katmandu
12-21-2015, 12:39 AM
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2601073-antonio-brown-is-unstoppable-and-the-steelers-might-be-too
The Broncos tried to cover Steelers receiverAntonio Brown (http://bleacherreport.com/antonio-brown) with shutdown stud Aqib Talib. No bueno. Brown burned him.They tried other defenders one-on-one. Yeah, um, no. Brown burned them. Denver's defensive backs had tire tread marks on their backsides.
Zone defense? Nope. Double-teams? Uh uh. Once, it looked as if there were three guys on Brown: a linebacker cutting off the slant route, a safety over the top and a corner in his face. Nah, dude. Brown still made the catch.
Slant routes, go routes, stop and go, curls...look up "route tree" in the dictionary and there's Brown, smiling, climbing that tree like Jack on a beanstalk.I wrote a week ago that the Steelers werethe most dangerous team in the AFC (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2598625-steelers-turn-up-toughness-to-become-afcs-most-dangerous-team), and that's what they continue to show. No offense this season had scored 30 points on the Denver defense, the best in football. The Steelers were the first, winning 34-27 at Heinz Field on Sunday.
There are many reasons Pittsburgh won this game. One of them was a defense that in the second half put the clamps on Brock Osweiler, who started hot in the opening two quarters. The Broncos' limp, gutless play-calling didn't help in the second half.
But make no mistake, this was the Brown show. As long as the Steelers have the modern-day Jerry Rice, and Ben Roethlisberger (http://bleacherreport.com/ben-roethlisberger) throwing to him, they will be difficult to stop down the stretch. No, make that almost impossible to stop.
Brown had 16 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns. His explosiveness helped the Steelers overcome a 17-point deficit.
ESPN Stats & Info had a couple of good stats for Brown on Sunday:
It's really even more impressive than that. Calvin Johnson is the only receiver to have more than 1,600 receiving yards in consecutive seasons, in 2011 and 2012 (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/player_streak_finder.cgi?request=1&streak_type=seasons&year_min=1920&year_max=2015&team_id=&opp_id=&game_type=R&game_location=&game_result=&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&week_num_min=0&week_num_max=99&game_day_of_week=&streak_event=rec_yds&streak_event_gtlt=gt&streak_num=1600&streak_event_2=&streak_event_gtlt_2=gt&streak_num_2=&streak_length=2&c1stat=&c1comp=gt&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=), and with 1,586 already, Brown seems sure to join that club. In fact, if he hadn't come two yards shy of 1,700 last year, he'd have a pretty good shot at consecutive 1,700-yard seasons, which no one's ever done (receivers have only gotten there once five times).
Some of you hate the Steelers so much, your hatred overwhelms your logical thinking. What Brown is doing should appeal to any football fan who loves precision route running and an unstoppable force. Again, we are watching the Rice of our time turn the Steelers offense into a force so explosive, it can travel anywhere. The Steelers are currently the sixth seed—but seeding, schmeeding when it comes to these guys. Seeding won't matter if Pittsburgh gets in the tournament. They remain the only AFC team that can go to New England and win. The Bengals can't. The Jets can't. The Chiefs can't. The Steelers can.
Putting Brown in the same sentence with Rice will be blasphemy to some, and maybe it is. I knew Rice well, covered him extensively (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/02/sports/pro-football-rice-works-for-hours-and-defies-the-years.html?pagewanted=all), and Brown is comparable. The comparison works because Brown, like Rice, has the ability to still be explosive despite the massive allocation of defensive resources put against him. Everyone game-plans against Brown, and still, many times, he shreds teams.
Brown doesn't just keep defensive coaches awake at night. He's Beetlejuice (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094721/).
"I don't know how many catches he had," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said Sunday, "but it sure looked like he caught a bunch."
It was more than a bunch. Multiply a bunch by a crapload, and you get what Brown did.
The passing offense is formidable because it is deep. On the rare occasions Brown gets slowed, Martavis Bryant gets you. He is to Brown what John Taylor was to Rice. If you stop Bryant, they can go to Markus Wheaton, who had a touchdown against Denver.
Coach Mike Tomlin (http://bleacherreport.com/mike-tomlin) was asked if Brown's performance was a response to something. "He walks into stadiums," Tomlin said, "and he's Antonio Brown, and he made Antonio Brown plays."
In other words, Antonio gonna Antonio.
Brown met the media after the game, and his soft-spokenness betrays his ferocity on the field. The best thing he said was how he and Roethlisberger have worked hard to build what is maybe the best chemistry between a quarterback and a wide receiver in the conference. Perhaps the only duo that's hotter is Russell Wilson (http://bleacherreport.com/russell-wilson) and Doug Baldwin for Seattle.
NFL Network reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala told Brown that Chris Harris, the corner for the Broncos, hadn't given up a touchdown in coverage for two years. Brown beat him twice. Brown seemed surprised, but he shouldn't have been. There isn't a corner Brown can't beat.
Brown said the Broncos were the toughest defense the Steelers faced all year. And he torched them. Imagine what he would do against almost any other defense in the AFC (including Kansas City's).
This is how you stop Brown, this generation's Jerry Rice: Bring an alien armada. Of androids. Throw in The Avengers.
Then cross your fingers.
Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.
