The morning after making comments about the relationship between Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown, veteran Eagles leader Brandon Graham was back on 94WIP on Tuesday morning to apologize.
Graham, 36, said he made assumptions about their relationship. He apologized for that and for speaking publicly about a behind-closed-doors issue.
Here’s how Graham’s half hour on WIP kicked off on Tuesday morning:
“First, I want to start off by just apologizing to my guys. I was going to see them today anyway but I want to start first here publicly since we all was here. I made the assumption. I didn’t know all the details and I still don’t. And I was just like, ‘Dang.’ I just really saw everything that y’all saw with the video and I was just reacting to that and I should have used a little more logic on it. It was more just on me just wanting people to pretty much, man, I just want to win pretty much.
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“For me … everything I said I didn’t want him to do, I did too. I want to own that. As always, we gotta stand up through the good and the bad. Right now, I don’t think it’s that bad. I think it’s a great thing. Because chaos definitely create diamonds. Pressure makes diamonds. I feel like this is about to be something we’re going to bounce back from really good.
“We all make mistakes. This was one of my mistakes. You’re never too proud of no mistakes but it’s something that I’m going to definitely learn from. And I know, for sure, those guys when I do talk to them, they’re going to understand where I’m coming from on why I assumed just based off the video of A.J. I know we gonna get right because them boys definitely want to win. That’s why he was frustrated. I’m gonna ride with A.J. on the frustration because he just wants to win. 1 (Hurts) a winner. All of us just want to win for the city and we all made some mistakes in this one.”
On Monday evening, Graham spoke during the weekly Brandon Graham Show at Chickie’s & Pete’s and criticized Brown for publicly voicing his frustration. After the win over the Panthers, Brown was frustrated and answered, “Passing” when asked what the offense needed to improve.
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Graham said he made assumptions based on watching that media availability.
“The person that’s complaining needs to be accountable,” Graham said on Monday night. “And I'm just being honest. He knows this. I don't know the whole story, but I know that 1 (Hurts) is trying and I mean, 11 (Brown) could be a little better with how he responds to things.
“And they was friends before this, but it's like, man, things have changed and I understand that because life happens. But it's the business side that we have to make sure that we don't let the personal get in the way of the business and that's what we got to do better as right now because we know it's an issue.”
Graham on Tuesday morning acknowledged he was guilty of the very same thing he criticized Brown for doing.
The Eagles beat the Panthers 22-16 on Sunday but after the game there were some pockets of frustration within the Eagles’ locker room stemming from an ineffective passing game. The Eagles had a total of 83 net passing yards in a tight win.
Brown was not the only Eagles player to voice frustration about the passing offense. But he was also seen slamming his helmet on the bench after a three-and-out during the game.
The Eagles are 11-2 and have won nine straight games so it seems unusual to have this type of drama swirling around the team. It seems especially unusual to have it kicked up by the longest-tenured player on the team. Graham is out for the rest of the season after suffering a torn triceps injury a few weeks ago but is still one of the team’s emotional leaders.
“Every time you make a mistake, you’re learning from it,” Graham said on Tuesday morning. “I believe he gonna learn from the mistake of giving that. I already know for me, this is my once-a-year. Y’all got me to answer emotionally because I was just so passionate about not us messing things up and I assumed. I messed up because I should have just been talking to my guys anyway and make it about that. I knew A.J. would have addressed it the way he would have with this.
“But I know, man, these boys this year, they is not last year. I think it’s just the passion of wanting to win. I’m gonna own that, gonna own what I said yesterday. But I know that it was my bad because I should have called them at least first before I made a comment on it. I know for me, assumptions definitely make you look silly. Now, I just want to make my rights on some of my wrongs that I did.”
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