Philadelphia Eagles WR A.J. Brown Superstar Since Sideline Spat
When cameras caught Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts having a disagreement on the sideline during a Thursday Night Football win over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 2, more was almost certainly made of it than should have been.
Brown was frustrated not to have had his typical production in consecutive season-opening wins, and aired that with a fellow competitor in Hurts. It wasn't that deep.
But if the much-talked-about exchange did give you any pause, Brown's performance over the past two weeks has alleviated any concerns.
Brown had nine catches for 131 yards in a Week 3 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday Night Football. He followed that up with an even more dominant game in Week 4, hauling in nine passes for 175 yards in a thrilling overtime win against the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.
Notably, Brown found the end zone twice Sunday after failing to score in each of the first three games.
The 26-year-old's first score was credited as a 59-yard pass by Hurts. But while Hurts did make a nice throw to Brown, the wideout did quite a bit of work himself to find the end zone.
Late in the fourth quarter, Brown burned rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes on a double move, catching a go-ahead 28-yard touchdown pass from Hurts.
It's debatable as to whether scoring a touchdown in that situation -- rather than draining the clock and having Jake Elliott kick a game-winning field goal as time expired in regulation -- was a smart move by the Eagles. But there will be a lot less debate than there would have been since the Eagles ultimately won the game in overtime.
In any event, Brown now has 29 catches for 414 yards after four games. If he keeps up a pace similar to that throughout the course of a 17-game season, he'll be a First-Team All-Pro selection for the first time in his career, and Hurts will once again be an MVP candidate.
Because Brown and Hurts bickered on the sideline during a primetime game, the debate shows got a few days of content out of wondering whether things were about to unravel between the quarterback and his top target. We now have the answer to that question, a resounding no.