Ahead of the Eagles’ season opener, NFL Films released an interview with WR A.J. Brown. During his sit down with Clarissa Thompson, he talked about how he had to lock in differently as his role in 2024 changed into more of a supporting piece, and how the book, “Inner Excellence” helped on the sideline.
“I was battling a knee injury that I was kind of bouncing back from, and so, I’m in pain, I’m still playing. To be honest, I’m a decoy. And, a decoy and my mindset doesn’t go together. So, in that moment — think I had maybe one catch, and so, I was just trying to stay grounded.”
Brown may need to keep that same mentality heading into 2025 if the Eagles’ Week 1 gameplan was any indication. The wide receiver was targeted only one time in all of his 55 snaps, and his opportunity didn’t come until late in the game. He missed a lot of training camp due to injuries, but he was on the field for 87 percent of the offensive snaps, so it’s not as though he was on some kind of pitch count.
The Eagles passing game was more effective than the run game against the Cowboys, but there were only 19 total catches among seven targeted players. DeVonta Smith and Jahan Dotson both only had three catches each, and the majority of targets went to the tight end (Dallas Goedert) and running back (Saquon Barkley).
Quarterback Jalen Hurts spoke after the game and acknowledged that there’s some areas they need to work on, and noted that they will. He said that there were a lot of unknowns going into this game with the Cowboys having a new DC and head coach and no game film to review, but it was a learning experience. Head coach Nick Sirianni also admitted post-game that they obviously need to get Brown involved more, but games like this happen.
Brown implied during his speech at the Super Bowl parade that he doesn’t care about stats, but eight yards in a season opener against a rival probably isn’t something that’s easy to sit with, either.
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