I have expanded my plagiarism to the realm of Peter King…
On Oct. 26, 2013, the Percy Harvin of Division II football, John Brown, was in St. Joseph, Mo., with his Pittsburg (Kans.) State football teammates, playing Missouri Western. A crowd of 4,517 watched Brown catch four passes for 48 yards in a Pittsburg State win.
One year later Brown was in Arizona with his new team, the Cardinals, to play the Philadelphia Eagles. A crowd of 61,789 watched Brown make the play of the day, and of his young and burgeoning career: a fingertip 75-yard bomb from Carson Palmer that accounted for the winning points in a battle of one-loss teams.
What an absolutely perfect match Brown is with Bruce Arians and his daring ways. Sunday was the first time America got to see it on the national stage, and it lifted the surprising Cardinals to a two-game lead over San Francisco and Seattle in the NFC West at the season’s midway point.
“I told you John Brown could play,” Arizona GM Steve Keim said by phone from Glendale, Ariz., an hour after the game.
Keim did say that, at training camp this year. And everyone can see it now. Coach Bruce Arians is calling his number, and Carson Palmer, who targeted him 10 times Sunday, clearly has faith in him the way he has faith in Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd. It’s happened so, so fast. It’s happened because Brown has two traits—raw speed (4.34 seconds in the 40) and the kind of competitiveness an Arians receiver has to have because of the toughness Arians requires of his players.
I’ve told the story of Keim dealing the 20th pick in the draft to New Orleans for the 27th and 91st picks, selecting safety Deone Bucannon at 27 and hoping, praying that Brown would last until the 91st pick. And Brown was there, because he hadn’t played at a big program, and he’d once been cut from a junior college team, so really, how good could he be? When he met with the Cardinals at the scouting combine, and later with vice president of player personnel Terry McDonough and receivers coach Darryl Drake in a private workout, his ability impressed them—but it was his desire and competitiveness that really won them over.
“I remember telling them I’m a very hard worker,” Brown recalled Sunday night. “I told them, ‘I’ll get there and from the first day I’ll follow Larry [Fitzgerald] around and learn everything I have to learn to be a good player.’ I was convinced I could do it. It’s football. And I love football.”
The Cardinals found out early that Brown wasn’t cowed by the quality of the competition. After minicamp he went to southern California to practice daily with Carson Palmer—paying the expenses himself. When Arians got him in training camp, he thought Brown would be a great complement to the more polished receivers, Fitzgerald and Floyd, with the kind of speed they didn’t have. That speed is what won Sunday’s game.
On third-and-five from the Arizona 25 with 1:33 left in the game, Arians faced a tough call. Philadelphia led 20-17, and Arians was running out of time to make a big play. Across from Brown was a physical, veteran corner, Cary Williams, and over the top was safety Nate Allen. The Cards had thought to call a play for Brown previously but didn’t see the right matchup. Now Palmer saw it, and Arians saw it. They both thought Brown would be able to make the move they’d practiced several times during the week, beating the corner off the line and then freezing the safety with a double-move toward the post. Clearly, Philadelphia wouldn’t have expected Palmer to go for it all there; the Eagles would be expecting Palmer to be thinking first down, and just move the sticks.
But that has never been Arians’ way.
“We had three [receivers] at eight yards for the first down,” Arians said later, “but when there’s a touchdown involved in the play, never pass it up. Don’t play scared; play smart.”
Off the line, Brown beat Williams, and pulled the double-move on Allen, who trusted that Brown was going to pull up on a short curl to make the first down. Nope. Brown sped by Allen. “He bit,” Brown said. And Palmer, who has learned to take shots even when logic tells him not to, threw a high-arcing bomb way downfield.
“I thought it was too far,” Brown said. “When it was coming down, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to catch up. I’m thinking, ‘No—please don’t be an overthrow.’ I just had to catch it.”
Watching it over his shoulder, Brown gathered it in … just barely, on the tips of both hands. “A Willie Mays catch over his shoulder,” said Arians, even though most of his players would have no idea what he’s talking about. They’re not versed in 1954 World Series history.
Brown barely made it to the end zone on the 75-yard touchdown catch, and a replay review confirmed he was in. In the locker room, he accepted congratulations, but he was careful to not be too gee-whiz about a play he thinks he should make every week.
“This is what they drafted me for,” Brown said. “I’m a football player, and I belong here. There’s no such thing as, ‘You’re just a rookie.’ ”
Maynard_DL
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