On A.J.'s Absence: Eagles Need To Persevere With Ground Game

There is ample evidence to suggest the Eales' offense will not be the same without A.J. Brown.

Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (11). / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - Just how important is A.J. Brown to the Eagles' offense?

You're about to find out the hard way again after the All-Pro receiver was ruled out with a tight hamstring.

The idea that the Eagles' offense completely collapsed toward the end of the 2023 season was forged from revision.

There were bad moments for the offense of course like failing to live up to its reputation in potential shootout scenarios with San Francisco and Dallas, and the hero ball spawned from the ill-fated improvisation by Jalen Hurts and Brown that cost Philadelphia a win in Seattle.

Then there were Weeks 16 and 17 when Nick Sirianni's perceived tortured offense led by since scapegoated play-caller Brian Johnson was top five in every meaningful statistical category over eight quarters against the New York Giants (the team's lone win in its 1-6 collapse) and Arizona (a 35-31 setback).

That reality was struck from the record to frame better the narrative that change was needed on offense.

Dive deeper into the recency bias of the Eagles' final two games, an ugly Week 18 27-10 loss to the Giants where Wink Martindale blitzed Hurts from the buses to the point the QB1 contacted the now-Michigan defensive coordinator to pick his brain and the 32-9 defeat at Tampa Bay on Wild Card Weekend, and you shouldn't need forensic science to confirm the issue.

Unless the emotion of losing clouds the view.

Brown, the Eagles' best pure football player, injured his knee in the first quarter of the Week 18 Giants game and never played again in 2023-24. The Philadelphia offense went through the motions but never played capably again.

The Eagles aren't the same team without Brown on the field whether you want to rewind to the 2021 season before he arrived or use the final seven quarters of last season as your template.

To be kind, the idea that Jahan Dotson can be a capable replacement in the short term is optimistic. That's back-to-back 1,400-yard seasons against a "pedigree" that never made it past 600 in Washington.

More so the late scratch of Brown came after Kellen Moore's game plan was in the can, meaning the OC had to go back to the drawing board and tweak things against a Raheem Morris-led defense with playmakers like Jessie Bates, Justin Simmons, and A.J. Terrell in the secondary.

The silver lining is that Moore's perseverance path should run through Saquon Barkley and the running game, a wet dream for the average Philadelphia fan anyway.

On paper, Philadelphia is better prepared to handle life without Brown for a short period but the margin for error shrinks dramatically.

MORE NFL: A.J. Brown Uncertainty Could Result In Minor Roster Shuffle for Eagles