Sirianni explains why Eagles used A.J. Brown all over the field in opener

[time2rock]

Sirianni explains why Eagles used A.J. Brown all over the field in opener

 

After his incredible Week 1 performance, A.J. Brown said he was mad at himself because he didn’t get in the end zone.

But he did everything else.

Not only did Brown catch 10 passes on 13 targets for an incredible 155 yards, he did it in multiple ways and he did it from all over the field. It was a masterful performance.

As you can see, Brown lined up just about everywhere on the field Sunday in the Eagles’ 38-35 win over the Lions and was productive from everywhere too. Don’t expect that to change.

Because as the season goes on, defenses are going to want to key on Brown and the more the Eagles move him around, the tougher that becomes.

"There are so many different reasons why somebody would be in the slot or on the outside,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. "But one thing we always take great pride in is that when you have good playmakers, you want to move them around.”

We already saw that in Game 1 with Brown.

According to ProFootballFocus, 27 of Brown’s 66 offensive snaps on Sunday came in the slot, while 21 came wide left and 18 came wide right.

So Brown played 40.9% of his snaps out of the slot against the Lions, which is something to monitor as the season goes on. That’s a significantly higher percentage than any of his first three seasons in the NFL, although that percentage has been trending upward throughout his career:

2021: 27.4%

2020: 14.8%

2019: 11.5%

At times during his career with the Titans, Brown was even used in the backfield and inline. Maybe there’s a chance we could see some of that this season too.

"I think the days of this guy always lines up to the left or outside, or this guy always lines up to the right outside, or this guy is always in the slot, are in my opinion are a little bit over,” Sirianni explained.

“… Because you do that too much, and you make it a little bit more simple for the defense to take those guys away because they can roll coverage. They can keep the corner over there. They can cheat the linebacker out. It's much easier when you know where he is.”

Aside from making it tough to key on Brown, Sirianni also pointed out that they can run no-huddle with any personnel group if guys can play multiple spots and sometimes it’s a play that’s designed to go elsewhere anyway.

But the biggest reason to move Brown around is that it makes him tougher to cover. And he’s already pretty tough to cover.

Just think about if the Eagles had to face Brown in a game. The last couple of years, the Eagles have used Darius Slay to travel with top receivers but he hasn’t traveled into the slot. So if the Eagles had to face Brown, they might have Slay on him outside but then Brown would get to face 5-foot-9 Avonte Maddox in the slot.

The Eagles even moved DeVonta Smith around last year when he was their No. 1 receiver. Smith played just under 11% of his snaps inside last season and had a healthy split between sides on the outside.

And Sirianni on Monday brought up Keenan Allen, whom he coached with the Chargers. Allen (6-2, 211) is a five-time Pro Bowler who has been known to play all over the field.

"That's something that's always on our mind with our good playmakers,” Sirianni said.

After one game in an Eagles uniform, there’s no question Brown qualifies.

https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/eagles/eagles-used-aj-brown-all-over-field-opener

[EricAllenPick6]

4 hours ago, time2rock said:

Because as the season goes on, defenses are going to want to key on Brown and the more the Eagles move him around, the tougher that becomes.

We need Devonta to step up to solve this.

This is the stuff Rams do with Cooper Kupp and what the Vikings have started to do with Justin Jefferson.  Nice to see the Eagles catching on to this trend, but I still think defense are going to start to catch on to this pretty quickly.

[nipples]

I really thought AJ was going to power his way into the end zone on that bomb. Dragged the defender with him for a few yards but JUST couldn't quite get all the way in.

[time2rock]

17 minutes ago, nipples said:

I really thought AJ was going to power his way into the end zone on that bomb. Dragged the defender with him for a few yards but JUST couldn't quite get all the way in.

Forgot to eat his Wheaties that morning.  Or not yet in 100% NFL shape due to Sirianni's soft training camp.  One or the other. 

 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

Line him up wherever you want. Match him up with whomever you want. He's going to win and he's going to get his yards.