Eagles season suddenly has the dreadful 2023 feel to it

The interview in itself wasn't enough to raise any red flags. Brown is the ultimate competitor, and he routinely gets frustrated when the ball doesn't come his way. After seeing just four targets and recording only 43 receiving yards against one of the worst defenses in the NFL, his reaction was understandable. 

It's what came next that sounded the alarms.

On Monday, Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham appeared on 94 WIP and made some eye-opening comments about Brown and Jalen Hurts.

"I don't know the whole story, but I know that 1 (Hurts) is trying, and, I mean, 11 (Brown) could be a little better with how he responds to things," Graham said on the live radio show. "They were friends before this, it's like, man, but things have changed, and I understand that because life happens."

Wait, what? 

This changes everything. It's no longer just the issue of Brown getting upset that he isn't seeing enough targets. Now it's a matter of Brown and Hurts not getting along behind closed doors. And what's even worse — Graham, a 15-year veteran who knows not to give the Philadelphia media any unnecessary ammo — felt strongly enough about the issue to air it out to the world on radio. 

Graham attempted to backtrack his comments later, but the damage was already done.

"I made a mistake, and I assumed that it was something that it wasn't," Graham told ESPN Tuesday. "I just want to win so bad that I don't just want to use the media when we need to talk about something and we can fix the problem ourselves. I didn't add to it in a good light, so that's my bad."

The drama prompted NFL media members to dive into the film and search for clues as to why Brown was so frustrated. What they found was multiple instances of Hurts failing to target Brown on wide-open routes, as ESPN's Dan Orlovsky detailed here.

Was this simply a matter of Hurts not seeing the field well on Sunday, or is there an underlying issue between the two stars affecting their connection in the passing game? Either way, the negativity surrounding the offense is enough to turn drama into derailment.

Sunday's win felt all too similar to many of Philadelphia's wins last season during its 10-1 start. The Eagles let an inferior team hang around for too long, and although they escaped with a victory, it felt like a loss based on the vibes in the locker room. The tension eventually snapped, and Philly went 1-5 down the stretch before getting embarrassed against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the wild-card round.

If they're not careful, the Eagles could succumb to a similar fate in 2024. In Week 15 at home on Sunday, Philadelphia will play the Pittsburgh Steelers (10-3), who are among the AFC's elite.