After the relationship between Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver A.J. Brown was seemingly exposed as dicey by team captain Brandon Graham on Monday—before he took it back—head coach Nick Sirianni is the latest to give his thoughts on the rift.
"I see A.J. and Jalen communicating the game plan, eating lunch together every single day praying with each other before the game," he told Sports Radio 94WIP's Morning Show on Tuesday morning. "There's going to be speculation and I get it, rightfully so based on what has happened the last couple of days. But all you can do is judge what you see. Based off of what happened the last couple of days... 'Oh man there's a little 2023 vibes.' I see a lot of 2022 vibes."
For context, the Eagles were knocked in the Wild Card round of the 2023 postseason. They made it to Super Bowl LVII in '22.
Nick Sirianni on WIP: "I see A.J. and Jalen communicating about the game plan, eating lunch together every single day, praying with each other before the game.
"Based off of what happened the last couple of days, 'Oh man there's a little 2023 vibes.' I see a lot of 2022 vibes." https://t.co/oT4dHnbSuR pic.twitter.com/h9zp61dJS9
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) December 10, 2024
Following the Eagles' tight win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Brown was asked what's wrong with the team's offense. He bluntly replied "passing,"—taken as a shot at Hurts. Sirianni, however, didn't see it that way.
"I didn't take it that way," he explained. "You can do anything and spin it anyway, but I didn't take it that way. I took it as we want to get better as a passing attack. A.J. is part of the passing attack. And so, we all want to be better at it...Jalen and A.J. are both really outstanding people and both really outstanding players and I love that our players are wanting to get better, desire to get better, and that's what we talk about all of the time is how we get better and how we do things and be able to do some things that are special."
Graham's viral comments about the two on Monday night included him saying that Brown needs to be held accountable, Hurts is trying mend the fence but Brown needs to respond better, and that the QB/WR duo, "were friends, but things have changed."
He has since spoken with ESPN's Tim McManus to clarify, saying that he "assumed [about their friendship] and it made me out to look even worse because I had it all wrong and now people are going to run with that part." Graham added, "I'm going. to make sure I apologize to both of them."
The Eagles welcome the Steelers to Lincoln Financial Field Sunday for a 4:25 p.m. kickoff.