From Locker Room Talk to Public Spotlight, Barkley and Hurts Finally Share Their Take on A.J. Brown

It was either an intense open, honest, necessary conversation to try to get three superstars back on the proverbial same page … OR it was just three guys hanging out having lunch.

Whatever it was, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown did indeed spend some time together at the NovaCare Complex on Monday, as first reported by Jimmy Kempski of PhillyVoice, who characterized it as a “long, positive conversation” that “lasted a couple hours.”

Brown wasn’t in the locker room Tuesday while it was open to the media, and Hurts and Barkley both played down the meeting, characterizing it as just a few teammates hanging out like any other day.

“Yeah, we had a conversation, but I’m not going to speak too much on it,” Barkley said at his locker Tuesday. “I felt like that conversation was meant to stay between us, but the focus was all about the team, and I think it was a good thing.

“I would definitely say it wasn’t like a players’ meeting. When you hear ‘players’ meeting,’ that’s like all hell’s breaking loose. It wasn’t that at all. But also that we’re teammates, we’re all friends, we’re just having a conversation. And I personally wish that wasn’t out there, to be honest.

“But people saw us having a conversation and they got out there. But I don’t think we need to make too much of that. Our main focus is on the Giants.”

Why is this even a story?
Because Hurts and Brown in particular have clearly not been on that same proverbial same page lately.

But Barkley said this talk was no different than any other conversation among teammates.

“I mean, we have conversations all the time,” Barkley said. “I mean, in that instance, it was us three, but I talk to Smitty, Smitty talks to A.J. and Lane talks to Jordan (Mailata). We should be all talking, you know what I mean?

“But I know people are going to try to make it more than what it is, but it’s not that. And I really don’t want to speak too much on it.”

Hurts also played down the meeting and made it clear it wasn’t a topic he wanted to talk about.

“Yeah, it’s just us talking about the collective, talking about taking ownership for what we can and talking about how we move forward as a team so we continue to find ways to win games,” he said.

“It’s really just teammates being teammates. I don’t want to make this about that.”

Barkley was asked if conversation among teammates could help jump-start an offense that’s been a massive disappointment through the first five weeks of the season.

“I mean, I don’t think it’s just that conversation,” he said. “I think it’s the work that we put in. Sometimes it just doesn’t hit off right away. I know it hasn’t shown in a consistent way. throughout the first five games, but there’s been sparks. There’s been halves where we look untouchable, but there’s been halves where we look really bad.

“We’ve just got to continue to have more halves of us playing at a high level. So I don’t think just our conversation, I think just (what’s important) is the way that the mindset of this team and on this offense and how we work and what we believe we can be.”