A.J. Brown went down with a scary injury on Wednesday night, and look, I hope he’s okay. You never want to see anybody get hurt, even a guy who forced his way out of Philadelphia. X-rays came back negative for a fracture, but he has an MRI today to determine how much time he’ll miss, and based on what looked like a high-ankle sprain, I’m assuming a few weeks at least.

The recurring knee concerns, the questions about how much A.J. has left in the tank, the injury-prone discussion that followed him all last season. All of that is still very much alive. But even before he went down, what we saw from the New England Patriots’ offense last night should have every Eagles fan feeling a certain way about the Jalen Hurts discourse.

Drake Maye was throwing meatball subs all night

I need to talk about this, because it’s been driving me crazy. There was a flea flicker early in the second quarter, perfectly executed in terms of design. A.J. Brown beat his guy all the way down the field. Wide open. And what does Drake Maye do? He throws the ball five to 10 yards short. Just flat-out couldn’t get it there.

Maye couldn’t hit guys in the flat. He could barely hit guys over the middle. On throws of 10-plus yards downfield, Maye went three of nine with three interceptions. That is insane. And with the game on the line, the Patriots had a chance to tie it up at 13-13, and Maye made a boneheaded mistake, threw it away, interception, game over.

New England gave up 13 unanswered points to a backup quarterback in Drew Lock. Seattle had no juice at all, and they came back and won that game. A backup quarterback I forgot was still in the NFL outplayed the guy A.J. Brown chose over Jalen Hurts.

Behind the line of scrimmage, Maye was seven of eight. Downfield? Three of nine. This is a quarterback who cannot push the ball vertically, and A.J. Brown, one of the premier deep threats in this league, chose to hitch his wagon to that.

The Jalen Hurts disrespect needs to stop

This is why it’s relevant, and this is why I’ve been so fired up about it. All offseason, all I heard was people hating on Jalen Hurts. And sure, there’s fair criticism to be had. Nobody’s saying he’s perfect. But to say he can’t throw the ball at all? That he can’t throw the ball downfield? Jalen Hurts is 10 times the thrower Drake Maye is. Are you kidding me? Did you watch that game on Wednesday night? It looked like Maye was throwing batting practice the entire time.

I’ve stood my ground on this, and I was right. A lot of Eagles fans were right. If Jalen Hurts had a stat line like that, or a game like that, can you imagine the media coverage today? ESPN would run it for 48 hours straight. Every talking head would be calling for a new quarterback. But because it’s Drake Maye, it’ll get buried by the end of the day.

And on top of that, Maye’s last 25 throws of 20-plus air yards? Six of 25. That’s where we’re at. The combination of A.J. Brown and Drake Maye is not working, and opening night made that undeniable.

A.J. Brown made his bed

This is what A.J. wanted, he told us loud and clear. Stats over championships. Personal fulfillment over team fulfillment. He had a Super Bowl quarterback in Philadelphia, a Super Bowl MVP, a coaching staff that had been to two Super Bowls, a fan base that worshipped him. And he walked away from it.

He even had a quote the other day in an interview with Maye where he said something along the lines of, “It’s not that big of a deal, it’s not that serious.” Okay, A.J. Not that serious. Meanwhile, you’re watching your new quarterback throw three interceptions on downfield attempts and miss you by 10 yards on a wide-open flea flicker.

I genuinely wish A.J. a speedy recovery, and I’ll always appreciate what he did for this franchise, helping us hoist another Lombardi. But the Eagles are in a better place without the drama, and the Patriots game on Wednesday night proved exactly why so many of us felt the way we did when he demanded out.

Philadelphia moved on. The offense has new pieces, new energy, and a quarterback who can actually deliver the ball.