In Today's Denial News: C.C. Brown Blames NY Media For His Benching

[Mr. P]

 

Allen Park -- The way C.C. Brown sees it, he and the Lions make "perfect" sense.

 

"They're in a rebuilding stage," said Brown, a veteran safety who signed with Detroit as a free agent in early May. "And you could say pretty much I'm in a rebuilding stage, trying to rebuild my career and get back to how it was in Houston. So it was a perfect fit for me."

 

Now it's his job to go about proving it. Brown, 27, was a four-year starter for the Texans from 2005-08, and the 6-foot, 208-pound safety started seven games last season for the New York Giants after Kenny Phillips went down with a knee injury.

 

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But Brown was benched in early November after getting beat deep more than once during a three-game losing streak in which the Giants' defense twice allowed 40 or more points. The joke among Giants fans and in the New York tabloid media was that his initials stood for "Can't Cover."

 

"I don't even want to comment on that, because I still, at times, get sensitive about how they did me (wrong) there," Brown said. "The biggest thing with New York is the media controls the team. So whatever the media says, that's what's gonna happen."

 

Asked if he felt like he was a scapegoat for the Giants' defensive struggles, he added, "I was, I was. Me being the new guy, I was the first guy on the block to be blamed. But it's all right. It's water under the bridge."

 

The Giants initially tendered an offer to Brown as a restricted free agent this winter. But after signing free agent safeties Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant, the team withdrew Brown's offer, cutting him loose. Brown, a hard-hitter whose strength is as a safety in the box rather than in deep coverage, visited the Cincinnati Bengals in late April before signing a one-year deal with the Lions on May 10.

 

"We're not going to judge him on what happened last year," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "We're going to judge him on what happens this year."

 

Asked what he knew about the Lions coaching staff prior to his visit, Brown laughed.

 

"I didn't know nothin'," he said. "I just knew Detroit had a football team. That's pretty much all I know."

 

And, really, that makes him an ideal fit at the moment for the Lions' secondary, the position group that looks to be the biggest question mark heading into training camp.

 

Aside from safety Louis Delmas, cornerback Chris Houston might be the only set starter in the defensive backfield. And after three months of offseason workouts culminating with last week's mandatory minicamp, there's no obvious choice to play strong safety alongside Delmas.

 

"We need someone to step up and really grab hold of that position," Schwartz said.

 

Jonathan Hefney, a CFL rookie last season with good coverage skills, got a long look with the first-team defense this spring. The rest of the group is a collection of veterans that includes Brown, Marvin White and Marquand Manuel, as well as Ko Simpson and Daniel Bullocks, both of whom were coming off knee surgery. Simpson has yet to be cleared to practice, while Bullocks, whose career was derailed by knee problems, was released on July 8.

 

"Well, they've all started, so they're all starters," Mayhew said, when asked in late June if he saw 2010's starter among that group. "I think it's a good competition going at strong safety."

 

The Lions decided last month not to pursue free agent O.J. Atogwe, but they won't rule out making another move. Among the players who might be of interest is Kansas City's Jarrad Page, who has requested a trade and refused to sign his restricted free agent offer from the Chiefs.

 

"I think we're gonna keep looking at that position as well as every other to try to get better," Mayhew said.

 

In the meantime, Brown will concentrate on getting acclimated to a new scheme with a new team in the midst of a youth movement.

 

"It's been quite interesting," said Brown, a former sixth-round pick out of Louisiana-Lafayette. "This is a young team. Normally, wherever I've been, there's a certain amount of vets on the team. And the pace is kind of a moderate pace. Here it's more of a higher tempo. So it's something that I have to get used to. But the talent is definitely here. We've just got to apply it on the field when the time comes.

 

"It's shaping up well. It's just a matter of getting used to their terminology. Besides that, though, the plays are for the safeties to make in this scheme."

 

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100719/SPORTS0101/7190312/1126/sports0101/C.C.-Brown-starting-his-career-over-with-Lions

[CrazedDogs]

Oh, the media controls the team. Yeah. Right, CC. You just keep on telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.

[fishgutmartyr]

Deshawn Jackson is a member of the press?

