Brandon Browner's Journey

[twisted_steel2]

Crappy quality, but one of my top 5 plays of the entire season in the whole NFL:

[youtube]Ljk3Ak7UlwU[/youtube]

Emasculated.

 

[HansGruber]

Also one of my favorite Hawks (gotta put Russellmania squarely at #1, by a HUGE margin).

On defense, he really sets the tone. The New England game really stands out in my memory (as well as Dallas).

For the first few quarters, seemed the defense was playing on its heels. NE was being really aggressive and just taking yards, while Seattle's defense seemed a little conservative. Browner was out there getting the LOB jacked up between plays and during TV time-outs. And during plays, he was really hitting people and just flying all over the place, while the rest of the secondary seemed almost nervous. The Welker hit stood out, but there were quite a few of those, including some downs where he was manhandling NE's receivers when they weren't even being thrown at.

Anyway, on that Welker hit, you could just feel the shift and I really saw it on the field. Suddenly, Earl Thomas was flying around and hitting everyone he could find. Kam really stepped it up and started getting rougher with the TEs and stuff. Before Sherman's INT, he and Thomas were over on the sideline talking, and BB walked over and said something, and they started jumping around and getting all worked up.

I think BB has a HUGE impact on our defense that you don't really see on TV as much as you do in person. Come to the game and watch him. You can see he gets the rest of the secondary pretty jacked up with his physical style of play. Not to mention, he's a vastly underrated coverage corner. The guy is a monster at defending passes.

 

[formido]

Every player in the secondary is incredibly special and brings something uniquely elite. If we can get any kind of pass rush on 3rd downs, they will go down in history.

 

[-The Glove-]

Browner would only be expendable if Thurmond could stay healthy, and even then, you would replace the position, but never the style of the play or the results.

Browner flat out erases people at the los, and when he comes up in run support, he rarely missed the tackle. He's also damn near unblockable on bubble screens to his side.

So you have a guy that:
1. pretty much erases bubble screens to his side
2. can completely take most WRs out of the game by disrupting their release off the LOS and timing on their routes
3. is a hard hitting beast and great in run support; might be one of the hardest CBs in the league to block at the LOS
4. has great ball skills and uses the best length at the position in the league to his advantage

You're getting all this while giving up a player that sometimes is susceptible to double moves as he has average short area quickness (his top end speed is much better than advertised, see the AP play last year where Browner caught him from behind in the open field from the opposite side of the field).

I'd hardly call that the most replaceable part of our secondary. I hate to say it, but Kam is probably our most replaceable guy back there. And the best cantidate for that would be Browner, haha.

I would have to agree. But I don't think PC and JS sees it that way

 

[formido]

his top end speed is much better than advertised, see the AP play last year where Browner caught him from behind in the open field from the opposite side of the field

I was just saying this in another forum. Browner is FAST for a 6'4" dude. See also his Giants INT. You can see from his physique how much work he's continued to do in the weight room. I don't believe his 4.6 combine 40 is accurate anymore.

 

[Bigpumpkin]

Damn I love Browner. Thug out there.

He surely does not come a crossed as a "thug", but rather as an "enforcer". Anyone coming a crossed the middle or on the sideline will pay a price to catch a ball!

 

[DavidSeven]

Browner is sort of like KJ in that when you go back and re-watch the games, you're surprised by how many plays he gets in on. Even though MN ended up scoring a play later, his tracking down AP at the 1 was a totally underrated football play. Guy has no quit. Obviously, this dude is super talented in coverage and causes chaos at the LOS, but I also love his ability to just be a presence everywhere on the field. Earl and Sherm have the All-Pro talent, but BB and Kam are the ones that set the physical mentality on the field. What an amazing thing it would be if we could keep these four together for at least few more years. It's really special.

 

[bestfightstory]

Nice to see the Brandon Browner appreciation train. I'm onboard.

 

[Hawks46]

Browner would only be expendable if Thurmond could stay healthy, and even then, you would replace the position, but never the style of the play or the results.

Browner flat out erases people at the los, and when he comes up in run support, he rarely missed the tackle. He's also damn near unblockable on bubble screens to his side.

So you have a guy that:
1. pretty much erases bubble screens to his side
2. can completely take most WRs out of the game by disrupting their release off the LOS and timing on their routes
3. is a hard hitting beast and great in run support; might be one of the hardest CBs in the league to block at the LOS
4. has great ball skills and uses the best length at the position in the league to his advantage

You're getting all this while giving up a player that sometimes is susceptible to double moves as he has average short area quickness (his top end speed is much better than advertised, see the AP play last year where Browner caught him from behind in the open field from the opposite side of the field).

I'd hardly call that the most replaceable part of our secondary. I hate to say it, but Kam is probably our most replaceable guy back there. And the best cantidate for that would be Browner, haha.

I would have to agree. But I don't think PC and JS sees it that way

I really can't speculate what PC and JS think. I will say that even if Thurmond is healthy, and stays healthy, he isn't taking Browner's job. I think one of the most interesting camp battles will be a healthy Thurmond vs. Winfield. You have the athletically gifted youngster against an aging and wily veteran that's made multiple Pro Bowls. I'd go with Winfield just based on his run support, but it's still going to be fascinating.

 

[The Radish]

One universal thing about Browner is the hatred of every other team in the league. He hasn't the grace and moves of Sherman on the other side but he has the ability to completely terrorize receivers on his side of the field.

They know to a man they are in for a long day of being manhandled and don't like it. Other teams receivers and coaches bitch to the officials all game about him, coaches bitch all week after playing against him/week before playing him lobbying for more flags.

