatory education.

    Beyond abstractions and idealisms, here is more practical guidance for all educators who strive for excellence.

    Honor your students. Let them know you’re eager to learn about them, where they come from, their intergenerational stories, and their neighborhood champions, along with their dreams and aspirations.

    Jennifer LaSure teaches a Black history course at Cherry Hill High School East in 2024. Learning the full humanity of the Black experience begins in the classroom with inspiring teachers, writes the educator Sharif El-Mekki.

    Show them how their families and communities offer rich entry points to telling the larger American story. Explore how their families got here.

    Are they multigenerational Philadelphians or recent arrivals? Who was the first to migrate from the South or immigrate from overseas? How did they overcome unjust challenges? What were their contributions to community and society? How did they bring joy and love? What broke their hearts, but not their spirits? What type of ancestors and descendants do they strive to be?

    That our students are here is proof that those who came before them persevered. Do more than just tell them that. Expand the idea and reality of history through student agency. The impact is immeasurable, as are the consequences for not doing this.

    Show them images of the Ishango bone, a 25,000-year-old Paleolithic artifact discovered in Congo, considered to be one of humanity’s oldest mathematical tools, carefully engraved for tallying, doubling, prime numbers, even calendaring — giving lie once and for all to the blasphemy that scientific advancement is somehow the province of only one culture or continent.

    By allowing for the learning of Black history in shaping the academic experience as a praxis in liberation for students and educators alike, we can imagine a very different future.

    One where every student would gain the critical thinking skills necessary to avoid the repetition of unjust history. Armed with a more complete context and meaningful perspectives, each of us is better able to recognize patterns and make better decisions for our society.

    All that’s required is for us all to have the humanity to realize that history isn’t truly history unless everyone’s history is included. And for the rest of society not to criminally pretend otherwise.

    Sharif El-Mekki, a former principal and teacher, is the founder/CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development and a co-organizer of the upcoming “Still We Teach. Still We Rise.” summit, a national convening for advancing Black history and the Black teacher pipeline.

  • The cold’s toll: Woodcocks wiped out in Cape May, opossums frostbitten in Philly, robins struck on roads

    The cold’s toll: Woodcocks wiped out in Cape May, opossums frostbitten in Philly, robins struck on roads

    Steve Frates of Ocean View, N.J., was driving along Route 9 in Cape May County on a recent bitter cold day and noticed something strange: dead robins lying by the side of the road.

    Lots of them.

    Frates was even more startled when one flew into his Ford F-150 and died. The 72-year-old retired telecommunications manager wondered what was happening.

    “I noticed when it was really cold that I would see flocks of birds alongside of the road as I was traveling up and down Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway,” Frates said. “I would see a lot of birds that had been hit. I’d never seen anything at that scale. This was at a level I’ve never experienced before.”

    The winter has been hard on the region’s animals, wiping out 95% of the woodcocks in Cape May Point, fostering frostbite on opossums in Philadelphia, and freezing turtles in place in ponds.

    Experts say the animals are well adapted to survive the cold, but this winter has been especially harsh, producing a frozen snowpack that keeps animals from digging for food, and a prolonged cold that has pushed some to the brink.

    About 200 woodcocks have died in the area of Cape May Point since the Jan. 25 snowfall that froze under a prolonged cold spell. These were found likely seeking food near the edge of homes.

    Woodcocks are starving

    Mike Lanzone, a wildlife biologist and CEO of Cellular Tracking Technologies, has been busy the last two weeks helping to gather hundreds of dead woodcocks in Cape May Point and West Cape May. His company makes products that track birds via GPS and other technology.

    He described a devastating die-off for the woodcocks, which depend on finding food by probing the ground to extract worms and invertebrates. They have been unable to penetrate the snow and ice, causing starvation.

    “They were losing a lot of muscle mass, and they weren’t able to eat anything,” Lanzone said. “We started seeing them die off. First it was just a few. Then 10. Then 15. Then 40. Then almost 100 woodcocks.”

    Lanzone said about 254 woodcocks had died as of Thursday.

    “There was at least a 90-95% die-off,” he said. “That is what we know for sure. At least in Cape May Point and West Cape May.”

