A.J. Brown stresses need for Eagles' offense to improve; Saquon Barkley agrees: 'A.J.'s not saying anything wrong'
Buried under the avalanche of headlines made by Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown's social media activity this season - the latest a candid expression of frustration on the streaming platform Twitch after his third outing with two or fewer catches - is a relentless itch to win.
While the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles are still winning, Brown knows they're not doing enough to keep that up when it matters most. They scored only 10 points in a "Monday Night Football" win over the Green Bay Packers earlier this week. In large part because of their herky-jerky offense, seven of their nine games have been decided by just one score. Philadelphia is 6-1 in those games, but, as the team's 2023 implosion proved, that pattern is hardly guaranteed to continue over the course of a full season.
It can also belie cracks that reveal themselves in December and January.
You can't just keep slapping a Band-Aid over it and expect to win later in the year and think you can go to it later in the year," Brown said of the Eagles' offense Wednesday. It's not gonna f***ing happen. It's not gonna happen."
He added: "Last year is what it was, thank you for the ring, but it's a new season. We have to adapt, and we have to continue to get better and try find new ways [to win]. That's where the frustration comes in. ... I want to win and help contribute as well."
There's selective truth within the Bill Parcells quote, "You are what your record says you are." For a slumping team, it's the undeniable reality in a results-based business like the NFL. But for a team in the playoff picture two months into the season, an impressive record can be deceptive.
Brown made that clear, and another prong of the Eagles' star-studded yet stuttering offense agrees.
"We know we're 7-2, but we know the way we play on offense, more times than not, it's going to get us beat," running back Saquon Barkley said Thursday, according to The Athletic's Zach Berman.
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Last season, Barkley's first with the Eagles, he won NFL Offensive Player of the Year while becoming the ninth player in league history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season.
This time around, the Penn State product is far off pace to match or even come close to his 2024 rushing total. He's got 579 yards on the ground through nine games. His 3.9 yards per carry pale in comparison to the 5.8 he logged during his last regular-season campaign. Plus, he ranks 37th out of 43 qualifying running backs in rush EPA, according to Next Gen Stats.
The Eagles' offensive line has been banged up and a notch below its standard, and, as a result, the run game former offensive coordinator and current New Orleans Saints head coach Kellen Moore leaned on a year ago isn't clicking with new OC Kevin Patullo calling the shots under Nick Sirianni.
And so, although Brown's 31 receptions in eight games are alarmingly tied for the 61st of any player this season, his limited production is far from the only issue in Philadelphia, with a high-scoring Detroit Lions team on its way to Lincoln Financial Field for "Sunday Night Football."
Barkley drove home the point Thursday in the locker room that, collectively, the Eagles' offense is constantly challenging itself to improve, regardless of result.
"You have to have the sense of urgency and the mindset to put what you did the week before in the past and move on and try to improve," Barkley said, via NBC Sports' John Clark.
"You're never going to play a perfect game. And we know that the way we played on Monday - more times than not if we play that game against a lot of teams, we're going to lose. But that's why you have to have complementary football. And the defense came out and played big for us, but we know we got to improve. And that's the mindset.
"So whether it's we score 10 or whether we score 40, A.J.'s not saying anything wrong. We always looking for room to improve."
AJ Brown's main point was that he believes the Eagles offense needs to be better and he wants to help it be better.
- John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) November 13, 2025
Saquon Barkley says the Eagles always have conversations about getting the offense better. He says no matter if they score 10 points or 40 points, they are trying... pic.twitter.com/Se3jZRkwNP
Barkley also told reporters that the discussion surrounding Brown "has no factor at all" in the locker room, per Berman.
Just as loud this season has been the noise about Patullo, Philadelphia's first-time play-caller.
When asked about Brown's concerns Thursday, Patullo reaffirmed the strength of his relationship with the three-time All-Pro receiver.
"He knows how I feel about him and where we want to go and what we're trying to do," Patullo said, via Berman.
"Obviously, he's a main part of this offense, and when we game plan, you always want to look to 11 [Brown], 26 [Barkley], 6 [DeVonta Smith] and 88 [Dallas Goedert]. That's where the ball needs to go, and it just kind of goes from there."
Patullo added, regarding Brown: "I think when you look at our relationship all the way back to '22, nothing's really changed. Him and I talk continuously, pretty much about everything."
Change on a number of levels is what's needed for the Eagles' offense. That's what Brown has been trying to say. Barkley agreed with him Thursday.