Iggles Blitz

by Tommy Lawlor

Noisy

Posted October 26th, 2025 | 2 Comments »

AJ Brown is a great receiver. AJ Brown is also a drama queen, as many great receivers tend to be. I don’t fully understand the correlation, but it has applied to star receivers for a while.

Brown wasn’t happy earlier in the year and used social media to voice his displeasure. He then had a big game and everyone hoped things were good. Last Sunday Brown went 4-121-2, which made it surprising when he went to social media a few days later to complain again. He never uses a direct, definitive message, but you can read between the lines and tell he wants the ball more.

When Brown was with the Titans, he averaged 62 catches per season and went to a Pro Bowl. The team made the playoffs all three years, even making the AFC title game in his rookie season. The Eagles traded for him in April of 2022 and gave Brown a big contract. He averaged 87 catches from 2022-2024. He made the Pro Bowl twice and went to the Super Bowl twice, winning last season. Things were pretty good in Tennessee. They have been pretty great in Philadelphia.

But Brown isn’t happy. It is hard to try to understand exactly what’s going on. Does he simply want more catches?

I was talking to my nephew recently. He’s a senior in high school and is an avid NFL fan. We talked about who the best receivers in football were. I told him Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson were 1-2 for me. Things were more wide open after that (After the last two games I would put Jaxson Smith-Njigba in the number three spot).

I mentioned Brown as being Top 5. My nephew scoffed at the idea that Brown was better than Puka Nacua. I tried to explain that Nacua had better reception numbers, but was more of a possession guy than a playmaker. He also plays in an offense that feeds him the ball in very definitive ways. Brown is a guy who is bigger, stronger and more physically gifted.

I wonder if Brown is frustrated by comparisons like that. Nacua is a really good player, someone I’ve liked since his time in college. But Brown is on another level physically. What would he do if he played in an offense that fed him the football? Could he put up amazing numbers…Hall of Fame stuff?

The media sees the frustration, as do some other teams.

Russini got quotes from sources on other teams regarding Brown.

She did get to ask Jeffrey Lurie about Brown and got this answer in regard to a possible trade.

“We do what’s best for the team,” he said. “We don’t even consider it seriously unless it’s best for the Eagles. We will always do what gives us the best chance of winning big. Everything else is secondary.”

Some people think Lurie should have definitively said “No” rather than explaining the team’s logic on making any moves. Brown isn’t going anywhere. This team is trying to get back to the Super Bowl. You don’t deal that guy at midseason and get better. Plus the cap situation is more than a little tricky.

Schefter didn’t get that from the ether. Howie Roseman texted him and wanted that out for public consumption. If someone wants to call Howie and make a crazy offer, they can. But the Eagles aren’t looking to move on. They want to win this year.

Brown is out this week due to a hamstring injury. It will be interesting to see how the offense does without him. If they win and the offense looks good, will that bother him or get him fired up to return?

No one faults Brown for being frustrated with the Eagles offense this season. The rankings aren’t good, aside from the red zone. Everyone who has watched the offense is confused by how such a talented group can be so erratic this year. They will look really good for part of a game and then just disappear. It is maddening.

Back to Lurie for a second.

Jimmy points out that it says a lot that Lurie was willing to go on the record and discuss the situation. Lurie doesn’t talk to the media very much, especially the national media. Lurie taking the time to address the question of trading Brown lets you know this isn’t a standard disgruntled player type of situation. Maybe this was done as a way to let the rest of the league know to quit calling. Maybe Lurie did it as a public message to Brown and his agent. There was some intent behind Lurie talking.

If the Eagles can win on Sunday, they’ll go into the bye week at 6-2. The players will have some time off. Nick Sirianni can figure out how he wants to handle the situation. Maybe some time away for everybody will be the best thing. Sirianni has said he talks to Brown every week so maybe Nick will have the magic words to de-escalate this thing.

Or maybe the drama will continue and make an odd season more frustrating than it has to be.

Just go beat the Giants and we’ll figure out everything else over time.

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Game Preview – NYG at PHI

Posted October 25th, 2025 | Comments Off on Game Preview – NYG at PHI

Both the Eagles and Giants will have a chip on their shoulder when the teams meet on Sunday at The Linc. The Giants blew a 19-0 lead and suffered an embarrassing 33-32 loss to the Broncos last week. The Eagles lost 34-17 to the Giants when the teams played two weeks ago. Those are tough losses. The Eagles bounced back last week against the Vikings, but they haven’t forgotten the Giants game.

