PHILADELPHIA (AP) 鈥� Step aside, .
Philadelphia Eagles star receiver A.J. Brown could launch a book club of his own after a little sideline reading skyrocketed self-help author Jim Murphy to on Amazon overnight.
The Eagles wide receiver passed on the playbook and checked out an inspirational title 鈥� Brown casually ignored the action in Philadelphia's playoff game of Murphy's book, 鈥淚nner Excellence.鈥�
The little-known book by the mental skills coach was listed No. 1 on Amazon鈥檚 best-sellers list as of Monday morning.
鈥淚 was not expecting that. A real gift,鈥� Murphy said by phone Monday. 鈥淚 just looked at Amazon last night and it got to No. 1, so that was a surprise. It had probably never been higher than probably 8 or 9,000. In the thousands, somewhere.鈥�
Nine thousand? Keep going. Down. Way down.
The book took the top spot on the trending list after previously being ranked 523,497th. That jump earned it another top spot on the marketplace鈥檚 .
It had yet to crack the for sales in 2025, however. , , and the likes still reigned supreme there.
Undoubtedly , 鈥淚nner Excellence鈥� was reviewed 375 times and rated 4.7 out of 5 on Amazon. For comparison, Freida McFadden's critically acclaimed book 鈥淭he Housemaid鈥� had with a 4.5 rating yet was ranked nine spots behind it on the best-sellers list.
鈥淎J Brown recommended this book, so I鈥檓 looking forward to reading this. Fly Eagles Fly,鈥� one reviewer wrote on the site.
Murphy, a former minor league outfielder in the Chicago Cubs organization, told the AP in an interview Sunday night that his phone started blowing up with texts once his book was spotted.
After his career ended, Murphy became intrigued by the idea of learning how to teach baseball players how to have confidence under pressure.
鈥淚 spent five years full-time writing and researching the answer to that question,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淭hat became the book 鈥業nner Excellence.鈥�"
Brown, who had 67 catches for 1,079 yards and seven touchdown this season, described the lessons in the book as useful because football is 鈥�90% mental and 10% physical for me.鈥�
Brown later of the book on social media with several passages highlighted and underlined in yellow.
Brown said he was surprised his moment went viral because he says he often reads on the sideline, but added: 鈥淵鈥檃ll caught me that time.鈥�
鈥淚f I score a touchdown or drop a pass, it鈥檚 something how I refocus,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淚 always revert back to the beginning of the book. It states if you can just have a clear mind and remember that nothing else matters, clear conscience, nothing matters negative or positive. You鈥檙e willing to take risks. It also says if you鈥檙e humble, you can鈥檛 be embarrassed.鈥�
It must have worked. The Eagles and advanced in the NFL playoffs.
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AP NFL:
Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
