Eagles can dominate games without A.J. Brown, but can they repeat as Super Bowl champions minus the star WR?

PHILADELPHIA -- A.J. Brown stood on the sidelines and watched the Philadelphia Eagles offense have its best performance of the season -- without him on the field. Brown was sidelined with a hamstring injury as the Eagles put up a season-high 427 yards and 7.5 yards per play in a 38-20 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday.

Jalen Hurts threw for four touchdowns, Saquon Barkley rushed for 150 yards, Tank Bigsby rushed for 104 yards, and the Eagles scored on six of eight possessions. Philadelphia's rushing attack put up 276 yards -- the most in a game by any team this season -- and averaged 8.4 yards per carry. 

The Eagles scored a season high in points, and were up 25 with 5:59 left in the fourth quarter. Hurts threw a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jahan Dotson on a go route that's normally intended for Brown, to put Philadelphia up 38-13. This was Hurts' fourth touchdown of the day, and his final pass on an afternoon in which he completed 75% of his passes (15 of 20) for 179 yards and four touchdowns with a 141.5 passer rating. 

This wasn't Hurts' finest performance of the season. That came the week prior when he had a perfect passer rating and three touchdowns in a victory over the Vikings -- with Brown in the lineup. Yet the Eagles felt more in sync than at any point during the season in Sunday's win. 

"That's who we are. That's Eagles football," said offensive tackle Jordan Mailata. "How we played today, how we strung those last two games? That's Eagles football."

So goes the question that doesn't need to be asked. Are the Eagles actually better off without Brown on their team? 

The simple answer: No 

The Eagles do need Brown in order to repeat as Super Bowl champions. Brown has been an All-Pro in each of his three seasons with the Eagles, a top five wide receiver who elevates the passing attack and is the go-to target for Hurts. 

Brown has been frustrated with his role in the offense, which included the cryptic social media post last week "Using me without using me." This was after he finished with four catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns when Hurts had a perfect passer rating. 

Brown sat out this week with a hamstring injury and did not practice, just days after the social media post. He was ruled out for Sunday and the trade rumors swirled whether the Eagles would actually move him ahead of the Nov. 4 deadline (the Eagles aren't planning to trade him). 

Even though the Eagles had a balanced offensive attack (33 runs to 24 dropback passes) in Brown's absence, they did miss his presence in terms of spreading the ball around. Prior to Dotson's 40-yard touchdown, 13 of Hurts' 14 targets were either to DeVonta Smith, Barkley or Dallas Goedert. There wasn't a lot of spreading the ball around, even with an efficient Hurts. 

There's where the Eagles missed Brown, even with Hurts playing the same mistake-free football he's been playing since Week 6 of last season. 

"We had a pretty good idea pretty early," Dotson said on Brown's availability this week. "You know, it's tough when you're missing the best receiver on your team ... one of the best receivers in the league. We have this motto in our room, there's no drop-off. No matter who goes out there, that's the standard we have to play to."

The Eagles played to that standard for one game, but that's not an indicator of how well they'll play week to week without Brown. Defenses will adjust and the downfield attack will be taken away without Brown in the lineup, no matter how well Hurts plays. 

The Eagles went back to their bread and butter of their offense without Brown, not having to worry about using the pass game to open up the run game. Getting a lead early via a 65-yard touchdown run by Barkley on the second play of the game helped, allowing the Eagles to lean on the principle of their offense -- or what they want it to be.

There's where the frustration lies with Brown. They've won a Super Bowl this way, but with Brown on the field while doing so. They need Brown on this roster to do it again. 

"I think that there's no secret [that] we want to be a balanced offense that can run, close games out, be explosive in the pass game, [and] be efficient in the pass game," said Eagles coach Nick Sirianni. "Obviously, anytime you lose a player like A.J. for a game, it changes some things as far as how you go about putting guys in different positions. 

"But if you have faith in the guys that you have that are backing him up, whether that's receiver or O-line, you still go about doing what they can do the best, but also putting them in a position to make plays."

Eagles' honorary tight end adds crucial wrinkle to offense, helping Saquon Barkley and run game get going

Jeff Kerr

How Brown's absence did get Barkley going 

Without Brown on the field, the Eagles were able to force themselves to fix the run game. This unit was 30th in rushing yards per game (88.1), 31st in yards per carry (3.3), and 23rd in yards before contact per rush entering Week 8. On Sunday, the Eagles rushed for 276 yards, averaged 8.4 yards per carry, and had 4.18 yards per contact per rush. 

Brown and Smith prefer the Eagles use the pass game to set up the run game, setting them up for more targets and keeping them involved. When teams decide to play back to stop the passing game, that opens up the run game -- and Barkley's opportunity for big plays.

No matter how efficient Hurts has been this season, teams were still giving the Eagles loaded fronts. The Eagles countered with that this week with Fred Johnson as an extra offensive lineman, a way for the offense to open up holes for their best player. Teams around the league are doing the same tendency in order to get their run game going. 

Barkley had a 65-yard run and 28-yard run, his two longest of the season. He averaged 10.7 yards per carry and had a season-high 174 scrimmage yards. The Eagles could concentrate on opening up the offense for Barkley without Brown available this week, not having to worry about keeping him happy (which is normal for NFL players). 

"It's just being professional," Barkley said. "It's knowing that not every week is going to be how you want it to be. You can't lose faith. You gotta come in and stick to the routine."

The Eagles were able to get their best player back on track. The ball will continue to go to Barkley even when Brown comes back. 

The defense of Jalen Hurts 

Hurts has been playing the best football of his career, with and without Brown on the field. He has the highest passer rating through the first eight games of the season in Eagles history (114.4), currently sitting third in the league in that category.

Over the last six games, Hurts has completed 68.8% of his passes for 1,424 yards with 15 touchdown passes to just one interception for a 121.3 passer rating. In the last two games, Hurts has seven touchdowns to just nine incompletions -- compiling a 155.2 passer rating. 

Brown has been on the field for most of this stretch, a pivotal piece regarding how well Hurts has played. Hurts has a 107.2 passer rating targeting Brown during this stretch, throwing three touchdowns and averaging 12.9 air yards per attempt. 

"This is the quarterback we know he can be. The best in the league," Dotson said. "He's doing a great job commanding the offense, making sure we're all in the right spots and getting the ball out on time. It's nothing new to us. We see it every single day. It's cool to see it come true on Sundays." 

Several Eagles players have publicly supported their quarterback. Brown hasn't supported nor ridiculed his quarterback this season, taking things to social media to voice his frustration with the offense. Some of it is about Hurts, but the business relationship between the two carries on. 

Hurts knows he needs Brown to win football games. So do the Eagles. Whether Brown feels the same way is up for debate.