Eagles, Jalen Hurts Immediately Throw To AJ Brown On Monday Night Football To Try To Avoid Repeating Last Week
One of the interesting subplots to Monday Night Football between the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers is the team's usage of wide receiver AJ Brown. Last week, during a game against the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback Jalen Hurts only targeted Brown six times.
Several of those targets came after Brown and Hurts engaged in a heated exchange on the sideline.
To be fair to Hurts, he only threw the ball 23 times in the entire game. D'Andre Swift ran for 175 yards and the team eclipsed 250 yards on the ground. And, the Eagles were winning for the majority of the contest. When the discussion occurred, Philadelphia led by two touchdowns.
To his credit, AJ Brown downplayed any issues between him and Hurts.
“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.
As mentioned, after the "discussion," Hurts targeted Brown three times on the next three plays. One was a touchdown pass that referees called back due to an offensive penalty.
Philadelphia Eagles, Jalen Hurts clearly had a plan to get AJ Brown the ball early on Monday Night Football
It appears that the Eagles and Hurts are determined not to allow a "discussion" again on Monday Night Football.
Hurts targeted Brown twice on the opening drive, both going for large gains.
Brown recorded two catches for 44 yards. The Eagles drove deep into Buccaneers territory, but turned the ball over on downs. They had a fourth-and-two and, for some reason, decided to give the ball to Kenneth Gainwell over Brown, DeVonta Smith, D'Andre Swift or even letting Jalen Hurts run.
Maybe Brown was right. I'd be frustrated, too, if I were AJ Brown and the team elected to give the ball to Kenneth Gainwell instead of me.