So long, Troy Brown

By Os Davis  |   Friday, September 26, 2008  |  Comments( 3 )

New England Patriots
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans!

It’s not quite the end of an era, but it feels like acknowledgment that things are changing in New England. Troy Brown, often dubbed “Mr. Patriot” by the Boston media, retired Thursday amid much fanfare – a nice show for a good guy and fantastic player. Brown was key to those miracle Patriots of 2001 in his Pro Bowl year that includes 101 catches for 1,199 yards, and is perhaps the most significant retiree of that bunch thus far.

Commentary: Brown’s stats speak for themselves, but a few that were bandied about Thursday were his Patriots franchise records for most receptions in a season, catches in a game, career punt returns, punt return yards in a career, overall return yards in a career and, of course, career grabs.

Though sometimes overshadowed by this flashy receiver or that, Brown was always one of the NFL’s great “intangibles” guys often kept off the stat sheet. And his longevity is nothing short of incredible: His tenure of 15 years with New England, debuting as a special teamer on Bill Parcells’ Patriots, ties him with Steve Grogan for longest-serving Pat of all time – and Brown played in far more games than the quarterback (192 to 149).

Unfortunately, said Brown, he’d come to a point where he couldn’t outrun “the man upstairs called God.”

As for individual moments on the highlight reel, Brown has a few, including key receptions in two Super Bowls, three punts returned for touchdowns, and Bill Belichick’s favorite performance, from the official Web site’s excellent piece on Brown:

The Patriots traveled to Green Bay without starting defensive backs Eugene Wilson, Asante Samuel and Rodney Harrison. The Packers featured one of the NFC’s leading receivers in Donald Driver. Belichick surprised everyone, including Brown and his teammates, by giving the task of covering Driver to the converted wide receiver. Driver finished with one catch for 3 yards during a 35-0 Patriots blowout. ...

[Belichick said:] “In our locker room, and in the hallways, and the meeting rooms and so forth, we have pictures up from different games and different players. [Holding up a picture of Brown] To me, that picture, and I want to give Troy these pictures from the team, that picture epitomizes Troy Brown. Up against the best receiver in the NFC, in a game that three of our key defensive backs were out, he steps up and does a great job on him.”

Speaking personally, I’d add a clip to the Troy Brown highlight reel: His heads-up, brains-scrambling hit on the San Diego Chargers’ Marlon McCree in the 2006 divisional playoffs. McCree’s pick late in the fourth quarter would have effectively ended the Patriots’ season had Brown not freed up the ball with a solid takedown to keep Brady et al on the field and on the move. Nice.

The Patriots have announced that their Nov. 13 against the New York Jets, a Thursday affair in prime time, will be Troy Brown Night. Good on him; couldn’t have worked out better for the guy.
Got something to say?

Log In above and share your thoughts on this topic with other fans! (3)

About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's ...
read more
Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report