Eagles' Saquon Barkley addresses Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown controversy

Multiple Philadelphia Eagles players insisted this week that they are moving on from any drama regarding the relationship between wide receiver A.J. Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts after the two said they are "good" with each other. 

Running back Saquon Barkley spoke with reporters on Thursday and indicated those in the locker room are fully focused on the task at hand as the 11-2 Eagles prepare to host the 10-3 Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday. 

"No one talked about (the passing-game) controversy, so it’s not a problem for us," Barkley explained, as shared by Bob Brookover of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "Obviously we have to answer the question when we sit here, (but) we’re not sitting at the lunch table talking about, 'Oh, we need to throw the ball more.' Our focus is on winning football games. We’re 11-2 and we’ve got nine wins in a row. We know there’s a lot we can improve on and we’ve got to continue to do that."

While Brown raised some eyebrows when he seemed to criticize Hurts after the quarterback passed for just 108 yards in Philadelphia's 22-16 win over the Carolina Panthers last Sunday, defensive end Brandon Graham poured fuel on the fire when he said on Monday that the two teammates "were friends, but things have changed." Graham's attempt to walk those comments back did little to silence chatter suggesting the Eagles are dealing with similar behind-the-scenes issues that allegedly impacted the club during its collapse last season, but Barkley said on Thursday that Brown is "a great leader" who simply wants to help the team win games. 

"Does he want to do more for the team? Of course," Barkley said of Brown. "I don’t think it’s coming from a selfish way at all. From being able to sit down and have those conversations with him, I know it’s not at all. He works hard and puts a lot of effort into this and he wants to go out there and ball out." 

ESPN's Tim McManus noted that the Eagles began Friday leading the league with 473 rushing attempts and an average of 190.5 rushing yards per game for the season. However, Philadelphia heads into the weekend ranked 31st with an average of 180.6 passing yards per contest and last with 328 passing attempts on the campaign. 

Meanwhile, the StatMuse website shows that Barkley leads the NFL with 1,890 yards from scrimmage this season. As of Friday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook listed the 27-year-old as the heavy betting favorite at -600 odds to claim the Offensive Player of the Year Award. 

"The goal is to win football games," Barkley added during his comments. "If we were throwing for 350 yards and we weren’t rushing that great, would people still be having those same conversations? It’s not real. What matters is winning football games." 

On Friday, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Eagles as 5.5-point favorites over the Steelers. History shows winning often eliminates locker-room drama for contending teams, but it remains to be seen how Brown and Co. will react if Pittsburgh earns an upset victory at Lincoln Financial Field this weekend.