Eagles notebook: What A.J. Brown has learned about Philly fans

Eagles notebook: What A.J. Brown has learned about Philly fans originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Like the rest of Philadelphia, A.J. Brown was watching last week as the Phillies won back-to-back home games against the Marlins to advance to the NLDS.

And he was blown away by the crowd.

Brown, 26, was a great high school baseball player and was drafted by the Padres in the 19th round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. But Brown went to Ole Miss to play football and never played baseball beyond the high school level.

“Playing in the Bank (Citizens Bank Park) would be crazy,” Brown said. “Even Bryson (Stott’s) home run, that was crazy. Everybody was singing his walk-up song and he goes out and hits a grand slam. It was electric. I would love to play in the Bank. Even in center field, even if I was the opposing team. Just to see the atmosphere. It was crazy.”

Here’s the Stott grand slam from Wednesday’s game Brown was talking about.

Bown was watching the playoff games last week from his home but said he would get to a game if he could at a reasonable hour. The 8 o’clock starts are too late.

Brown explained there’s a difference between a crowd at a football game and a baseball game just because of the nature of the sport. In baseball, everyone is waiting on every pitch, knowing it can change the game. Heck, in football, the home crowd is supposed to be quiet when the offense is on the field.

After spending the first three years of his NFL career in Tennessee, Brown got to experience Philadelphia fans for the first time last season. There was some trepidation at first but Brown has loved the experience.

“It’s been everything since I’ve been here,” Brown said. “I was a little nervous when I first came here from the fans and everything. I’ve learned to kind of block out the negative and also just really enjoy the positive. It’s more positive than anything, to be honest. I could just say they’re honest. They’re honest. That’s the best way to put it. And they’re very passionate. They love they sports here and we love them back. It’s been everything for me. I’ve enjoyed it ever since.”

Carter gets close to one of his idols

Jalen Carter is looking forward to meeting Aaron Donald after Sunday’s game at SoFi Stadium.

Donald, of course, is already one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history. He has won Defensive Player of the Year three times and has been a Pro Bowler in all nine of his NFL season; he’s on his way to 10 in 2023.

But Carter didn’t really grow up idolizing defensive tackles.

In high school, he was mostly an offensive player, so he watched skill guys. And growing up about an hour and a half from Tampa, one of his favorite players as a very young child was fullback Mike Alstott.

“I watched a lot of skill players. And Mike Alstott!” Carter said this week. “And he was at the game. That was very awesome.”

During the Eagles-Bucs game in Tampa, Alstott was shown on the giant video monitor and Carter was excited to see him up there. But he didn’t get a chance to meet him after the game. He’d like to do that at some point.

Watching Alstott didn’t show Carter technique as a defensive tackle but Alstott’s mentality is something Carter did take from.

“Yeah, it’s different where he’s trying to score and not doing the tackling,” Carter said. “But he was so aggressive and strong, all his power just shows. It just motivated me.”

Ringo finding his role

Through the first four games of his NFL career, rookie cornerback Kelee Ringo has played a grand total of one defensive snap.

That’s not his role right now.

Ringo, the heralded fourth-round pick from Georgia, has been playing a ton of special teams. And he’s filling that position nicely.

“A lot of credit goes to Kelee, understanding his role on this team,” Eagles special teams coordinator Michael Clay said.

Ringo, 21, has played 78 special teams snaps through four games. Just Christian Elliss and Patrick Johnson have played more. (Both of them have played 84.)

“A lot of the times these guys, these young guys, you just try to keep them as — you don't want them getting down on themselves if something bad happens,” Clay said. “A lot of these guys come from Power Five conferences, and they are the best players out there. But in the NFL, everyone is the best player out there.

“But his knowledge of the game, he always asks questions and he wants to strive to get better, which is great. Just allow him to be himself, be free and use his athletic prowess, you rarely find a guy that's 6-2 that can run that fast. Not to clutter his mind too much. Give him one concise rule, ‘Hey, this is what you've got to do. If you could do this at a high level it's going to end up fine,’ and he's been doing a great job as a punt return jammer.”

That’s a difficult position. Gunners are running full force and it’s Ringo’s job to try to slow them down. His physical attributes as well as his ability to backpedal as a defensive back have helped.

Slay on Stafford

Darius Slay and Matthew Stafford were teammates for seven seasons in Detroit and they’re still friends to this day.

So Slay was very happy for Stafford when the Rams won the Super bowl in 2021.

“Of course. Of course. I’m a big Stafford fan, man,” Slay said this week. “I was in Detroit, all of us would get looked over except Calvin (Johnson) and (Ndamukong) Suh and guys like that. Stafford has been one of the top quarterbacks in the league for a long time and doing it at a high level. You got guys like A-Rod (Aaron Rodgers) and Tom Brady and all the elite, elite quarterbacks in the league. But he was doing some elite, elite stuff as well.”

In the last couple of years, Slay has talked about how he was sometimes overlooked when he was in Detroit, playing on some bad teams. He thinks Stafford was overlooked for a lot of the same reasons.

Slay, 32, also pointed out that some quarterbacks have gotten praise for no-look passes and weird arm angles in recent years, Stafford has been doing that for over a decade in the league, Slay said.

This will be Slay’s first chance to face Stafford in a game. With 27 career interceptions under his belt, Slay wouldn’t mind snagging one from his buddy.

“I want to pick off every quarterback,” Slay said. “It would be great to pick off Staff, though. I played with him seven years in Detroit. One of my good friends. If he bless me with one, I’m gonna sure accept it.”

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