On Second Watch: Eagles Show Off Their Prerogative

PHILADELPHIA - At last Friday’s Eagles practice in advance of Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, reporters were greeted by a little of an old-school feel with Michael Jackson’s “Pretty Young Thing.”

If was No. 2 in the batting order that set the Eagles’ afire, however.

Bobby Brown’s late-1980s classic “My Prerogative” was a not-so-subtle jab at the narrative – much of it self-inflicted – that the Eagles faced during the week with outsiders wondering what was wrong with the Philadelphia passing game.

The outsiders weren’t the problem, though.

The call that came from inside the house was in the form of A.J Brown purposefully playing “villain” to put the focus on the issue and almost force the hand of the coaching staff.

“I said it for a reason,” Brown said after a dominating 27-13 win over the Steelers. “I didn’t have any intention behind it. It wasn’t for me to get involved. It was for us to get on the same page and put our best foot forward. We know what we’re capable of, and last week wasn’t our standard. So we spoke up about it. It was crazy. Everyone in the locker room said the same thing, but I kind of got crucified.”

Brown isn’t wrong. Everyone from DeVonta Smith to Jordan Mailata, along with Hurts and Nick Sirianni said similar things after the Week 14 win over the Carolina Panthers.

The Eagles looked like a different offensive team during a 27-13 victory over the Steelers, a franchise record 10th straight win to improve to 12-2 on the season.

A unit that produced 83 net passing yards against Carolina, a team closer to the No. 1 pick next April than relevance this season started with eight consecutive completions against a playoff-level Steelers team. And Jalen Hurts never really slowed down from there.

The Eagles’ QB1 finished 25 of 32 for 290 yards with two touchdown passes – one each to Brown and Smith – and a 125.3 passer rating.

When targeting his two top wideouts, Hurts was 19 of 23 with Smith snaring 11 for 109 yards and Brown getting eight receptions for 110, a performance that finally took some of the load off MVP candidate Saquon Barkley, who found some tough sledding against the Steelers’ front seven which limited the star RB to 65 yards on 19 carries.

Turns out Philadelphia had something to prove and the Steelers were the road apple in the way of that.

Afterward both Brown and Smith noted uncomfortable conversations during the week that led to Sunday’s success.

“It’s very uncomfortable,” Brown admitted. “First of all, I didn’t call anybody out (publicly). Behind closed doors, we talked about it. We called each other out. It was very uncomfortable because we don’t want to feel like we’re getting attacked. … We’re trying to get on the same page because we want to win.”

“We always knew that there was gonna come a time where he had to throw the ball. It just happened we was there to answer,” Smith added.

Rewind to Bobby Brown’s anthem, which was penned to the criticism he received from leaving “New Edition,” noting that the hit was about making decisions in one's life and not caring about other people's judgment of those decisions.

“Everybody's talking all this stuff about me (now now)

Why don't they just let me live?

I don't need permission, make my own decisions

That's, that's my prerogative.”

The Eagles have found their offense and it’s their prerogative of what’s will be featured from week to week.

“So that’s what you all wanted to see, huh?” Hurts said.

“... As I’ve said, when you’re able to win in multiple ways, obviously talented, and the opportunities are there, but it comes down to having good discernment of when to do something and when not to. I’ve always said and believed that you want to make sure that all of your tools are sharp when you need them, so when it’s time to use them, you can go.”

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