A.J. Brown isn’t afraid to tell hard truths about Eagles passing game, even if it makes him the ‘bad guy’

Almost exactly a year removed from letting his silence do the talking, A.J. Brown has taken the opposite approach this season.

The Eagles wide receiver’s frustrations with the team’s passing game following a shaky win against the Carolina Panthers spiraled into terse comments in the postgame locker room and ensuing speculation about his relationship with Jalen Hurts.

What remains a few days later is what Brown wants to remain.

Hurts and Brown poured cold water on the speculation brought on by veteran defensive end Brandon Graham’s public comments. Brown even clarified some of his postgame remarks that may have seemed specifically critical of his quarterback.

What Brown doubled down on, though, will be at the forefront in the final four weeks of the regular season and beyond. He knows the 108 passing yards the offense managed against a Panthers team that now sits at 3-10 won’t be good enough to get him and his teammates where they want to go. He also knows he’s comfortable being the one to say it, regardless of how uncomfortable it might be for some to hear.

» READ MORE: A.J. Brown downplays speculation about a strained relationship with Jalen Hurts: ‘Me and Jalen are good’

“I said that for a reason,” said Brown, who fittingly changed his profile picture on social media to one of the Joker from The Dark Knight earlier this week. “Honestly, because we went to the Super Bowl and lost [in the 2022 season]. We tried again next year. We were 10 and whatever our record was, and it was a landslide. And here we go again. And it’s something that we can correct right now while we have the opportunity. And that’s why I was bringing the awareness of bringing it to everybody’s attention. It’s something we can focus on.

“I’m OK with being whatever bad guy I have to be for the city, the town, whatever the case may be. For my team, to hold everybody accountable, be accountable, and to get better. So if I’m that guy, I will be that guy gladly.”

Brown’s front-facing nature this week stands in contrast with his brief stretch of declining to speak publicly during the Eagles’ late-season collapse last December. That experience has been instructive to his current approach in multiple ways. After breaking his silence last year, Brown acknowledged the adjustment it took for him to handle a more prominent leadership role and the heightened scrutiny that came with it.

His teammates acknowledged it, too.

“I think it does create waves,” slot receiver Britain Covey said last year. “And I think that he along with every other athlete that’s put in a leadership role of a multimillion-dollar organization is learning that some waves are better than others. Rather than saying that A.J.’s perfect, it’s a bigger compliment from me to say that he’s not, and he has the ability to recognize that. I think that a lot of times, that’s what people miss out on.”

Last Sunday, Brown wanted his words to create the type of waves few in the Eagles locker room are capable of making. It’s fair to point out the team is on a nine-game winning streak largely thanks to an offensive approach centered around Saquon Barkley’s ability to steady things in conjunction with a dominant offensive line. Still, after the game, Brown and several offensive starters expressed dissatisfaction in the passing-game struggles in key moments.

Hurts completed 14 of 21 passes, was sacked four times, and showed hesitation at times when attempting downfield throws. His 108 passing yards were the fewest he’s recorded all season, and his 3.47-second average time to throw was his longest average of the year and the longest of any quarterback in Week 14 by nearly a quarter of a second.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts knows the Eagles' passing struggles fall on him: ‘It comes with it; I tend to thrive in moments like this’

While Brown clarified on Wednesday that his saying “passing” was what needed to improve for the Eagles offense wasn’t him placing the blame solely on Hurts, he reiterated the intended message that the offense as a whole needs to be more effective through the air.

“We’re not in it for feelings,” Brown said. “We’re not in it trying to hold everybody’s hands. We’re going out here to try to do a job, and we’re holding everybody accountable. So when I say passing, that’s speaking on the entire offense, including myself. So we’re not in it for feelings. We’re trying to hold a Lombardi up and end [with] a trophy. That’s the end goal. So who cares if they want to spin it and perceive me to be a bad guy? I’m throwing somebody under the bus? Who cares? It’s about what we’re trying to do at the end of this.”

This tracks with Brown saying last week that he considered himself an “enforcer” on the team because of his willingness to hold others accountable or say what “everybody else wouldn’t say.” It’s also worth noting that Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson has been critical of the offense at various points this season after wins, and wide receiver DeVonta Smith and left tackle Jordan Mailata expressed frustration with the offensive struggles against Carolina as well.

Brown does have a reputation among his teammates for telling hard truths, which some feel is necessary from one of the team’s best players.

“A word that gets thrown around in sports very often that is a lot harder than it might seem on paper is the word accountability,” Covey said. “When you have someone like me trying to hold someone accountable, it doesn’t hit quite as much as when you’ve got someone like A.J. holding someone accountable. When it comes from a leader, it is everything. My coach in college used to say, ‘Good teams are led by coaches, great teams are led by players.’ I think that’s honestly what we’re trying to build this year to get to the Super Bowl, because we’ve been and we know what it takes.”

Eagles left guard Landon Dickerson added: “It’s important not only in a leadership structure but in life in general. People just beat around the bush and ... lie to you and you don’t get anything accomplished.”

» READ MORE: Eagles vs. Steelers predictions: Our writers make their picks for the Week 15 matchup

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said he addressed the fallout from last Sunday’s win before encouraging players to avoid letting it distract from this Sunday’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh’s defense will be a difficult test for the Eagles’ struggling passing game, but it will serve as a meaningful measuring stick going into the final weeks of the regular season and the playoffs.

Covey said weathering the ups and downs of a season and the scrutiny that comes with them has been a constant from Sirianni.

“After last year, everybody has a different perspective,” Covey said. “We’re not letting anything break us apart. We’re sticking together through the ups and downs. That’s been Coach Sirianni’s message throughout a lot of the season, when we started a little bit poorly and nobody liked us. He said, ‘Don’t listen to that.’ Then we started turning it on and everyone liked us, and once again, he’s saying, ‘Don’t listen to that.’”

When Brown speaks, though, the Eagles do listen. Even when it may be difficult to hear.

“Sometimes the truth hurts,” Dickerson said. “But it’s the truth, and it’s needed.”

The Eagles play in Week 15 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.