The sky is falling in Philadelphia, with the Eagles losing four of their past five games, including Sunday’s collapse at home to Arizona.
The losses wiped out a shot at the NFC’s No. 1 seed and surrendered control of the NFC East title to Dallas. Philly is staring at the possibility of three road games to get back to the Super Bowl unless it beats the New York Giants on Sunday and gets help from the Washington Commanders.
Amid the struggles, A.J. Brown‘s production has waned. After generating an NFL-record six straight games with 125-plus receiving yards from Weeks 3-8, Brown has only had one game with 100-plus receiving yards since Week 9. The down-trending play has led Brown to eschew speaking to reporters in recent weeks as frustration builds — although he announced on social media that he will speak Wednesday.
This week, head coach Nick Sirianni conceded that the entire team is frustrated with the club’s recent performance, as Philly struggles to overcome its own shortcomings.
In the defeat on Sunday, Brown completed four catches for 53 yards, of which only one catch was for 18 yards in the second half. Brian Johnson, the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, attributed Brown’s few targets to the Cardinals’ control of the clock and the Eagles’ limited plays in the last two quarters. However, he conceded that there are times when the ball simply needs to be given to your key players.
“Johnson stated on Tuesday, as per the team’s official transcript, that A.J. is an exceptional player. He emphasized the need to occasionally push the ball towards him to ensure he gets into the game,”
With Brown visibly frustrated following the losses, talk of malcontent from the star wideout has begun buzzing around Philly. But offensive lineman Jordan Mailata rejected the idea that Brown is a bad leader, noting that the wideout organized a team escape room outing to help build camaraderie amid the skid.
“A.J. has been great, he’s been phenomenal. A couple days before the game … we had a whole team, escape room thing going on where most of the guys showed just to build camaraderie,” Mailata said Tuesday on WIP. “He’s been great behind the scenes. That was A.J. The team helped facilitate the bookings. All this talk about A.J. not being leader…you guys don’t know him like we do. He’s a great leader, man”
Somewhere in there is a joke about all of the Eagle’s best moves being trapped in the escape room.
Brown, as a leader, must undoubtedly be frustrated by his largely passive role during the Eagles’ difficulties. A crucial drive late on Sunday followed a penalty, with Philly’s play calls initially consisting of a first-and-20 quarterback run, followed by a second-and-16 quarterback run, and a third-and-19 running back screen. The Eagles implemented a conservative strategy to secure a field goal, which in the end backfired. Arizona had ample time to drive for the touchdown that won the game.
Johnson admitted that getting Brown more involved in the offense is key to Sunday’s finale against the Giants and into the postseason.
“A.J. is an exceptional player who commands considerable defensive attention,” stated Johnson. “He’s been having an extraordinary year so far. I believe he’s still on track for a record-breaking year. A.J. is a person who commands immense trust and respect from everyone in this building. It’s our responsibility to ensure he gets the ball, and I specifically need to do an excellent job at delivering it to him.”
Brown ranks third in the NFL with 1,447 receiving yards in 2023, trailing only Tyreek Hill and CeeDee Lamb. The Eagles wideout needs 50 more receiving yards in Week 18 to break the single-season Philly record he set last season.
