Don’t worry, A.J. — I think it’s fair to say we all hate meetings. But you don’t have to pretend one never happened … or was he actually telling the truth?

Despite reports of a players-only sitdown after the loss to Denver — supposedly including Saquon Barkley, Jalen Hurts and Brown — multiple sources in Philadelphia tell me A.J. was, in fact, right.

There was never a formal meeting. It was less player summit, more “hey, let’s talk for a second” — the kind of quick, honest check-in that happens in locker rooms every week. Call it a conversation, not a confrontation.

Brown tweeted on Friday that it was a discussion in the parking lot by their cars. And honestly? They probably needed it.

Said one league executive: “The Eagles have looked drained, emotionally and physically. The defense we saw Thursday night was on the field for (70-plus) plays in the heat just four days ago.”

The temps haven’t helped; it was 88 degrees at kickoff Week 2 in Kansas City, 88 at kickoff Week 4 in Tampa (and in the 90s before that game ended) and 80 at kickoff Week 5 at home.

It’s not an excuse. However, it’s possible Philly’s not broken; the Eagles are just out of sync and worn out.

The Eagles will continue to insist they have no plans to trade Brown, their star receiver. But every week that passes with problems piling up makes decision-makers around the league wonder. One league source told me: “Brown doesn’t look frustrated or mad — he looks indifferent. And that’s not a good place to be.” A GM in the AFC said, “I think Howie (Roseman) moves him. It would have to be for the right player or pick, but (a trade) wouldn’t surprise me. Howie likes deals, especially if a player’s value overrides how Brown is being used.”

Most teams anticipate the asking price to be steep. Expect more calls as we near November.

UNC’s Belichick and Lombardi plan to remain

Amid a tidal wave of recent reports on the dysfunction at UNC involving head coach Bill Belichick and GM Michael Lombardi — including a report in The Athletic on the chaos and lack of familiarity with college football that critics say is hurting the program — sources in both the college game and the league say the duo has no plans to leave Chapel Hill. People inside the football operation believe the criticism is intended to hurt the program.

Belichick, who was on the road Friday recruiting in Olney, Md., has told those close to him that he loves coaching at the college level. More than that, he believes they’re building something meaningful at UNC, a program with staying power. Lombardi is fully on the same page.

However, Belichick’s NFL past continues to hover around this situation, from questions about his legacy to regular flare-ups involving the Patriots to suspicions within UNC’s program that some of the negative headlines have origins in New England. The Patriots have taken the high road, steering clear of the public sniping.

Belichick and Lombardi remain committed to Chapel Hill for the foreseeable future. And if the school feels otherwise, it would be costly: UNC would owe around $30 million if it wanted to buy out Belichick, Lombardi and their coaching staff.

Jersey Boys

Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart didn’t sleep much, if at all, after beating the Eagles in prime time. By Friday morning, while most of us were shuffling kids off to school or heading to work, the Giants rookie was already on the phone with his coaches during his drive to the facility, preparing for the Denver Broncos.

It had been almost 20 years since the Giants last defeated the Eagles in prime time, and now Big Blue is living, and occasionally dying, with its rookies, Dart and running back sensation Cam Skattebo.

Since Dart took over as the Giants’ starter, they’ve beaten Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers and Nick Sirianni’s defending champs. Somehow, this team that was supposed to be a bit of a disaster suddenly looks … kind of dangerous.

And look, I feel like I need to say this because it hit me standing on the field during warmups at MetLife Stadium: Both of those young guys look less like NFL players and more like the kind of dudes you’d bump into at Bar Anticipation on Memorial Day weekend. (Those who know, know.)

I’m a Jersey girl; that’s a big compliment.

Speaking of summer, several people with the Giants told me New York knew since then that Dart was “the guy.” They just didn’t want to rush it.

Before the draft, they did their homework on all the quarterbacks, but every meeting with Ole Miss’s Dart ended the same way: with coach Brian Daboll and front-office members walking out saying, “He checks every box.”

Believe it or not, the Giants also leaned on some unlikely help. Ole Miss assistant quarterbacks coach Joe Judge, the former Giants head coach, helped the team learn everything it needed to know about Dart.

The Giants also knew they weren’t alone. The Saints, Steelers and Browns had all shown interest. New York tried to play it cool, but the Giants also knew Daboll’s personality — fiery, competitive, intense and sometimes a little unhinged — was a perfect match for Dart’s energy.

Around the league now, I keep hearing the same line: “Daboll finally has his guy.”

Not just a quarterback who can run his offense, but a quarterback who reflects him.

One AFC head coach texted me, “(Daboll) thinks Dart has some Josh Allen in him. That’s what this love is all about.”

There’s a looseness to the Giants’ offense again, a confidence that’s been missing. Dart’s not perfect, but you can see why the building believes in him. Maybe it’s something in the water, but there’s a little Jersey in this Giants team again.

Dart might still look more like a guy holding court on the patio at the Parker House than one commanding an NFL huddle, but that’s the fun in this. He’s not supposed to be saving jobs. The Giants weren’t supposed to be this fun. And yet here they are, believing — and maybe, just maybe, building something real.

Fumble. Meltdown. Fine.

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill fined head coach Jonathan Gannon $100,000 for a sideline confrontation with Emari Demercado, after the running back dropped the ball before crossing the goal line in a loss to the Titans.

Footage surfaced. Gannon apologized. But the NFL was buzzing, and people I spoke with largely disapproved of Arizona’s decision.

