The Philadelphia Eagles enter Week 15 with an impressive 11-2 record on the season in the driver’s seat in the NFC East. If you ignored the record, however, you’d find a team that’s sort of in disarray. The off-the-field drama between quarterback Jalen Hurts and wideout A.J. Brown has loomed over the franchise throughout the week, and now so does a banner trying to squash any sort of contempt they may have.
Leading up to kickoff of the Eagles’ matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a banner attached to a plane could be seen flying over Lincoln Financial Field. The banner reads, “Enough fake news! Philly stands with 1 & 11”
While the banner may describe the rift between Hurts and Brown as “fake news,” their teammate Brandon Graham made waves this week when noting that the QB-WR duo “were friends, but things have changed.” This came after the team’s win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 14 when Brown relayed his frustrations with the passing game. That then brought to life their issues and paved the way for Graham to ignite them further to the public.
The Eagles come into Week 15 winners of nine straight, but the passing attack has been lacking, with the team pivoting toward a more ground-heavy approach. This season, Hurts is averaging 200.2 passing yards per game, which ranks 24th among qualifying quarterbacks. He’s also gone three straight starts with less than 200 passing yards. As for Brown, the wideout is averaging 4.8 receptions and 83.6 yards receiving per game, which is both the fewest since joining Philadelphia in 2022. So, despite piling up wins, that appears to be where the frustrations lie.
According to FOX Sports, Hurts and Brown “dapped each other up” during a team meeting this week to smooth over any sort of issues they may still have. The report also notes that Graham apologized to the team for his role.
They say that winning is the ultimate cure, so it’ll be interesting to see how many more victories it takes for things to truly simmer in Philly so that it no longer needs words of support flying overhead at Lincoln Financial Field.
Read the full article here
