A.J. Brown is now flying over the radar, and everything else
Confetti from a pro football weekend.
The Eagles lined up for their Brotherly Shove on Sunday in Washington. That’s their short-yardage mockery of actual football, in which Jalen Hurts takes the snap and gets pushed over the line by a ton of green shirts. No one has been able to stop it, and won’t until the NFL’s Competition Committee does. To enjoy it while it still exists, the Eagles went to Plan B.
They lined up in their scrum, third-and-one on the Washington seven with two minutes left. Then Hurts got the ball to DeAndre Swift, who slipped outside and could have crawled into the end zone. On the end zone, Nick Sirianni hand-slapped his coaches as delightedly as if they’d won an Oscar. The Eagles thus extended their record to 7-1, and stabilized their NFL Christmas-card list as zero, with a 38-24 lead that became a 38-31 win.
The brash, defending NFC champs have cruised to the midpoint of the season. They are undefeated against NFC teams as they prepare for Dallas’ arrival on Sunday, and then a bye week and a deep breath before they play at Kansas City, Buffalo at home, San Francisco at home, at Dallas and at Seattle. On those occasions, they’ll have to do more than exhibit their critical mass. But their opponents will have a bigger problem. How do you handle Arthur Jauan Brown, the Eagles’ Brotherly Glove?
As the Brotherly Shovers bulldoze through immovable objects, Brown is the league’s most irresistible force. On Sunday he broke an NFL record by catching passes for 125 or more yards in six consecutive games. It was previously held by Calvin Johnson (2002) and Pat Studstil (1966), a couple of Detroit Lions, and it owes much to the Eagles’ other weapons, including Hurts, wideout Devonta Smith and tight end Dallas Goedert. The Eagles haven’t had a 100-yard rusher in their past five games, and Hurts’ own mobility has been stalled by a bum knee, and the fans, desperate to find grumbling ground, aren’t enthralled with Mike Johnson, the new offensive coordinator. But there’s always Brown, as many times as Hurts can find him.
The streak began at Tampa Bay in Week 3, when Hurts threw nine passes to Brown, and Brown caught them all. He went for 131 yards that day.
Since then:
Nine catches for 175 yards at home against Washington.
Six catches for 127 yards at the L.A. Rams.
Seven catches for 131 yards at the New York Jets, the only game Philadelphia has lost.
Ten catches for 137 yards at home against Miami.
Eight catches for 130 yards at Washington.
Brown leads the NFL in explosive catches (20 or more yards) and is second in overall catches, and in the top five in yardage, targets and yards after the catch. It’s not a revelation, since Brown has been among the elite at every level since he came out of Starkville (Ms.) High, but it is impressive during a year of defensive renaissance.
This is his fifth season and will be his fourth of 1,000 more yards. The first three were in Tennessee, which drafted him in the second round from Ole Miss. Brown led the league with 20.2 yards per catch as a rookie, and in 67 starts has 38 touchdowns.
The Titans traded Brown to Philadelphia for a first-round pick that became Traylon Burks, another receiver, from Arkansas. Burks is big and promising but it’s doubtful that he has NFL records in his future.
Brown might have slipped through the cracks of the NFL fan’s typical awareness because of circumstances beyond his control. There’s a Marquise “Hollywood” Brown who is a contemporary of A.J.’s, and he’s in Arizona after starting out with Baltimore. A.J. also wasn’t the most famous receiver on his college team, which also had DK Metcalf, he of the armor-plated abs. Metcalf is thriving with the Seattle Seahawks and another Ole Miss receiver, tight end Dawson Knox, is similarly thriving in Buffalo. Ole Miss did not play in a bowl game when they were all together, so that’s another reason you might have missed Brown.
And you could have missed him altogether. He actually liked baseball better, and was drafted by the San Diego Padres. Because they signed him, he couldn’t play baseball at Ole Miss, but spent periodic time at their facility in Peoria, Ariz. and no scout was unconvinced that he could play in the majors. Brown has mischievously tweeted his desires to mirror Bo Jackson, and he would look nearly as imposing on a diamond, at 6-foot-2 and 226. As a youth, Brown wanted no part of football contact and still had to be persuaded to go over the middle in high school. But when Alabama’s Nick Saban came to call, he convinced Brown that football was his ticket. Saban also told Brown that he liked to recruit receivers who had played centerfield, because of their superior depth perception.
