Nick Sirianni ends rumors about A.J. Brown’s health, perceived frustration

Typically, following a dominating performance like the rear-end whooping the Philadelphia Eagles handed to the New York Giants during the Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs, there isn’t much to be said. This is the Birds we’re discussing however. They play in one of our great nation’s most sports-crazed towns for one of the NFL’s most demanding media markets and fan bases. We could talk about Nick Sirianni and these Birds all day. If not for an NFC Championship Game to prepare for, we could talk about the most recent game for weeks.

We’ve talked at great length about A.J. Brown since his arrival. Last Saturday’s game didn’t change that.

What happened at the end of the game? Was he hurt? Was he ticked off about targets? During his Monday afternoon sitdown with the media, Coach Sirianni, as you’d expect, was asked about all of that.

Here’s what Nick Sirianni had to say about A.J. Brown’s health and questions that came following his early exit from Saturday’s game.

If the 2022-2023 regular season served as your introduction to A.J. Brown, here’s a crash course (if you haven’t learned this about him already). He wears his emotions on his sleeve. That isn’t anything new.

FOX’s broadcast of the game captured some emotional moments from Number 11 as well as a scene where Nick Sirianni attempted to comfort his visibly distraught star on the sideline. This followed two moments where Brown was slow to get up following two targets (both were incomplete passes).

He was directly asked if A.J. was upset about his involvement or lack thereof during the game. Here’s what he had to say.

"He was going through a little something with his body that was hurting him. We feel like he’ll be ready to go this week, but he was hurting in that game. So, that’s why he wasn’t in the game… Of course, he’s always (going to want) the ball. He’s a really good player. (No one in the passing game) really got a lot of targets or a lot of opportunities because we were running the ball so well. But, that’s what you want from your receivers, to want to have the football… Part of the reason why receivers are good is because they want and crave the football.."

He added this to that thought.

"(Receivers) want the ball, to change the game. Make no mistake about it. He was thrilled that we won the football game. (He) always wants to be involved obviously in the plan. He blocked his butt off. You could see how excited he was when he had that spring block for DeVonta’s touchdown. So obviously he was really excited. (He) celebrated in the locker room with all of us in the locker room after the win."

That should settle some of the worried contingent down. Here’s a translation. A.J. is a competitor. He’s okay. There are no issues in the Eagles’ locker room. Let’s not make more out of this than what’s actually there.

With that, we move on to the San Francisco 49ers. We would appreciate it if everyone else followed suit.