NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
The Philadelphia Eagles are riding a 9-game winning streak following their Week 14 victory over the Carolina Panthers. However, what transpired after the game is getting all the headlines. Receiver AJ Brown spoke to reporters at his locker and stated that the passing game of the Eagles must improve.
While Brown may be correct in his assessment, what was said should have been left for the locker room or in a group text. That was not meant for the media. Something like that is what can cripple a team, especially one that is on the hunt for the No. 1 seed in the NFC and one that is blood at as a Super Bowl contender.
We can take it a step further and focus on what happened last season. Brown was at the head of some of the dysfunction concerning the team that led to that awful collapse at the tail end of 2024. And yet, here we are again with Brown and now DeVonta Smith.
For decades, we have all heard the stories of WRs being divas. In Brown’s case, he always thinks he’s open even when he’s not. But this team is not the Dallas Cowboys or even the Cincinnati Bengals. This team is in the hunt. They are playing for something that Malik Nabers or JaMarr Chase are not.
Brown has caught 48 passes for 836 yards and 4 TDs in 10 games this season. He missed 3 due to injury but yet, his yards are still respectable. But that’s not to say that they shouldn’t be better. Take the last 3 games. Brown caught 15 passes on 17 targets. With a player making as much money as he is, Brown wants to be involved more. Can’t blame him for that.
But Brown must look at the bigger picture here. His team is fighting for a Super Bowl. They are in the midst of one hell of a winning streak while trying to remove the stink of what happened last season off their uniforms and resume. Adding this type of drama is not a veteran thing to do nor do it publicly.
Smith has been quiet his career, he’s not one to get involved in the press like that so him saying that the Philadelphia Eagles also need to improve in their passing attack is drawing more eyebrows. And that’s due to the influence that Brown has on the young playmaker. Nick Sirianni has to fix this and he has to fix it fast.
As an Eagles fan, Brown and Smith are not fully wrong in their assessment. I’ve said this plenty of times, Jalen Hurts is not the QB for Brown or Smith. He’s not the same as Matthew Stafford or Jared Goff. He doesn’t have the arm strength or accuracy that the top pocket passes possess. Put Joe Burrow on the Eagles team and Brown and Smith will have Hall-of-Fame numbers. The Eagles offense is built around the talents of Hurts, not the other way around.
Saquon Barkley is having an MVP year. He’s the bread and butter of the offense. Kellen Moore used to be known as a pass-happy OC but with Barkley in town, he changed his approach. But to be fair to everyone, the Philadelphia Eagles receivers have been injured which forced Moore to rely on the run a bit more than he normally does. Even now, Dallas Goedert is out and Moore will have to go back to the drawing board and find a way to get his high-profile receivers the ball more.
But we can’t ignore the role that Hurts plays in all of this. His field vision is awful. He will go through his progressions quickly and then take off. Hurts is just as much to blame as anyone but why stir up something in the middle of a great winning streak like this? Brown has been in the NFL and Philly long enough to know what his words will and can do. The media is going to run wild with this and for a locker room still dealing with lingering issues, this was not a smart move.
