When Brandon Graham let it slip that maybe, just maybe, the friendship between AJ Brown and Jalen Hurts was starting to fray following the former's dip in on-field production due to the Philadelphia Eagles' decrease in passing attempts, it turned heads around the NFL world.
Were the Eagles, after winning nine straight games since the bye, going to fall apart due to infighting when they should be flying higher than any other team in the NFC East and the NFC as a whole? Was Brown going to pout if he didn't receive more targets? And what about Hurts? How would he deal with this new development, especially when Brown has been his top target for years now?
Well, as it turns out, it might not actually be a problem at all, as within hours of the WIP segment going viral, Graham reached out to ESPN to let it be known that he made a mistake in speaking out on the situation and reported assumptions as if they were facts.
“I made a mistake, and I assumed that it was something that it wasn't,” Graham told ESPN. “I just want to win, so bad that I don't just want to use the media when we need to talk about something and we can fix the problem ourselves. I didn't add to it in a good light, so that's my bad.
“I just assumed, and it made me out to look even worse because I had it all wrong, and now people are going to run with that part. I really just want to win, man, and I want brothers to be able to just hash it out.”
So, did BG actually make a mistake? Or did he see the backlash and want to nip it in the bud before it grew out of control? Did Hurts and/or Brown ask Graham to clarify his comments? Or did that mandate come from up top, be that Nick Sirianni, Howie Roseman, or even Jeffrey Lurie?
On one hand, this could be the end of a bit of drama that ultimately proves to be a non-issue. But you'd better believe the Eagles players and coaches will be asked about it again during their weekly media sessions and again after the game, depending on how it shakes out. If Sirianni is wise, he'll unleash some choice passing concepts on the Steelers in Week 15, as a big game by Brown and Hurts could help to ease tensions more than any words could.
