AJ Brown gets a reminder of the extent of his influence – NBC Sports Philadelphia

On January 20, 2025By Littum

AJ Brown sometimes forgets how much of an impact he has, but the superstar receiver got a reminder this week.

After a FOX camera caught him reading “Inner Excellence” by Jim Murphy during the wild-card win over the Packers, the book became an overnight success and quickly became the best-selling book on Amazon.

“Me personally, I’m very humble,” Brown said. “Sometimes I forget who I am in a sense of how big things can be blown out of proportion. Because to me, I’m just me. I’m not trying to cause a distraction or anything like that. But hats off to Jim . I talked to him. He’s a great guy, and the book is great. You should check it out.”

While there have been plenty of positive reactions to Brown’s reading of a book on the sidelines, there have also been some negative ones. On his weekly radio hit on 94WIP, head coach Nick Sirianni said it was “lazy” for some to jump to conclusions about Brown’s reasons for reading the sidelines.

Brown said he does it to get peace during games. He’s been reading this very book on the sidelines for most of the season.

“I’m going to continue to be myself,” Brown said. “I don’t pretend it’s not a facade or anything. Who cares who doesn’t like it? I’m a three-time All-Pro. Yeah, I beat my s—. It just is what it is. I do that for myself. I don’t care what nobody likes. I’m not a distraction. The most important thing is that I go out there and do my job. So all the others are irrelevant.”

Despite playing in only 13 games this season, Brown still had 67 catches for 1,079 yards and 7 touchdowns. He was named a second-team All-Pro for the second straight season despite being snubbed for the Pro Bowl.

Ready for the snow

There’s some snow in the forecast for Sunday at the Linc, and the Eagles are ready for it.

“I know our guys are tough, I know our guys are physical,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “There’s different things you do in a snow game depending on what the snow is like, just like there’s different things you do in a rain game, just like there’s different things you do in a wind game. So I know our guys will deal with the elements, whatever they are this weekend.”

The Eagles have seen a lot of Lincoln Financial Field the past two weeks and not just on Sundays. With no. 2 seed and a win in the wild-card round, the Eagles earned the right to host at least two playoff games in their stadium this run.

And with cold temperatures in Philadelphia recently, they’ve also been practicing at the stadium for the past two weeks.

“The field is frozen outside,” head coach Nick Sirianni said last week. “We’ve been trying to get outside as much as we possibly can. We play outside, so unless it’s a torrential downpour or the wind is completely out of control, we go outside. Can’t go out there today as far as our facility , because the field will be frozen, so we will go over to the stadium.”

The Eagles got a taste of some snow this week.

Protection of the fraternal shot

Against the Packers in the fourth quarter, the Eagles lined up for a Tush Push on 3rd and 1 from their own 49-yard line and took a punt. Instead of keeping it, Jalen Hurts lofted a deep pass to AJ Brown that fell incomplete. Brown had a step on his defender, but the pass was just off target.

In a game with a mostly conservative game plan, this was an aggressive call.

“It was a game that we’ve had for a number of weeks,” offensive coordinator Kellen Moore said. “We were trying to find the right opportunity to present it. Obviously, we feel really good about the sneak, and it was a 3rd-and-1 that gave us a chance to be aggressive there with 4th-and-1 In the pocket. Took a chance. It’s an aggressive call. We’ll see what happens.”

After the incompletion, the Eagles actually ran the Tush Push and moved the chains on fourth down.

Even if the shooter didn’t work, it might still have served its purpose. Because the Tush Push (or Brotherly Shove) is one of the Eagles’ most effective plays. And any wrinkle they run off if it helps protect that play. If putting that play on tape puts any doubt in the minds of defenders and slows them down by a millisecond from shooting the ball the next time the Eagles line up in that formation, then it will be worth it.

“There’s always value in the things you put on tape to force things to think about what’s been done and what could be done,” Moore said. “So we took a shot. I thought it was worth it and we were able to get sneak peeks on the next play.”

A reminder of Goedert

Tight end Dallas Goedert was limited to just 10 regular-season games this year, but had a big performance in the wild-card round win. He had 4 catches for 47 yards, including an angry 24-yard catch-and-run touchdown with a pair of stiff arms along the way.

Goedert said his favorite reaction to the touchdown came from rookie edge rusher Jalyx Hunt.

“He came up to me and hyped me up a little bit,” Goedert said. “That always makes you feel good. He’s done a great job with his increased role. It was pretty cool.”

Not only did Goedert have some big plays through the air, but he also had a really good game as a run blocker. Goedert said it was one of his best blocking performances in the past few years.

Goedert is in his seventh NFL season. And when he’s healthy, there aren’t many better dual-threat tight ends in the league — but he’s missed a lot of time.

“I don’t really care about other people’s opinions,” Goedert said. “I think the people in this building know what I’m capable of, know what I bring to the table every time. Leave it to the other people, but I have full faith in myself and I also have full faith in me from everyone in the team. But it’s important to go out there and keep reminding people.”

A free agency swing-and-miss

It’s been a disappointing season for free agent Bryce Huff, and if you were hoping for him to contribute in the playoffs, it’s not looking good either.

Huff against the Packers played only one defensive snap. The Eagles opted to use their three-man edge rusher rotation with Nolan Smith, Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt.

“We had a good three-man rotation with the other guys,” Fangio said. “And we just stuck with it.”

That was a projection in March when the Eagles signed Huff to a three-year, $51.1 million contract. Huff was coming off a 10-sack season, and his advanced stats over the last few seasons were truly impressive. But the Eagles expected him to be a starter, and it became clear pretty early on that he wasn’t ready for that role. He became a spinner and then hurt his wrist and needed surgery. He bounced back, but now that the Eagles are in the playoffs, he’s an afterthought.

Looking ahead to next year, cutting Huff before June 1 would leave $29 million in dead money, and even a trade would leave $12.9 million in dead money, per OverTheCap. That trade figure gets a little more palatable after June 1, but the Eagles could be stuck with him in 2025.