Eagles fans embarrassed themselves and their team by doing the "Wave" while an injured player was being loaded onto a stretcher to be carted off the field.

It's a great feeling to see football back on the TV screen with the NFL preseason. However, the return of games also brings reminders of what a violent sport that football is. The risks remain high for every player that puts on pads and a helmet.

On Thursday night, Eagles wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland suffered a serious-looking injury while coming down hard on his helmet. He stayed down on his stomach for several minutes with trainers and had to be carted off the field.

While Philadelphia teammates and Browns players surrounded the cart that took Cleveland off the field, most people were playing for the most positive outcome possible. And they eventually got it. The Eagles confirmed that Cleveland suffered a neck injury while revealing that he has movement in all his extremities.

Unfortunately, fans in the stands didn't take the potentially career-threatening injury as seriously as you'd expect them to.

Eagles fans did the "Wave" while injured player was down

Players put their bodies on the line, literally, whenever they take the field. Every fan should have immense respect for the personal risk those men take on. The least fans can do is treat injuries with the appropriate respect.

This wasn't even a rival player — though that wouldn't have changed the inappropriateness of the Wave — this was an Eagles player being carted off the field. There's a right way to act when a player is down and the fans in Philadelphia did the opposite.

Unfortunately, Cleveland's injury wasn't the only player who had to be carted off on Thursday. In the fourth quarter, Moro Ojomo also suffered an injury that required him to be placed on a stretcher and carted off the field. There was no sign of The Wave during that one at least.