Winners of nine straight, in line to potentially clinch the NFC East on Sunday, the Eagles should presumably be preparing for Week 15 with nothing but clear skies ahead.
Instead, following the narrowest of victories over the three-win Carolina Panthers that included just 108 passing yards by Jalen Hurts, a touch of turbulence was introduced when the the friendship between Hurts and his top wideout, A.J. Brown, was called into question.
In the locker room following the win, Brown appeared frustrated, rightfully identifying "passing" as the area the offense needs to improve on and saying there isn't much conversation between he and Hurts to rectify things in-game.
Defensive end Brandon Graham accidentally escalated things on Monday by telling that the two were friends but "things have changed," before later that night clarifying to that he assumed incorrectly about their friendship and made a mistake, also saying that he had apologized to both and didn't intend to be divisive.
Now head coach Nick Sirianni, also speaking to 94WIP on Tuesday, has added his two cents.
"All I can judge things on is what I see on a daily basis," Sirianni said, . "When I see A.J. and Jalen communicating about the game plan, eating lunch together every single day, praying with each other before the game. There's going to be speculation, and I get it -- rightfully so based on what has happened the last couple of days -- but all you can do is judge what you see."
He also disputed any notion that Brown's blunt postgame analysis, the genesis of all the drama since, was pointing the blame at Hurts.
"I didn't take it that way," Sirianni said. "You can do anything and spin it any way. I took it as we want to get better as a passing attack. A.J. is part of the passing attack. And so, we all want to be better at it.
"Jalen and A.J. are both really outstanding people and both really outstanding players. I love that our players are wanting to get better and desire to get better, and that's what we talk about all of the time -- is how we get better and be able to do things that are special."
And it's indeed been a special season for the Eagles overall, as Philly currently sits at 11-2, in charge of the NFC East with a shot at the conference's top seed. The team's main shortcoming, though, has undoubtedly been the passing offense. The introduction of Saquon Barkley has propelled the Eagles' rushing attack to tops in the NFL, and they boast the league's second-ranked scoring defense that's been brutal for opponents in both the rushing (ranked eighth) and passing game (second).
However, Philadelphia is languishing at 31st in passing, and although Brown has had a fine year with 48 catches for 836 yards and four touchdowns, he's coming off a four-catch, 43-yard performance. Both those numbers represent his second-lowest marks in 2024. His four targets against Carolina tied for his lowest. Plus, after starting the season with a TD in each of his first three games, Brown has gone scoreless in six of his past seven.
Nonetheless, the Eagles are winning. In many cases, they're winning comfortably: over half of their victories during their winning streak have come by eight points or more, with the lone eight-pointer taking place only due to a last-second score by the Commanders.
It makes the out-of-nowhere blip slightly confusing, but such success also gives Sirianni confidence there's no collapse on the horizon as there was during the 2023 campaign.
Those Eagles lost six of their final seven, including a wild-card round blowout. These Eagles haven't fallen since September and look far more assured in most of their wins. They should be able quiet the distracting narrative if they score yet another win against the visiting Steelers on Sunday -- especially if it involves some big-time shots from Hurts to Brown.
"Based off of what happened the last couple of days, [there's talk of] 'Oh, man, there's a little 2023 vibes.' I see a lot of 2022 vibes," Sirianni said. "I just see joy.
"You can look at what you see in one week, but I'm looking at the big picture and, again, I see it as everybody wants to get better."
