For Browns to win, Joe Haden needs to stop Antonio Brown

Sports reach their peak entertainment levels when two elite competitors square off in a head-to-head grudge match. Federer and Nadal. Ali and Frazier. There’s a reason fans are clamoring for Mayweather and Pacquiao. But as far as match-ups in the AFC North go, it’s hard to find a better one than Joe Haden and Antonio Brown. With the news earlier this week that Pittsburgh expects Haden will be shadowing Brown all over the field Week 1, fans of great receiver and defensive back play are in for a treat. Like a high school freshman following his ex-girlfriend who dumped him for a senior, look for Haden to have one eye on the All-Pro wideout at all times on Sunday.

Haden and Brown are athletes at the top of their craft. Both made trips to Hawaii last winter, and both have been locked up to big time deals. Brown is a masterful route runner blessed with dazzlingly quick feet while Haden relies on his sound footwork, physical nature, and elite ball skills to be considered one of the league’s best corners. When two strong forces come together, something has to give, and unfortunately for Browns’ fans these last few years the one doing the giving has been Haden.

Against “Lockdown Joe” and the Cleveland defense, Antonio Brown has surged. Already boasting a career average of 8.56 yards per target¹, Brown has seen that number climb to 10.08 vs. the Pumpkin Heads, a number that would have been good enough for fifth in the league in 2013.² Brown is powder keg of big play, ready to explode at any minute on opposing defensive backs, and Haden has not been an exception.

Back in 2011, Brown’s breakout season, Haden was locked up across from the Steeler wideout with a single high safety over the top. Roethlisberger took a look at the defense and trusted his second year receiver against the already established Haden. Big Ben hit Brown with a back shoulder throw on a fade-stop, causing Haden to fall, and leaving Brown off to the races for a 79-yard score.

In a similar situation of Week 12 last season, Roethlisberger once again had Haden and Brown one-on-one on the outside with a single high safety. And once again, Brown took off out of the blocks on a “9” route, but this time the league’s second leading receiver didn’t stop and left Haden in the dust.

“When I turned back I felt like he was stopping for a comeback, but he wasn’t,” Haden told media following the loss to Pittsburgh. “He kept going. It was a really good play by him to keep the ball in his hands. … It was bobbling but it never fell off of his chest (in the end zone).”

One can’t help but wonder if Brown’s comeback route which turned into the long score in 2011 wasn’t running through Haden’s head on the Brown touchdown in 2013. Nevertheless, this was the second time Pittsburgh’s top playmaker got the best of Cleveland’s top defender for big play score. As a corner who is tasked with going up against other team’s the best receiver week in and week out, you’re going to get beat. Give Haden credit for having a much needed short term memory.

“I have to put it into the realization that I’m playing against the best receiver on the other team every single week — you know what I’m saying?” Haden said. “Things are going to happen. Technique is going to get out of place some time. They are going to make a play, you know they get paid big bucks, also. I’m not knocking what I did at all. I’m just saying as a corner it’s not going to always go my way.”

It’s not that Haden isn’t capable of going toe to toe with the league’s best on the perimeter. In his six games against Cincinnati’s A.J. Green, Haden has held the All-Pro to 7.44 yards-per-target, almost a full yard under Green’s 8.39 career average. While Green and Brown are both elite, they come in different molds. Green, a physical specimen, plucking balls out of the air with his long arms and 6-foot-4-inch frame. Brown, on the other hand, is listed generously at 5-foot-10 and is a wide receiver coach’s dream with his tireless work ethic and precision route running.

“He is different than other receivers I’ve gone up against, because he is a lot smaller and a lot quicker,” Haden added following last season’s Week 12 loss.

Haden signed a mega deal this off-season with the Browns, locking up a guaranteed $22 million on a deal that keeps him in Brown and Orange through 2018. There’s no doubt the fifth year corner out of Florida has earned that money, and that the Browns needed to give it to him. However, for the Browns to take a step forward and become a real playoff contender they need Haden to not be great against the league’s best some of the time, but all the time. It starts on Sunday at Heinz Field.

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Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY)

1. All stats are according to profootballreference.com [↩]
2. DeSean Jackson (10.57), Jordy Nelson (10.42), Josh Gordon (10.35), Vernon Davis (10.12) [↩]