You think back to some of the villains who got Eagles stars hurt over the years. Names that will always live in infamy among Eagles fans.
Bryce Paup and Randall Cunningham at Lambeau in 1991. Greg Favors of the Panthers and Donovan McNabb in the 2003 NFC Championship Game. Jadeveon Clowney and Carson Wentz in the 2019 Seahawks wild-card game.
Already this year, Trevor Penning of the Saints cheap shotting Darius Slay out of bounds and Khristian Boyd knocking DeVonta Smith out in the same game.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Here’s the name of another guy who got an Eagles star injured: A.J. Brown.
He got himself injured.
Brown, speaking to the media for the first time since he suffered a hamstring injury on Sept. 13 - the Friday before the Week 2 game vs. the Falcons – said he has only himself to blame for the hamstring injury that sidelined him for the last three games.
We all know Brown is a tireless worker.
Philadelphia Eagles
This time he worked too hard.
“It really was my fault, how everything happened,” he said Friday, exactly 28 days after he got hurt at practice. “I kind of overworked myself. That's who I am. I'm a worker and there was a moment where I just had to learn to work my mind more than my body.
“It was like a little freak accident but it's just fatigue. I'm doing stuff all the time because I'm always trying to get ahead. …
“I couldn't do nothing, had to force myself to sit down.”
The Eagles without maybe their best player is not a pretty sight.
He’s averaged 88 yards in 35 games as an Eagle – only Justin Jefferson and Tyreek Hill have averaged more yards since 2022 - and the Eagles have averaged 27 points in those games, going 26-9.
In the four games he’s missed – including the last three – the Eagles have averaged 15 points per game and they’re 1-3.
The only game he played this year, the Eagles scored 34 points against the Packers in São Paulo.
He’s that important to the offense.
“I think that's probably like the only game where the offense probably played the best so I think that's probably fair that y'all can say that,” he said.
“It’s not about bragging, of course. When I'm on the field, I'm definitely going to help my team out and try to put us in great situations. And when I'm not out there, somebody has to fill that void, and everybody has to step up.
“So I don't want to speak on the past couple of weeks because I wasn’t out there. I'm just happy I'm out there now.”
But let's face it. The last couple weeks have been ugly.
With Brown out the last three weeks and DeVonta Smith out for the Tampa game, the Eagles’ other wide receivers – Britain Covey (now on IR), Jahan Dotson, Parris Campbell, John Ross and Johnny Wilson combined for 20 catches for 94 yards on 384 combined snaps.
It was painful to watch, but Brown knew he couldn’t rush back.
“It was tricky, you know?” he said. “I had some good days, I had some bad days, and I just had to play everything smart.
“The bye week I felt really good. … I think that whole bye week I kind of pushed myself to see where I was at and with certain movements and stuff. The game is different but I feel good. I'm 100 percent. I'm ready to go. “
Brown was asked how he can figure out the right balance between working hard to be one of the NFL’s best receivers but not working so hard that he puts himself at risk.
He didn’t have an answer.
“That’s something I’m still trying to figure out,” he said. “I really don’t know.”
He mentioned he was headed to a workout as soon as the interview was over and smiled at the irony.
“That's just my DNA,” he said. “'I'm not going to just change it up just because of something (that) happened. That was a freak accident. I got to work and that's just the way I am.”
One thing that didn’t change during Brown’s absence was his leadership. He takes the captain’s role seriously and he wasn’t about to neglect those duties because of a hamstring injury.
He sensed that with the Eagles sitting at 2-2 coming out of the bye, this was a pivotal spot for this team and this franchise.
His message to his teammates?
“Just really to get back to work,” he said. “Just demanding better practice, better work week, better each and every day, better film study. Just demanding that from each and everybody and just pushing each other.”