The Philadelphia Eagles will have to try to stop their freefall into the NFL playoffs without Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Brown.

After catching 106 passes for 1,456 yards and seven touchdowns during the 2023 regular season, Brown won’t play in the Eagles’ first-round playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night because of a knee sprain.

That has Philadelphia looking for pass-catching help from Julio Jones, Quez Watkins and Olamide Zaccheaus to augment wide receiver DeVonta Smith, tight end Dallas Goedert and running back D’Andre Swift.

Jones and Smith are Alabama alumni. Jones and Watkins are former Alabama prep standouts – Jones at Foley and Watkins at Athens.

“I think that’s been one of our strengths as a team is the pass-catchers we have,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said during his final media availability on Friday. “When you look at it, you think about A.J., you think about Dallas, you think about DeVonta, and then you think about D’Andre, the role that he has as well. And I’m not even mentioning Julio and Quez and O.Z., who’ve made plays throughout the year as well. So excited for those guys to get a little bit more opportunity.

“Obviously, you always miss the contributions that A.J. makes. He’s a phenomenal player, but really excited about the opportunity. I know one reason we’re in this game and in this position is because of the pass-catchers we have in addition to A.J. Brown.”

Jones is a seven-time Pro Bowler, two-time first-team All-Pro and two-time NFL receiving leader. But his previous three seasons were injured-affected, and Jones didn’t join Philadelphia until Oct. 18.

In 11 regular-season games for the Eagles, Jones had 11 receptions for 74 yards and three touchdowns. Two of the touchdowns came in Philadelphia’s 35-31 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 31.

“There is no added pressure or anything that I need to do or step up to do, anything like that,” Jones told NJ.com. “I prepared this week like I do each and every week, and I’m ready to go. …

“I just contribute wherever I’m needed and take advantage of those opportunities. At the end of the day, it takes all 11. I didn’t just do it by myself. The O-line does a great job, and Jalen gives me opportunities, and we all are looking to take advantage of them.”

Watkins caught 76 passes for 1,001 yards and four touchdowns over the previous two seasons. He had 15 receptions for 142 yards and one touchdown in nine games in 2023, which included a stint on injured reserve because of a hamstring problem. But Watkins had eight receptions for 93 yards and one touchdown in Philadelphia’s regular-season finale after Brown got hurt.

Watkins said he got a text from quarterback Jalen Hurts last week.

“He told me, like, ‘When that phone rings, be ready to answer,’” Watkins said. “I texted back, ‘(Expletive), I been ready.’ So that’s our mindset. He got trust in me to go make plays, and I’m going to go do that.”

While the Eagles have game-planned how to compensate for the loss of Brown, they also dealt with the question of who would throw the ball to those pass-catchers. Hurts suffered an injury to the middle finger of his throwing hand in the regular-season finale on Jan. 7, and he said before Thursday’s practice that he hadn’t thrown a football since that game.

Sirianni said the former Crimson Tide QB resumed passing on Thursday.

“Jalen had a good practice,” Sirianni said on Friday. “Obviously, everyone’s going to be fighting through things. He’s fighting through the finger injury, and but he had a good practice yesterday, so excited for him and this opportunity. Really excited. The energy and juice in this building today of being here in the playoffs again. We’re really excited. We can’t wait to be in this game against a really good opponent, but, shoot, you play a long season to get to this moment right here. …

“I know how tough he is and how much grit he has to fight through different things, so I believe in Jalen. I believe in the guy.”

The Eagles are opening the playoffs on the road because they lost five of their final six regular-season games to drop to wild-card qualifier status after winning 10 of their first 11.

In addition to Brown, Philadelphia will play without safety Sydney Brown after he sustained a knee injury last week and might have to go without leading tackler Reed Blankenship, too. The former West Limestone High School standout suffered a groin injury in the regular-season finale and did not practice last week.

Sirianni said the Eagles likely would work out the safety on the field on Monday night before making a “game-time decision” on his status.

Philadelphia faces the Buccaneers at 7:15 p.m. CST Monday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. ABC and ESPN will televise the game.

Jones played for the Bucs last season, when he caught 24 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns in 10 games, then had seven receptions for 74 yards and one touchdown in Tampa Bay’s 31-14 playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Before that, Jones was a Bucs-killer during his 10 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, with 114 receptions for 1,841 yards and 11 touchdowns in 16 games against Tampa Bay.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.