A wide receiver never has won the Most Valuable Player award in the NFL. The discussion seems open this year, with Patrick Mahomes playing up to but not above his standard, and with Joe Burrow just now hitting his marks. It could be the year for a defensive destructor like Myles Garrett or Micah Parsons, or it could be the year of Mr. Touchdown, also known as Christian McCaffrey.
But Smith, on the other side of the formation from Brown, did win the Heisman Trophy at Alabama for doing virtually the same things Brown is doing in Philly. If Brown keeps his streak going through the five weeks of bad road ahead, he’ll be able to put a hand on the trophy. That’s normally all he needs.
Otherwise, here’s confetti from an NFL weekend:
Denver 24, Kansas City 9
– The Broncos hadn’t beaten the Chiefs since 2015, when Taylor Swift recorded “Wildest Dreams,” and it would have taken an inventive dreamer to imagine this one. But the Broncos didn’t permit Pat Mahomes a touchdown, and Javonte Williams lugged it 27 times for 85 yards as the Broncos controlled the pace from start to finish.
– Mahomes, who was fighting the flu, is 1-for-8 in red zone conversions in two games against Denver, which lost to Kansas City 19-8 two weeks ago. This time the Broncos controlled Travis Kelce (six catches, 58 yards) and intercepted Mahomes twice. Mahomes’ QB rating was 59.2 and the Chiefs (6-2) didn’t score a touchdown of any kind. That hadn’t happened since a 27-3 loss to the Titans on Oct. 24, 2021.
– Kansas City was trailing 14-6 when Mahomes was sacked by Barrett Browning and lost a fumble on the Denver 10-yard-line. It eventually got to within 14-9 at the half, thanks to a sack and forced fumble by George Karlfatis. But the Chiefs only had one possession in the third quarter, and when Mecole Hardman muffed a punt that Denver’s Drew Sanders recovered on the Chiefs’ 10 yard line, Russell Wilson hit Courtland Sutton with the TD that made it 21-9.
Cincinnati 31, San Francisco 17
– On Oct. 8 the 49ers (5-3) dismembered the Cowboys, 42-10. That will be their last win until at least Nov. 12. Sunday’s loss was their third straight, and they have a bye Sunday and don’t play until they visit Jacksonville Nov. 12. In each loss they have scored 17 points, which coincides with the loss of WR Deebo Samuel (shoulder). Left tackle Trent Williams has missed the past two weeks (ankle).
– Joe Burrow has put his calf injury aside and played brilliantly, with 28 for 32 passing for three TDs, and six runs for 43 yards. His 20-yard run went four yards farther than any run by a 49er back. Twelve of his passes were aimed at Ja’Marr Chase, who caught 10 for 100, and Tee Higgins was also a factor with five catches. Defensively the Bengals (4-3) had three picks, including an insane juggling grab by linebacker Germaine Pratt. Fellow LB Logan Wilson had his 10th career interception, most by any linebacker since he joined the league from Wyoming in 2020.
– Brock Purdy has now thrown five picks in the losing streak, although George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk had 100-yard receiving days and Christian McCaffrey broke Lenny Moore’s record for touchdowns in consecutive games (17), set in 1963-64. But the Bengals finished a sweep of the four NFC West teams. Both San Francisco and Cincinnati are 5-3.
Minnesota 24, Green Bay 10
– The Vikings led the Packers 24-3 with 9:50 left and faced a third-and-19 at the Packers’ 22. It should have been a stress-free situation. Get a few more yards and kick. Instead, Kirk Cousins was sacked by Kenny Clark but, just before contact, he took a false step when his cleats caught, and he will not run another play this season. The Achilles tear occluded the third consecutive win for Minnesota (4-4).
– Jaren Hall, a rookie from BYU, finished up but not with distinction. He, Nick Mullins and Sean Mannion were the alternatives, so the Vikings quickly picked up Joshua Dobbs, who has quarterbacked Arizona all season and done it reasonably well. But Cousins was playig extremely well. He was 23 for 31 Sunday with no picks and a 122.2 QB rating, and he was 35 for 45 for 378 and two scores in a win over San Francisco the previous week. At least the Vikings aren’t playing powerhouses anytime soon; they have Atlanta, New Orleans, Denver and Chicago before their bye week.
