Eagles coach Nick Sirianni downplays sideline spat with A.J. Brown
A.J. Brown had nothing to say — to reporters after the Philadelphia Eagles’ playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, that is.
Philadelphia’s star receiver did have plenty to say to Coach Nick Sirianni — and vice-versa — during a sideline spat late in the second quarter of the game that eventually marked an end to the Eagles’ attempt at defending their Super Bowl title from last season.
Massive winds blew through Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field throughout the game, possibly contributing to a rough outing for Brown, who caught three of the seven passes for 25 yards and tied a career high with two dropped passes.
One of those drops came on 3rd-and-9 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the first half. Brown had created some separation from 49ers cornerback Renardo Green deep along the right sideline, but the pass from quarterback Jalen Hurts bounced off the receiver’s fingers.
Brown was slow to get off the field following the play, prompting Sirianni to run yelling down the sideline and eventually confront the three-time Pro Bowl selection face-to-face. The men appeared to exchange words for a few seconds before being separated by Eagles chief security officer Dom DiSandro. Brown went on to remove his helmet and yell more in Sirianni’s direction.
While Brown did not speak to reporters after the 23-19 loss, Sirianni downplayed the incident during his postgame news conference.
“I was trying to get him off the field because we were about to punt, and that was really it,” Siranni said. “I love A.J. I think he knows how I feel about him. I have a special relationship with him. We probably went through every emotion you can possibly have together.
“We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve yelled at each other. We’re both emotional. I was trying to get him off the field — you know, that happens in this game.”
Brown’s other drop came on a third-and-5 from the Philadelphia 40 with a little more than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Eagles trailing by four. Brown was open over the middle for what could have been an easy first down, but the pass again bounced off his hands. Philadelphia converted the fourth down on a pass to tight end Dallas Goedert, but the last-gasp drive eventually stalled at the San Francisco 21.
Sirianni said of Brown: “He’s got the best hands I’ve ever seen, you know, the way he catches the ball, the amount of different types of catches that he’s made. When you get as many targets as he does, you’re going to have some drops. Not ever using it as an excuse, but the ball moves differently in the wind.
“I thought Jalen did a good job of cutting the wind a lot of times. But, yeah, we had some uncharacteristic drops. I think the one that [Brown] had, we overcame it the very next play with Dallas, but I know [Brown will] beat himself up on that. And I know A.J. — he’ll catch 9,000 balls with the one drop that he had.”
Brown got off to a slow start this season and wasn’t shy about voicing his frustrations. His production increased as the year went on, and Brown finished the season with 78 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns.
Overall, the Eagles’ offense declined under first-year coordinator Kevin Patullo, dropping from seventh in scoring and eighth in yards last year to 19th in scoring and 24th in yards this season. Asked Sunday about Patullo’s overall performance, Sirianni said there “will be time to evaluate everybody’s performance.”
“Right now, I feel for all our guys in the locker room, all the players, all the coaches, the front office, everybody that works so hard, the fans that come out and support us, Mr. [team owner Jeffrey] Lurie. I feel for all of us, all of them, and there’ll be time to evaluate everything coming up.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
