PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles answered all the questions regarding their passing game in Sunday’s win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to the Steelers, they may have had a little help.
A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith each had 100 yards receiving in the victory, yet some Steelers players opened up on how the wide receiver duo was able to have the separation they had throughout the game.
“I mean, the refs let them push off,” Steelers cornerback Joey Porter said, referring to Brown, via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “At the end of the day, that’s what it is on the tape. (Brown is) just one of those guys who you know they aren’t going to call it.”
Brown finished with eight catches for 110 yards and a touchdown while Smith ended up with 11 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. They became the first Eagles duo with 5+ catches, 100+ receiving yards, and a touchdown reception in a game since Brent Celek and DeSean Jackson in 2009.
Jalen Hurts finished 8 of 11 for 110 yards and a touchdown targeting Brown (134.7 rating) and 11 of 12 for 109 yards with a touchdown targeting Smith (132.3 rating). Yet the Steelers focused on how the duo was able to get open.
“It doesn’t matter if (officials) aren’t calling it,” said Steelers safety Damontae Kazee. “We’ve got to keep playing. We can (complain) all day, but that doesn’t help; we’ve got to keep playing.”
The Steelers did lose starting cornerback Donte Jackson in the first half and safety DeShon Elliott was inactive, hurting their secondary throughout the afternoon. Porter won’t use his Brown comments as an excuse, nothing he’ll have to improve going forward.
Certainly Brown wasn’t asked about any of the Steelers concerns. The Eagles had something else to prove to themselves after the week that transpired.
“It doesn’t matter what message we send to the league. That doesn’t matter,” Brown said. “Like I said, we did what we needed to do today. The only thing that matters is the confidence we have in this locker room … regardless of what message may be sent out into the world.
“We know that we gotta show up next week …We can’t get cocky about it because we can get humbled at any moment.”
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