Regan Keo missed perhaps the biggest play of his son’s NFL career.
Regan had to leave his home in Woodinville for work just before the end of the AFC Championship Game two Sundays ago. That meant he wasn’t in front of the television when his son Shiloh, an Archbishop Murphy High School graduate, made the game-clinching onside-kick recovery, allowing his Denver Broncos to defeat the New England Patriots 20-18 to earn a trip to the Super Bowl.
“I had to go to work the last 12 seconds and didn’t get to see it,” Regan said. “Everyone at my job was coming up to me and telling me about it. I didn’t get a first-chance look at it like everybody else, but I needed to see it.”
Fortunately for Regan, his wife Diana had recorded it. And even though Regan may not have seen Shiloh’s big moment live, he and Diana couldn’t be more thrilled about their son’s opportunity to play in the Super Bowl.
“We are so proud of him,” Diana said. “He wanted to play football his whole life, he’s worked so hard, overcome injuries, just a lot of things to get to this point. He just stuck with it, he worked hard, and we’re proud of him.”
Shiloh is the current pride of the Keo family as he and the Broncos head to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday to face the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.
“Every bit of this is so overwhelming to me, my wife and all our family,” Regan said. “This is big time, not just for him but the whole family.
“There’s too much excitement in the air.”
Indeed, the whole community is showing its support for Shiloh, who as a running back and defensive back led Archbishop Murphy to the 2A state semifinals in 2004 and the 2A state championship game in 2005. A big congratulatory photo of Shiloh, showing him both as a Bronco and a Wildcat, was posted on Archbishop Murphy’s Facebook page.
Shiloh is even receiving national press attention because of the unique way in which he wound up with the Broncos. Shiloh, who was selected by the Houston Texans in the fifth round of the 2011 draft following a stellar collegiate career as a safety at the University of Idaho, hadn’t appeared in an NFL game for nearly two years when December began. He was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals during the offseason, but was cut just before the season began as he was hindered by a hamstring injury. For three months he was in Boise keeping himself in shape and hoping to get a call from an NFL team.
That’s when he came up with a proactive and creative way of pitching himself. He reached out to Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who held that position with the Texans when Shiloh played for Houston, over Twitter. A friendly exchange took place, and a week later Denver signed Shiloh to help fill the gaps in an injury-ravaged secondary.
“Wade coached (Shiloh) in the East-West Shrine Game,” Diana said. “From there (Phillips) really liked him, he liked work ethic and how he was willing to do anything. He was drafted and played four years for him. When Wade left he got released, so getting back together with Wade was great because he really liked him as a coach. We’re just so happy as parents that Wade remembered him and thought enough of him, both as a person and a player, that he wanted to pick him up late in the season. We’re thrilled Shiloh thought about reaching out that way.”
Shiloh played in Denver’s final four games of the regular season, making 22 tackles and coming up with a key interception in the Broncos’ season-ending 27-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers, helping assure Denver home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.
Regan may not have caught Shiloh’s big play in the AFC Championship Game live, but he and his wife are going to see every moment of Shiloh’s big game. Shiloh arranged for Regan and Diana to fly to San Francisco on Thursday morning to attend Sunday’s Super Bowl. Another group of about 15 family members is driving to Santa Clara to tailgate at Levi’s Stadium before the game.
“After the (AFC Championship Game) he called his dad and said he was going to fly us down, he’d take care of everything,” Diana said. “We were speechless. We’re just so honored that he would do something like that for us. So we’re looking forward to being there to watch the game and take in the atmosphere.
“We have really just tried to keep it low key,” Diana added. “We don’t want to make him nervous or anything. We’re just exchanging information about the trip, just looking forward to being with each other. He’s looking forward to spending some time with us. We know he’s really trying to stay focused and concentrate on what he has to concentrate on for the game. We’re just happy to share this time with him.”
Things have been less low key for Diana and Regan, who have received an unending stream of well wishes for Shiloh,
“We get phone calls every day constantly, and it’s overwhelming,” Regan said. “All through the day and the night we get calls from everyone, from family to teammates from college and high school.
“I’m ear-to-ear grinning and it’s hard to get rid of it.”
Added Diana: “I know the whole community and anybody who wants to claim him, we’re just really happy he’s been able to inspire people and make people enjoy the game so much more because they’re from the same town or went to the same school. He’s happy to do that for everybody.”
Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson
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