The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers 22-10 in Sunday’s wild card NFC playoffs matchup. It was a dominant defensive performance and the overall skill set of star running back Saquon Barkley that carried the day. The game also marked the return of quarterback Jalen Hurts, who hadn’t played since a Week 16 road loss at the Washington Commanders. In his return, Hurts was his usual safe self, passing for 131 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 36 yards on six attempts.
AJ Brown Reads Book During Playoff Game
The game also marked star receiver A.J. Brown being targeted only twice and finishing with one reception for 10 yards. If you’ve been following the relationship of Hurts and his star pass catcher it’s been anything but perfect. There’s been a back-and-forth of indirect comments by both — mostly by a frustrated Brown — about the lack of touches that Brown might get in a game. During Sunday’s win, in an attempt to keep the peace, Brown turned to reading a book on the sideline, and that was caught on camera.
In a game controlled by the Eagles for the bulk of it, a pretty disinterested Brown began to read “Inner Excellence,” a book by author and mental skills coach Jim Murphy.
Book AJ Brown was Reading On Sidelines Becomes Best Seller: Author Jim Murphy Is Grateful
Sales of the book skyrocketed overnight. Things got so good it was listed as No. 1 on Amazon’s best sellers list by Monday morning.
Following the spike, Murphy told reporters this about the meteoric rise of his book.
“I was not expecting that. A real gift,” Murphy said by phone Monday. “I just looked at Amazon last night and it got to No. 1, so that was a surprise. It had probably never been higher than probably 8 or 9,000. In the thousands, somewhere.”
It went from 523,497th overnight. Folks saw Brown reading it or at least with it in his hands.
One fan even said this on the Amazon site.
“AJ Brown recommended this book, so I’m looking forward to reading this. Fly Eagles Fly,” one reviewer wrote on the site.
Brown Says This Isn’t New For Him
The physically gifted wideout, whose trade to the Eagles on draft night 2022 dramatically changed the team’s offense, says the book is useful because for him because football is “90 percent mental and 10 percent physical for me.”
He even said this isn’t the first time he’s read on the sideline, “Y’all caught me that time.”
Brown also says the book has taught him how to compartmentalize while handling both success and failure.
“If I score a touchdown or drop a pass, it’s something how I refocus,” Brown said. “I always revert back to the beginning of the book. It states if you can just have a clear mind and remember that nothing else matters, clear conscience, nothing matters negative or positive. You’re willing to take risks. It also says if you’re humble, you can’t be embarrassed.”
Sounds good, but we all know Brown was making a statement about not being involved in the offense. And instead of acting out he decided to take this approach and let the narratives flow where they may.