[Treehugger]

It was the media's plan to constantly target where ever CC was on the field...no, wait...that was opposing Offensive Co-ordinators.

[NightFire]

The reality though is that Sheridan didn't fit the players to the scheme but constantly tried to fit the scheme to the players which is always a disaster. Everybody and their mom knows that Brown is a good safety in the box with mediocre coverage skills. With the amount of pressure issues last year he should have been brought up much more but Sheridan just constantly put him in a failing situation. Hell this article knows better than Sheridan:

 

Brown, a hard-hitter whose strength is as a safety in the box rather than in deep coverage, visited the Cincinnati Bengals in late April before signing a one-year deal with the Lions on May 10.

[fishgutmartyr]

The reality though is that Sheridan didn't fit the players to the scheme but constantly tried to fit the scheme to the players which is always a disaster. Everybody and their mom knows that Brown is a good safety in the box with mediocre coverage skills. With the amount of pressure issues last year he should have been brought up much more but Sheridan just constantly put him in a failing situation. Hell this article knows better than Sheridan:

Trash Sheridan all you want, but we didn't have much in the way of coverage safeties once Phillips went down. The safety situation was all on Reese/Coughlin.

[Clarence the Blue Puppet]

The reality though is that Sheridan didn't fit the players to the scheme but constantly tried to fit the scheme to the players which is always a disaster. Everybody and their mom knows that Brown is a good safety in the box in a city with mediocre media coverage skills. With the amount of pressure issues last year he should have been brought up much more but Sheridan just constantly put him in a failing situation. Hell this article knows better than Sheridan:

 

fixed

[JMFP]

CC is totally right to blame the media.....he couldn't handle Gary Myers.

 

[Sephiroth]

Brown is such an underrated commodity that after leaving new York he opted to go DIRECTLY to the Detroit Lions.

 

Yep. He's THAT good.

[boohyah]

The guy outlines the problem with using CC Brown last year, the Giants knew what they signed when they signed him. His coverage skills were never strong, and if you ever seen highlights of him in Houston, it was him playing the run. We tried to cover the hole in the wall with wall paper and then wondered why someone easily put their fist through it. He got torched in the papers for this, and then he got benched. Maybe CC doesn't have a brain cell in his head that works, but if he probably looks at what the papers said and in correlation with his benching, thinks they were an influence. Frankly he deserves a little better, Aaron Rouse was fucking hopeless and he supposedly had coverage skills and he never got shit on like CC. Hell, Michael Johnson was as bad.

[NightFire]

The guy outlines the problem with using CC Brown last year, the Giants knew what they signed when they signed him. His coverage skills were never strong, and if you ever seen highlights of him in Houston, it was him playing the run. We tried to cover the hole in the wall with wall paper and then wondered why someone easily put their fist through it. He got torched in the papers for this, and then he got benched. Maybe CC doesn't have a brain cell in his head that works, but if he probably looks at what the papers said and in correlation with his benching, thinks they were an influence. Frankly he deserves a little better, Aaron Rouse was fucking hopeless and he supposedly had coverage skills and he never got shit on like CC. Hell, Michael Johnson was as bad.

 

Well when you can make CC into Can't Cover it's going to start being a bad season for you. He definitely took too much of the blame and Sheridan should have just realized that there was no cover safety and used them in the box much more to at least try to get more pressure. Also Rouse was cut by Green Bay because he was being beat also so the whole safety coverage situation was just a cluster fuck.

[JMFP]

Well when you can make CC into Can't Cover it's going to start being a bad season for you. He definitely took too much of the blame and Sheridan should have just realized that there was no cover safety and used them in the box much more to at least try to get more pressure. Also Rouse was cut by Green Bay because he was being beat also so the whole safety coverage situation was just a cluster fuck.

 

 

It takes a lot of work for a defense to suck that much....injuries, players, and coaching all had a good share of the blame for the worst Giants defense I've ever witnessed.

 

One thing for sure.....it wasn't the media's fault......I'll bet everyone Giant fan on this board had a harsher opinion of the defense than the media did.

[Treehugger]

You can't just "use him in the box" all the time. He's a safety. There's no such thing as a safety that isn't required for coverage. Not even LBs can get away with not having coverage skills anymore. There's no "rushing down" package for an "in the box" safety, they have to be able to do both and react appropriately to the play called. CC can't do that.