    Lanzone said the woodcocks were being taken to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia to be examined.

    Jason D. Weckstein, associate curator of ornithology at the academy, said such die-offs have happened before. He will examine the birds and, using chemical signatures in their bodies, determine where they were born.

    “They’re dying because they’re starving,” Weckstein said. “They can’t feed. Most of those birds were super emaciated and just died.”

    Robins are desperate

    Chris Neff, a spokesperson for New Jersey Audubon, said the robins that Frates saw along the side of the road had been driven there in search of food.

    “Birds are congregating along the melted edges of roads searching for bare ground on which to find food and even meltwater to drink,“ Neff said. ”Birds are desperate to consume enough calories each day during this extreme weather, and this makes them bolder, meaning they may not fly off when a car approaches if they have found something to eat.”

    American robins, he said, travel in large flocks. When their food is exhausted, a few will take off in search of the berries of American holly and Eastern red cedar. The rest will follow en masse, following a path that might lead them across a road.

    The chances of collisions with cars become much higher.

    Neff advises that people should slow down if they see birds congregating along a road and keep an eye out for any that might fly across.

    “Like deer,” Neff said, ”if one darts across the road, there are sure to be more following.”

    A grebe that was rescued amid the harsh winter weather and taken to the Wildlife Clinic at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, where it is being fed and cared for until an open water source can be found for it to be released.

    Opossums and other animals

    Sydney Glisan, director of wildlife rehabilitation for the Wildlife Clinic at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Northwest Philadelphia, characterizes the severe winter conditions as a critical “make it or not” period for local wildlife.

    Some animals, such as deer, are well adapted to the cold and can eat fibrous bark and twigs to survive. Other species, however, struggle.

    She said Virginia opossums found in Philadelphia, despite being a native species, have physical attributes that “do not really work for this type of weather.” She has treated multiple opossums for frostbite. The latest patient arrived Friday.

    They are susceptible, she said, because their ears, tails, and paws have no fur for protection. Often, tails or fingers need to be amputated.

    Residents often find them curled up and immobile, mistakenly believing the animals are dead when they are actually just trying to stay warm or are in a state of shock.

    The weather also affects aquatic birds like grebes, which become stranded on land because they require open water to take off and cannot walk well on ice or ground.

    Even squirrels struggle, as the ice prevents them from digging up cached food, Glisan said.

    Glisan advises the public to be cautious about intervening for wildlife such as birds. She notes that even well-intentioned acts, such as providing heated birdbaths, can result in hypothermia if a bird’s wet feathers subsequently freeze in the air.

    “As much as it might sound rude, I always say doing nothing is the best thing that you can do,” Glisan said. “I recommend helping by not helping.”

    Reptiles and amphibians

    Susan Slawinski, a wildlife biologist at the Schuylkill Center, said the danger for reptiles and amphibians comes as lakes and ponds freeze over. Aquatic species such as green frogs, painted turtles, and snapping turtles overwinter at the bottom of ponds.

    There, the animals survive by slowing their metabolisms enough to eliminate the need to eat or surface for air. However, prolonged cold poses a specific danger as ponds freeze solid to the bottom. Those hibernating will perish.

    The Schuylkill Center uses a bubbler in its Fire Pond to maintain a gap in the ice to let in oxygen.

    Despite the risks, Slawinski emphasizes that native wildlife is historically resilient, though mortality is an unfortunate reality for animals that select poor hibernation spots.

    For example, the gray tree frog uses glucose to create a natural “antifreeze” that prevents its cell walls from bursting in freezing temperatures.

    “Native wildlife is very good at adapting to cold temperatures,” Slawinski said. “There have been colder winters, longer winters before. Unfortunately, there is always going to be a mortality risk.”

  • A Flyers fan from Chile celebrated getting her U.S. citizenship by watching the team win: ‘It felt different’

    A Flyers fan from Chile celebrated getting her U.S. citizenship by watching the team win: ‘It felt different’

    Muriel Crescenzo finally earned her United States citizenship Tuesday morning, after more than three years of waiting and more than seven with her husband, James. On Tuesday evening, they celebrated by watching the Flyers take home a 4-2 win against the Washington Capitals.

