PHILADELPHIA — Hours after a video surfaced of him saying everything outside of his home life is a “shit show.” Eagles recipient AJ Brown got to the root of my disappointment.
In comments to the media at his locker late Wednesday, Brown said his frustration was with Philadelphia's offense as a whole, not his own situation.
And he doesn't apologize for his words.
“It's not just my situation. I want to win too,” he said. “I think if we're really focused on winning and doing our job, we can't just keep putting Band-Aids on the defense doing its job and getting us out of trouble. At what point are we going to compensate for our weakness as an offense?
“That's what I'm getting at. It's not a case of “I don't care about winning, I only care about stats.” No. Week after week we sometimes didn't do our job offensively. You can't keep putting a Band-Aid on it and expect to win at the end of the year and think you'll make it at the end of the year. There's no way in hell this is going to happen.”
Brown was attacked three times on Monday. victory with a score of 10-7 over Green Bay Packers and finished with two catches for 13 yards.
On Wednesday morning, a video surfaced of streamer JankyRondo playing a Madden game. At one point, the gamer asked Brown if everything was okay.
“I mean, no,” Brown responded. “Where have you been? The family is good. Everything else is not. It's a shit show.”
Asked about the video Wednesday, Brown said he was “just talking to my friend, having fun with him. I don't apologize for this. Because if you have eyes, you can see it. I didn't throw anyone under the bus. I'm literally trying to laugh at this shit.”
“This shit is hard. But I try to laugh at the situation so I can try to get through it.”
Speaking earlier Wednesday, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he didn't think Brown's continued airing of his displeasure was a distraction for the team.
“No, I don’t think so,” Sirianni said. “You can only go by your interactions with everyone and how they do their jobs on a daily basis, which you guys can't see. But no, this is common.”
Brown has 31 catches for 408 yards and three touchdowns in eight games this season. He's on pace to finish with 867 receiving yards, which would be a career low.
The defending Super Bowl champions rank 25th in the NFL in passing yards (191.7) and 12th in points per game (24.2). Third down violation was also an issue; they are in 27th place with a conversion rate of 42.4% and completed three or more on 41% of their trips, which ranks 28th.
“Last year it was the same, thanks for the ring, but it’s a new season,” Brown said. “They adapted, we have to adapt, and we have to continue to get better and find new ways. That's where the frustration comes in… Yeah, I want to win and also contribute and do my thing offensively. I think that's fair.”
“Last year was like that, thanks for the ring, but this is a new season. They adapted, we must adapt, and we must continue to get better and find new ways. That's where the frustration comes in… Yeah, I want to win and also contribute and do my thing offensively. I think that's fair.”
Eagles WR AJ Brown
Brown has expressed his frustration on social media multiple times this season, including after wins.
Sirianni was asked how he could reconcile his statement that it was “business as usual” with the recipient when his latest comments seem to contradict that.
“I’m close to answering these questions,” Sirianni said. “He works hard and is a big part of this game plan. [for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions] and he will be an important part of the game plan going forward. He works like crazy when he’s here and I’m really glad I have him.”
Likewise, Eagles defensive end Jalen Hurts closed down questions about Brown after several media inquiries Wednesday.
“We have the Detroit Lions.” [this week]so I’m definitely going to put an end to it,” he said. “The more we do it, the more distracting it becomes. And I think at the end of the day it's about the group.”
The Eagles took a conservative approach Monday night, especially on third-and-long, which turned into a defensive struggle against the Packers. Brown was targeted only twice in the game's first 59 minutes before Hurts hit him with a deep pass on fourth-and-6 from the Packers' 35-yard line that went incomplete. This gave Green Bay a chance to tie the game, but… Brandon McManusThe 64-yard attempt fell wide of the mark, and Philadelphia continued to improve to 7–2.
“If you look at how the game went, there were a lot of games that were going to be [Brown] but for various reasons, no,” Sirianni said. – For example, [DeVonta Smith]touchdown, this play goes to AJ; they took him and [Hurts] threw it from above. You can't look at the statistics and just say this is what's happening. You can't paint a picture that way.
“AJ Brown is one of the best receivers in the NFL, so of course we try to get him in the game every time.”
