The Film Guys are Putting Out Some Good A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts Stuff
A.J. Brown was frustrated after Sunday’s win against the Panthers and said the Eagles’ passing game needs to improve. We can twist that into a pointless “is A.J. Brown a bad teammate?” discussion or look at some film, so we’ll do the latter. Dan Orlovsky did a nice job of summarizing the issues right here:
Plays like this (and it’s not the only one Sunday) are what AJ Brown is talking about pic.twitter.com/1397l3MYLl
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) December 9, 2024
It speaks to what you’re seeing with your eyeballs. It feels like Jalen’s just not letting it rip when receivers are open. And, in A.J.’s case, we’ve seen Hurts throw him that deep bomb time after time, so you wonder why he’s hesitant to do it now.
Brown didn’t get a target until the final drive of the first half on Sunday. They hit him twice on slants, then he ran a third slant in the red zone, which was wide open for a TD, but Hurts went to the pylon instead and found DeVonta Smith for a score. Both guys were open, but A.J. looked like the easier throw.
Acho put this out there, which shows that Hurts could have hit Brown on similar routes over and over again:
The Eagles have turned A.J Brown into a track athlete, just getting cardio.
If you’re a competitor, watch this, and tell me you wouldn’t be furious too. 🤬#AchoAnalysis | @TheFacilityFS1 10am pic.twitter.com/sasqpNV1ab
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) December 9, 2024
The lack of assertiveness is worrying. It’s not like Jalen Hurts has Donovan McNabb’s 2003 receivers, or Carson Wentz’s 2019 receivers. He’s not throwing to Greg Ward and Todd Pinkston. He’s got Brown, Smith, usually Dallas Goedert, and then Jahan Dotson as a WR3. So it’s not for a lack of separation, or route running, or overall talent level. He’s just gotta let it fly, and Hurts is the only person who knows why that’s not happening.