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It seemed like the Philadelphia Eagles were dealing with some internal turmoil in the wake of their loss to the Cardinals last weekend. That includes a report that suggested AJ Brown was butting heads with the coaching staff, but the wide receiver has made it very clear that is not the case.
It initially appeared the Eagles had picked up where they left off after managing to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl last season, but things took a turn for the worse after they were blown out by the 49ers on their home turf in Week 13.
Philly has already clinched a playoff spot and heads into its regular season finale with the Giants sporting an 11-5 record, but it’s lost four of its last five games—which includes the aforementioned defeat at the hands of an Arizona squad that seemingly had no business beating them on paper.
Brown was only targeted a single time in the second half of that contest and was visibly frustrated on the sideline toward the end of the game (he also declined to field questions from reporters who gathered around his locker in the wake of the loss).
On Monday, Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article where he asserted a growing feud between the wideout and Nick Sirianni (as well as other members of the coaching staff) was “tearing the team apart,” and on Tuesday, Brown hopped online to suggest he was gearing up to address that claim.
He did exactly that on Wednesday and, well, it’s pretty hard to believe there’s any real beef based on what he had to say while addressing the media.
AJ Brown goes into detail about the final play in Seattle
Says the players improvised that long pass that resulted in an INT. Then Sirianni took full blame to protect the players. Says he really respects that
“I have nothing but respect for him” #Eagles pic.twitter.com/MXvvL1Bc81
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) January 3, 2024
Brown said “I have nothing but respect for him” while praising Sirianni for taking the blame for falling on his sword in situations where players actually deserved to be blamed for screwing something up, and he also made it clear offensive coordinator Brian Johnson has his full support.
During another portion of the exchange, he acknowledged he’s frustrated with the current state of affairs. However, he questioned why he was being singled out when plenty of his teammates are (understandably) not thrilled with what’s transpired over the past month or so while noting that he and his fellow players have routinely let their coaches down by failing to properly execute the game plan.
Do the Eagles still have some work to do? Absolutely, but based on his comments, there’s not as much drama unfolding behind the scenes as some people would lead you to believe.