Eagles coach Nick Sirianni didn’t have to refuse to answer questions about receiver A. J. Brown on Friday. The truth is, Sirianni didn’t get any.
On Wednesday, Sirianni said he’s “close to being done” with questions about Brown, a day after Brown aired some of his lingering frustrations during a Twitch stream. Following Sirianni’s comments, Brown provided a thoughtful, eight-minute critique of the Philadelphia offense, his lack of targets, and his belief that the team’s attack needs to improve—despite their impressive 7-2 record.
Brown’s remarks weren’t just a fair topic for questions directed at the head coach; they were an obvious and necessary one.
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Here’s a basic reality of press conferences: Given Sirianni’s warning from Wednesday, the assembled reporters were likely inclined to wait for someone else to ask about Brown. After all, why risk being the person who might upset the coach when someone else might step up?
Still, someone should have asked the question. Brown said far too much for the topic to be ignored in the next press conference with the head coach.
The fact that Sirianni showed frustration when asked about Brown’s Twitch comments shouldn’t have stopped reporters from probing into Brown’s critique or the potential implications.
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One of the biggest implications—highlighted by Michael Holley on Friday’s *PFT Live*—is this: a portion of Brown’s comments directly contradicted quarterback Jalen Hurts’ response following Monday night’s narrow 10-7 win over the Packers.
After the game, Hurts was asked specifically about whether individual players might be discouraged by a sputtering offense. He said:
“Just gotta play the next play, and take it a play at a time. It’s an offense, it’s a unit, it’s a team. It flows as one. And so, you know, there are times where things may not go a desired way. Ultimately, it’s about how you respond to those things. And when you look at a win like today, that’s what it comes down to. The bottom line is to go out there and try and find a way to win games.”
In contrast, Brown said on Wednesday:
“[I]t’s about doing what we’re supposed to be doing on offense. And if we are really in this business for trying to get better, we gotta do what we gotta do. And not just say, ‘Oh, it’s about wins, like, as long as we got the win, it’s cool.’ No, that ain’t—you cannot do that, not in this league. We gotta continue to get better.”
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Even without directly asking about Brown, Sirianni could have been posed more subtle questions. For example:
*“Does winning games justify performances by the offense that aren’t as effective as you hope them to be?”*
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Yet, the core question remains unanswered—by anyone and by everyone: **Why isn’t A. J. Brown getting more targets?**
This basic question leads to a variety of related inquiries:
– Is Brown being double-covered too often?
– Is he not the primary receiver on a healthy number of plays?
– Why aren’t plays being designed, called, and executed to get the ball in his hands?
– When Brown is single-covered, why isn’t the ball being thrown to him more frequently?
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Lurking beneath all this is the elephant in the room the Eagles continue to manage to bury: **What’s going on between Hurts and Brown?**
Last season, recently unretired defensive end Brandon Graham touched on this delicate subject, saying that Hurts and Brown used to be friends but “things have changed.” Graham quickly tried to backtrack, but his words remain.
This is the unanswered question. The slowly rotting cheesesteak in the room. The matter we’ll inevitably get the answer to at some point in the future.
Maybe that time will come after Brown and Hurts are no longer teammates. Maybe it will surface when the book-reading Brown writes a memoir about his years in Philadelphia.
Until then, the tension and questions remain.
https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/nick-sirianni-gets-no-questions-about-a-j-browns-wednesday-comments
