The Salvation Army is getting a flurry of extra exposure today for its holiday fund-raising efforts.

And it can thank an unlikely source for all the free attention.

The Dallas Cowboys have long placed an oversized version of the Salvation Army’s red holiday kettle on its sideline to remind fans of the organization’s annual holiday campaign.

The kettle is usually seen briefly in the background during telecasts of Cowboys’ games, providing subtle advertising for the charity.

But in Sunday’s NFL game between the Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, the huge kettle became the center of the action.

While running out of bounds after attempting to chase down an incomplete pass, Reggie Brown, the Eagles’s wide receiver, decided to jump into the kettle.

A replay of Mr. Brown’s impromptu move was shown repeatedly during Fox Sports’ telecast of the game — and showed up across the country on television sports shows such as ESPN’s SportsCenter.

But the attention did not end there.

A YouTube clip of the play has been getting lots of visibility today on sports-themed blogs such as FanHouse, Faniq.com, FanNation, and the Transplanted Philly Fan.

“Against the Cowboys on Sunday, Eagles wide receiver Reggie Brown had four catches for 35 yards — including the game’s only touchdown. But his niftiest move of the afternoon came on an incomplete pass behind Dallas’ bench,” wrote Ryan Wilson on FanHouse. “It’s not every day you seen an NFL player end up in the world’s largest Salvation Army collection bucket.”

You can view the play in question here: