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New York Giants running back Andre Brown was unsure whether he'd even play professional football again after rupturing his Achilles tendon in just his first NFL training camp. Before the Giants re-signed Brown this season, he had been waived by five teams including the Giants, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins.
Brown would experience another set-back when Roger Goodell suspended him four games for failing a PED test for Adderall. However, he would appeal Goodell's decision resulting in his suspension being lifted. It appeared his chances to become a force in the NFL were running out … that is until he received a giant opportunity in Thursday night's game against the Carolina Panthers.
Brown had earned a spot on the Giants' roster as the third running back behind starter Ahmad Bradshaw and rookie David Wilson. However, Wilson, the first round pick in last year's draft, cost himself significant playing time after coughing up the ball on just his second carry of his career. Bradshaw then suffered a neck sprain against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers which prevented him from returning to the game, and allowed Brown to get the majority of the carries. Brown saw his opportunity to impress the coaches and ran with it, accruing 71 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown.
Brown's impressive performance against the Bucs and Bradshaw's ailing neck presented Andre with the opportunity he had been longing for: his first start in the NFL.
Brown ran hard and fast, but most importantly, he was patient in finding the gaps. He would finish the night with 113 yards and two touchdowns on twenty carries, contributing to a dominant performance for the Giants who blew out the Panthers 36-7.
“I’m so happy to come out here. It really humbled me. It really shows that everything is not guaranteed,” Brown told the Associated Press after the game. “You know, I’m just going to ride this wave. Hopefully, it’s a long wave.”
Depth had been a major question mark for the Giants but the performance of Brown, along with receivers Ramses Barden and Reuben Randle, proved that when the team is shorthanded, the Giants have players who can step up and keep the team clicking on all cylinders.
In the last two games, Brown has provided the Giants with a prominent rushing attack, an aspect of the offense that appeared non-existent in the last couple of seasons. Brown's success assisted in the passing game as well, allowing the play action pass to be more effective, which helped Manning dissect the Panthers' secondary.
Though Bradshaw is expected to resume the starting role when he returns to health, Brown will certainly see a steady workload even after Bradshaw returns. Perhaps the 6-foot, 227 pound Andre Brown will become the replacement to Brandon Jacobs as the other half of the one two punch the Giants had last season.
Andre the Giant is living proof that hard work pays off and persistence can lead to excellent opportunities. Perhaps Eli Manning summed up Brown's rocky and improbable road to relevance best.
“At this level, you never know when you’re going to get an opportunity, you’ve got to be prepared for it, Andre Brown is a great example. He’s a guy we drafted, he bounced around, and we brought him back. He was on the bubble to make the team, and here you go.”
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Great story and I’m sure we’re all happy for this kid.
Hard not to notice that now he has 33 carries for 184 yards and, I think, three receptions for positive yardage. That’s about a 5.6 YPC average and we’ve not seen that in the past two years. We knew Jacobs was declining and he was getting hit too frequently before reaching the LOS because of lack of acceleration, but I think many haven’t realized that Bradshaw was playing indifferently too (some of that HAD to be attributable to his feet….no one can tell me that broken bones and pins in both feet haven’t hindered him).
I understand that there is a tradition of giving an injured player his job back, especially when that player has been a warrior for you (Bradshaw has played hurt every year since his rookie season and competed hard, and the coaches are, and we should be, grateful for that). But there’s no denying that AT THIS MOMENT Andre Brown is the best running back on this team, and we all know that a good back needs more than 7-8 touches to find a rhythm and reel off some good runs. Brown should be the lead horse, and Bradshaw should be relieving him, not the other way around.
That may still come to pass. But unless Andre cools off I suspect Bradshaw will take the Jacobs exit off the Giants Highway come 2013. Then it will be Brown’s turn to be pushed by Wilson. Such is life for NFL RBs.
Agreed. In fact, I still think Wilson could pass right by everyone if given enough carries to prove himself. He’s going to be special, despite his rough start. In the long run, being humbled like this will be good for him. He’ll take nothing for granted.
For sure. Did you see him on the post-game? Trying to say all the right things when you could hear the lump in his throat?
Seems like a real good kid.
@fatfor55years,
I totally, absolutely, 110% agree, if there was a like button, I would be hitting it right now…lol.
I thought the exact same thing the other night. Personally, this should be Browns job to lose, and Bradshaw spelling him, and Wilson being developed (work on any fumbling issues and work on pass protection, etc.). Bradshaw to me, may be a warrior, but he is NOT an everydown back, he simply can’t stay healthy. He’s given a lot to this team, but I am very sorry to say, this is not even a “what have you done for me lately” league, this is a “what can you do for me tomorrow” league, and Brown, at this point, can do more.
Wilson will get his chance, he’ll get his cracks, but it should be Brown first, and Bradshaw the reliever, with Wilson getting his carries in garbage time and getting development in to work out the kinks.
Im sorry – Sonny was that a deliberate insult to G101s favorite old man ?
Really , and Ill bet youve never even met the man !
Should he do nothing else in his Giants career, Brown will continue to have my undying gratitude for his role in silencing – even if only temporarily – the ceaseless kvetching about the O-line and its apparent inability to run block.
