Turns out, how much the Philadelphia Eagles offense throws to A.J. Brown wasn't the underlying issue with Philly's ability to move the football.
Yes, the Eagles won on Sunday Night Football over the Detroit Lions, and there was a sturdy wind. But the offense still wasn't good enough to repeat as Super Bowl champs.
"Jalen Hurts played through a steady wind, which likely factored into some of the off-target throws, but Philadelphia's offensive inconsistencies go well beyond that," ESPN's Tim McManus wrote on Monday. "Hurts was held to under 200 yards for the sixth time this season. His receivers had some uncharacteristic drops, further complicating things for a unit that has struggled to find a rhythm -- a trend that continued even with A.J. Brown (11 targets) more involved this week. The city will celebrate the defense and lose sleep over the offense in the lead-up to next week's game at the Dallas Cowboys."
MORE: Why Ashton Jeanty would've been 'perfect fit' for Cowboys
Brown's targets were mostly on shorter routes, and when Hurts looked deep for DeVonta Smith, the connections weren't quite there on this night.
After a pretty steady lack of involvement for Brown, he has spoken to reporters about the offense needing to pick up its slack. It hasn't just been Brown, and he said last week that the defense has put a "Band-Aid" on the offense's problems, essentially shielding the struggles because the Eagles have kept winning anyway. That's pretty much what happened against the Lions.
The running game isn't solved, either.
On one Saquon Barkley handoff, there were two Lions into the backfield before Barkley could even get back to the line of scrimmage. And waiting for Barkley at the line was his center, turned around, essentially moving right into Barkley and contributing to bringing him down.
The Eagles also got stopped on consecutive tush pushes in the second half.
There's plenty for Philly to figure out. The Eagles will be happy they've mostly kept winning. But to reach the mountaintop again, the offenses will need some surges.
More NFL news:
- NFL broadcaster joked that Tua Tagovailoa is on drugs
- Watch Steelers' 300-pound Darnell Washington hurdle defenders
- Sean Tucker had an epic career game
- Why Shedeur Sanders is in at QB for the Browns
- Falcons' $180 million Kirk Cousins decision takes odd twist
- Josh Allen's 6-TD day leads Bills to epic bounceback win