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A.J. Brown shares his biggest lesson from 1st trip to the Super Bowl

As A.J. Brown prepares for his second trip to the Super Bowl, he shared his biggest lesson from his last trip.

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A.J. Brown talks about the Super Bowl rematch between the Eagles and Chiefs and how he hopes to remove disctractions before the big game.

Don’t get it twisted. A.J. Brown was excited on Sunday evening.

He caught 6 passes for 96 yards and a touchdown in the Eagles’ 55-23 clubbing of the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game to earn a trip to New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX.

So he was excited. But this time was different than two years ago.

“This is very different,” Brown said. “My emotions are intact. Of course, I’m excited for guys who haven’t been before. But I just want to win. I just want to win. Maybe I’ll let my emotions go if we get to do that.”

Brown, 27, has been here before, on the doorstep of a championship. He knows what this feeling is like and he knows what it feels like to lose the big game too.

Two years ago, Brown actually had an identical stat line in Super Bowl LVII — 6 catches on 8 targets for 96 yards and a touchdown — but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles lost 38-35 to the Chiefs.

As he prepares for a rematch two years later, Brown is leaning on the biggest lesson he took from that trip to Phoenix.

“Removing feeling, removing excitement, removing all those things because it doesn’t do anything for you,” Brown said. 

“Last time, I honestly felt like a paid actor during the whole week, just everything, so many interviews. The only part that felt like real football was the game. And so when you remove all those things and you’re just trying to focus on the game and that’s the only thing that matters. And just trying to win. Everything else is for everybody else.”

There can be a bit of a circus atmosphere around Super Bowl week. Both teams converge on the host city and it doesn’t get any wackier than media night with throngs of international and entertainment reporters. That’s the night you’re far more likely to get asked about your favorite cereal than facing a Cover 2 defense.

It all has its place, of course. The NFL is a juggernaut of a professional sports league and all this attention is good for business. It just isn’t as ideal for players as they prepare to play in the biggest game of their lives.

As the Eagles get ready to fly to New Orleans early next week, they know there will undoubtedly be some distractions that come with playing in the final game of the season. They have plenty of new players who will experience this stage for the first time but Brown isn’t one of them. He knows now how important it will be to minimize everything else but football.

Dealing with those distractions is an important part of Super Bowl week.

“We’ve been there before,” Brown said. “I’m not saying that I’m used to it but you’ve been there before, you know what it’s like and you know what’s at stake. You know how to handle it now. That’s the only thing I’m focused on. Doing things differently. Trying to do everything in my power to try to get us a win.”

Tune in to Mission 59 Specials leading up to the Super Bowl on NBC Sports Philadelphia, presented by Toyota.

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