PHILADELPHIA — A.J. Brown’s touchdown celebration was the best of all.
After receiving the 40-yard touchdown pass of quarterback Jalen Hurts in the second half of the Eagles 35-10 victory against Tennessee Titans, Tennessee Titans, Brown pulled out the towel, ran towards the goalpost, wiggled his fingers at it as if it was in trouble and then hit the goal post with his towel 3 times, before hugging it.
This message is directed towards his former team.
“Today, I’m going to have to give you this whooping,” he declared. “But I still love you, though.”
The touchdown was ruled out due to the fact that Brown was unable to have a second step in bounds, however, Brown scored on the next play. He finished with eight receptions, 119 yards, with two touchdowns. After scoring the second time the player pulled the towel back out.
“This one meant a lot to me. Early on I had mixed emotions about the trade and everything. I’d be lying to you to say I didn’t circle this game,” said the player. declared.
Brown was traded from The Titans in exchange for the Eagles on the opening evening of the April draft. Brown was dealt to the Eagles in exchange for the No. 18, and the 101 general selections. The deal was contingent upon the extension of a contractan issue that Brown along with the Titans were unable to agree on. Philadelphia signed Brown to a four-year $100 million contract that also includes a guaranteed $57 million on the night.
He’s been an absolute star for Philadelphia. In 12 games, he’s had 61 catch 995 yards, nine touchdowns.
Prior to the game Brown stated that the game was not personal to him. He later came out about the significance of the game to him.
“It’s been personal since the trade to be honest. I’ve just been trying to keep it down,” he stated. “That’s where I wanted to be and things didn’t work out and it was kind of just, ‘here you go — we don’t want you anymore,’ and you kind of just get pushed to the side. In that situation for me, I had to grow up quick.”
Brown stated that he needed “to learn it was a business” and added that “of course I wanted to make them regret the decision.”
7-5 Titans have been missing his performance. Prior to the game the young Treylon Burks was their leader in receiving yards, with 369. Burks suffered a concussion in the game against the Eagles Sunday following the brunt of a blow by security Marcus Epps on a spectacular touchdown catch.
“It’s not about A.J.,” Titans coach Mike Vrabel said, when asked whether trading Brown was in the best interests of the team. “A.J. had a good game. We can’t give up big plays on defense. We tried to make them earn it coming into the game, and clearly we weren’t able to.”
Brown began to get animated during the 3rd quarter after Tennessee defense player Andrew Adams tackled him by his right lower leg. Adams continued to twist it until Brown was down.
“He kind of just rolled, kind of twisted my ankle. There’s no need for those types of plays. Competing, doing whatever between the whistle, I’m all for it. If you get me, you got it. But dirty stuff after the play, I’m not going for that,” Brown stated. “I’m a man first. We play this game. We’re playing football. I’m not out here trying to hurt you, so you should not be out here trying to hurt me. It’s a mutual respect — there should be. I’m not going for that.”
This isn’t the only thing that happened. Brown showed a lot of love toward his former team as well as his teammates, even though the goal was to demonstrate something to them.
“I think the whole world knew what it meant to him based off of who he is, how he is, and how he responds to certain things,” said Hurts who threw three touchdown passes as well as ran for another one against the Titans. “I’m happy that he put on a show. He’s a special player and a good friend. He’s a real special player. I know that we make a big deal about it, but hopefully we can move on from it now. He did what he did, and onto the next.”