The Broncos tried to cover Steelers receiverAntonio Brown (http://bleacherreport.com/antonio-brown) with shutdown stud Aqib Talib. No bueno. Brown burned him.They tried other defenders one-on-one. Yeah, um, no. Brown burned them. Denver's defensive backs had tire tread marks on their backsides.
Zone defense? Nope. Double-teams? Uh uh. Once, it looked as if there were three guys on Brown: a linebacker cutting off the slant route, a safety over the top and a corner in his face. Nah, dude. Brown still made the catch.
Slant routes, go routes, stop and go, curls...look up "route tree" in the dictionary and there's Brown, smiling, climbing that tree like Jack on a beanstalk.I wrote a week ago that the Steelers werethe most dangerous team in the AFC (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2598625-steelers-turn-up-toughness-to-become-afcs-most-dangerous-team), and that's what they continue to show. No offense this season had scored 30 points on the Denver defense, the best in football. The Steelers were the first, winning 34-27 at Heinz Field on Sunday.
There are many reasons Pittsburgh won this game. One of them was a defense that in the second half put the clamps on Brock Osweiler, who started hot in the opening two quarters. The Broncos' limp, gutless play-calling didn't help in the second half.
But make no mistake, this was the Brown show. As long as the Steelers have the modern-day Jerry Rice, and Ben Roethlisberger (http://bleacherreport.com/ben-roethlisberger) throwing to him, they will be difficult to stop down the stretch. No, make that almost impossible to stop.
Brown had 16 catches for 189 yards and two touchdowns. His explosiveness helped the Steelers overcome a 17-point deficit.
ESPN Stats & Info had a couple of good stats for Brown on Sunday:
It's really even more impressive than that. Calvin Johnson is the only receiver to have more than 1,600 receiving yards in consecutive seasons, in 2011 and 2012 (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/player_streak_finder.cgi?request=1&streak_type=seasons&year_min=1920&year_max=2015&team_id=&opp_id=&game_type=R&game_location=&game_result=&game_num_min=0&game_num_max=99&week_num_min=0&week_num_max=99&game_day_of_week=&streak_event=rec_yds&streak_event_gtlt=gt&streak_num=1600&streak_event_2=&streak_event_gtlt_2=gt&streak_num_2=&streak_length=2&c1stat=&c1comp=gt&c1val=&c2stat=&c2comp=gt&c2val=&c3stat=&c3comp=gt&c3val=&c4stat=&c4comp=gt&c4val=), and with 1,586 already, Brown seems sure to join that club. In fact, if he hadn't come two yards shy of 1,700 last year, he'd have a pretty good shot at consecutive 1,700-yard seasons, which no one's ever done (receivers have only gotten there once five times).
Some of you hate the Steelers so much, your hatred overwhelms your logical thinking. What Brown is doing should appeal to any football fan who loves precision route running and an unstoppable force. Again, we are watching the Rice of our time turn the Steelers offense into a force so explosive, it can travel anywhere. The Steelers are currently the sixth seed—but seeding, schmeeding when it comes to these guys. Seeding won't matter if Pittsburgh gets in the tournament. They remain the only AFC team that can go to New England and win. The Bengals can't. The Jets can't. The Chiefs can't. The Steelers can.
Putting Brown in the same sentence with Rice will be blasphemy to some, and maybe it is. I knew Rice well, covered him extensively (http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/02/sports/pro-football-rice-works-for-hours-and-defies-the-years.html?pagewanted=all), and Brown is comparable. The comparison works because Brown, like Rice, has the ability to still be explosive despite the massive allocation of defensive resources put against him. Everyone game-plans against Brown, and still, many times, he shreds teams.
Brown doesn't just keep defensive coaches awake at night. He's Beetlejuice (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094721/).
"I don't know how many catches he had," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said Sunday, "but it sure looked like he caught a bunch."
It was more than a bunch. Multiply a bunch by a crapload, and you get what Brown did.
The passing offense is formidable because it is deep. On the rare occasions Brown gets slowed, Martavis Bryant gets you. He is to Brown what John Taylor was to Rice. If you stop Bryant, they can go to Markus Wheaton, who had a touchdown against Denver.
Coach Mike Tomlin (http://bleacherreport.com/mike-tomlin) was asked if Brown's performance was a response to something. "He walks into stadiums," Tomlin said, "and he's Antonio Brown, and he made Antonio Brown plays."
In other words, Antonio gonna Antonio.
Brown met the media after the game, and his soft-spokenness betrays his ferocity on the field. The best thing he said was how he and Roethlisberger have worked hard to build what is maybe the best chemistry between a quarterback and a wide receiver in the conference. Perhaps the only duo that's hotter is Russell Wilson (http://bleacherreport.com/russell-wilson) and Doug Baldwin for Seattle.
NFL Network reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala told Brown that Chris Harris, the corner for the Broncos, hadn't given up a touchdown in coverage for two years. Brown beat him twice. Brown seemed surprised, but he shouldn't have been. There isn't a corner Brown can't beat.
Brown said the Broncos were the toughest defense the Steelers faced all year. And he torched them. Imagine what he would do against almost any other defense in the AFC (including Kansas City's).
This is how you stop Brown, this generation's Jerry Rice: Bring an alien armada. Of androids. Throw in The Avengers.
Then cross your fingers.
Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.