Ex-Patriot Brandon Browner is the NFL’s Most Penalized Player
When the Patriots elected to let star cornerbacks Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner hit the old dusty trail this off season, the popular reaction was that New England’s secondary would degenerate into a catastrophe. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling, forty years of darkness, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, that type of thing.
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Darrelle Revis is certainly tearing it up just like he always has on a New York Jets team that’s somehow found a way to stop running into its own butt and has racked up a cool four wins and only one loss on the year. Let’s check in with two-time Super Bowl champion Brandon Browner and see how he’s doing with the New Orleans Saints.
Well, this is awkward: the Saints are currently 2-4 and Brandon Browner holds the unfortunate, and altogether not surprising, trophy for the most penalized player in the NFL.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Browner has been flagged nine times so far this season, and keep in mind we’re only in Week 6. Right behind him, with eight penalties, is his former teammate Michael Bennett, who’s tied with Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes. ESPN also pointed out the unintentionally hilarious distinction that Brandon Browner has been penalized 24 times over his past 15 games.
Five of Browner’s flags have come from defensive holding, two are from pass interference, and one is from illegal contact. Yes, that only adds up to eight penalties, but ESPN doesn’t specify what the last one is, and there are better ways to spend your Tuesday than watching hours of Browner tape to find out.
Like making a sandwich, or folding your laundry, or re-watching the latest episode of The Walking Dead you probably missed while watching New England beat Indianapolis, again.
Of course, with Browner’s reputation as an enforcer preceding him, a legitimate argument can be made that he occasionally gets flagged when he doesn’t deserve to, like his Madden hit-stick tackle of Chargers tight end Ladarius Green last year. And it’s largely because of Brandon Browner that Seahawks receiver Chris Matthews got virtually erased from the second half of last year’s Super Bowl after Matthews and Russell Wilson took advantage of Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington early in the championship game.
One might say that he has a very particular set of skills.
Given that Bill Belichick despises penalties almost as much as touchy-feely questions from the media, it’s not surprising at all that New England let one of the tallest corners in the NFL move along after last season, even if Brandon Browner was one of Robert Kraft’s favorites in the locker room.
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