    The Crescenzos met at the Okemo Mountain ski resort in Vermont in 2018. Muriel was working there for the season, and James was on a snowboarding trip. He’d fallen down on one of the hills, and Muriel came to help him. They instantly clicked, and James asked her out. They went on their first date at a bar called Mr. Darcy’s, in Ludlow, Vt., which Muriel said she felt was a sign — Pride and Prejudice is her favorite book and Mr. Darcy is a main character in it.

    So when Muriel returned to her home in Santiago, Chile, in the offseason, James, an Egg Harbor Township native, traveled to see her.

    “For me, it was no more winter,” he said. “In the winter, I would go to South America for three or four months, and I was working on a golf course, so you were laid off in the winter anyway. It actually worked perfectly.”

    Flyers hit the Olympic break at a crossroads. Will they sell for the future or try to push for the playoffs?

    The couple took turns visiting each other every year, with Muriel coming up to New Jersey and James heading down to see her in Chile. The two also took a number of international trips together, to London, Prague, Amsterdam, and Buenos Aires.

    But when the pandemic hit, those annual plans were upended, and the Crescenzos decided to start the process of getting married and getting Muriel permanent residency in the U.S. They got married in Las Vegas, and have been living in the Philadelphia area ever since. James is a lifelong Philly sports fan, and he has turned Muriel into one as well since their move back to the area.

    “When we first moved here, everything was just magical right away,” said James, 43. “That first year we saw [Michael] Lorenzen throw his no-hitter. Every Flyers game we went to, they would win in overtime, sudden death. It was always a magical, special game that first season. It’s been a little rough since, but we still believe.”

    Flyers national anthem singer Lauren Hart (left) meets James and Muriel Crescenzo at Tuesday’s game.

    So when Muriel, 34, got her naturalization interview date, they knew they wanted to celebrate at a Flyers game.

    “It felt different because I could sing the song,” Muriel said. “Before, I didn’t know it that well, the anthem. But now, I could sing it and I’m a part of it.”

    The Crescenzos even met Flyers anthem singer Lauren Hart, and of course, Gritty. They also got to take in a Flyers win.

    The next step will be going back to Chile to visit her family. During the citizenship application process, she was not allowed to leave the country, so the Crescenzos haven’t been able to take any international trips for more than three years.

    “We’re not worried anymore,” Muriel said. “I finally feel secure. We finally can be together. Nothing’s going to stop that happening.”

  • How to have a Perfect Philly Day, according to Kalaya’s Chutatip ‘Nok’ Suntaranon

    How to have a Perfect Philly Day, according to Kalaya’s Chutatip ‘Nok’ Suntaranon

    Food may be what Kalaya’s Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon is best known for, but her real love is spending time with her Pomeranians, Titi and Gingi, whom she lovingly calls “the boys.”

    That, and spending time at her Queen Village home. For former flight attendant Suntaranon, who travels to Thailand (where she was born) two or three times a year, her home is her “happy place.” When she is not traveling, this is where she spends most of her time — cooking, eating, taking meetings, gathering friends, and, of course, playing with the boys and their friend, Wolfie.

    She lets her routines be flexible and often goes with the flow, keeping two things constant: time with the boys and a daily visit to her Fishtown restaurant named after her mother.

    Those are the two things that define her perfect Philly day, and her everyday.

    Kalaya’s chef Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon poses in Lobo Mau’s exclusive Pom jacket. The acclaimed chef collaborated with local designer Nicole Haddad for the jacket. Styled by Nicole Haddad and Miranda Martel; jewelry by Feast and Forge and Finish; shoes by Elena Brennan; Hair and makeup by Tarah Yoder.

    7:30 a.m.

    I wake up whenever I want to. If I stay up late, I stay in bed until 10:30 a.m. But usually, I wake up at 7:30. The first thing I do is read [Kalaya’s] Resy reviews from the night before. After that, I wake up the boys and play with them on the deck a little bit. Then I either run back to bed and read my emails with them by my side, or go downstairs.

    9 a.m.

