Source: Eagles’ A.J. Brown not likely to miss a lot of time; Cowboys’ Dak Prescott is out for Sunday

An MRI exam on Monday afternoon determined that A.J. Brown, who exited Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars with a knee injury, is not expected to miss a significant amount of time, an NFL source told The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane.

The star receiver was ruled out of the game with a knee injury in the second half. Brown had taken a hard hit from Jaguars inside linebacker Ventrell Miller late in the second quarter on a reception over the middle of field. He remained in the game for the next nine plays to finish out the first half, but he did not return coming out of halftime.

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When asked about Brown’s status on Monday afternoon, coach Nick Sirianni declined to go into much detail. He said he would see “as the week progresses” how Brown is recovering before making a determination on his status for the Eagles’ visit to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

“Bummed any time you don’t have A.J. in the game, because he’s such a great player,” Sirianni said. “But we’ll see how it goes. Haven’t got with the medical staff today yet. I’ll get with them a little bit later today. But A.J. was in good spirits today. We’ll see how it goes.”

The 27-year-old finished the game with two receptions for 36 yards on 37 snaps. After making just one catch for 9 yards in the first half, DeVonta Smith stepped up in Brown’s absence, posting three receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter alone.

This marks Brown’s second notable injury of the season. He missed three games this year (Weeks 2 through 4) while dealing with a hamstring injury. The Eagles went 1-2 in that span.

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Additionally, Saquon Barkley disclosed in the locker room on Sunday night that he got “banged up a little bit” during the game, but he added that he would be ready to go against the Cowboys. An NFL source told McLane that Barkley had experienced some tightness in his back.

Sirianni responded similarly when asked about Barkley, saying that he would see how the week progresses for the running back ahead of Sunday’s game. He acknowledged that Barkley played throughout the win against the Jaguars, finishing with a season-high 27 carries for 159 yards and a touchdown, plus three receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys have their own injury woes. Coach Mike McCarthy confirmed Monday that Dak Prescott will not be available to play against the Eagles in the first matchup between the division rivals this season. The 31-year-old starting quarterback suffered a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter of the Cowboys’ 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

With Prescott down, McCarthy said that Cooper Rush is the next man up to start against the Eagles. The 30-year-old backup last started a game in 2022 when Kellen Moore was the Cowboys’ offensive coordinator and Doug Nussmeier was the quarterbacks coach. Trey Lance, the third overall pick in 2021 by the San Francisco 49ers whom the Cowboys acquired last season, will back up Rush.

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Sirianni spoke before McCarthy’s press conference, but news of Prescott’s injury and his expected status for the weekend was already public. When asked about his reaction to the news of Prescott’s injury, Sirianni stressed that the Cowboys aren’t a matchup to take lightly.

“I know there’s a lot of things that can happen,” Sirianni said. “I have so much respect for the Cowboys and how good they’ve been over the past … Since I’ve been in this division, they’ve won 12-plus games every year. I’ve got a lot of respect for their coaches and their players and I know it’s going to be a dogfight.”

He also acknowledged the potential benefit of Moore and Nussmeier’s familiarity with the Cowboys, including their players and coaches. Moore’s connections in Dallas date to 2015 when he signed with their practice squad as a depth quarterback behind Tony Romo. After retiring as a player in 2017, Moore transitioned to coaching the quarterbacks the following season before earning a promotion to offensive coordinator (2019-22).

“You always think about the help you get from different guys that have been with different coaches, whether that’s a player, whether that’s a coach,” Sirianni said. “So we’ll use that throughout the week.”

While the Eagles were more productive and more efficient than the Jaguars, they still struggled situationally, particularly on fourth down and on two-point conversion attempts.

The Eagles went 0-for-2 on fourth down, first on fourth-and-3 from the Jaguars’ 22-yard line in the second quarter on an incompletion to Brown on a crossing route. On the second attempt, Jalen Hurts attempted a play-action pass on fourth-and-inches from the Jacksonville 25 in which he ultimately scrambled and threw the ball away, a failure in a situation that would typically warrant a Tush Push try.

However, the Jaguars excelled at stuffing the Eagles’ earlier Tush Pushes on a pair of two-point conversion attempts from the 1-yard line, making Sirianni wary of running the play in that fourth-down scenario. The Eagles failed on a third two-point try in the fourth quarter that ended with Hurts scrambling before tossing a desperation pass up for Smith that fell incomplete.

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Even though Sirianni’s situational decisions did not work out on Sunday, he expressed a sense of conviction in his process and a sense of trust in the players after reflecting on the game.

“Looking back on it and I’m thinking, would I do anything different? To be honest, sometimes I say absolutely,” Sirianni said. “In this particular case, I felt like we did the right thing in all those scenarios. And I understand that I’ll always be judged on the outcome, not the process, but I have to make sure that I stick to the process.”

Staff writer Jeff McLane contributed to this article.