The Philadelphia Eagles will not be repeating as Super Bowl champions this year, as they suffered a 23-19 loss to Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. Jalen Hurts had a chance to lead a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t move the chains on a fourth-and-11 at the 49ers’ 21-yard line.
Wide receiver A.J. Brown was a major storyline in this matchup, as he caught three of seven targets for just 25 yards and did not make a catch in the final three quarters. Brown also had a couple of uncharacteristic drops and had to be separated from coach Nick Sirianni late in the first half following one of those drops on a third down.
Check out what happened:
At the halftime break, Sirianni told sideline reporter Erin Andrews, “Emotions, they run high especially in the playoffs.” After the game, Sirianni told reporters that he ran down the sideline towards Brown in an attempt to get him off the field since they were about to punt the ball away. This was also hypothesized by NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo.
“I love A.J., I think he knows how I feel about him,” Sirianni said after the game. “I have a special relationship with him. We’ve probably went through every emotion you can possibly have together. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve yelled at each other, we’re both emotional.”
While Sirianni spoke to reporters following the conclusion of Philly’s season, Brown did not. Brown hugged his teammates in the locker room and then left without taking questions, per the Philly Voice.
What happened Sunday very well could have rubbed the Eagles’ fan base the wrong way. Brown has been critical of Philly’s offense multiple times this year, and then did not produce with the season on the line.
In November, Brown said on a live stream that he had been struggling and joked that fantasy football players should drop him. When streamer jankyrondo asked Brown how he was, he said this:
“No. Where have you been?” Brown replied with a laugh. “Family’s good. Everything else? No. It’s a shit show. You on some ‘How you been?’ I’ve been struggling, brother.”
What’s more, Brown did not back down from those comments when asked about them in the locker room the very next day.
“I think that’s fair. I think if you’ve got eyes, you can see that,” Brown said. “The same things I’ve been saying all season. So me making light of my situation on Twitch with my friend, that’s something I’m not apologizing for, you know? Because like I said, if you’ve got eyes, you can see that. Shoot, that’s me trying to laugh through my situation.”
Brown maintained that the source of his frustration was not about targets, but about the efficiency of the unit at large.
“I think if we’re really focused on winning and doing our job, we can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble,” Brown said. “At what point are we going to pick up our slack as an offense? We’re so great, and that’s what I’m getting at. It’s not about I don’t care about winning or all I care about is stats. No. It’s been week after week — sometimes we’re not doing our job on offense. So you can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over that and expect to win late in the year — it’s not going to happen.
“Last year, what it was, thank you for the ring, but it’s a new season. They adapted. We have to adapt and continue to get better and try to find new ways. That’s where the frustration comes in. It’s not about winning, you guys. I want to win, yes. I want to help contribute as well, do our thing on offense as well. I think that’s fair.”
In 15 regular-season games this year, Brown caught 78 passes for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns. He has topped 1,000 receiving yards in all four of his seasons with the Eagles, but this year’s 1,003 marked his lowest total in Philadelphia. Brown got his fair share of targets Sunday but did not capitalize.
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