    I go down to the kitchen and feed the boys. Pomeranians are very picky eaters so I make scrambled eggs for them and me. Then, I’ll either make green tea or coffee with beans from McNulty’s Tea & Coffee Co. in New York’s West Village. Some days, it’s espresso. Others, Americano, or flat white.

    I often invite my next door neighbor, Yas, to have coffee with me. We just sit on the couch and chat for an hour. Sometimes more than one neighbor stops by. We have our group of women, we live in the same neighborhood, and we hang out all the time. We get coffee, talk, and sometimes we plan lunch together, and then we spread out and do whatever we need to do for our jobs.

    Emily Riddell at the Machine Shop, a bakery, in Philadelphia, Friday, September 9, 2022.

    10:30 a.m.

    If I don’t drink coffee at home, I love going to Machine Shop with Mike and Lizzy, my good friends who also have a Pomeranian, Wolfie. We coparent our dogs. At Machine Shop, we get coffee and wait for canelé to come out of the oven.

    11:30 a.m.

    On our way back, the boys and I will take a walk in the neighborhood. We have a community garden that we might stop by. Then I come home and take my morning meetings after I give the boys a turkey tendon treat.

    12:30 p.m.

    If I can find some time, I go to the gym. I sneak in a Pilates class once a week at Movement Source Pilates Studio in Passyunk or the Sporting Club at the Bellevue. If I need a haircut, I go to Whirligig salon in Queen Village. If I’m not doing any of those things, I will go to Kalaya to check on whatever is going on. I mostly take the boys with me. I leave by 3 p.m. because that’s when they have the staff meal. I come home and fix myself some quick lunch.

    The fettucini at Fiore Fine Foods in Philadelphia on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024.

    2:30 p.m.

    I prefer to eat at home during the day. Sometimes all my friends who dropped in the morning will come back and we all eat lunch together. I love congee. Usually we will eat that with a simple, healthy vegetable or protein. I also eat lunch at Fiore sometimes because pasta for lunch is a good idea. Then, depending on how busy my calendar is, I will try and sneak a bath in. I love having a bath. Then skincare and getting ready takes about an hour.

    4:30 p.m.

    I get changed and go back to the restaurant for service. For clothes, I mostly shop online. I rent from Real Real, Rent the Runway, Nuuly. And I have my buyer in Thailand who buys Issey Miyake pieces for me. I get a lot of stuff from Thailand where I have a designer who does custom-made stuff for me. My friend Yas often gets me stuff to wear or my other friend, Michelle, works at Urban Outfitters. It’s a community that is very sweet, because they are always gifting me with very cute stuff to wear.

    Chef Jesse Ito prepares a course during the omakase at Royal Sushi and Izakaya on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025 in Philadelphia.

    7 p.m.

    On Tuesdays, I usually eat dinner at Royal Sushi & Izakaya. I love his Royal Chirashi, the miso soup. His fried chicken is good, and I love all of his rolls.

    Once or twice a week, I order half the menu at Kalaya. I invite friends and we eat, talk about food and our lives. That’s how I inspect the food in the restaurant, and give the team feedback immediately.

    Organic produce from Blooming Glen Farm of Perkasie for sale at the Headhouse Farmers’ Market.

    On Sundays, I try to cook dinner and have friends over. I buy my produce and organic protein from Headhouse Farmers Market and Riverwards Produce.

    Sometimes, my friends and I do Sunday Gravy. Someone makes dessert, I make gravy. I buy the meatballs because you don’t need to make meatballs yourself as long as your gravy tastes good. Someone makes the pasta, and we all eat together. Michelle may make a salad, and Mike brings a bottle of Champagne. So we hang out and chat.

    Chef Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon at her restaurant Kalaya in Fishtown on August 22, 2024.

    8:30 p.m.

    If I don’t go to the restaurant, I normally get to bed by 8:30 p.m. I groom the boys, hang out with them, watch Netflix or read as they play next to me. I like to be quiet at home. I am a homebody. I would say, 70% of my time is me staying home. That’s kind of pretty much my day.

  • Daryl Morey’s message to Joel Embiid and Sixers fans: Trust the Process

    Daryl Morey’s message to Joel Embiid and Sixers fans: Trust the Process

    Last week, with the trade deadline looming, Joel Embiid made a public plea to the 76ers’ front office. He begged them to ignore the luxury tax for once, and to get him the help he needs for what has turned into an unlikely impending playoff run.

