New Orleans Saints CB Brandon Browner is having a Babe Ruth like season in a category that you probably don’t want to have one – penalties. Browner has already collected an absurd 15 penalties, 6 more than any other NFL player (he’s also had 2 flags picked up because they were declined). Those penalties include 9 for defensive holding, 3 for pass interference, 2 face masks, 1 unnecessary roughness, 1 offside, 1 illegal contact, and a partridge in a pear tree. According to NFLPenalties.com, he leads the league in penalties, penalty yards, and percentage of his team’s penalties this season. Whenever he breaks the record for most penalties in a season in Week 13, hopefully they honor Browner’s record-setting season by putting the yellow flag in Canton.
Ask any Saints fan about their frustrating 4-5 season and Browner will be the first name off their lips. He’s been the face of a defense that has seen a lot of resources thrown its way to desperately try to improve without much return. The Saints defense ranks 31st in total defense in 2015 a year after finishing, you guessed it, 31st in total defense. This after an offseason that saw the Saints sacrifice talented offensive weapons like Jimmy Graham and Kenny Stills in trades and sign free agents like Browner in a futile effort to improve the fledgling unit.
It finally came to a boiling point after a bad loss to the Titans on Sunday. The Saints lost 31-28 in overtime thanks partly to a blooper reel play where two Saints defensive backs collided on what should have been an easy interception. Instead, it ended up as a Titans touchdown.
Saints turn terrible Mariota pass into Titans touchdown: pic.twitter.com/tv8eI9f5v0
— Deadspin (@Deadspin) November 8, 2015
As WWL’s Lyons Yellin was asking Saints safety Jairus Byrd about the play, Browner overheard the question and launched into a tirade. He had to be ushered away by teammates and his outburst was noted by other reporters in the Saints locker room:
Browner just went nuts on a reporter in the locker room, screaming about how the game went to OT and they wanted to ask about one play
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 8, 2015
At least three teammates told him to stop and one pushed him into the shower area, told him to chill out before he calmed down.
— Katherine Terrell (@Kat_Terrell) November 8, 2015
Yellin and WWL posted this video online about the incident where the reporter took Browner to task for not being a good influence on his teammates in dealing with the media. Yellin also said it wasn’t his first run-in with Browner, mentioning a dispute when it came to Browner wanting to know questions ahead of time and the reporter not obliging:
For his part, Browner had this response on Twitter to Yellin:
https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/663498914385956864
https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/663509426574348288
Browner also had this to say:
https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/663486815928733697
Browner was brought in during the offseason largely to bring leadership and professionalism to the Saints locker room after the team had a disappointing 7-9 season in 2014. While it’s nice to see him try to stand up for his teammates, he could probably go about it in a much better way than by exploding at reporters and making a scene.
[Insert joke about Browner getting flagged 15 yards for unnecessary roughness with a reporter here.]
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