Tea is hot in Philadelphia.
Eagles star receiver AJ Brown explained his silence after Philadelphia's shocking upset loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, responding to reports that he was the source of “locker room toxicity.” criticized. By Marcus Hayes, Philadelphia Inquirer Wednesday is “bulls-t”.
“I didn't talk to the media after the game because I didn't want to be negative.” Brown told reporters. Wednesday as he stood at his locker at the team's practice facility. “I had already transitioned into the mindset that I've been through a difficult time and I'm the person I am now, so I have to get back to work. There's nothing I can do about it.
“And like I said after the game, [against the Cardinals], the way I was raised, if there's nothing to say, I'm not going to say anything at all. I'm not trying to make things worse than they are now. ”
brown refused to talk to reporters Some speculated he wasn't happy with being limited to four catches for 53 yards after a 35-31 loss to Arizona at Lincoln Financial Field.
Brown explained that his frustration had nothing to do with the play calling, but rather with fellow wideout DeVonta Smith suffering an ankle injury in the fourth quarter.
“We need Smitty moving forward, we need me too,” he said. “That was it.”
Brown also addressed Monday's report in the Philadelphia Inquirer that the Eagles were dealing with a locker room breakdown, with an anonymous veteran captain complaining about Brown's heightened emotions. He also mentioned that.
“When you have bad body language from a leader like that, other players see it, and that's not good,” the Eagles veteran told the magazine.
According to the Inquirer, Brown was frustrated that head coach Nick Sirianni didn't give him a chance to win the game.
eagles Executed 26 plays after halftimeAnd only one of them went to Brown. I could see that he was clearly upset. Many times on the field.
“At this point, I don't care. They're going to create a narrative that I'm dividing the locker room and stuff like that,” Brown said. “That's a bull.”
“Honestly, I'm a little happy, but what is his name?'' What is that reporter's name?marcus [Hayes].
“I’m kind of glad he’s not here because I wanted to know who was saying that and I was going to ask him. I wanted to ask him because I know my teammates are running for me and I’m running for them.”
Brown said that as team captain, he felt the need to apologize to his teammates. “Because they don't have to answer questions for me. I'm a guy. I can speak for myself.”
The 26-year-old two-time Pro Bowler explained that he is focused on winning games and preparing for Sunday's game against the New York Giants.
“I'm not going to keep mixing negatives with negatives so you can write more negatives.” brown said. “You guys are watching the game. You guys already know that. So I was like, I can't say anything more. I'm not trying to make it worse than it is.
“Besides, everything I do, if I say something, I'll do anything. I'm classified as a monster. Honestly the opposite. You saw my frustration on the field. Yeah. It wasn't about the play calling. None of that mattered. It was about my guy. [Smith] Getting beaten up.
brown assemble an escape room It was held last week as an event to strengthen the bond between this team.
“We used to do escape rooms as a whole team just to build camaraderie…that was A.J.,” Eagles offensive lineman Jordan Mailata said in a news conference Tuesday. Appeared on Sports Radio 94WIP. “This is all about AJ not being a leader…You guys don't know him like we do. He's a great leader.”
Sirianni stressed the importance of staying together as a team after Sunday's loss.
“We stick together. We stick together. Everybody has to stick together,” Sirianni said. “I think there are going to be a lot of people who are going to try to blame us for different things.
“We all have to stick together, right? We win as a team. We lose as a team. And being together is the most important thing we can do right now.”
The Eagles will close out the regular season against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.
