AJ Brown’s mind, Matvei Michkov’s debut and the Phillies’ collapse take center stage

First and last thought…

AJ Brown’s most recent Instagram post was on October 1st. It was a reel, a short montage of scenes from the film. The Dark Knightall of them featuring the late Heath Ledger’s terrifying turn as The Joker. Why choose this villain? Was Brown implying that he was an agent of chaos? he has after all, he is accused of being just that.

“I don’t want to get into that,” he said Friday. “I’m ready to play.”

Brown has struggled at times to turn on and off the chatter and public criticism surrounding him and other well-known athletes. It’s always worth checking his various sources for insight into his thinking, any possible messaging, especially since he missed the Eagles’ last three games with a hamstring injury.

That’s a lot of time to wait and think and maybe spend too many hours swimming in the dirty waters of social media, and it was an encouraging development, a sign of his possible maturity, which was not lost in unreality. of the digital dimension. As much as his body needed to heal before he could return to the Eagles’ lineup (he’s on track to do so Sunday against the Browns), he also had to make sure his mind was clear.

» READ MORE: The easiest solution for the Eagles offense might be to bring back AJ Brown and reinforcements

“I read a lot,” he said. “I got off social media again and focused on myself, I watched a lot of film. I watched a lot of film and I tried to be prepared and ready every day. I had to get little wins. I I call it “small victories.” I took it day by day.

“I had already cut myself, and it just happened that when I got down, you can fall back into that loop. I’m always trying to cut myself out. I mean, it’s our world. If I can just focus on myself and feed -me with positive thoughts, like no one exists, that’s how I try to live. That’s how I play the game.”

Brown is the Eagles’ most important offensive player, more so than even Jalen Hurts or Saquon Barkley. They scored 34 points in their only game with him this season and haven’t scored more than 21 since. No one else threatens a defense like he does. All indications are that he is physically healthy again. This is nothing but good news for the Eagles. His biggest challenge for the rest of the season might be keeping it up mentally. That would be even better.

An easier fit for Michkov

You may have heard that the Flyers have this rookie named Matvei Michkov and that there are pretty high expectations for him out of the bullpen. Those expectations, based on his consensus status as the second-best prospect in the 2023 draft, based on his scoring, puck-handling and playmaking abilities, set him apart from nearly every Flyers freshman since Eric Lindros debuted in 1992. , and they will be a heavy burden for him.

But in at least one aspect, Michkov will have it a little easier than most first-round picks: He won’t have to change his style of play too much to adapt to the NHL. The Flyers want him to be a scorer, expect him to be a scorer, and will use him as a scorer. Not every young player who was a big point producer at a lower level of hockey earns that grace right away, and some never do.

“You can’t hang on to the things you did in junior necessarily,” said Flyers forward Owen Tippett, whom the Florida Panthers selected with the 10th pick in the 2017 draft. “Obviously, you’re playing against guys who are much bigger and stronger than you are used to.

“That skill that you had is always going to be there, but you have to find the right time to use it and adapt and play a different style of game. It took me a little bit to adjust to that and play more consistently.”

Just before the Panthers drafted him, Tippett had scored 44 goals and 75 points in 60 games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Mississauga Steelheads in 2016-17. He then scored just 14 goals in 94 NHL games before Florida traded him to the Flyers.

» READ MORE: The Flyers are going to be fascinating this season. They probably won’t be good for a while.

Similarly, Sean Couturier was coming off back-to-back 96-point seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League when the Flyers drafted him eighth overall in 2011. It took until his seventh year with them before he finally he scored more than 15 goals in one season, in part because he was used so often as a control center that he prioritized defense.

“It looked like they tagged me right there,” he said. “It took me a couple of years before I earned the respect that I could also put up offensive numbers.”

Kings of Collapse

The 1964 Phillies will forever be the kings of the collapse in Philadelphia sports. But man, you have to give credit to the 2023-24 Phillies, 2023 Eagles, 2023-24 Flyers, and 2021 and 2023 76ers for making a run for them in recent years. yes