On paper, A.J. Brown closed the 2025 season with over 1,000 receiving yards under his name. But in contrast, the wideout has been vocal about his frustration with limited targets and an Eagles offense that leaned heavily on defense and special teams to stay afloat. Now that the season is in the books, former Eagles wideout Terrell Owens has stepped in to add context to Brown’s frustration, while also laying out what Brown needs to do to help Philly win.

“AJ’s my guy, and respectfully, I mean, he knows he has to play better in order for that team to win,” Owens said when asked about his thoughts on Brown in an exclusive with EssentiallySports. “But again, the things that he alluded to early on in the beginning of the season, they were winning, but they weren’t winning the way that they should have been winning. So, I think it kind of cost them late into the season and into the playoffs. The same thing that plagued them, that he kind of gave people the light bulb, so to speak, to go off on, like what was going on with the offense, even though they were winning.”

Owens understands the spotlight that comes with being a wide receiver in Philly. During his two-year stint with the Eagles, he dealt with a contract holdout, a public spat with team ambassador Hugh Douglas, and eventually a suspension. So when Brown spoke openly about the offense’s issues, it wasn’t hard to see why Owens related more than anyone. Moreover, this wasn’t the first time he had publicly stepped in to defend Brown when frustration around the offense started to bubble over.

He pointed directly to play-calling and scheme, arguing that elite wideouts don’t go quiet by accident, they go quiet when an offense fails to create opportunities. To Owens, Brown’s limited involvement wasn’t a performance issue but a proper utilization problem. That stance mirrored what Owens has believed since Brown first arrived in Philadelphia.

Even before the frustration of 2025 set in, Brown had already been viewed around the league, and within Philly, as the franchise’s next true No. 1 receiver in the mold of Owens himself: physical, explosive after the catch, and capable of changing games on a handful of targets. Owens never pushed back on those comparisons. Instead, he leaned into them, consistently framing Brown as the type of weapon an offense should be built around, not worked around. So when Brown later voiced concerns about being phased out of game plans, Owens saw it less as complaining and more as a star receiver recognizing systemic issues.

That perspective fully surfaced during Owens’ midseason television appearance in Philadelphia, when he bluntly summarized the problem with three words: “Get the guy the ball.” Owens didn’t dismiss accountability; he stressed that Brown still had to execute, but he repeatedly emphasized that high-end receivers only influence games when coaches deliberately put them in position to succeed. He also echoed Brown’s own criticism that early wins were disguising offensive inefficiency, saying the Eagles were surviving rather than functioning as a complete unit.

To Owens, the defense was buying time, not fixing the offense, and that imbalance was always going to catch up to them.

After all, the Eagles entered the 2025 season with expectations of defending their Super Bowl title. On paper, the year began smoothly, with a 4–1 start through the first five weeks. But even then, the offense was showing cracks. In hindsight, Philly was already struggling offensively early in the season. For context, after five games, the Eagles ranked near the bottom of the league across several offensive categories:

• Yards: 261.6 per game (30th)
• Passing yards: 161.8 per game (31st)
• Rushing yards: 99.8 per game (25th)
• Rushing success rate: 43.0% (13th)
• EPA/play: -0.03 (18th)
• EPA/pass: -0.09 (23rd)
• EPA/rush: +0.04 (6th)

That backdrop explains why Brown voiced his concerns even while the team was winning and why his frustration over limited targets became such a focal point.

“It’s not just solely about my situation,” Brown said mid-season. “I want to win, too. I think if we’re really focused on winning and doing our job, we can’t just keep slapping a Band-Aid over the defense doing their job and getting us out of trouble. At what point are we going to pick up our slack as an offense? That’s what I’m getting at. It’s not about, ‘I don’t care about winning, all I care about is stats.’ No. It’s been week after week, sometimes we’re not doing our job on offense.”

Brown felt the Eagles had grown overly dependent on defense and special teams, losing sight of offensive development, and those early-season issues eventually caught up to them, something both Brown and Owens later acknowledged. The offense that was once the team’s identity never fully found its footing.

Philly ended the regular season ranked 19th in total points (379) at 22.3 points per game. They were middle of the pack in total yards (5,341) but finished 23rd in passing offense, averaging just 194.3 passing yards per game. Third downs were another recurring issue. Out of 210 attempts, the Eagles converted only 78.

Then came the Wild Card round, where everything finally unraveled. Against the 49ers, the offense sputtered again, managing just 307 total yards. Outside of Saquon Barkley, the run game, which had been a strength the year before, fell flat, leading to a 23–19 loss and a swift playoff exit. In Owens’ view, accountability now matters more than anything, especially given the talent at receiver.

“He (Brown) has to take accountability for his play,” Owens added. “But the way that things kind of shape up when you talk about being efficient on offense, having dynamic receivers like him and Devonte Smith, but overall, I think the offensive coordinator and how they scheme and put guys in position to succeed, that’s what kind of put them decision of not succeeding like they should have and duplicating last year’s last year’s success.”

There’s no disputing that the Eagles failed to replicate their previous success. A major turning point came when offensive coordinator Kellen Moore left for a head coaching role. His departure led to Kevin Patullo’s promotion, and it didn’t take long for the offense to lose direction.

While Barkley continued to anchor the rushing attack, the run game as a whole became inconsistent. Despite having Brown and DeVonta Smith (both 1,000-yard receivers), the passing offense ranked near the bottom. It wasn’t pathetic, but it wasn’t elite either. On top of that, Brown repeatedly voiced frustration about not seeing enough targets from Jalen Hurts throughout the first half of the season.

“It is tough because you want to help contribute to the win,” he said. “Obviously, it’s been a little tough. I got the ball in the second half of the Rams game. Not getting too many targets to contribute, it’s tough.”

Brown’s involvement early on was limited. Over the first seven games, he recorded just 29 receptions for 395 yards and three touchdowns, and as the offensive issues persisted, the ending felt inevitable. The Eagles fired their offensive coordinator following the Wild Card loss. Now, both Brown and the Eagles are turning the page. Owens wants the receiver to embrace accountability, while Brown has made it clear he’s focused on growth heading into 2026.

Speaking recently on a podcast with Micah Parsons, Brown said:

“As an offense, we need to come back and watch the tape, rediscover ourselves and go to work each and every day. Being accountable, and taking it one day at a time. We have great leaders in our locker room. I’m fortunate to be a part of that, especially on offense. We have a lot of talent, but talent gets us nowhere. It’s all about being detailed and being disciplined.”

With Patullo out and Sean Mannion stepping in as offensive coordinator, the Eagles are entering another reset, and with that shift underway, Owens has made it clear where he believes the responsibility lies and where Philly’s path forward begins in 2026.

Terrell Owens believes the Eagles can make the postseason in 2026

Terrell Owens spent his NFL career with multiple teams, but the final stretch came with the Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. Still, when weighing recent successes and failures, and looking at where both rosters currently stand, Owens believes the Eagles have a far better chance of reaching the postseason next season than the Cowboys.

“I mean, obviously the needle will have to lean toward the Eagles,” he said. “I mean, they’ve been to two Super Bowls for the last five years. Cowboys struggling to do anything for two decades. So, if I had to pick one or the other, I’m going to the Eagles all day.”

Undoubtedly, it’s not hard to understand Owens’ reasoning. Yes, the Eagles dealt with offensive struggles this season. But they’ve still reached two Super Bowls and won one over the past five years. The Cowboys, meanwhile, haven’t won a championship in nearly three decades, let alone a Super Bowl. Whether that finally changes in 2026 or Owens’ prediction holds is something only time will tell.