Philadelphia's last month has been dreadful, so much that they've been forced to look inward to make sense of matters in Week 18.
It's not a good time for that, not with the postseason right around the corner. But growth comes from uncomfortable situations, and A.J. Brown has certainly been in some of those as of late.
Brown has receded into the shadows in the biggest moments of the Eagles' last month, not entirely by his own doing, but as a result of Philadelphia's offensive dysfunction. Both head coach Nick Sirianni and offensive coordinator Brian Johnson have admitted they're frustrated and need to create more opportunities for Brown to make a difference. Brown, meanwhile, has declined to speak to reporters while in such a displeased state, fueling a new narrative in which Brown is featured as a malcontent.
Brown attempted to clear the air on Wednesday.
"Honestly, the reason why I didn't speak to the media after the game was because I didn't want to be negative," Brown told reporters from the Eagles locker room. "I had already transitioned to the mindset that we're going through a tough time, and so me personally, the person I am, I just have to go back to work. Ain't nothing I can do about it. And like I said after the game, I was raised if I had nothing nice to say, I'm not going to say nothing at all. So I'm not just about to compound the negative with the negative.
"So you guys can write more negative stuff. You guys watch the games, too, you guys already know. That's why I was like there's nothing more than I can say – I'm not trying to make it worse than it is. And then on top of that, everything that I do, if I say something or I do anything I'm classified as a monster, honestly. Honestly, it's the opposite. You saw my frustration on the field about the play call. It was about my guy getting banged up. I'm gonna need Smitty (DeVonta Smith) moving forward."
Brown added he apologized to his teammates for forcing them to answer for him, and he told the media that said he wasn't upset with reporters for their coverage. He also wanted to make one point very clear: He's not upset with his coaches. Quite the opposite, in fact.
"I could tell you that there may be things that Nick (Sirianni) wants to fix about himself and I'll say, but one thing I can respect: Loyalty is not one of them," Brown said. "And I say that because he takes up for us when it has nothing to do with him, and he gets the blame. But that comes with his job, and sometimes Jalen (Hurts) does the same thing. Just like Brian (Johnson), he gets the wrong end of the stick sometimes, when it be us.
"But like I said today, the coaches play zero snaps this year. It is not the coaches, it is us. Like I said, if one person goes the wrong way, the whole play is over with. As you guys see in this glimpse, it is highs and lows. So that's why I feel like we are close. We are close to continue to getting better and continue to take that next step. All this freaking adversity, we're right there."
It has certainly been a rather uncomfortable month for the Eagles, who have lost four of their past five games, including last-second defeats at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. In those two games, defensive breakdowns led to losses. But Philadelphia has also struggled to find a consistent offensive rhythm throughout much of the 2023 campaign, a stark contrast to where the Eagles stood at this point a year ago.
Brown said he believes the Eagles are "going to be right where we need to be because I know we've got great people in this locker room." Those same people have avoided the microscope that has been trained on the star receiver for weeks, and especially in the last few days.
But Brown sees that as an issue, not because he can't handle criticism, but he knows he's attracting unnecessary negative attention amid adversity. Noise is not needed right now.
"That's another thing, too. Another thing why I wanted to apologize, too, because all you see is A.J. Brown frustrated with the Eagles," Brown said on Wednesday. "A.J. this, A.J. that. Everybody in this locker room is frustrated, so why are you singling me out because I'm frustrated? Just because I'm shaking my head, I'm showing emotion? You can look at everybody in the stadium has bad body language. They're frustrated. So yeah, I wanted to clear that out because it's not about me. We're all frustrated."
Brown cleared a checkpoint Wednesday by addressing the matter with reporters, which will hopefully tone down some of the bad buzz surrounding this club. It won't disappear completely, though, until the Eagles produce on the field.
Such a process begins Sunday with a regular-season finale against the New York Giants with and a potential NFC East title to clinch with a win and and a Cowboys loss.
