Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown says the Eagles get a pass for their lackluster passing game Sunday.
Though the Eagles defeated the Los Angeles Rams 28–22, they had to do it mostly on the back of their running game and defense. The Eagles passed for just 128 yards.
“Absolutely. It affected everything,” Brown said in response to a reporter asking him if the weather affected the passing attack. “I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. That was not fun. Honestly, that wasn’t fun at all, man. Tough game, tough conditions, but you make the most of them, try to get the win. I’m glad we did.”
Brown mentioned two plays in particular. The first was in the final minute of the first half: Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw a deep bomb to Brown, who beat Rams cornerback Cobie Durant on the sideline but could not corral the ball in bounds. Hurts was sacked on the next play and lost the football, taking the team out of field goal range. He was sacked again on the next play to end the half. Brown said the conditions played a role in making it difficult to control the ball but refused to make excuses for the drop.
The second was Brown’s catch in the fourth quarter that converted a fourth down. With just under nine minutes left to play on the Los Angeles 33-yard line, Hurts threw a slant route to Brown on 4th and 4 at about the 22-yard line. That conversion set up a Jake Elliott field goal that put the Eagles up 22–15 with 6:19 left in the game.
That catch was one of just two catches Brown had in the game. Brown has totaled just three catches for 24 yards in two playoff games. He is currently fourth on the team in receiving in the postseason.
Brown said that while Philadelphia’s passing game has struggled so far during their playoff campaign, this game should not be counted against them.
“You’ve got to give this game a pass,” he said. “The conditions were crazy, and we couldn’t even see out there. So imagine throwing the ball and catching the ball, even though [the Rams] were doing it at the end. But the game’s on the line, they had no choice. I don’t think that would have been their first choice, I think they would have probably tried to run the ball if they could.”
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford did throw for 324 yards and two touchdowns in the heavy snow, but much of it came in the fourth quarter when the Rams were down 28–15. Stafford led a 75-yard drive with roughly four minutes left in the game, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson with 2:48 left in the game. In total, Stafford completed 26 of 44 passes. The Rams did have some success running the ball; Kyren Williams rushed 19 times for 106 yards.
For Brown’s part, he did not appear to worry that he had not been featured as much in the offense so far.
“That’s the thing, playing football, you never know when you’re going to make your play, and you don’t know how it’s going to look, but [we’re] just trying to get the win most importantly,” he said. “The stats [weren’t] there, but I made some huge blocks. I had two touchdown blocks.”
“We did whatever it took to get the win, regardless of the passing game. ... We got the win and we’re advancing.”
