AJ Brown strives for inner excellence in every game, but he read about it in the Philadelphia Eagles’ 22-10 wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Brown sat on the bench and was filmed by television cameras reading “Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life” by Jim Murphy.

“I haven’t seen too many people reading books (on the side),” Fox commentator Tom Brady said during the broadcast. “But I saw a quarterback eating a hot dog.”

AJ Brown casually reading a book? 📚😂

📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/jQGv8smD9N

– FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 13, 2025

“Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life” was published in 2020 and promotes itself as a “life guide” to train the minds of athletes.

According to Brown, he brings the book to every game because it strengthens his mentality.

“My teammates call it ‘The Recipe,'” Brown joked in the locker room after the game.

“There are a lot of points in there. It has a lot of mental game, a lot of mental aspects. For me this game is mental. I choose to believe that I can do anything and everything, but I have to make sure I’m mentally okay. Kind of like the way I update every ride. Whether I’m scoring a touchdown or dropping a pass, I return to this book and refocus on every drive. Nothing matters, nothing happened, lock yourself back in.”

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Brown’s one reception and 10 yards on Sunday are his fewest in a playoff appearance since his 2020 season with the Tennessee Titans. During the Eagles’ 2022 Super Bowl run, Brown caught 13 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown in three games.

“Felt good, felt really good,” Brown said. “Good transportation. It wasn’t visible in the statistics, but I did a lot to block my teammates today. It’s all good.”

Required reading

(Photo: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)