“It was a meltdown. He’s a first-time head coach, felt helpless. I don’t think they needed to fine him. You deal with that internally,” one NFC head coach said.

A rival executive was blunt: “The owner cut his balls off in front of his entire team.”

Not everyone concurred. “You can’t push a player like that. That’s garbage,” one AFC assistant said.

One player in the same division agreed over text, “Nah, you can’t do that. That can change a locker room.”

Gannon is 14-25 in just over two seasons. Arizona’s three losses this season? By a combined five points, all walk-off field goals. And incidents like Sunday’s Titans debacle make the optics worse.

“If you’re going to fine him $100,000 because you feel that strongly, then just fire him,” one owner told me.

At the end of the day, this isn’t just about a fumble. It’s about leadership under pressure and control in the moment.

Daniel Jones ‘has it’

Sitting on his couch in his new home just outside Philadelphia, right before he had his best season and won a Super Bowl, Saquon Barkley was raving about Daniel Jones. He was passionately trying to convince me that Jones is better than most starting quarterbacks in football.

“You aren’t believing me, and I’m not just saying this because he’s one of my best friends,” Barkley said. “Daniel is a really, really good quarterback. You give him an offensive line, and I’m telling you, he’s a top quarterback. I’ve seen him in practice. He has it.”

I didn’t believe him at the time. I had just watched years of mediocre and sometimes bad Giants football, and while Jones had flashes of brilliance in New York, it never fully clicked. However, reporters and fans don’t always know the whole story. Barkley saw something that both Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota and Shane Steichen in Indianapolis saw, too.

In Minnesota, the coaching staff loved that Jones had been through the toughest part of the business: being a quarterback in New York. They loved his work ethic, humility and intelligence, and as one coach there put it, “his best trait is he’s coachable, coachable, coachable!” As someone in Indianapolis explained, “He’s playing with confidence that needed to come out. He’s no longer afraid.”

Sorry I doubted you, Saquon … and you too, Daniel.

Can’t change their stripes

Maybe Lou Anarumo wasn’t the problem in Cincinnati, after all.

Jones and the Colts’ offense have grabbed headlines for being ultra-efficient, but their defense has become one of the league’s most underrated units under Anarumo, their first-year coordinator. Despite injuries, including to corner Kenny Moore II, Indianapolis is firing on all cylinders and the defense is a big reason the Colts are eyeing their first AFC South title since 2014.

“I just think we play on our toes. I think we dictate. We want to be aggressive,” LB Zaire Franklin told me on my podcast, “Scoop City.” “And honestly, it’s the style of defense that I really haven’t played in most of my career.”

Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, changing defensive play callers hasn’t led to much change. Under new coordinator Al Golden, the Bengals have actually regressed across the board.

Here’s a source close to the Chiefs: “Look what we did in Kansas City since we lost to the Bengals in the AFC Championship in 2021. We changed the defense over three different times. The Bengals never did.”

Sam Hubbard, Germaine Pratt, Mike Hilton — they’re gone now. But last year, Cincy’s defense looked its collective age. Compare that to Kansas City, which has kept key pieces like Chris Jones and Nick Bolton while adding premium draft talent like Trent McDuffie and George Karlaftis.

Stagnation caught up with Cincinnati, and it cost Anarumo his job. But the numbers don’t lie, and the Bengals are still trying to patch their leaks.

Now, they’re turning to Joe Flacco to try to save a season that’s already way off script. Meanwhile, Indianapolis is quietly proving the lesson every GM and coach knows but few admit: Sometimes the problem isn’t the coordinator, it’s the roster.

Joe Cool, Part II

The Browns knew the calls would come on Flacco once they made the switch to rookie Dillon Gabriel. What they didn’t expect was for one of those calls to come from inside the AFC North.

The only person more surprised? Flacco himself. Some around the league believe the Browns moving on signaled that they’ve given up on the season.

On Tuesday night, the Bengals reached out to discuss a potential trade for the veteran quarterback, and within hours, it was done.

Now, Flacco’s starting against the Packers after just a few days in stripes. Flacco started for Cleveland in a 13-10 win over Green Bay back in Week 3. No quarterback in the Super Bowl era has ever beaten the same opponent while starting for two different teams in the same season.

I was told Flacco has been cramming the playbook in the few days he’s had, but what’s always made Flacco good is his ability to simply pull the trigger. He was asked once about chemistry with new teammates, and he didn’t flinch.

“Listen, some of that stuff’s overrated,” Flacco said in 2023. “When you have good football players, they know how to get open and you know how to throw them the ball. It’s just as simple as that.”

Those receivers in Cincinnati will love hearing that.

The looming trade deadline

Nov. 4 is fast approaching and trades are already flying. Chargers GM Joe Hortiz is leaning on his old Ravens connections, adding a pass rusher. The Jaguars are shuffling corners. And Cleveland? The Browns are still dealing, even with a division rival.

Teams are mostly in the information-gathering phase right now — not just evaluating potential targets, but taking a hard look at themselves, too. Injuries, slumps, and locker room temperature checks will dictate whether a front office buys or sells.

San Francisco is canvassing the pass rusher market to fill the void left by Nick Bosa’s injury. I expect the 49ers to call Cincinnati about Trey Hendrickson.

Eighteen trades went down last season — another sign of how the NFL has evolved. Midseason moves used to be rare. Now, they’re expected. It’ll be tough to top late August’s blockbuster that sent Micah Parsons to Green Bay, but this is the last window for teams to make that one final upgrade.

As a few quarterbacks could tell you, sometimes a change of scenery leads to a fairy-tale ending.