And, as an added bonus, he also shut up this fool – who had been one of the loudest, most insistent voices clamoring for Brown’s expulsion from the team.
He didn’t do it himself–I continue to say Beatty + Locklear > Locklear + Diehl.
I understand what you’re saying, and I agree. But it’s not all on Brown.
I thought all along (okay, perhaps I wavered just a bit after the penultimate preseason game) that Bradshaw would be #1. Brown would be #2. And Wilson would be a “package” player until he fully developed. He would then displace Bradshaw as the feature back, with Brown remaining the #2.
Those that thought Wilson was the #2 back just because he was splitting time with Bradshaw don’t really understand the depth chart. Currently he can augment the running game but he’s not ready to be the top dog. He’ll get there. It takes time. Perhaps more so with the Giants because of the complex offense.
I think against Philly we’ll see both Bradshaw (assuming he can go) and Brown splitting time, playing whole series each. I would not be shocked to see Brown “start” as a reward for his great play last Thursday. They will continue with whomever is perceived to have “the hot hand.” But, if Brown shines while Bradshaw wallows, look for a depth chart make-over.
Seriously , though trying to catchm up with you guys is impossible when you have to do other things like work and the honeydo list (youknow , when the wife says
honey do this or honey do that )
I had posted about thursdays game before I realized I had gotten the dreaded
UUT .
But my pregame predictions or needs of the three Bs stepping up came through in spades (Bennett , Brown , Barden ) I also put Rivers up there but he got hurt somewhere right ?
Re Brown vs Bradshaw – I think that the pretense should be let Brown get the carries with the hot hand and lets check out Bradshaw and make sure he can go full tilt .This way . nobody gets their knickers in a twist .
Coming to next weeks game , I think that the defense really learned how to deal effectively with a mobile QB and they contained Newton pretty well . I know a lot of these guys are not brain surgeons but hopefully the lessons learned or in some cases RElearned will be remembered . Just keep the three fastest LBs on the field with Boley in the middle and let Chase finish out the year as a replacement and STeamer .
I meant to mention something that I dnt no was mentioned b4… About Eli’s 500yrd day, is it any coincidence that Eli put those numbers up against a defense that’s coached by the great bill Sheridan?
I’m fine with Bradshaw getting his job back next week. Andre is doing great, but 2 games aren’t enough to bench a big contributor like Ahmad. But I do agree that Brown needs touches. Jacobs got 10-ish a game. He should too.
Don’t mean to darken Brown’s moment in the sun, but I think next Sunday we will get a much clearer picture on how good he really might be.
Brown did benefit by coming into the Tampa game (1) as an unknown quantity for whom the Bucs were not prepared; and (2) behind a suddenly rejuvenated O-line who had just replaced an ineffective Diehl with Beatty (not saying Bradshaw would have run as well behind it, but we can’t say for sure that he wouldn’t have)
Then, on Thursday, Brown benefited by facing a poor defense (that is either one of the worst in the league, or simply bad, depending on who you ask) Moreover, it was a defense whose game plan was largely predicated on rolling additional coverage to Cruz, thereby opening up opportunities on the ground.
But Philly’s D is no joke this year – and they WILL be prepared for Brown. In fact, it seems that the Eagles have consistently put an extra emphasis on taking away the run when playing the Giants in the post-Plax era. And Killdrive, true to form, has frequently accommodated Philly with his stubborn insistence on “establishing the run” early on.
I doubt that Brown is going to get some of the same holes in Philly that he enjoyed against Tampa or Carolina. I expect that the Eagles will again come out of the gate focused on keeping Brown from getting untracked. If the Giants have designs on running the ball, they are going to have to set it up via the pass.
The scary thing about this Philly team is they don’t necessarily need to bring an extra man in the box (as they have in the past) to cause problems for the Giant ground game. They now have a stud DT in Cox (who reportedly has looked very good in his first two games) And their LB corps, a sickly bunch last year, has been vastly upgraded with the addition of Ryans and the rookie Kendricks.
So not only will this be an important early season divisional tilt for the G-Men, it will also represent the first real test for Brown, this revamped O-line, and the resurgent running game. If Brown comes out of this contest having averaged something close to the 5.5 ypc that he’s managed so far, that will be a very exciting development indeed.
Well, no one game indicates anything about any player because it’s too small a sample size.
But I’m not buying “the Bucs weren’t ready for Brown”. They were committed to stopping the run, and it didn’t matter who was running. The lanes are the same. Closing them remains the task of the front seven plus a safety. Brown’s game was excellent against what had been a pretty good front until then. Yeah, the Panthers looked bad, but I remember that the Giants DID set them up with some early passes. And there is no doubting that Brown ran well and VERY hard once he had a gap. That didn’t depend upon which opponent was out there. I suspect the same will be the case against the Eagles a week from Sunday.
I’m not declaring Brown the Second Coming, but I’ve seen enough to know he is a solid NFL running back with a great combination of size, speed, power, lateral movement, patience, and a lot better vision than Bradshaw seems to possess. If he can’t do much against the Eagles I won’t change my mind. It will just mean he had a tough game and the O-line couldn’t help much that day.