AJ Brown explains why he didn’t tackle Andre Cisco during interception return
Eagles WR AJ Brown went viral yesterday, but not for the reasons you’d expect.
On the Eagles’ first possession against Jacksonville, Jalen Hurts threw an ill-advised crossing route into coverage behind WR Zach Pascal. The ball was tipped into the hands of safety Andre Cisco, who returned it 59 yards for a touchdown.
During the return, Cisco made a cut in the direction of Brown, who was within range to attempt a tackle. Brown slowed up, however, allowing Cisco to run right by him en route to the endzone with Brown trailing behind. The optics certainly didn’t look great, but Brown later explained what he was thinking:
“Lack of effort, No (never). Bad decision, yes lol. My thought process was to strip the ball and get it back because defensive guys don’t know how to carry the ball but I got blocked. I’ll just tackle him next time lol forgive me.” via AJ Brown on Twitter
AJ Brown what are we doing here. pic.twitter.com/hl41Xgfooe
— Victor Williams (@ThePhillyPod) October 2, 2022
The reasoning makes sense; if you can punch the ball out from behind and get the ball back, then good on you. In this case, tackling the ball-carrier would’ve saved a TD and likely prevented an injury to Jordan Mailata.
On the other hand, AJ Brown gets paid $25M/year to catch footballs, not play defense. Injuring himself on a tackle attempt in poor weather conditions would’ve been much more detrimental to the team long-term. Needless to say, Brown will probably lay himself out on the next INT return.
The Eagles wideout ended the day with five receptions for 95 yards vs. Jacksonville and has 404 receiving yards on the year.
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Mandatory Credit: Philadelphia Eagles
