Eagles Need To Pass A Bit More To Keep AJ Brown Happy

What the Eagles have been doing works. 11-2, and 9 straight wins tells you that. Even against one of the toughest run defenses in the league, the Ravens, it worked. So I don't buy the idea that they NEED to pass more to keep winning.

I do however think they need to do so for another reason. The morale of one AJ Brown. He is clearly unhappy with the Eagles passing game right now. His targets are down this year. That tends to happen when you throw it less than any other team in the league, but it led to a week full of drama when he called out the passing game in his post-game press conference, and then later doubled down in a mid-week one.

They need AJ Brown to be happy. He is way too important to this offense to be disgruntled. Even if you leave out the damage he does through the air when they do pass (3rd most yards per route run), he is a big reason why the run game works so well. Not just because of his blocking, but because the threat of him has keeps teams from stacking the box.

Tyrone Johnson talked about this on The Best Show Ever this Thursday.

"He has only been single-covered the last 4 games 6 times. He got the ball all four times before the Carolina game. In the Carolina game, there were two times in which he was man-to-man and there was no safety help in the game. Twice. On 1 of them, Hurts missed him. On the other one. Hurts threw a touchdown pass to Devonta Smith.

Despite how well Saquon Barkley has played, despite how heroic and tremendous Saquon Barkley has played. They still aren't packing the box to stop him because they fear AJ Brown."

There is a good reason they are 1-2 in games AJ Brown missed, and 10-0 in games he plays. He is that important to what they do, even when he is not getting the ball.

And he is right that the passing game needs to be better. he may have gone about it in the wrong way, but his complaint is mostly valid. So in order to get that passing game going, and to make sure AJ Brown is happy, they need to throw it a bit more.

Now I am not saying to flip the game plan on its head. You still need to run the ball often. But make sure you get Brown involved too.

Ray Dunne said it while he was on with The Best Show Ever this week. The first couple drives of the game have been terrible anyway. Why not just force-feed Brown the ball and see what happens?

Best case you get a scuffling pass game going. Worst case the drive stalls like nearly every other 1st quarter drive has stalled. Them waiting until the end of the first half to get AJ Brown the ball last week cannot become a trend.

Part of the problem is how few deep balls they have thrown in the last 4 weeks. In the first 9 games, they had 30 passes that traveled at least 20 yards. In the last 4, they had only 3, and 0 against the Panthers. In those first 9 games, they threw 7 TDs on those deep passes. Hurts is one of the most efficient QBs when throwing the deep ball. But they have not had a TD like that since week 9 when he threw 2.

Related: Jalen Hurts Needs To Take More Risks Throwing The Ball

The passing game has lost that explosive element. They are not taking enough chances. That might be part of what has Brown upset. One of the things he does best is win those 1 on 1 balls. But they have not gone to that well. Is that the QB being slow to pull the trigger, or the playcalling going away from that type of play? Whichever it is, needs to change.

This should be a run-first team. There is no reason to change that. But when you have AJ Brown and Devonta Smith, you have to take advantage of that too. We know they are capable of it, we know Hurts is capable of it. For the sake of keeping your star WR smiling, they need to find a way to air it out a little bit more.

They need to walk a bit of a tightrope. Don't change what has worked so well for this team, but find a way to keep Brown happy. I think taking more deep shots can accomplish both, and might just make this offense more dynamic than it already is.

The Eagles faced their first adversity in a while this week. Not just because they had an ugly game vs the Panthers, but because of the drama that followed. AJ Brown after the game voiced his displeasure with the Eagles' passing game.

Him doing that was one thing. The city debated the next day if he was right, and if Jalen Hurts needed to be better. But the drama really ramped up when Brandon Graham weighed in and suggested there was a relationship problem between Brown and Hurts. He corrected himself that same day, and admitted to speaking out of turn, but the damage was done.

Related: Eagles Survive Vs The Panthers To Keep Winning Streak Alive

A couple of days later, both of the involved parties spoke. Hurts and Brown both said there was no problem between them and seemed sincere. Combine that with reporting that it was not as big of a deal as Graham's original comments seemed to imply, and it seemed to be addressed.

Still, it was adversity. It was the first crack in the Eagles armor in what had otherwise been a great week. And while Brown said he and Hurts are cool, he did not back down from his comments that the passing game needed to be better, and in fact doubled down on them saying he made those comments publicly on purpose.

All of this leads up to an important game this weekend. They face their In-State Rivals the Steelers. The toughest team left on their schedule and the toughest defense they have faced all year. With Brown's clear unhappiness with the state of the passing game, this needs to be a get-right game. Not just for the team, but in particular for the passing game.

