Brown out after airing ill-timed criticism of Cousins

PHILADELPHIA >> The linebackers didn’t give up 333 passing yards and four touchdowns in the Eagles’ 38-20 loss last Sunday to the Vikings.

Yet the scapegoat for the spectacle was Zach Brown, who was released late Monday after giving the Eagles five stops, one for a loss.

The run defense wasn’t bad. The Eagles became just the second team this season to hold Dalvin Cook under 100 yards. Cook rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. So, it must have been the way Brown ran his mouth leading up to the game, the veteran verbalizing what everybody with an ounce of football knowledge knows to be true – quarterback Kirk Cousins is the weak link on the Vikings.

For Brown, nonetheless, it was 58 snaps one day, gone the next.

“I’ll just leave that to those guys,” defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, intimating the personnel people upstairs at the NovaCare Complex. “They can address those roster decisions.”

Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins was at least slightly taken aback when asked if he was surprised by the decision. It was obvious from the length of the “uhhhhhhmmm” preceding his answer.

“Not necessarily,” Jenkins said. “I mean there are things that happen from personnel every day that we have no control over that we see on the notifications on our phones just like everybody else. At the end of the day we don’t focus on things that we don’t control.”

For the record, Jenkins replied “not to my knowledge” when asked if the linebacker position had been a problem.

So, there you have it. One group text message and Brown was out the door. Cousins claimed to know nothing about what his former Redskins teammate said about him until moments before stepping up to the podium after the game Sunday. Cousins said it didn’t impact his play.

What Brown said is common knowledge around the NFL. For a variety of reasons, including turnovers, Cousins is just 5-27 against teams with winning records, the Eagles being the latest victim. Cousins had just one giveaway in 71 snaps, a tipped pass intercepted by safety Andrew Sendejo.

Truth be told, getting rid of Brown, who has an intimate knowledge of the Cowboys and running back Zeke Elliott, dating to the tour with the Redskins, may end up being a hasty decision.

Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham was in a walking boot after injuring an ankle at Minnesota, Kamu Grugier-Hill is coming off a sprained MCL and except for Nate Gerry, the team’s best healthy linebacker now, there isn’t much experience.