    “In the past we’ve been, I guess, ducking the tax,” Embiid said last week. “So, hopefully, we think about improving. Because I think we have a chance.”

    Embiid made this plea knowing that Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, and Embiid himself cannot sustain their high level of play if they have to maintain such a high number of minutes.

    Embiid’s plea coincided with the 25-game drug suspension of fellow veteran and max-salary player Paul George, who, like Embiid, was rounding into form after more than a year of debilitating injury issues. George will not be eligible to return until only 10 games remain in the season.

    Embiid’s wishes made sense.

    Embiid’s wishes were not granted.

    Tyrese Maxey, Sixers teammates describe emotions watching Jared McCain traded at deadline: ‘It was a hard day’

    In fact, not only did the Sixers fail to make a significant move to improve the roster, they actually got worse: They traded last year‘s first-round pick, sharpshooter Jared McCain, for future draft picks.

    So, despite asking, and asking nicely, Embiid got no help.

    Daryl Morey’s message to Embiid:

    Trust the process.

    “I think we all wanted to add to the team, and, you know, we took his comments to heart,” the Sixers’ president said Friday.

    And?

    “We were trying to add to the team,” Morey said, “and we didn’t find a deal that made sense — one that we thought could move the needle on our ability to win this year.”

    So: Still processing.

    McCain trade

    Maxey is the team’s most important player, so he was never a trade consideration, but Morey acknowledged that both Edgecombe and Embiid were essentially untouchable, too.

    McCain was not untouchable. His departure provided salary-cap relief. Further, though, Morey painted McCain as a long-term project who might not develop faster than whomever the Sixers draft in June with the first-round pick the Sixers got in the trade.

    That seemed harsh. True, but harsh.

    Sixers guard Jared McCain was shipped after only playing one full season in Philly.

    As a rookie, McCain averaged 15.3 points in 23 games mostly as a bench player last season, which was cut short by injury. More injury issues limited his participation this season, and he was averaging just 6.6 points. Morey traded him Wednesday to Oklahoma City for the Thunder’s first-round pick in June, as well as three future second-round picks.

    McCain simply was not in the Sixers’ immediate plans, and Morey insisted that they would not have gotten a better return on McCain in the offseason.

    Morey also said the Sixers hoped to immediately flip some of the draft picks they received in the McCain deal and improve the team thus.

    There were no upgrades out there.

    Trading Jared McCain is a big risk, unless something bigger is in play

    The emergence of Dominic Barlow, who is starting in place of George, and the continued strong bench play of guard Quentin Grimes convinced him that there were no players available for a sensible asking price that would appreciably improve the Sixers.

    Certainly, there were no players that would have warranted the Sixers exceeding the luxury tax, though Sixers ownership had given him permission to spend whatever he needed to spend.

    “If we had found an [addition] and we were going to end up higher [than the tax], we would have ended up above it. We’ve done it several times,” Morey said. “We didn’t see something that did.”

    So: Still processing.

    The Process

    The catastrophic, scorched-earth strategy of rebuilding the Sixers, begun in 2013, eventually became known as “The Process.” Trusting in it became the mantra of both the franchise and a cult of devoted, long-suffering fans for whom no sacrifice was too outrageous.

    Embiid then hijacked the phrase as his nickname in 2016, after he’d missed his first two NBA seasons due to injury. Personalizing the phrase was an ostentatious act, but, considering the nature of his turbulent career, Embiid has come to embody it.

    Now, 13 years and five decision-makers later — Sam Hinkie, Bryan Colangelo, Brett Brown, Elton Brand, and Morey — the Sixers must ask their best player, the last vestige of The Process, to spend one of his twilight seasons hoping the current chapter of The Process has a happy ending.

    “This team, we think, can make a deep playoff run and is one of the top few teams in the East,” Morey said.

    He’s right.

    The Process has a window. It’s a small window, like that triangular side window on old cars, but it’s a window nevertheless.

