The last remaining sign of A.J. Brown’s rough week was a bright red blotch spreading across the sclera of his right eye, as if a drop of paint had splashed against a tiny canvas. A mysterious illness — could have been food poisoning, could have been a virus — had ruined Brown’s Thanksgiving, had started him vomiting so violently that he lost seven pounds in a single day and a blood vessel in his eye burst.
“It was scary to me when I saw it,” he said late Sunday night. “Ain’t nobody hit me, so it was scary to me.”
He had missed practice days earlier because of the illness, and his stomach finally settled down, he said, only in the second quarter of the Eagles’ 40-33 victory over the Packers. By then, he had lost a fumble for the second time in two weeks, and he had dropped an easy pass from Jalen Hurts, and suddenly the biggest and best acquisition of the Eagles’ offseason, the bona fide No. 1 wide receiver who opens up so much of their offense, was in a bona fide slump.
“I’ve just got to be better with the ball,” he said. “I don’t want to change how aggressive I am with the ball in my hands because that’s who I am, but I’ve just got to do a better job with the details and just protecting the ball.”
Brown still had four catches for 46 yards Sunday, still caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Hurts that gave the Eagles a 14-point lead, still has been every bit of the star the franchise banked on him being when Howie Roseman traded for him last spring. But whether Brown admits it or not, mastering those details will likely matter more to him this week, because the Eagles’ next game is this Sunday at 1 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field against his old team: the Tennessee Titans.
Brown has volleyed between saying that he has no hard feelings toward the Titans and suggesting that the trade bothered him. There’s little doubt that it cut him deeply to realize that the team that had picked him in the second round of the 2019 draft wasn’t willing to pay market price to keep him. Sometimes his criticism of the Titans is direct. Sometimes it’s oblique, passive-aggressive, the veil he drapes over it thin enough to see through.
After signing a four-year contract extension with the Eagles, a deal that could top out at $100 million, Brown noted on Twitter that four wide receivers from the ‘19 draft class — Brown, Deebo Samuel, DK Metcalf, and Terry McLaurin — “got the same contract and I’m the only one got traded … yeah keep believing it was me.” He told the NFL Network in August that he “didn’t appreciate how it all went down” with the Titans, and last month, following his three-touchdown performance in a victory over the Steelers, he tweeted: “I’m that song you skipped and found out later it was fire.”
That volleying continued Sunday night. Brown appeared to regret the social-media posts. “I’ve grown from that,” he said. “There’s no need for me to do that.” But his radiant smile and naturally affable nature can soften words that are actually quite pointed and biting. His 53 receptions, his 831 yards, his seven touchdowns, all for the team with the best record in the NFL: He could have delivered that production to the Titans, and he didn’t mind reminding them of what they’re missing for deciding to let him go.
“I know they’re going to be coming. I know they’re going to be chirping,” he said. “But it really doesn’t mean nothing, to be honest. I feel like I won. I won in the sense of, I got a chance to take care of my family. They gave me my opportunity, but I got a chance to take care of my family. I’m on a great team. We’re 10-1. There’s not no giveback or anything. Of course, I want to play well, but I won. That’s what happened. I won.”
He should remind himself of that truth over the next several days, lest he allow his desire to get the better of the Titans to overwhelm him, to distract him. “If you’re a competitive player, there’s going to be some type of competitive emotion out of that game,” said wide receiver Zach Pascal, who had faced his previous team, the Indianapolis Colts, last week. “It’s all about how you handle it, how you carry it. You can make it a revenge game if you want to, but it’s all about how you handle the week. It’s more adapting to your new team and realizing you’re in a better situation.”
There was already plenty of work for Brown to do. Work on keeping the football safe and secure in his hands. Work to get back to full health and shape after his Thanksgiving from hell. Work to help the Eagles prepare for an opponent that is 7-4, has a smart head coach in Mike Vrabel and a great running back in Derrick Henry, and is capable of handing the Eagles another loss. It would seem impossible for A.J. Brown to have a harder week than the one he just experienced, but no one will know for sure until the clock expires next Sunday.
