On A.J. Brown; Jerry Jones gives everybody the finger; suspend Brian Branch | NFL Week 6

We’ve said this before, but we’ll say it again: A.J. Brown’s on-field displays in the past, his sideline book-reading, his online philosophizing, and his locker-room messaging — on Thursday, he absurdly pretended to not recall a well-publicized and confirmed meeting between himself, Jalen Hurts, and Saquon Barkley — only matter if it affects the product on the field.

It has not. It does not.

Why?

Because nobody inside the building really cares. Brown has always been this guy. After four years, Brown expressing discontent is no longer a problem. It’s a Thursday.

Brown is the best sort of diva: one who works harder the madder he gets. He stays in shape, he learns his plays, he runs his routes, he blocks his men. He expects to get the ball a lot, and he doesn’t; he has just 25 catches and one touchdown through six games. But that’s because Jalen Hurts isn’t finding him when he’s open (and he’s open a lot), and it’s because the Eagles’ offensive line, elite when healthy, is not healthy.

» READ MORE: What we know (and don’t) about the Eagles entering Week 7 vs. the Vikings

Brown also is in the best possible situation for an outspoken, frustrated diva. He’s on a team with a quarterback, head coach, teammates, GM, and owner who don’t give a damn what he says. They don’t take him seriously. They don’t care if he’s unsatisfied. They know he’s not going to stop practicing hard; that he’s not going to run lazy routes; that he’s not going to stop blocking. They know he’s going to come to work on time, play hard, and help them win.

The rest? That’s just noise.

Dramatic, narrative noise that we faithfully will document as long as he makes it.

A week after Jerry Jones let his finger do the talking, he was uncharacteristically mum Sunday afternoon. Jones usually gives impromptu postgame press conferences, but after a loss in Charlotte, he blew off the media.

His media boycott might have something to do with what happened the previous week. After a road game against the Jets, Jones flipped the bird to Jets fans. The NFL fined him $250,000. (He claimed to confuse his middle finger with his thumb. God, I love Jerry Jones.)

» READ MORE: Mike Sielski: The Eagles have problems that need solving. The recent play of Jalen Hurts is one of them.

Seriously, though, Jerry refusing to speak with the press is like A.J. Brown boycotting Twitter. It’s irresistible to him.

More likely, Jones was in no mood to talk Sunday because his Cowboys gave up 30 points in a loss at lowly Carolina, dropping his ’Pokes to 2-3-1, largely because his team is ranked last in average yards surrendered, last against the pass, and 30th in points allowed.

Then again, his team had planned on having Micah Parsons, the league’s best edge rusher, but Jones traded him a week before the season began after Jones botched offseason negotiations for a contract extension. Granted, the Cowboys had defensive issues last season, but their pass defense was solid for the most part, mainly because they had 52 sacks, third in the NFL, led by Parsons’ 12. They have 11 sacks in six games this season.

All of which might cost first-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus his job. That’s unfair. It would be like the Eagles firing first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo if Howie Roseman traded, say, A.J. Brown — who is way better at wide-receiving than he is at tweeting.

Serial miscreant Brian Branch, a third-year defensive back for the Lions, has been fined 10 times since the beginning of the 2024 season. He’ll surely receive his fourth fine of 2025 and maybe a suspension for his actions on the field after losing to the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.

Branch first pushed aside Patrick Mahomes’ postgame handshake offer, then not only spurned JuJu Smith-Schuster’s handshake offer but then struck Smith-Schuster in the head. Smith-Schuster came back at him and Branch ripped off Smith-Schuster’s helmet. That sparked a melee.

It also should spark a suspension for Branch. Finally.

The Lions play the Bucs on Sunday and can ill afford to be without their Pro Bowl safety.

Until 2022, Baker Mayfield was the most overexposed nonstar in NFL history. Cleveland drafted him first overall in 2018, and by the following season, Progressive Insurance gambled on his natural football talent and his undeniable charisma and featured him in a series of awful commercials called “At Home With Baker Mayfield.” The concept: Mayfield actually lived in the Browns’ home stadium, and we got to see his at-home adventures.

Not a great investment. The commercials died with his afterthought trade to the Panthers in 2022, for just a 2024 fifth-round pick. Soon, the Panthers cut him and the Rams claimed him, then let him go via free agency. In 2023, he signed a show-me deal with Tampa Bay, then got an extension.

Today, Mayfield, after consecutive Pro Bowl appearances, is a viable MVP candidate. His third-quarter, 15-yard escape-and-scramble on third-and-14 Sunday against the 49ers was the play of the day. It set up a 45-yard touchdown pass to Tez Johnson that stretched the lead and helped ensure a 5-1 start to the season.

After the day games Sunday, his passer rating of 108.5 ranked fifth among regular starters, his 1,539 passing yards ranked fourth, and his 12 TD passes were tied for second. What’s most remarkable is that, by the end of the game, Mayfield’s top four receivers — Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, and Jalen McMillan — were injured.

Usually, winning with good stats equals MVP votes, and in a season in which Jared Goff, Daniel Jones, and Sam Darnold are among his chief challengers, Mayfield makes as good an MVP candidate as anyone.

Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon, the former Eagles defensive coordinator who should have been fired for twice striking a player on the sideline last week (he was fined), lost his fourth game in a row, at Indianapolis and coach Shane Steichen, the former Eagles offensive coordinator. Steichen, who has resurrected the career of Giants bust Daniel Jones, is 5-1. … First-time Jets coach Aaron Glenn once again defended his indefensible coaching, particularly a sequence at the end of their sixth straight loss that began with a fake punt and ended with him refusing to run a play, then refusing to offer a sane explanation. … First-year coach Mike Vrabel, second-year quarterback Drake Maye, and recycled receiver Stefon Diggs have the Patriots on a three-game heater. … Meanwhile, at the University of North Carolina, where former Patriots coach and compulsive NFL cheater Bill Belichick landed, the school has suspended one of Belichick’s assistants and is investigating the program for other violations. The school reportedly is eager to fire Belichick after three humiliating losses to the three FBS opponents he’s faced so far and his apparent inability to take a breath without cheating.