Eagles' A.J. Brown Talks Jalen Hurts & 'Uncomfortable Conversations'
PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown knew what was in story for him during the team's open locker-room period on Thursday and the personable All-Pro receiver jokingly tried to block his personal space with a giant "Paw Patrol" package that arrived for his kids.
Brown's public dustup with his good friend and quarterback Jalen Hurts was all the rage after the Eagles' 34-28 win over Minnesota last Thursday and fanned a bit by the immediate post-game reaction of coach Nick Sirianni and Brown himself, who uncharacteristically bolted from the locker room before reporters arrived.
Days later Sirianni labeled the incident a 2 out of 10 and Brown insisted it was even less than that, calling it "half of one."
“First, I want to address what happened on Thursday and then after I address it, I just want to focus on Monday night (against Tampa Bay) because that’s the only thing important,” Brown said. “So on Thursday, the little sideline discussion, I want y’all to know that that’s all it was. It was a discussion.
"It’s a game that we both love and I want everybody to understand that sometimes emotions run high and that’s kind of what happened too. That doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, that doesn’t mean I’m beefing with Jalen."
The assumption was that the discussion was about a lack of targets, something tangentially bolstered by a sudden uptick of traffic for Brown after the heated discussion.
"I want y’all to know it was not about targets," Brown said. "I’m sure everybody thought that because he threw me the ball three plays in a row afterwards. But no, I was not over there discussing targets or whatever the case may be.
"It was something that happened earlier and we were having a discussion about it. And so I know everybody took that out of context but it’s not a big deal."
A.J. Brown believes uncomfortable discussions are sometimes needed to foster accountability.
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Brown insisted there is no schism between Hurts and the WR1.
“Me and him, we’re still on the same page, we’re still growing, we’re still trying to become great and get wins most importantly," said Brown. "... “Coach Sirianni said that was about a 2 out of 10. I would say that’s probably a half of one. But it just looked like that because it was on TV and we were using our hands and stuff. And I think (Sirianni) kind of made it worse when he came in and kind of tried to get in the middle of it.”
What Brown did admit is that he was a little too emotional to discuss the issue immediately after the game.
"The reason why I left after the game is because my emotions were high so I had to remove myself because I know all of y’all want a story. Y’all doing y’all job. And I don’t hold anyone of y’all for it. But I just had to clear my mind before I get in front of you."
Brown, a team captain for the first time, believes uncomfortable discussions must be had at times to foster a culture of accountability.
“We’re trying to be great and we’re pushing each other,” Brown said. “We may have uncomfortable conversations, no matter if it’s at practice or in a game. Those conversations happen.”
