After a career performance in the Eagles’ 34-31 overtime win over the Commanders, Eagles receiver A.J. Brown still had to accept blame for a big mistake.
It was a costly one.
Right after Brown scored his second touchdown to give the Eagles a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter, he placed the ball in front of rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes and was flagged for taunting. That set up a longer kickoff and gave the Commanders good field position on the game-tying drive to set up overtime.
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“I gotta be better. I’m a vet,” Brown said. “I can’t do stuff like that, put the ball in front of him. It was unnecessary.”
When did Brown realize he made a mistake?
“Jalen (Hurts) kind of brought it to my attention,” Brown said. “And he told me on the sideline, ‘You can’t do that.’ He was just holding me accountable at the moment. That was the time I kind of realized, when he told me. The kickoff return, they had some good yards.
“Like I said, I can’t do that. Regardless of my emotions being high or whatever, I need to go celebrate with my teammates because that’s what it’s about. It’s never about the opponent.”
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Luckily, for Brown, the Eagles were able to sneak out an overtime win with a 54-yard field goal from Jake Elliott.
And he was a huge part of it.
Brown caught 9 passes for 175 yards and 2 touchdowns on Sunday afternoon to help the Eagles improve to 4-0. It’s the second-most yards in a game in Brown’s career just behind his 181-yard performance in Chicago last season.
He’s the first Eagles player to have 175+ receiving yards and 2 touchdowns in a game since Jeremy Maclin in 2014. He’s the first to do it at home since Kevin Curtis in 2007.
Brown’s touchdowns against the Commanders came in two different ways.
On Brown’s first touchdown, which came in the third quarter, he got to show off a stutter move to get open and then his YAC skills once he caught it. Brown said he knew pretty early after the catch that he had a chance to score a touchdown.
“As soon as I broke the tackle from the safety,” Brown said. “At that point, I couldn’t let nobody tackle me at that point. I had to do what I had to do. And, like I said, my teammates showed up, blocking downfield. That was huge. I credit those guys as soon as I got to the sideline.”
Then there was the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Even if you disagree with the Eagles’ plan to put up points instead of running down the clock more, you can’t deny the play itself. Brown hit a double move and then did his best to not tip that the ball was in the air.
“That was a perfect example of late hands,” Brown said. “He doesn’t know where the ball is at. I didn’t want a PI. I refuse to get a PI in that situation. I had to show late hands and Jalen gave me a great ball.”
This is the second straight game with 130+ receiving yards for Brown. He’s the first Eagle to do that since Maclin in 2014.
On Sunday, the Commanders has first-round pick Forbes covering Brown for much of the game. It was a long afternoon for the rookie.
Through four games, Brown has 414 receiving yards. That’s the fifth most through four games in Eagles history:
1. Terrell Owens in 2005: 506
2. Mike Quick in 1983: 473
3. Harold Jackson in 1972: 455
4. Fred Barnett in 1992: 421
5. A.J. Brown in 2023: 414
6. Tommy McDonald in 1962: 412
7. A.J. Brown in 2022: 404
8. Timmy Brown in 1965: 399
9. Harold Carmichael in 1980: 397
10. DeSean Jackson in 2013: 393
The Eagles’ passing offense came alive a bit more on Sunday. It was Hurts’ best performance of the young season. But there’s still room to grow and that’s exciting to Brown.
“We’re still putting it together,” Brown said. “Nobody wants to be playing their best football right now. But we’re striving each and every day to fix the little things and head in the right direction. Like I said, we want to play good. Don’t get me wrong. We want to play really well but we don’t want to play our best football right now in October.
“These are moments that we’re learning from, these are experiences that we’re learning from. This was a game in overtime that if it happens again, nobody will blink because we’re put in these tough situations.”
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