    The Least of the East

    As of Friday night the Sixers stood sixth in a sagging Eastern Conference. Injury has diminished both the Celtics, who won the NBA title two years ago, and the Pacers, conference champs last season. The Pistons are in first place, 4½ games ahead of the flawed Knicks and Celtics, but nobody really believes in them. The Sixers are just one game behind the Raptors, who have five players averaging double figures, and 1½ games behind the Cavaliers, who, despite having won seven of their last eight games, were so desperate that they traded for — wait for it — 36-year-old James Harden.

    James Harden, formerly of the Sixers, was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

    As predicted when Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton suffered severe injuries in the 2025 playoffs, the East is weak and vulnerable. These are adjectives that often have been used to describe the 76ers during The Process.

    Now, though, the Sixers have won five of their last six games. They’ve ridden Maxey’s MVP campaign, Edgecombe’s Rookie of the Year campaign, and what would be Embiid’s Comeback Player of the Year campaign if the NBA had such an award.

    Can they keep it up? We won’t know for months whether the conference is so bad that even the Sixers can win it.

    So, until then: Still processing.

    You gotta believe

    “I believe in myself, so I’m always going to believe I have a chance, as long as I’m healthy,” Embiid told reporters Thursday night, after McCain had arrived in Oklahoma and no new player had joined the Sixers on the road in Los Angeles. “I believe that we can beat anybody. We hold down the fort until [George] comes back. He’s really needed. He’s irreplaceable.”

    He’s not in demand, though. League sources indicated that no team was interested in trading for George. No surprise there. At 35, not only is George suspended, but he is also owed almost $110 million over the next two seasons, and he has an injury history as bad as Embiid’s.

    That’s OK with the Sixers. George, when not taking banned substances, is probably still very good. Morey adores George, especially as a defensive difference-maker.

    “We really like what Paul gives us,” Morey said.

    Well, he won’t give them anything for the next 21 games. Which, for the moment, is exactly what the Sixers will get from the 2026 trade deadline.

    Process that.

  • Milton Williams never wanted to leave the Eagles. They never offered a contract, and the Patriots were the beneficiaries.

    Milton Williams never wanted to leave the Eagles. They never offered a contract, and the Patriots were the beneficiaries.

    SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Milton Williams was autographing Super Bowl LIX merchandise about a week after the Eagles routed the Kansas City Chiefs when general manager Howie Roseman sidled up next to him.

    Williams had four pressures, two sacks, and a forced fumble as he and his fellow linemen pounded quarterback Patrick Mahomes a year ago in New Orleans. Roseman had come to congratulate the defensive tackle, but also to intimate that the Eagles would not be offering a contract extension to the free-agent-to-be.

    “That was when all the players sign the Super Bowl merch,” Williams said to The Inquirer on Wednesday. “[Roseman’s message] was like, ‘Get the most you can.’ Once I heard that — and, meanwhile, I was talking to my agent about the deal — I thought, ‘They’re probably not going to offer.’” (Through an Eagles spokesman, Roseman confirmed that the exchange occurred.)

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    He was right. Williams said he was crushed. He said he wanted to stay in Philadelphia.

    “We had just won a Super Bowl. Of course I didn’t want to leave,” Williams said. “But I got to do what’s best for me. They had their agenda of what they wanted to accomplish, and I wasn’t part of it. So they let me go.”

    Williams ultimately signed a four-year, $104 million contract with the New England Patriots — the largest amount given to any free agent last offseason and the most in franchise history. He said he knew it would have been difficult for Roseman to match, but to him, the silence was deafening.

    Milton Williams (93) helped terrorize Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX in his final game as an Eagle.

    “I wanted to see, like, what the interest was,” Williams said. “I had been there four years, giving all I can, playing hurt, putting my body on the line. It wasn’t business. I wanted to see what they had, but they probably knew I was out of their price range.

    “Still, an offer would have [meant] maybe they do want me to come back. No offer is ‘We good.’”

    Roseman had difficult decisions to make last offseason, particularly on the defensive line. The Eagles allowed end Josh Sweat and Williams to depart in free agency, with three first-round D-linemen slated for eventual pay increases.

