A.J. Brown expressed frustrations with the Eagles’ offense once again this week, saying while he played Madden on a Twitch stream, “That's the only highlights of d--- football I been living right now.”
These latest comments came after the Eagles mustered just 10 points in a win over the Packers on Monday. Yes, this came against a Green Bay team that boasts a top-five defense, but this is far from an usual performance for a team that ranks bottom-10 in the NFL in total yards per game.
The standout receiver followed up his comments by explaining to reporters on Wednesday, “Obviously I want to win, too. I think if we’re really focusing on winning and doing our job, we can’t just keep slapping the band-aid over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble. At what point are we going to pick up our slack as an offense. We’re so great, you know? That’s what I’m getting at. It’s not about I don’t care about winning and all I care about is stats. No. It’s been, week after week sometimes, we’re not contributing, we’re not doing our job on offense.”
Eagles All-Pro running back Saquon Barkley agreed with Brown’s message, saying Thursday, “Whether we score 10 or we score 40, A.J.'s not saying anything wrong. We're looking for ways to improve."
“Being honest, we have to do a better job of adjusting,” Barkley added. “That's something we're focusing on—trying to find new ways to get the run game going. Not just the run game, get the offense going, being consistent. It starts with all of us, from top to bottom."
The Eagles are 7-2, and while their offense has had moments of great play, they’ve struggled to sustain that for an entire game. With the amount of talent they have on the offensive side of the ball, it’s disappointing. With the level of competition in the NFC, it’s concerning—especially with the playoffs a couple months away.
"We want to be better as an offense,” Barkley also said. “... We know we're 7-2, but we know the way we play on offense, more time than not, it's going to get us beat."
As Barkley and Brown point out, the Eagles have been able to lean on their defense and special teams for much of the season, but they need the offense to be more consistent to improve their shot at returning to the Super Bowl. The offense will get another chance to show if they can keep up with the league’s top competition on Sunday when they face the Lions, who boast the No. 2 scoring offense in the NFL.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Saquon Barkley Backs A.J. Brown After Critical Comments on Eagles’ Offense.
