Nick Sirianni turns A.J. Brown’s lack of targets in Eagles Week 1 win over Cowboys into a teaching moment
Nice save.
The Philadelphia Eagles pulled off a 24-20 Week 1 win over the Dallas Cowboys without much help from their No. 1 wide receiver, A.J. Brown.
In fact, Brown had only one catch on one target for eight yards for the whole game, and it didn’t come until late in the fourth quarter.
“You know, that’s not something I can control,” Brown said when pressed on being targeted just once. “What I can control is my effort for when the ball does come my way.”
Nick Sirianni Calls Out A.J. Brown’s Mental Toughness
While fans and media were fired up over it, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni chose to turn Brown’s lack of targets into a teaching moment.
“What about that mental toughness by A.J. Brown to go, ‘Okay, the ball hasn’t come to me in three quarters.’ That might be the first time that’s ever happened to him in his career as a football player because he’s such a good player, and you’re always trying to find ways to do that. But he makes a play in a critical moment when his number was called,” Sirianni said. “You look for moments like that to really show and preach the stuff that’s important to your core values and your culture. That was just a great example by one of our captains of, ‘Hey, it didn’t go exactly the way you wanted it to go, or any of us envisioned it going, that’s life, that’s football, but when called upon and the ball did come your way, you made this huge play.’ And was it a first down? No, but it set us up to get the first down where it Dallas’ offense didn’t come back on the field, and you set us up to get that and make this huge play when maybe the ball wasn’t going your way all night.
“That’s why A.J.’s special because even in a game like that, he does things without the ball to help us win, and he makes a play in a critical moment. Great throw by Jalen and great route and catch by A.J., and made a play in a critical moment to help us win the football game.”
Of course, moving forward, the Eagles will do their best to get the ball to their No. 1 receiver, but that’s just the way it worked out in Week 1, and at least the Birds came up with a victory.
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