PHILADELPHIA − A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith are quickly establishing themselves as the Eagles’ best pair of wide receivers in team history, both individually and together.
They became the first Eagles receiving duo in team history to each surpass 1,000 yards receiving. Brown has 1,304 yards receiving this season while Smith is at 1,014 after getting 113 in the Eagles’ 40-34 loss to the Cowboys last Saturday.
Brown is also just 106 yards away from breaking Mike Quick’s franchise record for receiving yards in a season, a feat Quick accomplished in 1983.
Both Brown and Smith can set the franchise record for receptions in a season by a wide receiver. Brown, with 80, and Smith, with 79, are well within reach of Irving Fryar’s record of 88 receptions in 1996. It should be noted that tight end Zach Ertz has the franchise record for any receiver with 116 receptions in 2018.
The Eagles have two games remaining, and it’s possible Brown and/or Smith might sit out the finale if the Eagles clinch the NFC East and No. 1 seed this Sunday, which they can do with a win over the New Orleans Saints.
“I’d be lying to say it doesn’t mean anything,” Brown said about Quick’s record. “But I’m trying to channel my focus in other directions, (like) me doing what I have to do to make plays for my team on critical downs. We’ll handle all the records and all the other type of stuff (later). It’s a blessing to even be that close to his record.”
Those milestones aren’t the most impressive thing about what Brown and Smith are accomplishing this season.
ROBBING THE SAINTS:Ranking how Eagles fleeced Saints in trades, and why the best one can happen Sunday
QB QUANDARY?This Eagles injury (not Jalen Hurts) is why Gardner Minshew should remain QB until playoffs
This is: They are doing all of this without a quarterback or set of quarterbacks throwing for 4,000 yards. Jalen Hurts has thrown for 3,472 yards and Gardner Minshew, who started last Saturday against the Cowboys, has thrown for 389 yards.
Together, that’s 3,861 yards.
Sure, the Eagles will go over 4,000 yards passing, most likely this Sunday, but Brown and Smith are already there.
This season, the Miami Dolphins are the only other team, as of now, with two receivers over 1,000 yards in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Combined, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (3548 yards) and backups have thrown for 4,348 yards.
Last season, five teams had receiving duos over 1,000 yards. The closest to 4,000 was the Baltimore Ravens QB trio of Lamar Jackson (2,882), Tyrone Huntley (1081) and Josh Johnson (304) who combined for 4,267 yards. Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown each surpassed 1,000 yards receiving.
The Buccaneers Tom Brady (5,316 yards) and the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes (5,104 yards) each surpassed 5,000 with a receiving duo over 1,000 yards each.
Even the handful of teams this season on the verge of having a pair of receivers over 1,000 yards, the only QB currently under 4,000 yards is Seattle’s Geno Smith with 3,886 yards passing. D.K. Metcalf is already over 1,000 and Tyler Lockett is at 964, so there’s a good chance Smith will also be over 4,000 when Lockett reaches the mark.
That makes Brown and Smith’s accomplishment all the more impressive.
That’s because they get the vast majority of targets, receptions and yards, despite the other team knowing that they, along with tight end Dallas Goedert, are getting the vast majority of targets, receptions and yards.
The opponent still can’t stop them.
“What makes them unique is it’s just hard to take one away,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “So not everybody has two corners, or not everybody will say, ‘I’m going to match this guy here.’ … They’re just hard to take away because sometimes you can attempt to take a guy away, but when you have two of them, like okay, you’re taking that guy away, (the other) can work here.
“Then really we have three in the sense of we have Dallas (Goedert) as well.”
Their uniqueness is also in the details.
Brown, at 6-foot-1, 226 pounds, can outleap a defender for a 50-50 ball, run by him, or catch a slant over the middle and run over a defender.
Smith, meanwhile, is 6-foot, 170 pounds, with tremendous body control. But he, too, can make any type of catch. Sirianni described two catches that Smith made along the sideline against the Cowboys, and one where Smith caught the ball and was crunched high and low by two defenders and still held onto the ball.
“So he jumps out of the gym, turns his body to catch that one in the two-minute drill,” Sirianni said. “Then on the sideline on the other one, he torques his body a different way and gets his feet inbounds … and then he has one where he catches it knowing that the corner and the safety are going to crush him, and he makes that catch, too.
“What’s so amazing about it is he’s doing it in all these different ways.”
Smith doesn’t see it as a big deal.
I mean, I expect myself to make those plays,” he said. “I’m pretty sure the guys on the team in the receiving room expect me to make those plays. Those are just routine catches that you just have to make.”
That’s what impresses Brown the most, too.
“Those are big catches in the fourth quarter,” Brown said. “We needed those. He was coming up clutch. That drive, I told him, ‘This is why we’re special.’”
Keep in mind that Goedert was also on pace for 1,000 yards when he suffered a shoulder injury on Nov. 14 vs. Washington and went on injured reserve. Goedert had 544 yards receiving through nine games when he suffered the injury. He’s at 611 through 10 games.
“Obviously, it was one of the goals I had up until that point, trying to get it,” Goedert said. “But ultimately, I think all three of us would rather have wins than the 1,000 yards. So if we can keep winning, we’ll set ourselves up for success in the playoffs, and we’ll all be happy.”
Hurts practices; will he play?
Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts returned to practice Thursday for the first time since injuring his shoulder against the Bears on Dec. 18.
Hurts went through individual drills during the portion of practice open to the media, throwing short and intermediate balls while working on his footwork.
But Hurts did not take part in one ball security drill where the skill position players go through a gauntlet of coaches with boxing sticks pounding at the player as he runs by. That would indicate that the Eagles would list him as limited in practice.
If that’s the case, then it could mean that Minshew will start for a second straight game. The Eagles have another practice Friday before playing the Saints on Sunday.
Either way, returning to practice was a big step for Hurts.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
