A.J Brown sat down with Coach Burn this week to discuss his role in the offense. Before the game Brown was second on the roster in receiving behind Barkley, however, he didn’t feel he was getting the ball enough. He explained that he needed to be the number one guy on the team and requested that he get 8 catches and 2 carries in the game versus the Bengals. Coach Burn promised him that he would and built a game plan around this promise.
The game went about as well as could be for Brown given the fact that he was force fed the ball. For the team, a loss was gotten as the game plan didn’t mesh well with what the defense was doing. Instead of adjusting, we just continued to keep the promise even at the determent of the team. Hurts threw 2 interceptions trying to get him the ball, one on the sideline where he was open but the ball was under thrown, and one where he waited for Brown to get open on a streak, only to throw it to the running back late where the ball was picked off. Hurts was off target on a majority of the regular throws but they landed in the dirt instead of the arms of a defender. Even with all the miscues, the Eagles found themselves with three redzone chances in the fourth quarter but focusing on Brown resulted in none of those trips ending in points.
Brown ended the game catching 10 passes for 89 yards, and rushing for 35 yards on 3 carries. His promise was kept and after talking to him after the game, he responded with that this wasn’t enough and he wanted to be promised that he would end the season with 100 receptions and 20 carries. Coach Burn was livid at this ask and vowed to never game plan for one player to get the ball again, telling him no. Like a child throwing a tantrum when they dont get their way, Brown demanded a trade and sabotaged the team and himself by reducing his catching and catching in traffic by 9 for the next four games.
Brown is currently on PML’s no trade list so he cant be traded except for a 100 content fine which no one would pay. Brown demanded a trade could possibly be the correct avenue to get himself off this list but that is up to the powers that be. Will Brown get his way? We will have to see what happens.
