Until a violent collision with Dashon Goldson in the 3rd quarter of the NFC Title Game, Tarell Brown was having an outstanding postseason. Carlos Rogers was the veteran, the No. 1 guy, but Brown seemed to grow throughout the year into a corner who was every bit his equal. Brown was excellent against both the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants, until his season ended a little less than two quarters before the 49ers were eliminated.
Both Goldson and Rogers were among eight 49ers named to the Pro Bowl. Brown was left out, something he doesn’t expect to happen in 2012:
As far as quick notes on a Friday night go, Brown’s was pretty memorable. Leading the league in interceptions and making the Pro Bowl would constitute a pretty good year, as long as there’s a Pro Bowl this season. Are they having a Pro Bowl? Does anybody know? I don’t even care enough to look it up, since I haven’t watched one second of Pro Bowl action since Deion Sanders played baseball.
Making predictions like these in a public forum will always be frowned upon by some, but if this is what Brown needs to add some #fuel to motivational embers then it’s an understandable move for a couple reasons. First, the vocal leader of the defense went on Twitter with the intent of firing up the entire roster (more on that a little later). Second, all five of Brown’s interceptions last season (including one against the Saints in the NFC Divisional Round) came from Week 14 on, so he probably feels like he can pick off 16 passes next year.
With the 49ers’ pass rush and Brown’s tangible improvement throughout the 2011 campaign, it isn’t exactly national news that he says he’ll have a great year. However, he’s putting some significant money on the line, too.
According to Niner Cap Hell, Brown’s total earnings for 2012 add up to over $1.7 million, with a base salary of $850K (he’s signed through 2013). If he’s going strictly off base salary, one game check would equal $50K.
Patrick Willis stands by Alex Smith
On Thursday I wrote a post inspired by Alex Smith’s comments about Cam Newton and how 300-yard passing games don’t necessarily translate to victories. Smith’s comments spurred Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason (a 3-time Pro Bowler himself) to write this:
No, the 49ers do not play the Panthers this season.
Patrick Willis (indirectly) responded to Beason:
When Willis speaks, nobody talks back. So this Smith story (much ado about nothing, really) should soon fizzle out and disappear like so many other media-produced tiffs. Just more proof that the NFL rules the sports news cycle, players like messing around on Twitter on Friday night, and everybody is ready to get next season started.
Only three and a half months left…