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Tim McManus
PHILADELPHIA — Nick Sirianni said he didn’t think A.J. Brown’s continued voicing of discontentment has become a distraction, after a video appeared to include the Philadelphia Eagles star telling a streamer that things are “a s— show” outside of his family life.
“No, I don’t think so,” Sirianni said Wednesday. “You can only go from your interactions with everybody and the way they go about their work on a daily basis that you guys aren’t able to see. But no, it’s business as usual.”
Brown was targeted three times in Monday’s 10-7 win over the Green Bay Packers and finished with two catches for 13 yards.
Video surfaced Wednesday morning that showed streamer JankyRondo playing a game of Madden. At one point, the gamer asked someone off screen, purportedly Brown, if everything was going well.
“I mean, no,” the person responded. “Where have you been? Family is good. Everything else, no. It’s a s—show.”
Brown did not appear in the video at any point.
Brown has 31 catches for 408 yards and three touchdowns in eight games. He’s on pace to finish with 867 receiving yards, which would be a career low.
He has voiced his apparent frustration on social media multiple times this season, including after wins.
Sirianni was asked how he can reconcile his statement that it’s been “business as usual” with Brown when his latest comments seem to contradict that.
“I’m close to being done answering these questions with this,” Sirianni said. “He’s working hard and he is a big part of this game plan [for Sunday’s game against the Lions] and he’ll be a big part of the game plan going forward. He’s working like crazy when he’s here, and I’m excited to have him.”
The Eagles leaned conservative Monday night, particularly on third-and-longs in what developed into a defensive contest with the Packers. Brown was targeted only twice over the first 59 minutes of the game before Jalen Hurts went to him on a deep pass on fourth-and-6 from the Packers’ 35-yard line that fell incomplete. That gave Green Bay a chance to tie it, but Brandon McManus’ 64-yard attempt was well off the mark and Philadelphia held on to improve to 7-2.
“If you look at how the game went, there were a lot of plays that are going to [Brown] that for different reasons don’t. For instance, [DeVonta Smith]’s touchdown, that play is going to A.J.; they took it away, and [Hurts] threw it over the top. You can’t look at stats and just say this is what’s happening. You can’t paint the picture that way,” Sirianni said.
“A.J. Brown is one of the best receivers in the NFL, so of course we’re trying to get him involved in the game every single time.”