The Eagles won’t be at full strength for the game.

You never want to see AJ Brown out. He hasn’t practiced all week due to a hamstring injury. There was hope that he could get right for Sunday, but it just didn’t heal quickly enough. The Eagles have a bye next week so let him rest and get ready for the second half of the season.

We knew BG wouldn’t play. He needs more practice. Jurgens missed most of last week so he’s no surprise either. We’ll get to see Brett Toth start at center. Not ideal. Ojulari being out means the Eagles will be light at edge rusher. Jackson being out means we’ll get another start from Kelee Ringo. As frustrating as it is to go into this game beaten up, the Eagles still have plenty of talent and should win this game.

Brown’s injury is especially frustrating with the Eagles coming off their best passing game of the year. They won’t be able to build on that, at least not in the way they wanted. The Giants will focus their coverage on DeVonta Smith. That means Jahan Dotson will have a chance to step up and do his part. John Metchie and Xavier Gipson will get more opportunities as well. This is why you trade for Dotson and Metchie.

The key to the passing game last week was the play of Jalen Hurts. He made some terrific throws. If you think back to the first Giants game, Hurts missed some key throws. He will need to hit on those passes this time out, unless the run game finally decides to get going.

Toth starting at center will not help the run game. He struggled with Vikings DTs last week and they don’t have anyone nearly as good as Dexter Lawrence. The Giants DL can give Toth real problems. Jeff Stoutland will try to figure out how limit any issues. I still don’t understand why Stout is so high on Toth, but he sees something so that’s his guy. I’d love to see rookie Drew Kendall get a chance, He impressed me over the summer.

The Giants are 25th in rushing yards allowed so maybe the Eagles can win that battle. The Vikings didn’t have a good run defense and they still shut down Saquon so who knows. One of these weeks Saquon will have a breakout game. It has to happen.

NY played more zone than usual in the first meeting. Hurts can struggle against zone coverage, but he will be expecting that this time and should be better prepared for how to attack. If the Giants decide to go with man coverage, Hurts will be fine with that. He’s more comfortable against man and it makes his scrambling more of a weapon.

The real key to this game will be the Eagles defense. The Giants are averaging 25 points per game with Jaxson Dart as the starting QB. They are averaging 33 ppg over the past two weeks. The Eagles don’t want to get into a shootout. They know Dart will make some plays, but they must play better than they did in the first game.

Dart has proven to be a good dual-threat QB.

Dart didn’t have to face Jalen Carter or Quinyon Mitchell in the first game. Q played a few snaps, but then got hurt and Dart was able to take advantage of the Eagles CBs.  With Carter bringing pressure up the middle and Q in coverage, the defense should be much better. It’s no accident that the Eagles gave up their most points of the year in that game.

With Nakobe Dean back and only three healthy edge rushers, I would expect to see more of Jihaad Campbell in that role. I’m sure he’ll be mixed in at ILB as well.

The Eagles losses to the Broncos and Giants were their only two games of the year without a takeaway. It would certainly help if the defense can make a big play or two to help the offense out.

Dart’s mobility was a major issue in the first game. The Eagles got pressure, but couldn’t either sack him or contain him. They must be better against him this time out. Mobile QBs have been a problem all year long. We’ll see if Fangio can come up with a plan since this is the first time the Eagles are playing a second game against an opponent.

Dart isn’t the only runner to worry about. Skattebo gave the Eagles fits in the first game. He ran hard and fought for every possible yard. Eagles defenders must tackle better and rally to the ball. Skattebo isn’t a guy you bring down one-on-one all the time. You need to get multiple tacklers to the ball. This has to be a team effort.

Field position was a problem in the first meeting. It would sure help if the Eagles did a better job in this area. The offense is much less likely to score when the drive starts inside your own 20.

This will be an interesting game. The Eagles are missing some key guys, which makes things challenging. But they are at home and the team should be fired up to beat the Giants. They’ll have a better idea of what the Giants want to do schematically. The thought of getting swept by the Giants is hard to imagine, but that will happen if the Eagles are sloppy and don’t take care of business.

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