Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Nick Sirianni, near the end of his Wednesday afternoon press conference, said he is “close to being done answering these questions” about A.J. Brown. Perhaps the Eagles coach should take his umbrage to his star receiver. There was a bit of déjà vu to it all. The Eagles won a game where Brown had little involvement, and Brown, before the Eagles even got back on the practice field to prepare for their next game, caused a stir. Brown was targeted three times Monday, and not at all after the Eagles’ first drive until their last offensive play, a failed and questionable fourth-down throw. He has previously this season turned to his own social media page and post-game comments in the locker room to express himself after last season voicing his displeasure with the passing game and his involvement in it to reporters after games. This time around, it was a live stream with gamer Janky Rondo. Brown was asked by Rondo during a game of Madden if everything was good with him. “No, where have you been?” Brown responded. “Family’s good, yeah. Everything else, no. It’s a s— show." “If you got me in fantasy, get rid of me,” Brown said later. » READ MORE: What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 11 vs. the Lions Brown, playing the video game with the Eagles, later threw himself the football and said: “Let’s show him some love. Good things happen when he gets touches.” And later, after looking at his stats from the video game, Brown said: “That’s the only highlight of the damn football I’ve been living right now.” The Eagles, of course, are 7-2 and the top seed in the NFC. Yet the season has been marked by Brown-related drama during multiple weeks, much of it created by the player himself. The Eagles are winning games despite Brown being on pace to have his first sub-1,000-yard season during a season in which he plays more than 13 games (assuming he plays at least five more). Monday marked the fourth time in eight games Brown was held under 30 receiving yards. He made a cryptic social media post after a win in Tampa Bay in Week 4, when he had two catches for seven yards, and another after a win in Minnesota in Week 7, when he had four catches for 121 yards and two scores. The Eagles locker room will be open later Wednesday for the first time since Brown’s comments on the livestream, and it remains to be seen if Brown will be at his locker stall to further explain himself. But is any of this becoming a distraction? “No, I don’t think so,” Sirianni said. “You can only go from your interactions with everybody and the way they go about their work on a daily basis that you guys aren’t able to see. But, no, it’s business as usual.” Even if it doesn’t seem like it? “He’s working hard and he is a big part of this game plan and will be a big part of the game plan going forward and he’s working like crazy when he’s here and I’m excited to have him,” Sirianni said. » READ MORE: The Eagles aren’t perfect, but they are pretty great. If only everyone around here could learn to enjoy it. Why, then, was Brown not targeted after the first drive until the Eagles’ final offensive play of the game? “If you look at the game and how the game went, there’s a lot of plays in that game that are going to him that for different reasons don’t,” Sirianni said. “For instance, [DeVonta Smith’s] touchdown, that play is going to A.J. They took it away and [Jalen Hurts] threw it over the top. You can’t look at stats … you can’t paint the picture that way. I know that sometimes is all the information you that you guys may have, but you can’t look at it that way and just say here’s how the game is playing out. “There are reasons and different things. A.J. Brown is one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, so of course we’re trying to get him involved in the game every single time. Sometimes it goes like it did in the Rams game or the Vikings game, and sometimes it goes like it did in this last game.” It has often been the latter; seemingly too often for Brown’s satisfaction. Until that changes, Brown’s comments on a live stream won’t be shocking, they’ll be predictable, and his coach will continue to be asked the necessary questions that he’s growing tired of answering.
