The Philadelphia Eagles head coach is attempting to quell concerns about locker room discord heading into Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
A Philadelphia defensive back discloses he almost wound up in Pittsburgh. Ben Roethlisberger has some interesting NFL Coach of the Year thoughts.
And the Duquesne men’s basketball team looks to make it two in a row Wednesday night against Maine.
Not all that sunny in Philadelphia
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni is downplaying A.J. Brown’s clipped response about the team’s offensive output.
Following a 22-16 win over the Carolina Panthers, the wide receiver was asked what he thought was wrong with the offense. His one-word reply was, “Passing.”
Brown also added that it was “incredibly hard” to get into a rhythm when the team only passes 21 times (four targets for him) and that he and Hurts weren’t communicating very much on the sideline about it.
AJ Brown on what the offense needs to improve on:
“Passing”
Says everything is fixable
Says he slammed his helmet out of frustration after a 3-and-out pic.twitter.com/iSG4MvOpt2
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) December 8, 2024
But during a radio interview Tuesday, Sirianni disagreed with the general opinion that Brown’s quote was a shot at quarterback Jalen Hurts.
“I didn’t take it that way,” Sirianni said on94WIP. “You can do anything, and spin it any way. I took it as: ‘We want to get better as a passing attack.’ A.J. is part of the passing attack. We all want to be better at it. “
As the Eagles prepare to host the Steelers on Sunday, they are seventh in total offense in the NFLat 371.1 yards per game. They are also eighth at 26.3 points per game. Yet, at 180.6 passing yards per contest, Philly ranks ahead of only New England (171.5) in the entire NFL.
Brown is fourth in yards per catch at 17.4 and 17th in yards, with 836. That said, he is only 47th in receptions with 48 and has just four touchdowns.
“All I can judge things on is what I seeon a daily basis,” Siriannisaid via an ESPN.com transcript. “When I see A.J. and Jalen communicating about the game plan, eating lunch together every single day, praying with each other before the game. 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.”
The Eagles are leaning heavily on running back Saquon Barkley. The Penn State product has 1,623 yards on 266 carries this year. He leads the league in both those categories.
Almost on the other side
On hispodcast,“Big Play Slay,” Eagles cornerback Darius Slay revealed that he was on the verge of becoming a Steelerprior to the 2023 season.
“I almost was going to them,” Slay said. “They hit me up. (T.J. Watt) texted me. Cam Heyward texted me talking about, ‘Come in’ there. Before I ever got to make the decision, I think they signed (Patrick Peterson) so they kind of chilled out for a minute. But I was almost a Pittsburgh Steeler.”
Instead, Slay remained in Philadelphia. That offseason, the Eagles were close to releasing him, and they allowed him to seek a trade.
But a deal was worked out to restructure his contract. That happened the same day Peterson signed in Pittsburgh.
Slay ended up making the Pro Bowl in 2023 with 14 pass breakups and two interceptions. In 2024, Slay has 10 PBUs.
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Not No. 1
During his latest “Footbahlin’” podcast, Ben Roethlisberger revealed his NFL Coach of the Year rankings. The former Steelers quarterback placed Mike Tomlin second.
“The only reason I’m not putting him at No. 1 is because of what Dan Campbell is doing in Detroit,” Roethlisberger said.
However, Roethlisberger did add one caveat.
“I will give you this argument because I know people will say Dan Campbell has a good team, and Mike Tomlin is probably doing more with less,” Roethlisberger continued. “But only at the quarterback position. When I say that, that’s not a knock at Russ. That’s because of the unknown coming into the season.”
Campbell’s Lions are 12-1. That’s the best record in the NFC. The Minnesota Vikings are 11-2 in second place behind the Lions in the NFC North. Their head coach, Kevin O’Connell, was third on Roethlisberger’s list behind Campbell and Tomlin.
Right down ‘Maine’ street
The Duquesne men’s basketball team hosts Maine on Wednesday night. The Dukes are looking for their second straight home win after beating Delaware 80-62 on Friday.
For Dru Joyce III, that was his first victory at UPMC Cooper Field House as head coach. Tre Dinkins led the way. He had 18 points and was one of five Dukes in double figures.
The Black Bears come to Pittsburgh after a loss against another Atlantic-10 squad. They dropped an 87-72 decision at Fordham. Former Duke Jackie Johnson III had 16 points and six assists for the Rams. Maine is 6-5, 1-5 in road games. The team is led by AJ Lopez who averages 14.1 points per game.
As for the women’s team, they beat Bucknell 65-48 on Tuesday. Gabby Hutcherson led the team with 16 points.
Another big three!! @gabby_hutch #GoDukes pic.twitter.com/Fd7PrbL7sv
— Duquesne Women's Basketball (@DuqWBB) December 11, 2024
The Dukes doubled up the Bison 24-12 in the fourth quarter. They improved to 7-2. Bucknell drops to 5-5.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.