Eagles

A.J. Brown Says he was 1st Read on Shot Play where DeVonta Smith was Open Underneath

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Dec 19th, 2023 · 1:15 PM EST

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A.J. Brown checking in on Twitter:

This is in response to the play where Jalen Hurts threw out of bounds for Brown when DeVonta Smith was wide open underneath.

It was the 3rd and 8 play:

Hurts missed a wide open DeVonta Smith on 3rd & 8….. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/tbe2A0AOeb

— Video from: @TSV__1 (@TSV__1) December 19, 2023

Gotta say, these player tweets are conflicting. Sometimes you just want these guys to log off (Slay) and sometimes they divulge interesting information. In this case, Brown confirms he was the first read on a shot play.

Side note: not sure why you need to throw deep there in the first place. It’s 3rd and long, sure, but Hurts threw the ball 30 yards and out of play.

The other thing Brown says is that he’s a decoy on plenty of plays, i.e. Smitty is the 1st read and primary target, so my sense is he’s trying to assuage some of the concerns about this need for targets, or some faux-competition for attention. There is no Brown vs. Smith thing, which you can tell bothers him, the assertion that he’s demanding his share of the throws.

I do agree with what he says about fans swearing that they know everything. That goes for media as well. It goes for everybody who isn’t on the team. “When the shit works, everyone is happy.” That is correct! That’s why we do this joke whenever the Birds go for it on 4th down:

The king of all flow charts. When the Eagles connect on a play, everyone is happy. When they don’t, it was a bad call, bad choice, or bad throw. An oversimplification, yes, but it’s the predictability of the response which frustrates. It’s rudimentary.