Eagles' Sirianni: 'Lazy' to bash Brown for reading on sidelines

Head coach Nick Sirianni defended his star wide receiver A.J. Brown for reading a book on the sidelines during the Philadelphia Eagles' wild-card round victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

"I'm definitely OK with it," Sirianni said on 94WIP Radio on Tuesday. "The crazy thing is, he's been reading this book on the sideline for a long time. It just so happened a camera saw it this week."

Sirianni added: "We don't do any research, and we jump to a conclusion of, 'Oh, he must be disgruntled.' That, to me, is lazy. Everyone needs to figure out why he's doing it before they jump to judgment on the man. Because the man, A.J. Brown, is a great, great, great person."

The Fox broadcast showed Brown reading "Inner Excellence" by Jim Murphy following an offensive drive. The 27-year-old had a quiet day, totaling one catch for 10 yards.

Brown said postgame he wasn't reading due to his lack of targets and that it's something he does every contest.

"I'm doing it every drive," Brown told reporters in the locker room, according to Zach Gelb of Sirius XM Radio. "Regardless of if I score a touchdown or drop a pass. You know, it's something how I refocus."

Brown added: "I wasn't frustrated at all. I figured that's what y'all probably thought. Why y'all always think I be frustrated?"

"Inner Excellence" moved to No. 1 on Amazon's best-sellers list Monday after being ranked 523,497th before the game. Murphy is a mental performance coach, and the book promises to teach readers "how to train your mind like the very best."

The Eagles host the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.