The Eagles Dismantle Green Bay With Such Ease AJ Brown Had Time To Read A Book On The Sideline
It wasn't the prettiest of wins. The passing game never really got going. AJ Brown only had 1 catch for 10 yards on the day. But at the same time--there was never a doubt.
The Eagles were going to win this game from the moment that Green Bay got off the bus at the Linc. There was never any world where they weren't going to find a way to grind out a win today, and there was never a moment where they needed to sweat for this one. Sure, it's not like the Eagles completely buried the Packers and put them away like they should have right out of the gates. But everybody knew from the moment Oren Burks forced that fumble on the opening kick off that the Eagles were going to be advancing to play next week.
So for AJ Brown, he knew he had a light day ahead of him. He knew this game was going to come down to Saquon burning off clock. He knew this game was going to come down to the defense putting Jordan Love in absolute hell all day long. He knew he likely wasn't going to play a massive role in this game, so he planned ahead and brought a little light reading out with him on the sideline.
"Inner Excellence" by Jim Murphy is about to have sales going through the roof this week.
This is what we call growth. There's no need for AJ Brown to throw any tantrums on the sideline when he's not involved in the game. There's no need for theatrics or giving any disgruntled responses to the media. Just grab a self-motivation book, read through a few passages, remind yourself that you're one of the best wide receivers on the entire planet and that they game is going to come during this run to the Super Bowl where you're going to get 11 receptions for 145 yards and 2 td.
That game just wasn't today. Because again, Oren Burks.
And Slay.
And Zack Baun.
And to close things out and lock things up…Quinyon Mitchell.
There were so many massive plays in this game made by so many different guys, that AJ Brown could afford to have a light workload today. And considering how much injury trouble the Packers found themselves in today, making sure that the Eagles left the game with a healthy AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith was priority #1. So he got some light reading in AND he'll be 100% for next week. That's a huge win for the Birds.
And a huge win in general to start off this postseason run. Again, it wasn't exactly as dominating as you would have hoped to have seen. The defense did their part, but the offense was touch and go for a bit. But they got the job done when they needed to. And also, let's just talk about the classiest slide in NFL history for a moment.
Saquon Barkley could have gone to the house for an easy 70+ yarder without even getting touched to put the final dagger in that game. But he knew they already had the win locked up, knew he shouldn't show up Green Bay like that, and most importantly knew that they shouldn't even give them the chance to have the ball again. God this guy is just the best. We'll always be forever indebted to Joe Schoen and the New York Football Giants for letting us have him here.
Go Birds. 1 win down. 3 to go.