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Donovan McNabb identifies the Eagles’ AJ Brown issue after MNF
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- Donovan McNabb identifies the Eagles’ AJ Brown issue after MNF
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To say the Philadelphia Eagles ' offense has been a mess in 2025 would be an understatement.
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After showing early signs of issues before the bye, the Birds have become increasingly suspect on the offensive side of the ball, with a crushing five-turnover game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football serving as one of the true low-water marks of the Nick Sirianni era.
But what has been the Eagles' biggest issue? Has it been Hurts' play? Their inability to run the ball consistently due to poor offensive line play and Saquon Barkley 's lateral running style? Or is it Kevin Patullo's passing game, with AJ Brown notably getting big production in three-straight losses?
Well, in an interview on WIP, Donovan McNabb broke the situation down clearly, declaring that while everything is a problem, overly relying on one player in particular has been limiting their offense's overall effectiveness .
"Everything, you know. It, it goes back to the conversation I had when we first started, and I don't mean to bring this down on AJ or point it out or anything of that nature. But as the conversation kind of led after he made his tweets and encrypted, you know, conversations or whatever it may be, the whole offense shifted into a whole new, different realm," McNabb explained.
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"Now we were taking shots downfield. DeVonta was catching deeper balls. We were going across the middle. We were doing a lot of different things, but ever since that, that conversation came up of why he's not getting the ball, the offense now shifted more toward AJ, and really, DeVonta is, like, missing.
"Like, and I feel bad for him because I've always stressed and I've talked about it for weeks that he's our number one receiver. AJ Brown is our guy to get us over the hump. And Dallas Goedert is the most important piece to this passing game because he becomes so much of a threat when most linebackers who can't cover, who are in there to stop the run, we don't even throw to him, or at least target them in the middle of the football field. We're throwing them in the flat route, and every route that we're running is all outside toward the numbers and not attacking the inside of the football field."
In Week 14 specifically, McNabb's comments were right on the money. While the Eagles did their best to feed Brown, he largely let the team down, dropping multiple key passes, including a would-be touchdown in the endzone that Hurts launched on a rope, and a key crossing route that somehow turned into a brutally timed interception .
Goedert, by contrast, was borderline unguardable on the final drive of overtime, and might very well have scored a walk-off touchdown if Hurts' final pass went his way. With just four games left to play, the Eagles need to know if their mid-season adjustments were right , or if they should reformulate their offense around the run with the occasional deep ball to air out the field like in seasons prior.
Related: Updated Eagles, Chargers playoff chances after bonkers Week 14 overtime tilt
