5Qs, 5As with Bleeding Green Nation: What’s behind A.J. Brown’s slow start?

Get out the popcorn (or your copy of “Inner Excellence”) as the Los Angeles Rams face the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3. Both teams sit at 2-0 and are facing off in a rematch of last year’s Divisional Round game won by Philly, 28-22. The Eagles and Saquon Barkley ran wild on the Rams in 2024. Will it be L.A.‘s turn this season? Time to turn that hate into sacks, Jared Verse.

Ahead of the anticipated playoff rematch, I asked Bleeding Green Nation writer Brandon Lee Gowton some questions about A.J. Brown’s painfully slow start, the Eagles’ repeat chances and more. Huge thanks to Brandon for taking the time to answer my questions this week!

Q – Philadelphia moved to 2-0 after winning a hard-fought Super Bowl rematch over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The Eagles are again the class of the NFC, so how realistic is a repeat with this team after they blitzed their way to a title last season?

A – The thing I always bring up whenever I’m asked about the Eagles’ chances of repeating as Super Bowl champions is that there hasn’t even been a repeat NFC East champion since 2004. So, the Birds “merely” winning their division again this year would be a significant accomplishment.

There should be no doubt that they’re *capable* of winning Super Bowl LX. This team just wins. Nick Sirianni has the fourth-highest winning percentage of any head coach … ever. He’s only behind Guy Chamberlin, John Madden and Vince Lombardi. Jalen Hurts is 16-0 in the last 16 games he’s started and finished.

This isn’t to suggest that they’re invincible. Despite their 2-0 start, they clearly have flaws and issues to work through. But the same was true for the team that started 2-2 last year after getting absolutely blown out by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4.

It’s quite possible that the Eagles need some time to fully round into form. This early season stretch is essentially preseason for the starters since they don’t actually play in those meaningless games.

It’s also possible that they just won’t be as good as they were last season since that team turned out to be one of the best in NFL history. There’s naturally going to be some regression. And there are plenty of other good teams out there who might be able to knock them off.

TL;DR — A repeat is realistic but far from guaranteed.

Q – A.J. Brown has been off to a slow start this season, with only 35 receiving yards through the first two games. Many people’s fantasy teams (including my own) have taken a hit because of it, but besides that, what has been the cause for the dip in production thus far?

A – Pretty hard to believe, right?

He’s simply too good to have just 35 yards through two games.

There’s been some thought that he’s...