– The Packers (2-5) are sliding out of the picture. They didn’t get a first down until the fifth series of this game, and the defense couldn’t get off the field, allowing Minnesota to convert 10 of 18 third downs. They haven’t won since a mad comeback that beat New Orleans 18-17 on Sept. 24.
Jacksonville 20, Pittsburgh 10
– It’s one thing to win in Pittsburgh, it’s another to beat the Steelers in Steeler weather. The Jaguars were just fine in the shivery rain, going to 6-2. All six wins have come outside Duval County, and during their 5-game win streak the Jaguars have 13 takeaways.
– Travis Etienne got the only touchdown for the Jaguars on a 56-yard pass play from Trevor Lawrence, and that put Jacksonville ahead 17-3 in the third quarter. Before that, Josh Allen for a third down sack that reprieved rookie running back Tank Bigsby, who had lost a fumble on the Pittsburgh 35.
— The game took a turn when Kenny Pickett injured his ankle in the second quarter, when he was thrown to the ground by Adam Gotsis as he threw an incompletion. Mitch Trubisky relieved him and again proved why he isn’t a starting QB, with two interceptions. The Steelers had a 55-yard field goal by Chris Boswell nullified at the end of the half because guard Isaac Seumalo lined up in the neutral zone. It was typical of the Steelers’ blah day that dropped them to 4-3.
Seattle 23, Cleveland 20
– The Browns haven’t caught many breaks this season. They outplayed Seattle on the road for most of the day and led the Seahawks when they got the ball with 5:47 left. On a third-and-3, P.J. Walker threw over the middle for Amari Cooper, but his pass ricocheted off the helmet of safety Jamal Adams. It bounced to Julian Love, and the Seahawks took over with two minutes left. They needed a field goal to tie but instead got a touchdown, from Geno Smith to rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba with :44 left.
– Cleveland (4-3) ran the ball 40 times, ran 75 plays to Seattle’s 55, and came back from a 14-0 deficit. It also got an interception from Martin Emerson just before halftime, deep in Cleveland territory. However, Walker fumbled while being sacked, which led to a Seattle score, and was intercepted by Tariq Woolen in the red zone.
– Seattle kept Myles Garrett from terrorizing Geno Smith, holding him to one sack and one QB hit. It also profited from Zac Charbonnet, a rookie reserve who stomped his way to 53 yards on five carries. The Seahawks are 6-2 and suddenly leading the NFC West.
Dallas 43, L.A. Rams 20
– The bullies of the NFL came roaring out of a bye week and built a 33-3 lead in the second quarter. Micah Parsons sacked Matthew Stafford twice and his mates did it four other times, and Dak Prescott, in the midst of a four-touchdown, 25-for-31 day, hit CeeDee Lamb on 12 of 14 tries and watched him score twice and cover 158 yards.
– Dallas has beaten the Giants, Jets, Patriots and Rams by a total of 118 points. Their only close win was 20-17 against the Chargers. They step up in class on Sunday at Philadelphia. DaRon Bland broke it open with a 30-yard interception return, his third of the season, one short of the league record for a season.
– The Rams lost Matthew Stafford when he banged his thumb on a Cowboy rusher’s helmet, and he reaggravated it when he scored a 2-point conversion on a modified Philly Special. Brett Rypien cleaned up for him and is likely to start Sunday at Green Bay. For the first time this year the Rams couldn’t lean on receivers Cooper Kupp and Puca Nacua when they were both healthy. They were targeted 17 times and caught only seven passes for a total of 64 yards.
Baltimore 31, Arizona 24
– The Cardinals became the first team to score three offensive TDs on the Ravens this season, but two interceptions made the difference. Joshua Dobbs threw picks to Brandon Stephens and Geno Stone that set up short-field touchdowns for Baltimore. Stone, a seventh-round pick from Iowa in 2020, has interceptions in three consecutive games and an NFL-best five overall.
