Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver A.J. Brown captivated the NFL community when he casually started reading a book on the sidelines during his team’s 22-10 wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
It was by far the most viral moment to come out of the game, with Brown explaining to reporters his decision to read a motivational self-help manual, Inner Excellence, that has since skyrocketed to the top of online booksellers’ charts.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was the latest to weigh in on Brown’s reading habits during Tuesday’s appearance on Philly sports radio’s WIP Morning Show and said that he was completely “O.K.” with the Pro Bowl wideout’s behavior.
Sirianni gave his full support to Brown for doing what he needed to do to mentally prepare for the game.
"Some guys pray in between, some guys meditate in between. A.J. reads in between,” Sirianni said. “Whatever these guys need to do to put their mind in a place where they can play with great detail and great effort, I fully encourage them to do that. ... I saw Jahan Dotson said something defending A.J. and I thought that was awesome too. Another example of our teammates defending each other.”
Amid speculation from fans and the media that Brown was acting out of pettiness and was frustrated from his lack of involvement in the playoff win, Sirianni fired back with a stern message to “lazy” critics being unfair to Brown.
“We don't do any research and we jump to a conclusion of, 'Oh he must be disgruntled.' That to me is lazy,” continued Sirianni. “Everyone needs to figure out why he's doing it before they jump to judgement on the man.
“Because the man, A.J. Brown, is a great, great, great person. The man A.J. Brown is the best receiver—and I'll say it without hesitation—the best receiver that this city has ever seen. ... It's hard for me to watch when people are getting on him without doing the proper research of who the man is and what he's doing in the first place.”
Brown finished with one catch on three targets for 10 yards on Sunday, his lowest output of the season. When the Eagles reached the Super Bowl in the 2022 season, Brown played a vital role in the offense, racking up 13 catches for 146 yards and one touchdown across three playoff games.
He’ll look to get back to that level of production when the Eagles host the Los Angeles Rams in a divisional round matchup on Sunday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nick Sirianni Shared Powerful Take on A.J. Brown Reading a Book on Eagles’ Bench .