The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles take a 7-2 record and three-game winning streak into their Sunday NFL clash with the Detroit Lions but it has still been a contentious week in Philly.
Eagles head coach Nick Siriani insisted on Wednesday wide receiver A.J. Brown’s very public dissatisfaction with the team’s passing game and what he thinks is his too limited role is not a distraction.
“You can only go from your interactions with everybody and he way they go about their work on a daily basis,” Siriani said.
“But no, it’s business as usual.”
Brown was targeted three times in Monday’s victory over Green Bay, finishing with two catches for 13 yards.
On Wednesday video surfaced on social media of video gamer Janky Rondo playing a live streamed game with an unseen player, apparently Brown, and asking if all was well with him.
“No, where have you been,” Brown said. “Family’s good, yeah. Everything else, no … if you got me in fantasy get rid of me.”
Brown told reporters on Wednesday he didn’t regret the comments, calling them “fair.”
“If you got eyes, you can see that,” he said.
“It’s the same things I’ve been saying all season. So me making light of my situation on Twitch with my friend, that’s something I’m not apologizing for.
“It’s not that I was throwing anybody under the bus,” Brown added.
While the Eagles are tied for the best record in the NFC, their offense led by quarterback Jalen Hurts is far from a juggernaut, and Brown clearly thinks he can help.
“I think if we’re really focusing on winning and doing our job, we can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble,” he said.
For the 6-3 Lions, Sunday’s game is a “must win” according to Detroit defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.
“Ultimately, where we see ourselves as a team, every year the standard is to battle for that No. 1 seed and they’re one of those teams that we’re going t battle with,” Hutchinson said.
“That’s why it’s a must win in my eyes and it’s going to set us up really good for this last stretch of the season.”
Sunday’s action kicks off with the first ever regular-season game in Madrid, where the Washington Commanders will take on the Miami Dolphins at the Bernabeu.
Key division matchups pepper the slate.
The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, tied with the Eagles for best record in the NFC, clash in Los Angeles with the NFC West division lead on the line.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford leads the league with 25 touchdown passes and has only two interceptions. Wide receiver Davante Adams leads the league with nine TD catches, incuding six in his last three games.
The Arizona Cardinals host the San Francisco 49ers in another NFC West duel while in the AFC West the 8-2 Denver Broncos take a 7-0 winning streak into their home game against the Kansas City Chiefs, third in the division at 5-4 and in the unfamiliar position of battling to get into playoff position.
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said winning the division — something they have done 10 straight times — is “always our first goal” and one that’s not out of reach.
“We have a lot of division games in front of us,” Mahomes said. “If we can go out there and handle business and do what I think we can do, we can find a way to win this division.”
Beating the Broncos is a key first step said Mahomes, who is 13-1 against Denver in his career.
“I think you understand that this game is important,” Mahomes said.
“That’s the biggest thing, it’s a divisional game and they’re always important, but with them having the lead and us needing to go out there and win to have a chance to win the division, I think guys understand that.”
– AFP
Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images