– There was consternation in Baltimore (6-2) when J.K. Dobbins went down in the season opener, but Gus Edwards, as always, was ready for his chance. Edwards ran 19 times for 80 yards Sunday and scored three touchdowns, giving him five for the season. Over five seasons, the undrafted free agent from Rutgers has averaged five yards per carry.
– Dobbs was traded to Minnesota Tuesday. He will give way to rookie Clayton Tune on Sunday, but he had developed a nice chemistry with tight end Trey McBride, who caught 10 passes for 95 yards. The Cardinals defense was stout on third down, denying the Ravens seven times in 11 tries, but they’re still 1-7 in Jonathan Gannon’s first coaching season.
Miami 31, New England 17
– The Dolphins needed a win as a springboard to Sunday’s showdown in Frankfurt with Kansas City. They picked the right opponent, as Tua Tagovailoa ran his personal record against New England to 6-0, with a 30 for 45 day. There’s no question that the Dolphins looked hungrily at the Patriots’ corners. Twenty-five of Tua’s 44 passes went in the direction of Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle, and they caught 15 for 233 yards and a touchdown apiece.
– Jalen Ramsey rallied from knee surgery to rejoin the Dolphins’ lineup, and the All-Pro safety got a pick and went 40 yards with it. Miami’s defense sacked Mac Jones three times and denied the Patriots (2-6) eight times in nine third down situations. Raheem Mostert got his 10th rushing touchdown, and Hill became the first player since the NFL-AFL merger to get to 1,000 receiving yards in eight games.
– It was a retreat for the Patriots after their win over Buffalo last week, which allowed Miami to move a game ahead in the AFC East. Jones had difficulty sustaining anything, and New England held the ball for only 24:05.
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Carolina 15, Houston 13
– In the executive booths, the Panthers (1-6) really needed a win here, to snuff any questions about drafting Bryce Young first overall. They needed the rookie quarterback him to do exactly what he did at game’s end, to drive the Panthers downfield for the winning field goal by Eddy Piniero.
– Young hadn’t been nearly as successful as Houston QB Chris Stroud, the No. 2 pick in the draft behind Young. The Texans sacked Young six times on Sunday. But he popped right up to take the Panthers from their own nine, with 6:17 left, to the field goal, 15 plays later at the buzzer. Along the way he completed a fourth-and-two pass to Adam Thielen, his primary receiver.
– Stroud also scored a touchdown and passed efficiently (16 for 24, no picks), but a delay of game penalty caused Houston’s final drive to stall out, forcing a punt. The Texans never touched the ball again. Former third-round pick Jonathan Greenard had a big day for Houston (3-4) with two and a half sacks and three QB hits.
L.A. Chargers 30, Chicago 13
– Why are the Bears on prime time, like ever? They fell to 2-6 as Tyson Bagent had a rough encore. The rookie backup QB from Shepherd University threw two picks and had no explosive plays after a 41-yarder to Darnell Mooney on the first Chicago snap. The Bears’ defense also failed to sack Justin Herbert.
– For all the dissatisfaction with Herbert, he remains sixth in NFL QB rating, and he hit his first 11 passes Sunday night and was 31 for 40 overall with three TDs and no interceptions. He always benefits from Austin Ekeler’s presence, and Ekeler caught seven for 94 yards, thus becoming the first NFL running back in the Super Bowl era to catch 30 touchdown passes.
– The Chargers defense was healthy for a change and gave the Bears only 2.9 yards per rush. Derwin James and Ja’Sir Taylor, a sixth-round pick from Wake Forest last season, had interceptions.
Detroit 26, Las Vegas 14
– The only thing that kept the score presentable was Detroit’s anemic performance in the red zone. Otherwise, the Lions were clearly better on all fronts, holding Vegas (3-5) to 12 first downs and 157 total yards.
– Six sacks by the Lions helped frustrate Jimmy Garoppolo into a 10-for-21 night, and no Raider play went for 20 yards. The Raiders had the ball for only 20:27, but somehow only trailed 16-14 in the third quarter after Marcus Peters returned an interception 75 yards for a score. Rookie Jahmir Gibbs answered with a 27-yard touchdown run.
