This season, Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown’s numbers are down. In five games, Brown has only 19 catches for 194 yards and a touchdown.
For whatever reason, the three-time Pro Bowler has not been featured in the offense as he had been in previous years.
Last Sunday, in the team’s loss to the Broncos, Brown, who was targeted eight times, had five catches for 43 yards, and he and Hurts missed on a deep pass in the third quarter.
Outside of Brown, the Eagles have a lot of weapons, including Saquon Barkley and DeVonta Smith, but there’s enough balls to go around.
Last week, there were reports that Brown and Smith were not happy with their roles in the offense, which makes what Giants coach Brian Daboll said about Brown very interesting.
According to Daboll, Brown is always open.
“You watch all the games, and you watch him when he’s out there get open,” Daboll said on Tuesday. “Big, strong, fast, has good hands, can run any route you want him to run. I’m sure they can throw him the ball as many times as they want. That means Saquon doesn’t get it. Or give it to Saquon, and A.J. doesn’t get it. There’s one ball. They’re all really good players. Smitty, I’ve been around Smitty. I think he’s an exceptional receiver, too. I think, sure, whatever they want to do or think they need to do, that’s what they’ll do. You have to watch the tape. A.J.’s open a lot. Give it to Saquon, he’s got productive yards. You can run a zone read or throw it to Smitty. There’s another thing. There are a lot of weapons, I would say, on that offense, and whatever they choose to do is what they do.”
This Eagles’ offense is at its best when Brown is the focal point of the passing game, and Barkley is running the ball at a high level. Those two things have not happened yet. Is it OC Kevin Patullo’s fault? Is Jalen Hurts’ fault? That’s what everybody is trying to figure out. However, fortunately for the Eagles, they are 4-1, so to a degree, they have not been impacted by Brown’s lack of production.
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