That is not to say change the plan and stop running the ball. That clearly has worked for them, but they need to find a way to get the ball in the hands of both AJ Brown and Devonta Smith, just to kill any doubt that the passing game could one day be an issue for this team.

So who needs to step up for the Eagles to win this game? Let's run through the players who need to have big games.

You created this mess, so you better be part of cleaning it up. Brown may be right about the passing game. The last few weeks it has not been good enough, part of that is the lack of plays downfield. But if you are gonna open your mouth, you need to back it up.

For Brown's part, it has not been a down season for him. He just hasn't been targeted as much, because they are throwing it less. But among WRS who have played at least 8 games, he is 3rd in Yards Per Route Run. Brown plays a large part in why the running game has been so good. Not just because he is a willing and capable blocker, but because his presence is why Barkley has yet to see stacked boxes.

Brown is still as good as he has ever been, and we saw him getting open on Sunday, he just didn't get the ball. Which is understandably frustrating. But it is on him, Kellen Moore, and Jalen Hurts, to fix that. Brown is too important to this team to let him be unhappy. Get him the ball early and often. Take some shots downfield to him, because those plays tend to work really well. Get him involved, and keep him happy.

The last time he played the Steelers he came away with 3 TDS. Expecting a repeat of that is asking too much, but another big game from him should quiet all the concerns.

Now we get to the other guy involved in this drama. Hurts was bad against the Panthers. He will tell you that, in fact he did tell you that. He made some plays when the team needed it, and helped them eventually win, but he left way too many plays on the field. But for the most part, he has been incredibly efficient. They have just gotten too far away from the chunk plays downfield in recent weeks. That is a part of their game that works. Hurts is one of the most efficient deep ball QBs in the league, and despite only throwing 3 balls more than 20 yards downfield the past 4 weeks, he is still tied for the league lead in TDs of over 20 yards.

They need to add that back to their game. I am not saying spam the deep ball, but work it in. You have AJ Brown 1 on 1 with a CB? Let it rip. Brown and Hurts have more than proven the last 3 years that works out well for them more often than not. Do the same with Smith. They have been too safe in the passing game of late, and that is part of the problem they have had.

The Steelers defense is very good, but it is clear who drives that ship, TJ Watt. He is far and away their best player, mostly because he is far and away one of the best players in the whole league. He is so good that his 9.5 sacks this year represent a down year by his standards.

He spends nearly all of his time on the left side of the D-Line (So the right side of the O-Line). Of his 730 defensive snaps, 714 came as either the LEO or LOLB. They do not move him around. They keep him on that side, and let him focus on getting after the QB the best he can. Usually, because the Right side is the weaker side of the line for most teams. That is not the case for the Eagles. Their right side is very strong, but their best Lineman period is their RT, Lane Johnson.

TJ Watt once called Lane Johnson the best tackle he has ever played. Watt did manage 5 pressures rushing against Lane the last time they played, but it was a good battle all game long. It will be another one this weekend, and Mekhi Becton will likely end up having to help a bit too. Those 2 will need to be at their best this week. TJ Watt is the most chipped player in the NFL, but Lane Johnson is left on an island more than any Tackle. So it will be interesting to see what the plan for the Eagles is. Do they have Becton help, or do they leave Johnson to take Watt on 1 on 1 like they do most weeks?

By the way, Watt is also very good against the run. So we are not just talking about him rushing the passer.

With all the talk about passing the ball, the run game can't be lost. It is the thing they do best, and it still needs to be the driving force of this offense. Do they need to throw it a little more? Maybe? But this is s running team, and they can't and likely won't forget that. Barkley still has a shot at making NFL history by breaking Eric Dickerson's record. That is not the main goal, winning a Super Bowl is. But if you can set a record on the way to winning a Ring, that is even better.

It has been a tough season for the Eagles' longtime kicker. He has been great for them for so long, but it is hard to trust him right now. He has missed every single attempt from over 50 yards this season. 0 for 5. To the point they had a chance last week, that would have made it a 2 score game, and instead, they took a delay of game and punted it.

That is a problem. Every team needs a clutch kick at some point. Elliott has supplied many such kicks in his time here. But if they can't trust him, it will cost them down the line. He needs to get his act together now, or they will be at a disadvantage in every close game they play the rest of the season, and into the post-season. The Lions have a kicker who is automatic, and any game vs them, provided both teams make it to the NFC Championship game, could easily come down to a FG. The version we see of Jake Elliott right now, I can't say I feel good about the Eagles chances if it comes down to a 53-yard FG to win the game.