It was such a magical ride in 2024 as the Eagles went 14-3, dominated through the playoffs, and got their revenge on the Kansas City Chiefs with a 40-22 Super Bowl win.
Last year, though, was a nightmare city despite winning the NFC East title with an 11-6 record, only to fall to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card round. That all led to an offseason of change, including the Eagles trading wide receiver A.J. Brown to the New England Patriots for a fresh start. Brown spoke with Maria Taylor in an exclusive interview about what happened after the Super Bowl win that caused everything to go so wrong.
"I think the expectations that we placed upon ourselves became too much," Brown said via NBC Sports' Maria Taylor. "It's like you have to understand this city. This city expects you to win every single year, and rightfully so. That's what we work for. But the expectations that we drilled in our brains, it's like 'We have to win. We have to win. We have to win.' And you can become so overly focused, and you start pressing, and I think this team just started to do that over a period of time because we still had great players, and it was still like the same really core guys. You added some more guys, but things just kind of started to go left, and you just like, 'Man, we need to fix this. We need to do that.' I just left like we started pressing as a team and the noise that comes with it because everyone is expecting it, and you can try to deny it all you want like 'Yeah, we're the defending champs, and we said it all year, 'we're not defending nothing,' but we are what we are."
A.J. Brown talked about the 2025 season and why it went so wrong for the Eagles
Eagles fans can point at a million reasons why the 2025 campaign was such a disappointment. There is a combination of Nick Sirianni naming Kevin Patullo offensive coordinator, Jalen Hurts being too cautious with the football, the offensive line being banged up, Saquon Barkley starting to show regression, the defense having a lackluster pass rush in the first half of the season, and Jake Elliott having another poor season kicking.
It didn't help that off-field drama added to the nightmare season. Brown was constantly posting cryptic messages on social media, and reports surfaced that the team was frustrated with Hurts' play.
Brown, the leader the Eagles needed amid the chaos despite being part of the issue, told Taylor that the players were self-aware of this.
"It was a conversation we spoke about in the locker room, and obviously we said what needed to be said in the media, but it didn't go away cause that was always the mission. Instead, I think the mission should have been just giving your all each and every day. Let the chips fall where they may because you can't control the outcome."
Read more: Howie Roseman went all facts and no filter on draft picks from A.J. Brown trade
The real question now is whether the Eagles will be better off without Brown on the roster or whether the team actually needed him as the glue to keep things together. Either way, the noise in Philly from the media and fans should die down in 2026, without the distraction of Brown's presence and with the focus on the franchise's future.
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