AJ Brown Named NFC Offensive Player of The Week

AJ Brown has been on an absolute tear this season. The week 7 win over the Dolphins makes it 5 straight weeks with at least 125 receiving yards. He is second in the league with 809 yards, behind only Tyreek Hill. And it has finally paid off with some personal hardware. The NFL named him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

Brown finished with 137 yards and a TD on 10 catches in week 7. He caught the game-winning TD in the 4th quarter. He also set up the Jalen Hurts Tush Push TD earlier in the came when he made a big catch to get the Eagles to the 1-yard line.

This is AJ Brown's first Player of the Week Award. And he is just the 5th Eagles WR to win it. Jeremy Maclin, Irving Fryar, and Calvin Williams all won it once with the Eagles, and Desean Jackson won it 3 times. It is the 4th time that an Eagles player won Player of the Week this season. Jake Elliot won Special Teams Player of the Week twice, and D'Andre Swift won Offensive Player of the Week after his big week 2 performance vs the Vikings.

Brown is on track for nearly 2,000 yards, which would shatter the single-season franchise record he set last year. He has been as good as any WR in the league after the week 2 game where he barely touched the ball and got into a sideline "discussion" with Jalen Hurts that was picked up by the cameras. And it could be another big game for him on Sunday with it set to be a rematch between him and the Commanders. In week 4 he burned them for 175 yards and 2 TDs.

For all the complaining and worrying we have done about the Eagles this year, they are now alone atop the NFC heading into week 8. They took care of their business in week 7, while both the Niners and Lions lost. In the 49ers' case, it is their second loss in a row. So at 6-1, the Eagles currently have the best record in the NFC. They are also tied for the best record in the NFL.

The Eagles are coming off their most impressive win of the season. Their defense held the number one offense in the league to just one TD. The Dolphins scored 17 points, but 10 came off turnovers. One literally on a pick 6, and another after a fumble that started the Dolphins in field goal range. The Tyreek Hill TD on their final drive of the first half was the one time the defense let the Dolphins get the best of them. And on the back of that great performance, they just added All-Pro Safety Kevin Byard to the mix. Instantly filling their biggest hole with the best player available.

And the offense looked mostly good too, apart from the two turnovers. The Dolphins defense is nothing too special, but they still hung 31 points on them. And apart from the first drive of the game, they finally looked good in the Red Zone, scoring a TD on 4 of 6 trips. Yes, the turnovers have become a concerning trend, but otherwise, the Eagles are in the top 5 of both yards and points per game.

But is that all enough for them finally to get some respect? Or are the National Media types around the NFL still putting the Eagles down because of their slowish start?

There was a lot of concern that the Eagles would miss Javon Hargrave. But while Hargrave has still been great with the Niners, Carter has filled that hole. He has not only been great as a pass rusher but maybe even better against the run. Last year the Eagles got after the QB at a historical rate, but at times struggled against the run. This year, they are still getting after the QB, but are also the best run defense in the league. They just shut down Breece Hall and Raheem Mostert two weeks in a row.  

ESPN Power Rankings

Thank you. Finally, some sense. The people whining and crying about the Tush Push have no good reason for why it should be banned. We have seen it is not an unstoppable play when other teams run it. The Vikings botched it in the Red Zone on Monday Night. You don’t ban plays just because one team is really good at it.

The Athletic's Power Rankings

Last year it was the mid-season signings of Linval Joseph and Ndamukong Suh to fix the Eagles' run defense. In 2017 it was the Jay Ajayi trade. Howie can always be counted on for midseason moves to fix the team's biggest issue. And now he has done it again by getting an Elite NFL steal for two day 3 picks and the guy they may have cut to make room for him anyway. Thank you, Howie.

Yahoo Sports Power Rankings

Brown was great last year. This year he is somehow even better. 5 straight games now with at least 125 yards by him. He is right up there with Tyreek Hill as one of the elite WRs in the league.

Sports Illustrated- 1 (Previously 3)

“They could QB push their way to the Super Bowl, again.”

At least for once, Mike Florio is being positive when he puts zero effort into his power rankings. It’s better than him taking some random imprecise shot at them like he usually does with his one sentence. The pun is lame though.

Pro Football Talk’s Power Rankings

If everybody could do it, everybody would. It’s not unfair, the Eagles are just good at it. Is it unfair that the Dolphins are so good at getting the ball to Tyreek Hill for deep shots? Was it unfair when Darrelle Revis was pretty much a lock to shut down the opposing WR? No? So why is it unfair that the Eagles have an elite Center and QB combo who can run the play without fail?

USA Today’s Power Rankings

Is this defense actually really good? There were valid concerns early on. But now with the addition of Kevin Byard, they have an elite D-Line and a damn good secondary. In 4 of the last 5 games, they held the opposing team under 300 total yards. Sean Desai deserves endless credit for the job he has done. He is an upgrade over Jonathan Gannon.

Bleacher Report’s Power Rankings

Yeah Hurts has not been as perfect as he was last year. And the turnovers have been a major issue the last two weeks. But he is also throwing much better. And even in that Jets game, he was making some incredible plays before his awful mistake that cost them the game. So there is no need to hit the panic button yet.

CBS Sports Power Rankings