I predicted during his first season he and the officials would get used to each other and they did. Once the officials understood he knew the rules and how much he was allowed they stopped "expecting" him to over step himself. The receivers have not learned to just shut up and do their job. They aren't used to a guy mauling them in the first 5 yards and then physically and mentally bashing them the entire play. They are used to dodging the guy early and then being on their own. Browner doesn't allow that alone stuff, he doesn't want those guys to get comfortable at any time during the play.

One thing he knows that most receivers don't is when the ball is caught anywhere on the field, or its a running play they are considered down field blockers and he knocks them ass over teakettles every chance he gets whether the play was on his side of the field or not. That is an entirely different way to cover than we ever have done and trust me the receivers hate it big time!

That one play where he blasted a big time receiver that didn't have the ball clear off his feet was a classic example of him not allowing anyone in his area to not keep their head on a swivel. Tho the guy jumped up, tried to hit him back and got knocked on his ass again was really funny. What most people don't know is after someone explained the play to him he apologized to Browner for going after him. But I'd wager he kept his head on a swivel from then on.

This is very much the way Dick Butkus played his area. If you came his way you'd better be defending yourself in advance.

That really raises hell with receivers concentration, which of course is exactly why he does it.

:th2thumbs:

 

[AceBoogie715]

Great stuff on the interview, although the grammatical errors bother me a tad throughout the video.

 

[Trenchbroom]

Great video. Most surprising thing about it is watching him practice and play in the old uniforms. Feels wrong.

I guess mentally I have already put every pre-Carroll player into the old unis and the new players into the new ones. That's what happens when you have a new coach/GM who churns the roster like no other team and finds a franchise QB the same year new uniforms are produced!

 

[Thepeelsessions]

I have to agree with hawks46. If anyone out of the LOB is expendable, it was Kam. I like him, but he definitely took a huge step back last season. He blew a lot of coverages, missed a lot of tackles going for the huge hit....did he even get a single pick? The extension he got should have been BB's. The thing I love most about Browner is that in all the years I've watched the NFL, there has never been a corner like him. A nasty hitter, great tackler who can cover and ballhawk just as good. His range is phenomenal. He is such an easy going guy too. It'll be a tough pill to swallow if we can't afford to keep him. Who cares if he's in his late twenties, he's worth an investment. After a down year, I still don't understand the Kam extension this early. And before Earl and Sherman too. It just doesn't make sense.

 

[DavidSeven]

I have to agree with hawks46. If anyone out of the LOB is expendable, it was Kam. I like him, but he definitely took a huge step back last season. He blew a lot of coverages, missed a lot of tackles going for the huge hit....did he even get a single pick? The extension he got should have been BB's. The thing I love most about Browner is that in all the years I've watched the NFL, there has never been a corner like him. A nasty hitter, great tackler who can cover and ballhawk just as good. His range is phenomenal. He is such an easy going guy too. It'll be a tough pill to swallow if we can't afford to keep him. Who cares if he's in his late twenties, he's worth an investment. After a down year, I still don't understand the Kam extension this early. And before Earl and Sherman too. It just doesn't make sense.

I really disagree. Kam was 2nd on the team in tackles and was named a Pro Bowl alternate after playing most of the season on a bum ankle. I think people get too hung up on the Atlanta game. How many other TEs lit us up last year? He completely shut down Witten. Kam was scheduled to be a UFA after the season, so it makes perfect sense that his extension came before Earl and Sherm. Do people really think this defense would look the same with Winston Guy as the starting SS? That's a joke. I love BB, but this defense has proven to remain elite with Lane as its starting CB. Safeties with Kam's size, range and motor are rare.

 

[themunn]

love this board at times

Chancellor didn't make the pro-bowl so he's expendable.

God forbid Sherman only gets 2 interceptions this year or something, must mean he's taken a step back.

Browner only had 3 ints last year and 0 TDs compared to 6 and 2 in 2011 he must have taken a step back too.


For the record Browner is far and away my favourite player on the Seahawks. I've said it time and time again, but while Sherman is a shutdown corner on the left, Browner is a smackdown corner on the right, and I know which one is far more fun to watch - the kind that suplexes Jerome Simpson and lights up Cardinals on punt returns

 

[ClumsyLurk]

Crappy quality, but one of my top 5 plays of the entire season in the whole NFL:

[youtube]Ljk3Ak7UlwU[/youtube]

He mad. sherms talk gets a lot of guys off their game, but BB just make you play tough

 

[hawker84]

browner is my favorite seahawk in front of the camera, RW is #1... He's much faster than given credit for but let's put the AP run and catch from behind into perspective, he clearly had an angle, but even with that angle he needed to have good speed to catch him..

I love this interview, never really knew the whole story behind him and his path here, love his honesty, and love him being happy he's a part of this special team.

Note: wonder where that interview was filmed, looked like his grandma's house.. only thing that couch was missing was the plastic cover..

 

[EastCoastHawksFan]

I think it's time to get a Browner Jersey

 

[JSeahawks]

As a Ducks fan I would say that Brandon Browner is the quintessential Oregon State Beaver. Tough. Hard nosed. No nonsense. Not flashy. Solid.

 

[Scottemojo]

Browner is a bad man. I thought he would prove to be a weak link in our D. I was wrong. Sorry, BB.

Every time I think my respect for Carroll could not grow, I learn something new. The season we signed Browner, I was so sure he was just a camp body. We had CFL fans on here telling us he was the real deal, but I didn't think anything of it. Finding out Carroll made a committment to him so that he wasn't anxious about missing the start of the CFL season and then being cut by the Hawks anyway is really cool.

The human side of how Carroll treats his players might be the most non traditional thing about him. With Flynn, Browner, Red, and even the players that sign and know they have almost no chance to make this team, he just seems to treat them the way he wanted to be treated in his pre USC days and wasn't.