From Thursday afternoon until Saturday morning, I partially unplugged for the wedding of my niece. I\u2019m back in the saddle, and I was taken aback by something that became a thing on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It became a given in multiple media circles \u2014 from those who have a history of warping reality for engagement (like \u201cDov Kleiman<\/a>,\u201d who isn\u2019t really Dov Kleiman but whoever it was that bought Kleiman\u2019s Twitter account more than two years ago) to those who know or should know better<\/a> (like former ESPN personality Trey Wingo).<\/p>\n Both \u201cKleiman\u201d and Wingo (and more than a few others) claimed that Patriots receiver A.J. Brown, during his recent interview with Maria Taylor, admitted that he \u201cleaked\u201d stories to the media in an effort to motivate the Eagles.<\/p>\n Brown never said that. Allow me to repeat this, with emphasis: BROWN NEVER SAID THAT.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the key exchange<\/a> in the interview. Maria Taylor asked Brown if he felt that the picture painted of Brown in Philly made him out to be a villain.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say \u2018a villain,\u2019 because some of the things that was done, it was done purposely to give us a push, you know?\u201d Brown said. \u201cI know if I said something in the media, I know it\u2019s gonna propel us to work on it, because now everybody\u2019s talking about it. You know, so it\u2019s like are we gonna really \u2014 are we gonna fix it or not? We can\u2019t keep saying, \u2018It\u2019s the standard, it\u2019s the standard.\u2019 And we\u2019re not trying to truly get better. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not saying that we weren\u2019t, but I know if you say what you need to say in the media \u2014 which I won\u2019t do that anymore \u2014 but it gives everything legs, and legs . . . to push everybody to be better. Because pressure isn\u2019t always a bad thing. It can also be a good thing, too. It just depends on how you look at it. And we had guys in the locker room \u2014 which was, honestly, I feel like it was OK to do because we had guys and a lot of them who were men you know, and it\u2019s like, yeah, \u2018I know I need to do this. I need to do that,\u2019 including myself. <\/p>\n \u201cSo you felt like basically some of the things you would say in the media in ways were a strategy in hopes of helping your team become the best version of themselves?\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing I would say was for personal gain,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt was always to help the team win, and try to be our better self.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the best examples of that dynamic happened in November, when Brown addressed at his locker the Twitch stream comment to \u201cget rid of me\u201d from your fantasy team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t just keep slapping a Band-Aid<\/a> over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble,\u201d Brown told reporters the next day. \u201cAt what point are we going to pick up our slack as an offense that we say we\u2019re so great? . . . And that\u2019s what I\u2019m getting at. It\u2019s not about, \u2018I don\u2019t care about winning, all I care about is stats.\u2019 No. It\u2019s been week after week sometimes we\u2019re not contributing, we\u2019re not doing our job on offense. You can\u2019t keep slapping a Band-Aid over that and expect to win late in the year and think you\u2019re going to go to that at the end of the year. It\u2019s not going to fucking happen.\u201d<\/p>\n At the time, our position was that Brown was sufficiently selfless in his desire for the offense to improve that he was willing to be labeled as selfish regarding comments that many viewed as the same-old gripes from a diva receiver who wants the quarterback to just give him the damn ball<\/a>.<\/p>\n The message went beyond Brown\u2019s stats. The offense wasn\u2019t growing. It wasn\u2019t evolving. It was hiding behind the fact that the Eagles were winning games, thanks in large part to their defense. (Two days earlier, the Eagles had scored only 10 points in a victory at Green Bay.)<\/p>\n