– The Lions are 6-2 and their path to an NFC Central title seems clearer with Cousins’ Achilles injury in Minnesota. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six passes for 108 yards, his third consecutive game of 100 or more.
Buffalo 24, Tampa Bay 18
– For all of Buffalo’s sputterings, Josh Allen got the completions he needed. The Bills (5-3) needed to hang onto the ball at the end after Tampa Bay (3-4) had narrowed the six with a 12 minute, 17-play drive, which ended with Baker Mayfield’s 34-yard TD pass to Mike Evans on fourth-and-10. Allen got to third-and-five and hit Stefon Diggs with a 15-yarder. The Bucs used their final time out and didn’t get the ball back until :21 remained.
– Allen banged up his shoulder on a run but went 31 for 40 and hit Diggs and Gabriel Davis nine times apiece. Rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid is earning a bigger role and snagged a 22-yard touchdown. The Bills didn’t punt until near the end of the third quarter but ended the game with four punts.
– Mayfield got hit 10 times but hung in, and Evans scored his fifth touchdown, notable because Tampa Bay’s offense only has 11. Lavonte David was a demon, getting in on 14 tackles. He has seven tackles for loss this season.
N.Y. Jets 13, N.Y. Giants 10 (OT)
– The New York state of football is pretty bedraggled, except for one thing: There are three wild-card playoff spots available in the AFC, and the Jets are 4-3. An improbable series of unlikely events enabled the Jets to tie it at halftime, after the Giants’ Graham Gano missed a 35-yarder, and the Jets, with no time outs, managed to spike the ball with just two ticks left in regulation. Greg Zuerlein tied it up, and then Zuerlein won it with a 33-yarder after Adoree Jackson was whistled for pass interference.
– Zach Wilson was sacked three times by Kayvon Thibodeaux, but he shrugs off his problems a lot quicker than New York fans do. With :24 left he hit Garrett Wilson for 29 yards, as a declined offside penalty on Thibodeaux stopped the clock, and then he hit Allen Lazard for 29 more before the spike.
– The Giants (2-6) lost Tyrod Taylor and had to go with rookie Tommy Devito, from Syracuse via Illinois, and Devito scored their only touchdown. They still wound up with minus-four net yards passing, as Saquon Barkley lugged the leather 36 times for 128 yards. Overall, the teams combined to convert 4 of 34 third downs and they had as many punts as first downs (24).
New Orleans 38, Indianapolis 27
– When last seen, Derek Carr was angry with his Saints receivers and distraught over the sluggish offense that he was supposed to invigorate. On Sunday he was a new, or maybe old, quarterback, strafing the Colts with 19 for 27 passing with 310 yards and two scores, and throwing nine times in the direction of Chris Olave, the receiver with whom he was so upset.
– Meanwhile, the Saints defense left its game at home, with the Indy rushers cruising for 6.8 yards per carry. But Taysom Hill, the wild-card quarterback who no one seems to be able to tackle, ran for two touchdowns to keep the Saints on pace.
– The Colts (3-5) sacked Carr only once and hit him only three times. Linebacker Zaire Franklin did participate in 14 tackles, hitting double-digits for the sixth time this season. He leads the NFL in stops.
Tennessee 28, Atlanta 23
– The Titans (3-4) dressed up in the old Houston Oiler uniforms, but they gave off that new-quarterback smell. Will Levis, a rookie from Penn State via Kentucky, followed Marcus Mariota and Fran Tarkenton as the only quarterbacks in league history to fire four touchdown passes in their debut games. He looked for all the world like Dan Pastorini in his prime, while Derrick Henry turned in a workhorse, 102-yard performance in the tradition of Earl Campbell and Tennessee’s pass rushers all turned into Elvin Bethea, sacking the Falcons six times.
– DeAndre Hopkins snagged three of those touchdowns as he did his Ken Burrough imitation. Unfortunately the league has forbidden the Titans from again reverting to those Luv Ya Blue uniforms with the oil derrick on the helmet.
– Desmond Ridder was ineffective for the Falcons before he showed concussion symptoms, but Taylor Heinicke came in to lead a comeback. With 1:33 left, Van Jefferson whiffed on Heinicke’s fourth-and-one pass, and Atlanta fell to 4-4.