Brandon Browner gets tough test in Larry Fitzgerald
Sep 23, 2011, 3:54 PM | Updated: 5:02 pm
• Story courtesy of MyNorthWest.com.
Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner has his work cut out for him this week.
“I’m a little anxious to see how it goes,” head coach Pete Carroll said during his Wednesday press conference. “He plays against Mike [Williams] and against [Kris] Durham and those guys and he feels comfortable against those guys, but nobody’s really comfortable playing Larry Fitzgerald.
“There’s just no easy go here, but it’s different than having a guy that’s 5-10 on him all day long, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Browner was originally signed by the Broncos as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2005 out of Oregon State. He was placed on the injured reserve that August and released after training camp of the 2006 season.
The following year, Browner signed with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League and spent four seasons with the team. For Calgary, Browner played 68 career games — logging 206 tackles, two sacks, and 12 interceptions. Browner was named to the CFL All-Star team his final three seasons.
The 6’4″ cornerback was signed by the Seahawks to a 2011 future contract in January.
Browner struggled in last Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh, when matched against arguably the league’s fastest receiver, Mike Wallace. Wallace had posted a 4.33 40-yard dash at the 2009 NFL Combine.
“Physically, he could have covered the ball that Wallace caught,” Carroll has said on Monday. “He lost track of it, had some bad eyes and saw something in the back that didn’t happen and it screwed him up. So we’ll grow from this and this was a big test for him and he’s going to get better because of it.”
Carroll said that he had spoken with Browner this week in light of all the media attention he received last Sunday, alerting him to the fact that he could be under the microscope heading into the home opener against the Cardinals.
“That game is behind us,” Browner said on Wednesday in the locker room before practice. “We’ve got Arizona this week and the focus is Arizona.”
While Browner agrees with Carroll that working daily with taller receivers is good for his game, it’s tough to ignore the marquee matchup he’ll face this Sunday.
“I think it helps,” Browner said. “But you, know that’s Larry Fitzgerald. “You still have to go there and play that guy. He’s not Mike Williams or Sidney Rice. Not to take anything from my teammates — but you know how productive he is.
“I just want to go out and have a good week in practice and approach it one day at a time and try to get right for this guy.”
