The Eagles are back in the Super Bowl. They made their way by crushing the Commanders in the NFC championship game. AJ Brown‘s elation was evident. But before they even step foot in the Superdome, the league decided to drop some bad news on them. And that too just as the team was gearing up for a rematch with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Moreover, this one came with a price tag.

The NFL has fined two of the Eagles’ key players for their actions, that occurred in the NFC Championship Game against the Commanders. Yeah! It’s AJ Brown and Jalen Carter. Brown was slapped with an $11,255 fine for unnecessary roughness after an altercation with Commanders cornerback Marshon Lattimore. Meanwhile, Carter took the bigger hit. He is getting docked $17,445 for striking/kicking/kneeing in the fourth quarter. That’s a total of $28,700 in fines—right before one of the biggest games of their careers.

The timing of these fines couldn’t be worse. Fines are routine in the NFL. However, handing them out just days before the Super Bowl raises eyebrows. Even more frustrating? Lattimore didn’t get fined at all. He was part of the same incident with Brown. Brown himself spoke on Twitch about the scuffle. “[He] engaged me first,” he said. But the NFL saw things differently. Meanwhile, this is an even bigger blow for Carter.

The rookie defensive tackle has been a force all season. He has helped Philly dominate up front. Now, it’s an extra distraction leading up to the Super Bowl with a fine hanging over his head. And this feels like an even tougher pill to swallow. Why? Players don’t get their regular salaries during the playoffs. Hence, losing nearly $30K in fines would definitely hurt.

Of course, this isn’t the first time the Eagles have faced adversity. But they needed a clean run-up to the big game with Mahomes and the Chiefs standing in their way. Instead, they’ve got to shake off these fines and focus on the one thing that really matters—winning it all. Meanwhile, AJ Brown had something else on his mind amid the chaos.

AJ Brown’s ‘paid actor’ revelation

The Super Bowl experience felt more like a performance than a game for AJ Brown. The Eagles’ star receiver admitted he felt like a “paid actor” rather than a player locked into a championship moment. The glitz, the media circus, and the endless obligations surrounding the big game left him feeling disconnected from the raw intensity of football.

Ready to make his second appearance in the Big Game, Brown remarked, “We have so much we have to do for everyone else. The media, the fans. There’s only so little time that we get to focus on what’s important and that’s the game.” He compared the spectacle to being cast in a movie. Where the focus drifts from the game itself to everything surrounding it. He respects the magnitude of the event. However, he’s made it clear he wants his second Super Bowl appearance to be different—more football, less fanfare.

Brown’s words reflect the challenge elite athletes face when balancing their craft with the demands of superstardom. His frustration is understandable—his 2023 Super Bowl performance was stellar. Six catches for 96 yards and a touchdown. Yet the Eagles’ painful 38-35 loss to the Chiefs overshadowed his individual efforts. That defeat still lingers. And the only thing that matters now is rewriting that ending for Brown.

Brown has shut down media requests and kept his head down. “None of this stuff matters,” he said, dismissing the distractions. For him, the best way to change the narrative isn’t in press conferences—it’s on the field. A place where he can be a game-changer instead of a “paid actor” in someone else’s script. This season, Brown had 1079 yards with 7 TDs. He made 67 receptions out of the 97 targets thrown his way.

Fines, distractions, and Super Bowl pressure… all are mounting. Now, the Eagles have one last shot to flip the script. And if Brown really is taking notes from, he knows exactly what to do—rise to the occasion and deliver when it matters most.