A.J. Brown wants everyone to know that he's not mad. The star wide receiver is, he said, "doing everything possible to win," and that is the focus not only for him, but for an entire team that is looking to end the regular season on a winning note in Sunday's game at the New York Giants.
To that end, Brown on Wednesday apologized to his teammates "because they shouldn't have to answer questions on my behalf. I'm a man. I can speak for myself."
Brown didn't speak to the media after the loss to Arizona on Sunday.
"The reason why I didn't speak to the media after the game is, I didn't want to be negative," Brown said Wednesday at his NovaCare Complex locker. "I had already transitioned to a mindset where we were going through a tough time and me being the person I am, I just have to go back to work. Ain't nothing I could do about it. And like I said after the game (against Cardinals), the way I was raised, if I have nothing good to say, I'm not going to say nothing at all."
The point was, Brown said, "I'm not trying to make it worse than what it is."
Brown said his frustration was not about playcalling or anything of the sort. It was seeing fellow wide receiver DeVonta Smith suffer an ankle injury late in the game.
"We're gonna need, I'm gonna need, Smitty moving forward," Brown said. "That was it."
Brown said that, as a team captain, he didn't want to "compound a negative with a negative" during these tough times, and that is why he felt the need to apologize to his teammates.
"I don't want to continue to be negative and it took me a couple of days to realize that my teammates are answering questions on my behalf," he said.
