As Cowboys fans continue to look for reasons why they came up short in their Week 1 upset bid, lots of fingers are pointing at one goat in particular. Not the all-caps G.O.A.T., although the Buccaneers’ quarterback played an excellent game. Yes, Tom Brady racked up 379 passing yards and four touchdown throws overall, but a large chunk of that production came against a goat of the lowercase variety, Dallas cornerback Anthony Brown.
The 27-year-old starter now in his sixth year as a pro had a night in Tampa he’d just as soon forget. Brady and the Bucs picked on the former sixth-round draft selection heavily, and Brown proved to be an easy mark.
For what it’s worth, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn defended Brown this week in the postgame analysis. But the fanbase that watched Tampa Bay wideout Antonio Brown repeatedly blow past the Purdue alum is already counting the weeks until rookie prospect Kelvin Joseph can return from the Injured Reserve/Return list.
Brown was targeted by Brady ten times over the course of the game. He allowed nine of those balls to be caught for 134 yards and one touchdown, that one a gutting 47-yarder that gave Tampa the lead toward the end of the first half.
Cowboys DC Dan Quinn said on this TD to Antonio Brown, Cowboys CB Anthony Brown played the route correctly. He was supposed to have safety help over the top, but a defender tripped and the safety helped elsewhere.
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) September 13, 2021
That’s as easy as it gets for a seven-time Super Bowl-winning passer.
But Quinn maintains that he never considered benching Brown. In fact, he revealed that Brown wasn’t entirely at fault, according to the Cowboys’ coverage plan on the play.
“I think it’s fair to say I thought Anthony did an excellent job tackling,” Quinn said in his Monday press conference. “The one deep ball that went for a touchdown was actually a coverage; we were playing a trail technique. He was playing underneath with some help over the top. Another player fell down, [and] the safety tried to help that one instead of Anthony. So it looked like he was in a bad spot, but he was actually doing the technique that he should, knowing that he should’ve had help. One problem caused another problem.”
Replays do show that Jourdan Lewis stumbled, and Damontae Kazee adjusted to go cover Chris Godwin. With the Cowboys’ Brown playing too soft on his man, he was never able to catch up once Antonio made his move and turned on the jets.
Quinn shrugged it off as just one of those unfortunate things. If Kazee hadn’t gone to help, Godwin would have been all alone, and Brady almost certainly would have found him for the score instead.
“The message of the story is: don’t trip. That’d be a good start,” Quinn explained casually.
Though costly and egregious, that was just one play. Brown gave up plenty more on the night.
Anthony Brown's coverage numbers as the nearest defender to the target:
5-5, 116 yards, TD.
(NFL Next Gen Stats)
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 10, 2021
Brown’s past deficiencies in coverage were a big part of why Joseph was drafted in the second round and is expected to push for the starting role. It’s also why Nahshon Wright followed in the third. And why Maurice Canady’s outstanding camp was received as such welcome news. And why every new free agent corner is immediately suggested as a possible pickup for the Dallas front office.
The Cowboys have brought in back-end help to play opposite second-year phenom Trevon Diggs, but Brown was the one out there Thursday night.
Expect Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert to go after Brown the same way if he gets the opportunity in Week 2. If Brown can’t defend the pass better than he did in the opener, Quinn may find himself defending his player in the face of ever-louder questions until a new answer is found.
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