By Tom E. Curran
Troy Brown made plays.
Not just amazing plays with 10:36 left in the second quarter of the season's fourth game with the score tied at 7.
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Troy Brown made winning plays in crunch time of the biggest games.
I asked him Tuesday which one was the most memorable. He was caught a little flat-footed.
"Super Bowls, you name it," Brown began. "I was a part of quite a few unique games in Patriots history. You talk about the Snow Bowl against Oakland, the tuck rule. The overtime game against the Dolphins (in 2003 when Brown caught an 82-yard pass for the win) and obviously the Super Bowl games we had. Even back into 1996 that last game we had against the Giants to get home field advantage (a game in which the Pats trailed 22-0 before Brown preserved a drive with a third-down catch while lying on his back). There's so many special moments. It's hard to put my finger on just one. Maybe the 2006 game against the San Diego Chargers being able to get the ball back from Marlon McCree. Go with that one."
Brown made a similar play in Tuna Bowl I back in 1997. A Drew Bledsoe throw at the start of overtime deep in the Patriots end was bound for an interception but Brown turned DB and broke the ball up.
The McCree one was bigger though so, fair enough. We'll go with that one. For Brown.
For me, one of the greatest games was the 16-catch game against the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002. The game ended up a 41-38 overtime win but Brown - who left the field with an injury in the third and tried to come back in the fourth but was forced from the game - showed how dominant he could be.
"I remember dropping the very first third down pass over the middle, it was a 16-yard throw and having to leave the field and not feeling very good about myself," Brown recalled. "From that point on, I think every ball Tom threw to me I ended up catching. It was just one of those game where we were in a groove and he wasn't even looking for anybody else. He was just dropping back and throwing the ball in my direction. It was going really good and then I took a whack on the knee there with six or seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. I do think with the way things were going in that game and the way we were moving the ball up and down the field we probably would have broken that record pretty easily. But it wasn't meant to be and those kinds of things happened. I was just happy to get the 16 that I had and be a part of the Patriots record."
TB
back catch vs. Giants
strip in Tuna Bowl.
punt return in Pittsburgh
long completion vs. Rams
16 catch game
picked off bledsoe
ot vs. dolhins
stripped mccree