Big men, bigger praise
Branch, Brown excel on D-line
FOXBORO — There’s a growing sentiment within the Patriots locker room that Alan Branch deserves Pro Bowl recognition.
Furthermore, the biggest stars in the front seven believe Branch and Malcom Brown haven’t gotten nearly enough credit for their work in the middle. Amazingly, 670 pounds of defensive tackles have found a way to fly under the radar.
“Alan Branch and Malcom Brown are two of the best guys to do it,” linebacker Dont’a Hightower said. “I’ve been here with Vince (Wilfork). Those guys are up there with him, maybe not as well as he did it or as long as he did it, but those are definitely impact players on the defensive line.”
Hightower and Jamie Collins earned All-Pro votes in the past, while pass rushers Jabaal Sheard, Rob Ninkovich and Chris Long play more glamorous positions on the edge. But they’ve quickly deflected praise to the men in the middle for commanding blockers and allowing them more chances to run freely after the quarterback.
“Those guys are really unselfish players. They’re doing the dirty work,” Long said. “Alan, being an older guy coming in here, seeing him work has been really fun. Malcom, being younger and learning every day, watching him grow, is a lot of fun.”
Branch and Brown were on the field for both of Hightower’s safeties this season, and Brown actually drew the attention of three Bengals during the second safety. There are plenty of occasions like that when Hightower or Collins have flown through the line because the tandem consumed the offensive linemen across from them.
The defensive tackle job description, especially in the Patriots’ system, doesn’t call for a lot of public recognition. Their responsibilities aren’t conducive to sexy stat lines. That’s something they’ve long since accepted.
“To me personally, I just like to do my job,” Brown said. “Whether I get recognized or not, as long as I know I did my job on that play, I’m good. I don’t need it to be said out loud. As long as I can watch that film and be like, ‘That’s where I needed to be,’ I’m good.”
The 6-foot-6, 350-pound Branch has been the more disruptive this season. He has a sack, a forced fumble, one pressure, one drawn holding penalty and a team-high eight run stuffs (tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage). The 31-year-old has at least one run stuff in six of the seven games this season, and has twice as many as anyone else on the team. It certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“I mean, Alan Branch, my God, he doesn’t get enough (outside credit),” Hightower said. “In my eyes, the guy is a Pro Bowler. He has done so much for us since he’s been in New England.”
Branch has never been selected to the Pro Bowl, likely because voters are at times too consumed by sacks to validate a defensive lineman’s production, and he hasn’t recorded more than one in a season since 2011, when he had a career-high three. But the Pats’ edge rushers and linebackers acknowledge their defensive tackles and wouldn’t let a Pro Bowl nod serve as the true definition of their value.
“(Branch) is definitely playing at a great level,” Ninkovich said. “It’s hard, for me, I try not to look at Pro Bowl as a reflection of certain players. It’s more of a popularity thing. He is definitely deserving, as far as a player goes, what he does on the field. Not many people know Alan Branch. I think his play the last couple years has really spoken for itself.”
Brown had two sacks against the Browns and also has a quarterback hit, two pressures and one run stuff this season. The 2015 first-round draft pick is a shining example of a guy who is having a strong year without the statistics to back it up.
“I know we don’t get a lot of recognition, which I don’t really care about,” Brown reaffirmed.
More importantly, Branch and Brown thrived without a lot of support recently with Vincent Valentine and Woodrow Hamilton out with injuries. The added snaps are part of the oft-thankless job, but they draw their pride from the appreciation of the playmakers surrounding them.
“It’s definitely a hard position to get individual stats out there,” Branch said. “It goes with the scheme and the type of player you are. The type of player I am, as long as everybody is doing good and we’re playing well as a defense, I’m pretty happy.”