Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Eagles' A.J. Brown throws jab at Super Bowl referees for 'that one play'

By Mike Santa Barbara | Last updated 7/27/23

Roughly six months removed from the painful loss in Super Bowl LVII, some, including Philadelphia Eagles wideout A.J. Brown, are still bitter over the controversial holding call late in the game that essentially presented the Lombardi Trophy to the Kansas City Chiefs on a silver platter.

Recently, Brown went one-on-one with YouTube creator and former college football player Deestroying, where the Eagle pass-catcher griped that defensive backs in the NFL hold "all the time," but referees rarely throw a flag before sending a shot the Super Bowl crew's way.

"Yeah, they don't call it," Brown said. "They just called it during the Super Bowl - that one play."

When revisiting the game-changing holding call on Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, there's no denying he tugged on the jersey of Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, but the main complaint has been the timing of the call. The penalty allowed the Chiefs to run the fourth quarter clock down practically to zero before a Harrison Butker chip-shot gave KC a 38-35 lead with only seconds to go - robbing the Eagles of a shot at a tying or game-winning drive.

The call was obviously a hot topic after the Super Bowl, and it took a while to calm down. Less than three weeks removed from the Chiefs' win, Smith-Schuster and other members of the team made a TikTok video mocking the Birds and Bradberry specifically. This led to a response from Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, who called it "trolling."

Meanwhile, Brown and Smith-Schuster had their own fracas on social media over a "lame" Valentine's Day card posted by the Chiefs wideout, directed at guess who, Bradberry.

Back-and-forth sparring between the Birds and Chiefs was to be expected, especially in the weeks after the Super Bowl. However, it appears, at least for Brown, the wound is still fresh as training camp for the 2023 campaign kicks off.

Brown won't have to wait until a return trip to the Super Bowl to gain a measure of revenge on the Chiefs, as the Eagles will travel to take on the defending champions in Week 11 under the bright lights of "Monday Night Football."

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