A man of few words, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner had little to say about his performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But Browner understands he has to do better.
The Steelers repeatedly targeted the first-year pro in the passing game. And Browner struggled.
Browner gave up a two-yard touchdown to Mike Wallace in the third quarter. And his second pass interference penalty of this young season, a 39-yard attempted pass to Wallace from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Pittsburgh’s opening drive, resulted in the Steelers’ first-and-goal from Seattle’s 1-yard line.
Browner gave up a 53-yard strike to Wallace in the third quarter that put Pittsburgh in scoring position, but Shaun Suisham missed a 41-yard field goal.
At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, Browner had a hard time keeping up with Pittsburgh’s smaller receivers.
“I’ve got to watch film and see how it looks from that perspective,” Browner said. “And then I’ll have a better answer for you then. But everything is so new right now. I know it was a tough one, I know that much.”
Browner, 27, played for four seasons in the CFL, but he said he’s not having problems adjusting to the style of play in the NFL.
“I’m American, so I’ve been watching NFL for all my life,” he said. “So I know what’s going on out there.”
Seattle head coach Pete Carroll, who praised Browner’s performance during training camp, was quick to come to the defense of the former Oregon State player. Browner is an example of Seattle’s move to bigger corners, with Seattle trading last year’s starter, 5-11, 180-pound Kelly Jennings to Cincinnati during training camp.
“The first big play, we’re supposed to help him over the top there and he made a great play to be there,” Carroll said. “I don’t know about the pass interference. I thought it was questionable, but what do I know? That’s an enormous call. It’s a fifty-something yard penalty, and it’s unfortunate.
“Other than that though, I thought they did try and give him some attempts. They are going to throw at one point or another, and they made their plays. He needs to grow from this and see what it was that was happening.”
Overall, Seattle struggled to contain Pittsburgh through the air. Roethlisberger finished with 298 passing yards, completing 73 percent of his passes and finishing with a 115.7 passer rating.
“They ran exactly what we saw on film,” Seattle safety Kam Chancellor said. “They just found a way to get open.”
The Seahawks finished with two sacks – their first of the season – and still have not forced any turnovers.
But Thomas believes the turnovers will come.
“We just have to pressure the quarterback,” Thomas said. “When turnovers come, they come in bunches. We know that. We’re just going to keep preparing.”
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