Mike Florio ,
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The drama surrounding the Eagles offense continues.
On Thursday, receiver A.J. Brown met with reporters. And one of them asked him a fairly loaded question.
“There’s been speculation out there that you are not the player you once were,” the reporter said. “What would you say to those people?”
Smiling, Brown respond with this: “ I guess Saquon [Barkley] ain’t the same player either then .”
Brown then shook his head and muttered a few things, including (we think) “I don’t care about that.”
No one has credibly questioned Brown’s abilities. Nor can they. When he gets the ball, he does what he has always done. He continues to be virtually uncoverable, when facing single coverage.
The issues run far deeper than whether Brown has lost something. The only thing he’s lost is patience, for whatever is causing the Eagles’ offense to stagnate. And he has dared to speak out, in an effort to improve the offense.
Recently, quarterback Jalen Hurts has become the focal point of the external scrutiny, based on reporting from Derrick Gunn that Hurts is essentially ignoring the requirements of the play that has been called and instead playing “ his game .” Is it a coincidence that, with the attention finally turning to Hurts, someone is speculating that maybe Brown isn’t as good as he used to be?
It feels like this slowly-simmering pot is getting closer to a boil. Mmaybe the situation finally needs to bubble over before anyone will truly know what has caused the apparent rift between Brown and Hurts, and whether it can ever be repaired.
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