Brown wows Eagles teammates with dominant performance

The Eagles secret to maintaining their aggressiveness in the second half on Sunday wasn’t much of a secret at all.

“Throw that motherf—er to No. 11,” Lane Johnson said.

Yeah, that’ll work.

In fact, it worked pretty much all afternoon in the Eagles’ 35-13 beatdown over the Pittsburgh Steelers. A.J. Brown turned in a masterful performance fitting for one of the best receivers in the NFL.

Brown finished with 6 catches for 156 yards and 3 touchdowns, setting career highs in yards and touchdowns.

He became the first Eagle to have 150+ receiving yards and 3 receiving touchdowns in a game since Kevin Curtis did it 15 years ago. And he became the first Eagle with three touchdown catches of 25+ yards since Ben Hawkins in 1969.

It was an all-time performance.

What did Dallas Goedert think of it?

“It wasn’t bad,” Goedert joked. “I think he could have gotten four [touchdowns]. That one, kind of, I think he could have made that play and I bet he thinks he could’ve, too. But three and 150 is not bad.”

Not bad at all.

And through seven games, Brown now has 659 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. He’s the first Eagles receiver to do that since Terrell Owens during the 2005 season.

What Brown is doing right now is special. And his teammates are taking notice.

“That’s A.J. Brown. It’s always fun to watch him,” Fletcher Cox said. “To go out and do what he did today, that’s the reason he’s here. That’s the reason Howie (Roseman) brought him here.”

Brown was very good in his first three seasons in Tennessee. He went over 1,000 yards in each of his first two seasons and was a Pro Bowler in 2020 when he had a career-high 1,075 yards.

But Brown has taken his game to new heights since joining the Eagles and is on pace to smash that 2020 season. Through seven games, Brown is on pace for 95 catches, 1,600 yards and 12 touchdowns.

It’s clear the connection between Brown and his best friend Jalen Hurts is unique. They had never been teammates before this season but they have a rapport that takes some guys years to build.

“I have a lot of trust in A.J.,” Hurts said. “I think that’s a lot of the reason why he’s here. We’ve always had a great relationship. It’s been beautiful to see how it’s unfolded throughout the year, personally for him and I, and us on the field. I always had a lot of admiration for his mentality. He’s been doing great things for us. I’m proud of him as a friend and as a quarterback.”

It’s hard to overstate how much the addition of Brown has meant to the Eagles’ passing offense. Sure, they still have Goedert and DeVonta Smith and Quez Watkins and Zach Pascal. And there are going to be days when Goedert or Smith lead the Eagles in receiving. But there’s no question who the Eagles’ No. 1 playmaker is.

There’s a reason the Eagles traded away a first-round pick to acquire Brown and handed him a $100 million contract.

Since he got here, Brown has done nothing but make Roseman look like a genius for pulling that trigger.

Before Sunday’s game, Smith was seen warming up in a t-shirt featuring Brown’s likeness. Smith said they never know which receiver is going to be the feature guy in any given game, but it was clearly Brown on Sunday.

“Maybe I need to wear the shirt more often,” Smith said.

Not a bad idea. Sort of like chucking it up to No. 11.

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