Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown (11) Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

A.J. Brown organizes outside-the-box team-building effort for struggling Eagles

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 1/3/24

Losers of four of their last five games, the Philadelphia Eagles have come under fire lately for falling into a late-season funk.

While head coach Nick Sirriani and quarterback Jalen Hurts have been easy targets for a lot of finger-pointing and blame-assigning amid the poor stretch, star receiver A.J. Brown has taken some heat for not speaking to the media after Philly’s last two games, prompting some to question his leadership ability as one of the faces of the team.

However, offensive lineman Jordan Mailata says that couldn’t be further from the truth, disclosing during a recent interview with SportsRadio 94WIP that Brown has been a catalyst for helping the team grow closer while battling its recent adversity.

AJ Brown: “We’re right there. All this freaking adversity? We’re right there. That’s what happens when you tryna get to the next step. Gravity pulls against you, everything pulls against you. And I think we’re gonna fight through it, push through it, and be fine. We got the right… pic.twitter.com/c62mWM15Bn
— Eagles Nation (@PHLEaglesNation) January 3, 2024

“A.J. has been great, he's been phenomenal,” Mailata said. “A couple days before the game, we had a whole team escape room thing going on where most of the guys showed just to build camaraderie. He’s been great behind the scenes… All this talk about A.J. not being a leader, you guys don't know him like we do.”

Brown was one of the hottest receivers in the NFL through the first eight weeks, reeling off six straight games with six or more receptions and 125 or more receiving yards, and added five touchdowns.

But during Philly’s recent slump, he’s had just one 100-yard game and zero scores. His last touchdown came six weeks ago in a 37-34 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills, and he’s barely cracked the 50-yard plateau in two of his last three games — both losses.

Though not many took kindly to him skipping out on speaking to the media after games, Brown said he had a good reason for it.

“The reason why I didn’t speak to the media after [the Cardinals loss] was because I didn’t want to be negative,” Brown said, via 94WIP’s Eliot Shorr-Parks. “I had already transitioned to the mindset of we were already going through a tough time, and so…I’m not just about to compound the negative with a negative so [reporters] can write more negative stuff.”

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