Pick Your Poison with Eagles' Three Pragmatic Batmans
PHILADELPHIA - A.J. Brown got all the love in Detroit on Sunday night, hauling in 10 receptions on 13 targets for 155 yards during a 38-35 shootout win, a franchise record for a debut.
On Monday night, it could be DeVonta Smith or Quez Watkins breaking out.
Or as Darius Slay calls the Eagles' trio of wideouts: Swole Batman (Brown), Skinny Batman (Smith), and Fast Batman (Watkins).
"I know y’all seen him with the dark visor, swole," Slay said when discussing the king-sized Brown. "He just looks like a swole Batman. DeVonta is a skinny Batman. Quez is a fast Batman.
"So we got three Batmans on the team − one swole, one skinny, one fast."
So is Zach Pascal or Britain Covey a Robin?
"No Robins," Slay said. "We ain’t got any backups. We got no sidekicks. We got nothing but Batmans. Those boys fly."
The Eagles already expect adjustments to better handle Brown after his impressive debut meaning Smith and Watkins, who each didn't get a reception against the Lions could be a bigger part of things starting Monday night against Minnesota.
“I think anytime a guy like A.J., he has 10 catches for 155 (yards), teams have to be aware of that,” offensive coordinator Shane Steichen said earlier this week. “We have to be ready to adjust."
Considering Smith set an Eagles' record for receiving yards by a rookie in 2021 and Watkins averaged 15.0 yards a catch last season, Steichen and head coach Nick Sirianni are comfortable if they have to look elsewhere on the outside.
“That's the beauty of having three studs [Brown, Smith, and tight end Dallas Goedert], along with Quez is a stud, that if they start rolling to certain guys or whoever it is and how they start to play guys, we have to go through our reads and go from there,” Steichen assured.
Both Sirianni and Steichen were asked about being unable to get the football to Smith against the Lions so don't be surprised if that's a priority during the first 15 plays against the Vikings on Monday night.
“DeVonta Smith is not a good playmaker. He’s a great playmaker,” Sirianni said.
Steichen noted that Smith is a "premier player."
“Did I think in a million years he wouldn't have a catch [against the Lions]? Absolutely not,” Steichen said. “I did not think it was going to go that way. But that's my job, I've got to get him the ball.”
Steichen isn't beating himself up too badly, however, because he feels the WR group is selfless and as long as the W is put in the left-handed column, fantasy football numbers will take a backseat to a group of pragmatic Batmans.
“This group in general, they're all selfless," Steichen said, "and this is an ultimate team game, and it's all about winning.
"Those guys understand that. As competitors, do they want the ball? Absolutely, they want the ball. But as long as we're winning and we're scoring points, I think everyone is going to be pretty happy.”
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
