It is not unknown that there’s a lot of tension with the Philadelphia Eagles‘ offense right now, even though they’re winning games. Wide receiver A.J. Brown has been very public about his frustration because the offense isn’t playing as well as everyone thinks it should. Now, former Eagles player DeSean Jackson has weighed in on his thoughts about the situation.

While he says he has a good relationship with Brown, he thinks Brown is distracting the team by constantly lashing out publicly. Jackson strongly hinted that Brown’s frustration isn’t just about football plays and strategies. He suggested that it’s more personal, maybe an issue with the quarterback. As he says in a video interview at the House of Action,

“As you can tell, it’s something else going on. And I got a great relationship with him. I respect him. I can’t say it. But I know it’s something else going on. It’s not all about football; it’s not all about X’s and O’s. I’ve had situationships with QBs I didn’t necessarily like. And when it ain’t there, it sticks out like a sore thumb. That’s all imma say.”

Brown’s main complaint with Jalen Hurts has been that he isn’t throwing him the ball enough. The specific complaint is that Hurts has become too cautious, especially against zone defense. Instead of taking a risk to hit a receiver deep down the field, they feel he often settles for short “checkdown” passes or runs the ball himself. They believe he’s not trusting his receivers or taking the more explosive, riskier shots needed to ignite the offense. 

Brown’s outspokenness led to a meeting with team owner Jeffrey Lurie last week. He met with owner Jeffrey Lurie at practice and, according to reports, pledged to ‘tone it down’ on social media, promising to curb his public complaints

And now Hurts has finally broken his silence on the locker room’s unrest.

Jalen Hurts finally addresses his teammates’ frustration

By now, everyone must be aware of the recent report from reporter Dianna Russini of The Athletic. She claimed that after talking to people inside the Eagles’ locker room, she found out that many offensive players are frustrated with quarterback Jalen Hurts. She had previously written,

“After doing some digging and asking people inside the Eagles building, it was explained that multiple offensive players have grown frustrated with Jalen Hurts’ approach this season, particularly against zone coverage. They believe he’s become hesitant in tight windows, leaning on checkdowns or scrambles instead of trusting what’s open downfield.”

And now, finally, after days of remaining silent, Hurts finally addressed those reports on Wednesday, saying,

 “I just go to work every day. Go to work everyday, and continue to try and do my best.”

He was then asked if dealing with criticism is just part of being a starting quarterback, and he agreed, saying he takes responsibility for everything that happens, good or bad. He emphasized that he holds himself accountable.

“I think it definitely does, and I take a lot of responsibility when things are going—I guess I get a lot of attention when things are going well and when things are not going so well,” he added. 

“I never run away from holding myself accountable and I think that’s exactly what I’ve taken the approach of doing. When I look at this last game, I take great pride in what we do on offense. I take great pride in how we go out there and play as a team and what our flow is. We’ve obviously got work to do and that obviously starts with me.”

He also mentioned that none of his teammates have actually come to him directly to complain about his play. It’s important to remember that Head Coach Nick Sirianni previously stated that the team’s struggles aren’t just one person’s fault; the entire team needs to share the blame and work together to fix the issues.

Despite all this drama and the offense underperforming, the Eagles are still winning! Their defense is playing incredibly well, and they are in a great position to secure the top spot in their conference (the NFC). However, everyone agrees the offense needs to step up its game to match the defense.