Brandon Graham Decides To Give The Worst Answer Ever When Talking About The Relationship Between Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown
In case you missed it, AJ Brown wasn't exactly thrilled with the way the offense was operating in yesterday's excruciating win over the Panthers. He's probably not exactly thrilled with how the offense has been operating all season considering the Eagles pivoted into becoming the best rushing offense in football. Saquon Barkley becoming a legitimate MVP candidate comes at a cost, and that cost is AJ Brown being on pace to have like 40% fewer targets and yards this year than he's had in each of his last 2 seasons in Philly.
So a reporter asked him after the game what he thought the offense's biggest problem is right now, and his answer was as short and to the point as it gets.
Now personally I didn't see this as much of anything. AJ Brown is a wide receiver, and naturally they tend to be more dramatic than anyone else on the football field. But at the same time, AJ Brown isn't wrong. The Eagles' passing struggles have been hidden pretty well by the success they've had with running the ball, but it hasn't looked very explosive all season long. It's a legitimate issue, and AJ Brown gave a legitimate answer.
But anytime a wide receiver says anything like that to the media, it immediately becomes a story of a fractured relationship between receiver and quarterback. So tonight while on 94.1 WIP, Brandon Graham I guess was asked about that relationship between AJ and Jalen. And holy shit does this answer fucking suck.
Like come the fuck on, BG. What this seems like to me was the most horrifically articulated explanation possible. I think all he's trying to say is that they just need to talk to each other instead of going through the media, but he ended up pouring 500 gallons of gasoline onto the fire.
Take that "they were friends before, but things have changed" line for example. For anyone who is praying on the Eagles' downfall, that is like music to their ears. It's Brandon Graham saying they used to be friends, but now they hate each other. But really it could just be as simple as "They had a prior relationship before becoming colleagues. They are still friends, but their relationship dynamic has just been altered due to being teammates". Which is a total non-story. But the way Brandon Graham sets it up, it seems like we've got another McNabb and TO situation on our hands here.
Which, by the way, is still going on to this very day. 20 years later and they're still not able to just squash it.
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Honestly it's impressive how both of them refuse to ever just let it go. Jalen Hurts and AJ Brown will be retired for 20 years, and McNabb and TO will still be going at it.
But back to the main story here. Everybody is right in a way, and everybody is wrong in a way. AJ Brown is right that the passing game needs to be better, but maybe find a better way to say that to the media, and especially find a way to say it to Jalen. Brandon Graham is right that these guys just need to talk it out and handle whatever is going on internally, but my god did he absolutely botch the way he delivered that one. And I'm sure that Jalen Hurts also needs to be a better communicator. I'd say on a panic meter from 0-10, I'd still put this story at less than a 2. But before this Brandon Graham quote I had it at a 0.