September 21, 2023
Standing in front of his locker at the NovaCare Complex, A.J. Brown was the center of an entire media scrum on Thursday afternoon. An initial reporter question about Monday Night Football was lobbed to Brown, which he immediately shut down to address the elephant in the room: his sideline confrontation with Jalen Hurts last Thursday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Brown, seemingly after a low amount of passes sent his way, didn't appear too happy with QB1, as head coach Nick Sirianni eventually stepped in to cool things off:
TROUBLE BREWING: #Eagles superstar receiver was EXTREMELY unhappy with QB Jalen Hurts and said a lot to him on the sideline, head coach Nick Sirianni then got involved😳😳😳
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 15, 2023
Seems like Brown is unhappy with the 4 targets he’s received tonight, despite his team being up big… pic.twitter.com/gqHCtvne2x
Brown wasn't made available to the media after that Thursday Night Football victory over the Vikings, so this was his first chance to give his take on what transpired with Hurts.Â
"First, I want to address what happened on Thursday and after I address it, I just want to focus on Monday night, that's the only thing important," Brown began. "So, Thursday, with that little sideline discussion, I want you all to know that's what it was. It was a discussion. This is a game we both love and I want everybody to understand that sometimes emotions run high and that's kind of what happened, too."
Continuing on, Brown said, "That doesn't mean I'm beefing with Jalen. And, also, I want you all to know, no, it wasn't about targets. I'm sure everyone thought that because he threw me the ball three plays in a row after that, but, no, I was not over there discussing targets... It was something that happened earlier and we were having a discussion about it. I know everybody took that out of context, but it's not a big deal. Me and him are still on the same page. We're still growing. We're still trying to become great and get wins, most importantly."
Brown said he found out that the cameras had honed in on his conversation with Hurts after he left the field against Minnesota.Â
Addressing why he was not in the locker room during post-game media availability, Brown said, "The reason I left after the game was my emotion was high, so I had to remove myself because I know all of y'all, y'all want a story and y'all are doing your jobs and I don't hold any one of y'all for it, but I just have to clear my mind."
Brown, a first-time team captain this season, then harped on accountability.Â
"I want everyone to understand this, too, because I'm the type of player, no matter what, I'm going to hold guys accountable and Jalen's going to hold me accountable. I want other guys to hold me accountable," Brown said. "The cameras catching us talking about it or whatever, I don't mind. I'll be that guy to have uncomfortable conversations because we know that we always talk about a standard and [if] we're not playing up to that standard, no matter if we're home or on TV or wherever, we need to talk about it. I don't mind at all. That's the reason I got the 'C' on my chest."
That's the last of it for Brown, as he previously mentioned, with him now turning his focus to Monday's Week 3 matchup with the Buccaneers.Â
"We're fine. I want guys to know that. We're excited because we have another opportunity in Tampa to come out and play our ball."
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