    Tackles Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis have yet to sign second contracts, but extensions could come this offseason. The Eagles also had the younger Moro Ojomo, a 2023 seventh-round pick, waiting in the wings.

    But for Williams and his father, Milton, Sr., the lack of an offer was a slight.

    “What pissed me off [is] they didn’t even offer him, offered nothing,” the elder Williams told The Inquirer. “They didn’t even entertain it. They just straight up told him — Howie Roseman said, ‘Milton, go get the bag, man, because we’re not going to be able to pay you.’

    “That’s what he said to my son. … My son — it was like he wanted to cry. He said, ‘Dad, all I do …’ I said, ‘I understand, son. It’s a business. You’ll get yourself something.’”

    Milton Williams (93) expected the Eagles to tender him an offer, but the team addressed other priorities.

    The younger Williams got plenty. But he desired more than just to increase his bank account balance, his father said. He wanted to be wanted by the organization that drafted him in 2021. Williams felt he never got the opportunity to show his abilities because he always had higher draft picks or high-priced free agents ahead of him.

    “They had their agenda. They drafted them boys in the first round and invested a lot of money in them boys,” Williams said. “I was a third-round pick, and they didn’t invest as much in me. That’s what I tell [my teammates], in the NFL it’s all about money. Money makes everything go. That’s how you see who’s going to play and what percentage of snaps.

    “It’s all about money, and I wasn’t making that much.”

    Williams is making a lot now. At $26 million per year, he’s behind only the Chiefs’ Chris Jones among NFL defensive tackles. The larger salary meant more playing time, but also more responsibility and more pressure.

    The Eagles didn’t return to the Super Bowl. But Sam Howell will be there to support his best friend, Drake Maye.

    The 26-year old has met and exceeded those expectations, according to most observers. He was at the center of the Patriots’ remarkable one-year turnaround — led by new coach Mike Vrabel — from basement-dwellers to the cusp of winning a championship.

    Williams is one of only three players on the team to have previously won a title and he would become just the fifth player in NFL history to win consecutive crowns with different teams if New England upsets the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday in Super Bowl LX.

    “About three weeks ago, Coach Vrabel asked everybody in the organization, ‘Who here was in this situation last year in the playoffs?’” Milton Williams Sr. said. “And my son was the only one to raise his hand in the entire organization — nobody, coaches, staff — nobody else in the playoffs.

    “That was powerful right there. And now they’re in the Super Bowl.”

    Milton Williams (97) and linebacker Christian Elliss (53) are two former Eagles who have helped turn the Patriots around.

    ‘He’s a grinder’

    Williams admitted that he initially felt some pressure when he inked his deal, which included $51 million guaranteed. But the Patriots had done their homework. Vrabel said he knew a lot about Williams’ character from pre-draft evaluations the Titans did when he was in Tennessee.

    “We did a lot of work on him coming out of the draft … and the type of person that he was, and the family that he’s come from,” Vrabel said Monday. “So we knew the person that we were going to get, and we were confident that he was somebody that we were going to add to our roster.”

    But it wasn’t until the Patriots actually got Williams in the building that they realized how hard he worked.

    “It was most surprising the more I’ve been around him,” defensive line coach Clint McMillan said. “There’s a lot of talented players, but how he’s wired is the thing that I was most excited about. He’s a grinder. He puts his nose down, and he keeps working. He’s never satisfied.”

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    Williams wasted little time making his presence felt. He had seven pressures in the season opener, according to NextGen Stats, and 32 total through 10 games with a 13% pressure rate that was among the best at his position.

    But he suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 11 and missed the next five games. It was first time he had been sidelined by injury in his career. The Patriots suffered as a result, particularly in defending the run. When Williams was in the lineup, they held offenses to just 3.7 yards per carry. When he was out, they allowed an NFL-worst 5.0-yard average.

    “It was a big change because a lot of guys [offensive game-planners] were focused on where I was at,” Patriots defensive tackle and Neumann Goretti product Christian Barmore said of Williams’ absence. “But when he came back, it was an epic time because that man right there, he’s a good player. We already knew he brought a spark to our defense.”

    He’s elevated his performance in the postseason and had four pressures and two quarterback hits in the AFC championship game vs. the Broncos. He told The Inquirer that he was randomly tested for drugs after the game.