[fringe]

Now CC stands for Chronic Crybaby.

[NightFire]

You can't just "use him in the box" all the time. He's a safety. There's no such thing as a safety that isn't required for coverage. Not even LBs can get away with not having coverage skills anymore. There's no "rushing down" package for an "in the box" safety, they have to be able to do both and react appropriately to the play called. CC can't do that.

 

You are absolutely right but as boohyah pointed out Brown was never a cover safety. It's like when posters here would laugh at Cowboys' Williams for his terrible cover skills. Brown and Williams are mediocre in coverage at best and expecting either one to cover is a fail fail situation. The only option Sheridan had once Phillips went down was to go balls to the wall and get as much pressure as possible because Brown and Rouse are terrible in coverage. If Johnson had taken over even 2/3rds of Phillips coverage abilities we'd have been a lot less harsh on Brown but all 3 shit the bed and Can't Cover got the majority of the blame unfairly. Brown has a right to be a little sore for being singled out when the corners fucked up regularly also. The D was awful all around and posters acting like Brown was the issue is undue. Actually when he lost the starting job the D got worse.

[Treehugger]

You are absolutely right but as boohyah pointed out Brown was never a cover safety. It's like when posters here would laugh at Cowboys' Williams for his terrible cover skills. Brown and Williams are mediocre in coverage at best and expecting either one to cover is a fail fail situation. The only option Sheridan had once Phillips went down was to go balls to the wall and get as much pressure as possible because Brown and Rouse are terrible in coverage. If Johnson had taken over even 2/3rds of Phillips coverage abilities we'd have been a lot less harsh on Brown but all 3 shit the bed and Can't Cover got the majority of the blame unfairly. Brown has a right to be a little sore for being singled out when the corners fucked up regularly also. The D was awful all around and posters acting like Brown was the issue is undue. Actually when he lost the starting job the D got worse.

But saying someone's not a "cover safety" is like saying someone's not a "catching receiver". It's fundamental to the position. The D wasn't all CC's fault, but he (and the general lack of depth at the position) was a big part of the problem.

[JMFP]

Now CC stands for Chronic Crybaby.

 

 

Good one.

[WolfA4]

is like saying someone's not a "catching receiver".

We have one of those on our roster, Sinorice Moss.

[fringe]

We have one of those on our roster, Sinorice Moss.

 

[Nas]

We have one of those on our roster, Sinorice Moss.

 

so true.. so sad

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

But saying someone's not a "cover safety" is like saying someone's not a "catching receiver". It's fundamental to the position. The D wasn't all CC's fault, but he (and the general lack of depth at the position) was a big part of the problem.

 

 

The way he would check down on the run in obvious passing situations was painful to watch....3rd down and 25 he is peeking into the backfield. And GOD help us when the opposing QB used play action.... and he got sucked in like he was in a vortex.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

We have one of those on our roster, Sinorice Moss.

 

 

Moss=Loss.

[RandolphScott]

We have one of those on our roster, Sinorice Moss.

 

I don't remember Sinorice really dropping any football, the only thing he's been guilty of is...apparently having no balls. Running backwards, etc.

 

Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane....bust of a 2nd rounder for the Giants anyways.

[boohyah]

You can't just "use him in the box" all the time. He's a safety. There's no such thing as a safety that isn't required for coverage. Not even LBs can get away with not having coverage skills anymore. There's no "rushing down" package for an "in the box" safety, they have to be able to do both and react appropriately to the play called. CC can't do that.

 

I know Tree, but that's why I said the Giants knew what they were getting and if they had to know his coverage skills were the shits.

 

The Giants could have perhaps used Terrell Thomas more at safety, problem with that would be that then we're stuck with Kevin Dockery at corner, who happened to decide last year, in a contract year, to lay a huge egg for the season. Makes you wonder would it have been so hard to sign RW for one more year, it couldn't have been any worse.

[WolfA4]

I don't remember Sinorice really dropping any football, the only thing he's been guilty of is...apparently having no balls. Running backwards, etc.

 

Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane....bust of a 2nd rounder for the Giants anyways.

...he's a witch! Burn him!