PHILADELPHIA — Just when the Eagles’ passing game started to click Sunday against the Denver Broncos, they dropped the ball.
Not in a literal sense. Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown did not drop Jalen Hurts’ deep ball. However, Brown slowed down on his route after getting open in the middle of the field. This resulted in an incomplete pass on what would have been a 61-yard touchdown.
With a TD, the Eagles would have taken a 17-point lead (24-3) over the Broncos with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Instead, Philadelphia’s offense punted three straight times after that play. Denver then scored 18 consecutive points off those punts to beat the Eagles, 21-17.
“Yeah, because it’s a big play,” Brown said when asked if he regrets not making the catch. “But there’s so much more that you can look at and determine what we didn’t do.”
The Eagles’ offense made more mistakes in the second half, but Brown’s missed touchdown could have changed everything.
“At that moment in the game, it’s about finding a way to put the dagger in them, and that definitely could have been a dagger,” Hurts said after the game.
After posting 14 catches for 151 yards and one touchdown in the first four weeks, Brown shared cryptic messages on X after the Buccaneers game. He was frustrated.
Eagles fans had previously supported Brown’s frustrations, but are now upset with his effort on the near touchdown.
“I love AJ Brown, and in no way do I want him traded. But he does have this tendency to give up on his route when he thinks he’s not gonna get targeted …,” an Eagles fan wrote on X.
“That AJ Brown route is a bad, bad look,” one Eagles fan commented. “I don’t wanna talk about this s***, but it’s unavoidable now.”
“I legit do not wanna hear outta AJ brown ever again,” an angry fan said. “No tweets, no books, no quotes. None of that s***. Slowing down on a would-be TD is weird.”
“So when do we start having discussions about how lazy AJ Brown has been on these route running, or (are) we holding that in for another day?” a fan asked.
“I defended AJ Brown all week, and now idc anymore about his frustrations since you’re giving up on routes,“ a fan said. ”That’s more like a YOU problem now.”
Brown does not believe his effort was an issue.
“When I looked up, I didn’t see the ball. When I looked back, I didn’t see the ball, and then the ball was thrown,” Brown said. “So like I said, we just missed.”
Brown amassed five catches for 43 yards against Denver’s secondary, his second-best total of the season.
The Eagles racked up a season-high 280 passing yards. Once again, the offense played well for one half, but poorly for the other.
“We started out really good,” Brown said. “We were throwing the ball around the yard. Just didn’t finish in the second half. Just the inconsistency showed up again.”
Hurts took advantage of Denver’s man coverage. He threw a 47-yard touchdown to running back Saquon Barkley and completed a 52-yard pass to wide receiver DeVonta Smith on the first touchdown drive. Smith finished with eight catches for 114 yards.
Overall, Philadelphia’s passing offense had more good than bad, but it stalled out during the fourth quarter, finishing with 49 yards.
“I won’t give you my frustration, but it’s just something to work on, something to continue to harp on and continue to have a sense of urgency with…,” Brown said.
It’s difficult to sustain offensive success without a good run game and pass game. The Eagles lack consistency in both areas. That needs to change for them to be Super Bowl contenders this season.
Philadelphia’s stars must step up in crucial moments. Brown failed to do that against the Broncos.
“We have to stop putting a lot of pressure on our defense because they’re playing really good,” Brown said. “We just got to pull our end. At times, we did, and then in the second half we just stalled out, so there are a lot of things to work on, continue to get better at.”
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