    “We don’t do drugs, man,” Milton Williams Sr. said. “We don’t do drugs right here. We work, man.”

    Vrabel has used Williams like a chess piece up front, having him swap sides in the interior and even occasionally jump out to the edge. Roseman highlighted Williams’ versatility when he drafted the Louisiana Tech prospect who lit up the NFL combine almost five years ago.

    But the majority of his snaps in Philly came at right defensive tackle because Fletcher Cox and Carter preferred to rush primarily from the left. Williams also wasn’t asked to take on a leadership role with the Eagles. He’s had to learn on the job in New England.

    “I was never the guy that you would come ask questions,” Williams said. “We had other vets on our team who had done it before. I’m only 26, but I’m one of vets in the room because of my experience playing — it’s crazy.

    “I’m just trying to spread the knowledge like some of the vets in Philly did when I was there.”

    Williams endured a slow start to Eagles career to eventually become a Super Bowl hero.

    ‘Make plays on this stage, it’ll change your life’

    Williams had some struggles as a rookie, and he and the team faced criticism because he was drafted just one pick after Alim McNeill, a bigger-bodied defensive tackle who became a high-impact rookie with the Detroit Lions. Senior scout Tom Donahoe preferred McNeill, and the Eagles were in position to draft him but traded down from No. 70 to No. 73 in exchange for a sixth-round pick. McNeill went 72nd, and the Eagles took Williams 73rd. Donahoe, who left the team in 2022, was caught by TV cameras begrudgingly shaking Roseman’s hand in the draft room after the pick was made.

    Roseman’s projection panned out, and Williams became one of the league’s more explosive interior rushers and a high-motor guy. But he often felt idle.

    “He would get frustrated because he was like, ‘Dad, I’m putting in my work,’” Milton Williams Sr. said. “I’ve been at practice before, and I see these guys and they can’t finish a drill and land on their backs or whatnot. And I see that, and he finished the drill and got 15, 20 seconds left still.

    “And I said, ‘I understand. But you know what? Whenever you’re on the field, make them call your name. Bottom line.’ That’s our saying right there: ‘If they’re calling your name on the field, that means you’re doing something.’”

    But when the Eagles extended their first- and second-round draft picks from 2021 — wide receiver DeVonta Smith and guard Landon Dickerson — after their third seasons, Williams wasn’t next in line. He thought he would be.

    “I was waiting. I was in the last year of my deal. I’m like, ‘It’s now or never,’” Williams said. “Every time I step out on the field, if I wanted to be there I was making sure I was making plays. But I was also putting out good tape for a situation like this.

    “If they don’t want me to sign [early], I was going to change that, and watch me be a professional and get better every year as a player.”

    Milton Williams (93) struggled at times as a rookie but would vindicate the Eagles’ decision to select him in the third round.

    Williams said he watched the Eagles regress without him this season. Their issues were many, but mostly on the offensive side. Williams said he kept in touch with various players and coaches and that Brandon Graham recently reached out to tell him he was proud of him.

    The Patriots have leaned on Williams’ knowledge of Super Bowl week since he had experienced it twice previously. Vrabel put together a roster of underdogs. Williams may be the highest-paid, but he knows how it feels to be overlooked.

    “We got a lot of guys who got released because they thought they weren’t good enough or they wanted to go in another direction,” Williams said. “So they got a lot of stuff in the back of their minds to motivate them and push them. ‘OK, you didn’t think I was good enough? I’ll show you.’ You make plays on this stage, it’ll change your life.

    “I did it.”

    unCovering the Birds, Season 2 Episode 2: Running up That Hill

    The journey started in Crowley, Texas, about a 20-minute drive south of Fort Worth. At Bicentennial Park, Williams would run hills with his father. He still goes back there to maintain the hunger he first had when he felt disregarded.

    “He’s had a chip on his shoulder all his life, from little league on up,” Milton Williams Sr. said. “He’s not the rah-rah type person. He’s just going to put the work in. And now that people are finally seeing what he can do, he’s just working. It ain’t over. They ain’t seen nothing.

    “They haven’t seen anything yet.”