When the Pittsburgh Steelers travel across Pennsylvania to take on the Philadelphia Eagles, there will be plenty of eyes on Eagles WR A.J. Brown. Brown has proven himself as a consistent receiving threat through his first five-plus NFL seasons. He has 6,783 receiving yards and 46 touchdowns while averaging 15.9 yards per catch.
And Brown has given the Steelers fits in the past. The last time the Eagles and Steelers faced off, Brown had a monster game. He caught six passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns.
The Steelers want no part of that again. And that could mean CB Joey Porter Jr. shadowing Brown. But Porter had a rough outing against the Cincinnati Bengals two games ago while shadowing WR Tee Higgins. Will the Steelers go back to the well and have Porter shadow Brown?
“We’ll just say that we’re going to do our best to try to limit both of these guys [Brown and DeVonta Smith], however we do it, as far as traveling, whatever we do coverage-wise to try to help whoever has him,” Austin Thursday per a transcript provided by the team. “I don’t think it’s a job for one person. I think you got to mix them in terms of who covers it, you got to mix them in terms of what kind of coverage. I’ve got to do a good job of helping our guys make them guys face a variation of coverages, various coverages, different looks, different things. That helps them
probably more than individual matchups, ‘mano-a-mano’ out there.”
Austin was the defensive coordinator when Brown torched the Steelers’ secondary. But the only other member of the secondary that day still on the team in a prominent role is S Minkah Fitzpatrick. You won’t see Akhello Witherspoon trying to cover Brown on Sunday.
One other thing that could potentially work in the Steelers’ favor? The Eagles are trying to deal with a potential issue between Brown and QB Jalen Hurts. Even the Eagles themselves admit there’s a problem with how much Brown is getting the ball this season.
Brown has only been targeted 10 or more times once this season. That was all the way back in Week 1. But right now, Brown is seeing 6.6 targets per game. That’s on pace to be his lowest since his rookie season. He had been on a steady increase every single season of his career through his first five seasons. But he’s averaging almost three full targets per game less than 2023 (9.3).
So the Steelers have a chance to continue that disruption. Or Eagles OC Kellen Moore could force-feed A.J. Brown with targets which could result in another monster day. It’ll be up to Teryl Austin, Joey Porter Jr., and the rest of the Steelers secondary to figure out just how to deal with the Eagles’ mercurial playmaker. Oh yeah and stop RB Saquon Barkley at the same time.
