Eagles

The Big Story on Action News is Whether A.J. Brown Stopped Running or Jalen Hurts Overthrew Him (or Several Other Things Which Can Also Be True)

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 6th, 2025 · 10:11 AM EDT

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EJ Smith at PHLY pulled the all-22 video of the missed deep shot to A.J. Brown on Sunday afternoon, and it looks just as ugly as we thought it would:

The missed deep shot to A.J. Brown predictably looks even worse on film. #Eagles put him in the slot for a favorable matchup and call a route combo to isolate him in space vs. Talanoa Hufanga.

Protection even holds up. Would have been a 60-yard dagger had they connected. pic.twitter.com/J7pCZPVfK8

— EJ Smith (@EJSmith94) October 6, 2025

After the game, Brown said this to reporters:

“From my point of view, it was just a miss, you know? …it’s not that I didn’t think the ball was coming, I looked up and didn’t see the ball. I looked back and didn’t see the ball. And then the ball was thrown, so like I said I think we just missed.”

Not sure if you’re seeing what I’m seeing, but the linebacker gets a piece of A.J. and reroutes him. It doesn’t look like A.J. turns his head until he’s at the Denver 40. Jalen Hurts had already pump faked on the stutter step before that point, then A.J. got past Hufanga, but there’s a double-clutch before Hurts releases the ball.

In all honesty, it just seems like the timing and route were both a little bit off. Seems like Brown slowed up thinking that Hurts would go elsewhere with the ball, which he did not, because the protection held up. Regardless, the optics are always going to look bad when you slow up on a route, as A.J. did here. If he just keeps hauling ass, he might get underneath that ball.

This might be a cop out, but my biggest takeaway from this sequence is that they should run more empty set. Play more five-wide and create these favorable matchups. You’ve got A.J. in the slot here against a zone look vs. a linebacker and safety. You’ll take that all day long. If he and Jalen can get on the same page, the Eagles will be fine. They don’t even have to be best friends, they just need to be professional co-workers.