Nick Sirianni's Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown comments illustrate Eagles' baffling vibes

As the NFL season rumbles on toward its end, one thing has been made perfectly clear:

The Philadelphia Eagles have the weirdest vibes in all of sports.

The bad juju that has seemed to haunt this team all season came to a head this week when wide receiver A.J. Brown told reporters that passing the ball was something that needed to be worked on after a 22-16 win against the Carolina Panthers. Fellow wide receiver DeVonta Smith said the passing game wasn't "on the same page," and weren't communicating well in the loss.

Head coach Nick Sirianni addressed those comments on Tuesday, saying he didn't see Brown's comments as an attack on Hurts.

"I didn't take it that way," Sirianni said during his weekly appearance on 94WIP Tuesday. "You can do anything and spin it any way. I took it as we want to get better as a passing attack. A.J. is part of the passing attack. And so, we all want to be better at it."

Further complicating matters, defensive end Brandon Graham put the blame on Brown for the team's passing woes.

"The person that's complaining needs to be accountable," Graham said. "I don't know the whole story, but I know that [Hurts] is trying and [Brown] could be a little better with how he responds to things. They were friends before this, but things have changed, and I understand that because life happens. But it's the business side that we have to make sure the personal doesn't get in the way of the business."

Graham later walked back his comments, saying he'd made unfair assumptions about the relationship between Hurts and Brown, and hadn't meant to add fuel to the fire.

Regardless of who meant what, one thing is clear: the vibes in Philly are absolutely, bafflingly rancid. This is an 11-2 team, leading their division by three full games. They've won nine straight games, and have looked like the Lions' primary threat in the NFC. So why are they talking like a team who are 5-8, and fighting for their postseason lives, or in the midst of a prolonged losing streak?

Some of the blame likely falls on Brown, whose postgame interview felt sullen and annoyed on Sunday, the likely culmination of weeks of frustration with usage in an offense that has been running the ball better than any team in the league of late.

But the majority of the blame for the Eagles' vibes likely falls on Sirianni. Despite winning 36 games in the last three seasons (and likely winning at least a few more before this season ends), Sirianni has seemed unsettled in Philly of late. Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported this offseason that his relationship with Hurts was still a "work in progress," and noted in October that the only reason he kept his job after a 2-2 start was his history of success.

Despite all of the team's success, this hasn't felt like a happy locker room all season (except for Saquon Barkley, who is clearly thrilled to be ripping opposing defenses apart), and it seems clear that Sirianni doesn't have the best grasp of the atmosphere in his locker room. Healthy locker rooms don't have players going and giving interviews like the one Graham gave (even if he walked his comments back later). There was no outcome to this that makes Sirianni looks good, and the more conflict that becomes public, the more you have to wonder how tense things are behind closed doors.

If things keep going the way they have been in Philly, the Eagles could wind up being the first title contender in recent memory where the locker room vibes are an absolute mess.

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