Tre Avery had really good coverage. A.J. Brown was open by a full 15 yards on an earlier touchdown, but on this long throw the Titans cornerback was all over him. He went stride-for-stride with him downfield as Brown reached the end zone. The ball came in, Avery was in position, and it didn‘t matter. Brown caught a perfect 28-yard pass from Jalen Hurts for his second TD of the day.
Brown spent his whole day playing like this. He caught eight passes for 119 yards in the Eagles’ 35-10 rout of the Titans. The Eagles’ passing offense obliterated the Titans’ secondary, with Hurts going 29-for-39 for 380 yards and three TD throws, along with one more score on the ground. DeVonta Smith also had five catches for 102 yards and a TD. All these players sat out the final 11:27 after a Miles Sanders TD. This offensive output came in a game where every Eagles offensive lineman had a false start penalty; the Eagles were flagged 12 times for 80 yards.
Brown's first TD catch came on a play where he collided with Titans corner Kristian Fulton, then caught a touchdown pass with nobody around him.
The Titans traded Brown for the No. 18 and No. 101 picks on draft day after they couldn’t come to terms on a contract extension. Brown didn’t really like some of the comments from the Titans after the trade, feeling like the team blamed him for not agreeing to a smaller deal than the four-year, $100 million extension he got in Philly. “But to be honest, I just didn't appreciate how it all went down, and they just kind of blamed me for it,” Brown said in August. “I’m man enough to say that, however people may take it.”
Brown tried to downplay the game a bit this week, saying that he thought the Titans were in his past: “Regardless of how the trade and everything went down, I feel like me personally, I feel like I won. I say that because, like I said, that changed my family life forever. That’s the goal, especially growing up where I’m from. Of course, I want to do great and help us have a great game, but that’s the reason why we play the game.” He said he’d regretted posting things like “I’m that song you skipped and found out later it was fire.”
Did he show it on the field versus the Titans? Well, unlike his game against Pittsburgh in October, Brown didn’t get a taunting penalty after a touchdown in this game! The only guy he really got in the face of was safety Andrew Adams, but Adams attempted to wrench Brown’s ankle during the game. That's called personal growth.
